Sanity & Madness in A Streetcar Named Desire & Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Introduction

Analyze how Catron develops her argument about love and madness using logical reasoning and supporting evidence.

“A Better Way to Talk about Love”

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.4

Analyze how Emily Dickinson uses diction and structure to convey ideas about madness.

“Much Madness is divinest Sense - (620)”

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.4RL.9-10.5

Explain the madwoman in the attic archetype/literary trope.

Apply the madwoman archetype to a close reading and analysis of an excerpt of Jane Eyre.

Jane Eyre Volume 3, Chapter 1 — (from "My brother in the interval was dead" to "and go home to God!")
“Literary Theory: "The Madwoman in the Attic" (1979)”

Standards

LO 1.2ARI.9-10.1

Analyze how the speaker in K.P Page’s poem portrays the landlady as a complex character.

“Landlady”

Standards

LO 1.3ARI.9-10.3

Formulate and share unique arguments about madness and sanity.

Support arguments with strong and thorough textual evidence in a Socratic seminar.

“A Better Way to Talk about Love”
“Much Madness is divinest Sense - (620)”
Jane Eyre Volume 3, Chapter 1 — (from "My brother in the interval was dead" to "and go home to God!")
“Literary Theory: "The Madwoman in the Attic" (1979)”
“Landlady”

Standards

LO 1.4BLO 5.1ALO 5.1BSL.9-10.1

Writing

Craft an insight piece about your selected research topic, placing the ideas found in various sources and their authors in conversation with one another.

“A Better Way to Talk about Love”
“Much Madness is divinest Sense - (620)”
Jane Eyre Volume 3, Chapter 1 — (from "My brother in the interval was dead" to "and go home to God!")
“Literary Theory: "The Madwoman in the Attic" (1979)”
“Landlady”

Standards

LO 1.4BLO 4.1BW.9-10.9

Analyze how Williams establishes setting and characterization in the opening of A Streetcar Named Desire.

A Streetcar Named Desire — Scene 1

Standards

LO 1.3ARL.9-10.3

Analyze how diction and syntax create character in Blanche’s monologue in Scene 1.

A Streetcar Named Desire pp. 20 – 22 — Scene 1, from "I, I, I took the blows" through "in bed with your – Polack!"

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.4

Analyze the complex relationship between Blanche and Stanley and how it develops over the course of the scene.

A Streetcar Named Desire pp. 30 – 34 — Scene 2

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.3

Analyze how Williams uses tension in the poker scene to further develop his characters and create social commentary.

A Streetcar Named Desire — Scene 2, pages 46–49, 59–63, 65 to end
Poker Night (from a Streetcar Named Desire)

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.2

Compare and contrast Stella and Blanche’s perceptions of reality in relation to the violence of the poker night.

A Streetcar Named Desire — Scene 4

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.3

Analyze how Blanche’s relationship with men functions in the text and what it reveals about her character and the overall meaning of the work.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.2RL.9-10.3

Analyze how the motifs of light and drinking function in Scene 8 and what they reveal about Blanche’s character and tragic flaw.

A Streetcar Named Desire — Scene 8

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.2RL.9-10.3

Analyze and interpret the ambiguity in Scene 10.

A Streetcar Named Desire — Scene 10

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.4

Analyze Williams’ key moments in the final scene including how Williams used them to create meaning in the text.

A Streetcar Named Desire — Scene 11

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.4

Formulate and share unique arguments about A Streetcar Named Desire.

Support arguments with strong and thorough textual evidence in a summative Socratic seminar.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Standards

LO 1.3ALO 1.3BLO 2.3ALO 2.3BLO 2.3CLO 2.3DLO 5.1ALO 5.1BRL.9-10.1RL.9-10.2RL.9-10.3RL.9-10.4SL.9-10.1

Assessment

Free Response Question

Analyze how Williams OR Wilson uses literary techniques to reveal the impact that desire has on each character’s development and the overall meaning of the work.

A Streetcar Named Desire
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom‎

Standards

LO 1.3ALO 1.3BLO 2.3ALO 2.3BLO 2.3CLO 2.3DRL.9-10.1RL.9-10.2RL.9-10.3RL.9-10.4W.9-10.2W.9-10.9

Analyze how Elia Kazan’s cinematic and directorial choices in the 1951 film version of A Streetcar Named Desire contribute to meaning.

Evaluate how Elia Kazan interprets Teneesee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire in his 1951 film of the same title.

A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.2

Analyze how Wilson establishes characterization and conflict in the opening of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom‎ — Scene 1

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.3

Analyze Levee’s monologue including the emotional and psychological impact his past has on him and how it informs his interactions with other characters.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom‎ pp. 68 – 71 — Scene 1

Standards

LO 1.3BRL.9-10.3

Assessment

Performance Task

Analyze how Wolfe’s cinematic and directorial choices in the 2020 film version of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom contribute to meaning; evaluate how Wolfe interprets August Wilson’s’ Ma Rainey’s Block Bottom in her 2020 film of the same title.

Examine key moments in the final scene of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom including how Wilson used them to create meaning in the text.