Modern Lit Activity 2

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Modern Lit Activity 2

Collaborative annotating, argument mapping, and structured debate

Learning Objectives

After this session, you will be able to:

• Critically analyze Kingston’s use of memoir, myth, and speculation

• Evaluate ethical questions surrounding narrative authority

• Apply theoretical concepts to close textual reading

• Engage in structured academic debate using textual evidence

Context

Why Is The Woman Warrior Controversial?

• Blurs boundaries between memoir and fiction

• Invents stories for historically silenced women

• Raises ethical questions about voice and representation

• Has been both praised and criticized by scholars

Central Question

Is Maxine Hong Kingston ethically justified in fictionalising her aunt’s story?

• What does it mean to “give voice”?

• Who has the right to tell a story?

• When does storytelling become ethical risk?

For this activiy we are using "No Name Woman" and "White Tigers" , specifically focusing on speculation and imagination, silence and enforced absence, and myth as narrative strategy

Preparation before class

https://app.perusall.com/join/NIJSINK-NJ4TF

What you did:

• Annotated key passages

• Identified moments of speculation

• Tagged themes (voice, silence, ethics)

Moving from Interpretation to Evaluation

• Annotations reveal multiple readings, points of tension and ethical ambiguity

• Today we build arguments from these insights

Collaborative argument mapping Padlet

Link to Padlet: https://padlet.com/rachelnijsink/the-woman-warrior-collaborative-argument-mapping-rf922if31trrxwi3

Padlet Board Sections:

• Textual Evidence

• Theoretical Lens

• Ethical Justification

• Ethical Risk / Critique

Your task:

• Add evidence-based contributions

• Respond to existing posts

• Make theoretical reasoning explicit

Structured debate

Based on your arguments you will fill in the Mentimeter:https://www.menti.com/alzhhgx35nja

Is Kingston ethically justified in fictionalizing her aunt’s story?

Group A – Defense

• Storytelling as feminist recovery

• Giving voice to silenced women

Group B – Critique

• Ethical risks of appropriation

• Overwriting silence with authorial voice

Rules:

• Cite the text

• Use theory

• Respond to counterarguments

Reflection

Did this debate change your view of Kingston’s narrative authority? Why or why not?