Department of English

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

Final Response and Presentation Guidelines

Final Reading Response

The third and final reading response (2 pp.; MLA format) is a way for you to engage thoughtfully with the issues and questions we have read about and discussed this semester and to bring together skills in reading, critical thinking, and writing that we have worked on these past few months. In groups of three, you will choose a topic on The Bridge of San Luis Rey from the following list to consider carefully, discuss among yourselves, and form a panel discussing it for class on week 16. If you want to investigate a topic not on this list, please clear it with me first. Each member of the panel will focus on one aspect or element of that topic as suggested. Taken together the individual examinations should help illuminate that larger topic and make sense of it in the context of the work as a whole and perhaps also in connection with topics that other sessions are examining. Use the panel topics and subtopics below as a prompt for developing an argument that you elaborate on in your last reading response. Give your piece a title. Hand in your work in class on Monday, September 16, 2013 and submit a digital copy on Turnitin.com.

Information for initial login to Turnitin.com:

• On the Turnitin.com homepage, click "Create Account" at the top right hand corner
• On the Create a User Profile page, at the Create a New Account heading, click "student"
• On the Create a New Student Account page, type in the following class ID and password, then provide the user information (Chula recommends using your chula e-mail account) and set up your account password, check that you are over 13 years old, and click "I agree--create profile"
  
• Class ID: 6920973
• Class Enrollment Password: bridge3
• You are now ready to submit your response.
  

Possible Panel Topics

• World of Words: "Boasting, Self-Excuse, and Rhetoric"
  The narrator, in Part Three: Esteban, delineates the world as made up of words that may be categorized into these three types. In stark contrast against the silence of Manuel, Esteban and Captain Alvarado that "had made a little kernel of sense," what senselessness does the noise of boasting, self-excuse, and rhetoric display? What meanings do they obscure? What truths do they mask? What understanding do they prevent? What logic do they not show?
  
  • Boasting
    Who boasts in The Bridge of San Luis Rey? Why? When do characters boast? What do they boast about? What is the language of their boasting like? How does boasting serve the character who boasts? How does it characterize people or distort the world?

  • Self-Excuse
    What instances of self-excuse do you find in the novel? What kind of world do they create?

  • Rhetoric
    How is rhetoric used in the story?
• Lies, Truth and Silence
  

  Communication in the novel might be seen as consisting of lies, truth, and silence.
  

• Lies
  What lies are told in the story? By whom? Does the narrator lie? What about Uncle Pio? To whom? For what purpose? What are rumors; are they a kind of lie? When untruths are given in the story, what effect do they have? How are the characters affected? How is the story affected?
  
• Truth
  Questions, issues and topics to examine
  
• Silence
  Questions, issues and topics to examine: silence, secrets, body language? What information does silence convey? What different things does silence communicate?
• Time: Day, Night, and Duration
  
  Questions, issues and topics to examine

  • Day
    Questions, issues and topics to examine

  • Night
    Questions, issues and topics to examine
  • Duration
    When a length of time is offered in the story, what is it conveying?
• Balance
  Is the world of The Bridge of San Luis Rey balanced or not? In one sense, the investigation at the heart of the novel is a balancing act, treading a thin line between intention and accident, between belief and non-belief. Does the novel suggest fairness and justice, doling out some of the following pairs in equal measure?
  
  • Life and Death
    Questions, issues and topics to examine
  • Loss and Gain
    Questions, issues and topics to examine: poverty and richness, beauty and ugliness, orphaning and adoption, friendship, love
  • Sadness/Pain and Joy
    Questions, issues and topics to examine: misery and suffering vs. happiness; tragedy and comedy, which are heart-breaking moments and which are light-hearted or humorous ones in the novel?
• Writers and Their Writings
  This novel includes many writers and different versions of tales. What does each writer show about what it means to be a writer? How different are their stories? How do their works come together into this one novel?
• The Narrator
  Who is the narrator? When is he writing? What functions does the narrator have in the story being told? What knowledge does he claim to be able to offer?
• Brother Juniper
  Is Brother Juniper's book a religious text?
• Doña María
  The Marquesa seems to become a writer posthumously. Why does she not see herself as a writer when she is writing letters to her daughter? Why do people not recognize her as a writer despite her prolific writing when she was alive?
• Surprise
  Many surprises spring up in the novel. The word surprise itself is used quite often. What different meanings does the verb surprise have? Brother Juniper's mission is described with this expression: "And on that instant Brother Juniper made the resolve to inquire into the secret lives of those five persons, that moment falling through the air, and to surprise the reason of their taking off" (7). What is unexpected? What comes as a surprise in the novel? Is the bridge itself coming apart a surprise in the story? What is teased out stealthily or offered unawares? What surprising reasons or discoveries do you find in the novel?
  
