Honors 11 Tuesday, March 27

Objective: Introduce themes and ideas from Cry, the Beloved Country

• Turned in research papers
• Went to writing lab and checked out the novel Cry, the Beloved Country
• Looked at power point presentation about The Dustbowl. After viewing it, students wrote a half page free response answering the following questions: How would you feel if you were a child going through this drastic change? How would you feel if you were a parent responsible for a family during this upheaval? There will be multiple free writes throughout this unit. Students must make these up if they miss one from being absent. Students will turn them all in at the end of the unit.
• We looked at three illustrations about The Land and its People concerning South Africa. Mrs. Jaynes went over background information about the novel.
• Intercalary chapters are placed throughout the reading. These are chapters that give context or background information to the people, the land, the city, politics etc. These chapters don't talk specifically about the plot or any of the main characters. They are more of an overall view of what is going on around them at that time. 
• Instead of using quotations for dialogue, Alan Paton uses dashes-- to show dialogue.
• Steven Kumalo is the main character of the novel. He is an Anglican minister and is often called "Umfundisi," which is a respected title given to religious men.
• Important things to know about the novel
• There are two settings, the rural village where the native South Africans live and the Urbanized city of Johannesburg, which is dominated by White Europeans. 
• The Land and its relation to the people is a dominant theme in the novel. When the land is healthy, the people are healthy. When the land is broken, the tribe is broken.
• Men leave the village in search for a better life or because the land is dying, but it might be dying because the men leave and don't come back, leaving the women, children, and elderly to care for it.
• Kumalo will face both physical trials and emotional trials, but his most significant trial is being spiritually tested beyond anything he can imagine. 

• HOMEWORK: Read chapters 1 THROUGH 5. Fear is a dominant topic in the novel. How does fear present itself in these chapters? Find 7 examples where various characters show fear. 
• Format: Using a bulleted list, write down page number, quote, and two sentences explaining how that quote shows fear. This must be typed as usual.