English 11

1. English 11

2. Do Now • Open your books and reread the passage from page 33-34 • Underline examples of: • Figurative language • Repetition • Striking words

3. Objectives Begin to understand and perform “close literary analysis” Discuss point of view, word connotation, figurative language, and juxtaposition in short passage from the novel.

4. Close Literary Analysis • Things to look for in literary analysis: • Figurative language • Language that produces images or appeals to the senses (imagery) • Diction: word connotations (what associations does the word call to mind) • Sentence fragments (incomplete sentences) • Long sentences or short sentences? Use of punctuation? • Repetition • Juxtaposition of words, ideas, or concepts • Symbols in the passage • Point of view of the passage • What is the tone of the passage? • Why might the author have made some of these stylistic choices? • How do they affect the meaning of the passage?

5. Reread the passage from page 33-34. Identify and underline any relevant stylistic choices by the author. Identify use of any relevant literary devices.

6. Point of View • From what point of view is the Breedloves house described: • 3rd person narrator describes history up to present moment of the fluidity of people that have occupied store front (now abandoned) • Pedestrians look away and visitors wonder why it has not been torn down • Pizza parlor (gathering for teenaged boys)—hungarian baker—real-estate office—gypsy base of operations—longer ago when the Breedlove’s lived there. • What is the effect of presenting the Breedlove’s home to reader in this way? • Breedloves are a long forgotten blip in history of storefront. • Emphasizes the anonymity that characterizes the Breedloves family. By describing the Breedlove’s home by going backwards in time the author emphasizes the lack of impact that the Breedlove’s made on anything, the lack of importance of their existence. It presents them as barely a blip on anyone’s radar or in anyone’s history • We see the Breedlove family as a small speck based on point of view (who tells the story) 3rd person omniscient narrator with knowledge of the future, living within the future (all knowing narrator, God).

7. Word Connotation “So fluid has the population in that area been, that probably no one remembers longer, longer ago, before the time of the gypsies and the time of the teen-agers when the Breedloves lived there, nestled together in the storefront. Festering together in the debris of a realtor’s whim. They slipped in and out of the box of peeling gray, making no stir in the neighborhood, no sound in the labor force, and no wave in the mayor’s office. Each member of the family in his own cell of consciousness, each making his own patch work quilt of reality—collecting fragments of experience here, pieces of information there. From the tiny impressions gleaned from one another, they created a sense of belonging and tried to make do with the way they found each other (34).” What words stand out to you as having a negative connotation (mood or attitude to the word)? What is the Breedlove’s storefront house referred to as? In his own cell of consciousness Festering together in the debris of realtors whim Slipped in and out of the box of peeling gray Tried to make do with the way they found each other

8. Figurative language? Cell of consciousness Consciousness as a cell? What does the word cell connote? Patchwork quilt of reality Reality as a patchwork quilt?

9. Juxtaposition • Juxtaposition of ideas: • It does not recede into its background of leaden sky, nor harmonize with the gray frame houses and black telephone poles around it. Rather it foists itself on the eye of the passerby that is both irritating and melancholy (33). • Storefront stands out to the passerby. • They slipped in and out of the box of peeling gray making no stir in the neighborhood, no sound in the labor force, and no wave in the mayors office (34). • Breedlove’s do not stand out, anonymous, no stir, sound, or wave. • Juxtaposition of words: • Rather it foists itself on the eye of the passerby in a way that is both irritating and melancholy. • They moved slowly, laughed slowly, but flicked the ashes from their cigarettes too quickly too often, and exposed themselves, to those who were interested as novices to the habit.

10. Tone: the author’s attitude towards a subject. The author’s feeling about the subject. The dominant mood that is created by the author. Look at list of words to describe tone. What do you think is the tone of this passage?

11. Dormwork Read selection from “Becoming Members of Society: Learning Social Meanings of Gender” (handout).