Advanced Language & Literature - Teacher's Edition Sample

subjects. We must give the appearance of Hanna’s mother and mine will go for coffee, Horrocks Zolaria
keeping them safe. leaving us alone. Hanna will be wearing a violet-
colored bandanna. She will say she is a gangster, CHECK FOR
My father will take me once more to Dolph Park, and I say she would make the worst gangster in UNDERSTANDING
when I am in high school, for old times’ sake. the world, which is true. She says a highwayman,
The lakes are in the middle of an algae bloom, then, which feels a little closer, and when I Because of its repeated use,
the weather hot and the water full of nitrogen suggest pirate, we’re off. We go once more to especially at the end of the story
and phosphorus. I will explain this to my father, Zolaria, the bed rails marking the deck of our when the narrator takes her own
nitrogen, phosphorus, when he grimaces at the ship, and Hanna says climb on, that I won’t hurt children to the water, it’s essential
damp mat of green over the pond, looking solid her, and our kingdom acquires an ocean, high that the students have some kind
enough to walk on. My high school will have seas. Aweigh anchor, we say, trim the sails, cast of understanding of what Ogan
implemented an experimental science curricu- off, fore-and-aft, and we are all right for a time. Veen represents for the girls. Take
lum the year I enter tenth grade and I will know We will be eleven, almost twelve; we will keep a minute or two in class to look
a great deal about eutrophication and very little looking at the door, hoping no one comes in and back at the references and ask
about anything else. We will pretend to skip sees us. After half an hour Hanna will throw up students to draw conclusions
rocks but will really just be throwing things, twice in a plastic tub beside the bed. She will say about its meaning to the girls.
stones and sticks and clods of dirt, watching she leaned over to take a sounding, that the sea
them break apart the algae and sink out of sight. is a thousand fathoms deep where we are, that if
We will throw until our arms are tired and I will we don’t make it back to port we’ll drown for
talk about the environmental benchmarks of sure. I will ask her if she wants some water. She
healthy aquatic environments. We will get milk- won’t say anything, but I’ll fill a plastic cup from
shakes at the Dairy Queen on Stadium the jug on the nightstand.
Boulevard and two weeks later my father will
move to San Diego. “I had a dream the other night that Ogan
Veen was back,” I will say. “It was in the woods
In sixth grade Hanna and I will still be in the and he was chasing us and when we went out
same Girl Scout troop. We will sing Christmas the fence we were saying, ‘I don’t hear him, I
carols for the old people at Hillside Terrace nurs- think we made it,’ but then he was right there in
ing home, and in the spring we will sell cookies. front of us smiling and then I woke up.” Hanna
I will sell enough to earn a stuffed giraffe, while will look at me and her eyes will be dark and flat
Hanna sells only enough for a patch to be sewn and I will know it was a terrible idea, to tell her
on her vest. She will already be sick and I will this dream. She will sip her water and I will
have no idea. She will miss the whole last month watch her sip it and we will wait for our mothers
of sixth grade, and four Girl Scout meetings, but to come back and when they do we will be glad.
it will be summer before my mother takes me to 25 I will be unprepared for how long this sick-
visit her. The hospital will remind me of a shop- ness takes, for how long Hanna will be neither
ping mall, places to buy medicine and gifts and cured nor desperate. I will visit her once more at
food, departments for having babies and looking the hospital, twice more while she’s at home. I
after babies and looking after children and fixing will realize I am waiting for her to be either well
all the different things that can go wrong with or dead. She will feel very far away. I will start
them. It is a weighty place but exciting, the way junior high alone, and when Hanna comes for
my mother asks the front desk for Pediatric her first day, in late November, I will be startled
Oncology and I press the button in the elevator. to see her. Our morning classes must all be
different because I recognize her for the first

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UNDERSTANDING

There are several, seemingly
minor, references to the narrator’s
father in this story. Ask students
to recall what they’ve already
learned about her father, what the
narrator’s tone toward him is, and
to make predictions about the
role he may play in the story.

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CHECK FOR 5 Identity and Society time at lunch, sitting by herself. I will already be ...
UNDERSTANDING sitting in the middle of a long table by the time I Fourteen years later, when I marry Cal at a
see her, my lunch unpacked in front of me. I will Unitarian church that four months later will be
What are we learning at this point be pressed tight on either side by people who, if sold and remodeled into a bed and breakfast,
about the narrator and Hanna in asked, would probably say I am their friend. Hanna Khoury’s parents will still be living down
the future? How is Horrocks Hanna will be wearing an awful wig, stiff and the street. My father will fly in from San Diego for
signaling this to the reader? How styled like an old woman’s perm. The hair will the wedding, and he and my mother will agree to
honest and reliable in the narra- be dark brown, not black, and will no longer pose for photographs together: them, them and
tor? Why? match her eyes. She will be pale and her face me, them and me and Cal, them and me and Cal
swollen and she will not seem like someone I and Cal’s parents, the symmetry of happy
can afford to know. marriages. The Khourys won’t be at the wedding
because I won’t have invited them. I won’t have
The summer we are ten we sketch maps of our invited them because I’m scared of what Hanna
kingdom and outline its Constitution, its might have told them. Not about the way I never
Declaration of Independence, its City Charter. In sat with her at lunch or talked to her in band, or
the end they all become zoological surveys. The the way I didn’t ever claim, precisely, not to
Haisley woods harbor griffins, borometz, know her, or the way I never said I did. Not even
simurghs. There are dragons on Linwood Street, the way her life got worse and worse and I did
basilisks on Duncan who turn children to stone. nothing to make it better. Or the way when I saw
We understand that we have no sway over basi- how bad things got for her in school I was glad
lisks and dragons; we understand that they are we weren’t still friends. The day I will worry she’s
the minions of Ogan Veen. He has servants now, told them about will be a Monday in February
he has armies, and despite all our efforts Zolaria during sixth period, Phys Ed, one of our two
is not as safe as it was. classes together. Hanna will be excused from
almost everything except changing. She won’t
We make other lists, too, of “People Who, In have to run or throw or dribble or swim, but she
Zolaria, Would Be Imprisoned In The Dungeon will have to put on gym clothes. She’ll try to get
FOREVER.” Hanna keeps adding her brothers’ her sweater off and T-shirt on without disturbing
names to the list and then erasing them until the her wig, but it will almost always catch, tip, slide
paper is ready to tear and I tell her to leave them to one side. Sometimes it will fall limp onto the
off, if she’s going to feel so guilty about it. We bench between the lockers. One day Barbara
make a list of “Animals That Can Be Ridden: Zabrodska will steal it and send it flying. Marti
Pegasus, Centaur, Griffins, and Space Dolphins.” Orringer will catch it, and throw it to Naomi
We decide this is too charitable, and amend it to Sullivan, who will throw it to Elizabeth Dugan,
“Animals That Can Be Ridden By Us.” We decide who will throw it to Jamie Piakowski, who will
to hire young men to look after our stable of throw it to Carla Deleon, who will throw it to
space dolphins, and when we deem ourselves a Mary-Alice, who will throw it to Roberta, who
little older, and ready for love, we will notice the will throw it to me. And instead of giving it back I
groomsmen and swoon. We prepare speeches of will throw it to Andrea, who will throw it to
protest, in which we declare our unwillingness Aisha, who will throw it to a girl whose name I
to marry foreign princes, our determination to don’t remember, and another, and another, and
follow our hearts, until we are disappointed to another, because there will be thirty girls in
remember that in our kingdom we have no sixth-period gym and I can’t remember them all.
parents, and may marry whomever we choose.

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148 Advanced Language & Literature

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seeing connections Horrocks Zolaria

In the film Heavenly Creatures (1994)
directed by Peter Jackson, two
young girls invent a rich imaginary
world for themselves.

In what ways do these images reflect
or diverge from the imaginary world of
“Zolaria”? What words or phrases
from the short story support your
response?

Then Leah Campo will throw it to Kendra hall, along the wall like a tornado drill. The TEACHING IDEA
Danielson, who will throw it to Jasmine, who will detention supervisor will make us crouch the
throw it finally, accidentally, to Mrs. Pendall the rest of the period, tornado-style, on our knees Ask students to recast this scene
gym teacher, who will have heard Hanna crying with our foreheads almost touching the wall, our in the locker room from Hanna’s
and come in the back way, through the showers. hands curled around the backs of our necks to point of view. Students should be
Mrs. Pendall will give Hanna back her wig and protect our spines from flying shards of glass. My sure Hanna’s view of the narrator
will send all twenty-nine of us to detention, knees will hurt and I will think that if a tornado is consistent with the rest of the
where we fill the room and are sent out into the really did sever my spine and paralyze me for story by incorporating textual
evidence. Then, ask the class to
changes and transformations conversation 149 define the degree to which the
adult narrator now understands
Hannah’s point of view.

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5 Identity and Societylife, I wouldn’t have to worry anymore about not which one Ogan Veen will ask for. Which one
doing the right things. I will think that the feel of he’ll try to take. If he will give them ten years, if
CLOSE READING her wig in my hand was like a gutted animal, he will come calling sooner.
empty and dry and bristling.
Reread paragraphs 28-29 as the One winter the twins, bored, will unearth
narrator describes her own chil- Hanna will be in remission by the next fall, but old photos in the basement: their baby
dren. How does the reader know her parents will already have taken her out of pictures, our wedding, school portraits of Cal
from this section only that the Forsythe Junior High and placed her in a private and snapshots of my elementary school birth-
time when she and Hanna were school. I will not know when the cancer comes day parties. The year I turned ten there was no
ten and princesses of Zolaria still back. I will have discovered how easy it is to one I wanted to invite except Hanna, no one I
affect the narrator? never see someone, even an eight-houses- thought would come if I asked. In the picture
down-someone, if you do not wish to see each there is a cake with ten candles and only two
other. When she passes away, my mother will girls grinning above it — they look as if they
find out from a newspaper obituary. She will should be lonely but are somehow perfectly
come up to my bedroom, will still be deciding happy. Madison will ask me who the dark-
whether to tell me herself or just show me the haired girl is, and I will get a look on my face
paper. She will hand it to me and say, “There’s that will make Sophie elbow her sister into
bad news, honey.” silence. She is the perceptive one, I will think,
30 It will be my first funeral, and my mother the one who reads people. And then I will
and I will go shopping for black clothing think, please no, not her. And then I will think,
together. As we leave the mall I will thank her for please no, I didn’t mean the other one.
paying, like she’s bought me birthday gifts or
new back-to-school clothes, and then to fill the On a July morning the summer before the girls
silence I will say something about JV field begin kindergarten I will ask them to get dressed
hockey, and then my mother will drop the shop- in their swimsuits, pull old shorts and T-shirts
ping bags in the middle of the parking lot and on over. I will pack a bag with beach towels and
hold me tighter than she ever has or ever will dry clothes, and they will ask which city pool
again. At the funeral I will be so worried about we’re going to. Wait and see, I will say, and we
avoiding Mr. and Mrs. Khoury and their sons will all climb into the car. I will drive down the
that I won’t have time to cry. township road that skirts the edge of Bird Hills
Nature Preserve; it will be lined with condos but
At the wedding Cal’s mother will squint at me still unpaved. I will park at the lot downriver
and ask if I’m really Unitarian, or just needed a from the Barton Dam, and we will climb the
cheap place for the wedding. I will tell her that wooden steps up to the calm pond above the
I’m pagan, that I make burnt offerings to forest pump station. We will leave the trail to slide
demons in the Bird Hills Nature Preserve. She down the embankment toward the water. The
won’t laugh. Cal and I will go to Toronto for the shore is reedy, the ground spongy with black,
honeymoon and three and a half years later the rank mud. We will stand ankle deep in the water,
doctor will tell us to get ready for twins, girls. I and Sophie will yelp when her feet start to sink. I
will be terrified. It seems like a sign. It seems like will suggest a short swim, and the girls will look
a coin has already been flipped, and we will at me with horror. The water will smell warm
spend years waiting for it to fall. I will stare at my and spongy and tattered curtains of algae will
daughters in matching pajamas and wonder stroke our toes. Madison will hold her nose, and
in the end, I have to push them in. It will be only
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UNDERSTANDING

What is the narrator hoping to
accomplish or learn by taking her
daughters to the pond? (See
Understanding Q6.)

150 Advanced Language & Literature

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a moment, I promise, a slice of a second, that I that that won’t help, that it isn’t what I meant. Horrocks Zolaria
hold them under. And then I will be tugging at I won’t know how to tell him that I am still
their hair and the backs of their T-shirts and bracing for a day when Sophie complains of a CLOSE READING
wrestling us all into a heap on the grass above headache that turns out to be something more,
the reeds, and a woman on a bicycle will be when Madison reels dizzily in gym class and Reread the last paragraph of the
standing on the embankment trail shouting at the teacher sends her home with a concerned story. Ask students to comment
me that the pond is no place for swimming. The note. When a doctor has something to tell me on the effect of the parallel struc-
water isn’t clean, she yells. She talks about nitro- he asks me to sit down to hear. I will be trying ture of the sentences and the
gen, phosphorus. I’m sorry, I will say. I didn’t not to think about the possibility of a day when syntax of the very last sentence.
realize. It’s such a hot day, the girls were so hot. I will drive to the dam again, climb the stairs to Where are the repetitions of
They asked to go wading and slipped. My Barton Pond and wade in. I will walk until I can words and how do they illustrate
daughters will not contradict me, and the bicy- hear the pressing silence of the water, the rush- a theme of the story?
cle woman will leave, and I will bundle them ing, vacuous weight of it. I will say, “Mr. Veen,
into towels, warm and dry. At home we will all do you remember me?” I will say, “Mr. Veen, I
stand under the shower, all of us crowded once ruled a kingdom and left traps for you in
together, and then eat ice cream in the backyard. the woods. Don’t you want your revenge?”
I will ask Madison if she heard anything under- I will say, “Mr. Veen, you are an ogre and a thief
water, a gnashing of teeth, a creature with eyes and the patron saint of Julys, of summer
like an oil slick and incisors like bread knives, Sundays, of miracles.” I will say, “Mr. Veen,
long and serrated. I will tell Sophie that Ogan do not take my children.”
Veen has a laugh like I-94 and a stink like algae. I 35 And if he asks, and if I think it will help, and
will tell her that I have introduced them now, the if I think it is truly what I have to do, we will be
three of them, Madison and Sophie and Mr. swimming and it will be July and we are a
Veen, and if they ever meet him they must run miraculous age. We are in Zolaria, we are chil-
away. They must tell him that they are prin- dren, our bodies are honest children’s bodies.
cesses, that they are mine, that I will protect We are narrow and quick and we still fit in all
them in the only ways I know how. our hiding places, the sun-wet hollows and the
flowers in pink and purple and turquoise, all the
Cal will get home from work and while I damp colors of girlhood. We are riding our
cook dinner the girls will tell him what I did space dolphins, and either we can breathe the
and Cal will shout and I will try to explain water of Zolaria or we are no longer breathing
myself and Cal will misunderstand and talk to and it is July and we are a miraculous age and
his parents about having the girls baptized at we are ten.
First Methodist. I won’t know how to tell him

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Divide students into groups to
analyze the narrator’s character:
1. as a child when she is friends
with Hanna; 2. After Hanna
becomes ill; 3. As a young adult
getting married; 4. As a mother.
Identify three to five character
traits with textual support for
each stage, then compare traits
among groups. Is she static or
dynamic? How and why?

