Understanding Sontag: Sontag’s Wars
This handout analyzes Sontag’s writings on the wars and armed conflicts of her era, and considers the risks and impact of “bearing witness” to war.
WAR & ACTIVISM LESSON 2:
HANDOUT 2
1 class period (45-60 min)
- History and Social Studies
Place > The Americas
Place > Asia
Place > Europe
Place > The Middle East
Themes > Immigration/Migration
Themes > Politics and Citizenship
Themes > War and Foreign Policy
U.S. History
U.S. > World War II
World > The Modern World
- Literature and Language Arts
Genre > Biography
Genre > Essay
Place > American
Place > Modern World
- Analysis
- Critical thinking
- Cultural analysis
- Discussion
- Evaluating arguments
- Historical analysis
- Interpretation
- Literary analysis
- Logical reasoning
- Making inferences and drawing conclusions
- Summarizing
- Synthesis
- Textual analysis
- ELA Reading: 1-3, 10
- ELA Speaking & Listening: 1
- HSS Reading: 1-3, 10
OR complete the lesson now with one of our Student Activity Options
- Assign longer selections or the full texts of Sontag’s “Trip to Hanoi” in Styles of Radical Will, ““Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo” in Where the Stress Falls, “One Year After” in At the Same Time, and/or Regarding the Pain of Others in advance, in place of handout excerpts. Additional texts by Sontag on these wars and other conflicts are also listed in our War & Activism Unit Research
- Reflection and concluding questions may also be assigned as short essays or response papers.