Personality test

Link to personality test

In Les Miserables, the Bishop's unique way of seeing others has a profound effect on the rest of the characters. Likewise many characters have limiting views of themselves and others. This site will allow you to understand the lenses you use to perceive other people and yourself.

Les Miserables essay questions

1) What does Les Miserables say about love? Why is the love story of Marius and Cosette included? Does Marius’ love count? How does Eponine’s love compare with Marius’? What does the novel say about parental love? (Think of Fantine, Jean Valjean, Marius’ dad/grandfather, the Thernardiers, and Gavroche.) What is the relationship between sacrifice and love? What kind of love does the bishop show?

2) What does Les Miserables say about perceiving people? Which characters are labeled? Which characters ignore labels? Do people become their labels? Discuss the symbolism of mirrors and glass. What is the difference between how justice and law view people?

3) What does Les Miserables say about justice? Interpret Javert. Is he playing God? Explain. What is the difference between justice and law? When in the story is law flawed? Does mercy have a role in justice? In law? Does punishment help people change? What is true justice?

4) What does Les Miserables say about the meaning of exile? Which characters are in exile? How? Which characters, if any, are redeemed from exile? How is a person redeemed from exile? What characteristics does a person need to help redeem another? What is the process of change? How does this appear in the lives of characters (i.e., Jean Valjean and Fantine).

5) What does Les Miserables say about poverty? What role does the bestial imagery play in developing this theme? Which characters are reduced and how? Who are the miserables (the wretched)? Who is most miserable and why?

6) What does Les Miserables say about change? How does change take place for various characters? How does Jean Valjean change? Is the change all at once, or are there stages in the change? Does Javert change? Why/why not? Compare/contrast Javert and Jean Valjean. How does one person help another change? How do labels (perceived identities) facilitate or hinder change?

Les Miserables resources

Victor Hugo Biography

Victor Hugo quotations

Wikipedia on The French Revoution

Frankenstein study helps

YouTube video on the Gothic genre

YouTube video on the inspiration for Victor

YouTube video from StarTrek: compare Data with Frankenstein's monster

A radio story on the origins of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: how weather created a monster

Biography of the author: Mary Shelley

Funny scene from spoof video: Young Frankenstein

YouTube video on the Gothic genre

YouTube video on the inspiration for Victor

YouTube video from StarTrek: compare Data with Frankenstein's monster

A radio story on the origins of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: how weather created a monster

Biography of the author: Mary Shelley

Funny scene from spoof video: Young Frankenstein

Finding a Research Topic

Here is a fun way to find creative, narrow research topics.

1) Brainstorm a list of things you enjoy or that are a regular part of your life.

examples: hobbies, things you did last weekend, a favorite tv show, a personal challenge

2) Use Google to search for ways your list intersects with the assigned topic.

A real example from one of my students: Let's say you've included an interest in ghosts and the supernatural. You have been assigned to do a research project on the Age of Exploration. You wonder if there might be some ghost stories associated with the Aztecs. You do a Google search and find there is a story of Aztec ghosts guarded treasure that the Aztec emperor hid away in the bottom of a lake in Utah in order to hide it from European conquistadors. Cool--right?

Beowulf Questions for Exploration

Whereas Beowulf’s culture was centered on violence, our culture seems to be at peace. Is violence less a part of our culture, or does the violence simply manifest itself in different ways?

Does Beowulf tell the truth about violence? Does it glorify violence?

The men of Beowulf coped with violence in various ways—women, drink, storytelling, belief in fate. How does our society cope with violence and fear? What is the emotional impact of violence?

What is the role of women in Beowulf’s society? Are the women as powerless as they appear? Why is one of the three monsters a woman?

What do the monsters of a culture reveal about what that culture fears? What does Grendel represent? His mother?

Hrothgar's warriors are identified as "Spear-Danes" and Beowulf is known as Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow. Their identities seem to be tied up with their way of life and their ancestry. What is so central to your life that you could hyphenate your name to identify yourself? Do we still identify ourselves by our families, or is there something more important to our society?

What is the difference between how Norsemen defined "good" and how modern Western culture defines it? What is the difference, if any, in how we identify a good leader?

Beowulf Background

Here are some places to go for further information about Beowulf:

Video on Norse mythology http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwvYuL2PMA

Help for reading Beowulf http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/beowulf/

Audio recordings of Beowulf read in Old English http://faculty.virginia.edu/OldEnglish/Beowulf.Readings/Grendel.html

One of the most important archaelogical sites for Anglo-Saxon culture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Hoo

Article about a facinating recent discovery of Anglo-Saxon treasure http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/24/anglo-saxon-treasure-hoard-gold-staffordshire-metal-detector

On the influence of Beowulf on Tolkien's Lord of the Rings http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/668917/the_influence_of_old_english_literature.html?cat=37

Why I Read Literature

“The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison. My own eyes are not enough for me, I will see through those of others. Reality, even seen through the eyes of many, is not enough. I will see what others have invented. Even the eyes of all humanity are not enough. I regret that the brutes cannot write books. Very gladly would I learn what face things present to a mouse or a bee; more gladly still would I perceive the olfactory world charged with all the information and emotion it carries for a dog. Literary experience heals the wound, without undermining the privilege, of individuality. There are mass emotions which heal the wound; but they destroy the privilege. In them our separate selves are pooled and we sink back into sub-individuality. But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do."

C.S. Lewis