Teacher’s Edition 151

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TRM SUGGESTED 5 Identity and Society Understanding and interpreting 6 What is the narrator hoping to accomplish by
RESPONSES pushing her children into the pond (par. 33)? How
1 After completing the story, you can probably think successful is she?
Suggested responses to the back on it and see how often Hanna’s death was
questions for this reading can be foreshadowed. Locate as many places as you can and 7 Read this excerpt from an interview with Caitlin
found on the Teacher’s Resource explain why there are so many instances of Horrocks, which was published on a website called
Flash Drive. foreshadowing. The Rumpus. What do you think of the interviewer’s,
and Horrocks’s, assessment of the narrator as being
TEACHING IDEA – 2 In fifth grade, Hanna and the narrator “doomed” too self-aware?
UNDERSTANDING Q1 themselves because they showed up with school
Consider having students write supplies decorated with space dolphins and unicorns, The Rumpus: “I know myself plenty,” the main
the examples of foreshadowing styles that the other girls had stopped using. The character in “Zolaria” says to her mother. “I think I
on small strips of paper, and then narrator then says, “I don’t understand why they have know all I want to.” And in fact she and the other
arranging them in chronological abandoned the things they loved” (par. 11). How does protagonists [. . .] know a great deal about
and then rearrange them into the this statement seem to reflect one of the themes of themselves, maybe too much to be happy. Have
order in which they are presented this story? you worked with characters who don’t understand
in the story. You can examine the themselves?
effects of the different instances 3 When the narrator announces her engagement,
of foreshadowing. her mother says that she is too young and that she Horrocks: Self-awareness is usually thought of as
doesn’t even know herself yet. The narrator responds, an unmitigated good thing—how can someone be
TEACHING IDEA – “I know myself plenty. . . . I think I know all I want to.” happy or stable or fit company without it? But the
UNDERSTANDING Q4 (par. 19) What does her response reveal about her? main character in “Zolaria” is so convinced of her
Ask students to share experi- How does it relate to what we know about her when own cowardice she’d be willing to die to make
ences to the narrator of losing a she was a child? amends, to save her own children. Her idea of
close friend. How similar or differ- herself doesn’t bring her any comfort. But now I’m
ent are they to the narrator’s 4 In less than two years, the narrator goes from just agreeing with what you already said.
experience. being Hanna’s co-princess of Zolaria to being one
of her tormentors in the locker room. What changes 8 Reread the opening paragraph and the closing
between Hanna and the narrator? How do Hanna and paragraph of the story. They both take place in
the narrator deal with the changes between them? Zolaria and are both written in the present tense, but
what is the difference between them?
5 Zolaria means different things to the narrator as
the story progresses. What does it seem to
represent at the following stages?

a. during that first summer when she is ten
(pars. 1–13)

b. when Hanna becomes sick (pars. 22–25)
c. when the narrator is an adult and has children of

her own (pars. 33–35)

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05T_SEHEA_57C41H_chI5N_01G10-01I7D3.inEddA15–2
UNDERSTANDING Q7
Conduct a poll of your student to
see who agrees with Horrocks
about the narrator knowing too
much to be happy. Is ignorance
bliss?

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Analyzing language, Style, and Structure Horrocks Zolaria

1 Look back through the story and notice the places Why do you think Horrocks structured this portion of TEACHING IDEA –
where the narrator uses “we” and then shifts to “I.” the story in this way? What is the effect of the time ANALYZING Q5
Why do you think she switches and what is the effect shift? Expand this question by asking
of those shifts? students to substitute different
4 Reread the descriptions of Zolaria, the world the words or phrases for the under-
2 Notice the interesting shifts in the tense the narrator and Hanna create when they are ten lined ones that would create a
narrator uses. For example, the story begins in the (pars. 1, 12–13, 20, and 26–27). What specific language different tone.
present tense with the line, “It is July and we are a choices give it the feeling of both magic and danger?
miraculous age,” but at various times, she switches to TEACHING IDEA –
the future tense, as in “My father will take me once 5 One of the saddest parts of this story is when the CONNECTING Q4
more to Dolph Park, when I am in high school” narrator’s relationship with Hanna changes after Students could also be directed
(par. 21). Looking back through the story, when does she becomes sick. Reread the following sentences and to find and respond to other
the narrator use the present tense and when does she explain the effect of the underlined words. What do examples of quotes about
use the future tense? What is the effect of these shifts? they reveal about the narrator? childhood.

3 If the narrator had decided to tell this story in a. “She will be pale and her face swollen and she
chronological order, she would have started when will not seem like someone I can afford to know”
she and Hanna were in the fifth grade, continued (par. 25).
through their one summer together, described
Hanna’s illness and death, and wrapped up with her b. “I will think that the feel of her wig in my hand was
own marriage and parenthood. But instead, she shifts like a gutted animal, empty and dry and bristling”
back and forth in time throughout the story. Look back (par. 28).
through the story and identify one significant time shift.
c. “I will have discovered how easy it is to never see
someone, even an eight-houses-down-someone,
if you do not wish to see each other” (par. 29).

connecting, Arguing, and extending because of her youth and other factors? Support your
response with direct evidence from the story.
1 It is very likely that you have had an experience
similar to the narrator’s, in which you and a friend 4 Look over these two differing views about
have changed to such a degree that you are no longer childhood and its relationship to adulthood.
as close as you once were. What factors caused this Explain what each is suggesting about childhood and
change? Is this growing apart an inevitable part of explain how they each compare to “Zolaria.”
growing up or can it be avoided? Why?
a. “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought
2 The narrator clearly fails in her opportunity to stand like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became
up for Hanna when she is being bullied in the locker a man, I gave up childish ways.” —1 Corinthians
room in junior high school; in fact, she even participates 13:11, English Standard Version
in the bullying of her friend (par. 28). Conduct a brief
search on the social forces that contribute to bullying in b. My heart leaps up when I behold
school, focusing on the most recent research by A rainbow in the sky:
scholars such as Jaana Juvonen from UCLA, Ken Rigby So was it when my life began;
from the University of South Australia, and others. So is it now I am a man;
Using the findings from your research, explain the So be it when I shall grow old,
actions of the narrator toward Hanna. Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
3 It is apparent that even years after the events the I could wish my days to be
narrator has still not forgiven herself for her actions Bound each to each by natural piety.
(and inactions) toward Hanna. Is the narrator truly
responsible for her actions, or should she be excused —William Wordsworth

changes and transformations conversation 153

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ANALYZING Q1-Q3 CONNECTING Q2

Be sure that throughout the read- Students could present their find-
ing of the text, students have ings in the form of a poster,
been asked to trace the use of PowerPoint, or a letter to the
pronouns and time shifts. They school administration, suggesting
can refer to their notes or annota- changes to the bullying policies
tions to answer these questions. of your school.

Teacher’s Edition 153

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BUILDING CONTEXT My Son the Man and The Possessive5 Identity and Society © Bruce Davidson/Magnum Photos
Sharon Olds
Before you approach these Olds My Son the Man
poems, invite your students to go Born in San Francisco in 1942, Sharon Olds has become one of
home and interview a parent/ America’s most well-known and critically praised poets. She FPG/Getty Images
guardian: How has being a parent has published numerous collections of poetry, including The
shaped who you are? How do Dead and the Living (1984), which received the National Book
you feel about your child growing Critics Circle Award. Considered a “confessional poet,” Olds
older? Modification can be made, typically writes about her own life, as she does in these two
if a student doesn’t have access poems about her children growing up and the effect it has on
to their parent, they could inter- her as a mother.
view any parent they know or a
grandparent. Suddenly his shoulders get a lot wider,
the way Houdini would expand his body
BUILDING CONTEXT while people were putting him in chains. It seems
no time since I would help him put on his sleeper,
Over the years there have been 5 guide his calves into the shadowy interior,
many songs about love that pres- zip him up and toss him up and
ent this theme: “If you love some- catch his weight. I cannot imagine him
body, set them free.” How do you no longer a child, and I know I must get ready,
interpret this statement and when get over my fear of men now my son
would it be considered sound 10 is going to be one. This was not
advice? what I had in mind when he pressed up through me like a
sealed trunk through the ice of the Hudson,
TRM VOCABULARY snapped the padlock, unsnaked the chains,
appeared in my arms. Now he looks at me
A list of challenging words from 15 the way Houdini studied a box
these readings can be found in to learn the way out, then smiled and let himself be manacled.
the Teacher’s Resource Flash
Drive. This is Harry Houdini, the magician, just before
he is sealed into a trunk and dumped into the
CHECK FOR Hudson River, in a famous illusion that becomes
UNDERSTANDING an extended metaphor in “My Son the Man.”
Why do you think Olds found this particular
Why would the speaker fear Houdini illusion such a compelling metaphor
men? for watching her son grow up?

BUILDING CONTEXT 154

Ask students to discuss: What is
the role of imagination in parent-
ing? How do your parents imag-
ine you? What are ways that your
parents have used their imagina-
tions to create who you are?
What ways have they used their
imaginations to create illusions of
who you are?

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Both of these poems deal with a
tension between love and
conflict. In each poem, have
students look for language that
refects this tension. What does
Old’s word choice reveal about
the challenges of both attach-
ment and freedom? You might
even connect this idea to
“Eveline,” p. 162.

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Understanding and interpreting c. “he looks at me / the way Houdini studied a box / Olds My Son the Man and The Possessive TRM SUGGESTED
to learn the way out. . . .” (ll. 14–16) RESPONSES
1 Describe the speaker of this poem. What concerns
her? What scares her? Be sure to use evidence Now that you have explored the individual parts of the Suggested responses to the
from the text to support your response. extended Houdini metaphor, explain the overall questions for this reading can be
purpose of the comparison. What is Sharon Olds found on the Teacher’s Resource
2 This poem makes use of a literary device known as saying about the relationships between mothers and Flash Drive.
a “conceit” or an “extended metaphor,” in which sons by using the multiple comparisons to Houdini?
an author repeats a comparison multiple times TEACHING IDEA –
throughout a text. In this case, the speaker makes 3 The speaker admits that “[t]his was not what she UNDERSTANDING Q3
three separate comparisons between her son and the had in mind” when confronted by the inevitable This question could benefit from
famous magician Harry Houdini. For each of the maturation of her son into a man. In what ways is the careful processing. Consider
following lines from the poem, explain how the speaker’s concern specifically about gender, and in approaching this task in small
reference to Houdini reveals a different aspect of the what ways is it about watching a child grow up? groups before they write.
relationship between the speaker and her son:
4 The final lines of the poem bring the situation into TEACHING IDEA –
a. “his shoulders get a lot wider / the way Houdini the present, as the son looks at his mother and UNDERSTANDING Q4
would expand his body / while people were putting smiles like Houdini does before he lets “himself be This question would make a good
him in chains. . . .” (ll. 1–3) manacled” (l. 16). From the point of view of the class discussion, as it opens up
speaker, is this a sinister or a playful smile, or the text in multiple ways.
b. “when he pressed up through me like a / sealed something else?
trunk through the ice of the Hudson, / snapped the TEACHING IDEA –
padlock, unsnaked the chains, / appeared in my CONNECTING Q1
arms. . . .” (ll. 11–14) This prompt could manifest as a
poem or as a metaphorical draw-
Analyzing language, Style, and Structure ing simply of the concept that
would be used as the conceit of
1 The poem begins with the word “suddenly” in 3 The speaker claims that she must get over her the poem. Have the student share
describing how the speaker’s son’s shoulders “fear of men” (l. 9). How does she communicate the art and their process.
seem to expand quickly. How does the use of this this fear throughout this poem?
opening signal the way that time will be presented in
this poem? Explain the possible implications of the 4 In lines 7–8, the speaker admits, “I cannot imagine
speaker’s sense of time. him / no longer a child.” Discuss how this
description, which contrasts with the title of the poem,
2 Explain how the imagery in lines 3–7 establishes reveals a central struggle that the speaker is
the relationship between the mother and her son. experiencing.

connecting, Arguing, and extending or different from the relationship Olds describes in this
poem? What do you think that the older person has
1 How much different would this poem be if the struggled with as you have grown older yourself?
speaker were a father instead of a mother? What
would the father likely focus on that the mother does 3 One reviewer for the New York Times said of
not? Why? Think of an extended metaphor that could Sharon Olds, “She has made the minutiae of a
be used by the father to illustrate the fear he might woman’s everyday life as valid a subject for poetry as
have in watching his son grow up and explain why you the grand abstract themes that have preoccupied other
think this would be an effective comparison. poets.” Do you agree or disagree with the reviewer,
and why?
2 In what ways has your relationship to a parent,
guardian, or older friend or sibling been similar to

changes and transformations conversation 155

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CONNECTING Q2

This one could be done as a
reflective writing task, but it could
also be modified into an interview
with the parent /guardian.

