Sonny’s Blues

1. Sonny’s Blues

2. Harlem 1950s Harlem Today Contrast these two images.

3. Objective • Students will build necessary background knowledge for reading “Sonny’s Blues” by viewing related non-print text. • Students will begin reading “Sonny’s Blues”.

4. Agenda Agenda • Bell Work • Share Out • Background for Sonny’s Blues • Group reads “Sonny’s Blues” together • Independent reading of “Sonny’s Blues” • Complete Guided Questions while reading • Clean Up

5. Gallery

6. Gallery

7. What is the setting? • Post World War II Harlem • Artists establish Greenwich Village as cultural capital • Responding to the crisis caused by the war • 50s leading up to the radical 60s • African American soldiers returning home from the war and heading north towards Harlem • instead of finding new job opportunities and equal rights, they found newly constructed housing projects and vast urban slums

8. HARLEM SHADOWSby Claude McKay  HEAR the halting footsteps of a lass In Negro Harlem when the night lets fall Its veil. I see the shapes of girls who pass Eager to heed desire's insistent call: Ah, little dark girls, who in slipperedfeet Go prowling through the night from street to street.  Through the long night until the silver break Of day the little gray feet know no rest, Through the lone night until the last snow-flake Has dropped from heaven upon the earth's white breast, The dusky, half-clad girls of tired feet Are trudging, thinly shod, from street to street.  Ah, stern harsh world, that in the wretched way Of poverty, dishonor and disgrace, Has pushed the timid little feet of clay. The sacred brown feet of my fallen race! Ah, heart of me, the weary, weary feet In Harlem wandering from street to street.

9. Blues • The blues became a dialogue between a human being and his guitar • Comes from slave spiritual songs • Expresses the sadness and hardships experienced by people http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgaxYEsEVVY

10. Jazz • Breaks the traditional conventions of music • Music that relies on instinct, not structure • Derives from the Blues • Originated in southern black communities • Famous musicians: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnoKOlMomqA

11. Flashback A narrative technique that allows a writer to present past events during current events, in order to provide background. By providing background information, the writer provides the reader with insight into a character's motivation and/or background to a conflict.

12. After we read together… • Continue to read independently. • Complete the guided reading questions.

13. Bell Work • What do these details reveal about the narrator’s attitude towards Sonny? “The seven years' difference in our ages lay between us like a chasm: I wondered if these years would ever operate between us as a bridge. I was remembering, and it made it hard to catch my breath, that I had been there when he was born; and I had heard the first words he had ever spoken. When he started to walk, he walked from our mother straight to me. I caught him just before he fell when he took the first steps he ever took in this world” (Baldwin, P. 6). (50 words minimum)

14. Objective Students will analyze character relationships through the use of allusion in “Sonny’s Blues”.

15. Allusion A reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature.

16. Turn and Talk Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done?  • Do you think Cain really asking if it’s his job to be concerned about his brother in a loving, compassionate fashion? OR is he reacting in a sarcastic manner?

17. Being Your Brother’s Keeper • Allusion to Cain & Abel • Like people kept/cared for sheep, the brother takes care of his brother • Means that we have an obligation to care for our family members

18. Evaluate The last time the narrator sees his mother, she makes him promise to “hold onto his brother”. Read the following passage from the text. What is she expecting the narrator to do? "You got to hold on to your brother," she said, "and don't let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you gets with him. You going to be evil with him many a time. But don't you forget what I told you, you hear?” (Baldwin, P.11)

19. After we read together… • Continue to read independently. • Complete the guided reading questions.

20. Bell Work Do you think the narrator is successful at being Sonny’s keeper? Use evidence from the text to support your opinion.

21. Bell Work Would you describe yourself as someone who reacts to different events in life, or someone who doesn’t let occurrences affect them? 50 words minimum. Provide examples.

22. Bell Work How would you describe yourself (a loyal friend, a prankster, a leader, nosey sibling etc.)? 50 words minimum. Provide examples.

23. Bell Work If you were a character, would you be flat or round? What traits contribute to your personality? 50 words minimum. Provide examples.

24. Bell Work Do you think people’s personalities change over the course of their lives? Why or why not? 50 words minimum. Provide examples.

25. Objective Students will be able to distinguish between static, round, flat, and dynamic characters by completing a characterization chart.

26. Static Character • Does not change much during the course of the story. • They typically remain the same.

27. Dynamic Character • Changes in some important way as a result of the story’s action. • These characters show changes in personality and attitude. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQKlstAGqzU

28. Flat Character • Has 1 or 2 personality traits • They are 1-dimensional, like cardboard • Can be summed up in one phrase: loyal sidekick, the nosey neighbor, the buffoon

29. Round Character • Shows emotional and psychological development • Complex, like real people with multiple dimensions to their personalities

30. Types of Narratives: • Linear: plot structure that runs in a chronological or logical cause-and-effect sequence. • Episodic: plot made up of loosely connected events

31. Character Quiz The protagonist from the tell-tale heart is a… a)Flat character b) Dynamic character

32. Character Quiz Doodle, from “The Scarlet Ibis” is a a) Flat character b) Round Character

33. Character Quiz Lizabeth from “Marigolds” is a a)Round character b) Flat character

34. Character Quiz John Burke, Ms. Lottie’s son, from “Marigolds” is a a)Static Character b)Dynamic Character

35. Sonny’s Blues Characters Complete the characterization charts for “Sonny’s Blues” in your packet.

36. Bell Work Which of the following struggles would be the most difficult to overcome? Explain. • Getting through a blizzard during a power outage • A fist fight with Mike Tyson • Losing records of your identity to a super computer • Managing your midlife crisis • Living in a country with an unfair government 50 Words minimum

37. Bell Work Analyze the following passage. Which type of conflict is presented? “Most of the houses in which we had grown up had vanished, as had the stories from which we had stolen, the basements we had first tried sex, the rooftops we had hurled bricks. Boys found themselves encircles by disaster. Some escaped the trap, most didn’t. Those who got out always left something behind, as some animals amputate a leg and leave it in the trap.” (Refer to P. 7) 50 Words minimum

38. Objective Students will be able to analyze conflict using print and non-print texts.

39. What is Conflict? A struggle between opposing forces • There are 2 types of conflict: • External • Internal

40. External Conflict struggle between a literary or dramatic character and an outside force such as nature or another character

41. Internal Conflict a conflict involving opposing forces within a person’s mind

42. Man vs. Man • Character struggles with another character • Ex: arguments, conflicting desires, opposing goals, physical confrontations or emotional dilemmas • External Conflict

43. Man vs. Nature • Character vs. the forces of nature that are out of the characters' control • Ex: diseases, animals, land, and weather conditions • External Conflict

44. Man vs. Society • Character disagrees with society’s laws, beliefs, or values • External conflict

45. Man vs. Technology • Character struggles against robots, super computers, or other types of advanced technology • Usually in fantasy, science fiction, and supernatural books • External Conflict

46. Man vs. Self • Character struggles with moral dilemmas, emotional challenges or desires • Takes place within the character’s soul or conscious • Internal Conflict

47. Protagonist The central character in a story, the one who initiates and drives the action

48. Antagonist • The force that struggles against or blocks the protagonist in a narrative • Does not always have to be a person • Can be nature (an antagonistic storm)

49. THE PROTAGONIST IS NOT NECESSARILY THE HERO OR THE “GOOD GUY.”THE ANTAGONIST IS NOT NECESSARILY THE “BAD GUY.”