Name Date

Before Reading  My Left Foot Co
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by Christy Brown

LITERARY ANALYSIS: Analyze Development of Ideas

In an autobiography, a real person tells his or her life story. Readers

understand what is important to the writer by thinking about the details
that the writer chooses to share and the way in which he or she presents
those details.
A. Read the passage below. Then, complete the chart with text evidence
that develops some of the writer’s ideas.

Look Into the Text

I was born in the Rotunda Hospital, on June 5th, 1932. There

were nine children before me and twelve after me, so I myself
belong to the middle group. Out of this total of twenty-two,
seventeen lived, four died in infancy, leaving thirteen still to hold
the family fort.
Mine was a difficult birth, I am told. Both mother and son almost
died.

Statement That Develops

Idea That the Writer Presents
the Idea
I was born in the Rotunda hospital on June
Christy Brown grew up in an 5th 1932.
earlier generation than that of
many of his readers.
Out of this total of twenty-two, seventeen
Brown was not the only child lived, four died in infancy, leaving thirteen
in the family to have health still to hold the family fort.
problems.
Brown almost didn’t survive to both mother and son died.
adulthood.

B. In your own words, explain the importance of this information by

completing the sentence.

These details develop the idea that ______________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Christy Brown, who grew up in an earlier time, faced physical challenges from his early days,
_____________________________________________________________________________________ .

62  Unit 2: Against the Odds

 Name Date

Focus Strategy: Summarize

Focus Strategy
How to Summarize
1. Think about  the title, the genre, and the author to help you figure out the topic.
2. Read a section  of the text to see what it explains.
3. Note important details  by underlining words or phrases.
4. Sum up  the main ideas as you read more paragraphs. Write a one-paragraph
summary of the important ideas of the text.

A. Read the passage. As you read, underline the important details. Then,
answer the questions below.

Look Into the Text

My Left Foot
by Christy Brown
They now spoke of an institution.
“Never!” said my mother almost fiercely, when this was suggested to her.
“I know my boy is not an idiot. It is his body that is shattered, not his
mind. I’m sure of that.” . . .
I was now five, and still I showed no real sign of intelligence. I showed
no apparent interest in things except with my toes—more especially those
of my left foot. . . . I used to lie on my back all the time in the kitchen. . . . a
little bundle of crooked muscles and twisted nerves, surrounded by a family
that loved me. . . . I was lonely, imprisoned in a world of my own, unable to
communicate with others, cut off, separated from them as though a glass
wall stood between my existence and theirs, . . . I longed to run about and
play with the rest, but I was unable to break loose from my bondage.

1. What are the two main ideas in this paragraph?

__1-_________________________________________________________________________________________
Brown's mother did not want to put him in an institution because she knew his mind was normal.
2- Brown could not express himself and felt cut off from life and family.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Summarize the important ideas.
__Even though brown could not communicate, his mother refused to put him in an institution because his mother knew
_________________________________________________________________________________________
his mind was healthy.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Unit 2: Against the Odds  63