A Four- Week Unit Lesson
Plan
For Toni Morrison’s novel,
ID# 104976133
CEE 593
Spring 2004
Table of Contents
Introduction to Novel Unit…………………..…………………….3
Overview of Unit Lesson Plan’s Grading
Policy………….……4-5
Overview
of Novel Unit &
Suggested
Resources and Book.…………....……………………..6
Lessons 1-20……………………...……………………………7-18
Supplemental Readings/Handouts………….………...…...….19-40
Introduction to Novel Unit
The following novel unit is intended as a four- week lesson plan to aid in the teaching of Toni Morrison’s Beloved. I believe Beloved and this unit are appropriate for student grades 11-12. I also feel that students at the honors level or advanced placement level will be better suited for the lesson plans I have designed because they demand a great deal of time and work. Many of the activities and exercises included in these lesson plans are geared towards involving the students with Toni Morrison’s language, specifically words and phrases filled with symbolism, imagery, metaphors, and similes. Through discussions, close readings, and poetry students are able to gain insight into Beloved on a critical level. Group work, journal entries, reading logs, supplemental readings, and handouts all aid to facilitate in the students’ learning of Beloved. Since we live in a demanding technological world, I feel it is important to mirror this high- tech commodity in my classroom. Students have control over their learning and can search the Internet for useful resources at their fingertips. Students will be required to complete tasks on my WebQuest, titled “African American History,” participate in online discussion boards, and post reading logs and journal entries on Blogger. Performance is a crucial aspect of this unit lesson plan because I strongly believe that students learn best by emerging themselves into the literature. Students will be dramatizing specific chapters of Beloved to enhance their connection with the novel.
I believe Beloved is a wonderful novel to study in our classrooms because of Morrison’s language, the messages that are conveyed, the cultural richness of the text, and the historical aspect of slavery and its aftermath. Thus, students will learn a great deal about Toni Morrison’s Beloved through the different teaching methods I have mentioned above. Students will come to appreciate and acknowledge that through writing, discussing, and performing Toni Morrison’s Beloved is full of rich and powerful language that can influence us all.
Grading Policy for Beloved
Four- Week Novel Unit
·
Online Journal: Worth 15% of overall unit grade.
This ongoing journal will be posted on www.blogger.com where students will set up a free account. This journal must demonstrate expanding ideas and opinions based on classroom discussions. These journal entries will be clear and concise. Students will give specific examples and cite works when necessary. The journal should reflect insight and well thought ideas. The teacher and their peers will be able to view these posts. Both the teacher and the students will periodically make comments and suggestions as the journal progresses. The journal will consist of a total of eleven entries.
· Class Performance: Worth 15% of overall unit grade.
This unit lesson demands performance, specifically for lessons 4, 9, and 10 because students will be dramatizing chapters of Beloved. Students must demonstrate knowledge of the novel as well as outside resources used throughout this unit lesson. Students can speak with the teacher at any time about their grade for this section.
· Two-Page Critique: Worth 15% of overall unit grade.
This paper will be assigned on lesson 18. Students must demonstrate: the ability to cite sources when necessary, use MLA style, include a works cited page, give examples, discuss various points of view, insightful conclusion, thoughtful thesis, and an overall mind provoking paper. Students will surf the Internet for reliable and respectable sources.
· Essay Test: Worth 15% of overall unit grade.
The test will be administered on lesson 20. The test follows the NY State Regents Exam, Essay Section. Students will be evaluated on their ability to formulate a clear and concise overall essay as well as how well they follow the guidelines of the assignment.
· Online Reading Log: Worth 10% of overall unit grade.
The reading log will be an ongoing task that will consist of detailed descriptions of what the students have read as well as their thoughts and reactions to what they have read. This reading log should display their understanding of the novel as well as their interpretations. The students will post their logs on www.blogger.com. Both the teacher and the students will make comments and suggestions as the reading log progresses. There will be a total of eight reading log entries.
· Poetry: Worth 10% of overall unit grade.
Students will create a found poem as well as a bio poem. These poems should be greatly detailed, fresh and interesting, and both poems must deal directly and efficiently with the novel. These poems must give the reader a clear idea.
· Participation: Worth 10% of overall unit grade.
Students are expected to participate in all the classroom discussions as well as the discussion board online. There are two highly participatory classes, a debate class for lesson 19 and a Point of View class for lesson 14. These lessons require significant discussion. Students should volunteer, share their thoughts and comments, ask questions, and take an active role throughout class meetings as well as online. Students can speak with the teacher at any time to discuss their grade for this section.
·
Video Worksheet: Worth 5% of overall unit grade.
Students must fully complete this worksheet. Answers must be fully developed with specific examples.
Students will correctly complete two 5-question quizzes that display their knowledge of Beloved.
Four- Week Overview of Toni
Morrison’s Beloved
|
Lesson 1: Taking On Language, Part 1
What’s on for today and why? Students will become familiar with slavery and its aftermath via music. Students will also familiarize themselves with Morrison’s language and begin to learn how rich and powerful her words truly are. Today’s lesson draws upon the readers’ interpretations of the poem and song because students are able to share their thoughts and opinions with their classmates.
Resources: Handouts include Bob Marley’s lyrics of “Redemption Song” (Handout 1) and “It was not a story to pass on” (Handout 2). Facts about Bob Marley and Toni Morrison will be discussed. Disperse and go over the Grading Rubric (Handout 3).
What to do: 1) Begin today’s lesson with a biography of Bob Marley. 2) Pass out musical lyrics to “Redemption Song,” handout 1. 3) Students will listen to Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” 4) Ask the students how this song moves them. Students will draw on background knowledge of slavery. Have students point to specific elements within Marley’s lyrics to solidify their statements. 5) Next, disperse copies of “It was not a story to pass on,” handout 2. Please note that students will be unaware in the beginning that “It was not a story to pass on” is NOT a real poem. The handout will be in a poetic layout written by an ‘anonymous’ poet. 6) Seven students will read the poem, each reading a paragraph. 7) The second reading will be a spirit reading, where students read one sentence, going around the classroom. We will then discuss what students gathered from the poem, what affected them, and how they reacted to the poem. 8) Students will read the poem for a third time, this time with a different group of seven students reading the poem standing in front of the class. These students will emphasize any words or phrases of choice by changing their tone of voice, their pitch, accent, and any other aspects the student chooses to incorporate. Ask students if this exercise changed their thought process of how they gravitated towards the poem or if it changed the meaning of the poem and in what ways. 9) Students will then learn that this poem is in actuality prose taken from Toni Morrison’s last two pages of Beloved. 10) A biography of Toni Morrison and her works will be discussed. 11) Disperse the grading rubric, handout 3, and go over its contents clearly, answering any questions posed. 12) The above-mentioned exercises will bring the unit lesson into a frame of reference.
Homework: Students will be asked to read chapter 1, the beginning of chapter 5 and 7. I will explain that these chapters focus on Beloved and will ease the transition into the novel. Students will also begin their online reading logs that encompass a summary of what they have read and their experiences with the novel. Students will respond to topic posted on discussion board.
Lesson 2: Taking on Language, Part 2
What’s on for today and
why? Students will become familiar
with syntactical features of Black English Vernacular (BEV). Students will read and discuss Langston
Hughes’ “I, Too” and “Dream Variations” with a cultural lens. Students will role-play BEV to acquaint
themselves with the language found within the novel.
Resources: Handout of “Syntactical features of Black English Vernacular” (Handout 4) and Langston Hughes’ “I, Too” and “Dream Variations” (Handout 5). Facts about Langston Hughes will be discussed. A CD of “beat-box” music.
