ToniMorrisonsBeloved JaimeEstrada

SmithCollege


Introduction SupplementalWebSources OverarchingLessons RationaleandOverview DailyAssessments SuggestedComparativeReading MethodsofInquiry APStandards

TableofContents
4 4 6 7 9 9 10 12 13 14 16 19 20 20 22 24 26

LayingtheFoundation:BuildingAcademicExcellence TeachingRaciallySensitiveLiterature:ATeachersGuide MaslowsHierarchyofNeeds BackwardsbyDesign:FinalAssessment DayOne:WhoisToniMorrison? Biography DayTwo:PleasingDenver SampleCloseReadingAssignment DayThree:RememoriesMemoryandHistoryinBeloved

DayFour:TheBuilding,124AHauntedHouseandthePhysicalArrivaloftheGhost 27 DayFive:CharacterMappingandSlaveryasaGenerationalExperience Weekendtakehomereadingassignment: JAUNTEDBYTHEIRNIGHTMARES NewYorkTimesBookReviewResponseQuestions SecondWeek DaySix:SlaveNarratives,CommunityandEmbodiment DaySeven:WhatDoesBelovedWant? DayEight:RepresentationsofFemininityandMasculinityintheNovel DayNine:ThePaternalismArgument DayNineHomework:ShortTextualAnalysisandExample DayTen:Lifeat124withoutmenandflashbackstoSweetHome ThirdWeek DayEleven:Whites,themenwithnoskin DayTwelve:236264DelusionandDownfall SampleCloseReadingofaQuote DayThirteen:Pages263273,DiscussingtheEnd 28 30 30 33 34 34 35 36 38 39 40 42 42 43 44 45

DayFourteen:CreativeWriting,theEpilogue StudentEpilogueSample DayFifteen:TimedinclassessayaboutBeloved StudentInClassEssaySample

46 47 50 51

Introduction

StudentswillbeaskedattheendoftheprecedingunittoprepareforBelovedby readingtheprologuetoStevenWeisenburgersModernMedeabeforetheyreadthe firstMorrisonreadingassignment. WeisenburgersquickandentertainingoverviewoftheMargaretGarnercaseisvery usefulfortheAPEnglish12classbecauseitsuggestssomeoftheculturalworkthat Morrisonsbookhasdonewhilestillleavingroomforthestudentstoformtheirown criticalopinions.

Makenomistake,yourstudentswillberelyingontheirGenerationXtechnological skillstofindalternatewaysofunderstandingthematerialyoullbepresenting.Be awareofthecontentaboutBeloved,ModernMedeaandMargaretGarneron websiteslikeSparkNotes,CliffNotes,WikipediaandGoogleBooks.DoGoogle searchesofyourownwithwordslikeBelovedsummary,MargaretGarnerand ModernMedeajusttoseewhatpopsupforyourownreference.

SupplementalWebSources

NotethatjustforBelovedalone,theycandownloadaPDFoftheSparknotesedition withusefultidbitslikeSummaryandAnalysisofthechapters,Theme,Motifsand Symbols,andAnalysisofMajorCharacters.Youwanttoteachtoyourstudents

assumingthatsomeifnotallofthemhavethisintheirelectronicpocketsasa crutch.Findwaystoincorporatewhatthesesourceshavetoofferintoyourlesson plan.Itmayseemsacrilegiousbutusingtechnologiesthatstudentsarealready accustomedtocanengagethemandmakethemfeelmorecomfortableapproaching thetext.EveninAPclass,ifthediscussionislaggingmaybeitstimetopullupa familiarwindowlikethisanddiscusstheinformationthatsoutthere,thenoffer yourownprofessionalopinionandanalysisasaninstructorandguidestudentsinto addingtheirOWN,personalclosereadingofthetextinadditiontowhattheycan readonline. Theknowledgethatyouareawareofthesesourcesandarewellversedinthe knowledgetheycontainwillshowyourstudentsthattheycannotjustriffonwhats alreadyouttherebecauseyoutoohaveaccesstoitandreviewit.Centralizethe studentandhisorherideasandtheywillbelesslikelytoleanontechnologyand moreexcitedaboutjumpingintothetextontheirown.Encourageanenvironment ofthestudentlovinghisorherselflovingthetext.

OverarchingLessons
IntertextualityhowBelovedisinconversationwithModernMedeaandhow ModernMedeaisinconversationwithBeloved.Wewillalsolookatabookreview fromtheNewYorkTimesandtalkbriefly ClosereadingStudentsneedtobeproficientintheclosereadingofavariedstyle ofnarrativewritinginordertodowellontheAPEnglishLiteratureexam. Somestrategiesthatwillbeemphasizedinthisunitare: Annotation DeterminingAuthorsPurpose DeterminingFactandOpinion(orinthiscase,creativelicense) Discussion Theliteraryelementsthatwillbeimportantare: Mood PointofViewShifts Rhetoricalshifts syntax imagery Inordertoshedfairlightonthebook,wewillalsotalkaboutitscriticalreception.

 RationaleandOverview
AP12thGradeUnitonToniMorrisonsBeloved 3weeklessonplan,15fortyfiveminuteclassesonBeloved 5daysaweek/45minuteseach Descriptionofdailylessonanddiscussionofquestionstobeasked Rationale(IusedtoNCTEguidetowritingrationales www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/.../Rationale_HowtoWrite.pdf): Forwhatclassesisthisbookespeciallyappropriate? Ichosetomakethisbookfor12thgradeAdvancedEnglishbecausethecontent isdarkanddifficult.Theplotisdifficulttofollowevenforacollegelevel readerandthenarrativeisunusual.Therearedifficultscenesofrape, violenceandpsychologicaltrauma.Iplantoclipsofthe1998filmandwillnot beshowingtheentirefilmbecauseofsensitivescenes. Towhatparticularobjectives,literaryorpsychologicalorpedagogical,doesthis booklenditself? Belovedopensupadiscussionofcolor,race,slaveryandabuse.Italsolendsto thediscussionofneoslavenarrativewhatslavenarrativesareandwhy theyreimportant.Thebookemphasizesaneedforthereadertoactively participateinhelpingDenverreconstructherfamilyhistory. Inwhatwayswillthebookbeusedtomeetthoseobjectives? Wewillusethebookasajumpingoffpointtodiscusshow Whatproblemsofstyle,tone,orthemeorpossiblegroundsforcensorshipexistin thebook? Thisbookisrifewiththingsthatcouldbeobjectedtobycensors:explicit sexuality,extremeviolence,slavery,somemightthinkthatbygivingthese individualsacrazedyetfictionalvoiceputsAmericainabadlight.Also,some criticshavecommentedthatMorrisontakesthedramaticlicenseofher portrayalofslaveryandinfanticidetoofar.

 Howdoestheteacherplantomeetthoseproblems? Iplantointroducethetextasaneoslavenarrative.Neostandsfor newandaslavenarrativeisapersonalnarrativetoldbyacurrentorformer slaveabouthisorherlifeinbondage.Ialsoplantoassignsecondarysources tohelpstudentssituatetheirthinkingaroundthecontentofthenovel. IwillalsodiscussModernMedeabyStevenWeisenburgerbecausehisnon fictiondescriptionoftheMargaretGarnercaseisthehistoricalcasethat Morrisonstextisbasedoffof. Assumingthattheobjectivesaremet,howwouldstudentsbedifferentbecauseof theirreadingofthisbook? Studentswilldemonstrateanunderstandingofslaveryspsychologicalimpact onmothers,howtheslavesrelatedtotheirbodiesdifferentlythanwhitessaw themandtheeffectofthewhitegazeontheblackpsyche. 5)Describeyourlearningobjectives.(Whatwillyourstudentsdotoshowtheyhave achievedthedesiredoutcome?) Aftertheendofthreeweeks: Wewillhavediscussed: A)WhoisToniMorrison?Whatarehercharacteristicsasanauthorthatmakeher memorable? B)Whatarethepsychologicalimpactsweseeofslaveryinthisfictionalwork? C)Howdoesthisworkcomparetothenonfictionalaccount? D)WhydidToniMorrisonchoosetowriteinsuchafragmented,nonlinearway? E)Whatistheimportanceofpersonalnarrative? F)Someotherimportantbookswritteninthisgenre. G)HowthisbookisapplicabletoquestionsstudentsmightfaceontheAPEnglish Litexam. Studentswillbeableto: A)Cometheirownformofpersonalnarrative. B)Discusspsychologicalimpactsofslaveryonnationalconsciousness. C)Locatefavoritepassagesinthetextanddiscusstheirsignificance. D)CritiqueMorrisonswritingstyle. E)Discussthemesofslaveryandtellingonesownstory 6)Designassessmentsthatwillguideinstructionandhelpyoumeasureyour success.