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CLOSE READING 5 Identity and Society My daughter — as if I Olds The Possessive
owned her — that girl with the
Have students identify and list of hair wispy as a frayed bellpull 10 All the little
all of the words that have associ- spliced ropes are sliced. The curtain of
ations with violence or war (knife, has been to the barber, that knife grinder, dark paper-cuts veils the face that
rope, helmet, cut, grind, fires, 5 and had the edge of her hair sharpened. started from next to nothing in my body —
etc). How does Olds’ diction
shape the tone and meaning of Each strand now cuts My body. My daughter. I’ll have to find
the piece? both ways. The blade of new bangs 15 another word. In her bright helmet
hangs over her red-brown eyes
TEACHING IDEA like carbon steel. she looks at me as if across a
great distance. Distant fires can be
Have students work in pairs to glimpsed in the resin lights of her eyes:
determine how these poems
would be performed on a stage. the watch fires of an enemy, a while before
Have them identify non-verbal 20 the war starts.
communication like blocking and
hand gestures as well as tone seeing connections
and stress for the performance.
One student can function as the These photographs are part of a collection called © Rania Matar/INSTITUTE
director, watching and coaching, A Girl and Her Room by photographer Rania
the other as the performer. Have Matar. In her project statement, Matar says, “As a Dima, Beirut, Lebanon, 2010
the performer deliver the poem mother of teenage daughters I watch their
for the class and have the direc- passage from girlhood into adulthood, fascinated
tor answer questions about the with the transformation taking place, the adult
performance. The audience personality taking shape and a gradual self-
should point out the choices that consciousness replacing the carefree world they
they liked and ask questions that had known and lived in so far.”
probe for the reasoning behind
other choices. How do the images reflect this transformation, and
how might the images relate to Olds’s poem “The
TEACHING IDEA Possessive”?

After reading the poems, have a © Rania Matar/INSTITUTE © Rania Matar/INSTITUTE
Socratic Seminar where you ask
students to answer these ques- Krystal, Brookline, Massachusetts, 2009 Brianna, Winchester, Massachusetts, 2009
tions: how do our parents shape 156
our identity? To what extent are
we in conflict with them as we
establish our identity? To what
extent do we survive or escape
our parents?

TRM SOCRATIC
SEMINAR

For more information and ideas
on how to conduct an effective
Socratic Seminar, see the
Teacher’s Resource Flash Drive.

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Present your students with these
words from Khalil Gibran: And though they are with you yet
they belong not to you.
Your children are not your
children.
Check that they understand what
the second line is implying.
They are the sons and daughters Would the speaker in Olds’s
of Life’s longing for itself.
poem agree with these ideas? Be
sure that student use textual
They come through you but not support to backup their stance.
from you,


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Understanding and interpreting 3 In the fifth stanza, the speaker decides that Olds My Son the Man and The Possessive TRM SUGGESTED
“daughter” is no longer an adequate description RESPONSES
1 The “possessive” is a grammatical term indicating and she will have to find “another word” (l. 15). What
ownership. How is the idea of ownership that has led her to decide she needs a different word? What Suggested responses to the
is introduced in the title developed further in the words do you think the speaker might choose to questions for this reading can be
poem? express her new understanding of her relationship with found on the Teacher’s Resource
her daughter? Flash Drive.
2 On a literal level, the speaker is describing her
daughter’s visit to the barber where she gets a 4 By the final stanza, according to the speaker, the TEACHING IDEA –
significantly different hairstyle. But, what does the daughter has become an “enemy” who awaits a UNDERSTANDING Q3
haircut represent metaphorically? And what effect is “war” (ll. 19–20). In what way is the haircut part of the This one mght work better with a
this change having on the speaker? preparation for this war? thinking partner.

Analyzing language, Style, and Structure TEACHING IDEA –
UNDERSTANDING Q4
1 The speaker begins the poem by considering the 3 The phrase “cuts both ways” means that Question 4 could work as a whole
phrase “my daughter,” and then dismisses it something has two different effects simultaneously, class conversation if you want to
because it implies ownership. What effect does the usually one positive and the other negative. What are explore how we struggle against
speaker’s dismissal of the phrase have on our two possible effects that may be occurring as a result our parents to author our own
understanding of her attitude toward her daughter? of the daughter’s haircut? subjective judgments of the world
and ourselves.
2 In the opening stanza, the speaker reveals that her 4 The speaker sees “[d]istant fires” in the “resin lights”
daughter has just been to the barber for a haircut. (ll. 17–18) of her daughter’s eyes, continuing the TEACHING IDEA –
She also describes the barber as a “knife grinder,” who warlike imagery. Describe the tone that these phrases, CONNECTING Q1
sharpens the “edge” of her daughter’s hair (ll. 4–5). In along with those in the previous stanza, create in the This prompt lends itself to an
what ways does this description set up different poem as a whole. In your description, try using two opinion piece. It could also be
possible ways of understanding the significance of this adjectives to express the complexity of the speaker’s done as a short video
event? position. commentary.

connecting, Arguing, and extending 2 Consider the gender issues raised in this poem
and the previous poem, “My Son the Man.” Both
1 For a variety of reasons, adolescence is often a are by the same poet, but the speaker response to
difficult time for the relationship between parents each child is quite different, in part because of gender
and their children. This poem uses extensive imagery differences. Write a comparison analyzing how gender
of weapons and warfare to describe the changing affects the parent-child relationships in these two
relationship between the mother and daughter. Explain poems.
the ways in which the conflict between parents and
children is like warfare and the ways it can be seen in
less adversarial terms.

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TEACHING IDEA – 5 Identity and Society 3 In “The Possessive,” the speaker focuses Donna Ward/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
CONNECTING Q3 specifically on her relationship with her daughter
This assignment lends itself to a and possible conflicts with her daughter in the future. like, ‘Why did you do that? That’s such an error.’
group discussion activity. A However, researcher Karen Fingerman, PhD, who And I was like, ‘Well, honestly, I don’t really care
student interested in following interviewed adult women about their relationships what you think!’ I’ve never felt so confident as I did
this prompt could also conduct a with their elderly mothers, found that despite conflicts with short hair—I felt really good in my own skin.”
series of interview with women of and complicated emotions, the mother-daughter bond —Glamour Magazine
multiple ages in their community is so strong that 80 percent to 90 percent of women
and/or family and then write a at midlife report good relationships with their Similarly, Sharon Olds has taken a simple haircut and
short piece synthesizing her mothers—though they wish those relationships were elevated its importance in this poem. Is getting a new
findings. even better. What do you think creates this strong hairstyle really that significant? Do you think that there
bond between mothers and daughters, even if they are different standards for males and females when it
TEACHING IDEA – experience some conflict earlier in life? Is there comes to the significance of hair?
CONNECTING Q4 something inevitable about conflict between mothers
Prompt 4 could be presented as and daughters earlier in life that is then resolved later
a short film. in life? If so, what are some possible reasons for the
changed relationships?
BUILDING CONTEXT
The number of unfamiliar words 4 Emma Watson, the actress who played Hermione
in the passage may overwhelm in the Harry Potter films, cut her hair immediately
English language learners. Prior after the end of filming the last installment. The haircut
to class, identify likely problem- became a major media event, and marked a clear
atic vocabulary for your students. departure between the old Emma and the new Emma.
During class have students
self-select terms they need to “I have to [grow my hair out] for roles. But if I had it
know from your list. Have my way, I would have just kept it short forever. Of
students complete a vocabulary course, men like long hair. There’s no two ways
four square for their word. To about it. The majority of the boys around me were
construct the four square, fold a
paper in half, twice. Use one The Seven Ages of Man (attr. to)/National Portrait Gallery, London, UK/Bridgeman
quarter of the page for each of William Shakespeare Images
the following: The word; the defi-
nition with its part of speech; use William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is considered one of the
the word in a sentence; draw a greatest playwrights in history. His plays Romeo and Juliet,
simple image illustrating the Macbeth, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Othello, and many others are
concept. Post the terms about among the most widely read and performed plays in the English
the room for a gallery walk. You language. While many of Shakespeare’s best-known works are
might allow students to take classified as tragedies, he also wrote a number of very successful
photos of the four squares for comedies, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of
later reference. the Shrew, Much Ado about Nothing, and As You Like It.

Portrait of William Shakespeare (1564–1616) c. 1610
(oil on canvas), Taylor, John (d. 1651)

158

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158 Advanced Language & Literature

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Key cOntext The excerpt that follows is from the comedy As You Like It (1603), Shakespeare The Seven Ages of Man TRM VOCABULARY
which is about a group of exiled noblemen and women who find love amid mistaken
identities in a forest in rural France. The speech below, one of Shakespeare’s most A list of challenging words from
famous, is delivered as a monologue by the often-gloomy Jaques, one of the exiled this reading can be found in the
lords.  In it, Jaques describes what he sees as the life cycle of mankind, from childhood Teacher’s Resource Flash Drive.
to old age, with five “ages” in between.  
TEACHING IDEA
All the world’s a stage, Chunk the text into seven parts
And all the men and women merely players. and ask groups of students to
They have their exits and their entrances, paraphrase the text. Remind
And one man in his time plays many parts, students about the differences
5 His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, between summarizing and para-
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. phrasing. Have each group share
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel both their paraphrase and the
And shining morning face, creeping like snail original language to the class.
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
10 Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad TEACHING IDEA
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, This text has rich imagery and
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,1 figurative language. Prior to
Jealous in honor, sudden, and quick in quarrel, class, identify rich phrases. Give
Seeking the bubble reputation each student a phrase, like
15 Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, “creeping like a snail unwilling to
In fair round belly with good capon2 lined, school” and ask them to render it.
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Depending on time and interest,
Full of wise saws and modern instances; the rendering could be a physical
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts performance of the image, a
20 Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,3 sketch or even a collage.
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, Visualizing all of these images
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide before approaching the text will
For his shrunk shank;4 and his big manly voice, improve comprehension.
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
25 And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, TEACHING IDEA
That ends this strange eventful history, Shakespeare is meant to be
Is second childishness and mere oblivion, heard. Read the text together as
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. a class a few times. On the first
time through, each student reads
1pard: Leopard. —Eds. a line of the text out loud. The
2capon: Rooster intended for eating. —Eds. second time through, change
3pantaloon: A stock character in the Italian commedia dell’arte, the pantaloon is an absurd doddering old man. —Eds. readers after each period. The
4shank: Calf. —Eds. third time through, have eight
students volunteer to do a
changes and transformations conversation 159 dramatic reading: one to read the
introduction, and then seven to
take on each “age.”

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5 Identity and Society seeing connections

In a reading room at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., there is a large
stained glass by artist Nicola d’Ascenzo that represents each of the seven ages of man.
Examine each section of the stained glass shown here and explain which words or phrases
from Jaques’s speech you think likely contributed to d’Ascenzo’s interpretation.

TRM SUGGESTED Photo by Julie Ainsworth. By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library.
RESPONSES
Understanding and Interpreting 3 Clearly these seven ages of man have been
Suggested responses to the selected intentionally to represent a fairly gloomy
questions for this reading can be 1 Paraphrase the seven ages in seven outlook on life. What ages of man are missing and how
found on the Teacher’s Resource sentences. would their inclusion change the meaning of the
Flash Drive. monologue?
2 Explain William Shakespeare’s opening metaphor:
TEACHING IDEA – “All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and
UNDERSTANDING Q3 women merely players.” How is life like being an actor
onstage? What aspects of life are not accounted for in
This question could be answered this metaphor?
with a performance. Students
could put together the new and
improved seven (or eight) ages of
man and perform them.

160

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160 Advanced Language & Literature

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Analyzing language, Style, and Structure Shakespeare The Seven Ages of Man

1 After the opening line, Shakespeare writes “the 4 There are a number of places where Shakespeare
men and women merely players.” What is the seems to be mocking the representations of man.
effect of the word “merely” in the second line? How Identify one of these lines and explain the specific
would the tone be different if that word was not words that he uses for humor.
included?
5 What is the effect of the repetition of the word
2 Shakespeare uses a number of similes to describe “sans” in the last line?
the stages men and women go through in life.
Paraphrase each of the following similes and explain 6 Each of the stages does not receive the same
how each contributes to the overall tone: number of lines: some are longer and some are
shorter. Look back through the speech to identify the
a. “creeping like snail” (l. 8) “ages” with the fewest and most number of lines. What
b. “Sighing like furnace” (l. 10) significance can you place on these choices?
c. “bearded like the pard” (l. 12)
7 What is Shakespeare’s tone toward each of the
3 In addition to using similes, Shakespeare also uses stages of life? How does this tone change or shift
imagery to describe many of the stages of life. as the speech progresses? Rewrite one or more of the
Paraphrase each of the following lines and explain how ages with different words that change the tone.
each contributes to the overall theme:

a. “Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms” (l. 6)
b. “Seeking the bubble reputation / Even in the

cannon’s mouth” (ll. 14–15)
c. “In fair round belly with good capon lined” (l. 16)
d. “big manly voice, / Turning again toward childish

treble, pipes / And whistles in his sound” (ll. 23–25)

connecting, Arguing, and extending 3 As You Like It was first performed in 1603. Think TEACHING IDEA –
about how this excerpt from the play would be CONNECTING Q1
1 In the opening lines of the speech, Jaques implies similar or different if it were written today. Consider
that both men and women are included in these differences such as changes in available professions, This first prompt could be done
ages of “man.” How would his monologue be different medical care, life expectancy, technology, as a group and performed.
if it were specifically about the seven ages of transportation, and so on. Then, in poetry or prose,
“woman”? Write a line or two that would reflect one or write the “Seven Ages of Twenty-First-Century Man (or
more of these ages. Woman)” to reflect today’s stages of life. Or, using
magazine cutouts or your own drawings, construct a
2 Jaques, the character from the play who speaks contemporary “Seven Ages of Man” collage.   
these lines, presents humankind as pretty foolish
throughout all seven stages of life. Write a piece in
which you argue that Jaques’s representation of our
foolishness is either accurate or not. Be sure to use
your own experiences and other real-life events along
with lines from the play to support your response.

