Looking for Courage

An overriding question that seems to drive our course of literature study is: What is courage? That's not always an easy question to answer. The characters we've met in our reading face adversity, fight battles, look for strength (physical and spiritual/moral), and examine their own lives. It may be, for example, that it would take a great deal of courage to admit defeat and surrender, or it may take even more courage to fight even when you know you will be defeated. It may take courage to face a fight, or courage to walk away. I'm sure you can think of many examples.


As we continue examining these questions, we will begin a new work of literature, Romeo and Juliet. How - you might ask- can these questions apply? In fact, they do. Our characters face decisions, adversity, and hatred that was not of their own making. They must make choices and face consequences. We may find that many of the themes we've been discussing apply universally to this literature as well.


First, we'll visit the time period and location of Verona, Italy. This setting is crucial to an understanding of the conflicts our characters face. We'll also learn about the language, which at first glance may look foreign to you! Don't worry! It's actually a lot of fun.


Tomorrow's classes are back to 50 minutes in length. We'll finish up our essay test on Mockingbird, and with what time we have left map out our unit on Romeo and Juliet. So, my friends, adieu! Keep reading in your independent reading books!

*Don't forget to continue keeping track of your blog posts and comments. We have a new "log sheet" that was passed out this week. Keep it to hand in on April 16th.