DailyAssessments

Eachdaystudentswillbegivenaquestionfromthequestionbankabove.Itisbased onthelevelsforcriticalthinkinggiveninBloomsTaxonomy.Byansweringthese questionsinformallyinshortparagraphform,studentswillbeslowlyincreasing theirabilitytothinkcriticallyaboutthetextanddemonstratingthattheyactually havedonethework. 7)Designyourlessonplansinamannerthatgetyourstudentsreadytocomplete thesummativeassessments.Includethehandoutsandhomeworkforeachlesson. Youdonothavetoanswerthestudyquestionsorcompleteotherdailyassignments unlesstheyarepartofyoursummativeassessment. 8)Includeexamplesoftheworkyouwishyourstudentstoproduceattheendofthe unit.Ifyoudecidetogiveatest,pleaseprovideananswerkey.

SuggestedComparativeReading

Morrison,Toni.TheBluestEye:aNovel.NewYork:VintageInternational,2007. Stockett,Kathryn.TheHelp.NewYork,NY:Berkley,2011. "ToniMorrisonBiography".Nobelprize.org.19Dec2011 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1993/morrison bio.html

MethodsofInquiry
StageOneDesiredResults: TheAPEnglishLiteraturewebsitegivessomeguidelinesforwhatkindof booksshouldbetaughttopreparehighschoolstudentstotaketheAPEnglish LiteratureTest.Thisthreeweekunitwillbereadingandwritingintensive. SinceBelovedisadifficultnarrativetofollow,studentswillberequiredto readitnightlyandwewillbreakitupintopartsfordiscussion.Wewillbegin thereadingtogetherinclassanddiscusshowtoapproachthetextbeforethey actuallyreadit. Eachweek:therewillbetworesponsequestionsthattheywillberequiredto respondtoina12paragraphresponse. Eachdaywewillapproachthelessonwiththefollowingquestionsfrom BloomsTaxonomy: Level1Knowledge: Whatisslavery? WhendidBelovedsstorysupposedlyhappen? WhydidtheCivilWaroccur? Level2Comprehension: HowwouldyoucompareStevenWeisenburgersModernMedeatoToni MorrisonsBeloved?Whymightweexaminethemtogether? HowwouldyousolvethemysteryofMorrisonsfragmentednarrativeusing whatyouvelearnedoftheMargaretGarnercase? Level3Application: HowwouldyoushowyourunderstandingofDenversisolation? ContrastBabySuggs'personalityandSethespersonality.

 Level4Analysis: IfyouweretotakepartinBabySuggsservice(8788)whichbodypart wouldyouvaluethemost?Whatisthefunctionofthephysicalperformanceof freedom? WhatistherelationshipbetweenwhathappenedtoSetheandhowBabySuggs seesthosewhitethings? Whatideasand/orexperienceswithwhitepeoplejustifyBabySuggs statementthatThereisnobadluckintheworldbutwhitefolks(89)? Level5Evaluation: Assessthevalueofbeingabletotellyourownstory HowwouldyoujustifywhatSethedidtoprotectherchildren?

APStandards
Reading
The course should include intensive study of representative works from various genres and periods, concentrating on works of recognized literary merit. The works chosen should invite and gratify rereading. Reading in an AP course should be both wide and deep. This reading necessarily builds upon the reading done in previous English courses. These courses should include the in-depth reading of texts drawn from multiple genres, periods, and cultures. In their AP course, students should also read works from several genres and periods -- from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century -- but, more importantly, they should get to know a few works well. They should read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work's complexity, to absorb its richness of meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form. In addition to considering a work's literary artistry, students should consider the social and historical values it reflects and embodies. Careful attention to both textual detail and historical context should provide a foundation for interpretation, whatever critical perspectives are brought to bear on the literary works studied.

Writing
Such close reading involves the experience of literature, the interpretation of literature, and the evaluation of literature. All these aspects of reading are important for an AP course in English Literature and Composition, and each corresponds to an approach to writing about literary works. Writing to understand a literary work may involve writing response and reaction papers along with annotation, free writing, and keeping some form of a reading journal. Writing to explain a literary work involves analysis and interpretation, and may include writing brief focused analyses on aspects of language and structure. Writing to evaluate a literary work involves making and explaining judgments about its artistry and exploring its underlying social and cultural values through analysis, interpretation, and argument. Writing should be an integral part of the AP English Literature and Composition course, for the AP Examination is weighted toward student writing about literature. Writing assignments should focus on the critical analysis of literature and should include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays. Although critical analysis should make up the bulk of student writing for the course, well-constructed creative writing assignments may help students see from the inside how literature is written. The goal of both types of writing assignments is to increase students' ability to explain clearly, cogently, even elegantly, what they understand about literary works and why they interpret them as they do. Writing instruction should include attention to developing and organizing ideas in clear, coherent, and persuasive language; a study of the elements of style; and attention to precision and correctness as necessary. Throughout the course, emphasis should be placed on helping students develop stylistic maturity, which, for AP English, is characterized by the following: Wide-ranging vocabulary used with denotative accuracy and connotative resourcefulness A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordinate and coordinate constructions A logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques of coherence such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis A balance of generalization with specific illustrative detail An effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, maintaining a consistent voice, and achieving emphasis through parallelism and antithesis It is important to distinguish among the different kinds of writing produced in an AP English Literature and Composition course. Any college-level course in which serious literature is read and studied should include numerous opportunities for students to write. Some of this writing should be informal and exploratory, allowing students to discover what they think in the process of writing about their reading. Some of the course writing should involve research, perhaps negotiating differing critical perspectives. Much writing should involve extended discourse in which students can develop an argument or present an analysis at length. In addition, some writing assignments should encourage students to write effectively under the time constraints they encounter on essay examinations in college courses in many disciplines, including English.

 LayingtheFoundation:BuildingAcademicExcellence
Someoftheconceptsinthislessonplanarederivedfrom www.layingthefoundation.organdtheirhandoutonAPEnglishLiteratureand CompositionProseAnalysis. ToniMorrisonusesrhetoricalfragmentsofteninhernovels.Teachingthatuseof grammarwillbehelpfultostudentsreadingherworkforthefirsttime. Studentswilllearntoproduceanalysisofimaginativeliterature.

TeachingRaciallySensitiveLiterature:ATeachersGuide

Collectbothvisualanddocumentarymaterial,and,

ifpossible,arrangefieldtrips. Preparestudentsforreadingthetextchallenged language,situations,stereotypes,settings,and stylisticandliterarydevices.

Bepreparedtofacilitateclosereadingsoftext. Createsubstantivewritingactivitiesthroughoutthe

reading.
Createadebateresearchactivityinwhichstudents

divideintogroupstoassesstheprosandconsof readingaparticulartext.

Encouragestudentstocontacttheauthorforan

interview,whenpossible,ortoconductresearch intoletters,notes,journals,diaries,andinterviews bytheauthor. Beverycautiousaboutshowingfilmsbasedonthe text.

Donotencouragereadingaloudofsensitive

texts.
Encouragestudentstojournalthroughoutthereading

andclassactivities.Doreadandcommenton theentries.
Encourageclassdiscussions,facilitatedandguided

byyou,butdonotassumestudentsofcolorare repositoriesofexperienceforeachconceptoridea expressedinthetext.

Assignminiresearchactivitiesbothgroupand

individualtobereportedtotheclass.

