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.  Shakespeare’s sister,
Judith, “had no chance of
learning grammar and
logic, let alone of reading
Horace and Virgil.”
 The men of the night’s watch
swore to an oath “I shall take
no wife, hold no lands, father
no children. I shall wear no
crowns and win no glory. I shall
live and die at my post. I am
the sword in the darkness. I am
the watcher on the walls. I am
the shield that guards the
realms of men. I pledge my life
and honor to the Night’s
Watch, for this night and all
the nights to come” (522).

10.  Woolf emphasizes how
women are subordinate, and
are not valued when they are
compared to men when she
points out, “Some of the most
inspired words, some of the
most profound thoughts in
literature fall from her lips; in
real life she could hardly read,
could hardly spell, and was the
property of her husband”
(Woolf 766).
 George R.R. Martin applies a
similar concept when Joffrey
tells Sansa she is stupid.
“You truly are a stupid girl,
aren’t you? My mother says
so. [...] She worries about
our children, whether they’ll
be stupid like you, but I told
her not to trouble herself.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,”
[Sansa] murmured. The
Hound was right, [Sansa]
thought, I am only a little
bird, repeating the words
they taught me.” (Martin
747)

11.  “ 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)

12.  “But she was not sent to
school. She had no
chance of learning
grammar and logic… She
picked up a book now
and then, one of her
brother’s perhaps, and
read a few pages. But
then her parents came in
and told her to mend the
stockings or mind the
stew and not moon
about with books and
papers”(Woolf 845).
 “She watched her little
brother whack at
Tommen. ‘I could do just
as good as Bran,’ she
said.”
 “Arya, why aren’t you at
work?… Let me see your
stitches” (47)

13.  “How much thinking
those old gentlemen
used to save one! How
the borders of
ignorance shrank back
at their approach! Cats
do not go heaven.
Women cannot write
the plays of
Shakespeare. “(844)
 “She offers to Aggo,
Jhogo and Rakharo the
traditional gifts of a
khal to his bloodriders;
each refuse, saying
that to serve as
bloodrider to a woman
would shame them,
but Daenerys ignores
their objections” (A
Game of Thrones).

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.  Plato writes, “To them, I said, the truth would
be literally nothing but the shadows of the
images”(446). On the Wall, men are
figuratively chained as well. The men of the
Wall have little power in obtaining the truth.
Master Aemon comments about the mail
they receive, and says, “They tell us what
they want us to know, and that’s little
enough” (Martin 654).

16. Is it possible that the majority of the characters in the
novel A Game of Thrones are living in a cave, believing
the puppet show as Plato explains in his work, The
Allegory of the Cave?

17.  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)

18.  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).
Woolf states,” She picked up a book now and
then, on of her brother’s perhaps, and read a
few pages. But then her parents came in and
told her to mend the stockings or mind the
stew and not moon about with books and
papers.”(769)

19.  Q: Is Arya still a “prisoner”? Or has she left the
cave?
 Q: How does Jon Snow represent the freed
man from Plato’s allegory of the cave?
 Has Dany managed to break her chains and
walk into the upper world where the true
natural light is?

20. 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:

21. 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.)

22.  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.

23.  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

24.  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.)

25. 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.

26. 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.

27.  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.

28.  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.

29.  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.

31.  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.

32. 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.

33.  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?

34.  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.

35.  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!

36. 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.

37.  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