Preparing for a Harkness Discussion

The Stranger
Chapters 1, 2, 3
Ready at beginning of class on October
You will submit to Google Classroom AFTER the discussion.

In one complete sentence, write The text talks about a man who throughout the storyline
what the text is about (a shows and abbreviates a strong belief in absurdism, in
summary of the purpose, misleading events that surround him.
message, plot, theme, etc.).

Significant passage ​(sentence, phrase, quote)

Possible reasons for choosing a section of text:
● It reveals something about character, setting, or plot.
● It contains a key event in the plot.
● The text is descriptive and well-crafted.
● It reveals a possible theme or symbol.

Significant passage #1 “I said i didn’t think anything but that it was interesting”
(include page number) (p.32)
- Moralistic values
- Does not act like he cares about the

Significant passage #2
(include page number)
“It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over,
that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work,
and that, really, nothing had changed”(p.24)
- Depicts the strong belief of absurdism ( nothing
contributes to the purpose of life, his ongoing
activities proved to him that he was not doing
anything beneficial and purposeful- after his mum
died- everything is still the same and implied that
there would be no difference if she was alive)

Level Questions
These need to be questions that you want to discuss or hear your classmates discuss. Do not ask
questions that you know the answer to just to have something down on paper to turn in. ​Include page
numbers when relevant.

Level One Question: What is the author trying to imply about the characters
behaviour and what is the evidence that supports it?
These are not mere recall (p.32-33)
questions; rather, they establish
evidence of basic facts
presented in the author’s proof
paragraph.
Examples:
What evidence does the author
use to support his argument that
it is man’s responsibility to care
for the land?
To what does the author
compare his boyhood
experience on the family farm
(p. 182) in order to further his
argument that man is forever
attached to the land?

Level Two Question: How does the form and sentence structure in chapter 1
These are textually implicit, introduce the main character's belief of absurdism?
requiring analysis and
interpretation of specific parts of
the text, pointing out what a
specific part of the text actually
means, or what language was
used to create the meaning. It’s
not about what happened on
page 47 of the novel; it’s more
like, “How does the author’s
description of the dying horse
on page 47 of the novel create a
tone?”
Examples:
Why do you think the author
relies heavily upon visual
imagery on page 55 to convey
his love of the land?
How does the heavy use of
repetition in Chapter 2
contribute to the effectiveness
of the author’s argument that
___________?
What do you think the author
means when he says: _____ on
p. 552?

Level Three Question: How do people who believe in absurdism and nihilism
These are more open-ended motivate themselves to live knowing their life has no meaning
and go beyond the text. They in whichever decision they make?
are intended to provoke a
discussion of an abstract idea or
issue, to connect events/themes
in the anchor text to other texts,
other arguments, or to universal
issues of life/society/mankind
itself.
Examples:
How has man’s attitude toward
nature changed over the last
100 years?
How has society’s changing
perception toward nature been
advantageous? Detrimental?

Philosophy - Absurdism
Find an example that
demonstrates that this is an
absurdist novel. Include page
number. Be prepared to
explain.
“Then he explained that he’d heard about Maman’s death but
that it was one of those things that was bound to happen
sooner or later. I thought so too”
- Life is meaningless according to his absurdist beliefs
- Everyone is going to die anyway- the only certainty of
life is death
- Explains his lack of emotion for his mom(according to
him she has no purpose and does not contribute
anything to life)

Remember​: This assignment is to be completed at the​ beginning ​of the period in which we will discuss a
text —not mid-way through. These responses will serve as the basis for our class discussion.