Invitespeakerstoclassinclassorviatelephone

conferenceorvideoconference.Somemayagree tocomeprobono.
Invitestudentstoconductinterviewsofscholars,

otherteachers,families,etc. Thefollowinglistrecommendsconsiderationof eachpointbeforeteachinganypieceofliterature thatmaybedeemedraciallysensitive.

byJocelynA.Chadwick,DiscoveryEducation

X High School

Movie/VideoPermissionForm
Request Date: XX/XX/XXXX_ Teacher Name: Miss Jaime Estrada Name of Movie/Video: Beloved Rating on Movie/Video: R Reason for showing the Movie/Video: Oprahs version of the movie is very useful for discussing the book. It is helpful for the student to see a cinematic interpretation of the text they are reading. Since this is a particularly difficult text to read due to theme, content, and narrative structureI will be showing clips of it periodically through the course of the novel as it is applicable to that days reading. Date of viewing:_________________________________________ Teacher Signature: Jaime Marie Estrada Student Name:__________________________________________ Parent/Guardian Approval:_________________________________

MaslowsHierarchyofNeeds

Maslows Hierarchy of NeedsisasupplementalhandoutIwouldconsider

presentingtotheclassasawaytoconsiderhowfreedandrunawayslavesstruggled toaccesstheirhumanityinanewenvironmentandstateofmind.Sometimes, dependingontheirmasters,theybarelyeverreachedtheirphysiologicalneeds.As aclass,wewouldlookathowBelovedrepresentsblacksandwhitesinsearchof selfactualization.Maslowsargumentisthatthebasehumanneedsmustbemet firstbeforeonecanbeawareofdesiresdrivenbythehigherorderneeds.

 Askstudentsiftheyagreeordisagreewiththisanalysisofhumanbehavior. Perhaps,ifarelationshipisestablished,youcanbringinyourschoolsAP Psychologyteachertoteachwithyouonthisday,schedulespermitting.Aguest lecturerifyouwill.Thisconversationwouldbeincorporatedsomewherealong thewaywhenIfeltliketheclassreadings,textualanalysisandwrittenresponses hadledtoaproperplacetointroducethissecondarysource. Morrisonsbookisasmuchaboutpsychologyasitisabouthumanity.One shoulddotheMargaretGarnercasejusticeanddiscussthementalperturbations causedbyslavery.Iwouldavoidthelingoofclinicalpsychologyandstickto generallyunderstoodtermsliketraumaandthetermspresentedinthehierarchy above.InrelationtoMorrisonswork,itisimportanttostressnotjusthow damagingslaverywasbuttherhetoricofpaternalismandproslaveryarguments. Therearemanyvariationsinhowtheinstitutionofslaveryisandwasenacted. Therewerecruelmastersandhumanemasters. Morrisondepictedthisdichotomyofgoodvs.badmastersinhercomparison ofthefictionalGarnerswhoownedSetheandPaulDatSweetHomeandthe Schoolteacher.Thiscouldbeonejumpingoffpointintothesweetabandonofdeep intellectualandrivetingdiscussionforyourstudents.Dontnotprovidethemwith thecontextbecauseitmightbecontroversial,ratherstrivetopresentitinaway thataddressesmultiplesidesofthesameissue. Anotherframeworktousethissupplementalpiecewouldbetohavea comparisondiscussionofAmyDenverandSethe.Whataretheirneedsandgoals? Whatdrivesthem?WhatmakesAmyDenversimilartotheotherwhitesdepictedin

 thenovel?Whatmakesherdifferent?DenverisnamedafterAmyDenver,soeven thoughAmysappearanceintheplotisshortherinfluencepervadesthetext.How doesMorrisoncomplicateideasofwhitenessandblacknesswithclass?

 Thestudentsfinalassessmentafterthisnovelwillbeintwoparts.Thefirst partwillbetowriteashortepilogueexplainingwhathappenstooneofthe characters,12pages.Studentsareaskedtocreativelyagreewithor contradictMorrisonsepiloguewhichthoughtprovokinglystatesthatthisis notastorytopassonandwriteanepilogueforSethe,PaulD,Denveror Beloved. Theywilltelluse3rdpersonnarrationtoexplainwhathappenstotheirchosen characterpsychologicallyafterSethesaysMe?Me?Whatkindofendingdo youimagine?Whathappensafterthedisappearanceoftheghost? IftheywriteaboutSetheorPaulD:WhatdoesPaulDmeanwhenhesaysYou yourbestthing,Sethe.Youare.(173)? Thesecondpartwillbea12pagepaperexplicatinghowtheyconstructed theirepilogueandexplaininghowtheirendingtothestoryisbuiltoffofclose readingsofthetext.This12pagepaperwillbehandwrittenandtheywillbe askedtodoitinclasswithonlytheircopyofBelovedasaguide.Theymustcite andcloselyanalysisatleasttwodifferentsectionsofthenovelinsupportof theirepilogue.

BackwardsbyDesign:FinalAssessment

DayOne:WhoisToniMorrison?
ReadingAssignmentfortonight,Pages127 DoashortintroductionofMorrisonandhercontributionstotheliteraryworld. Then,discusshowBelovedisabookthatstudentswillbeusingasavehicletolearn toreadcritically,readforadiverseaudience,questionreasonsthatthenovelmight becontroversialandformonesownopiniononthethematicelementsofthetext thattheycanthenusefortheAPexam.

Biography
Born Chloe Anthony Wofford, in 1931 in Lorain (Ohio), the second of four children in a black workingclass family. Displayed an early interest in literature. Studied humanities at Howard and Cornell Universities, followed by an academic career at Texas Southern University, Howard University, Yale, and since 1989, a chair at Princeton University. She has also worked as an editor for Random House, a critic, and given numerous public lectures, specializing in African-American literature. She made her debut as a novelist in 1970, soon gaining the attention of both critics and a wider audience for her epic power, unerring ear for dialogue, and her poetically-charged and richly-expressive depictions of Black America. A member since 1981 of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she has been awarded a number of literary distinctions, among them the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1991-1995, Editor Sture Alln, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1997 This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.

Day1:StudentswriteresponsetoinitialLevel1KnowledgequestionsINCLASS. Thisexercisegivestheteacheranideaofhowstudentmightapproachthetext. Students,pleasetakeoutasheetofpaperandaddressthefollowingquestion inafreewritethatwillbeapproximately12paragraphs.Youhave10 minutes. Inclassquestion:Whatisslavery?

 Samplestudentresponse: From my understanding, slavery in the US was when Africans were brought across the middle passage to serve as unpaid and often maltreated workers in the South. Until the Civil War, all blacks were slaves and lived in segregated neighborhoods. Their family units were often separated for profit and it had a negative impact on the children. Until the civil rights movement, they were not treated as equals. DiscussionQuestions: ThesequestionsshouldbeaddressedduringthediscussionaboutMargaretGarner, ToniMorrison,theBelovednovelandStevenWeisenburgersnonfictionaccountof thetrial.Whethertheteacherchoosestodothisinaroundtablediscussion,a lecturewithQ&AorusingSocraticmethodisuptohimorher. WhoisToniMorrison? WhyisBelovedimportant? Whatisthethematiccontentabout? Whatisaneoslavenarrative? ShortdescriptionofStevenWeisenburgersModernMedeaandtheactual MargaretGarnercourtcase.

DayTwo:PleasingDenver

ReadingAssignmentfortonight,pages2849 Itbeganasalittlegirlshouseplay,butasherdesireschanged,sodidtheplay. Quiet,primateandcompletelysecretexceptforthenoisomecolognesignalthat thrilledtherabbitsbeforeitconfusedthem.Firstaplayroom(wherethesilencewas softer),thenarefuge(fromherbrothersfright),soontheplacebecamethepoint.In thatbower,closedofffromthehurtofthehurtworld,Denversimagination produceditsownhungeranditsownfood,whichshebadlyneededbecause lonelinessworeherout.Woreherout.Veiledandprotectedbythelivegreen walls,shefeltripeandclear,andsalvationwasaseasyasawish(2829) ImageryandSymbolism:TheEmeraldBower Classbeginswithadiscussionofthepreviousdaysquestions. Assignments:Fromnowon,oncertaindays,questionpromptswillbehandedout attheendofclassandstudentsareexpectedtoreadandrespondathome,having themreadyforthebeginningofthenextdaysclass. Tostartclass: Readquotealoudtoclass. Doanexampleclosereadingofthebeginningoftonightsreadingtogetthem startedbydiscussingthemeaningoftheemeraldbower. APSKILLS:Thiswillhelpthemlearntoclosereadshortpassagestheymayormay nothaveseenbeforeontheAPEnglishtest. Topic:Identityandthepoweroftellingonesownstory. Denverfeelsisolatedbecausephysically.Sheisisolatedin124. 124wasspiteful.Fullofababysvenom.Thewomeninthehouseknewitandso didthechildren.(1) Practiceclosereadingthefirstfewlinesofthefirstchapterwiththefirsttwo pagesoftonightsreading. Outcome:Afterteacherledclosereadingandadiscussionofthesymbolismofthe emeraldbower,studentswillbeleadtounderstandhowimportantconnecting scenesandimagesarewhenreadinganovelwithsuchadisjointednarrative.

