Now is the time to respond to one of your classmates' blogs. Try to respond to someone who has not yet received a response. This is due by July 9 at midnight.  Do not just agree with your classmate. Feel free to argue, or to expand upon their thoughts.

If you haven't done so yet, please read the very brief version of "The People Could Fly" on the link provided. The story begins with an image of flight, and this motif remains an important thread throughout the story. Keep track of the times this comes up as you read. Comment on it now if you like. Choose an element from the Foster book and address it in your comments. It may be the significance of Milkman's limp, or Hagar's mental instability, or it may be the biblical references, or evidence of intertextuality. Then discuss how you can tell (because I know you can tell) that this is going to be a quest story. What elements can you already identify?

Also, let me say that your blog posts are insightful and interesting. I have enjoyed reading them all. I will also note that not everyone has posted and/or commented.The deadlines are firm. Computer problems are no excuse. If you know you are going to be away from a computer the day of a deadline, do your work before. Before blogging about the next four chapters, please read the very brief links to the left about Emmett Till and the Birmingham Church Bombings which killed four little girls in 1963. It will give you insight into the Civil Rights Movement, the setting of this novel, and the political standpoint from which Morrison writes. Chapters 5-9 reveal much information from several different points of view. The plot, as they say, thickens. Everyone is in agreement that this is the story of Milkman's quest. For what is he searching? What does he learn from his mother, Pilate, and his father? What's in that green sack? Why in the world is Milkman's leg growing? Blog posts due by midnight July 15. Responses due by midnight July 19.

Be thorough, thoughtful, and truthful. Do not submit any minimalist writing. My comments to you will be in all caps once I post.

Chapters 5-9 blog post due July 15--response to a classmate due July 19.

Chapters 10-15 due July 24--response to a classmate due July 31.

Remember to print out a copy of your blogposts and responses, as well as the response to you by a classmate, to hand in to me on the first day of school along with your other summer reading assignments.