Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher

CHAPTER 12 GUIDED READING

Name:

Date:

Period:

Learning Targets:

  1. I will read, comprehend, and analyze text by using reading strategies.
  2. I will use literary terms when describing text.
  3. I will identify literary and classical allusions and figurative language in text.

Figurative Language Identification

Directions:Read each passage below form chapter 12. Identify which type of figurative language is being demonstrated in each and label accordingly with the corresponding letter for the type of figurative language you have identified.

a. Hyperbole b. Idiom c. Metaphor d. Personification e. Simile

  1. ______“I’ll give Mark so much space he won’t even know I’m on the same planet” (192).
  1. ______Mautz pointed his finger at me, his carotid artery swelling like a fire hose (192).
  1. ______“You’re skating on thin ice, young man” (192).
  1. ______“My organ donor card will expire before Mark Brittain is stabilized” (193).
  1. ______Sarah Byrnes looks at me through those slits in her scarred face as if she’s going to clean my clock on the spot (197).

Inference and Analysis Questions

Directions: After reading chapter twelve of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, answer the questions below. Referring back to the text for the specific context of each passage may be helpful when answering the accompanying questions.

  1. When Eric visits Dale Thornton for a second time in an attempt to get more information about Sarah Byrnes’s mom, Dale warns, “You know…you do-gooders need to be careful. You think just ‘cause you want to help somebody, somebody’s gonna be helped” (184). Explain Dale’s complaint. Do you agree with him? Explain.
  1. Dale comments harshly about Sarah Byrnes’s desire to reconnect with her mother: “I don’t know why she’d wanna be around her old lady anyway. Hell, she up an’ left , right? Scarface’d been better off like me, no mom at all. I’d rather have nobody than somebody who ‘d do me like that” (186). What is Dale’s argument against Sarah wanting to be with her mom? Considering his background, why do you think that argument makes sense to him? Do you agree with his perspective? Explain.

Inference and Analysis Questions (continued)

  1. Refer back to the emotional conversation between Sarah Byrnes and Eric. What are Sarah Byrnes’s concerns about Eric telling Lemry? What is Eric’s defense? Why do the two friends end up yelling at each other with tears rolling down their cheeks? Explain.

Writing Connections

Directions: Choose one of the following quotes from chapter eleven to use as the basis for a paragraph response. Follow the steps provided to write your paragraph response to the quote you have selected.

Steps to Create Response:

  1. Explain what the quote means and how it might apply to the real world.
  2. Provide an example from your personal experience, history, a book, and/or a movie, etc. that illustrates the concept the selected quote presents.
  3. Make a statement that conveys the reason it is important for people to consider what the quote is expressing.

Quotes

  • Be patient, and the rat will always come out of his hole (189).
  • Everybody hurts…Remember that (195).
  • If you just wait around and let things happen, then they’ll happen, and likely as not, you’ll eat shit (198).
  • Once I know something, I can’t unknow it or pretend it isn’t so. I’m responsible for anything I know (198).

Paragraph Response