What to do: 1) We will begin class with a discussion based on last night’s homework. 2) Disperse handout 4 to the class. 3) Students will learn specific characteristics of BEV through the handout and incorporate these characteristics throughout class discussion. All discussion will take place by using this dialect so students become immersed in Morrison’s language. 4) Discuss Langston Hughes’ biography with the class. 5) Disperse handout 5 to the class. 6) Students will read aloud “I, Too” and open the table for discussion. 7) I will then ask if there are any volunteers who will read “I, Too” in a rap style. I will accompany the rap artist with my “beat-box” CD, which is composed of background rap sounds to form a beat for the rap artist. 8) Students will again share their analysis of the poem. Ask students to compare and contrast between both versions of conveying the poem. 9) Students will then read “Dream Variations” aloud. Students will discuss the poem. 10) I will then ask the students to get on their feet and read the poem aloud while mimicking the words of the poem. Students will discuss these images of their fellow classmates and make connections with “I, Too.” 11) Students will then draw conclusions based on both poems. 12) Conclude today’s lesson by tying in these two poems with what the students have read thus far in Beloved. Students will make connections between all three works.
Homework: Students will read chapters 1-4 and post their reading logs. Students will begin an online Journal and discuss their reactions and thoughts to the day’s lesson. Students will respond to topic posted on discussion board.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if students are able to understand the significance and meaning of Langston Hughes’ poems and make connections with Beloved. Students should now be familiar with Black English.
What’s on for today and why? Students will read and analyze the language in Beloved. Students will take an active role in Morrison’s language by depicting elements found within several passages to become more familiar with the author’s speech.
Resources: Text
What to do: 1) Make sure students are posting their reading logs and journal entries. 2) We will begin the lesson with a discussion of the homework. 3) I will draw attention to sections of Beloved found on pages 16-17. For example, discuss the quote, “And they took my milk.” Another example is to have a student draw on the blackboard what a “chokecherry tree” might look like. Discuss what this tree signifies. Other pages also discuss the baby’s headstone reading, “Dearly Beloved” and the use and sometimes lack of color found within the novel thus far. Ask the students what is the significance of 124 and to compare and contrast Sweet Home versus 124. 4) Students will then read aloud, as a class, two passages found on pages 38-9. While the students are reading they will raise their hands when they come across images, metaphors, smells, alliteration, assonance, and repeated words. The class will discuss these elements found within Morrison’s language. 5) Students will raise interesting topics as well as point to specific points found within the novel that will be addressed as clearly and respectfully as possible. 6) Students will be immersed in the language and walking out of the classroom with an appreciation of Morrison’s Beloved.
Homework: Students will read chapters 5-9. Students will continue posting their reading logs and journal entries based on today’s lesson.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if students participate in raising their hands when they come across certain types of words that are mentioned above. Students should clearly comment on the quotes mentioned above.
Lesson 4: Lights, Camera, Action! (Part I)
What’s on for today and
why? Students will learn the
effects of Beloved through performance. Students will be award-winning actors for the day!
Resources: Text
What to do: 1) The class
will finish yesterday’s discussion. 2)
The homework will then be discussed and any questions will be answered. 3) Some students will then dramatize
chapters 7 and 8. 4) Those students
will only read and act the lines that are in quotes. Those characters that speak within these two chapters include
Sethe, Beloved, Paul D, Denver, Baby Suggs, and Amy. 5) Those students that are not acting will be directing the
student-actors on how they should be standing and with what tone, etc. This exercise will allow ALL the students to
participate and take an active role in portraying these two chapters. Students will have the opportunity to
visualize what is happening in the story.
These two chapters are important because Beloved is storytelling the
past and we see Sethe and Paul D putting all their energies into discerning the
past, etc. 6) By way of performance,
students will read Beloved on a more engaging and exciting level.
Homework: Students will post another journal entry based on today’s lesson. Students will complete Task 1 of my WebQuest at http://www.geocities.com/cristinadtufariello/step1.html. However, students will solely focus on the timeline and the quiz at this time because the remaining items will be discussed in lesson 17.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if everyone participates and demonstrates knowledge of the novel.
Lesson 5: The Director’s Chair
What’s on for today and why? Students will learn contrasting views on dealing with pain in Beloved. Students will have control over the text.
Resources: Photocopies of chapter 9 in Beloved.
What to do: 1) The teacher will split the class into groups of 6 people. 2) Disperse photocopies of chapter 9 to the groups. 3) Students will then mark up their handouts with pens and highlighters and include stage entrances and exits, types of expressions, tones, how things are said, etc. throughout the chapter. 4) The groups will then share with the rest of the class their finished work and explain how and why they went about completing this task. 5) This exercise will allow students to focus on Morrison’s language and make decisions on how they perceive what is occurring in the novel. 6) This chapter deals with various views on how to deal with pain and so the class will learn these views based on today’s activity.
Homework: Read chapters 10-15. Students will post their reading logs.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if students are
highly involved and detailed in their ‘directing’ roles.
Lesson 6: African Culture
What’s on for today and why? Students will understand Beloved better by learning African Culture and their views on death and the afterlife. Students will role-play as lawyers for the day.
Resources: Text, index cards, and handout of Kwasi Wiredu’s “Death and the Afterlife in African Culture” (Handout 6).
What to do: 1) The class will discuss the homework. 2) Students will then break up into groups. 3) Disperse handout 6 and read Kwasi Wiredu’s “Death and the Afterlife in African Culture.” 4) Each group will make a case, like a lawyer would do for his/her client. The ‘client’ (character from the novel) will be written on their index card, which the teacher has already prepared. This case should be geared towards death and the afterlife, however I recommend bringing in other African American cultural elements as well, such as their language and behaviors. 5) Students will use information provided by the handout and the text. Students will quote specifically from either works. Students can use Beloved up to chapter 15 since that is what has been covered thus far. 6) Students will make connections between African culture and the novel. 7) All the lawyers will share their cases for class discussion.
Homework: Students will read chapters 16-18. Students will post their reading logs and journal entries.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if students understand African American views on death and the afterlife as well as make connections with the novel.
Lesson 7: Cutting the Script
What’s on for today and why? Students will work with the text and decide what is crucial to keep Beloved a work of art. Students will have the authority to void out words, lines, passages, pages, or chapters within Beloved to display a creative way of representing the novel.
Resources: Text
What to do: 1) The class will discuss the homework. 2) The class will discuss Sethe’s infanticide. 3) Students will break into groups of six students. 4) Students will cut the script for Part One of Beloved. The groups have the liberty to keep or void out words, lines, passages, pages, or chapters. The groups will have to deliberate and come to a general consensus on what is crucial and what is unimportant to keep Beloved a masterpiece. 5) The groups will discuss the novel in great detail and listen to their classmates’ opinions and thought processes. 6) Students will also peer teach the novel and clarify any confusion. 7) The teacher will walk around the classroom and make sure the students are discussing the novel. 8) The groups will reconvene towards the latter half of the class period and discuss what the new script looks like for each group. Students will explain what sections were important enough to keep and why some others were not important, etc. 9) This exercise will allow students to discuss the novel in an exciting manner.
Homework: Students will post journal entries based on today’s lesson. Students will complete Task 3 of my WebQuest at http://www.geocities.com/cristinadtufariello/step3.html. However, students will not complete the poetry section at this time because poetry will be discussed in lesson 16.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if students are able to cut the script so that messages are clearly conveyed, tone and voice are evident, etc.
What’s on for today and why? Students will view Part One of Beloved and become analysts of Imagery and Symbolism, Theme, Film Technique, and the text itself. Students will role-play Ebert and Roeper.
Resources: The movie, Beloved, the text, and the worksheet, “A Viewing Guide for Toni Morrison’s Beloved” (Handout 7).
What to do: 1) The class will finish up yesterday’s lesson if needed. 2) Disperse and explain handout 7. 3) Students will view Part One of the movie and work on their “A Viewing Guide for Toni Morrison’s Beloved” worksheet. 4) The teacher will pause the film at times to discuss elements of the movie and/or to compare it to the text, etc. 5) The teacher will walk around the classroom to make sure students are completing their worksheets and paying attention to the movie. 6) Today’s lesson is a fun way to see Beloved in movie version.
Homework: Students will read chapter 19 and post a reading log.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if students pay attention to the movie and begin completing their worksheets.
Lesson 9: Lights, Camera, Action! (Part II)
What’s on for today and why? Students will understand stream-of-consciousness monologues. Students will again be award-winning actors for the day.
