2.  End of quarter plan
 Group Discussions: Perspectives and A
Game of Thrones
 Introduce Essay #5
 In-class writing: Generating prompts

3.  Today: Class 18
 Discussion:
Perspectives and A
Game of Thrones.
 Introduce Essay #5
 Class 19
 In class essay #4
 Class 20
 Make-up Exam
 Self Assessment
 Class 21
 Meetings by appointment in my office.
 Friday, Week 11
 Self-Assessment due before noon
 Revised Essay due before noon
 Class 22: 25 participation points
 Game of Thrones Episode
 Final discussion
 Final (Tuesday 12/09): Final Paper due

4.  Today: Class 18
 Discussion:
Perspectives and A
Game of Thrones.
 Introduce Essay #5
 Class 19
 In class essay #4
 Class 20
 Make-up Exam
 Self Assessment
 Class 21
 Meetings by appointment in my office.
 Friday, Week 11
 Self-Assessment due before noon
 Revised Essay due before noon
 Final: Class 22: (Thursday 12/11 7-9 am) 25
participation points
 Final due before class begins.
 Game of Thrones Episode
 Final discussion

5. Group Discussions: Perspective and
A Game of Thrones
Get into your
teams to consider
the application of
Woolf and Plato
to A Game of
Thrones. Make
sure to find
textual evidence
to support your
claims.
Women!

6. “The Allegory of the Cave”
“Shakespeare’s Sister”

7. Virginia! I am
telling you, I
have had it!

8.  “Wife-beating,” I read,
“was a recognized right of
man, and was practiced
without shame by high as
well as low. . . . Similarly,”
the historian goes on, “the
daughter who refused to
marry the gentleman of
her parents’ choice was
liable to be locked up,
beaten, and flung about
the room, without any
shock being inflicted on
public opinion. (Woolf, 4
Web)
 Ned touched her cheek
gently. “Has he done this
before?” “Once or twice.”
She shied away from his
hand. “Never on the face
before. Jaime would have
killed him, even if it meant
his own life.” (Martin, 332,
PDF)

9.  “a women’s composing is like a
dog’s walking on his hind legs.
It is not done well, but you are
surprised to find it all.”
(Jacobus 774)
 “‘Perchance later you’ll tell
me how a nine year old girl
the size of a wet rat
managed to disarm you
with a broom handle and
throw your sword in the
river.’” (Martin 156)
 “Arya has the hands of a
blacksmith… Sansa was
too well bred to smile at
her sister’s disgrace, but
Jeyne was smirking on her
behalf. Even Princess
Myrcella looked sorry for
her” (Game of Thrones, 70).
 ” a highly gifted girl who had tried to use
her gift for poetry would have been so
thwarted and hindered by other people, so
tortured and pulled asunder by her own
contrary instincts, that she must have lost
her health and sanity to a certainty”
(Shakespeare’s Sister, 771).

11.  “Marriage was not
an affair of personal
affection, but of
family avarice,
particularly in the
‘chivalrous’ upper
classes” (Woolf 765).
 “‘I have a son. You
have a daughter.
My Joff and your
Sansa shall join our
houses’” (Game of
thrones PDF 41).

12.  “ The daughter who
refuses to marry the
gentleman of her
parents choice was liable
to be locked up, beaten
and flung about the
room, without any shock
being inflicted on public
opinion. Marriage was
not an affair of personal
affection, but of family
avarice, particularly in
the ‘chivalrous’ upper
classes” (Woolf, 765).
“ Arya says, ‘ Can I be a kings
councilor and build castles and
become the high septon?’ ‘You’
Ned said kissing her lightly on the
brow ‘will marry a king and rule his
castle, and your sons will be
knights and prices and lords and,
yes perhaps even a High
Septon’”(Martin, 247)

13.  “ The daughter who refused
to marry the gentleman of
her parents’ choice was
liable to be locked up,
beaten, and flung about the
room, without any shock
being inflicted on public
opinion. Marriage was not
an affair of personal
affection, but of family
avarice, particularly in the ‘
chivalrous’ upper classes”
(Woolf 765.)
 “We go home with an army,
sweet sister. With Khal Drogo’s
army, that is how we go home.
And if you must wed him and bed
him for that, you will.” [Viserys]
smiled at [Daenerys]. “ I’d let his
whole khalasar fuck you if need
be, sweet sister, all forty
thousand men, and their horses
too if that was what it took to get
my army. Be grateful it is only
Drogo. In time you may even
learn to like him. Now dry your
eyes. Illyrio is bringing him over,
and he will not see you crying”
(Martin 38.)