 Discussthepsychologicalisolationofnotknowingyourlifestoryandwho yourfamilyis. Takehomequestion: ParagraphOne:Whatdoyouunderstandsofarhavingreadthefirst49pages ofBeloved? ParagraphTwo:HowwouldyousolvethemysteryofMorrisonsfragmented narrativeusingwhatyouvelearnedoftheMargaretGarnercase(the prologuetoStevenWeisenburgersModernMedea?) (12paragraphs,typeanswersonMicrosoftWordanduseMLAcitationfor referencestothetextandtheheader) Reminder,studentswereassignedthisbeforetheBelovedunitstarted: Introduction:Studentswillbeaskedattheendoftheprecedingunittopreparefor BelovedbyreadingtheprologuetoStevenWeisenburgersModernMedeabefore theyreadthefirstMorrisonreadingassignment.

SampleCloseReadingAssignment
StudentX Ms.Estrada APEnglish12 XXNovember20XX When I read the first few chapters of Beloved, I was not exactly sure what was happening. There were a couple of things I noticed right away, the house called 124 is haunted. Something really, really bad happened there. Denver, the only child left obsessively thinks of her moms past and tries to figure out what happened to her. The book is loosely based off of the Margaret Garner case (Weisenburger 10). Yet, it seems that this book is more about capturing pain and loss of memory. Denver is so lonely and isolated that she hides in the woods behind 124 and that is the only place she feels secure. Grandma Baby Suggs dies obsessed with colors. Then, the house is completely empty except for Sethe, Denver and a spirit. One day, Paul D shows up. He seems to be an important character from Sethes past. He decides to stay and he orders the babys ghost to leave the house.

Morrison is using imagination and a sense of haunting to encase a painful, historical infanticide. So far, the characters in this book are a mess. Sethe seems broken beyond repair. Denver seems to be the character that most of the plot will turn around. I dont remember much mention of Margaret Garners other children in the Modern Medea account but we only read the prologue and it seemed that she had three other children.

DayThree:RememoriesMemoryandHistoryinBeloved
RightafterDenverremembersthestoryhermothertoldheraboutherbirth SheasksSethewhatshewasprayingabout.Sethesaysshewasprayingabout time. Inclassassignment,doaclosereadingofthefollowingpassage: Iwastalkingabouttime.Itssohardformetobelieveinit.Somethingsgo.Passon. Somethingsjuststay.Iusedtothinkitwasmyrememory.Youknow.Somethings youforget.Otherthingsyouneverdo.Butitsnot.Places,placesarestillthere.Ifa houseburnsdown,itsgone,buttheplacethepictureofitstays,andnotjustin myrememory,butoutthere,intheworld.WhatIrememberisapicturefloating aroundoutthereoutsidemyhead.Imean,evenifIdontthinkit,evenifIdie,the pictureofwhatIdid,orknew,orsawisstilloutthere.Rightintheplacewhereit happened.(3536) Inclassquestions: WhendidBelovedsstorysupposedlyhappen? Whatisyourunderstandingofwhythecivilwaroccurred? WhymightitbeimportanttotalkaboutwhathappenedtoexslavesAFTER thecivilwar?

 DayFour:TheBuilding,124AHauntedHouseandthePhysical ArrivaloftheGhost
ReadingAssignmentfortonight,pages5073 TeachingPoint:Spaceisusedasaplacetocontainpain,memoryandhistory. Medium:Minilessoninreadingfilmagainstprimarytext. Belovedarrivesat124.Todaywillbeaclassdiscussionof124asaspace andhowitallowsforthestoryofaghosthauntingtobetold.Thisisafree flowingdiscussionday.Thereistimetoaddressstudentsconfusion surroundingtheplotandetc Thisdaywewillalsowatchthefirstclipfromthemovie.Startingat31:35. ThisisthescenewhereBelovedrisesoutofthewaterandwalkstothe carnivalgroundsurroundedbybuzzing. WhatdoyouthinkofthisfilmsinterpretationofBelovedsphysical appearance?Whatdothefliesmean?Whyisitshecanbarelywalkandtalk? UseguidelinesfromJimBurkesAnEnglishTeachersCompaniontoaidwith teachingfilmclips. Discusshowdirectors,actorsandscreenwritersportrayalsofthetextchange itsperformance.

DayFive:CharacterMappingandSlaveryasaGenerational Experience
Readingassignment,pages74106 ThisdiscussionwillcontinueontoMonday! Filmclip:49:0052:49SetheisdoingDenvershairandBelovedknowsjustthe rightquestionswhichrevealSethespast.ThestoryleadstobrandonSethes motherschest,whichistheonlythingSetheremembersofhermotherexceptthat sheishung. Yourenotgoingtotellyoureclassthisrightawaybutthepointofshowingthisclip istoshowhowdisjointedandterrorizedtheslaveswerepreCivilWar. Introductoryquestions:Thinkingaboutfilmportrayalwhatlanguagearethey speakingwhenSethesmotherishung?ItsnotclearFrench.Itcouldbesomesortof Creole.DoesthisplaceSethesancestryinanyway?Whyisthisimportant?Why wouldhavethefilmmakersbeensocarefultoincludethisvariationofthelanguage forthisparticularscene?Whatdoyoumakeofthetorturedevices? Recapoflastclasstextandopeningdiscussionquestionsfortoday: WhatisDenverandBelovedsrelationshiplike? WhydoesDenverneedBeloved?Doesshecompleteherinsomeway? HowdoBelovedspoignantquestionstoSethehelpDenvergettoknowher motherbetter? ShowclipofPaulDaskingBelovedwhereherpeoplearecorrespondswith page65.(55:00) Questionsaboutorigintakeupalotofthebookandthefilm.Individual identityisverymixedupwiththeheritagethatslaveryasaninstitutionhas leftthemwith.Mostofthecharactersarestrugglingthroughareconstruction offamilyhistoryandpersonalidentity,sinceasslaves,theyoftenwerent allowedmuchunderstandingofeither.

WEEKENDREADINGASSIGNMENT:
FinishPartI118165. Sections:118125:BelovedandDenverplayhideandgoseek(wewillread thisaloudinclassonMonday) 126ThePowerofWomanhoodandPaulDsdefinitionofmasculinity: KeyQuote: Nolazy,straypupofawomancouldturnhimaround,makehimdoubt himself,wonder,pleadorconfess(129). EXTRACREDIT:Ifyousodesire,writeashortparagraphreflectiononthe meaningofthisquoteinitscontext. (Thistypeofextracreditismeanttoencouragestudentstodisengagewith thingslikeSparknotesandengagewithtextsonaverycloseandpersonal level.) SampleExtraCreditResponse: Paul D maximizes any sense of masculinity he has left by blaming everything on Beloved while simultaneously saying that he is stronger than her. By equating her to a lazy, stray pup of a woman he takes away her humanity and reduces her to animalistic terms. This action mirrors what the white schoolteacher does to Paul D by making him wear horrible torture devices. Paul D is so emotionally distraught from his experiences at slavery that he needs to feel dominance over other beings, in this casea woman, in order to feel human.

