Journal Prompts

I have provided these journal prompts in an effort to get you started in writing your journal entries by suggesting various problems and concerns addressed in class readings and discussions. You do not have to answer one of these questions for your journal entry, unless I assign a particular question--otherwise, they are only suggestions. If you choose to answer one of the prompt questions--or more than one--then you should do so in essay form. One of the purposes of the journal is help you practice your organization skills in writing essays; you cannot do this if you don't practice. Please answer all questions in essay form.

A note about journals: The journal is not a diary. The latter is for recording daily events; the former is for speculating about and questioning those events. The journal should be introspective--not a list of what you did on a particular day, or new clothes you purchased, or your boyfriend's cool new Camaro. Think about things that bother you; question your beliefs; make sense of your world. The journal represents your mind; make sure there is more in it than just parties and body piercings.

Journal Entry #1
  1. What is the central concern in Toad's "Windmills" and how does it relate to the title of the song?

  2. How does the music relate to the theme(s) of the song? When does the music change and how? How does the music relate to the title?

  3. After looking over the class homepage, what are your concerns about the class? Are you looking forward to the challenge, or do you dread this class? What could be made clearer in the presentation? Do you understand all that is required of you?

  4. How do you feel about keeping a portfolio online? What are your concerns? What are the possible benefits?

  5. What is your impression of the instructor? How do you think he will compare with other English instructors that you have had in the past?

Journal Entry #2

  1. What in the world am I doing using a computer in English class?

  2. What concerns do you have about the Internet in relation to you and society?

  3. Do you have a plan for setting up your webpage? What webpages have you seen that have interested you?

  4. I have made some excellent discoveries about computers and the Internet.

Journal Entry #3

  1. What is the central concern of "Ants Marching"? How does the music relate to this theme?

  2. How does the theme of alienation figure in "Ants Marching"? Relate this theme to "The Enormous Space."

  3. What, do you think, is happening to the narrator of "The Enormous Space." Is this story "realistic"?

  4. Relate "The Enormous Space" to this quotation from Hamlet: "I could count myself a king of infinite space, where it not that I have bad dreams."

  5. Think about other ways that "Ants Marching" relates to, or does not relate to, "The Enormous Space."

  6. Marvell's poem gives what answer to Matthews and Ballard?

  7. Discuss Marvell's logic in "To His Coy Mistress." Is he convincing? Why or why not? What is the narrator's motive?

Journal Entry #4

  1. What is the central problem in "Reason"?

  2. What does the appellation "Cutie" do to our perception of QT-1?

  3. Can "Reason" be interpreted as a complex metaphorical story? If so, how?

Journal Entry #5

  1. Who do you think is more heroic: Hector or Achilles?

  2. What is a hero? Who is your hero? Do we have heroes anymore?

  3. Discuss Achilles's motivation in killing Hector.

  4. Comment on the significance of Andromache's speech at the close of the selection. For whom does she lament and why?

  5. What prevailent theme is addressed in Tennyson's "Ulysses"?

  6. Is the narrator heroic? What attitude does he seem to have?

Journal Entry #6

    Open Entry.

Journal Entry #7

  1. Can you relate at all to Akaky? How?

  2. What seems to be Akaky's "problem"? What is his solution?

  3. Who is the Very Important Person? Do you know any VIPs?

Journal Entry #8

  1. What is the significance of the title "Lady with A Lapdog"?

  2. What symbolic significance does the color gray have in the story?

  3. What theme is shared by Chekhov story and "Anna Begins"?

Journal Entry #9

  1. Discuss the significance of the one-word paragraphs throughout The Death of Ivan Ilytch.

  2. Why is this story so effective? Or, is it?

  3. How should we feel torward the survivors? Especially Praskovya (Ivan's wife) and Peter?

  4. To what extent are you like Ivan Ilytch? Can we relate to his plight at all?

Journal Entry #10

  1. After having finished two essays, I still don't understand this aspect of writing: _______________ .

  2. I'm still having these difficulties with computers: _______________ .

Journal Entry #11

Journal Entry #12

  1. Can you think of an allegorical interpretation of "I Have No Mouth"?

  2. The narrator often speculates on the nature of God in relation to AM; discuss the religious implications of AM and his relationship to God. How can this theme be related to Blade Runner?

  3. How can "I Have No Mouth" be related to Frankenstein? Blade Runner?

  4. What is the significance of the "replicants" in BR? Are they metaphorical in any way?

  5. How does BR relate to significant thems we have discussed this semester?

Journal Entry #13

  1. How are the Calvino and Garcia-Marquez stories similar? How are they different?

  2. Are these stories fantasies? How, then, do they relate to our lives?

  3. Discuss a single theme in either story.

Journal Entry #14

  1. What poem have you read that you have liked? Why?

  2. Read various poems at random. What themes do you see repeated?


ENC 1102



 2 February 1998; 2.0