2011-2012 RAMON VILA MAYO ENGLISH CLASS WEBSITE (MR. W. GARCIA-CARDONA)

(12-2)
THE STORY-TELLER

Task 1: Answer the following questions based on the story. E-mail your answers to me at wg_eng3003@yahoo.com on or before November 18, 2011. (20 pts)

1.      Where does the story take place?

2.      What feeling did the bachelor have for the aunt and the children at the start of the story?

3.      What can you say about the children from the way they reacted to their aunt’s story?

4.      What had Bertha achieved that merited getting her three medals?

5.      What brought Bertha her unexpected end?

6.      What do you think is the message or lesson the bachelor’s story brings to the children?

7.      Which aspect of the bachelor’s story did you find personally surprising? Explain why.

8.      Any good story can serve to communicate ideas to others. In what way(s) does the aunt’s story fail to communicate or connect with the children?

9.      Do you think most soap operas or television “novelas” do a good job of creating believable stories? Explain why or why not.

10. What do the bachelor’s last words in the story predict for the aunt’s future?

Task 2: Write a composition in which you argue why the bachelor’s story seems to be more effective than the aunt’s story. Give specific reasons in your answer, focusing on why the children like the phrase “horribly good” and the ending of the story. Send your first draft via e-mail at wg_eng3003@yahoo.com on or before November 20, 2011. (50 pts.)

Task 3: AUTHOR’S INFORMATION: Complete the story map for author Saki, a.k.a. H. H. Munro. Use the same format that appears for 11^th grade. Keep in your English notebook and leave it in the Daily Work section. (50 pts. if map is completed in all its parts)

NOVEMBER, 2011

Advanced English 12-1 only

"The Story of an Hour" Questions (45 pts.)

Answers to be e-mailed to wg_eng3004@yahoo.com on or before November 23, 2011.

1. What is the nature of Mrs. Mallard's "heart trouble," and why would the author mention it in the first paragraph? Is there any way in which this might be considered symbolic or ironic?

2. The setting of the story is very limited; it is confined largely to a room, a staircase, and a front door. How does this limitation help to express the themes of the story?

3. In what ways is this passage significant? "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves." What kinds of sensory images does this passage contain, and what senses does it address? What does the vision through the open window mean to her? Where else does she taste, smell, or touch something intangible in the story?

4. What kind of relationships do the Mallards have? Is Brently Mallard unkind to Louise Mallard, or is there some other reason for her saying "free, free, free!" when she hears of his death? How does she feel about him?

5. Mrs. Mallard closes the door to her room so that her sister Josephine cannot get in, yet she leaves the window open. Why does Chopin make a point of telling the reader this? How might this relate to the idea of being "free" and to the implicit idea that she is somehow imprisoned? Do other words in the story relate to this idea?

6. What does Josephine represent in the story? What does Richards represent?

7. Mrs. Mallard is described as descending the stairs "like a goddess of Victory." In what ways does she feel herself victorious?

8. The last line of the story is this: "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills." In what ways is this an ironic statement? What is gained by having the doctors make such a statement rather than putting it in the mouths of Josephine or Richards?

9. What view of marriage does the story present? The story was published in 1894; does it only represent attitudes toward marriage in the nineteenth century, or could it equally apply to attitudes about marriage today?

10. If this is, in some sense, a story about a symbolic journey, where does Mrs. Mallard "travel"?

11. How much of Mrs. Mallard's apparent unhappiness in her marriage was her own fault?

12. After Mrs. Mallard receives news that her husband died in a train accident, she goes to “her room.” Why could this information contribute to the story’s main characters?

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Reader’s Response (in student notebook) DRAFT Select one of the prompts below for your writing for your initial draft at 50 points.

1.     Research the life of Kate Chopin (1851-1904). Then decide whether the death of her husband in 1882 influenced her when she wrote “The Story of an Hour,” published in 1894 in Vogue magazine.

Do you think that author Chopin herself faced problems similar to those of Mrs. Mallard?

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Important Story Elements

Setting

The action takes place in a single hour in an American home in the last decade of the 19th Century.

Characters

Mrs. Louise Mallard: Young, attractive woman who mourns the reported death of her husband but exults in the freedom she will enjoy in the years to come.
Brently Mallard: Mrs. Mallard's husband.
Josephine: Mrs. Mallard's sister.
Richards: Friend of Brently Mallard.
Doctors: Physicians who arrive too late to save Mrs. Mallard.

