Learning By Literary Audio Files Theoden Humphrey

Episode #37

Reading and rhetorical analysis of the feminist masterpiece "I Want a Wife" by Judy Brady. Recommended for high school.

Analysis focuses on syntax and tone, with additional focus on context and audience. 

CW: The whole thing is sexist. Also there's quite a bit about sex.

Feminist Justice #13

Link to the text: https://www.thecut.com/2017/11/i-want-a-wife-by-judy-brady-syfers-new-york-mag-1971.html

Thank you, and good night.

Episode #36

Reading and analysis of the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker. Recommended for high school.

Analysis focuses on diction, characterization, and theme, primarily the themes of practical use vs. ornamentation, substance vs. style

CW: Discussions of racism, sexism, gender roles, family conflict, and injuries caused by fire.

#12 in the Feminist Justice series.

Link to PDF of the story: everyday use.pdf (weber.edu)

Episode #35

Literary analysis of two poems, "Making a Fist" and "The Flying Cat" by Naomi Shihab Nye. Recommended for high school.

Analysis focuses on the use of humor, speaker/point of view, and theme.

CW: one poem is about death, the other is about pets dying; the discussion reflects both themes.

#11 in the Feminist Justice series

The poems are short, so I'm going to put the full text of both here. But also, links.

Making a Fist: Making a Fist by Naomi Shihab Nye | Poetry Foundation

Making a Fist
BY NAOMI SHIHAB NYE

We forget that we are all dead men conversing with dead men.

—Jorge Luis Borges

For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,

I felt the life sliding out of me,

a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.

I was seven, I lay in the car

watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.

My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.



“How do you know if you are going to die?”

I begged my mother.

We had been traveling for days.

With strange confidence she answered,

“When you can no longer make a fist.”



Years later I smile to think of that journey,

the borders we must cross separately,

stamped with our unanswerable woes.

I who did not die, who am still living,

still lying in the backseat behind all my questions,

clenching and opening one small hand.



The Flying Cat: Quia - Poem by Naomi Shihab Nye -- The Flying Cat

The Flying Cat

Never, in all your career of worrying, did you imagine
What worries could occur concerning the flying cat.
You are traveling to a distant city.
The cat must travel in a small box with holes.

Will the baggage compartment be pressurized?
Will a soldier's footlocker fall on the cat during take-off?
Will the cat freeze?

You ask these questions one by one, in different voices
over the phone. Sometimes you get an answer,
sometimes a click.
Now it's affecting everything you do.
At dinner you feel nauseous, like you're swallowing
at twenty thousand feet.
In dreams you wave fish-heads, but the cat has grown propellers,
the cat is spinning out of sight!

Will he faint when the plane lands?
Is the baggage compartment soundproofed?
Will the cat go deaf?
"Ma'am, if the cabin weren't pressurized, your cat would explode."
And spoken in a droll impersonal tone, as if
the explosion of cats were another statistic!

Hugging the cat before departure, you realize again
the private language of pain. He purrs. He trusts you.
He knows little of planets or satellites,
black holes in space or the weightless rise of fear.

by Naomi Shihab Nye

Episode #34

Rhetorical analysis of the popular science essay "Why Leaves Turn Color in the Fall" by Diane Ackerman. Recommended for high school.

(And I don't know why I shortened it in the episode to "Why Leaves Turn Color." My bad.)

Analysis focuses on figurative language and theme. 

*CW: mentions of sex, discussions of death

#10 in the Feminist Justice series

Link to PDF version of the essay: http://mssandersonsouthcache.weebly.com/uploads/8/5/8/9/8589339/whyleavesturncolorinfall_2012.pdf



Figurative Language present in the essay and discussed here (*This is an incomplete list):

symbol: Something (usually simple and concrete) which represents something else (usually complex and abstract); i.e., a cross representing Christianity

metaphor: An implied comparison between two unlike things which share a certain trait; i.e., trees encased in glass after a winter storm (glass=ice)

simile: A stated comparison between two unlike things which share a certain trait, most often using "like" or "as" to show the comparison; i.e., thou art like a summer's day, sunny and warm

personification: A metaphor in which human traits are given to a non-human thing; i.e., "The rocks complained and then cursed as the earth quaked"; or an abstract is given a human avatar; i.e., Father Time

hyperbole: An extreme exaggeration meant to show an emotional state; i.e., "I'm hungry" is a statement, "I'm starving" is an exaggeration, "I'm hungry enough to eat a thousand horses" is hyperbole

understatement: An intentional de-emphasizing of a situation, usually for ironic or sardonic effect; i.e., Monty Python's Black Knight saying "It's just a flesh wound" after King Arthur cut the Knight's arm off

euphemism: A less offensive or less jarring term used in place of a more offensive or jarring term; i.e., "passed away" for "died"

allusion: A reference to something already known by the audience, from literature, history, popular culture, etc.; i.e., referring to a couple as Romeo and Juliet

synecdoche: When a piece of a whole is used to represent the whole, or a whole used to represent a piece; i.e., "wheels" referring to an entire car

metonymy: When an associated term is used to represent something, i.e., "suits" referring to businesspeople

pun: Word play based on words that sound similar or that have multiple meanings; i.e., "Make like a tree and leave!"

onomatopoeia: A word that sounds like (or is a phonetic spelling of) the sound or what it represents; i.e., meow, baa, snap, crackle, pop

alliteration: When several words close together have the same initial sound; i.e., Peter Piper picked a pepperoni pizza

assonance: When several words close together have the same vowel sound with different consonant sounds, i.e., I like nice pies

consonance: When several words close together have the same consonant sound in the middle or at the ends of the words; i.e., sounds at the ends of words

irony: When what happens is the opposite of what one would expect, or when one's meaning is the opposite of what one says

Episode #33

Reading and analysis of the short story "The Possibility of Evil" by Shirley Jackson. Recommended for high school. 

Honestly, no real content warnings. It's a disturbing story, but everything in it is subtle.

Analysis of plot, character, and theme, focusing on selection of detail as well as the use of dialogue, small town 1950's America setting, and narrative point of view to build suspense and central themes.

#9 in the Feminist Justice series.

Text in PDF format here: http://issaquahhighkdean.weebly.com/uploads/8/3/2/6/83262826/the_possibility_of_evil.pdf

*Please note the PDF above is taken from a textbook, and has comprehension questions, etc. Also some wonderful illustrations.

**Where's the cat?

Reading and analysis of the essay "On Being a Cripple" by Nancy Mairs. Recommended for high school.

Warning: discussion of illness, disability, death, suicide. This is a great essay, though as you can see from the title, it is difficult to read in places.

Analysis focuses on diction, both word choice and level of formality; and on syntax, particularly the use of lists.

#8 in the Feminist Justice series, focusing on women authors and feminist themes until this podcast reaches equity.

Copy of the text:

Microsoft Word - MairsOnBeingaCripple.doc (uml.edu)