Weekendtakehomereadingassignment:
JAUNTEDBYTHEIRNIGHTMARES
Date:September13,1987,Sunday,LateCityFinalEditionSection7;Page1,Column 3;BookReviewDesk Byline:ByMARGARETATWOOD;MargaretAtwoodistheauthorof''The Handmaid'sTale,''''Bluebeard'sEgg''andtheforthcoming''SelectedPoemsII.'' Lead:LEAD:BELOVEDByToniMorrison.275pp.NewYork:AlfredA.Knopf. $18.95. Text:
BELOVED By Toni Morrison. 275 pp. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $18.95. ''BELOVED'' is Toni Morrison's fifth novel, and another triumph. Indeed, Ms. Morrison's versatility and technical and emotional range appear to know no bounds. If there were any doubts about her stature as a pre-eminent American novelist, of her own or any other generation, ''Beloved'' will put them to rest. In three words or less, it's a hair-raiser. In ''Beloved,'' Ms. Morrison turns away from the contemporary scene that has been her concern of late. This new novel is set after the end of the Civil War, during the period of so-called Reconstruction, when a great deal of random violence was let loose upon blacks, both the slaves freed by Emancipation and others who had been given or had bought their freedom earlier. But there are flashbacks to a more distant period, when slavery was still a going concern in the South and the seeds for the bizarre and calamitous events of the novel were sown. The setting is similarly divided: the countryside near Cincinnati, where the central characters have ended up, and a slave-holding plantation in Kentucky, ironically named Sweet Home, from which they fled 18 years before the novel opens. There are many stories and voices in this novel, but the central one belongs to Sethe, a woman in her mid30's, who is living in an Ohio farmhouse with her daughter, Denver, and her mother-in-law Baby Suggs. ''Beloved'' is such a unified novel that it's difficult to discuss it without giving away the plot, but it must be said at the outset that it is, among other things, a ghost story, for the farmhouse is also home to a sad, malicious and angry ghost, the spirit of Sethe's baby daughter, who had her throat cut under appalling circumstances 18 years before, when she was 2. We never know this child's full name, but we - and Sethe think of her as Beloved, because that is what is on her tombstone. Sethe wanted ''Dearly Beloved,'' from the funeral service, but had only enough strength to pay for one word. Payment was 10 minutes of sex with the tombstone engraver. This act, which is recounted early in the novel, is a keynote for the whole book: in the world of slavery and poverty, where human beings are merchandise, everything has its price, and price is tyrannical. ''Who would have thought that a little old baby could harbor so much rage?,'' Sethe thinks, but it does; breaking mirrors, making tiny handprints in cake icing, smashing dishes and manifesting itself in pools of blood-red light. As the novel opens, the ghost is in full possession of the house, having driven away Sethe's two young sons. Old Baby Suggs, after a lifetime of slavery and a brief respite of freedom - purchased for her by the Sunday labor of her son Halle, Sethe's husband -has given up and died. Sethe lives with her memories, almost all of them bad. Denver, her teen-age daughter, courts the baby ghost because, since her family has been ostracized by the neighbors, she doesn't have anyone else to play with. The supernatural element is treated, not in an ''Amityville Horror,'' watch-me-make-your-flesh-creep mode, but with magnificent practicality, like the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw in ''Wuthering Heights.'' All the main characters in the book believe in ghosts, so it's merely natural for this one to be there. As Baby Suggs says, ''Not a house in the country ain't packed to its rafters with some dead Negro's grief. We lucky this ghost is a baby. My husband's spirit was to come back in here? or yours? Don't talk to me. You lucky.'' In fact, Sethe would rather have the ghost there than not there. It is, after all, her adored child, and any sign of it is better, for her, than nothing. This grotesque domestic equilibrium is disturbed by the arrival of Paul D., one of the ''Sweet Home men'' from Sethe's past. The Sweet Home men were the male slaves of the establishment. Their owner, Mr. Garner, is no Simon Legree; instead he's a best-case slave-holder, treating his ''property'' well, trusting them, allowing them choice in the running of his small plantation, and calling them ''men'' in defiance of the neighbors, who want all male blacks to be called ''boys.'' But Mr. Garner dies, and weak, sickly Mrs.

Garner brings in her handiest male relative, who is known as ''the schoolteacher.'' This Goebbels-like paragon combines viciousness with intellectual pretensions; he's a sort of master-race proponent who measures the heads of the slaves and tabulates the results to demonstrate that they are more like animals than people. Accompanying him are his two sadistic and repulsive nephews. From there it's all downhill at Sweet Home, as the slaves try to escape, go crazy or are murdered. Sethe, in a trek that makes the ice-floe scene in ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' look like a stroll around the block, gets out, just barely; her husband, Halle, doesn't. Paul D. does, but has some very unpleasant adventures along the way, including a literally nauseating sojourn in a 19th-century Georgia chain gang. THROUGH the different voices and memories of the book, including that of Sethe's mother, a survivor of the infamous slave-ship crossing, we experience American slavery as it was lived by those who were its objects of exchange, both at its best - which wasn't very good - and at its worst, which was as bad as can be imagined. Above all, it is seen as one of the most viciously antifamily institutions human beings have ever devised. The slaves are motherless, fatherless, deprived of their mates, their children, their kin. It is a world in which people suddenly vanish and are never seen again, not through accident or covert operation or terrorism, but as a matter of everyday legal policy. Slavery is also presented to us as a paradigm of how most people behave when they are given absolute power over other people. The first effect, of course, is that they start believing in their own superiority and justifying their actions by it. The second effect is that they make a cult of the inferiority of those they subjugate. It's no coincidence that the first of the deadly sins, from which all the others were supposed to stem, is Pride, a sin of which Sethe is, incidentally, also accused. In a novel that abounds in black bodies - headless, hanging from trees, frying to a crisp, locked in woodsheds for purposes of rape, or floating downstream drowned - it isn't surprising that the ''whitepeople,'' especially the men, don't come off too well. Horrified black children see whites as men ''without skin.'' Sethe thinks of them as having ''mossy teeth'' and is ready, if necessary, to bite off their faces, and worse, to avoid further mossy-toothed outrages. There are a few whites who behave with something approaching decency. There's Amy, the young runaway indentured servant who helps Sethe in childbirth during her flight to freedom, and incidentally reminds the reader that the 19th century, with its child labor, wage slavery and widespread and accepted domestic violence, wasn't tough only for blacks, but for all but the most privileged whites as well. There are also the abolitionists who help Baby Suggs find a house and a job after she is freed. But even the decency of these ''good'' whitepeople has a grudging side to it, and even they have trouble seeing the people they are helping as full-fledged people, though to show them as totally free of their xenophobia and sense of superiority might well have been anachronistic. Toni Morrison is careful not to make all the whites awful and all the blacks wonderful. Sethe's black neighbors, for instance, have their own envy and scapegoating tendencies to answer for, and Paul D., though much kinder than, for instance, the woman-bashers of Alice Walker's novel ''The Color Purple,'' has his own limitations and flaws. But then, considering what he's been through, it's a wonder he isn't a mass murderer. If anything, he's a little too huggable, under the circumstances. Back in the present tense, in chapter one, Paul D. and Sethe make an attempt to establish a ''real'' family, whereupon the baby ghost, feeling excluded, goes berserk, but is driven out by Paul D.'s stronger will. So it appears. But then, along comes a strange, beautiful, real flesh-and-blood young woman, about 20 years old, who can't seem to remember where she comes from, who talks like a young child, who has an odd, raspy voice and no lines on her hands, who takes an intense, devouring interest in Sethe, and who says her name is Beloved. Students of the supernatural will admire the way this twist is handled. Ms. Morrison blends a knowledge of folklore - for instance, in many traditions, the dead cannot return from the grave unless called, and it's the passions of the living that keep them alive - with a highly original treatment. The reader is kept guessing; there's a lot more to Beloved than any one character can see, and she manages to be many things to several people. She is a catalyst for revelations as well as self-revelations; through her we come to know not only how, but why, the original child Beloved was killed. And through her also Sethe achieves, finally, her own form of self-exorcism, her own self-accepting peace. ''Beloved'' is written in an antiminimalist prose that is by turns rich, graceful, eccentric, rough, lyrical, sinuous, colloquial and very much to the point. Here, for instance, is Sethe remembering Sweet Home: ''. . . suddenly there was Sweet Home rolling, rolling, rolling out before her eyes, and although there was not a leaf on that farm that did not want to make her scream, it rolled itself out before her in shameless beauty. It never looked as terrible as it was and it made her wonder if hell was a pretty place too. Fire and brimstone all right, but hidden in lacy groves. Boys hanging from the most beautiful sycamores in the world. It shamed her - remembering the wonderful soughing trees rather than the boys. Try as she might to make it otherwise, the sycamores beat out the children every time and she could not forgive her memory for that.''