Resources: Text and Quiz 1 (Handout 8).
What to do: 1) The class will go over the homework. 2) Distribute pop quiz, handout 8. 3) Students will then take the 5-question pop quiz. 4) The teacher will collect and grade quizzes to be returned the following class day. 5) The class will then be separated into three groups where each group will play either Sethe for chapter 20, Denver for chapter 21, and Beloved for chapter 22. 6) Each group will work on dramatizing these chapters for the class. These chapters are important because we hear the thought processes of these three characters. In order for the students to really capture these monologues, they should be performed. 7) The class will reconvene and put on their performance. 8) The class will comment on these three performances. 9) Today’s lesson is a fun way to uncover chapters 20-22 and really get into the mindset of these characters.
Homework: Students will post a journal entry based on today’s lesson. Students will respond to topic posted on discussion board.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if everyone participates and demonstrates knowledge of the novel.
What’s on for today and why? Students will continue to understand stream-of-consciousness. Students are engaged with the novel through performance.
Resources: Text
What to do: 1) Students will recap the events of yesterday’s class. 2) The teacher will return the graded quizzes. 3) The class will go over the quiz. 4) Students will dramatize chapter 23 where Sethe, Denver, and Beloved speak. This chapter is important because these characters speak for those real-life men and women that were victims of slavery. 5) Students will draw on the previous two weeks for discussion on slavery and its effects. 6) Today’s lesson will solidify everything we have covered thus far.
Homework: Students will post a journal entry based on today’s lesson. Students will respond to topic posted on discussion board.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if everyone participates and demonstrates knowledge of the novel.
What’s on for today and why? Students will understand slavery and its effects. Students will listen to music and read a personal story about a real-life slave.
Resources: Songs of slavery and handouts of the songs’ lyrics (Handout 9) and a handout of an interview of a former slave, Walter Calloway (Handout 10).
What to do: 1) Disperse musical lyrics, handout 9. 2) Listen and read along with the lyrics to the slave songs. 3) Students will discuss the words within these songs and their meanings. 4) Students will point to specific lines to validate their statements. Students will make connections with Beloved. 5) Disperse copies of the interview of the former slave, Walter Calloway, handout 10. 6) Students will read the interview about the former slave and discuss reactions to his life. 7) Again, students will make connections with Beloved as well as with the songs they just listened to. 8) Today’s lesson will continue to solidify Beloved, slavery, and its affects.
Homework: Students will read chapters 24-25 and
post their reading logs and their journal entries.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if students understand the ramifications of slavery through a real life personal interview and music.
Lesson 12: Film Critics, Part B
What’s on for today and
why? Students will view Part Two of
Beloved and continue with their analysts of Imagery and Symbolism,
Theme, Film Technique, and the text itself.
Students will role-play Ebert and Roeper.
Resources: The movie, Beloved, the text, and the worksheet, “A Viewing Guide for Toni Morrison’s Beloved” (handout 7).
What to do: 1) The class will go over the homework. 2) Students will view Part Two of the movie. 3) Students will continue working on their worksheets. 4) The teacher will pause the film at times to discuss elements of the movie and/or to compare it to the text, etc. 5) The teacher will walk around the classroom to make sure students are completing their worksheets and paying attention to the movie.
Homework: Students will read chapters 26 to the end and post a reading log.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if students watch the movie and continue to work on their worksheets.
What’s on for today and why? Students will finish viewing Beloved and complete their “A Viewing Guide for Toni Morrison’s Beloved” worksheet. Students will continue their analysis of Imagery and Symbolism, Theme, Film Technique, and the text itself.
Resources: The movie, Beloved, the text, and worksheet, “A Viewing Guide for Toni Morrison’s Beloved.”
What to do: 1) The class will go over the homework. 2) Students will complete the movie and their worksheets. 3) The teacher will continue pausing the film at times to discuss elements of the movie and/or to compare it to the text, etc. 4) Discuss the movie as a whole and compare and contrast it with the text. 5) Students will hand-in their worksheets to be graded.
Homework: Students will study for quiz tomorrow. Students will respond to topic posted on discussion board.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if students watch the movie and complete their worksheets.
What’s on for today and why? Students will tell the story of Beloved through a character’s point of view. Students will become the characters in the novel in order to understand them more clearly.
Resources: Text and Quiz 2 (Handout 11).
What to do: 1) The teacher will give a 5-question quiz. The teacher will grade and return these quizzes the following day. 2) Separate the class into groups. 3) Assign groups a character from the novel to tell the story of Beloved. 4) Have students reconvene and have a class discussion about the novel with the students role-playing their characters, drawing on specific quotes throughout the text. 5) The students will have fun role-playing their assigned character while having a thought provoking discussion.
Homework: Students will post journal entries based on today’s lesson. Students will respond to topic posted on discussion board.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if everyone participates and demonstrates knowledge of the novel.
What’s on for today and
why? Students will understand the
act of naming slaves and names within Beloved. Students will engage in the discussion of
slave names.
Resources: Text and handout of “The Act of Naming:
Slave Names” (Handout 12).
What to do: 1) The teacher will return graded quizzes. 2) The class will go over the quiz. 3) Students will then read and discuss handout 12, “The Act of Naming: Slave Names.” 4) Students will then discuss naming in Beloved. 5) Students will make connections between the handout and the novel, citing quotes from both works.
Homework: Students will post journal entries based on today’s lesson.
What’s on for today and why? Students will create a Found poem and a Bio Poem. Students will express their thoughts and feelings through poetry.
Resources: Text, handout on Bio poem and
Found Poem format (Handout 13), and Maya Angelou’s I Love the Look of Words (Handout
14). Facts about Maya Angelou will be
discussed.
What to do: 1) The class will finish discussion from yesterday’s lesson. 2) Disperse handout 14, Maya Angelou’s I Love the Look of Words. 3) Read and discuss Angelou’s poem. 4) Discuss the biography of Maya Angelou. 5) Disperse handout 13, Bio poem and Found Poem format. 6) The class will go over handout of poem formats. 7) The teacher will show examples of these poems. 8) Students can choose their character of choice from Beloved for the Bio poem. 9) Students will work on both poems. 10) Students will be handing in their poems tomorrow to be graded.
Homework: Students will complete both poems to be handed in tomorrow. Students will respond to topic posted on discussion board.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if students demonstrate knowledge of their character of choice through their Bio poem.
What’s on for today and why? Students will experience an electronic journey through the Underground Railroad as a slave and view photos of traditional Africa online. Students will have the opportunity to work with a simulated computer game.
Resources: Computer Lab and the Internet.
What to do: 1) The teacher will collect both poems. 2) The class will go to the computer labs and visit this site: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/j1.html 3) Students will take the Underground Railroad voyage. 4) Students will view photos of traditional Africa at this site: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/africa/gallery.html 5) The teacher will walk around the computer lab to make sure students are doing their work. 6) The teacher will offer any help or insight throughout the lesson. 7) The class will reconvene at the end of the class time to discuss the day’s lesson.
Homework: Students will post journal entries based on today’s lesson.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if everyone participates online with the simulated game and participates in class discussion regarding the photographs of Africa.
What’s on for today and why? Students will read and discover criticisms of Beloved. Students will voice their criticisms as well as learn the criticisms of others.
Resources: Text, handout “Criticisms” (Handout 15), and the Computer lab.
What to do: 1) The class
will finish up discussion from yesterday’s lesson. 2) The teacher will then disperse handout 15, “Criticisms.” 3) Students will then read and discuss the
handout. 4) Students will write and
share their own criticisms. 5) Students
will validate their criticisms citing from the text and using specific
examples. 6) Students will critically
think and respond to the novel and the “Criticisms” handout. 7) Students will listen to, support, and
dispute thoughts and opinions of other students for a great discussion. 8) Students will then surf the Web for
reliable and respectable sources that critique Beloved. 9) Students will share their new- found knowledge
with the class.
Homework: Students will write a two-page critique on Beloved to be handed in two days after the Essay Test.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if students are able to voice different points of view and validate their thoughts with specific examples and quotes.
