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Lesson two Discovery of a father. About the author.
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About the author Sherwood Anderson was born into a poor family in Camden, Ohio, the U.S. in 1867, but spent his formative years in the town of Clyde, Ohio, which inspired the setting of many of his stories. He worked as a laborer in 1896-1898, then served in the Spanish American War. He was the author of many stories and novels, and he was a major influence on a younger generation of important writers, including Faukner, Hemingway, Wolfe, Steinbeck, and others, both through his writings and his acts of personal kindness. It was through his influence, for example, that the first book of both Faukner and Hemingway were published
Introduction to the text This is a story about an interesting character told by his son who later become a well-known writer. With well selected anecdotes and using the tone of a little boy, the author gives a vivid character sketch of his father whom he used to despise but gradually learns to understand and appreciate when he grows up. It is interesting because contrary to the common belief that children always worship their fathers, actually they sometimes feel the opposite when they are young. The swimming had an important symbolic value. This article therefore should be taken as dedicated to the memory of his father.
Questions to help comprehension and appreciation. • Do you agree that father often want their children to be what they themselves cannot be? • What kind of a father did the author wish to have as a child? • How did the author as a child describe his father? • What happened one day that changed the author’s opinions of his father completely?
Word study credit delayed payment e.g. He bought this car on credit b) praise e.g. We must give her credit for our discovery. c) sth. That can bring honor or pride to sb. e.g. These students are a credit to our school. d) recognition for a successfully completed course at the university e.g. This course gives three credit points.
2) to sympathize (with) : to feel sorry for sb. because you understand their problems e.g. Many people sympathized with the woman because her husband really was a brute. Sympathy e.g. I have mo sympathy for those people. They deserve their punishment. Sympathetic e.g. She was very sympathetic to those poor kids who were unable to go to school.
3) just the same(= all the same): in spite of a particular situation or opinion etc, e.g. We don’t need any more money. But thank you just the same. You are my only brother, but I can’t let you break the law just the same.
to get sth. Up: to arrange or organize sth. e.g. We are getting up a party for her birthday. 5) to be intimate with: to be extremely close to e.g. We are not intimate with each other , but we see each other fairly often. 6) to get hold of: to find e.g. Make sure your friends know where to get hold of you. 7) to strike out: to move in a vigorous and determined way e.g. He struck out strongly for the shore. 8) up to sth.: occupied or busy with sth. e.g. He is up to no good.
Detailed discussion of the text 1) You hear it said that fathers want their sons to be what feel they cannot themselves be, but I tell you it also works the other way. The first part of the sentence normally means that fathers often want their sons to realize their unfulfilled dreams. Here however, it means that in a general way fathers want their sons to live up to their expectations. But, the author says, “… it also works the other way.” It is also true the other way around. Children have the same demand on their fathers.
To work: to function, operate This sentence is rather complex in structure, involving the use of a “that” clause represented by the anticipatory “it” as part of the complex object of “hear”. Within the “that ”clause, there is anther complex object of the verb “want”, and part of this object is the infinitive phrase “to be”, which contains another noun clause introduced by “what”
2)… he was shouting back and having as good a time as they were. Notice the difference between the use of “as…as” in this sentence and that in “He runs as fast as I do.” In the latter, “as” is followed by an Adverb, whereas in the former, “as” is followed by a noun modified by an adjective. When it is followed by a noun modified by an adjective, the adjective should be placed before the indefinite article. E.g. The other day, I heard as interesting a story as what you just told us.
3)…to where there was a grassy place by a creek. Notice that the clause introduced by “where” here is nit an adverbial clause but is used as the object clause to the preposition “to”. In meaning, it is similar to “… to a place where…”, but then the “where” clause is in apposition to “place”. Grassy: Notice that the suffix “-y” here means “full of” or “covered with”.
To hear him tell it he’d been in about every battle. If you had heard him tell the story you would think that he has been in about every battle. This infinitive phrase placed at the beginning of a sentence is used as an adverbial, modifying but independent of the whole sentence. It should not be viewed as an adverbial of purpose or result. E.g. To listen to him talk, he has figured out the answers to all today’s problems.
6) Talking my hand he pulled me in. He took my hand and pulled me in. The participle phrase here is used to denote an action of secondary importance, an action that is followed immediately by another action expressed by the verb in the main clause. e.g. Picking up the gun, she shot the rapist. Jumping out of bad, he rushed to school.
7)…he put my hand on his shoulder and struck out into the darkness. Point out the symbolic meaning of his father’s action: Father and son, striking out into the darkness together, with the boy’s hand on the father’s shoulder. They are swimming together in the pond, but in a symbolic sense, they are also getting ready to fight against heavy odds in life together. To strike out: to start walking or swimming in a particular direction, esp. in a determined way
Discussion Children’s image of an adult invariably goes through some important change as they grow up. This is part of the growing-up experience. Please give a little speech on the topic: The Discovery of a Father/Mother/Teacher etc.
Answers to grammar work 2) her name called herself understand him flying came running badly damaged in an earthquake last year going in and out of, their hair done used in ordinary speech the potatoes peeled and the table laid them informed of had his garden producing the wolf sitting still thousands of wooden houses ruined
3)never complains is always singing are constantly forgetting would never, would go would never stay, would go always meet the Wangs would yell is working on is forever breaking down is forever telling pulled 6)dcbab cacdd acbcc
Written work Write, in essay form, a character sketch of the narrator’s father in about 150 words. Write the essay in there parts: introduction, body and conclusion. In the introduction, point out briefly what kind of person you think the father was In the body, list two or three qualities of the father, and support them with examples. In the conclusion, restate what you say in the first part in a more forceful or emphatic way.
Home work: Retell the anecdote of the author’s father and General Grant in the wood the day the General was to met Robert Lee as imagined by the author’s father. What interesting details did the author’s father create that made the story so vivid and so believable? Do you know what the historical facts were?
Poem of the week If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.
About the poem: Emily Dickinson, (1830--1886) is the first important woman poet in the history of American literature. But her fame as a poet did not come until some years after her death, when the twelve hundred or more poems she had written were found. Emily Dickinson’ poems are among America’s favorites, most of all, perhaps, because they help us see ordinary things in new ways. Into a few lines of verse like this poem, with simple words, she packs ideas that make us think.