In this book, the other world exists and magic works, and the prose is up to it. If you can believe page one and Ms. Morrison's verbal authority compels belief - you're hooked on the rest of the book. THE epigraph to ''Beloved'' is from the Bible, Romans 9:25: ''I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.'' Taken by itself, this might seem to favor doubt about, for instance, the extent to which Beloved was really loved, or the extent to which Sethe herself was rejected by her own community. But there is more to it than that. The passage is from a chapter in which the Apostle Paul ponders, Job-like, the ways of God toward humanity, in particular the evils and inequities visible everywhere on the earth. Paul goes on to talk about the fact that the Gentiles, hitherto despised and outcast, have now been redefined as acceptable. The passage proclaims, not rejection, but reconciliation and hope. It continues: ''And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.'' Toni Morrison is too smart, and too much of a writer, not to have intended this context. Here, if anywhere, is her own comment on the goings-on in her novel, her final response to the measuring and dividing and excluding ''schoolteachers'' of this world. An epigraph to a book is like a key signature in music, and ''Beloved'' is written in major. 'OTHER PEOPLE WENT CRAZY, WHY COULDN'T SHE?' Sethe opened the front door and sat down on the porch steps. The day had gone blue without its sun, but she could still make out the black silhouettes of trees in the meadow beyond. She shook her head from side to side, resigned to her rebellious brain. Why was there nothing it refused? No misery, no regret, no hateful picture too rotten to accept? Like a greedy child it snatched up everything. Just once, could it say, No thank you? I just ate and can't hold another bite? I am full God damn it of two boys with mossy teeth, one sucking on my breast the other holding me down, their book-reading teacher watching and writing it up. I am still full of that, God damn it, I can't go back and add more. Add my husband to it, watching, above me in the loft - hiding close by - the one place he thought no one would look for him, looking down on what I couldn't look at at all. And not stopping them - looking and letting it happen. But my greedy brain says, Oh thanks, I'd love more - so I add more. And no sooner than I do, there is no stopping. There is also my husband squatting by the churn smearing the butter as well as its clabber all over his face because the milk they took is on his mind. . . . And if he was that broken then, then he is also and certainly dead now. And if Paul D saw him and could not save or comfort him because the iron bit was in his mouth, then there is still more that Paul D could tell me and my brain would go right ahead and take it and never say, No thank you. I don't want to know or have to remember that. I have other things to do: worry, for example, about tomorrow, about Denver, about Beloved, about age and sickness not to speak of love. But her brain was not interested in the future. Loaded with the past and hungry for more, it left her no room to imagine, let alone plan for, the next day. . . . Other people went crazy, why couldn't she? Other people's brains stopped, turned around and went on to something new, which is what must have happened to Halle. And how sweet that would have been. From ''Beloved.''

NewYorkTimesBookReviewResponseQuestions
Howhasreadingthischangedyourperspectiveonthetext? Reading Margaret Atwoods review of Beloved gave me a better understanding of the plot as well as its critical reception. I can see how people might have reacted negatively to Morrisons telling of a slave narrative. I thin that it was necessary that Margaret Garners story be told and I am glad we were assigned this secondary reading. WouldyousaythatthisbookreviewisportrayingMorrisoninapositiveornegative light? I think Atwood is portraying Morrisons work in a positive light without being overly enthusiastic about it. DoesreadingthisreviewmakeyouwanttolearnmoreaboutToniMorrisonorthe authorofthereview,MargaretAtwood?Why? I am curious as to Atwoods background and what makes her qualified to write this review. Im also more interested in Morrison as a writer.

SecondWeek DaySix:SlaveNarratives,CommunityandEmbodiment Tonightsreadingassignment:118125

Thisdayismeanttobearefresherbackintotheclassaftertheweekendandget studentsmindbackonthetext. ThisdaycontinuesfromFridaywithaslightlydifferentfocus. Theteacherwilldiscussthedifferencebetweentraditional19thcenturyslavenarratives (HarrietJacobsandFrederickDouglass)andtheworkToniMorrisondoeswithherneo slavenarrative. BringthetextsofHarrietJacobsandFrederickDouglassintoclassanddiscusstheir historicalsignificance.Askstudentsiftheyvelearnedaboutslavenarrativesbefore. Talkaboutfamilyandslavery: Chalkboard/whiteboardSocraticmethoddiscussion: Relationshipbetweenmotheranddaughter DenverandBeloved 1:03ShowclipofthematthebottomofthefloorandDenverrealizingitshersisters ghost. PaulDandDenver Quickclassdiscussion:whatdostudentsperceiveastherelationshipbetweenPaulD andDenveratthispointinthetext? BabySuggsandgreatercommunity Showfirstsceneofthepreachingintheclearing.Discusstheembodimentofblack love.HowisBabySuggssuggestingthathercommunityrelatetotheirownbody parts?Why? Dependingonthetimeleftfordiscussionstudentscaneitherdiscussthisclipin classviatheSocraticdiscussionmethodortheycanwriteashorthandwritten responsetobringtoclassthenextday.Studentsshouldbeencouragedtotakenotes andrecordtheirresponsetothefilmwhileviewingit.Whatformatthefilmcritique takesislefttothediscretionoftheteacher.

 DaySeven:WhatDoesBelovedWant?
Inclassreview:118125 Readingfortonight,125135(tomorrowwewilldiscussmasculinityand femininityinthenovel) Today,weregoingtoreadashortpassagealoudtogether.Bypassingaroundthe book,eachofuswillreadaparagraphindramaticvoice.Afterwevefinishedthe passage,wewilltakeaminutetoabsorbitandthenwewilldiscussitsimplications. Centraltextfordiscussion: Itwaslovely.Nottobestaredat,notseen,butbeingpulledintoviewbythe interested,uncriticaleyesofother.Havingherhairexaminedapartofherself,not asamaterialorastyle.Havingherlips,nose,chincaressedastheymightbeifshe waswereamossroseagardenerpausedtoadmire.Denversskindissolvedunder thatgazeandbecamesoftandbrightlikethelislethathaditsarmaroundher motherswaist.Shefloatednearbutoutsideherownbody,feelingvagueand intenseatthesametime.(118) Upuntilthispoint,weknowthatDenverhasbeenverylonelylivingin124by herselfwithhermother.HowhasBelovedsarrivalchangedhowshefeelsabout herself? DescribethetoneofthespeakerasshefeelsBelovedsgaze.Whatisthisdynamic showingus? Readtherestof118119WhatisreallygoingonbetweenBelovedandDenver? ThisishowBelovedmakesDenverfeelwhatdoyouthinkBelovedfeels? AtsuchtimesitseemedtobeBelovedwhoneededsomethingwantedsomething (118). Imagery:Deepdowninherwideblackeyes,backbehindthe expressionlessness,wasapalmheldforapennywhichDenverwouldgladly giveher(118).

DayEight:RepresentationsofFemininityandMasculinityinthe Novel
Inclassreview125135. Tonightsreadingassignmentpages133165.

Thisweekitisreallyallaboutmodelingtheclosereadingofashortpassage.OntheAP test,studentswillbeaskedtoidentifyliterarydevicesandtheiruseinworksoffiction. Inordertodothis,theirclosereadingskillsshouldbeverystrong.Thisiswhyitis necessarytomodelclosereadingwhatmayseemlikeadnauseumintheclassroom setting: Atruththatwavedlikeascarecrowintherye:theywereonlySweetHomemenat SweetHome.Onestepoffthatgroundandtheyweretrespassersamongthehuman race.Watchdogswithoutteeth;steerbullswithouthorns;geldedworkhorseswhose neighandwhinnycouldnotbetranslatedintoalanguagethatresponsiblehumans spoke.(125) HowisthispassageshowinguswhatslaveryhasdonetoPaulDsconceptionof masculinity? BelovedseemstohaveaholdonPaulDinawaythatkeepshimoutofherway. WhyisPaulDsothreatenedbyBelovedsadvances?Doesshereallyhavecontrolover him? PaulDfeelsguiltyforwhathesdonewithBeloved,sohegoestotellSethe.How doesSetheinvokegendernormswhenshesays: Man,youmakemelikeagirl,comingbytopickmeupafterwork.Nobodyeverdid thatbefore.Youbetterwatchout,Imightstartlookingforwardtoit.(127) PaulDexpresseshisdiscomfortwithhismasculinitybytellingSethethatheisnota manandwantstomakeherpregnant. WhatdoesthisrevealabouthowPaulDslifehaseffectedhisviewofhimself andhowhecarrieshimselfwhendealingwithpotentialconflict? HewenttotrytotellherwhatwashappeningathomewithBelovedbutwhenhe wenttosayitherexpressionstoppedhimandinsteadhesaid,Iamnotaman (128). Insteadoftellingherthathescheatingonherwithherdaughter,hetellsherIwant youpregnant,Sethe.Wouldyoudothatforme?(127)

And,suddenlyitwasasolution:awaytoholdontoher,todocumenthismanhood andbreakoutofthegirlsspellallinone(127) Resolve,hethought.Thatwasallittook,andnomotherlessgalwasgoingtobreak itup.Nolazy,straypupofawomancouldturnhimaround,makehimdoubthimself, wonder,plead,orconfess.(129) Oncebefore(andonlyonce)PaulDhadbeengratefultoawoman(131). Whoarethesepeopleinthischapter?Aretheyslaves?Exslaves?Freedmenand women?Whatdoestheirstatusascitizenshavetodowithhowtheyviewtheir sexuality? Whatisthenarratorspointofview?