  • Colonial History
    Colonial history is a constant backdrop in the story. It is a surprise to find intimations of European-indigenous relations in a story that ostentatiously presents itself as being about something else like faith or human nature. That Brother Juniper is even present in Peru to witness the central accident is because of his first mission to convert the Indians (6). Santa María de Cluxambuqua, near where Camila has her villa, bears an Inca name.

  • Literary Criticism
    Questions, issues and topics to examine: definitions of reading, writing, literature, theater, art, criticism; aesthetics, perfection; critiques of reading, writing, acting, criticism; the novel's self-reflexivity

  • Centrality
    Questions, issues and topics to examine: Spain is ever present in the life of Peru, in people's art, dress, and language, for example. But the novel presents Spain and its relationship to Peru with surprising hints and unexpected phrasings. When the narrator describes the Archbishop of Lima's philological study of vowel and consonant changes, what does "Indian-Spanish" imply (42)? What does marginalization mean when "The citizens were too far away from the theaters of Spain to realize that she [the Perichole] was the best in the Spanish world" (69)? In light of this statement, what new senses come out of Uncle Pio's pronouncement: "'We are almost ready to take this marvel to Spain'" (80)?

Revision

It is recommended that you have a draft to give your panel members to read before your presentation date. Read each other's writing carefully, making constructive comments on the pages regarding the argument, support, prose, and organization. Then set up a time to meet, return the response with comments, and discuss each other's contribution to the panel's investigation. Once you have your first draft with feedback back from each of your panel member, consider the comments and rewrite to fix problems and make your response more effective. Some things to keep in mind as you proofread and edit your work:

• Does my title show that I have a point to make?

• Is my thesis sound, clear, and interesting?

• Have I supported my thesis with compelling evidence?

• Is the organization of my response logical and appropriate to the arguments I am making?

• Is my language clear, consistent, and suited to the subject matter?

• Do each of my paragraphs have a clear point and coherence?

• Are my sentences varied, interesting, and effective?

• Do my verbs agree with their subjects? Pronouns with their nouns?

• Is my response free of spelling mistakes?

• Have I cited my sources properly?

Final Presentation

Presentations of your reading response 3 will take place on the last two days of class: Monday, September 16, 2013 and Wednesday, September 18, 2013. Each panel of three responses will have fifteen minutes to present their study of The Bridge of San Luis Rey (five for each speaker). This will be followed by a ten-minute question and answer session. A moderator will be presiding over the presentations and discussion session of each panel, introducing the speakers, mediating the questions and responses, and making sure things stay on schedule.

A program of the final presentation schedule will be posted on our detailed schedule page once panel and response titles, speakers and moderators are finalized. You are responsible for e-mailing me your working response and panel titles and any revisions to them by Friday, September 13, 2013.

Please inform me of any special equipment needs such as speakers if you are planning to play a video or audio clip. Otherwise our usual computer (which uses Microsoft Office 2007) and LCD projector will be provided.

Panels Submitted

• Balance
  Presiding: Nattanit Tangsakha
  Speakers:
  
  • "The Loss and Gain of Love," Panat Intuputi
  • "No Pain, No Gain: A Balance in Sadness and Joy in the World of The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Kullaya Burananayok

  • "Response Title," Jitsunan Po-ngam

• Love
  Presiding: Thidawan Pranseree
  Speakers:
  
  • "Transferring of Doña María’s Love Finally Affected by Pepita’s Simple Love," Thawanya Phuaknoi
  • "Love and expectation of Uncle Pio and Camilla Perichole," Sujaree Wattanarat

  • "Love in a Different Aspect," Supawadee Jaijon

• Writers
  Presiding: Kullaya Burananayok
  Speakers:
  
  • "A Multifunctional Writer," Nattanit Tangsakha
  • "An Unreliable Writer," Manisara Khumwattana

  • "The Hidden Writer," Pachaya Disthaamnarj

• Balance
  Presiding: Supawadee Jaijon
  Speakers:
  
  • "Balance in Sadness and Joy," Wichayaporn Laithong
  • "Balance in Richness and Poverty," Yotsawee Paeruantong

  • "Balance in Loss and Gain of Love," Surachai Boonyasiri

• The Power of Communication
  Presiding: Pachaya Disthaamnarj
  Speakers:
  
  • "Lies and Self-Protection," Phanida Jirakandjanasith
  • "Truth, Emotional State, and Realization," Thidawan Pranseree

  • "Speakable Silence," Sineenart Uparamaiyamas

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Last updated September 15, 2013