changes and transformations conversation 161

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BUILDING CONTEXT 5 Identity and Society Eveline Berenice Abbott/Masters/Getty Images

Setting is important to under- James Joyce
standing Eveline’s options. Joyce
could have chosen any number James Joyce (1882–1941) is considered one of the most
of places for Frank to offer for influential writers of the twentieth century. His masterpiece,
their new life. Consider front Ulysses, takes the myth of the Odyssey and updates it to
loading some materials for your contemporary Ireland. While often recognized for his novels,
class by showing them images of Joyce was also a highly acclaimed short-story writer. This story
Ireland and Buenos Aires. The is taken from his collection Dubliners, which he finished writing
comparison of a few images from in 1904 at the age of twenty-two but was not able to publish
each place would help to identify until 1914. The story focuses on the difficult choices faced by
that this is no small change in Eveline, a young Irish woman: should she stay with her family
culture, weather, or hemisphere. and the only home she has known, or leave with a young man
At this time, explain that Buenos for the promise of something new?
Aires translates to Good Air or
Fair Winds. The original name of She sat at the window watching the evening mother was alive. That was a long time ago; she
the city can be translated to the invade the avenue. Her head was leaned and her brothers and sisters were all grown up
City of Our Lady Saint Mary of the against the window curtains and in her nostrils her mother was dead. Tizzie Dunn was dead,
Fair Winds. Later, when you was the odour of dusty cretonne.1 She was tired. too, and the Waters had gone back to England.
consider the absence of the Everything changes. Now she was going to go
mother and the focus on her care Few people passed. The man out of the last away like the others, to leave her home.
for her brothers and father, it will house passed on his way home; she heard his
be easy to see Eveline fulfilling footsteps clacking along the concrete pavement Home! She looked round the room, reviewing
the “perfect mother “ archetype and afterwards crunching on the cinder path all its familiar objects which she had dusted once
of Mary if this seed is planted. before the new red houses. One time there used a week for so many years, wondering where on
to be a field there in which they used to play earth all the dust came from. Perhaps she would
TRM VOCABULARY every evening with other people’s children. Then never see again those familiar objects from which
a man from Belfast bought the field and built she had never dreamed of being divided. And yet
A list of challenging words from houses in it — not like their little brown houses during all those years she had never found out the
this reading can be found in the but bright brick houses with shining roofs. The name of the priest whose yellowing photograph
Teacher’s Resource Flash Drive. children of the avenue used to play together in hung on the wall above the broken harmonium3
that field — the Devines, the Waters, the Dunns, beside the coloured print of the promises made to
BUILDING CONTEXT little Keogh the cripple, she and her brothers Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque. He had been a
and sisters. Ernest, however, never played: he school friend of her father. Whenever he showed
Prior to this lesson have students was too grown up. Her father used often to hunt the photograph to a visitor her father used to pass
do a quick Internet search on them in out of the field with his blackthorn stick; it with a casual word:
Women’s Rights in Ireland in the but usually little Keogh used to keep nix2 and
Early 20th Century. They will call out when he saw her father coming. Still “He is in Melbourne now.”
quickly learn that women were they seemed to have been rather happy then. 5 She had consented to go away, to leave her
treated as second-class citizens. Her father was not so bad then; and besides, her
Ask them to consider how our home. Was that wise? She tried to weigh each
time is both similar and different. side of the question. In her home anyway she

Note: Another negative force in 1cretonne: Heavy cotton fabric used for upholstery. —Eds. 3harmonium: A small organ powered by a foot-operated
Eveline’s life is her abusive father. 2keep nix: Keep watch. —Eds. bellows. —Eds.
Although mild in this story, you
should be aware that the depic- 162
tion of abuse and alcoholism may
be difficult for some students
who have gone through similar
experiences or are secretly expe-
riencing them now.

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Ask students to highlight focalization strategy being used Have students look carefully at might that reveal about their
language in paragraph 2 that here that merges narrative voice paragraph 3. To understand relationship?
refers to time or is an indication and character voice (see Eveline’s relationship with her
of time. Careful observation Analyzing Q1) and from this same father and the conditions she
should help students see that the activity we can see the shifts in faces as a woman at that time,
narration has shifted from third time that will establish the aware- ask students why she doesn’t
person objective to third person ness of time needed in order to know the name of the priest. Why
omniscient. There is an internal answer Analyzing Q6 later. didn’t she ask her father? What

162 Advanced Language & Literature

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had shelter and food; she had those whom she would be married — she, Eveline. People would Joyce Eveline BUILDING CONTEXT
had known all her life about her. Of course she treat her with respect then. She would not be
had to work hard, both in the house and at busi- treated as her mother had been. Even now, A surprising plot development
ness. What would they say of her in the Stores though she was over nineteen, she sometimes here in paragraphs 5-9: Eveline
when they found out that she had run away with felt herself in danger of her father’s violence. She plans to “run away” with a man.
a fellow? Say she was a fool, perhaps; and her knew it was that that had given her the palpita- You can help students connect to
place would be filled up by advertisement. Miss tions. When they were growing up he had never the character’s context by asking
Gavan would be glad. She had always had an gone for her like he used to go for Harry and them if this would be a cause for
edge on her, especially whenever there were Ernest, because she was a girl but latterly he had concern in their community.
people listening. begun to threaten her and say what he would do Compare that to the way she
to her only for her dead mother’s sake. And no treats the idea. How serious of a
“Miss Hill, don’t you see these ladies are she had nobody to protect her. Ernest was dead concern is the community’s reac-
waiting?” and Harry, who was in the church decorating tion for her? Explain why. Ask the
business, was nearly always down somewhere in students if they can infer anything
“Look lively, Miss Hill, please.” the country. Besides, the invariable squabble for about the status of women based
She would not cry many tears at leaving the money on Saturday nights had begun to weary on the way Eveline thinks and by
Stores. her unspeakably. She always gave her entire how others interact with her in
But in her new home, in a distant unknown these paragraphs.
country, it would not be like that. Then she

Mary Plunkett
Mary Plunkett

Mary Plunkett is an Irish artist, graphic designer, and printmaker who specializes in letterpress. 163
She created these images based on the story “Eveline.”
Look carefully at each image, identifying a specific phrase or sentence that likely inspired
Plunkett, and explain Plunkett’s interpretation of Joyce’s words.

changes and transformations conversation

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CLOSE READING wages — seven shillings — and Harry always sent5 Identity and Societythen she had begun to like him. He had tales of
To prepare students for Analyzing up what he could but the trouble was to get any distant countries. He had started as a deck boy
Q5, ask them to look closely at money from her father. He said she used to at a pound a month on a ship of the Allan Line
the narration of Eveline’s actions squander the money, that she had no head, that going out to Canada. He told her the names of
in paragraph 9. Students should he wasn’t going to give her his hard-earned the ships he had been on and the names of the
observe the general atmosphere money to throw about the streets, and much different services. He had sailed through the
of the setting and Eveline’s place more, for he was usually fairly bad on Saturday Straits of Magellan and he told her stories of the
in it. Why can she move and act night. In the end he would give her the money terrible Patagonians. He had fallen on his feet in
so decisively here? What is her and ask her had she any intention of buying Buenos Ayres, he said, and had come over to the
motive? Later, have students Sunday’s dinner. Then she had to rush out as old country just for a holiday. Of course, her
contrast this decisiveness with quickly as she could and do her marketing, father had found out the affair and had forbid-
her indecision at the end of the holding her black leather purse tightly in her den her to have anything to say to him.
story. hand as she elbowed her way through the
crowds and returning home late under her load “I know these sailor chaps,” he said.
TEACHING IDEA of provisions. She had hard work to keep the One day he had quarrelled with Frank and
Is Frank another form of patriar- house together and to see that the two young after that she had to meet her lover secretly.
chal dominance, or truly a poten- children who had been left to her charge went to The evening deepened in the avenue. The
tial escape for Eveline? Students school regularly and got their meals regularly. It white of two letters in her lap grew indistinct.
may benefit from drawing a Venn was hard work — a hard life — but now that she One was to Harry; the other was to her father.
diagram to compare and contrast was about to leave it she did not find it a wholly Ernest had been her favourite but she liked
Frank and the father. This will undesirable life. Harry too. Her father was becoming old lately,
help with Understanding Q3 10 She was about to explore another life with she noticed; he would miss her. Sometimes he
and Q6. Frank. Frank was very kind, manly, open- could be very nice. Not long before, when she
hearted. She was to go away with him by the had been laid up for a day, he had read her out a
night-boat to be his wife and to live with him in ghost story and made toast for her at the fire.
Buenos Ayres where he had a home waiting for Another day, when their mother was alive, they
her. How well she remembered the first time she had all gone for a picnic to the Hill of Howth.
had seen him; he was lodging in a house on the She remembered her father putting on her
main road where she used to visit. It seemed a mother’s bonnet to make the children laugh.
few weeks ago. He was standing at the gate, his Her time was running out but she continued
peaked cap pushed back on his head and his to sit by the window, leaning her head against
hair tumbled forward over a face of bronze. the window curtain, inhaling the odour of dusty
Then they had come to know each other. He cretonne. Down far in the avenue she could hear
used to meet her outside the Stores every a street organ playing. She knew the air. Strange
evening and see her home. He took her to see that it should come that very night to remind her
The Bohemian Girl and she felt elated as she sat of the promise to her mother, her promise to
in an unaccustomed part of the theatre with keep the home together as long as she could.
him. He was awfully fond of music and sang a She remembered the last night of her mother’s
little. People knew that they were courting and, illness; she was again in the close dark room at
when he sang about the lass that loves a sailor, the other side of the hall and outside she heard a
she always felt pleasantly confused. He used to melancholy air of Italy. The organ-player had
call her Poppens out of fun. First of all it had been ordered to go away and given sixpence.
been an excitement for her to have a fellow and She remembered her father strutting back into
the sickroom saying:
164

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Pause to point out the phrase class should recognize dust as
“dusty cretonne” in paragraph 14, part of the essence of mundane
a repetition from paragraph 1. housework, but they should also
Ask students to quickly close- be draw to larger existential
read this paragraph for all refer- concerns (dust to dust; what is
ences to dust and air—as inclu- this quintessence of dust?), as
sive as possible. Pause to think well as exploring the imagery of
critically about our associations Eveline being stifled by her
with dust. Do a word web. The surroundings.

164 Advanced Language & Literature

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15 “Damned Italians! coming over here!” Joyce Eveline CHECK FOR
As she mused the pitiful vision of her moth- UNDERSTANDING
Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY In paragraphs 17 and 22, Eveline
er’s life laid its spell on the very quick of her imagines two separate fates with
being — that life of commonplace sacrifices Look at this painting, Girl at a Window Reading a Frank. In each paragraph, Frank
closing in final craziness. She trembled as she Letter, by Jan Vermeer. It was created around 1659, does different things to her. How
heard again her mother’s voice saying constantly over two hundred years before this short story was does Joyce depict Frank’s physi-
with foolish insistence: written. cal influence in each paragraph?
What elements found in the painting would apply How are they similar and differ-
“Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!4” to the character of Eveline and her situation, and ent? (This may help students
She stood up in a sudden impulse of terror. what elements would not? develop an interpretation of Frank
Escape! She must escape! Frank would save her. as a threat).
He would give her life, perhaps love, too. But she All the seas of the world tumbled about her
wanted to live. Why should she be unhappy? heart. He was drawing her into them: he would CLOSE READING
She had a right to happiness. Frank would take drown her. She gripped with both hands at the Ask students to close-read para-
her in his arms, fold her in his arms. He would iron railing. graphs 19-26 with the following
save her. focus question: How does the
She stood among the swaying crowd in the “Come!” writer use sensory details to bring
station at the North Wall. He held her hand and No! No! No! It was impossible. Her hands Eveline’s decision-making
she knew that he was speaking to her, saying clutched the iron in frenzy. Amid the seas she conflict to a climax?
something about the passage over and over sent a cry of anguish.
again. The station was full of soldiers with brown 25 “Eveline! Evvy!”
baggages. Through the wide doors of the sheds He rushed beyond the barrier and called to
she caught a glimpse of the black mass of the her to follow. He was shouted at to go on but he
boat, lying in beside the quay5 wall, with illu- still called to her. She set her white face to him,
mined portholes. She answered nothing. She felt passive, like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave
her cheek pale and cold and, out of a maze of him no sign of love or farewell or recognition.
distress, she prayed to God to direct her, to show
her what was her duty. The boat blew a long
mournful whistle into the mist. If she went,
tomorrow she would be on the sea with Frank,
steaming towards Buenos Ayres. Their passage
had been booked. Could she still draw back after
all he had done for her? Her distress awoke a
nausea in her body and she kept moving her lips
in silent fervent prayer.
20 A bell clanged upon her heart. She felt him
seize her hand:
“Come!”

4Gaelic for “The end of pleasure is pain.” —Eds.
5quay: Concrete walkway along or extending out over a body
of water used as a loading area for ships. Similar to a pier, or
jetty. —Eds.

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UNDERSTANDING

Why is the mother’s last remark,
“the end of pleasure is pain,” in
Gaelic? To what extent is she
similar to and different from her
mother, based on what we know
from the text?