Type of Work and Publication Information

"The Story of an Hour" is a short story that observes the unities of time, place, and plot–that is, the action takes place in (1) less than a day (2) in a single location (3) as part of a single story line with no subplots. The story was first published in Vogue magazine in 1894.

Theme

Repression of women in a male-dominated society. Society in late-19th Century expected women to keep house, cook, bear and rear children–but little more. Despite efforts of women’s-rights activists such as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, women still had not received the right to vote in national elections by the century’s end. Moreover, employers generally discriminated against women by hiring them for menial jobs only and paying them less than men for the same work. The Story of an Hour hints that Mrs. Mallard’s husband–perhaps a typical husband of his day–dominated his wife.

Symbolism

Examples of symbols in the story are the following:

Springtime (Paragraph 5): The new, exciting life awaiting Mrs. Mallard
Patches of Blue Sky (Paragraph 6): Emergence of her new life

Figures of Speech

Examples of figures of speech are the following:
Revealed in half-concealing (Paragraph 2): Paradox
Storm of grief (Paragraph 3): Metaphor
Physical exhaustion that haunted her body (Paragraph 4): Metaphor/Personification
Breath of rain (Paragraph 5): Metaphor
Song which someone was singing (Paragraph 5): Alliteration
Clouds that had met (Paragraph 6): Metaphor/Personification
The sounds, the scents (Paragraph 9): Alliteration
Thing that was approaching to possess her (Paragraph 10): Metaphor/Personification
Monstrous joy (Paragraph 12): Oxymoron
She carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory (Paragraph 20): Simile
Joy that kills (Paragraph 23): Paradox. The phrase is also ironic, since the doctors mistakenly believe that Mrs. Mallard was happy to see her husband alive.

What's in a Name?

Not until Paragraph 16 does the reader learn the protagonist’s first name, Louise. Why the author delayed revealing her given name is open to speculation. I believe the author did so to suggest that the young woman lacked individuality and identity until her husband’s reported death liberated her. Before that time, she was merely Mrs. Brently Mallard, an appendage grafted onto her husband’s identity. While undergoing her personal renaissance alone in her room, she regains her own identity. It is at this time that her sister, Josephine, calls out, “Louise, open the door!” However, there is irony in Mrs. Mallard’s first name: Louise is the feminine form of the masculine Louis. So even when Mrs. Mallard takes back her identity, it is in part a male identity. (Michael J. Cummings, Cummings Study Guides)

Foreshadowing

The opening sentence of the story foreshadows the ending–or at least hints that Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition will affect the outcome of the story. Moreover, this sentence also makes the ending believable. Without an early reference to her heart ailment, the ending would seem implausible and contrived.

Mrs. Mallard's Heart Condition

As the story unfolds, the reader discovers that Mrs. Mallard’s heart ailment may have resulted–in part, at least–from her reaction to her inferior status in a male-dominated culture and to a less-than-ideal marriage. For example, in Paragraph 8, Chopin says the young woman’s face “bespoke repression”; in Paragraph 14, the author tells us that a “powerful will” was “bending" Mrs. Mallard. Finally, in Paragraph 15, Chopin notes: “Often she had not” loved her husband.

Author

Kate Chopin (1851-1904) is best known for her short stories (more than 100) and a novel, The Awakening. One of her recurring themes–the problems facing women in a society that repressed them–made her literary works highly popular in the late 20th Century. They remain popular today.
J

For Groups 11-1, 11-2 and 11-3

“THE TWO THANKSGIVING DAY GENTLEMEN” by O’Henry

Task #1: Complete as well as you can the Author’s Information map (see downloads section) for the story’s author. Remember that O’Henry is a pseudonym, or artistic name, and NOT the real name of the author. Search from encyclopedias or the Internet to complete the format. Send the completed format to wg_eng3004@yahoo.com on or before November 11, 2011 (50 pts.)

Task #2 : Before reading. Send your responses back to me via e-mail at wg_eng3004@yahoo.com on or before November 12, 2011 (30 pts.)

1. What is a tradition?

2. Mention two examples of traditions followed in your family.

3. Are traditions important for you? Why or why not?

4. Write about a time when you acted as if you were happy, although you really weren’t, to make someone else feel better. What results did your act bring?

Task #3: Look at the drawing below. Make a list in your English notebook (Daily Work) of no less than 25 words about the objects and actions you observe there. Re-check your list for any possible spelling errors. (25 pts.)

Task #3: Before reading. Send your responses back to me via e-mail at wg_eng3004@yahoo.com on or before November 12, 2011 (30 pts.)