What’s on for today and why? Students will debate: Is Beloved a story to be passed on? Students will share their thoughts and opinions on Beloved.
Resources: Text
What to do: 1) Ask students:
Is Beloved a story to be passed on? 2) Students will debate this
topic. 3) Ask students: How have we
addressed the problems of slavery, racism, and poverty that were pointed out in
the novel? 4) Students will debate this
topic. 5) The teacher will allow
conversations to flow and the debate to flourish. 6) Students will cite from the novel and draw upon specific
examples. Students will articulate
clearly and convey their messages in depth.
Homework: Students will study for their Essay Test. Students will make sure their reading logs, journal entries, and their “A Viewing Guide for Toni Morrison’s Beloved”
worksheets are completed and ready to be graded.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if everyone participates and demonstrates knowledge of the novel.
What’s on for today and why? Students will demonstrate their knowledge of Beloved through their writing skills.
Resources: Essay Test (Handout 16).
What to do: 1) The teacher will collect the students’ “A Viewing Guide for Toni Morrison’s Beloved” worksheet. 2) The teacher will explain that their online reading logs and journal entries must be complete. 3) The teacher will administer the Essay Test.
Homework: Students will continue to finish their two-page critique to be handed to the teacher in two days. The two-page paper will be returned to the students the following week.
How did it go? The lesson is a success if the majority of the students pass the exam.
Handout 1 BOB MARLEY
Redemption Song
Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the 'and of the Almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fulfill de book.
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Wo! Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fulfill de book.
Won't you help to sing
Dese songs of freedom? -
'Cause all I ever had:
Redemption songs -
All I ever had:
Redemption songs:
These songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.
Handout 2 It was not a story to pass on
-Anonymous
THERE IS a loneliness that can be rocked. Arms crossed, knees drawn up; holding on, this motion, unlike a ship’s, smooths and contains the rocker. It’s an inside kind- wrapped tight like skin. Then there is loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down. It is alive, on its own. A dry and spreading thing that makes the sound of one’s own feet going seem to come from a far-off place.
Everybody knew what she was called, but nobody anywhere knew her name. Disremembered and unaccounted for, she cannot be lost because no one is looking for her, and even if they were, how can they call her if they don’t know her name? Although she has claim, she is not claimed. In the place where long grass opens, the girl who waited to be loved and cry shame erupts into her separate parts, to make it easy for the chewing laughter to swallow her all away.
It was not a story to pass on.
They forgot her like a bad dream. After they made up their tales. Shaped and decorated them, those that saw her that day on the porch quickly and deliberately forgot her. It took longer for those who had spoken to her, lived with her, fallen in love with her, to forget, until they realized they couldn’t remember or repeat a single thing she said, and began to believe that, other than what they themselves were thinking, she hadn’t said anything at all. So, in the end, they forgot her too. Remembering seemed unwise. They never knew where or why she crouched, or whose was the underwater face she needed like that. Where the memory of the smile under her chin might have been and was not, a latch latched and lichen attached its apple-green bloom to the metal. What made her think her fingernails could open locks to the rain rained on?
It was not a story to pass on.
So they forgot her. Like an unpleasant dream during a troubling sleep. Occasionally, however, the rustle of a skirt hushes when they wake, and the knuckles brushing a cheek in a sleep seem to belong to the sleeper. Sometimes the photograph of a close friend or relative- looked at too long- shifts, and something more familiar than the dear face itself moves there. They can touch it if they like, but don’t, because they know things will never be the same if they do.
This is not a story to pass on.
Handout 3 GRADING RUBRIC
15%
Each: 10% Each: 5%
Each:
Online Journal Online Reading Log Video Worksheet
Class Performance Two Poems Pop Quiz 1& 2
_________________
Two Page Critique Participation Total: 10%
____________________
Essay Test Total: 30%
_________________
Total: 60%
CRITERIA:
Online Reading Log: Detailed descriptions of what you
have read as well as your thoughts and reactions to them.
Performance: Shows knowledge of the novel, is enthusiastic, and is involved.
Two Page Critique: Cites sources, uses MLA style, gives examples, discusses many points of view, insightful conclusion, interesting thesis, thought provoking paper, and uses reliable and respectable online sources.
Online Journal Entries: Clear, concise, specific, gives examples, expands further on class discussions, offers insights, gives personal opinions and validates them.
Two Poems: Greatly detailed, words from passages used, poem is fresh and interesting, gives reader a clear idea, deals directly and efficiently with the novel.
Video Worksheet: Fully complete, detailed and specific, clear, draws upon examples.
Participation: Students are expected to participate in all the classroom discussions as well as the discussion board online. Students should volunteer, share their thoughts and comments, ask questions, and take an active role throughout class meetings as well as online.
Pop Quiz 1& 2: This section will be discussed in class, as the dates become closer.
Essay Test: This section will be discussed in class, as the date becomes closer.
Handout 4 Syntactical Features of Black English Vernacular
Jane McDonald
The FAST Area Studies Program
Department of Translation Studies, University of Tampere
http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/P1/BE/jane.html
When one thinks of dialect variation in general, one usually
thinks of dialects that depend on geographic location. This holds true for
American English as well. Regional variation accounts for many lexical and
phonological differences between different dialects in America. For example,
one may pronounce "creek" differently in Oregon than in California.
Depending on where one lives, one also chooses words differently; some regions
refer to carbonated beverages like Pepsi or Sprite as "sodas", while
others prefer saying "pop". Besides regional variation, however,
dialects can also depend on social or ethnic factors.
One particular example is the English spoken by
the majority of Black youth, especially in the inner city. This dialect is
often referred to as Black English Vernacular (BEV). Although it does not apply
to all Blacks in America, nor exclusively to Blacks (some White urban youth and
White southerners possess similar speech patterns), BEV applies to the majority
of the Black population and is therefore considered an ethnic dialect.
In comparing BEV to regional dialects, the main
difference is that it is defined mostly by its syntactical and phonological
differences rather than lexical choices. There are indeed certain words that
are used in the Black community that don't exist in other dialects, but this
vocabulary keeps changing. Terms used by Blacks, such as "rap" or
"chill", are often spread to mainstream society through the MTV
generation, and by the time their use becomes popular with Whites as well, a
new word to replace the old one is already being popularized in the Black
community.
While lexical terms come and go, the syntactical
and phonological patterns used in BEV are more static. This paper will outline
the basic syntactical features of BEV. Some of these features are
phonologically conditioned, but since they go against the grammatical rules of
Standard English, they are also included in this category.
One feature is the optionality of the plural
marker (final -s), especially when the noun is preceded by a numeral. A BEV
speaker might say "six chair" instead of "six chairs", or
"five foot tall" instead of "five feet tall". The point to
remember here is that the numeral that preceeds the noun is a marker of
plurality in itself, so the meaning is still understood. Saying "dem
chair" instead of "the chairs" is no more confusing;
"dem" (them) marks the plural.
Another characteristic of BEV is the absence of
the "s" suffix of verbs conjugated in the third person singular. One
might hear a BEV speaker say "he sing" instead of "he
sings". What these speakers are doing, in effect, is making the
conjugation pattern of verbs more regular thatn in Standard English. Instead of
"I sing, you sing, he sings, we sing, you sing, they sing," in BEV
"sing" simply does not change in the third person singular. In
regards to irregular verbs like "say", "have", and
"do", there is this same lack of different conjugation.
For BEV speakers, the past tense is sometimes
indistinguishable from the present tense. "He miss the bus yesterday"
would mean "He missed it". This is because the final "t"
and "d" of words are often dropped in pronunciation. However, the
past tense is used for irregular verbs: "He went to the store."
A feature of BEV that is one of the most
frequently frowned upon grammatical choices is double and multiple negation.
many people use double negation, much to the dismay of English teachers. It is
not a unique feature of BEV. Saying
"I dont have none" instead of "I
dont have any" is an example. What is unique to BEV, however, is the
frequent use of multiple negation, which often confuses non-BEV speakers.
