Today in class today we spent some time doing a close reading of the text to see what is revealed thematically about a collection which looks closely at language and culture and how language holds one's values and the unseating of this linguistic anchor can have dyer affect on both community and individual.
We also spoke about the multitude of characters in The Dance Boots. I suggested students approach each story as a new canvas and if a prior character is mentioned then to check notes to see what was going on then or during that portion of the tale that is said character's life. Often we meet them as adults and then get the back story later. Sometimes we meet them as children and then they grow older.
Complete the book. Write a summary of one of the stories we have not discussed. Use a citation in each paragraph: a free paraphrase, a shorter citation and a block quote.
We spent some time with dianahacker.com/rules in the "Research" section. Continue using this ancillary tool to refresh one's memory. Continue working in the Pidd workbook. Return it next week, Thursday, Feb. 24.
2 comments:
Marie Heide
22 February 2012
Prof. Sabir
English 1B
In “The Dance Boots,” by Linda Legarde Grover, there is one story in particular that I found to be interesting. The “Four Indians in The Mirror” is about Joe, Louis and Mickey sitting at a bar to celebrate the home coming of their cousin Joe from the Army. While the three of them are sitting there, we learn that Joe was wounded while in the service with a recent injury for the wound is barely beginning to scab over. Mickey is sick and close to dying, most likely from a lung disease, for he coughs up a mist of blood that happens to spray on his coffee cup. Lastly, Louis tries to make light of the situation of Mickey being sick to keep the moment a joyous one on account that Mickey is home from the Army. Everything is going as good as they can expect it to be, given the circumstances, until McGoun manifests himself back into their memories that they have desperately oppressed all these years.
When Louis sees McGoun, he can only think of the horrible things that McGoun had done to his brother Frank. He remembers the youthful fix-it man pushing Frank into a pile of waste and then taunting the young boy to get up, only to push him back down again (124). Louis only remembers how McGoun walked around the Harrod School like a bully, a bully that was beating up on his own people. We learn in this story that McGoun is a half-Indian that is terrorizing his own people. Such a piece of information explains why the boys have such hatred towards him.
Joe remembers McGoun after the accident that left McGoun walking with a limp. Joe recalls the time that McGoun had abused his power by bullying the young boy to say his name “properly.” McGoun pushed “Joe against the wall with his forearm, holding him there, smiling. Spitting the words into his face, “Say ‘My name is Joe Washington’” (124). Joe only has violent memories of a strong and vibrant McGoun that was ready and willing to push his weight around to bully these young frightened children. Now, the image of McGoun in the bar is that of a homeless, weak and drunken individual that seems to have lost his place in a world he once controlled.
Mickey, seeing McGoun, can only remember being punished by this feeble man that he once feared. He remembered by isolated in the basement as a form of punishment “where he stayed for days at a time…” (125). Mickey makes reference to the nicknames Maingen and Waboos. He comes to explain that Mickey has the spirit of a wolf (Maingen) in him, but McGoun was such an intimidator, that the wolf fled from Mickey to make him weak like Waabos (rabbit) and now that Mickey is sick as an adult, the rabbit has returned.
The end of the story was a bit surprising because Louis got his chance to slap McGoun around a little bit, and at first, it seemed like McGoun did not recognize or remember the boys. But then, McGoun calls Louis by his name, only to make an extremely rude comment about the legitimacy of one of his children. Although at this point, I believe that Louis realizes that the pathetic state the McGoun is in, is revenge enough. I feel this is why he backs off from pulverizing the drunken man, and instead helps Mickey up on his feet.
Billy Russell
1 March 2012
Professor Sabir
English 1B
Maggie and Louis, 1914
The story is set in the year 1914, it starts off with Maggie teaching the other girls at Harrod how to mend clothing. As the girls are rhythmically mending clothing and singing, they see Louis making another escape attempt. Louis is quickly tracked down by McGoun, and is punished by being put in solitary confinement. It is around this time that Maggie meets Andre for the first time at the school, she describes him as being, "the handsomest man on the entire reservation."(p.50)
Maggie is given the task of taking Louis his dinner. While Louis is sitting in his cell he reminisces about the first time he tried to escape. When Maggie gets to the cell door, and steps inside she realizes that it is incredibly squalid, and also incredibly small. Maggie and Louis were actually forced to take the mattress outside the cell in order to flip it over, because the cell was so small.(p.56)
After Maggie did all that she could do to clean Louis's cell, she leaves. After she leaves, Louis images that he escapes the cell and sees her figure in the stars.
"Above his head the northern lights grew larger and stomped mightily in the sky around MIss LaForce, whose pointed lady shoes kneaded a cloud, toes-heels, toes-heels, Miss LaForce, who pivoted slowly in the sky, her brilliant shawl rising and falling over her broad shoulders and bent elbows, like the wings of a dragonfly (P.58).
This dream takes place shortly after he meets Maggie for the first time, and the impact Maggie has on him is clear. He views Maggie as a divine figure for what she has done for him.
Post a Comment