1.       What is a tradition?

2.       Mention two examples of traditions followed in your family.

3.       Are traditions important for you? Why or why not?

4.       Write about a time when you acted as if you were happy, although you really weren’t, to make someone else feel better.   What results did your act bring?

Task #4: During reading. VOCABULARY

Match each vocabulary word with its story-appropriate definition appearing on the right. Write the letter of the definition on the space provided. (15 pts.)

___ wheeze

___ proud

___ old-fashioned

___ split

___ ceased

___ feast

___ shiver

___ valiant

___ lick ‘em

___ ragged

___ decayed

___ bulge

___ stuff

___ starvation

___ wane

1.        Brave

2.        Stopped

3.        Breathe with difficulty

4.        Weakness or death due to having no food

5.        To fill something too full

6.        Old and not in good shape

7.        Not modern nor updated

8.        To beat or defeat

9.        To stick out; to push out

10.      Divided to two or more parts

11.      Shake because of feeling cold

12.      Broken and in bad condition

13.      Large, delicious meal

14.      Weaken

15.      Feeling satisfaction for something you possess or have achieved

Task #5: GRAMMAR POINT – VERB FORMS

Read the paragraph. There are 7 (seven) errors involving verbs. Circle the incorrect verbs and correct them. (14 pts.)

Our Thanksgiving tradition is to have dinner at home. My mother and father shops for a turkey the weekend before the holiday. Both of them likes to cook, and my sister and I helps them. On Thanksgiving Day, we all get up early and begin to prepare the food and sets the table. We usually sit down to eat at about two o’clock. After the meal, my brother help with the leftover dirty dishes. Finally, I turns on the television and DVD to watch the latest release over some popcorn.

E-mail your answers to wg_eng3004@yahoo.com on or before November 12, 2011.

Task #6: READING COMPREHENSION (16 pts.)

Answer the following questions and return your answers to wg_eng3004@yahoo.com on or before November 14, 2011.

1.       Where does Stuffy Pete have his first Thanksgiving dinner?

2.       Mention three dishes that Stuffy Pete eat that day.

3.       What tradition do Stuffy Pete and the Old Gentleman maintain?

4.       How long have the characters maintain their tradition?

5.       Why is Stuffy Pete taken to the hospital?

6.       Why is the Old Gentleman taken to the hospital?

7.       Why was it important for the Old Gentleman his Thanksgiving tradition?

8.       How was this day?

9.       What things would the Old Gentleman do during the rest of the year?

10.   How much did this final dinner cost?

11.   Although there is only one Gentleman, the author calls both of the characters “gentlemen”. Why do you think he does this? (3 pts.)

12.   “Never judge a book by its cover.” How does this phrase relate to this story? (3 pts.)

Task #6: AFTER READING

Select one of the following writing assignments. Send your draft to wg_eng3004@yahoo.com on or before November 23, 2011. (A and B are worth 50 pts.; C and D are worth 75 pts.)

a.       Imagine you are Stuffy Pete. Write about your thoughts the next day when you wake up in the hospital.

b.      Imagine you are the Old Gentleman. Write about your thoughts the next day when you wake up in the hospital.

c.       Continue the story one year later. What has happened to the two characters?

d.      Write an adaptation to this story, now set in Old San Juan. Change the characters to two women who meet in the park. You can change some of the details, but don’t change the general theme of meeting during a traditional activity, although it does NOT have to be Thanksgiving.

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OCTOBER, 2011

Groups 11-1, 11-2, 11-3

a. QUOTES

React to one of the following quotations in your Daily Work notebook section (1-2 paragraphs):

A)“Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.” (John F. Kennedy)

B)“In teaching others we teach ourselves.” – proverb

C)“He who opens a school door, closes a prison.”(Victor Hugo)

D)“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” (Henry Ford)

Although I will try to contact each one of you via e-mail, I hope those of you checking the website can pass the word to others.

b. Download the selection Eleven by Sandra Cisneros at DOWNLOADABLE CLASS MATERIALS by Sandra Cisneros and be prepared to respond to questions on this reading that appear on this page. Responses to be e-mailed to me by October 6, 2011.