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TRM SUGGESTED 5 Identity and Society Understanding and interpreting 5 Is Eveline a victim of her time and place—when
RESPONSES opportunities for women were limited primarily to
1 “Eveline” focuses on the central character’s the domestic realm—or is she a victim of her own
Suggested responses to the decision-making process. What are the conflicting indecisive character? Or is she a combination of both?
questions for this reading can be forces pulling Eveline in different directions? Identify Support your response with reference to specific
found on the Teacher’s Resource and discuss at least three. passages in the story as well as your knowledge of the
Flash Drive. time period.
2 What is the nature of the relationship Eveline has
TEACHING IDEA – with her father? In what ways has it changed 6 Critics of “Eveline” disagree on their interpretations
UNDERSTANDING Q5 over time? of the ending. Many conclude that Eveline’s
AND Q6 inability to strike out with Frank is essentially accepting
Questions five and six each 3 Eveline thinks of Frank in fairly general terms: a life sentence as a housekeeper, even a servant, to her
would work well as group discus- he is “very kind, manly, open-hearted” (par. 10). family. Others argue that in choosing to stay with her
sions. Students could write their What more specific information does James Joyce father, she defies Frank and thus shows at least the
responses before the discussion give us? What is it about Frank that appeals to Eveline? promise of becoming an independent woman. Which
and then revise them following interpretation do you find most plausible? Support your
the discussion. 4 Joyce characterizes the existence of Eveline’s response with references and specific passages from
mother as “that life of commonplace sacrifices the story.
TEACHING IDEA – closing in final craziness” (par. 16). In what ways is
ANALYZING Q4 Eveline influenced by her mother’s life? How does her
Ask students to select an image perception of her mother’s experience affect the way
and paint their interpretation of it. Eveline thinks of marriage?
Do a gallery walk of student work
and then discuss as a group to Analyzing language, Style, and Structure
develop an answer to the
question. 1 What is the feeling Joyce conveys in the opening 4 The last few paragraphs of the story takes place
paragraph? What specific words and images at the dock. Water is both literal (for example, the
contribute to that feeling? What is the effect of this sea) and metaphoric (for example, “All the seas of the
paragraph’s being a third person observation while the world tumbled about her heart”). How do these images
rest of the story is told from Eveline’s perspective? contribute to our understanding of Eveline’s decision
not to go with Frank?
2 Much of “Eveline” centers on Eveline’s home life,
both before and after her mother’s death. Joyce 5 Joyce explores the difficulty characters have in
ends paragraph 2 with the sentence, “Now she was making important life decisions in several stories in
going to go away like the others, to leave her home.” Dubliners. In what ways does he demonstrate that
He opens the next paragraph with the one word, Eveline is paralyzed or unable to take action? Pay
“Home!” What does this repetition suggest about the attention to concrete descriptive details, connotative
meaning(s) of home to Eveline? language, and imagery.

3 What symbolic value does Buenos Aires have 6 In this brief story, Joyce gives us glimpses of the
in this story? past and the (imagined) future as well as the
present. How do the past and future inform Eveline’s
present thinking?

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ANALYZING Q6
This question could be addressed
in a small group discussion or in
pairs.

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connecting, Arguing, and extending 3 One of the themes Joyce explores in “Eveline” is Souvenir of the Carlisle Indian School TEACHING IDEA –
the tension between responsibility (to family, to CONNECTING Q3
1 Joyce writes that as “the evening deepened in the community) and the desire for individual freedom.
avenue” (par. 13), Eveline sits with two letters in her To what extent do you find the way that tension plays Prompt three can work as a
lap, one to her father, the other to her brother Harry. out in today’s society similar to the way Eveline discussion, but it may also work
What do you imagine she has written in those letters? experienced it? In what ways have you experienced best for some students as
Try writing one and explain what in the story leads you something similar to the choice that Eveline has to another opportunity to write a
to believe would be in the letter. face? narrative or a poem.

2 The photo below shows Dublin at about the time 4 Suppose that Eveline goes to Buenos Aires with TEACHING IDEA –
“Eveline” was set. How does the mood in this Frank. Write a letter in her voice — a year later — CONNECTING Q4
contemporary image of Dublin compare to the mood describing her new life to her brother Harry. Think
that Joyce creates in “Eveline”? What creates the about how her audience would influence what she Prompt 4 could be a letter, but it
mood in “Eveline” and in this photograph? would say and how she would say it. could also be a post card with an
image of from their future lives
© Bettmann/Corbis drawn on the front.

BUILDING CONTEXT

Have students go through this
exercise in empathy/imagination
in a free write:
How would you feel if the govern-
ment (or a foreign occupying
government) forced you to . . .

from Souvenir of the 167 • live at a school far away from
Carlisle Indian School your parents?

The following images come from a pamphlet called Souvenir of • write, read, and speak in a
the Carlisle Indian School, published in 1902. different language? (and
punished you if you used your
Key cOntext By the end of the nineteenth century, American westward expansion home language)
had driven much of the native population of American Indians onto reservations. As
part of the policy of the day, many American Indian children were compelled to • Wear a uniform that was the
attend public schools, either day or boarding schools. The first off-reservation same as everyone else at the
boarding school was the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, founded in school and completely unlike
1879 by Richard Henry Pratt, who was a general in the army with over nine years’ how you usually dress
experience fighting the American Indians of the Great Plains. The school’s motto at
Carlisle, often ascribed to Pratt, was “To civilize the Indian, get him into civilization. • Drastically change your
To keep him civilized, let him stay.” To that end, children at Indian schools were often hairstyle.
forbidden to speak their native language, and they were required to dress in the
manner of white students and leave behind the cultural and religious practices they Reveal one topic at a time.
had grown up with. What you will see in many of these photographs are “before” and Encourage them to write instead of
“after” shots: how the students looked upon arrival at the Carlisle school and how they blurt out their answers. Make sure
looked after they had been there a while. that they do not provide one word
answers like “sad” or “mad.” They
changes and transformations conversation need to think about why they would
be sad or mad. Be careful of putting
B U I L D I N G05_SHE_5741_ch5_0110-0173.indd 167 C O N T E X T Check for their understanding. If B U I L D I N G C2O7/10N/15T7E:25XPTM students on the spot to talk about
your students have an advanced these experiences, but consider
The following concepts will likely understanding of American Teach students about the Indian stating broadly an acknowledge-
be important to a critical reading History, they will be able to explain Child Welfare Act. Key focus should ment that these feelings may be in
of these images. Ask students to these terms in context of the rela- be on how recently the law was the writing people did. Be mindful
research the following terms: tionship of the US Government enacted and why it was enacted. that eye contact with students who
and Native Americans. The purpose of this is to help them you think this may be true of may
Hegemony understand that these schools make them uncomfortable. If
Cultural Hegemony were not simply giving students students volunteer their experience
Cultural Genocide access to a culture, they were of oppression, make space to hear
Colonialism removing them from one culture it with compassion and thank them
Ethnocide and placing them in another, and for sharing.
that this was a common practice
until just a few decades ago.

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CLOSE READING 5 Identity and SocietyEskimo Group From John N. Choate’s Souvenir of the Carlisle Indian School (Carlisle, PA: J. N.
Choate, 1902)/Archives & Special Collections at Dickinson College
With each photo set, you should As they entered Carlisle in 1897.
ask students to identify all of the From John N. Choate’s Souvenir of the Carlisle Indian School (Carlisle, PA: J. N.
changes they see in the images: As they appear in school dress. Choate, 1902)/Archives & Special Collections at Dickinson College
hair, clothing, posture, and facial
expressions. In their analysis, 168
they should identify what kind of
environment the clothes would be
best for. For example, in the
“Eskimo group,” would they
freeze to death if they were to be
outside in these clothes? What
are the practical impacts of these
forced changes in apparel? Has
their access to the land changed?

TEACHING IDEA

If your students are unfamiliar
with how to read images, model
the close reading of the first set
of images. Make your thinking
visible by talking about the ques-
tions you use to analyze the
images as well as the answers
they lead you to. If your students
have mixed ability in this skill, do
the first part together so that your
advanced students can model
their thinking. Use your questions
to make sure they make their
thinking visible. Following that,
break into pairs to examine the
next group of images, check in as
a group, and then finally release
students to work on their own.
During this time, you can check in
with and redirect the students
who are struggling most.

TRM ANALYZING
VISUAL TEXTS

For more information on what to
look for when analyzing visual
texts, see the Teacher’s Resource
Flash Drive.

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168 Advanced Language & Literature

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Tom Torlino–Navajo CHECK FOR
UNDERSTANDING
John N. Choate, Carlisle, PA, National Archives and Records Administration John N. Choate, Carlisle, PA, National Archives and Records Administration Souvenir of the Carlisle Indian School Make sure that your students can
identify things that the children
As he entered the school in 1882. As he appeared three years later. have lost in each “after” photo. If
students makes a running list of
Wounded Yellow Robe, Henry Standing Bear, Chauncy Yellow Robe the things that the Carlisle Indian
School students lost, it will help
From John N. Choate’s Souvenir of the Carlisle Indian School (Carlisle, PA: J. N. From John N. Choate’s Souvenir of the Carlisle Indian School (Carlisle, PA: J. N. them begin to define the degree
Choate, 1902)/Archives & Special Collections at Dickinson College Choate, 1902)/Archives & Special Collections at Dickinson College of loss, and lay the foundation for
answering Connecting Q3 about
reparations. Be sure to explore
the problem of trying to define the
abstract losses of culture, tradi-
tion, and lifestyle in monetary
terms.

CHECK FOR
UNDERSTANDING
Be sure to have the class discuss
the motivations and mindset
behind opening this school and
forcing the students to adopt a
new culture.

Sioux boys as they entered the school in 1883. Three years later.
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5 Identity and Society Group of Pueblo Girls

TEACHING IDEA From John N. Choate’s Souvenir of the Carlisle Indian School (Carlisle, PA: J. N.
Choate, 1902)/Archives & Special Collections at Dickinson College
The film Rabbit Proof Fence
represents the experiences of Entered Carlisle in 1884.
indigenous children from the Lost
Generation of Australian
Aborigines. It has profound
connections to the images here.
The first quarter of the film enacts
the forceful removal of the chil-
dren and their treatment in their
“school.” Close study of this film
will allow for further imagination
of the experiences of the children
presented in these images. It
could launch a more detailed
study of how racism and colonial-
ism impact identity.

seeing connections from The School Days of an Indian Girl

The following excerpt is from The School Days of Late in the morning, my friend Judéwin gave me
an Indian Girl, a memoir by Zitkala-Sa (1876– a terrible warning. Judéwin knew a few words of
1938). Zitkala-Sa taught music at the Carlisle English, and she had overheard the paleface
School from 1899 to 1901 but was fired after woman talk about cutting our long, heavy hair.
publishing this memoir, which is critical of her Our mothers had taught us that only unskilled
own school experience and the overall philoso- warriors who were captured had their hair shin-
phy of forcing American Indians to adopt the gled by the enemy. Among our people, short hair
cultural identities of white Americans. was worn by mourners, and shingled hair by
cowards! 
In this section of her memoir, Zitkala-Sa
describes having her hair cut against her will, in a
short style called “shingling” that you can see in
the image above.

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We discussed our fate some moments, and How do the ideas in this diary entry affect your read- Souvenir of the Carlisle Indian School
when Judéwin said, “We have to submit, ing of the photos from the Carlisle Indian School?
because they are strong,” I rebelled. 
Gertrude Kasebier, Division of Culture & the Arts, National Museum
“No, I will not submit! I will struggle first!” of American History, Smithsonian Institution
I answered.
I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while
I watched my chance, and when no one until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against
noticed I disappeared. I crept up the stairs as my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my
quietly as I could in my squeaking shoes — my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit. Since the day
moccasins had been exchanged for shoes. I was taken from my mother I had suffered
Along the hall I passed, without knowing extreme indignities. People had stared at me. I
whither I was going. Turning aside to an open had been tossed about in the air like a wooden
door, I found a large room with three white puppet. And now my long hair was shingled
beds in it. The windows were covered with like a coward’s! In my anguish I moaned for my
dark green curtains, which made the room mother, but no one came to comfort me. Not a
very dim. Thankful that no one was there, I soul reasoned quietly with me, as my own
directed my steps toward the corner farthest mother used to do; for now I was only one of
from the door. On my hands and knees I many little animals driven by a herder.
crawled under the bed, and cuddled myself in
the dark corner. 
5 From my hiding place I peered out, shud-
dering with fear whenever I heard footsteps
nearby. Though in the hall loud voices were
calling my name, and I knew that even Judéwin
was searching for me, I did not open my mouth
to answer. Then the steps were quickened and
the voices became excited. The sounds came
nearer and nearer. Women and girls entered
the room. I held my breath, and watched them
open closet doors and peep behind large
trunks. Some one threw up the curtains, and
the room was filled with sudden light. What
caused them to stoop and look under the bed I
do not know. I remember being dragged out,
though I resisted by kicking and scratching
wildly. In spite of myself, I was carried down-
stairs and tied fast in a chair.

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TRM SUGGESTED 5 Identity and Society Understanding and interpreting 3 These images that you are looking at in the early
RESPONSES twenty-first century were taken near the turn of the
1 Several of the images document children on their twentieth century. How might your interpretation of
Suggested responses to the arrival at Carlisle School and then sometime later after these images differ from that of someone looking at
questions for this reading can be they have been at the school for a while. What are the them one hundred years ago? Why do you think this
found on the Teacher’s Resource significant differences between each “before” and “after” is? What has changed in our society and culture?
Flash Drive. shot? How do these images connect to the school’s
motto identified in the Key Context note on page 167? 4 To what extent do the photographs prove that the
school was successful in achieving its motto: “To
2 Juxtaposition is the placement of two or more civilize the Indian, get him into civilization. To keep him
things near each other for the purpose of civilized, let him stay”?
comparison or contrast. The “before” and “after”
photographs here have been deliberately juxtaposed.
Explain the effect of this juxtaposition by considering
how the meaning would have been different had you
only seen the “after” images.

