Thinking About Literature: Approaching Literature

1. Thinking About Literature:Approaching Literature “Out, Out” And “Snow”

2. Read thoughtfully pg. 12-17 of Lit. & Comp. beginning with “Approaching Literature”. • Do the activity on pg. 16 (about 7 pages into your composition notebook), writing approx. 1 paragraph for each: • Experience • Analysis • Extension

3. Experience • Enter the world of the poem! • Respond…anything goes • I don’t like it…because… • I don’t get it…because… • It was sad…because… • People aren’t really as callous as the ones in this poem…

4. Analysis • Go further into the text • Notice as many details as possible • Try to figure out not just what is written, but why • Focus on effect: how the text means • Meaning beyond the actual event in the text

5. Extend • Move beyond the text • Extend your interpretation from the world of the poem to the real world • Research the author’s background • Examine the historical context of the work • Application of the ideas in the piece to general life

6. Analyzing“Out, Out!”by Robert Frost • Define Themeand explain your process for identifying it in a text. • What is Frost saying about home and family? (5min)

7. Analyzing“Out, Out!”by Robert Frost • Structure: • How is this poem organized? What effect does this organizational pattern convey to a reader? • Language: • Identify two examples of effective word choice. Explain their effect and why you believe the poet intentionally used them to enhance his message. (7min)

8. Extending “Out, Out!” • Historical context: • Which time period do you believe provides the setting for “Out, Out!”? • Which contextual clues suggest a particular historical time period? • Philosophical possibilities: • What philosophical comments does the poet imply setting the poem in this historical context? (5min)

9. “Snow”by Julia Alvarez • Poet’s Background: • B. 1950 Dominican Republic • Immigrated to U.S to escape military dictatorship • Excerpt taken from How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, her first novel • Explores the immigrant experience from the viewpoint of a young girl, Yolanda, one of the four Garcia sisters

10. Yolanda’s feelings • unfamiliarity • Separation • Outsider Text connection: • Is the nun being kindly or condescending in her slow enunciation of new vocab words and in her decision to seat Yolanda near her?

11. Historical Context • Cuban Missile Crisis • Cold War • Term “holocaust”

12. Interpretation • What does school mean to Yolanda? • Is it a refuge from the shifts and changes in her home life? • Is Sister Zoey really a kind and caring person, or does she mean well and miss the mark? • Read the last sentence in Yolanda’s voice: is her tone fondly nostalgic or sarcastic? • Is she remembering this incident with affection? anger? both?

13. Interpretation • How does this story treat language—the acquisition of it, the joy of it, the distinction between word and reality? • What about snow: atomic fallout or natural beauty?

14. Extend • Consider the ways young immigrants struggle to make their way in a new land and in a new school, where their new experiences often drive a wedge between themselves and their families.