Hello Panthers! Welcome to our class blog. On this page you will post your responses to our nightly reading. You are responsible for reading the assigned pages and pulling out a particular quote or moment in the text that you want to analyze in a CCEJ paragraph.
A good way to think about this is to ask yourself questions while you read and brainstorm possible answers. You can also look at questions posted by previous students and agree or disagree with their responses. Remember, if you are commenting on another student’s post, you must have your own unique point and different textual evidence to back those points up.
Example: Why does Max insist that he’s not pleading insanity for Bigger’s defense?
Max doesn’t want to claim insanity for Bigger’s defense because he wants to preserve Bigger’s dignity. When Max announces Bigger’s plea at the Grand Jury trial, he says that his client is guilty but that he will prove that his sentence should be lessened due to certain “mental and emotional attitude[s]… and the degree of responsibility he had in this crime (343).” After this announcement the court is in an uproar. The prosecution cannot understand the plea because it means Bigger could potentially be put to death. The prosecutor believes that he must be insane to take this risk. Max, however, is a Communist and empathizes with Bigger’s plight as a poor black man. He believes that he can convince others to understand the unfair circumstances that made Bigger feel so trapped that he lashed out in killing