Analyzing language, Style, and Structure

1 Look back through the images carefully to see if Torlino’s skin color is significantly lighter than it was
there are differences in the way the individuals are when he first arrived. Some historians have suggested
positioned in the “before” and “after” photographs. this was an intentional choice by the photographer. If
How do the children relate to one another physically this is true, why do you think the photographer would
(for example, in the placement of their arms and legs, do this?
in relative proximity)? What inferences can you draw
about the intended effect of the differences between 3 Look back once more at the pictures of Tom
the “before” and “after” pictures? Torlino. What is the most striking difference apart
from the clothing? How does the first photo contrast
2 Look back more closely at the pictures of Tom with traditional Western notions of masculinity? Is the
Torlino, which are a fairly well-known pair of first or second image more threatening? What details
images. If you look at the “after” picture, it appears that contribute to your response to this last question?

connecting, Arguing, and extending 3 An organization called the Boarding School
Healing Project has been working to raise
1 Look back through pictures of yourself, a friend, or awareness of the lasting effects of schools such as
a family member, and try to locate a pair of Carlisle, and pushing for reparations, which is a legal
pictures that show a significant change in appearance term for paying money to or otherwise compensating a
over time. What were the internal and external forces group of people who have been wronged or their
that led to these changes? In what ways do the descendants. The Healing Project claims that the
changes reflect pressures similar to the ones that the students at schools like Carlisle were subjected to
Native Americans at the Carlisle School faced? human rights violations, including malnutrition, cultural
and religious repression, inadequate medical care, and
2 Based only on the brief context you were provided physical abuse. Do you agree or disagree with the
at the start of this text and on the images you payment of reparations to these students or their
examined, write a diary entry from the perspective of a descendants? Why?
young American Indian on the day of his or her arrival
at the Carlisle School, and then another entry a few
months later. Try to focus your entries by addressing
one or more of the essential questions about identity
you have been thinking about throughout this chapter.  

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CONNECTING Q3
172
Prompt #3 could be turned into a
letter to an elected official/repre-
sentative. Another avenue here is
further extended research on the
issue and outreach to the
Boarding School Healing Project.
The student could write their
response to the boarding school
healing project to learn more
about the issue.

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enterIng the converSatIon

chAngeS And trAnSfOrmAtiOnS

making connections than as children. What do the protagonists of “Zolaria”
and “Eveline” each learn about the world and
1 Reread the “Seven Ages of Man” speech from themselves? How are their coming of age experiences
Shakespeare’s As You Like It (p. 159), and apply similar or different?
the stages Jaques describes to the characters—major
or minor—from two or more texts from this 4 The photographs from the Carlisle Indian School
Conversation. In other words, where do the characters (pp. 168–69) and the excerpt from The School
fall in his definitions, and why do you say this? Days of an Indian Girl (pp. 170–71) show the effects of
change or transformation that is forced on someone
2 Jon Krakauer (p. 125) and Eveline from the story rather than chosen by the individual. Compare the
by James Joyce (p. 162) face the difficult decision powerlessness of the American Indians in these texts
of leaving behind the known and setting off into the with the powerlessness that the speakers in the two
unknown. Compare and contrast their circumstances Sharon Olds poems feel in the face of their children’s
and motivations. Then explain why Krakauer chose the changes.
unknown while Eveline did not.

3 “Zolaria” (p. 144) and “Eveline” (p. 162) are both
considered to be “coming of age” stories, in which
the protagonists learn to face the world more as adults

Synthesizing Sources suggestion. In both cases, be sure to maintain the
voice and attitude of the protagonists in the texts.
1 One of the key factors in shaping our identities is
the role that parents, guardians, teachers, and 4 What is the most significant factor in determining
other adults play in our lives. Write an essay in which one’s identity? Culture, family, friends, or
you examine the influence — good or bad — that something else? Refer to your own experiences, as
parents, guardians, or other adults have in the well as at least two texts in the Conversation.
development of the identities of young people. Refer to
two or more texts in this Conversation. 5 Is it better to take risks like Jon Krakauer, or play it
safe like Eveline? At what point is too much
2 Do you think that you would be the same person change too risky, and at what point does too little
you are today if you lived in a different part of the change become stagnation? Refer to your own
country or the world, a different time period, or even experiences, as well as at least two texts in the
went to a different school? In other words, how much Conversation.
does the environment around us affect our identities?
Respond by considering both your own experiences 6 A number of the texts in this Conversation address
and those described in two or more texts in this the transition from innocence to experience. Think
Conversation. of at least two protagonists from the texts in this
Conversation. Compare or contrast a transition that
3 Characters in stories, like people in real life, you are facing to that confronted by two or more
make choices that can lead to positive or negative protagonists from the texts in this Conversation.
outcomes. Choose two protagonists from the texts in
this Conversation that make difficult decisions. Write a
letter or email from one character to the other, offering
suggestions on the appropriate choices to make. Then,
write a letter or email in response to that character’s

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TEACHING IDEA conversation Thomas Trutschel/Phototek/Getty Images

Consider having students exam- The IndIvIdual In School
ine the perception of the effects
of school on the individual by At this point in your life, you have spent nearly ten years in school, which translates into
watching films that span time and roughly ten thousand hours. On most days, you spend more time doing school-related
focus on specific elements of work than you do at any other activity other than sleeping. Kurt Vonnegut wrote that high
identity. Be sure to note any school “is closer to the core of the American experience than anything else I can think of.”
rating information and be aware Clearly, school must be seen as one of the most significant influences on your life and
of your own local standards: your identity. The question is what kind of influence it has on you.

Socioeconomic Identity: The top image, which
Splendor in the Grass, The Last was produced in 1910 in
Picture Show, Pretty in Pink, Say France, imagines what
Anything school might be like in
the year 2000. The bottom
Conformity versus Individuality: image shows an actual
Rebel Without A Cause, The twenty-first-century
Breakfast Club, Napoleon classroom.
Dynamite, Mean Girls What is the implicit
message about
Racial Identity: To Sir, With Love; education in the top
Stand and Deliver; Dangerous image, and how does
Minds; Freedom Writers this prediction compare
to the bottom image?
Gender Roles: Grease, Election,
10 Things I Hate About You, Easy A 174

Show a clip of one or two films
from each category to your
students and direct them to take
notes on evidence of the impact
the school experience has on the
element of identity listed. Have
them share their findings in small
groups, and then discuss as a
whole class. As a class, come to
some conclusions about how
popular culture depicts the
impact of school on identity.
Refer back to those conclusions
as you make your way through
this Conversation. Do the read-
ings affirm those conclusions, or
conflict with them? How have
things changed over time in any
of the areas of identity? Do films
reflect or exaggerate issues of
identity?

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174 Advanced Language & Literature

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There are some who believe that in addition to teaching students the skills and knowl- 5 The Individual in School
edge they need to be successful later in life, school is supposed to indoctrinate students
to become model citizens by teaching them the behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs of the TEACHING IDEA
dominant social and political culture. Consider the following statement about the purpose
of school from Henry Ward Beecher, a popular clergyman of the mid-nineteenth century Quickwrite: What are the pres-
who sought to abolish slavery: sures that you face when coming
to school? To what extent do you
The common schools are the stomachs of the country in which all people that come to us have to conform to other people’s
are assimilated within a generation. When a lion eats an ox, the lion does not become an expectations for you at school:
ox but the ox becomes a lion. parents, teachers, peers, admin-
istrators, college admissions offi-
In other words, a main purpose of school is to assimilate those who are different so cers, and so on?
that everyone becomes the same “lion.” Contrast Beecher with this passage from
Democracy and Education, written by education reformer John Dewey in 1916:

How one person’s abilities compare in quantity with those of another is none of the
teacher’s business. It is irrelevant to his work. What is required is that every individual
shall have opportunities to employ his own powers in activities that have meaning. Mind,
individual method, originality (these are convertible terms) signify the quality of purpo-
sive or directed action.

It is clear from this passage that Dewey does not think that school should be about assim-
ilation, but rather about individuals having the opportunity to develop their own skills and
knowledge as determined by their unique needs and interests.

In this Conversation, you will have an opportunity to think about the role of an individu-
al’s identity within the larger community of school. You will read mostly nonfiction pieces
about the pressures of popularity in high school, the positive and negative effects that
teachers have, and the arguments for and against public schooling. And, having logged so
many hours as a part of the school community yourself, at the end of the Conversation,
you will have an opportunity to add your own expert voice to the debate.

TexTs
Alexandra Robbins / from The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth (nonfiction)
Faith Erin Hicks / from Friends with Boys (graphic novel)
John Taylor Gatto / Against School (nonfiction)
Horace Mann / from The Common School Journal (nonfiction)
Theodore Sizer / from Horace’s School: Redesigning the American High School

(nonfiction)
Maya Angelou / from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (memoir)

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TRM VOCABULARY 5 Identity and Society from The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth

A list of challenging words from Alexandra Robbins Courtesy Alexandra Robbins
this reading can be found in the
Teacher’s Resource Flash Drive. Reporter and lecturer Alexandra Robbins is a graduate of Yale
University and the author of Pledged (2004), which describes
TEACHING IDEA the secretive world of college sororities, and The
Discussing societal hierarchies in Overachievers (2006), which documents the overwhelming
high schools is a minefield in the academic pressures that today’s high school students face.
classroom – everyone has feel- For The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth (2011), Robbins followed
ings and opinions – so it will be seven high school students from private, public, suburban,
critical to set up norms for having and inner city schools from all over the country for a year, all
discussions about this reading. of whom, she says in the introduction, have “more in common
Ask students to brainstorm three than they know.”
rules or expectations for a discus-
sion about the text that likely will Key conTexT In the prologue to her book, Robbins writes:
involve examples about their own
high school experiences. Then Early 2011. Bullying in school has recently driven several teenagers to suicide.
have them work in groups of Exclusion and clique warfare are so rampant that the media declares bullying an
three to come to consensus on epidemic and rallies for the public to view the tragedies as a national wake-up call.
two rules that they can share out
with the class. Work with their Throngs of students who are not outright bullied are disheartened because it is
offerings to refine the list to five or getting increasingly more difficult to become an “insider,” to fit into a group, to be
fewer guiding principles. (A good accepted as “normal.” Students feel trapped, despairing that in today’s educational
example would be: No real first landscape, they either have to conform to the popular crowd’s arbitrary stan-
names will be used.) Post the dards — forcing them to hide their true selves — or face dismissive treatment that
norms visibly and revisit students batters relentlessly at their souls.
throughout the classes you are
using this text. Schools struggle to come up with solutions. Even the most beloved parents are
met with disbelief when they insist, “This too shall pass.” Adults tell students that it
gets better, that the world changes after school, that being “different” will pay off
sometime after graduation.

But no one explains to them why.
Enter quirk theory.

In the excerpt that follows, you will read about the social and biological pressures to
conform that students face and the difficulty students have in maintaining their individ-
uality in the larger environment of high school. Throughout the book, Robbins profiles
several students, following and interviewing them throughout a school year. This section
focuses on Whitney, called the “popular bitch,” who tries to have friendships outside the
popular clique, of which she is a member.

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176 Before reading the text, photo-
copy paragraph 29 and ask
students to read closely, underlin-
ing the language that character-
izes Whitney. Have them evaluate
how the author’s language
reveals her opinion of Whitney
before they read the piece, and
ask them to consider whether
reading the whole piece confirms
that opinion or not.

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Introduction In precisely the years that we should be Robbins The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth BUILDING CONTEXT
embracing differences among students, urging
cafeteria fringe: People who are not part them to pursue their divergent interests at full In the Introduction to The Geeks
of or who are excluded from a school’s or throttle, we’re instead forcing them into a Shall Inherit the Earth, Robbins
society’s in crowd. skyline of sameness, muffling their voices, defines the term “Cafeteria
grounding their dreams. The result? As a Fringe” in part by listing the social
In the decade I’ve spent examining various Midwestern senior told me for my book The groups that are not the core
microcosms of life in U.S. schools — from the Overachievers, high schoolers view life as “a popular group. Ask students to
multitude of students pressured to succeed in conveyor belt,” making monotonous scheduled free write the names of all the
school and sports to the twentysomething stops at high school, college, graduate school, social groups at their school, then
products of this educational Rube Goldberg and a series of jobs until death. Middle schools compare that to Robbins’ list in
machine — a disturbing pattern has emerged. in North America have been called “the paragraph 2. Identify overlap in
Young people are trying frantically to force Bermuda triangle of education.” Only 22 the lists as well as alternate terms
themselves into an unbending mold of expecta- percent of U.S. youth socialize with people of for social groups on her list.
tions, convinced that they live in a two-tiered another race. U.S. students have some of the
system in which they are either a resounding highest rates of emotional problems and the
success or they have already failed. And the most negative views of peer culture among
more they try to squeeze themselves into that countries surveyed by the World Health
shrinking, allegedly normative space, the faster Organization. [. . .]
the walls close in.
quirk theory: Many of the differences that
The students outside these walls are the kids cause a student to be excluded in school are
who typically are not considered part of the in the same traits or real-world skills that others
crowd, the ones who are excluded, blatantly or will value, love, respect, or find compelling
subtly, from the premier table in the lunchroom. about that person in adulthood and outside
I refer to them as “cafeteria fringe.” Whether of the school setting.
alone or in groups, these geeks, loners, punks,
floaters, nerds, freaks, dorks, gamers, bandies, art 5 Quirk theory suggests that popularity in
kids, theater geeks, choir kids, Goths, weirdos, school is not a key to success and satisfaction in
indies, scenes, emos, skaters, and various types adulthood. Conventional notions of popularity
of racial and other minorities are often relegated are wrong. What if popularity is not the same
to subordinate social status simply because they thing as social success? What if students who are
are, or seem to be, even the slightest bit different. considered outsiders aren’t really socially
inadequate at all? Being an outsider doesn’t
Students alone did not create these bound- necessarily indicate any sort of social failing. We
aries. The No Child Left Behind law, a dis- do not view a tuba player as musically challenged
proportionate emphasis on SATs, APs, and other if he cannot play the violin. He’s just a different
standardized tests, and a suffocating homogeni- kind of musician. A sprinter is still considered an
zation of the U.S. education system have all athlete even if she can’t play basketball. She’s a
contributed to a rabidly conformist atmosphere different kind of athlete. Rather than view the
that stifles unique people, ideas, and expression. cafeteria fringe as less socially successful than
The methods that schools and government offi- the popular crowd, we could simply accept that
cials claimed would improve America’s “prog- they are a different kind of social.
ress” are the same methods that hold back the
students who are most likely to further that
progress.

