Blog Post Three: Man of La Mancha and Diary of a Madman

Madness, social conformity, and confronting social norms. In the Man of La Mancha, Diary of a Madman, and Sealed Off, these things are addressed in a way that is surprising. Each of them use a foreboding type of tone, that provides a sense of urgency. Diary of a Madman could be used to discuss the themes of mental illness, social issues and the interwoven themes of testing cultural norms.
I think that as a teacher we can ask the students whether they know anyone with a mental illness. If they do, ask them what they know about the different types of conditions. You could also ask the students to do a character analysis and tell whether they think there might be some sort of truth behind the madman’s rantings, or if he is really insane.  
Here is a hyperlink to a discussion questions based off of “The Diary of a Madman”. It may provide inspiration. http://fajardo-acosta.com/worldlit/luxun/diary.htm
     In Man of La Mancha, the students could be required to analyze connotations of the story and the direct meanings as well. The students could try to connect elements of this story to ones in popular culture and answer what common day themes they see within this story.

Sealed off could easily be used for the students to analyze the cultural norms of other countries compared to our own and the benefit of using literature to express social dissent. The students could also discuss whether they agree with how the story progresses and if they would have changed anything, if they were to write it. The following link gives some hands-on projects that can be done based off of the story and other assignments based around the story, as well. I thought some of the ideas were creative and could easily be implemented into the classroom. http://college.holycross.edu/projects/himalayan_cultures/2011_plans/gwollak/Activities/sealedofflesson.pdf
            In the end, all of these stories had to do with society and something within it that the authors’ wished to address or expose. It is good for the students to see and discuss the way that literature has been used for centuries to discuss and confront social issues and norms.


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