"Aint nobody gonna beat me at nothin" is one example; "I aint
seen nothin like dat no place" is another. Although double and multiple
negation is considered "wrong" in Standard English, it is important
to keep in mind that many languages (Spanish, for example) use it, and that it
once was the rule in Old English. Therefore, "correctness" is
subjective.
The last point to be discussed is the use of the
verb "be". "Copula deletion" is quite common among BEV
speakers. A person might say "You ugly" or "You bad"
without including the second person singular form "are". In BEV,
"be" has a meaning not present in Standard English; that being the
idea of repeated action over time. This "Distributive BE" is used in
an example like "He be fooling around", meaning that "He always
fools around".
One might ask why the syntactical differences
between Black English Vernacular and Standard English are so pronounced. Why is
it that other dialects of American English do not vary in syntactical
structure?
To attempt to answer the question, one must take
into account the unique history of Blacks in America. They were brought over as
slaves, and were speakers of a wide variety of African languages. Not being
formally taught English, they had to use an auxiliary form of the language to
communicate with each other and with Whites. These pidgins and creoles probably
shared many syntactical features with their native African languages.
It is important to understand the syntax and
background of Black English Vernacular to realize that it isnt merely an
erroneous way of speaking English. BEV has its own distinct rules and logic.
Anyone who believes that BEV speakers have only "an inferior way of
speaking" is not familiar with background of American Black English. BEV,
like any other dialect, is a perfectly valid communication system.
I, too, sing America. To
fling my arms wide
I am the darker brother. In
some place of the sun,
They send me to eat in the kitchen To whirl and to dance
When company comes, Till
the white day is done.
But I laugh, Then
rest at cool evening
And eat well, Beneath
a tall tree
And grow strong. While
night comes on gently,
Tomorrow, Dark
like me-
I'll be at the table That
is my dream!
When company comes. To
fling my arms wide
Nobody'll dare In
the face of the sun,
Say to me, Dance!
Whirl! Whirl!
"Eat in the kitchen," Till
the quick day is done.
Then. Rest
at pale evening…
Besides, A
tall, slim tree…
They'll see how beautiful I am Night
come tenderly
And be ashamed - - Black
like me.
I, too, am America.
Handout 6
DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE
IN AFRICAN CULTURE
KWASI WIREDU
THIS-WORLDLY CHARACTER OF THE AFTERLIFE IN AFRICAN THOUGHT
There is a mildly paradoxical unanimity in African studies about the African belief in, and attitude toward, the afterlife. It is universally noted, on the one hand, that Africans generally believe that bodily death is not the end of life, but only the inauguration of life in another form. But, on the other hand, it is equally universally remarked that the African attitude to life is a this-worldly one. The paradox is, in fact, only apparent; but quite some conceptual clarifications are needed to see why.
The crucial conceptual issue concerns the nature of the after-world. In what sense is it an other world? Not all African peoples are given to talking about death and the afterlife,(77) but wherever there are any intimations at all of what life in the land of the dead is like, the similarities between that form of life and the earthly one are striking. The similarities are indeed so striking that the characterization of this life as `earthly' in contrast to the afterlife is already metaphysically inappropriate. In West Africa, for example, where people are not excessively reticent about eschatology, descriptions of the afterlife generally include explicit indications that the transition from this life to the next is by land travel; and of course, if you travel from one part of the earth by land, you can only arrive at another part of the earth. In traditional Africa boundaries are often marked by rivers. Not surprisingly, the high point of the post-mortem journey is the crossing of a river. Once having crossed the river, one enters the land of the departed and joins the society of the ancestors, a society which replicates the political order of pre-mortem society to the extent that rulers in the one retain their status in the other.
It would be interesting and relevant to speculate who or what this `one' is who is supposed to do the afterlife travelling, but it might be appropriate to call attention immediately to the this-worldly orientation of the conception itself of the afterlife. Remaining in West Africa for the time being, it is important to note that the whole point of going on the last journey is to become one of the ancestors. Now, the significance of the ancestors consists simply in this, that they watch over the affairs of the living members of their families, helping deserving ones and punishing the delinquent. If an ancestor is a ruler, the scope of his activities goes beyond his own family to the whole of his town or kingdom. In either case, ancestors are there to see to the good of the living. There is, of course, a reciprocal side to this. Reciprocity is a strong feature of African society; it is, in fact, a feature of any moral community. Accordingly, the living feel not only beholden to the ancestors for their help and protection, but also positively obliged to do honor to them and render service to them as appropriate.
How is honor done to the ancestors? In two connected ways, one general, the other particular. The first way is simply to live uprightly. Just to live uprightly is to be a source of honor to one's family, and one's ancestors constitute an integral part of one's family. Bad conduct, on the other hand, brings disgrace to the living family and displeasure to the ancestors. The ancestors, in their post-mortem condition, are credited with veritable moral perfection and are therefore not accessible to disgrace, but just because of their elevated moral status they are thought to be even more scandalized by wrong doing than the living elders of the family. Wrong doing may take three basic forms, namely, trifling with the moral law, falling foul of civil regulations or of the customs and taboos of the community, and failing to take as good a care of family affairs as in one lies.
The last heading may involve quite particularized imperatives or even injunctions. Perhaps a departed member of the family has left his successor a half-completed project together with adequate resources for its completion. To go ahead and complete it is to do honor to the dead. Or if he has left some debts to be paid, then that is an opportunity to uphold his honor. There may be dependents to be taken care of, or specific instructions may have been left before death for certain things to be done. These, and such like, form the second, more particular, way in which the living can do honor to the dead, or perhaps we ought to say the dead-but-living.(78)
Since these matters imply definite duties, non-performance may elicit punishment from an ancestor, which usually takes the form of unaccountable illnesses.(79) These are, incidentally, the form of lapses from right conduct that the ancestors are most apt to punish. This restriction does not, however, indicate an abridged interest, on their part, in the general morality of their relatives; it just means that in the ethical division of labor there are other sources of sanctions. Nor does the restriction diminish the conviction of the living that right conduct redounds to the credit of their departed relations and, besides, warms their hearts.
In the way of direct services to themselves, the ancestors are remarkably undemanding. Occasional dedicatory drops of ceremonial schnapps or modest servings of food in the right place overnight from time to time seem to be all that is required. Nevertheless, such acts, especially those of libation, are of the last consequence, for it is through them that the living communicate their assurances of respect to the ancestors and solicit their timely assistance in connection with specific enterprises. In this way there is maintained an on-going relationship with the departed.
What then, to reopen a question previously raised but not explored, must the inhabitants of the land of the dead be like to sustain this social relationship with their mortal brethren? If we recall the land travel and river crossing, not to talk of the schnapps sipping and more solidified pickings, it must occur to us that they must be conceived as of a somewhat psycho-physical constitution.4(80) That they must have some analogue of a body is an inescapable inference from the physicalistic setting of their activities and, in any case, from embodied descriptions of sightings of dead individuals which, though rare, are culturally typical. It is no less apparent that they must have minds, since they are supposed to exercise the function of assessing the conduct of their relatives and apportioning blight or blessing as the case may require. After all, for at least some African peoples, such as the Akans of Ghana, mind is not an extensionless substance a la Descartes, but simply the capacity to do just such things.(81) From all of this it emerges not only that the land of the dead is, geographically, not altogether dissimilar to our own but also that its population are rather like ourselves.(82)
Actually, this is not a surprising idea, for it is a natural outgrowth of a conception of personhood which is entertained among the peoples of West Africa with only variations of detail and, indeed, among most African peoples with only slightly more substantial differences. According to this conception, a human being has two types of constituents. The first is the material body as commonly perceived; this presents no immediate conceptual problems. The second, on the other hand, is not easy to characterize; it is not of identically the same type as the material body, and yet it is not of a diametrically opposed category; it is, as the phrase goes, a cross between the two. This second factor of human personality is taken to be what accounts for our being alive or for our having a particular destiny; it is that whose presence means life and whose departure means death.(83) But it is itself conceived on the model of the living body or, better still, of the living person; so much so, that it is frequently spoken of as a replica of a person and credited with the office of a `guardian angel'.