14.  How is Tyrion like the imaginary woman
described by Virginia Woolf in
Shakespeare’s Sister?
 Q: How is Jon Snow’s life similar to the
middle-class women of the Elizabethan
Era?

15. Q: Who can be seen as the people chained to the walls in
Game of Thrones, and who are the ones freed from
them? Q: Who are those carrying the objects to cast on
the walls?

16.  In a Game of Thrones, Jon Snow is
pulled out of the cave when sees
Tyrion Lannister in a more positive
light. George R.R. Martin describes
Jon Snow’s moment in the light
when Jon Snow first talks to Tyrion
Lannister.
“And with that he turned and
sauntered back into the feast,
whistling a tune. When he opened
the door, the light from within
threw his shadow clear across the
yard, and just for a moment Tyrion
Lannister stood tall as a king.”
(Martin 57)
 “Anyone who has common
sense will remember that the
eyes are of two kinds, and arise
from two causes, either from
coming out of the light or from
going into the light [...] he will
first ask whether that soul of
man has come out of the
brighter life, and is unable to
see because unaccustomed to
the dark, or having turned from
darkness to day is dazzled by
the excess of light.” (Plato 450)

17.  Jon said to [Arya], ”You
had best run back to your
room, little sister. Septa
Mordane will surely be
lurking. The longer you
hide, the sterner the
penance. You’ll be sewing
all through winter. When
the spring thaw comes,
they will find your body
with a needle still locked
tight between your frozen
fingers.” Arya said, “I hate
needlework!” (Martin 75)
Plato states, “here, they
have been from their
childhood, and have their
legs and necks chained so
that they cannot move,
and can only see before
them, being prevented by
the chains from turning
round their heads (Jacobus
446).

18.  “How could they all
been so blind? The
truth was there in front
of them all the time,
written on the
children’s faces”
(Martin 486).
 “he would rather suffer
anything than
entertain these false
notions and live in this
miserable manner”
(Plato 448).

19. Essay #5: Over the course of the quarter, we have read the
ideas of six philosophers and discussed many notions and
objectives presented by them. We have also applied their ideas
about governments, rulers, and citizens; wisdom, justice, and
equality; and perspectives, privileges, and rights to our primary
text, A Game of Thrones. Because of the breadth of our inquiries,
I offer you several ways to proceed with this final essay. Your
paper, however, must include the following:

20. Your paper, however, must include the following:
 It must be 5-6 pages long (not including the works cited page).
 You must use at least four credible sources, and those sources
must be listed on your Works Cited page. At least two of these
must be sources we did not cover in class.
 Your essay must adhere to MLA formatting rules.
 You must submit it electronically to before the scheduled final.
 Your essay must include an intersection between one or more
of the philosophies we read together and A Game of Thrones.
 You may choose a topic from the essay #5 prompt list, or you
may use one of your own. (Please see me (or email me) about
using your own essay topic before you begin.)

21.  Write or choose your prompt
 Define or explain the assertion/claim
being offered. Or, explain the essence of
the argument.
 Produce a clear, arguable thesis statement
that asserts your opinion.

22.  Use evidence to support your position: be specific
and accurate—named and factually correct
 Here is a brief overview of the kinds of support/evidence
you could include to bolster your argument:
— recognition of the opposition
— examples
— anecdotes
— contrast and comparison
— cause and effect
— appeal to authority
— facts/statistics
— details
— quotations
— dialogue
— definitions

23.  Avoid using movies and other more informal
aspects of society as evidence (pop culture)
 Stay away from blogging sites, Wikipedia, and
other sites that lack authority or credibility.
 Avoid evidence that everybody will cite (To
avoid this, reject first thoughts and keep
digging until you find ideas that are complex
and interesting.)

24. 1. Write a meaningful opening sentence or two
that makes a personal observation about the
focus of the question that reveals your
thinking. Do not write flowery, general
beginnings. Get right to the point. Use the first
sentence or two to begin to define the meaning of
the assertion. If you need to include directed
summary to provide context for your essay, do so
here.