( 4 pts. each, questions 1-11and 5 pts. each 12-13 = 54 total points)

Where does the story take place?
Who is the narrator?
How old is the narrator?
Why is this day special to the narrator?
Why does Mrs. Price give the red sweater to Rachel?
Describe the sweater.
What does Rachel plan to do to the sweater at lunchtime?
Why doesn’t Rachel go on with her plan? What happens instead?
How does Rachel finally get rid of (deshacerse) the sweater?
Hos does Rachel feel at the end of the story?
According to Rachel, how is growing older similar to an onion or to the rings in an old tree trunk?
What are some things a child might doin a situation where an adult, who has more power, is being unfair to him or her?
Talk about a moment in your life when you have felt disappointed, when things did not work the way you expected.

Groups 12-1, 12-2

Groups 12-1 and 12-2

A. PROJECTS ON COUNTRIES: Since I will not be able to return to school until October 20^th at the earliest, please prepare your reports IN WRITING so they can be sent to me via e-mail, including bibliographies. The report should be 1-2 pages in length, no more than that. Spread this message to all the other 12^th graders whose e-mail addresses I don’t have. If anyone has a problem sending it to me via their homes, try to make arrangements at school or with a classmate. If a poster has been created for the project, please hand it in to me upon my return for extra credit. Final date: October 17, 2011)

B. Download the selection Being Educated (it appears below) and be prepared to respond to questions on this reading.

QUESTIONS FOR “BEING EDUCATED” (To be answered and sent to me via e-mail to wg_eng3004@yahoo.com . Spread this message to all the other 12^th graders whose e-mail addresses I don’t have. If anyone has a problem sending it to me via their homes, try to make arrangements at school or with a classmate. Final date: October 17, 2011)

Part 1. ( 5 pts. each = 70 pts.)

a. What were the socio-economic conditions in which Barbara Jordan grew up?

b. What have been Ms. Jordan’s lifetime achievements?

c. What situations are evident regarding the status of women and minority groups in law schools at the time Barbara Jordan attended Boston University?

d. Why does she have to work twice as hard, read and study longer than anybody else?

e. Present examples of racism and segregation in the United States. Puerto Rico. The Caribbean. Other places.

f. How does Barbara Jordan define the “process of thinking”?

g. Why is education a “matter of life and death” for her?

h. What did Jordan learn about the value of studying in groups?

i. At the end of the essay Jordan says, “I’m being educated finally.”What had happened to make her feel that way?

Barbara Jordan (1936–1996) was the first African American to become a state senator in Texas and the first African American to enter Congress since Reconstruction.

BEING EDUCATED

So I was at Boston University in this new and strange and different world, and it occurred to me that if I was going to succeed at this strange new adventure, I would have to read longer and more thoroughly than my colleagues at law school had to read. I felt that in order to compensate for what I had missed in earlier years, I would have to work harder, and study longer, than anybody else. . . . I did my reading not in the law library, but in a library at my graduate dorm, upstairs where it was very quiet, because apparently nobody else studied there. So I would go there at night after dinner. I would load my books under my arm and go to the library, and I would read until the wee hours of the morning and then go to bed. . . .

I was always delighted when I would get called upon to recite in class. But the professors did not call on the “ladies” very much. There were certain favored people who always got called on, and then on some rare occasions a professor would come in and would announce: “We’re going to have Ladies Day today.” And he would call on the ladies. We were just tolerated. We weren’t considered really top drawer when it came to the study of law.

At some time in the spring, Bill Gibson, who was dating my new roommate, Norma Walker, organized a black study group, as we blacks had to form our own. This was because we were not invited into any of the other study groups. There were six or seven in our group Bill, and Issie, and I think Maynard Jackson and we would just gather and talk it out and hear ourselves do that. One thing I learned was that you had to talk out the issues, the facts, the cases, the decisions, the process. You couldn’t just read the cases and study alone in your library as I had been doing; and you couldn’t get it all in the classroom. But once you had talked it out in the study group, it flowed more easily and made a lot more sense. . . .

Finally I felt I was really learning things, really going to school. I felt that I was getting educated, whatever that was. I became familiar with the process of thinking. I learned to think things out and reach conclusions and defend what I had said.

In the past I had got along by spouting off. Whether you talked about debates or oratory, you dealt with speechifying. But I could no longer orate and let that pass for reasoning because there was not any demand for an orator in Boston University Law School. You had to think and read and understand and reason. I had learned at twenty-one that you couldn’t just say a thing is so because it might not be so, and somebody brighter, smarter, and more thoughtful would come out and tell you it wasn’t so. Then, if you still thought it was, you had to prove it. Well, that was a new thing for me. I cannot, I really cannot describe what that did to my insides and to my head. I thought: I’m being educated finally.