DayNine:ThePaternalismArgument
Review135166 Tonightsreading170199 WhydoesSethekillBeloved?Whatwassheafraidof?Wouldshehavekilled Denvertoo? ThinkbacktotheargumentthatStevenWeisenburgersprologuestatedpro slaverywritersmadeaboutpaternalism: Toproslaverywritersherdeedsdemonstratedthatslavesweresubhuman. Onlyabeastwouldkillitsoffspring,theyreasonedsoMargaretschildmurder provedthebondservantsneedforSouthernslaveryskindlypaternal authority.(Weisenburger6)

HowdoesMorrisonsstorythusfarconversewiththisideaof paternalism?
Todayisadebatesoafteraquickintro,theclasswillbenumberedoffandeach willhavetopickasideanddefendit. Onesidewillarguethesideofpaternalism andtheothersidewillperformthatofjustifyingMargaretGarnersactionsas heroic. Classdebriefingafter.

DayNineHomework:ShortTextualAnalysisandExample Analyzethelanguageinpages148153.HowdoesMorrison lessenorromanticizewhathappened?DoesMorrisonsaccount ofthemurdermakeitmorehumane? 23paragraphs.

Rather than seeming like a crazy murderess, Sethe seems like a mother who just loves her freedom and her childrens freedom more than anything in the world. Morrison starts the chapter off in the voice and head of a white slave-catcher, the way he views slaves, a dead ni**** could be skinned for profit could not be skinned for profit and was not worth his own dead weight in coin (148) is not sympathetic to the whitemans cause at all. Rather, the slave catchers come across as heartless. After they discover that she has attempted to murder all her children and succeeded at murdering one, we are let back into the white mans mind: She was looking at him now, and if his other nephew could see that look he would learn the lesson for sure: you just cant mishandle creatures and expect success (150). Now, sethe is being compared to a creature. The white mans perspective is that her craziness is due to mishandling. This implies that if she were handled a certain way, she would remain a passive slave, good for at least ten breeding years (149). In my eyes, after seeing how the white men think about and treat Sethe after shes already murdered her children it is easy to sympathize with her. She wants her children to be in a better place. By allowing the reader to access multiple dominating white male points of viewshe authenticates Sethes fear and anguish. From the interaction between Baby Suggs and Sethe about feeding Denver, who is still alive, we know that Sethe is in shock. By letting Denver suck off the nipple that still has Beloveds blood on it, Sethe is enacting the cycle of life and death. Morrison uses imagery and narration to bring the reader into an implicit understanding of Sethes pain and motivation for murder.

DayTen:Lifeat124withoutmenandflashbackstoSweetHome Closereadtheiceskatingsection:173175 RepetitionofNobodysawthemfalling

WhatliterarydeviceisMorrisonusinginthissection?Whatisshetryingto accomplish?ItseemsthatthewomenhaveasenseoffreedomthatPaulDrestricted whilehewasthere.Thereisnowanawkwardyetbeautifulsenseofsisterhoodthat isshownbythefreedomofthewomeniceskating. Todaysinclassexercise: StudentspickliterarydevicesfromtheirfavoritepassageandanalyzehowMorrison isusingthatliterarydeviceinthepassage:30minutes. ThisisaSocraticdiscussion.Sincetheyjustdidaclosereadingovertheweekend, thisisthetimetoreviewliterarydeviceswiththemandmakesuretheycanperform thesametaskverbally.

Weekendreading:200endofthenovel.

Takefreestylenotesontheendofthenovel.Lastweekend,youreadabookreview aboutBeloved.Youarethecriticnow.Yourealmostdonewiththenovelandhave formedyourownopinionofMorrisonsprose. Youshouldreferencethepassagesthatmostinterestedyou,sparkedaquestion,or anysortofemotionalreaction.Ifyouhatedtheending,describeinyournoteswhy youhatedit.Ifyoulovedit,describewhyyoulovedit.Ifyouwereindifferent, describewhyyouwereindifferent.Yournotescanbehandwrittenortypedupand theyshouldbetwothreepageslong. YouwillbeexpectedtoturntheseinonMonday.

ThirdWeek DayEleven:Whites,themenwithnoskin
Pages:200235 Thisisthelastweeksoitisreallythetimetomakethemostofinclassdiscussion, addressquestionsthatstudentsmayhaveaboutthefinalprojectsand Inthissection,thereaderisledintothemindsofeachofthecharacters.Someofthe storiesaresad,somearehopefulandsomearecompletelybroken.Whenwegetto Belovedsnarrativeitiscompletelybrokendown.Thisisthenarrativestylethat Morrisonisfamousfor. Whatrhetoricalfragmentsarebeingusedinthisstation? Thinkaboutthisintermsofthenextchapter,whichseemstobeSethestakeonher connectionwithBeloved. Thesetwocreaturesareintertwinedemotionallyandtheyhaveanintellectual connection.BelovedtellsabrokenstoryandthenSetheclearsupwhatBeloved actuallymeanttosay. Keywords:Riffing,subversion,intertextuality Finally,wegetdirectlyintothecharactersheads.Thebeginningofthefirst chapterinthissectionisBelovedismysister,thenextchapterisIam Belovedandsheismine,andthethirdchapterisIamBelovedandshe mine.Howdoyouseetheseasinterrelatedlines? Asaclass,wewilllookattheSongofSolomonintheBiblehowisMorrison riffingoffofthistraditionaltext?Howisshesubvertingit?(10minute discussion) Whatiswiththedisjunctivevoiceinthelastchapterofthissection(214217)?

FOCUSON:Pages200219,Whatisthehotthing?

DayTwelve:236264DelusionandDownfall

124wasquiet.Denver,whothoughtsheknewallaboutsilence,wassurprisedto learnthathungercoulddothat:quietyoudownandwearyouout.NeitherSethe norBelovedkneworcaredaboutitonewayoranother.Theyweretoobusy rationingtheirstrengthtofighteachother.Soitwasshewhohadtostepofftheedge oftheworldanddiebecauseifshedidnt,theyallwould(239). BelovedandSethegetssowrappedupineachotherthatSethelosesherjob.The mergingofSetheandBelovedmovesfrominnocenttodisturbing: From:Atfirsttheyplayedtogether.AwholemonthandDenverlovedit.Fromthe nighttheyiceskatedunderastarloadedskyanddranksweetmilkfrombythe stove,tothestringpuzzlesSethedidfortheminafternoonlight,andshadow picturesinthegloaming(240).analyzetheimageryinthissection To:Thenthemoodchangedandtheargumentsbegan.Slowlyatfirst.Acomplaint fromBeloved,anapologyfromSethe.howcouldshehavelefther?AndSethecried, sayingsheneverdid,ormeanttothatshehadtogetthemout,away.Thather planwasalwaysthattheywouldbetogetherontheotherside,forever.Beloved wasntinterested.Shesaidwhenshecriedtherewasnoone.Thatdeadmenlayon topofher.Thatshehadnothingtoeat.Ghostswithoutskinstucktheirfindersinher andsaidbelovedinthedayandbitchinthelight.Sethepleadedforforgiveness, counting,listingagainandagainherreasons:thatBelovedwasmoreimportant, meantmoretoherthanherownlife(242). ItbecomesuptoDenvertakecareofthem.ThisisthefirsttimeDenverexercises agencyandleavesthefrontlawn.ShegoestoseeLadyJonesandasksforajob. AnalyzehowthedomesticlifeofSetheandtheghostcreatesanunhealthy atmosphereforbothofthem. Setheisobsessedwithfindingofforgivenessfromherdaughter.Willsheeverreally getit? HowdoyouseeEllascharacter?Wheredoesshederiveherstrength?Howdoesshe comparepeople?WhatisitaboutherpastthatenableshertogetoverwhatSethe hasdoneinordertohelpherwiththehauntingofBeloved?

