"Banned" Together -- Pudd'nhead Wilson

Also known as The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson, this short novel by Mark Twain was published in 1894. What are your thoughts about this book? Why do you think it was challenged or banned?

"Banned" Together -- Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury... Feel free to share your thoughts about this book or the movie.

"Banned" Together Blog Spring 2013

This blog is a special service learning project of Professor Starr's American Literature class. The students have studied the American Library Association's Freedom to Read Statement and will be blogging this semester about challenged books such as Fahrenheit 451, Slaughterhouse-Five, and many more. They are eager to discuss this literature and the freedom to read! Your comments are welcome! Please note that this board is moderated, so your comments will not appear immediately. Although anonymous posts are permitted, names would be appreciated. Thank you!

Waiting for Lefty

Waiting for Lefty is Ivy Tech's first student theater production! Read more about it here.

Remnant Trust: Literature of the Old Testament

Remnant Trust -- ENGL 245, Fall 2011 on Prezi

Remnant Trust: Frankenstein

Frankenstein is a monster who is confused with what purpose he was created. He doesn’t understand why he is around, just to be ignored. He even compares himself to a child and his creator to a father but doesn’t understand why his “father” would disown him. He says things, such as how humans are like fire. Fire can cook food and keep him warm but when he touches it, he gets burnt. Likewise, humans seem so good to each other, but are so mean to him. He says he could feel like both “Adam” and “Satan” after he found the Paradise Lost book, because Victor Frankenstein wanted nothing to do with him.


Our culture doesn’t see the monster as such a bad thing. Our culture has made cereal brands, costumes, books, and movies over him. There are at least one hundred films available retelling the monsters’ story. Some examples are “The Frankenstein Symphony” By Francis Dhomont and Christopher Isherwood’s modern version of Frankenstein, titled “Frankenstein: The True Story.” You can even go on the web and find hundreds of things that have to do with him. You don’t even have to search to web to find him. Go into the grocery store and look at the cereal brands or even watch the children or adults during Halloween because you would be surprised on how big this monster really is! -- Written by ENGL083-36N Group 4

Remnant Trust: Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath's Tale

The story of the Wife of Bath’s Tale has a reoccurring theme that represents how you can be loyal but your actions do not always make you noble. The Wife of Bath’s Tale is about a knight that breaks the law and the Queen tells him that he will not be beheaded if he searches for a year and a day to find what women most desire. Then the Knight finds an old lady in the search and she tells the Knight what he wants if he promises her his hand in marriage. Later on in the story the old lady notices that he is a jerk, not noble, and she gives him a long lecture about how being rich and rude will not get him anywhere in life. The old lady helps him realize that looks and money will not amount to how loyal she can be. She even tells him that loyalty is more than money in the end.

The Wife of Bath’s Tale is important to Western Literature because it undermines royal marriages. Nobility was thought of as having more power and money than everyone else and that they could rule the city. In that time period, peasants were not allowed to marry someone with noble blood. The Wife of Bath’s Tale was the first major story that was written in Middle English. When reading this story we feel as if it is close to being a big business, how each employee is trying to become the top seller. All top sellers convince consumers to buy the product. The top seller in The Wife of Bath’s Tale is the old lady, she convinced the Knight to marry her in return for gaining the answer of what most women desire.

The Wife of Bath’s Tale is a feminist story, and is both empowering and insulting towards women. The story is empowering because the Queen wants the Knight to find out what women most desire. In reality, all women do not have one thing that they desire and because of that, this story is insulting. As the old lady suggests, we women would like to have control over our husband, but that is a snippet of what we desire. The Wife of Bath’s Tale reminds us of the movie Mean Girls because it is about popularity, money, looks and the power of women. The story also deals with popularity because the knight is too noble for the old lady, money because the knight does not want to marry her; she is poor, and looks because the old lady is not beautiful. The power of women because during the story the queen is in charge of the punishment and tells the knight to find the one thing women most desire. If the knight finds what women most desire, then he will not be beheaded. -- Written by ENGL083-36N Group 3