Class starts unofficially at 11:05A.M., Ben brings the old Hegel posters, which were mistook for trash, and post them on the wall. Ben states that he is annoyed at how his “precious” class materials are kept being mistaken for trash. After that, Ben writes down the outline for the class which includes: 1. Lots of Housekeeping, 2. Isolation- Solitude- Loneliness_ reviewing and extending, 3. Delillo: reflections, connections, conclusions, 4. Mid-course evaluation.
Class starts officially at 11:15A.M., with Ben checking attendance and he notices that some students are missing. He reminds his students about the External Writing #2 for Thursday. For extra credit opportunity, there are still three slots open (out of four). He encourages students to send to him and go over it in class on Thursday because it may help students write good final drafts. He also encourages students to begin on the meta-commentary, though it’s not required. Ben makes a joke that breaks the hearts of the two poor protocol writers. Ben announces that he will not be in class this Thursday, some students are very content about now, but Ben says that a professor called Robin Brown will be his substitute, some students have heart attacks about now. Also, some students are surprised as Ben announces his “classical choral” trip to Chicago, (whoever says that Ben does not look like a singer is probably right). Then Ben gives students handouts of Leo Strauss’ text and tells students to pay attention to this and Carl Schmidt’s text. Ben mentions that these are not long readings but still hard and important. He tells students to annotate the question and thesis. Ben tells students to submit drafts to both him and Robin Brown via this email: brown004@umn.edu. Ben swears that all grades will be e-mail tomorrow or students are free to punish him after break.
Then the class moves on to the discussion part. Ben demands the class to stand up and he writes the theme keywords (Isolation, Solitude, Loneliness) on a big sheet of paper for an activity. Each of the students must write new keywords drawn from Don Delillo’s White Noise, connect them to the theme keywords, and explain their connections. Ben gives the class a few seconds to find important moments in the book that they think is important. Ben records on the board as the students take turn telling their moments. The list is as follow: 187_ Jack and Babette finally talk about Dylar, 263_ Jack talks to doctor about tests, 6_ all the stuff from the past, 291_ nuns pretend to believe, 282-3_ Babette’s body -> Jack, last chapter_ fear of death, Dylar, airborne toxic event, 112_ disasters only affect poor people -> perspectives, shock, 298_ Mink scene, bathroom, bullets, 92_ there is no media in Iron City, 154-155_ the tirade, 15_ who will die first? The wish of the deaths pass on to the livings, 80_ Babette’s memory loss, 217_ Winnie Richards- death as boundary?, 272_ true or false, 253_ Orest- does death scare you?, 277_ Murray- killers vs. diers. Ben gives a bunch of moments that he likes: 162_ “I like being with Wilder… admirer”, 198_ “I know what you mean… and natural way”, 225_ “Jack not to die… he is forever”, 276_ “why do I feel… bewildered, staggered, shattered”, 298_ Hegelian moment: better do something regardless right/wrong than keep being neutral, at least history can progress with some actions, history can’t progress with neutral act and stalemates, 253_ “As you get closer… is all about”, 303_ “You’re a nun… another place”, 163_ “Changes every day… the time being”. Now, free discussion!!!
The discussion starts with the last chapter as Ben guides. Some students mention that Jack has never talk about Wilder dying even though he is obsessed with death. Jack even mentions that he likes to be around Wilder because he can feel less worried about past/future, and he envies Wilder. Wilder is the ideal consumer. He is content with things he has here and now, simple happiness and at the present. Wilder has no history. He changes from time to time, no past, no future, and no sadness/fear of death… At some point Ben goes off topic by mentioning the original name of White Noise was The American Book of the Dead.
“Death” topic is now switched to “believe” topic. Jack says, “This is what Orest Mercator is about” (253), and Jack repeats this phrase a lot such as “This is what Babette is all about”. This shows that Jack has a strong believe of how certain things “should be” or “must be”. Another moment that belongs to this “believe” topic: 80_ “What do you know… Lagos”, this is bureaucratic truth, ‘It’s here, it’s on the map, and it’s real…’ and 302-3_ “Saved? What is saved… what you believe”, this is bureaucratic truth vs. charismatic truth. The question raised: Since there must be some certain believe that bureaucratic truth are truth/real to make bureaucratic truth credible/real/facts, what is so different between bureaucratic truth and charismatic truth? Ben says that this book is an example of post-modern literature and the idea is nothing can be reliable. Sometimes narratives can’t be trusted because it is a form of history writing thus, also bias and lots of narrow perspective (even in third-person).
After the discussion, Ben command the class to stand up and recall one thing/theme that is the stickiest since this first half of the semester and one hope each student has for the rest of the semester, can be corresponding with the stickiest moment. A lot of the students think about truth related matters such as bureaucratic/charismatic truth, some thinks about the “death” topic. As the students rush out of class, Ben thinks out loud and he is afraid that his “precious” class materials will be thrown in the trash can again if he leaves them over the break. He decides to take them down before break.
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