The ontologically interesting thing about this kind of being is that although it is conceived in the image of a person, it is exempted from the grosser characteristics of the material body. Thus, it can appear at, or disappear from, places without regard to speed limits for matter in motion or to the laws of impenetrability. Moreover, it is capable of action at a distance in which a living person may be severely affected without perceptible contact. The question of perceivability brings us to an important property of the entities in question. They cannot be seen with the naked eye nor heard with the unaided ear, except on rare occasions when they themselves elect to make themselves sensibly accessible to particular persons; otherwise, they can be seen or heard only by people with medicinally heightened powers of sight and hearing.
Even so sketchy a characterization of the second basic constituent of a person in the West African conception should make it clear that it would be a substantial oversimplification to describe it as spiritual in the sense of this word which implies total immateriality. There is in the conception under discussion only a reduced materiality, and the reduction affects not its imagery, but its dynamics. Since at death it is this quasi-material entity which departs to the world of the dead, it is natural that talk of the afterlife should be replete with a this-worldly imagery. This remark is applicable to the thought not only of the peoples of West Africa but also of many other African peoples, perhaps of most or all African peoples. It certainly explains Okot p'Bitek's insistence, in the specific case of the Central Luo, that the `entities which they believed they encountered at the lineage shrines were not spirits but the ancestors as they were known before death' (my italics; recall the quotation from Bitek in footnote 6 above).
If, mindful of all the foregoing, we now return to the question: in what sense is the African world of the dead an other world? the answer must be that it is in no sense another world, but rather a part of this world, albeit a conceptually problematic part. The problem is that the attenuations of the materiality of the place of the dead and its residents seem to leave us with a material imagery without a solid anchorage. Nevertheless, this imagery has been marvelously efficacious in motivating conceptions of the cultural unity of the living with the dead in the thought of many African peoples. Given this conceptual framework, it becomes intelligible how this life can be seen as a preparation for an afterlife whose whole significance nevertheless consists in securing the welfare of the living. It follows, by an obvious transitivity, that in this way of thinking whatever the meaning of life is, it is to be defined in terms of the circumstances of this life.
Handout
7 A Viewing Guide for Toni
Morrison’s Beloved
1) Textual Analyst:
2) Film Technique Analyst:
3) Theme Analyst:
4) Imagery and Symbolism Analyst:
Period:___________
POP QUIZ 1
What is the significance of '124' (the house)? Why does the novel begin with a number and not a word? How does this beginning affect your reading of the first paragraph?
Compare and contrast the major 'settings': Sweet Home vs. 124
What is the function of memory in this novel? Why does Morrison use the word "rememory" at times?
What kind of narrator or narrative voice do we have in this novel?
What is the significance of names and the act of naming in Beloved?
How does 'Beloved' get her name? How does Denver get her name?
Handout 9
SLAVE SONGS
TROUBLE SO HARD
CHORUS:
O Lord, trouble so hard. (2)
Yes, indeed, my trouble is hard (2)
O, Lord, trouble so hard. (2)
Don’t nobody know my troubles but God. (2)
Yes, indeed, my trouble’s so hard. (2)
O Lord, trouble so hard. (2)
1. Wait and let me tell you what the sister will do:
’Fo’ your face, she have a love for you,
’Hind your back, scandalize your name,
Jest the same you have to bear the blame.
CHORUS
2. Wait and let me tell you what your brother will do:
’Fo’ your face, have a love for you,
’Hind your back, scandalize your name,
Jest the same you have to bear the blame.
ARWHOOLIE (CORNFIELD HOLLER)
Oh, etc.
I won’t be here long.
Oh, etc.
Oh, dark gonna catch me here,
Dark gonna catch me here.
Oh, etc.
QUITTIN’ TIME SONGS
Ooooh, the sun going down,
And I won’t be here long,
Ooooh, the sun going down,
And I won’t be here long,
Ooooh, then I be going home.
Ooooh, I can’t let this dark cloud catch me here.
Ooooh, I can’t stay here long,
Ooooooooooh, I be at home.
MEALTIME CALL
Oh, Miss Wright
Why don’t you ring that bell?
Oh, Miss Wright
Why don’t you ring that bell?
I can tell
The way those greens smell.
AIN’T NO GRAVE CAN HOLD MY BODY DOWN
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down, my body down.
When the first trumpet sound,
I’ll be gettin’ up, walkin’ round.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down, my body down.
Now when that first trumpet sound,
I’ll be gettin’ up, walkin’ round.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
When I heard of a beautiful city,
The street was paved with gold.
Then I had not been to Heaven.
Oh, Lord, I’ve been told.
Then I found this throne of grace.
It’s gonna ’point my soul a place.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
When that first trumpet sound,
I’ll be gettin’ up, walkin’ round.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
When Jesus was hangin’ on the cross,
It made poor Mary moan.
He looked down on His disciples.
“They’ve taken my mother home.”
Ain’t that a pity and dark shame,
How they crucified the Name!
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
When the first trumpet sound,
I’ll be gettin’ up, walkin’ round.
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down.
MISSISSIPPI BLUES
1. Goin’ down to the Delta.
Where I can have my fun.
Goin’ down to the Delta.
Where I can have my fun.
Where I can drink my white lightnin’, gamble. . .
I can bring my baby home.
2. Don’t the Delta look lonesome
When that evening sun go down?
[Spoken]: Just ’bout good an’ dark.
Don’t this Delta look lonesome
When that evenin’ sun goes down?
Well, you been lookin’ for your baby
Don’t know where she could be found.
[Spoken]: Boy, I was lookin’ all over town for her,
you know dat?
3. Goin’ back to my use-to-be,
Although that she have done me wrong.
Goin’ back to my use-to-be,
Although that she have done me wrong.
Well, I think I’ll have to forgive her
’Cause I’m tired o’ driftin’ through this world alone.
[Spoken]: Ain’t that a cryin’ shame? ’Cause I started
to think about her a whole lot o’ times. And she
way down Mississippi, and here I am up here!
4. She treats me dirty,
But I love her just the same.
Well, she treats me dirty,
But I love her just the same.
Well, it just breaks my heart to hear. . .
Lord, some other men call her name.
[Spoken with instrumental]: They better not do that!
5. Now goodbye, I’m gon’ leave you,
An’ I won’t be back no more.
[Spoken]: I ain’t gon’ be gone that long, you
know—
Now goodbye, I’m gon’ leave you,
An’ I won’t be back no mo’.
Man, my mind gets to ramblin’—
See you in Nineteen and Forty-fo’.
These selections were obtained from the Archive of Folk Culture at the
Library of Congress American
Folklife Center.
Interviewed by W.P. Jordan
"OLE JOE HAD REAL 'LIGI0N"
Walter Calloway lives alone half a block off Avenue F, the thoroughfare on the southside of Birmingham on which live many of the leaders in the Negro life of the city. For his eighty-nine years he was apparently vigorous except for temporary illness. A glance at the interior of his cabin disclosed the fact that it was scrupulously neat and quite orderly in its arrangement, a characteristic of many ex-slaves. As he sat in the sunshine on his tiny front porch, his greeting was: "Come in, white folks. You ain't no doctor is you?"
To a negative reply, he explained as he continued, "Fo' de las' past twenty-five years I been keepin' right on, wukkin' for de city in de street department. 'Bout two mont's ago dis mis'ry attackted me an' don't 'pear lak nothin' dem doctors gimme do no good. De preacher he come to see me dis mornin' an' he say he know a white gemman doctor, what he gwine to sen' him to see me. I sho' wants to get well ag'in pow'ful bad, but mebby I done live long 'nuff an' my time 'bout come."
Quizzed about his age and antecedents, he began his story: "Well, Sir, Cap'n, I was born in Richmond, Virginny, in 1848. Befo' I was ole 'nuff to 'member much, my mammy wid me an' my older brudder was sold to Marse John Calloway at Snodoun in Montgomery County, ten miles south of de town of Montgomery.
