Course Recap for Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Characterization and Voice

In class we looked at two different stories and explored how the writers created and developed interesting characters.  In "Me Talk Pretty One Day" specifically we looked at how the narrator revealed aspects of his personality through the voice he uses to tell the story (a very light-hearted, sarcastic tone).  The same thing happens in "The Lesson." Sylvia's tone of voice is very hard, aggressive, full of bravado, a voice, we as readers realize she is using as a front to hide her feelings of shame and vulnerability.  Also in both The Lesson and Me Talk Pretty One Day, we are able to learn things about the narrators based on how they interact with others.  Because we see David cower underneath his teachers scrutiny, we know he is sensitive to criticism but we also know he doesn't give up easily because he continues to work even though the teacher makes him feel so insecure.  We know Sylvia is a bully not because she tells us so but because of the way she interacts with her cousin Sugar.  Also keep in mind the ways that Bambara is able to quickly introduce and characterize a huge cast of characters in The Lesson, through what they do and what they say.

We did an exercise today where I had you write all of the things in your bedroom and then had your classmates try and guess things about you based on the contents.  The point of this exercise is for us to practice showing who a person is instead of just telling the reader who they are.


Homework

• Write a paragraph (7 sentences minimum)  describing a person (real or fictional) through an object they love. Think about things you love or about the things we learned about each other from a description of their rooms. Ex.  Kelly's stuffed rabbit has a special place on the shelf in her room. Her mom gave it to her when rabbits were her favorite animals.  It's missing an arm from when her big brother cut it off after she got him in trouble for smoking. She doesn't like to admit that she still sleeps with him when she's afraid.....
• Read Face by Alice Munro underneath Class Documents (to the right).

Here is a video of David Sedaris reading another essay from his book, Me Talk Pretty One Day, titled "Jesus Shaves."