Literature Groups: Wuthering Heights
DISCUSSION DIRECTOR: Wuthering Heights is very dramatic and passionate.
Try to write your 5 questions about the complex emotions and loyalties that exist
in the reading sections. Bring these to class, and then facilitate a discussion. As
the director, do your best to make it a substantial discussion.
MOTIVATION GURU: In Wuthering Heights there are passionate characters who
have complex motivations for their actions. For your job, you will make a list of
the characters encountered in the reading section, explain their basic actions in
this section, and then finally make an educated, thoughtful guess as to what
motivated these characters to act this way. In your group, do NOT reveal the
motivation you ascribed to the actions. Simply present the characters and the
actions and facilitate a discussion about possible motivations. After the discussion,
reveal what you felt the motivations were.
THEME SPOTTER: There are many motifs in Wuthering Heights. Your job is to spot
scenes in the reading selection that pertain to these. Explain 5 scenes and the
motifs they may correspond to, postulating a possible theme. That is, what
are these scenes saying about the motif? This story says that people tend to…
Possible motifs are as follows: family history/relationships and sibling rivalry;
romantic or ill fated love; revenge; nature vs. civilization; clash of elemental forces
(storm and calm); clash of economic interest and social class; the striving for
transcendence (spiritual redemption); the abusive patriarch and the patriarchal
family; the effects of intense suffering; confinement and exile; displacement,
dispossession and exile; communication and understanding.
Please do the literature group job as homework, facilitate a discussion in class, take
notes on everybody’s jobs, and then I will provide other analysis work for your
group to do.
March 22
Chapters 1- 4
March 29
Chapters 5-8
March 31
Chapters 9-14
April 12
Chapters 15-20
April 15
Chapters 21-24
April 19
Chapters 25-28
April 22
Chapters 29-33