TODAY IN CLASS
First, we connected the two possibilities regarding Elizabeth Bowen's "Demon Lover"--authentic ghost story vs. a story with seemingly supernatural elements that could all have ordinary or natural explanations--with the idea of theme.  Although no single statement of theme covers all the bases, this story seems to suggest several possibilities:
The past, though absent, haunts those who have not made peace with it.
Without familiar routines, human beings are extremely vulnerable.
The stress of wartime can make otherwise rational people succumb to unreasonable fears.

Second, we got started on the next story:  "Araby" by James Joyce, pp. 1147-1152.
We looked at setting (the "blind" street with houses that "gazed" with "imperturbable faces" in paragraph 1), which set up the expectation that vision/seeing (not just external literal vision, but also internal recognition) will be important.  We also looked at the details of the 2nd paragraph--it's ostensibly about the priest, the former tenant who had died in the house, but actually, we saw that the details are there to help define the narrator as an observant but naive individual.  In 6th period, we managed two more paragraphs together--we focussed on the color scheme and mood of the paragraph about the neighborhood boys playing, and just got going on the paragraph in which he watches her leave for school.

HOMEWORK
1) Finish reading the story
2) Write down (just in your notes--not to hand in) three questions you may have about the text.  These may be fairly basic--something you're not sure you understand--or they could be questions that could lead to good discussion.