SampleCloseReadingofaQuote
TakeHomeassignment: Closelyreadthefollowingpassageinrelationtowhathappensinnovel,12 paragraphs: Thatanybodywhitecouldtakeyourwholeselfforanythingthatcametomind.Not justwork,kill,ormaimyou,butdirtyyou.Dirtyyousobadyoucouldntlike yourselfanymore.Dirtyyousobadyouforgotwhoyouwereandcouldntthinkit up. Isthisthelivedexperienceofalltheexslavesinthenovel?Whatabouttheir children? It seems that the verbs being used here work, kill and maim are all negative actions that are acted upon black slaves by white masters. But, the worst of all these verbs, surprisingly, over kill is the word: dirty. There is an implication that if a white person dirties you, you become witless, ignorant and unable to function on a human level. This is the lived experience of both Sethe and Paul Dfor awhile they float about their mutual worlds and cannot function on a normal level. Paul D describes the first time he stays somewhere with a woman as so life-changing that he makes love to her sheets rather than to her. The idea of being human enough to sleep in a bed overwhelms him and he swears never to leave. Sethe loses herself and her mind when Beloved comes back to life because her need to be forgiven and treated as a human being again is so great. Both of these characters are dirtied by their pasts as slaves to white slave owners and they spend the whole book trying to get clean.

DayThirteen:Pages263273,DiscussingtheEnd
SpendsometimetalkingaboutliterarydevicesandhowMorrisonusestheminthe endofhernovel. Begintopreviewwhatthetimedessaywillcompriseof.

DoesMorrisonleaveherreaderswithhope? Talkaboutthepoemthatbeginsthechapteratpage263andhowthesongabout barefeetandchamomilesapisaboutSetheandthescenefromtheverybeginning ofthebookwhereshemeetsPaulD. PaulDonlyreturnsto124afterBelovedisgone.Thescenebeforethisone culminatesinwhatseemslikeanexorcismofsorts.Itisanexorcismpoweredbythe blackwomenofthecommunityandSethesownhallucinationofseeingMr.Bodwin astheschoolteacher. AreSetheandPaulDgoingtogetbacktogether?

Previewtomorrowsepilogueassignment.

DayFourteen:CreativeWriting,theEpilogue
Thinkaboutthediscussionaboutclosereading.ReadMorrisonsepilogueout loudtogether.Studentsshouldbeginworkonownepiloguesinclassandthen takethemhometofinish. Writeashortepilogueexplainingwhathappenstooneofthecharacters,12 pages.StudentsareaskedtocreativelyagreewithorcontradictMorrisons epiloguewhichthoughtprovokinglystatesthatthisisnotastorytopasson andwriteanepilogueforSethe,PaulD,DenverorBeloved. Theywilltelluse3rdpersonnarrationtoexplainwhathappenstotheirchosen characterpsychologicallyafterSethesaysMe?Me?Whatkindofendingdo youimagine?Whathappensafterthedisappearanceoftheghost? IftheywriteaboutSetheorPaulD:WhatdoesPaulDmeanwhenhesaysYou yourbestthing,Sethe.Youare.(173)? Addressthestatement:Thisisnotastorytopasson. Morrisonsepilogue,asismuchofhernovel,iswrittenfromabirdseyeview ofacharacter.Talkwithstudentsabouthowtheymightbegintheirepilogue. Reviewformsofnarrationandhowtosetthetoneandmoodofashort creativepiece.

StudentEpilogueSample
Student X Miss Estrada AP English 12 XX December 20XX Denvers story is her own. She is not her mother. She is not her sister. When the three of them were locked up in the house, at first, it seemed like paradise. Ice-skating on the pond, braiding each others hair and hanging ribbons all over the house seemed to Denver like the perfect activities for a childhood she never had. However, as time went on she realized that she was not Beloved and Beloved was not her. They were separate daughters, separate sisters and separate beings. Try as she did to understand her sistershe realized that first she needed to understand herself. She will not go back to the way things were. Soon after that, Denver lost everything again. When the ladies from the neighborhood came to chant and pray Beloved out of the house, she just stood there and watched. Knowingly. It was time. She lost her baby sister twice. This time, she had bonded with her as an equal, a partner in the broken havoc of the world that was post-civil war Cincinnati. Although they were different, they did share similar experiences. However, amidst the loss of her sister and temporary loss

 of her mother to insanityshe found self-actualization. She found a purpose that was beyond the yard of 124 and she found the strength to live for others and herself. She will not go back to the way things were. Denver started working in Cincinnati and then she decided to get more education. Shed always regretted the family guilt that caused her to stop going to Lady Jones house to learn. When she was little, she wondered if her mother was really a murderess like Nelson Lord had implied. She walked around with that guilty question for years and she had no solid proof until the ghost form of her sister came along. No one would talk to her about it. So, she hid in the emerald bower. She will not go back to the way things were. Denver learned that working hard as a maid was helpful in the way of money but that to make it somewhere in the world. To tell her own story, she had to learn what the whitefolk knew. She had to learn to speak their language, understand their papers and write her own existence. One day, after Beloved had left and Paul D had moved back into the house, she found his clipping depicting her mother as a

murderess. That mouth was so small, set so hard, and so angry. But, she knew better now. Instead of sealing herself off in 124 as if that were a safe haven, she continued to get dressed and walk off of that ever looming front porch and out into the world. She lived not with a murderess but rather a protector. Her mothers love was too thick but it was just the way she liked it. Knowledge was her power. The ability to read, write and think for herself gave her a way to synthesize, express and see clearly what had happened to her family. She is whole now. Beloveds is not a story to pass on. But Denvers is. She will not go back to the way things were.

DayFifteen:TimedinclassessayaboutBeloved
ThispromptwashandedoutonMondayalongwiththepromptfortheepilogue. Theyvehadtheweektoprepare: Writea12pagepaperexplicatinghowyouconstructedyourepilogueand explaininghowyourendingtothestoryisbuiltoffofclosereadingsofthe text.This12pagepaperwillbehandwrittenandyouwillbeaskedtodoitin classwithonlyyourcopyofBelovedasaguideforcitingthetext.Please preparepassagesyoudliketotalkaboutaheadoftime.Youmustciteand closelyanalyzeatleasttwodifferentsectionsofthenovelinsupportofthe creativeworkyouvedoneinyourepilogue.Youhave45minutestocomplete thisexercise.Youwillcomeintoclasspreparedandturninyourworkatthe endoftheclasssession.

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Student X Miss Estrada AP English 12 XX December 20XX

I chose to focus my epilogue on Denver, I did so because I found her story most compelling. Throughout the book, Morrison gives the reader an idea of Denvers loneliness and isolation. In modern day terms, shes agoraphobic. She is afraid to leave the house and go into uncharted territory. She is afraid of white men looking at her and touching her. Shes afraid of existing. Towards the middle of the text, Nelson Lord makes Denver feel bad about her family identity. The reader is not given the exact question but it is understood from the context that he asks Denver whether or not her mom is a murderess. She stops attending Lady Jones informal school and therefore cuts off her connection with the outside world (102-103). Denver is portrayed as an intelligent and defensive girl. Nelsons question would not have been overwhelming for her had she been

 prepared with the interpersonal tools and self-identity needed to rebuff such a statement. Rather, it is Nelsons innocent tone that overpowers her and makes her feel ashamed. The narrator tells us, She was too scared to ask her brothers or anyone else Nelson Lords question because certain odd and terrifying feelings about her mother were collecting around the thing that lept up inside her (102). Morrison mixes imagery with personification to show the conflict of how Denver is made to feel about her identity. This place in Denvers childhood marks the beginning of her agoraphobia and clinging to the safety of the imagined unreal inside her own home: Meanwhile the monstrous and unmanageable dreams about Sethe found release in the concentration Denver began to fix on the baby ghost (103). In this part of the narrative, Denver is lost to the mysterious myths and realities of her familys past. However, in my epilogueDenver has found hope and separation from her past through education. When Beloved takes over the house and Paul D has left, Denver discovers that it is up to her to support their familys most basic needs. She goes to Lady Jones, her only

previous connection in the outside world, and asks for help. Rather than a job from Lady Jones, she gains food, connections and an education: At least once a week, she visited Lady JonesShe gave her a book of Bible verse and listened while she mumbled words or fairly shouted them. By June, Denver had read and memorized all fifty-two pagesone for each week of the year (250). From reading this passage, it was clear to me that Denver needed an education and a connection with the outside world in order to create and tell her own story. Morrisons warning that this is not a story to pass on seems to go unheeded by Denver as she continues on in my epilogue to construct her own identity. She will never go back to the way things were.

Primary text for this lesson plan: Morrison,Toni.Beloved:aNovel.NewYork,NY:Plume,1998.Print. JaimeEstrada,2012