"Marse John hab a big plantation an' lots of slaves. Dey treated us purty good, but we hab to wuk hard. Time I was ten years ole I was makin' a reg'lar han' 'hin de plow. Oh, yassuh, Marse John good 'nough to us an' we get plenty to eat, but he had a oberseer name Green Bush what sho' whup us iffen we don't do to suit him. Yassuh, he mighty rough wid us be he didn't do de
[end p. 59]
whippin' hisse'f. He had a big black boy name Mose, mean as de debil an' strong as a ox, and de oberseer let him do all de whuppin'. An', man, he could sho' lay on dat rawhide lash. He whupped a nigger gal 'bout thirteen years old so hard she nearly die, an' allus atterwa'ds she hab spells of fits or somp'n. Dat make Marse John pow'ful mad, so he run dat oberseer off de place an' Mose didn' do no mo' whuppin'.
"Same time Marse John buy mammy an' us boys, he buy a black man name Joe. He a preacher an' de marster let de slaves buil' a bresh arbor in de pecan grove over in de big pastur', an' when de wedder warn't too cold all de slaves was 'lowed to meet dar on Sunday fo' preachin'.
Yassuh, ole Joe do purty good. I speck he had mo' 'ligion dan some of de hifalutin' niggers 'tendin' to preach nowadays. De white folks chu'ch, hit at Hope Hill over on de stage road, an' sometimes dey fetch 'dere preacher to de plantation to preach to de slaves. But dey druther heah Joe.
"Nawsuh, we didn't git no schoolin' 'cep'in' befo' we got big 'nough to wuk in de fiel' we go 'long to school wid de white chillun to take care of 'em. Dey show us pictures an' tell us all dey kin, but it didn't 'mount to much.
"When de war started 'mos' all I know 'bout it was all de white mens go to Montgomery an' jine de army. My brudder, he 'bout fifteen year ole, so he go 'long wid de ration wagon to Montgomery 'mos' ebry week. One day he come back from Montgomery an' he say, 'Hell done broke loose in Gawgy.' He couldn't tell us much 'bout what done happen, but de slaves dey get all 'cited 'caze dey didn' know what to 'spect. Purty soon we fin' out day some of de big mens call a meetin' at de capitol on Goat Hill in
[end p. 52]
Montgomery. Dey 'lected Mista Jeff Davis president an' done busted de Nunited States wide open.
"Atter dat dar warn't much happen on de plantation 'cep'in' gangs of so'jers passin' th'ough gwine off to de war. Den 'bout ebry so often a squad of Confederate so'jers would come to de neighborhood gatherin' up rations for Gin'ral Lee's army dey say. Dat make it purty hard on bofe whites an' blacks, takin' off some of de bes' stock an' runnin' us low on grub.
"But we wuk right on 'twell one day somebody seen a runner sayin' de Yankees comin'. Ole mistis tell me to hurry ober to Mrs. Freeman's an' tell 'em Wilson's Yankee raiders was on de way an' comin' lak a harrikin. I hop on a mule an' go jes' as fas' as I can make him trabel, but befo' I git back dey done retch de plantation, smashin' things comin' an' gwine.
"Dey broke in de smoke house an' tuk all de hams an' yuther rations dey fin' what dey want an' burn up de res'. Den dey ramshack de big house lookin' fo' money an' jewelry an' raise Cain wid de wimmin folks 'caze dey didn't fin' what dey wanted. Den dey leave dere ole hosses an' mules an' take de bes' we got. Atter dey don dat, dey burn de smoke house, de barns, de cribs an' some yuther prop'ty. Den dey skedaddle some place else.
"I warn't up dar but I heern tell dey burn up piles an' piles of cotton an' lots of steamboats at Montgomery an' lef' de ole town jes' 'bout ruint'. Twarn't long atter dat dey tell us we'se free. But lawdy, Cap'n, we ain't nebber been what I calls free. 'Cose ole marster didn' own us no mo', an' all de folks soon scatter all ober, but iffen dey all lak me day still hafter wuk jes' as hard, an some times hab less dan we useter hab when we stay on Marster John's plantation. "Well, Cap'n, dat's 'bout all I know. I feel dat misery comin'
[end p. 53]
on me now. Will you please, suh, gimme a lif' back in de house. I wisht dat white gemman doctor come on iffen he comin'."
[end p. 54]
Source: The American Slave, Vol. 6: 51-54.
Period:___________
QUIZ 2
Why does Denver as a young girl, never stop taking lessons in reading and writing from Lady Jones and then could not hear anything for two years?
Why does Morrison seem to 'dedicate' her book to "Sixty Million and more?"
Trace the unusual uses of familiar language in the novel. Why does Morrison use language in this way? Are word choices and phrases like "rememory" and "Tell me your diamonds" simply the "voice" of a character misusing or misunderstanding language and 'proper syntax?'
Discuss the theme of "possession" in this novel.
What does Morrison mean by her final refrain, "This is not a story to pass on?" Why does she say this three times in the span of two pages, with only a slight variation from the original phrasing? ("It was not a story to pass on.")
Handout 12 The Act of
Naming: Slave Names
Slaves, straight from
Africa, were stripped of their names. Some were renamed on the ship
as they were transported to the United States. On many slave ships, the
first man and woman to walk aboard were named Adam and Eve. However, most
African slaves were named by their owners. There were several trends used
in naming slaves. But however African slaves were named, it was always an
act of taking away their identity and forcing a new one upon them.
One of the most popular ways to name slaves was to give them Biblical
names. White slave owners often worked very hard to convert their slaves
to Christianity; in addition, they used the Bible and Christianity to validate
their right to own slaves.
The other big trend in naming slaves was to use demeaning names. Slave
owners wanted to put slaves in their place. Many slave owners used fancy,
prestigious names like Plato, Hercules, Romeo, and Aphrodite. By giving
such powerful, strong names to slaves, they poked fun at the slaves' position
and mocked their lack of power and freedom. When slaves were given
currently popular names, they were usually given a short, common version like
Tom, Sam, Lil, and Cass. These names were generic and
unpretentious. They encouraged the idea that all slaves were the same,
rather than unique individuals. Non-names were another way to avoid
seeing slaves as individuals; indeed they urged slave owners to look at slaves
as non-human. Non-names included choices like Princess, Tiny, Buck, and
Red; they were not considered true names as slaves were often not considered
true people.
The Civil War brought many freedoms to former slaves including the freedom to
name themselves and their children as they pleased. There was an
immediate influx of names forbidden by slave owners like Abraham (Lincoln, of
course), Moses (the Bible figure who led the Israelites to freedom), and Nat
(after Nat Turner, leader of an anti-slavery movement). Names reveling in
the victory of the war were widespread; thousands of babies were named Freedom,
Liberty, Joy, Independence, and Glory. Former slaves commonly changed
their own names. Those with nicknames like Tom, Sue, Joe, and Abby began
going by Thomas, Susannah, Joseph, and Abigail. Former slaves used naming
and renaming as a way of proclaiming their freedom and claiming their
identity.
The Civil War was not the only great movement to affect African American naming
practices. During the civil rights movement, many African Americans began
looking for their ancestral and cultural history. The Black Muslim
movement that began in the 1950s and 60s persuaded many African Americans to
turn to Islam, the traditional religion of many African nations, particularly
the nations from which it was common to take slaves. Muslim groups,
especially the Nation of Islam, encouraged African Americans to renounce their
"slave names" in favor of traditional African and Muslim names.
Many well-known African Americans changed their names including Malcolm X (born
Malcolm Little), Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay), and Louis Abdul Farrakhan
(born Louis Walcott).
Today, African Americans, like all Americans, choose a wide selection of names
for their babies. Whatever names they choose, they have a strong, rich
history of meaningful naming practices.
Taken from: http://rainbowwarrior.coa.edu/laura/move/africanamerica.htm
Handout 13 BIOPOEM FORMAT
Line 1: First name
Line 2: Four traits that
describe character
Line 3: Relative of________
Line 4: Lover of __________ (list several people or things)
Line 5: Who feels__________ (several things)
Line 6: Who needs__________ (several things)
Line 7: Who fears__________ (several things)
Line 8: Who gives__________ (several things)
Line 9: Who would like to see___________ (several things)
Line 10: Resident of___________
Line 11: Last name
Recombining the
beautiful language of an author with a new message creates found poems.
