Exploring Genres: Rotating Stations

As this will most likely be students’ first time reading Beloved, they may not know of the
historical figure, Margaret “Peggy” Garner, who served as inspiration for the character of Sethe
in the novel. The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the story of Margaret Garner
as the slave mother who killed two of her four children, and, most significantly, to encourage
students to explore the effects of different genres when representing the same event. Students
will compare three accounts: the woodshed scene in chapter 16 in the novel in which Morrison
describes the death of Sethe’s daughter, a piece of art titled “The Modern Medea – The story of
Margaret Garner” which was printed in Harper’s Weekly in 1867 about 10 years after the event,
and another account of the event written in 1856 by John M. Hutchinson titled, “A Poor Slave
Mother with Three Children.” Students will be put into 3 groups. Each group will begin at a
different station where they will focus on one of the three sources at a time. Students will be
prompted to first write down their first impressions of the source followed by a closer
observation with special attention to the ways in which each source uniquely uses diction and/or
imagery to represent the scene. Students will consider questions such as “What does the body
language of the individuals in the art suggest about each of their emotions? Which particular
words in Hutchinson’s account convey the emotions of the scene? (hint: look for adjectives and
action verbs) and Do these words accurately describe the body language of the individuals in
“The Modern Medea?” Why or why not? After all students have gone to all three stations, they
will discuss with their group the similarities and differences between the three sources answering
prompted questions such as “What do you believe the author wants to communicate to their
audience? What details of the piece support this? Which source most moved you? and in what
ways does each source express something the other does not or can not?”
“A Poor Slave Mother with Three Children”
https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/433

“The Modern Medea”

https://www.loc.gov/resource/ds.14485/

Understanding Character and Perspective

In this activity, students will choose two characters in the novel (perhaps Sethe, Beloved,
Paul D, Denver, Baby Suggs, or Halle) and will write letters between the two. They will write at
least four short letters (two from each character of their choice) and imagine what they might say
to each other at the end of the novel. In their letters, students will be required to include some
aspect of a particular character’s experience from the novel in order to think about how their
chosen character might write about this experience as a memory. For example, if a student
chooses to write letters between Beloved and Denver, the student might write a letter from
Denver’s point of view that says, “I remember when I went to all of the neighbors and asked for
help when you and mother would not leave the house.” In other words, students take an event
that happens in the novel and write it as a character’s memory. This will challenge them to then
think about how memories can translate into writing and how they will use that memory to
continue their narrative beyond Morrison’s conclusion of the novel. Students may be asked to
consider questions such as “What might be lost when we write about a memory vs when it
appears in our mind? How can writing act as a bridge between personal memories of two
individuals? In this way, this activity has two main purposes: first, it allows students to extend
the novel and think about what might happen if Toni Morrison kept writing, and two, it lets
students write from another’s point of view. While using details from the text, this assignment
will foster a deeper understanding of the characters’ identities and will allow students to explore
letters as a tool for expression.

Historical Context: Venn Diagram

This activity will give students historical context concerning slavery and the Fugitive
Slave Laws in the U.S. In order to give more background information before getting into the
comparative activity, the teacher will show part of the CrashCourse video called “The Fugitive
Slave Act of 1793: Crash Course Black American History #10.”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcdOWKiKgWU). For the main activity, students will
return to the sections in Beloved in which Sethe remembers her escape journey and will compare
these moments with excerpts from chapter 11 of “The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass.” In
groups, students will read Denver’s account of Sethe’s escape. Students will alternate reading the
paragraphs aloud and, while reading, will place sticky notes next to moments in the text that
suggest Sethe’s ideas of safety, love, and motivation. What words/ phrases stand out to you
related to these themes in this section of Beloved? Students will then follow the same structure
while reading the excerpted paragraphs from “The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass.” What
are the differences in narrative style? How does Frederick Douglass’ ideas of safety, love, and
motivation compare or contrast to Sethe’s? Focusing on the idea of safety, love, and motivation
will give students more direction when comparing the two texts and will make it clearer for
students to see how their individual identities play a role in the stories they tell. After students
have time to discuss and write down their thoughts regarding these themes in both texts with
their groups, each group will elect a representative to write their observations on a Venn diagram
drawn on the whiteboard, followed by a whole class discussion of their findings. The hope is for
students to compare characterization, perhaps noting the ways in which gender differences may
play into the accounts of both Sethe and Frederick Douglass.

Pairing idea from https://www.commonlit.org/en/book-pairings/beloved

Retelling Past Events

In this activity, students will explore the concept of retelling past events and will think
about how their own point of view and memory of a particular story impacts their expression.
Students will write a short one to two-page narrative about something that they remember being
told about multiple times by a friend, a family member, etc, but did not experience themselves.
For example, a student may choose to write about a story his or her mother told them about the
time when she met her husband. It may be easier to think of them in terms of big life events like
birthdays or family traditions. The goal is for each student to share a story that they personally
did not experience but that they remember being told. Students are challenged to write the
narrative in the first person, from the teller’s point of view. Students will then ask the original
storyteller to write a brief account of the same story from their first-person point of view. This
may not be possible in all cases but would allow students to compare the perspectives. Before
students begin writing, as a class, we will re-read the scene in which Denver tells Beloved about
her birth scene and takes on the perspective of Beloved. When students finish writing, they will
compare their narratives with the version written by the original storyteller. Students will reflect
on the experience answering questions like, what was it like to retell the story from someone
else’s point of view? Did you have to make up some details? What are the similarities?
Differences? Did this experience make you think differently about yourself or the person in your
narrative? Finally, bringing this experience back to the novel, students will think about why Toni
Morrison might have included Denver’s birth scene in that way. Why would Morrison have the
story go through Denver instead of having Sethe, as the person who remembers the event, tell the
story?

Song Search: Songs About Memories

This activity, inspired by the song search activity in Chapter 7 of Bridging English, will
explore the concept of memory and character in Beloved by connecting characters’ memories in
the novel with songs that are also about an individual remembering events from their past.
Students can choose any song they would like as long as it expresses the idea of memories and
reflecting on the past. After students, in groups, select a song and their corresponding moment in
the novel, they will print the song lyrics and analyze them for tone, mood, symbolism, diction,
and imagery, (all literary devices we will have discussed before in class) thinking about how the
artist expressed memories compared to how the characters in the novel express their memories.
Questions for the groups to consider include: what can a song accomplish that the words in a
novel cannot and vice versa? (focus on genre comparison) and why do you think memories/ past
experiences are popular topics for songs? How do the memories tell us about a person’s identity?
Students will share their findings in a whole class discussion where they will first play part of
their chosen song and will then direct the class to their chosen portion in the text.