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Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird by: Toni Cade Bambara. Vocabulary. Lassoed Fetid Formality Impassive Pallid Disconsolately Vanquished Unrequited Page 569. Toni Cade Bambara. 1939-1995 American writer, civil rights activist and teacher Grew up in Harlem
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Vocabulary Lassoed Fetid Formality Impassive Pallid Disconsolately Vanquished Unrequited Page 569
Toni Cade Bambara • 1939-1995 • American writer, civil rights activist and teacher • Grew up in Harlem • Graduated from Queens College and studied acting in Europe
Her stories are set in the rural South and the urban North • Uses black street dialect • Gorilla, My Love and The Salt Eaters are two collections of her short stories
Background • Dialect is a way of speaking and writing that is common to people in a particular region or group; it adds color, liveliness and realism • Examples?
Characters/setting/plot • Cathy, Tyrone & Terry, Granny, Granddaddy Cain, Camera & Smilin, and the narrator • South, the Cain residence, Christmas time • The Cain residence is intruded by cameramen to shoot a food stamps commercial (privacy and family dignity)
Literary Analysis • Characterization refers to the way a writer reveals a character’s personality traits • Direct characterization – writers directly state a character’s personality traits • Indirect characterization – writers use a character’s actions, thoughts and feelings to suggest a character’s traits
Examples of characterization “Father was driving with a reckless and exhilarating skill-” Indirect “Miss Golden, crisp, fragrant, punctual, shut the door-” Direct
Narrators • First person narrator – a character within the story tells the story • Third person narrator – a character not within the story tells the story • What kind of narrator does this story have?
What do we know about the narrator of the story? The narrator is a female. This is because the man addresses the group as “ladies”. The narrator is Granny Cain’s granddaughter.
How is Granny characterized? • Granny is outspoken and gets her point across through words. • The children respect Granny. Specifically, Cathy admires her, Terry & Tyrone fear and respect her
How is Granddaddy Cain characterized? • He is quiet and let his actions speak for him. He has a regal appearance and people resent him for it
How are Camera and Smilin characterized? • Frightened and very intrusive • Indirectly • They are scared of the hawk, they don’t ask for permission to be there
Activities • Review and assess on page 576 • Good worksheets for review http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_mk/la/latm/LITRES03.PDF