25. 2. Qualify your stance if there is a common or strong
argument for a different perspective. Try an “although” thesis
(Example: “Although grass is generally green, it can also be
other colors.” Then your first page will be about green grass.
Acknowledge that you are familiar with this stance; In the
next pages, you will discuss/argue for the existence of the
other colors. Then will come your counterargument (rebuttal
or concession) and then the conclusion. Be careful not to
contradict yourself.

26.  If the prompt requires an agree or disagree
stance, be sure to demonstrate an
understanding of argumentation by
acknowledging both sides of the
argument. This is sometimes done by
writing a con-pro paragraph immediately
after the introduction; the remainder of the
essay becomes different paragraphs which
confirm or amplify your agreement or
disagreement with the assertion.

27.  If the question requires a defend, challenge, or
qualify stance on a political or philosophical
assertion, be sure to address all the issues raised by
the claim/assertion. Your evidence would be
specifically named examples that support the claim
you make in your topic sentence. Examples from
multiple sources that support the same conclusion
make your claim more valid. Each paragraph then
would end with an interpretation of the similar
conclusion that can be reached after examining
differing types of evidence.

28.  You may use your posts and earlier essays
as fodder to help support your arguments;
as such, you might consider previous writing
that you want to explore further. To use your
work effectively, you may want to write your
own prompt. Please see me (or email me)
with your idea so we can make sure your
prompt will generate 5-6 pages.

30.  The question must prompt an argument.
 The question must refer to at least one of the
essays we read in class.
 The question must include reference to A
Game of Thrones.
 The question may ask the writer to include
references to other texts, historical events, or
contemporary issues.

31. Brainstorming Essay Prompts: Example Brainstorming Essay Prompts:
Example: Machiavelli
 Pick a character or two (or a family) from A Game of
Thrones that expresses the Machiavellian philosophy of
“the end justifies the means.”
 Elaborate on how they justify the acquisition &
consolidation of their power. Make an argument that
upholds or rejects this approach to gaining and holding
power.
 Finally, extend that argument to contemporary
America. Does the end justify the means for us today?
Use specific examples to support your final assertion.

32.  Choose a character from A Game of Thrones that you see
as dynamic, that is, one that has grown during the novel.
 Argue for or against the philosophy of Plato concerning
the process of enlightenment. Does the character follow
the steps of the unchained prisoner? Does he or she
become a philosopher king/queen because of the
enlightenment? Or does he or she remain materialistic and
greedy, as Plato says of the less enlightened leaders? Or is
there another reason for incompletion of the steps? Use
specific, step-by-step examples. Substantiate that your
character irrefutably did see the light.
 Then, consider America today: Do we follow the same
steps to enlightenment? Are our leaders philosopher-kings?
Should they be?

33.  In “Shakespeare’s Sister,” Virginia Woolf uses a cool and controlled
tone, a rhetorical strategy that allows her to manipulate male
audience members into listening to her arguments about the
plight of women (and working class and poor men) throughout
history.
 Do marginalized characters in A Game of Thrones use these kinds
of rhetorical strategies to increase their own power base? Make an
argument for one or more characters that achieve power based on
the ability to control rhetoric. Make sure to provide specific
examples. Explain how the character’s rhetoric influences others’
thinking and ultimately wins him or her opportunity, power, or
freedom.
 Is rhetoric still such a powerful tool in contemporary society? Use
specific examples to support your argument.

34.  Remember, these need to be argument
prompts. They also need to generate 5-6
pages of writing. Be sure to provide sub-questions
to the primary question. Write
questions you can answer!

35. 1. Using at least one philosophical perspective
and A Game of Thrones, write one or two
good questions that you might consider
answering for your final paper.
.
 Remember to pose your questions so as to
prompt an essay that can be argued.

36.  Post #33: Post at least one essay prompt
that you wrote for essay #5.
 Post #34 Pick and post two potential essay
questions for essay #5. You can use the one
you wrote and one from the formal prompts,
or you can use two from the list that I
provided. Write a one or two sentence answer
to the prompts. (a rough thesis)
 Prepare for in-class essay