The author has already made the connections. You make new connections for
yourself and the reader.
Handout 14
Maya Angelou’s
I LOVE THE LOOK OF WORDS
Popcorn leaps, popping from the floor
of a hot black skillet
and into my mouth.
Black words leap,
snapping from the white
page. Rushing into my eyes. Sliding
into my brain which gobbles them
the way my tongue and teeth
chomp the buttered popcorn.
When I have stopped reading,
ideas from the words stay stuck
in my mind, like the sweet
smell of butter perfuming my
fingers long after the popcorn
is finished.
I love the book and the look of words
the weight of ideas that popped into my mind.
I love the tracks
of new thinking in my mind.
Handout
15 Criticisms
http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/southeast/prac/storyline2.html#Criticisms
Since the publication of Toni Morrison’s Beloved , there have been
numerous criticisms about this novel. There are several sections of people’s
critical essays here that talk about certain aspects of Beloved . In
this first part of Claire Cowan-Barbetti’s critical essay, she talks about the
communal meaning in Beloved.
“Controversy has riddled Beloved from the start. Modern critics have diagnosed
Beloved as a melodramatic ghost story or historical slave narrative akin to
Uncle Tom's Cabin that, according to Stanley Crouch, ‘fails to rise to tragedy
because it shows no sense of the timeless and unpredictable manifestations of
evil that preceded and followed American slavery’. Mythic, archetypal, Marxist,
pragmatic, and even psychoanalytic critics, because they treat the relation of
the individual to the community, understand that Beloved is not tragic, nor
does it attempt to be. These critics, for the most part, perceive the Gordian portrayal
of Sethe and Beloved as an occasion to unveil the implications of language,
memory and story in forming the psyche or soul of the person. Essentially,
these critics agree that the movement of the characters towards making meaning
out of a painful past in the context of a communal understanding implies a
comedic hope for the future” (Cowan-Barbetti).
“A curious aspect within the criticism treating Beloved is the tendency to
gloss quickly over the coda, and more specifically the sentence ‘This is not a
story to pass on’. An overwhelming number of critics dedicate only a few
sentences at the very end of their essays to the paradoxical statement, usually
positing that its ambiguity makes the audience remember the story all the more.
The interpretation must not be so simple.
The blood-current running through the novel is the theme of fragmentation
versus myth-making, or not-story versus story. The coda is set apart from the
body of the story; It has no chapter heading, nothing to introduce it as the
end of the story. Thus, as the lines, ‘It was not a story to pass on’ appear,
they apply not to the stories of Sethe, Denver and Paul D, but to the passages
immediately before describing a girl whose parts erupt in the long grass, whose
footprints fit the feet of man and child alike, whose phantom image can be
glimpsed in the photographs of loved ones. The girl is not named in these
passages. She is a entity ‘forgotten and disremembered’. She cannot be passed
on because she is a fractured, negative spirit from that realm Louise Cowan
describes as ‘a realm of the dead into which the negative flows.. all the
things that speak of annihilation and nothingness’. Interpreting her figure
according to the thought of C.G. Jung, she is the shadow archetype: the face of
‘evil’ with a ‘shattering’ power. Ultimately, she is not-story; she is not
capable of being sung. The ones who survive make the story that is beloved”
(Cowan-Barbetti).
“The novel begins with a passage from St. Paul to the Romans: ‘I will call them
my people, which were not my people; and her beloved which was not beloved’.
The last, whispered word of the novel is the word ‘Beloved’. The hermeneutical
import of the novel's final, lingering word carries us back to the beginning
passage. With this single word, Morrison makes her point: she has given the
historified past a rich name bearing feeling and body. Through the sound and
musical structure of the work, Morrison pays tribute to the primordial, organic
language that undergirds spoken language. The story of Sethe and the community
around her is no longer broken; it is transformed into a
graspable, beloved meaning-in-time. They share a chain that has become liberating song. This is story to pass on” (Cowan-Barbetti).
In this next section of a critical essay, William R. Handley writes about
how it can be taken differently since it “lies between two culture with
differing literary values”.
“The difficulty in reading Toni Morrison's novel, 'Beloved,' is that as an
African American work, it lies between two cultures with differing literary
values. On the one hand, it can be taken as a restructuring of a lost culture,
which is, at best, a mournful allegory. On the other hand, if taken as 'nommo,'
which is the African literary tradition, it is the re-creation of a loss into
existence by the power of the word. As it is, it should be taken as both a loss
and a regeneration all at the same time” (Handley).
Mary Paniccia Carden also writes about Beloved. In her essay she
writes about how romance and slavery mixed in this novel lead to “dual
endings”.
“Women writers, Rachel Blau DuPlessis argues in Writing Beyond the Ending,
search out and project possibilities ‘beyond’ restrictive plots centered in
romance and directed toward domesticity. She defines ‘writing beyond the
ending’ as ‘the transgressive invention of narrative strategies... that express
critical dissent from dominant narrative’ and fashion a text that ‘denies or
reconstructs seductive patterns of feeling that are culturally mandated,
internally policed, hegemonically poised’. For Toni Morrison, an African
American woman addressing a ‘dominant narrative’ in which black women have been
secondary or invisible, ‘writing beyond the ending’ means interrogating the
historical implications that romance assumes when infused with ideologies of
race. In her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved, intersecting narratives of
romance and slavery lead to dual endings, which, in their refusal of
resolution, represent the double dilemmas of divergent narrative perspectives
and goals” (Carden).
Subjectivity in Beloved is discussed in this next criticism by
Jennifer Kirwan.
“In a 1989 interview with Bonnie Angelo of Time magazine, Toni Morrison
discussed the desire of our nation to repress the memory of slavery. According
to Morrison, the enslavement of Africans and African Americans in the United
States is ‘something that the characters [in Beloved] don't want to remember, I
don't want to remember, black people don't want to remember, white people don't
want to remember’ . Yet her novel forces its reader to recognize the existence
and conditions of slavery in a nation that would prefer to forget that such a
crime was ever committed. While Morrison, like Sethe and Paul D., would prefer
to repress the memory of slavery, she feels compelled to create a space in
which the ‘enslaved’ may finally speak. As Elizabeth Abel has pointed out,
‘Beloved deliberately represents captive persons as subjects rather than
objects of oppression, and does so primarily in a discourse on the hunger,
passion, and violence generated in the 'too thick' mother-daughter bond
produced by the conditions of slavery". While the end of slavery sought to
transform objects (slaves) into subjects (free men and women), the characters
in Beloved find the passage into subjectivity somewhat elusive. I explore the
question of Beloved's identity and how her identity affects her own
subjectivity, as well as that of Denver and Sethe. Beloved's perpetual
references to a slave ship experience function as her primal scene: a traumatic
event in one's childhood which may be considered the cause of one's adult
neurosis. After interpreting the primal scene, I discuss the complexity of
Beloved's identity. As Margaret Atwood asserts, ‘There's a lot more to Beloved
than any one character can see, and she manages to be many things to several
people’. Like the novel itself, the character of Beloved resists a singular
interpretation. However, if for a moment one were to disregard the multiplicity
of Beloved's voice and focus instead on the voice as a single consciousness,
one would find a powerful way into the novel. This schema allows the reader to
consider another possible interpretation of Beloved's identity”
(Holden-Kirwan).
ESSAY TEST
Format
taken from the Essay Section of the NY State Regents English Exam
Good Luck!
Name:
______________________________
Task:
Using all the information we have used during this
novel unit, write a 300 word speech to be given to members of the governing
body of your class in which you agree or disagree that ‘Beloved is a
story to be passed on.’
Criteria:
-Tell your audience what they need to know about Beloved
-Indicate whether or not you agree or disagree with the statement above
-Use specific, accurate, and relevant information from the text to
support your opinion
-Use tone and level of language appropriate for a speech for member of
the governing body of your class
-Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner
-Indicate and words taken directly from the text by using quotation
marks or referring to the author
-Follow the conventions of standard written English