Lesson Plan for Week 10: General Thoughts and Notes

Patrick Mooney, TA
Eng 193, Prof. Newfield
4 December 2012

1. Thought for the day:

   Actual life is full of false clues and sign-posts that lead nowhere. With infinite effort we nerve ourselves for a crisis that never comes. The most successful career must show a waste of strength that might have removed mountains, and the most unsuccessful is not that of the man who is taken unprepared but that of the man who has prepared and is never taken.

   —E.M. Forster, Howards End (1910), ch. 12 (see this quote with slightly more context)

2. Administrative matters:
   • Parting is such sweet sorrow. You've been an excellent group of students this quarter, and I've had a lot of fun working with you.
   • I will not be holding my regular office hours next week, but will be on campus and would be happy to meet with you if you would like to speak with me. We can also communicate electronically via Skype or Google Chat, if you'd prefer.
   • Because Professor Newfield has canceled lecture on Thursday (that's 6 December), I will also be moving my office hours. I will start my office hours at 3:30 pm (instead of 5 pm) and will continue them until at least 5 pm, or until the last student who is there after 5 pm is no longer waiting to talk to me.
   • Professor Newfield has pushed back the due date for the paper to the day after the final — that is, at 5 pm on Friday 14 December. I will be in my office from 4 pm until 5 pm that day. If you are turning in the paper before that, please leave it in my box (South Hall 3421) and send me an email letting me know that you've done so.
     • If you want to know your grade as you go into the final, turn it in to my mail box (SH 3421) by noon on Dec. 7, and send me an email letting me know that you've done so. I will tell you your grade going into the final no later than late the night before the final. If you turn it in after that, but before the final, I will try to grade it before the final, but cannot promise that I will be able to do so.
     • This means that no late papers will be accepted at all (except in the case of a genuine catastrophe) — the due date is the final chance to turn in the paper.
   • Questions?
3. Group-generated review:

   The items below should not be taken as a comprehensive study guide: they were simply what both sections managed to develop during twenty-five minutes each of open review time. In all cases, there are many items that could conceivably be added to each list, and some items that appear under certain headings below could just as well appear under other headings — and so the lists should be regarded as incomplete. However, it is my hope that you find this list helpful as you begin to review for the exam.

   You may also want to take another look at the group-generated list of detective conventions that appeared in the section notes for week 6.

   • Major course themes:
     • Causes of noir:
       • generalized war
       • psychopathology
       • attachment-related issues
       • others, as discussed in lecture …
     • Ways of dealing with the noir world:
       • plans A, B, and C (as discussed repeatedly in lecture)
       • the comic response
     • Detective structure
       • as way of examining the evidentiary structures in a story
     • Personality traits of various detectives, (sometimes) including …
       • being resistant to conventional wisdom
       • being skeptical towards authority
     • Power dynamics in society
     • Attachment/detachment
     • Independence (e.g., Chandler) vs. cooperation (e.g., Mosley)
     • Love vs. "in love"
     • Social causes of crime
       • notably: economics
     • finding a way
     • Gangster society
     • Detective/police methodologies
     • Causes of violence
   • Characteristics of noir:
     • The blonde/the femme fatale
       • sexist portrayals of women as weak, dangerous, and/or as having an identity primarily derived from their relationships with men
         • novels/stories/movies in which women are portrayed in this way
         • novels/stories/movies that adapt, change, or undermine these portrayals of women
     • The hard-boiled detective
     • The master/slave dialectic, and responses to it
     • Loss (processed or not), and responses to it
     • Noir as distinct from other forms of detective fiction
     • The rule of force
     • Alcohol and alcoholism
     • The tripartite masculine status options of noir: leader, sidekick, nobody
   • Notable characters, characteristics, & themes of Murders in the Rue Morgue
     • thinking outside the box
     • the observation/inference structure
     • Dupin
     • The unnamed narrator
     • "locked room" mystery
   • Notable characters, characteristics, & themes of The Adventure of the Dancing Men
     • Holmes/Watson
     • homosociality
     • Elsie & Hilton Cubitt
     • Holmes's detachment
     • Abe Slaney
     • scientific detection
     • synthetic process of detection
   • Notable characters, characteristics, & themes of The Blood-Stained Pavement
     • Denis, Carol (the real wife), Margerie (the murder victim)
     • Joyce Lemprière
     • Miss Marple
     • the pavement
     • feminine detection
   • Notable characters, characteristics, & themes of The Long Goodbye
     • Philip Marlowe
     • Eileen & Roger Wade
     • Terry & Sylvia Lennox
     • Linda & Dr. Loring
     • "Paul Marston"
     • Los Angeles
     • there are two detective stories
     • standard/early noir — consequences of war
     • blondes/the femme fatale
     • unprocessed loss
     • alcohol(ism)
     • detective as social mediator; detective as fighting the forces of the Establishment, to the extent that that is possible
   • Notable characters, characteristics, & themes of Black Betty
     • Betty (and Marlon) Eady
     • Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins
     • Jesús ("Juice") & Feather
     • Sarah, Albert, and Arthur Cain
     • Ron Hawkes
     • Los Angeles
     • Freedom's Plaza
     • freedom, money, power, corruption
     • the family-man detective
     • modified noir & Plan B
   • Notable characters, characteristics, & themes of Chinatown
     • J.J. "Jake" Gittes
     • Noah Cross
     • Hollis & Evelyn Mulwray
     • Los Angeles
     • The Owens Valley Project
     • incest
     • Plan C
     • land, corruption
     • 3-tier masculine social status (a boss, a sidekick, or a nobody)
     • business
   • Notable characters, characteristics, & themes of Ghost Dog
     • Ghost Dog
     • Louie, Vargo, Handsome Frank
     • Raymond, the French-speaking ice-cream salesman
     • the master-vassal ("retainer") relationship
     • personal code of ethics
     • finding a way
     • pure will
   • Notable characters, characteristics, & themes of Gone Girl and Birdman
     • Due to time constraints, no review notes were produced for these novels.
   • Notable characters, characteristics, & themes of Skin Tight
     • Stranahan
     • Maggie Gonzalez
     • Dr. Rudy Graveline
     • Reynaldo Flemm
     • Christina Marks
       • A central, fully developed female detective
     • "Chemo"
     • Victoria Barletta
     • Florida
     • pervasive corruption
     • noir comedy
     • pervasive organized crime
     • incompetence
     • multiple detectives
     • money
4. Evaluations! I would love specific, honest, detailed feedback!