Objectives: Today I will practice identifying motifs and themes in a text.
Homework:
Agenda:
Homework:
- Study for the Vocabulary Quiz on Wednesday
- The quiz will be on the 10 words from your graphic organizer
- You will need to be able to define the words and use them in sentences.
- Keep bringing your Readers' Workshop book to class!
Agenda:
- Write about one (or more) of the following:
- What is a talent you have? What is a talent you wish you had?
- If you were lost in the woods, what would you do?
- If there were no laws, what do you think would happen?
- Write about anything on your mind.
- Theme, Motif, & Symbolism
| THEME
| MOTIF
| SYMBOL
|
Read the following excerpt from the short story "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather and answer the question that follows.
He wore...a red carnation in his jacket’s buttonhole… When the weather was warm the girls made lemonade, which was always brought out in a red-glass pitcher… He came out of the room in his red robe… He remembered the old woman from whom he had bought the red flowers… The carnations in his coat were drooping with cold, he noticed; all their red glory over.
What is the most logical motif?
a. Cold Weather
b. Lemonade and Summertime
c. The Color Red and Flowers
d. The Glass Pitcher
Read the following excerpt from the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker. Then answer the questions that follow.
“Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” Dee said. “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.”
“I reckon she would,” I said. “Goodness knows I been saving ‘em, for long enough with nobody using ‘em. I hope she will!” I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered Dee a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style.
“But they’re priceless!” she was saying now, furiously; for she has a temper. “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!”
“She can always make some more,” I said. “Maggie knows how to quilt.” Dee looked at me with hatred. “You just will not understand. The point is these quilts, these quilts!”
“Well,” I said, stumped. “What would you do with them?”
“Hang them,” she said. As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts…. “You just don’t understand,” she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car.
“What don’t I understand?” I wanted to know.
“Your heritage,” she said.
What is the most logical theme statement?
a. A person’ heritage can only be remembered by displaying items, like hanging a quilt.
b. It’s important to know how to quilt in case you need to stay warm.
c. The narrator has two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Dee wants a quilt that the narrator is going to give to Maggie.
d. One’s true heritage is something he or she holds within the heart and lives out in real life, not something that is displayed on a wall just because it is a trendy thing to do.
What is a logical explanation of the quilt as a literary symbol?
a. The quilt symbolizes the heritage of the family and represents where they’ve come from and the people who have come before them.
b. The quilt symbolizes Dee’s temper and represents the warmth that it provides as well as the hatred that it causes.
c. The quilt symbolizes Maggie’s talent with making quilts and represents the art of home-made mementos.
d. The quilt symbolizes fashion and represents the stylish trends of hanging quilts on the wall like art.
Daily Agenda Slideshow
He wore...a red carnation in his jacket’s buttonhole… When the weather was warm the girls made lemonade, which was always brought out in a red-glass pitcher… He came out of the room in his red robe… He remembered the old woman from whom he had bought the red flowers… The carnations in his coat were drooping with cold, he noticed; all their red glory over.
What is the most logical motif?
a. Cold Weather
b. Lemonade and Summertime
c. The Color Red and Flowers
d. The Glass Pitcher
Read the following excerpt from the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker. Then answer the questions that follow.
“Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” Dee said. “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.”
“I reckon she would,” I said. “Goodness knows I been saving ‘em, for long enough with nobody using ‘em. I hope she will!” I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered Dee a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style.
“But they’re priceless!” she was saying now, furiously; for she has a temper. “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!”
“She can always make some more,” I said. “Maggie knows how to quilt.” Dee looked at me with hatred. “You just will not understand. The point is these quilts, these quilts!”
“Well,” I said, stumped. “What would you do with them?”
“Hang them,” she said. As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts…. “You just don’t understand,” she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car.
“What don’t I understand?” I wanted to know.
“Your heritage,” she said.
What is the most logical theme statement?
a. A person’ heritage can only be remembered by displaying items, like hanging a quilt.
b. It’s important to know how to quilt in case you need to stay warm.
c. The narrator has two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Dee wants a quilt that the narrator is going to give to Maggie.
d. One’s true heritage is something he or she holds within the heart and lives out in real life, not something that is displayed on a wall just because it is a trendy thing to do.
What is a logical explanation of the quilt as a literary symbol?
a. The quilt symbolizes the heritage of the family and represents where they’ve come from and the people who have come before them.
b. The quilt symbolizes Dee’s temper and represents the warmth that it provides as well as the hatred that it causes.
c. The quilt symbolizes Maggie’s talent with making quilts and represents the art of home-made mementos.
d. The quilt symbolizes fashion and represents the stylish trends of hanging quilts on the wall like art.
- When we're done talking about theme, motif, and symbolism, grab a book and start reading!
Daily Agenda Slideshow
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