Unit Two: Identity Stories
Week One Notes
Day One: “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”
DIRECTIONS: Answer the following question in 2-4 sentences.
1) Do you think that slavery still affects African Americans today? Explain how.
DIRECTIONS: Answer the questions as we read in 1-2 sentences.
Question:
1) Walker says “Their bodies became to the men who used them, they became more than ‘sexual objects,’ more even than mere women: they became ‘Saints.’” What does she mean by this[JJ1]?
2) What are some connotations (feelings, associations) with the word “Saint[JJ2]”?
3) Explain the inner struggle of the women and their “dreams[JJ3].”
4) Reread the paragraph that begins “To Toomer.” What word repeats in the text? Why does it repeat[JJ4]?
5) Walker makes a distinction between “Saints” and “Creators.” What is the difference between the two[JJ5]?
6) Because the grandmothers and great-grandmothers of the South were forced to be “Saints” rather than “Artists,” what did the world lose out on[JJ6]?
7) What are some of the stereotypes of black women[JJ7]?
8) On what occasions did Alice Walker’s mother get angry[JJ8]?
9) How does Walker describe her mother? Use one piece of textual evidence in your response[JJ9].
10) What is Walker saying in the last paragraph on page 7 about the idea of “anonymity[JJ10]”?
11) Walker says that “in the quest for my mother’s gardens, I found my own.” What does that mean[JJ11]?
Day Two: Debriefing “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”
DIRECTIONS: Take five minutes to review the Alice Walker article and fill out the following chart.
What are some of the key ideas from the text? / What questions do you have after reading?Jot notes as we debrief the passage:
“In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”Key Ideas / Evidence from the Text
Day Three: Beloved Chapter One
DIRECTIONS: Use your text to answer the following questions about the Toni Morrison biography.
1. Morrison changed her first name because
a. her college friends mispronounced her name.[JJ12]
b. she was embarrassed by her African-American heritage.
c. she got married.
d. she wanted a name that she thought sounded more like an author.
2. The primary cause of three of Morrison’s books becoming popular again 25 years
after she wrote them was
a. no one else has captured the emotion of the African-American culture.
b. winning the Nobel Prize made them popular again.
c. Oprah Winfrey endorsed them.[JJ13]
d. they were re-published with new illustrations.
3. According to the passage, what was the effect of the legacy given to Morrison by
her parents?
a. She became determined even as a child never to be poor again.
b. She gained a life-long friendship with Oprah Winfrey.
c. She made sure her own children knew how to read before they entered first grade.
d. She gained a life-long love for books and sensitivity to her heritage that became
the basis of her fame and finest achievements.[JJ14]
DIRECTIONS: Fill out the graphic organizer to characterize 124 based on the first paragraph of the novel.
Characteristic of 124 / Explanation and EvidenceDIRECTIONS: Write a robust paragraph characterizing 124. Be sure to draw from apt and specific references from the text. We will show call these paragraphs in 12 minutes.
Day Four: Beloved Chapter 1 and Character Chart
DIRECTIONS: Look back at your annotations and write down any significant examples of memory from the selection.
What is significant about memory in this chapter?
Beloved Character Chart[JJ15]
[JJ1]She means that for them men who frequented the prostitutes, they needed the women. They felt complete by the women. They didn’t feel that the women were disgusting, they felt that the women actually saved them.
[JJ2]Holy, angelic, godly, white, angel, priest, unapproachable, never making mistakes, no wrongdoing, non-human
[JJ3]The women had dreams of a different life for themselves, but they knew that because of their standing in society that they would never see their dreams realized, so instead they let their spirits go and let their bodies be used. And then men who visited them also got no pleasure from their bodies, so their bodies became vacant lots.
[JJ4]The word “without” repeats three times to emphasize that the women are truly “without” anything. They lack all sense of fullness; they lack a sense of being whole.
[JJ5]The Saints are people who follow the holy laws, but the Creators are the ones who make the holy laws. They use their spirituality to make art and beauty in the world.
[JJ6]Great novelists and storytellers, poets, and artists.
[JJ7]Matriarchs, Superwomen, Mean and Evil Bitches, Castraters, and Sapphire’s Mama.
[JJ8]When the white landlord tried to convince her that all of her children didn’t need to go to school.
[JJ9]She is kind, loving, patient, and worked hard for her family. She is a strong woman who can compete in work ethic with Alice’s father “During the ‘working’ day, she labored beside—not behind—my father in the fields.”
[JJ10]There is no such thing as anonymity—her mother’s stories have trickled into her own stories and created her into who she is.
[JJ11]Walker is saying that by looking for her mother’s artistry and story, she, herself, found out who she was and that she was intrinsically connected to her mother, but also uniquely herself.
[JJ12]Correct
[JJ13]Correct
[JJ14]Correct
[JJ15]Students will create a character chart by describing the relationships between different characters. They should draw arrows and write the relationships between the characters.