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Have students get into groups of homogenization. After clarifying
3-4 and, using whatever technol- the winners’ answers, ask
ogy is available, race each other students to independently
to look up understandable defini- re-read paragraphs 1 and 3.
tions for all of the following: Rube
Goldberg machine, normative, No
Child Left Behind, SAT, AP, and

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CHECK FOR 5 Identity and Society ... friends’. When they went to the local diner
UNDERSTANDING To investigate the cause and consequence of the together, the girls did not eat; they only sat and
gut-wrenching social landscape that character- watched the guys stuff their faces. If the girls
(paragraph 6) How scientific does izes too many schools, I followed seven “main were really hungry, the most they would order in
Robbins’ research seem based characters” — real people — for a year and inter- front of the group was lemon water.
on this description of her viewed hundreds of other students, teachers,
methodology? and counselors individually and in groups. I Whitney checked her makeup again in the
talked with students from public schools, private kitchen mirror, forced herself to guzzle a Slim-
CLOSE READING schools, technical schools, schools for the arts, Fast shake to jump-start her metabolism,
boarding schools, college prep academies, inner grabbed her Coach purse, lacrosse bag, and
As you can see, Robbins uses the city schools, small rural schools, and suburban book bag, and ran out the door, pausing briefly
term “bitch” here to refer to one schools. They have more in common than they at the mirror in the foyer. She drove too quickly
of her research subjects. The know. [. . .] into the school parking lot, unapologetically
term was carefully chosen by cutting off people on her way, and parked her
Robbins, and used for a specific Whitney, New York | The Popular Bitch SUV crookedly, taking up two spots, but leaving
purpose in an academic context. it there anyway because she could. She met up
Depending on your class and Before leaving home for her last first day of high with Giselle, her best friend until recently.
your community, you might school, Whitney glanced at herself in all of her Giselle, who had been the schoolwide
choose to avoid discussion of the mirrors for the seventeenth time: the large Homecoming Queen as a sophomore, had
term and keep moving, or take it mirror above her dresser, the small one by her become popular through cheerleading and by
head-on and analyze the purpose TV for scrutinizing hair and makeup, and the dating a popular senior — when she was in the
of this diction. Is Robbins making full-length one behind her door. She had spent eighth grade. “Well, this is it!” Giselle said, and
a rhetorical mistake by possibly two hours getting ready this morning. Her they stepped into the building.
offending her audience? Is it white-blonde hair, highlighted from a summer 10 Riverland Academy, located in a small town
savvy and attention-grabbing? Is of lifeguarding, cascaded to her shoulders in in upstate New York, catered to a mostly white,
it a distraction? Is it a label that meticulously crafted, loose, bouncy curls Christian community. Its four hundred students
Robbins unltimately undermines behind a funky knit headband that she wore so crowded into the gym, standing in small groups
through her argument? she’d have an excuse to brag that members of a or lining the bleachers. Amidst the chaos, the
famous rock group had complimented her on it. girls easily spotted their group, which other
Several bracelets dangled from her wrist, still students called the “preps” or the “populars,” in
tan from cheerleading camp the week before. the center of the gym. Bianca, the queen bee,
Her makeup was flawless, accentuated by a thin and tan, stood with Kendra, a senior;
smattering of glitter above her eyes; it looked Peyton, a junior; and Madison, Bianca’s best
good now, but she knew she would check her friend. Chelsea, the only brunette standing
makeup again in the school bathroom three or among the populars, had worked her way up
four times that day, hunting for imperfections from “being a loser,” according to Whitney, by
and correcting them with her Sephora-only “sucking up to Bianca like crazy and giving her
arsenal. information about people.” The preps tolerated
Chelsea, but didn’t include her as a stalwart
People told Whitney all the time that she was member of the group. This meant they didn’t
pretty, as in beauty pageant pretty or talk show allow her in their Homecoming limo, but they
host pretty. Whitney thought this was because of did invite her to take pictures with them.
her smile. In her opinion, her straight white
teeth slightly made up for her body, which A few of the prep boys orbited the girls: Chip
dissatisfied her when she compared it to her and Spencer, hot high-society seniors; Bobby,

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178 Advanced Language & Literature

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seeing connections Robbins The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth

Read the following summary of a research experi- in two thirds of these second trials the teens CHECK FOR
ment that ran in Scientific American. The study were shown a popularity rating that was esti- UNDERSTANDING
investigated how peer pressure influences mated based on the number of times the
teenagers’ tastes in music. song was downloaded. How did others’ opinions influ-
ence students in the study?
The researchers chose to study adolescents When no information about the popularity
between the ages of 12 and 17, a cohort of a song was displayed, teens changed
thought to be highly susceptible to social their likability rating of the song 12 percent
influence, and known to buy at least one third of the time. Not surprisingly, after being
of albums in the United States. Each partici- shown the popularity of a song, teens
pant heard a short clip of a song downloaded changed their ratings more frequently,
from the social-networking website Myspace. on average 22 percent of the time. This
Following the clip they were asked to make difference was highly significant, and it is
two ratings, one indicating how familiar they worth noting that among those who changed
were with the clip (which was always the hook their likability ratings, 79 percent of the time
or chorus of the chosen song) and one indi- teens changed their ratings in the direction
cating how much they liked the clip on a five of the popularity rating—they followed
point scale. The clip was then played a the crowd.
second time, and they were again asked to
rate how much they liked the song. However, Explain how you see—or don’t see—similar types of
influence in other areas of teenagers’ lives.

a chubby, boisterous football star; and Seth, an summer?! Why did her hair get so big and
overachieving junior. The preps were each on frizzy?” This led to a discussion about how there
two or more sports teams, partied with college were too many skanks and trailer trash kids at
students, and in Whitney’s words, “just own[ed] Riverland.
the school.”
The preps took stock of the new freshmen,
The girls appraised the surrounding as they did at the beginning of every year, to
students and whispered to each other, standing decide who was going to be cool and to whom
as they typically did, one hand on a hip, one they were going to be mean. They automatically
knee bent, in what the cheerleading coach deemed one girl cool because her older sister
referred to as “the hooker’s pose.” [. . .] was dating a prep. The freshman cheerleaders
were acceptable. If freshman girls didn’t already
The group caught up briefly before resuming have something going for them when they got to
the assessment of the students swarming around Riverland — an older boyfriend, a popular
them. “Oh my God. Who is that?!” Peyton sibling, a varsity sport, money, or a parent with
sniffed, nodding her head toward a band girl. connections — they were out of luck. “If we don’t
know them already by some other affiliation,”
“That’s Shay,” Chelsea answered. Whitney said, “they aren’t worth getting to
15 “Dude, I didn’t even recognize her,” Peyton
the individual in school conversation
said. “Did she gain like fifteen pounds over the

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5 Identity and Society know” — and they were automatically labeled tension between the groups. She was having
skanks. [. . .] enough trouble with the preps as it was.
20 After the welcome-back hug, the preps
Students gathered together in the bleach- hardly acknowledged Whitney, though she
ers, group by group. The “badasses,” allegedly stood next to them. The group brought up inside
bullies who liked to destroy property, were jokes and memories from the summer that
tossing basketballs in the air. The FFAs, or didn’t include her. Whitney recognized this
members of the Future Farmers of America weapon because she had used it before. The
club — the preps called them hicks and preps enjoyed purposely making someone feel
rednecks — sat at the end of the bleachers. The bad for not being at an event. If you weren’t at a
wannabes, dressed like their role models but party one weekend, the group wouldn’t stop
discernible by their whiff of uncertainty, stood talking about it in front of you until the next
at a far corner of the room. Those were the kids party.
who fed the preps’ egos. Whitney would walk
down the hall like royalty, while the wannabes Whitney loved the power and perks of popu-
would gush, “Whitney, you look so pretty larity. When the teachers began handing out
today!” or “Whitney, you did such a good job senior schedules at the back of the gym,
cheering last night!” If a prep girl showed up at Whitney’s group pushed to the front of the line
school with a shaved head, Whitney was sure en masse, as students parted without protest.
the wannabes would visit the salon that night The teachers didn’t bat an eye at the line cut,
to do the same. It was the fact that they tried so instead complimenting the girls on their hair
hard that doomed them. and their tans. We haven’t been in school for
more than ten minutes and already our egos have
Whitney looked at the punks, who wore tight grown, Whitney thought. Her group got away
pants and band shirts. They could scream every with everything. For example, students who
word of the music they listened to. They were were late to class four times automatically
unafraid to strike up conversations with other received detention. Not Giselle. She regularly
groups, but they usually clashed with the preps. escaped detention because of cheerleading
As Whitney saw it, the cliques were just too practice, and no one dared complain. [. . .]
different. Whitney was certain that the punk girls
thought the populars were loud and snobby. Schedules in hand, the preps left the gym
Besides, she mused, odds were that she and her before they were dismissed, and strutted toward
friends probably had been mean to the punk “their” hallway. Other students walked by the
girls before. Prep Hall quickly, so as not to attract attention in
the area where the preps heckled the “weird
The popular guys referred to the punks as kids.” By the end of junior year, one such student
“weird” and “useless.” They called Dirk, the was so fed up with the preps’ rude comments
punks’ alpha male, a scumbag within his that when they made fun of him for drawing a
earshot. Whitney was as friendly with Dirk as her robot, he lashed out: “You’re going to be sorry
group allowed, which meant in hallways their when I come to school with a gun and kill all of
communication was limited to awkward eye you.” The preps didn’t say another word to him.
contact and brief exchanges. She was attracted
to Dirk, a funny and talented drummer, but she “Ugh,” Bianca shouted. “I hate when stupid
didn’t tell anyone, because a popular cheer- freshmen don’t know how to walk in the hall!
leader dating a punk would cause “crazy scan- You walk on the right side of the hallway!
dalous controversy” and further escalate the Goddamn!”

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Regarding paragraph 21, you
might ask: Is there a group like
this at your school? Do teachers
respond the same way to them?

180 Advanced Language & Literature

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seeing connections This is a film still and a section from the script Robbins The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth TEACHING IDEA
of the movie Mean Girls (2004).
cady (v.o.) Robbins identifies different social
Having lunch with the Plastics was like leaving How are the rules of the fictional Plastics, and groups by name in the introduc-
the actual world and entering “Girl World.” And especially the consequences for violating them, tion, and the excerpt from Mean
Girl World had a lot of rules. similar to the pressures that Whitney faces in this Girls on page 181 discusses that
excerpt? each clique has its place in the
gretchen cafeteria. Photocopy maps of
We only wear jeans or track pants on Friday. your school and ask students to
You can’t wear a tank top two days in a row. use their list from the Building
You can only wear your hair in a ponytail once Context idea on page 72 to label
a week. So, I guess, you picked today. And if you the map with where each group
break any of these rules you can’t sit with us at eats lunch. If your school has
lunch. I mean, not just you, any of us. Like, if I open campus, have students add
was wearing jeans today, I would be sitting over the most popular off-campus
there with the art freaks. destinations to the map and label
them with the social groups who
go there for lunch. Discuss the
implications of the graphics they
create. Hold onto these maps, and
return to them if your class reads
the selection from Friends with
Boys, which begins on p. 185.

As the halls filled up, crowds parted for the make loud comments, such as, “Wow, fat-asses 181 BUILDING CONTEXT
preps. Some students said hello, but Whitney need their food quickly, don’t they?! I mean, do
and her friends gave them the “what’s-up-but- you really think they need that much food? They Teaching Tolerance created Mix It
I-won’t-really-acknowledge-you” head nod. look like they could do without lunch once in a Up at Lunch day, an annual event
25 When Whitney walked into advertising class while . . . ” Nobody complained anymore. “which encourages students to
with Peyton, she spotted Dirk. “Hey, Whitney!” Because they favored the preps, the teachers in identify, challenge and cross
he yelled across the room. the room looked the other way. social boundaries” by eating
lunch with students from other
“I’m not sitting with Dirk,” Peyton whispered Before cheer practice that afternoon, social groups. How much impact
to Whitney. “I don’t see why you like those Whitney and Giselle claimed their gym lockers. do events like these have on the
people. They scare me.” It hardly mattered that they always took the everyday social order of a high
lockers in the back corner of the last row. school? Would Whitney and her
Whitney shrugged and grinned at Dirk as When the prep cheerleaders changed their group participate in Mix It Up at
she sat next to him anyway. clothes, the younger athletes waited until the Lunch day, and if so, what might
preps were dressed and gone before going to that have looked like?
At lunch, the preps cut to the front of the their own lockers. Once, an underclassman
line, as usual, and sat at “their” lunch table in tried to squeeze by and accidentally stepped TEACHING IDEA
the center of the cafeteria. Whitney hadn’t on Whitney’s Ugg boot. “Jesus Christ!
waited in the lunch line since she was a fresh- Seriously?!” Whitney yelled. The girl looked Have students script out a text
man. In the past, when students told the preps mortified, blurted out a meek “I’m sorry!”, and exchange between Giselle and
to stop cutting, Whitney’s group either ignored ran away. Whitney about one of the follow-
them or shot nasty glares. When the protestors ing: 1. Bianca’s outburst about
walked off, the preps would follow them and the individual in school conversation freshmen in the hall. 2. The girl
who “gained like 15 pounds over
05_SHE_5741_ch5_0174-0249.indd 181 30/10/15 2:36 PM the summer” 3. The freshman girl
who stepped on Whitney’s UGG in
the locker room. In particular,
students should focus on how the
conversations might go differently
in text versus in the presence of
Robbins’ observation. Alternatives:
A Facebook post with subsequent
comments from the Preps, a Tweet
and comments, an instant
messenger exchange. How does
the context of conversations
change with the medium?

