Assignment for week of December 2 through December 8th, 2007

Discuss "The Paperhanger".  The Harrikin is a recurring setting in Gay's work. The Nashville Scene describes it :

The Harrikin was once replete with mining towns and mining money, but when the ore was all extracted, “the people left like the Maya abandoning their cities to build other cities…, [and] the Harrikin grew wild. Trees sprouted up through the works of man. Kudzu and wild grapevines climbed the machinery until ultimately these machines seemed some curious hybrid of earth and steel.” When a massive tornado—thought to be a hurricane, or “harrikin,” by locals—ripped through a few years later, it upturned houses and trees and dirt roads, leaving behind a tangled maze.

What do you think the Harrikin symbolizes? Also What did you get out of the story?

For your second post, write two sentences using words from unit 12.

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