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5 Identity and Society 30 As much as she loved being popular, similar and more likely to end friendships with
Whitney wished other students understood that kids who are different. From the age of five,
it wasn’t so easy. Preps were stereotyped like students increasingly exclude peers who don’t
everyone else, she said. “A prep talks like a conform to group norms. Children learn this
Valley Girl, thinks she’s better than everyone, is lesson quickly. A popular Indiana eighth grader
obsessed with looks, sleeps around, is usually a told me, “I have to be the same as everybody
cheerleader, doesn’t eat, parties all the time, else, or people won’t like me anymore.”
and gets away with murder. Basically, emos 35 Numerous studies show that students in the
want us dead.” same social circle tend to have similar levels of
Whitney insisted that the prep description academics, leadership, aggression, and coopera-
didn’t fit the “real” Whitney. “I’m not snobby,” tion. The most influential kids are also typically
she said. “I have to be this way because it’s what the same ones who insist most stridently on
my friends do. If I wasn’t like this, I wouldn’t conformity; researchers have found that even in
have any friends.” She loathed the immediate late adolescence, popular cliques are more
judgments students made about her. She was a conformist than other groups. Given that many
cheerleader; therefore she was a slut. She was a children often try to copy populars’ behavior, it
class officer; therefore she was stuck up. She makes sense that conformity trickles down the
wore expensive clothes; therefore she was social hierarchy.
spoiled. She said “like” too often; therefore she
was flaky. She was a prep; therefore she was a But conformity is not an admirable trait.
bitch. Conformity is a cop-out. It threatens self-
The funny thing was that if Whitney could awareness. It can lead groups to enforce rigid
have chosen any group at school to belong to, and arbitrary rules. Adolescent groups with
she wouldn’t have chosen the clique that intimi- high levels of conformity experience more
dated other students with cruelty. She would negative behavior — with group members and
have chosen to be in what she considered the outsiders — than do groups with lower levels of
most nonjudgmental, down-to-earth crew at conformity. Conformity can become dangerous,
school: the punks. But it didn’t matter. There leading to unhealthy behaviors, and it goes
was no changing groups. Once you were in a against a teenager’s innate desire to form a unique
group, you were stuck there until graduation, no identity. Why, then, is conformity so common?
matter what. That was just the way high school
was, Whitney was sure. So she didn’t tell a soul. In the mid-twentieth century, psychologists
discovered that when asked to judge an ambigu-
The Courage of Nonconformists ous test, such as an optical illusion, individuals
usually parroted the opinions of the other
If there is one trait that most cafeteria fringe people in the room. In the 1950s, social psycho-
share, it is courage. No matter how awkward, logist Solomon Asch decided to gauge levels of
timid, or insecure he or she might seem, any conformity when the test answers were abso-
teenager who resists blending in with the crowd lutely clear. Asch assumed that people wouldn’t
is brave. bother to conform to an incorrect group opinion
when the answer was obvious.
A closer look at this age group’s psychology
reveals that the deck is stacked against singular- Asch was wrong — and his results stunned
ity from early on. Studies have shown that chil- academia. For the experiment, he brought
dren are psychologically drawn to peers who are college students, one by one, into a room with
six to eight other participants. He showed the

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UNDERSTANDING

In paragraph 36, ask students:
What do you think the author
means by “negative behavior”
and “unhealthy behaviors”?

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room a picture of one line and a separate picture the more accurate the average of these Robbins The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth BUILDING CONTEXT
containing three lines labeled 1, 2, and 3. One of measurements becomes.” When the students
the three lines was the same length as the line in in Asch’s experiment conformed to group Analyze the author’s wording in
the first picture, while the other two differed by opinion, their brains were taking the Law of the last sentence of paragraph
as much as several inches. Asch then had each Large Numbers shortcut, assuming that the 40. When do we usually use the
volunteer call out the number of the line he opinion of the group was more statistically phrase “take pressure off”? What
believed to be the same length as the first. accurate than any individual’s. In 2005, neuro- does her phrasing imply about
Unbeknownst to the college student, who was scientist Gregory Berns conducted a similar social decision-making? When
the last to be called on, the other participants experiment, this time using MRIs to measure does an explanation become an
were in on the experiment. Asch had instructed participants’ brain activity. Berns observed excuse?
them to call out the wrong number on twelve that deferring to the group took some of the
out of eighteen trials. At least once, even when pressure off the decision-making part of the
the answer was plain to see, nearly three- brain.
quarters of the students repeated the group’s
wrong answer. Berns also noticed something else, as he
wrote in his intriguing book Iconoclast: “We
Sixty years later, scientists are discovering observed the fear system kicking in, almost like
that there are deeper factors at work than even a fail-safe when the individual went against the
Asch could have imagined. New research using group. These are powerful biological mecha-
brain imaging studies suggests that there is a nisms that make it extremely difficult to think
biological explanation for the variation in like an iconoclast.”
people’s ability to resist the temptation to
conform. Neuroscientists monitoring brain Berns saw increased activity in the amygdala
images during conformity experiments similar when his test subjects did not conform to group
to Asch’s have found that participants are not opinion. Amygdala activity can lead to a rise in
necessarily imitating the majority merely to fit blood pressure and heart rate, sweating, and
in. Instead, participants’ visual perception rapid breathing. “Its activation during non-
seems to change to align with the answers of the conformity underscored the unpleasant nature
rest of the group. of standing alone — even when the individual
40 To understand how this change could take had no recollection of it,” Berns wrote. “In many
place, it’s helpful to know that the brain is an people, the brain would rather avoid activating
efficient organ that likes to cheat. In order to the fear system and just change perception to
conserve energy, it takes shortcuts whenever conform with the social norm.” [. . .]
possible, such as the reliance on labels
explained earlier. Another shortcut is a Nonconformists, therefore, aren’t just going
concept known as the Law of Large Numbers, a against the grain; they’re going against the brain.
probability theorem according to which, “the Either their brains aren’t taking the easy way out
more measurements you make of something, to begin with, or in standing apart from their
peers, these students are standing up to their
biology. [. . .]

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In her narrative non-fiction piece Whitney’s school and write a
“Note to Sixth-Grade Self,” Julie letter to themselves on that same
Orringer writes a memoir of her “last first day of high school” tell-
difficulties in middle school in the ing them what to do to avoid the
style of a letter to her 6th grade treatment they receive at
self about what NOT to do. Have Whitney’s hands.
students take on the role of one
of the non-Prep students at

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TRM SUGGESTED 5 Identity and Society understanding and Interpreting describes? How do you think Robbins feels about the
RESPONSES adults’ roles in high school?
1 What internal and external conflicts does Whitney
Suggested responses to the face in school as a member of the popular clique? 5 Explain what connections the reader is expected
questions for this reading can be Focus on the pressures she experiences. Find to make between individuality in high school and
found on the Teacher’s Resource examples of those conflicts to support your point. the Asch experiments (pars. 37–38), and the Berns
Flash Drive. experiments (pars. 40–42). When have you witnessed
2 Alexandra Robbins includes lengthy descriptions similar outcomes in your own day-to-day experience in
TEACHING IDEA – of students from the popular clique, including what high school?
UNDERSTANDING Q5 they are wearing, how they talk, and how they behave.
What does the inclusion of these descriptions reveal 6 Summarize the position Robbins takes at the end
In connection with answering this about Robbins’s attitude toward this group? What of the selection about the nonconformists, those
prompt, have students design purpose do these descriptions serve in her argument whom she refers to as the “cafeteria fringe.”
and administer a similar test for about nonconformists?
their peers in another class, and 7 Based only upon the information provided in
then report back their findings 3 What is the reader expected to conclude from this excerpt, create a simile for popularity as
using both graphs and explana- the last line of the section about Whitney: “So she Robbins describes it in this excerpt: Popularity is
tory text. didn’t tell a soul” (par. 32)?
like because . Again,
4 Perhaps unsurprisingly in a book about kids in high
school, there are only a few references to adults in based only on the text, complete the following:
this excerpt. Skim back through the first part of the
excerpt and identify places where Robbins mentions Nonconformity is like because
adults. How do the adults behave? How do they either
perpetuate or fight against the social structures she .

language, Style, and Structure 5 This excerpt includes sections from two different
places in Robbins’s book. How are the tones
1 Robbins invents a concept she calls “quirk theory,” Robbins takes in each section similar to or different
likely a play on the physics term “quark theory.” from one other? What specific language choices create
Reread the definition following paragraph 4 and explain these tones?
the effect of Robbins’s word choice and why you think
she introduces the term where she does. 6 List some possible audiences for Robbins’s book.
Which audience is most likely the audience she
2 While this excerpt is taken from a book that is had in mind while writing it? What specific language
considered to be nonfiction, Robbins at times uses choices, descriptions, and definitions lead you to this
a writing style and narrative elements that are much conclusion?
more common in fiction than in most nonfiction books.
Look back through the section about Whitney and 7 In this selection, Robbins summarizes the results
identify some techniques that you are used to seeing in of several scholarly research experiments. Through
novels or short stories and explain the effect of her language and structural choices, how does she try
Robbins’s choices. to keep her piece interesting to a nonacademic
audience? Offer specific examples to support your
3 Reread the section on Whitney (pars. 7–32), answer.
looking specifically at the dialogue that Robbins
includes. What impression is Robbins trying to create
about the popular crowd through this dialogue?

4 What is Robbins’s attitude or tone toward
Whitney? What specific lines from the text lead
you to this conclusion?

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ANALYZING Q5 create and HOW?
Whitney, New York| the Popular
Support students in finding and Bitch
analyzing tone by giving them a
graphic organizer: The Courage of Nonconformists

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connecting, arguing, and extending 3 At the end of her book (not included here), Robbins Hicks Friends with Boys
lists “31 Tips for Students, Parents, Teachers, and
1 Robbins presents a school environment with very Schools.” Use the Robbins piece above, as well as TEACHING IDEA –
strict social groupings that have inflexible rules for your own research and experiences, to write an CONNECTING Q2
membership. How is the social situation she describes argument for one step that you think your school, your To develop their argument for this
similar to or different from your own school? You might teachers, or your peers should take in order to help all prompt have students create a
want to make a diagram of your own school’s cafeteria students feel welcome and accepted by everyone at T-Chart where they list their
or other public spaces and identify the spots where the your school. school’s opportunities for individ-
various groups of your school gather. How much of this uality and “divergent interests” on
space is exclusive to one group and how much is 4 To what extent is the institution of school itself one side (clubs, electives, etc.),
shared space? Why do you think it is like this? responsible for the influence that popularity has and its ways of forcing conformity
on students? How do schools use the pressures of on the other (seating charts,
2 Write an argument in which you agree or disagree conformity that Robbins describes to maintain order closed campus, etc.).
with the following conclusion that Robbins draws and control?
about high school: “In precisely the years that we BUILDING CONTEXT
should be embracing differences among students, Ask students to discuss what
urging them to pursue their divergent interests at full they know about homeschooling.
throttle, we’re instead forcing them into a skyline of What are some stereotypes?
sameness, muffling their voices, grounding their What are possible benefits or
dreams” (par. 4). possible disadvantages to being
homeschooled?
from Friends with Boys Photo by Nathan Boone; Courtesy Faith Erin Hicks
BUILDING CONTEXT
Faith Erin Hicks Ask students to reflect on their
first day of high school, to
Faith Erin Hicks is an artist, writer, and animator who lives in describe feelings and fears they
Nova Scotia, Canada. She is most well-known for her long- might have had and what memo-
running web comic called Demonology 101, which tells the rable events occurred.
story of a teenage demon named Raven as she struggles
to live a normal life in the human world.

Key conTexT This excerpt from Hicks’s graphic novel
Friends with Boys focuses on Maggie’s first days in a
public school after being homeschooled for her whole life.

Characters in the comic include:

Maggie Her brother Daniel Her other brother, Zander
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TEACHING IDEA 5 Identity and Society

In connection with Analyzing Q3
and Q4, help students develop the
language necessary to discuss the
messages within the text type of
comics by teaching the following
terms: lines, shading, angles, rule
of thirds, framing, gutter, bleed,
and thought and speech bubbles.
Use famous drawings and paint-
ings, as well as images from other
graphic novels to show clear
examples of each term. Utilize
examples from Scott McCloud’s
Understanding Comics and
Jessica Abel’s Drawing Words and
Writing Pictures to help students
understand both the construction
of and intended reception for
comics. Then ask students to
work in pairs or small groups to
assemble slide shows of their own
with example images for each
term.

TRM ANALYZING
VISUAL TEXTS

For more information on what to
look for when analyzing visual
texts, see the Teacher’s Resource
Flash Drive.

CLOSE READING 186

Ask students to begin their read-
ing by analyzing the opening
panel on page 186. What can we
learn about Sanford High School
just from this image? Why use
this kind of POV? What kinds of
students go here? What kinds of
people teach here? What kinds
of activities happen here? How
do you know? Guide students to
use the language and terms
from the Teaching Idea above.

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Hicks Friends with Boys

TEACHING IDEA

The first four pages of the comic
have no narration and very little
dialogue, yet we are able to use
the elements within the image to
understand what Maggie is think-
ing and feeling. Analyzing Q2
asks students to connect with a
no-words panel and create
dialogue that fits the scene. In
preparation, have students create
a short moment of dialogue or
narration for one of the panels on
those first four pages.

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5 Identity and Society

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Hicks Friends with Boys

TEACHING IDEA

Analyzing Q4 asks students to
analyze how the images on pages
186-8 establish Maggie as an
outcast on her first day of school.
Ask students to keep “reading
notes” using a basic graphic
organizer with space to note
down panels and describe them,
then a space in which to write
down what elements are present
that create the idea of Maggie as
an outsider.

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5 Identity and Society

CHECK FOR
UNDERSTANDING

What are our first impressions of
Maggie’s brother, Daniel? How
does their interaction on page
190 function as further character-
ization of Maggie?

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Hicks Friends with Boys

CLOSE READING

Have students analyze the func-
tions of POV shifts and rhythmic
visual patterns in Daniel and
Maggie’s conversation on pages
191-2. How does Hicks create a
sense of intimacy through the
visuals as much as the actual
dialogue?

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Hicks Friends with Boys

CLOSE READING

Have students compare panel 4
of page 193 with panel 2 on page
186. How does the school feel
different when Maggie is with
Daniel in the halls rather than
alone? Guide students to
continue using the language of
comics tools as they interpret and
connect.

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CHECK FOR 5 Identity and Society
UNDERSTANDING

Have students note the reversal
of light and shadow between
panels 1, 2, and 6 on page 194,
and panels 2 on 186, 3 on 187,
and 2 on 189. What might this
represent?

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Hicks Friends with Boys

CHECK FOR
UNDERSTANDING

Make sure students take note,
and understand the purpose of,
the arrows on this page.

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