November 15, 2010“Volunteer” Conventions Day 3

• What words in the second paragraph are grammatically incorrect?

• Why are they incorrect?

• Correct the mistakes!

SelflessnessMotivational

Selflessness is a noun. The correct word is an adjective “selfless.”

Motivational is an adjective and should be the noun “motivations.”

Student Goals

• Make inferences about characters based on details in the text.

• Identify character motivation.• Identify and explain the theme of

“Everyday Use” based on inferences.

Pulitzer Prize Winner

Humble BeginningsAlice Walker overcame impoverished beginnings and a potentially crippling accident to become a prominent writer. The youngest of eight children, she was born in the small town of Eatonton, Georgia. At eight years old, she was blinded in one eye by a shot from a BB gun. The resulting scar made her painfully shy and self-conscious, and she spent her time alone, reading and writing stories. With a scholarship for students with disabilities, she attended Spelman College, a college for African American women in Atlanta, Georgia, later transferring to Sarah Lawrence College in New York.

National Book Award Winner

“The Cheapest Thing to Do”Women have always played an important role in Walker’s life. She grew up believing there was nothing her mother couldn’t do. Empowerment of women is a major theme in Walker’s writing. Her novel, The Color Purple, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and has been made into a movie and musical. She has published fiction, poems, and essays, so it is surprising that she never intended to be a writer. “I remember wanting to be a scientist, wanting to be a pianist, wanting to be a painter. But all the while I was writing. We were really poor, and writing was about the cheapest thing to do.”

p. 116

Quilting is a form of needlework that has been practiced for centuries, usually by women. Quilts are made from scraps of fabric or old clothing. To make a quilt, a quilter sews pieces of fabric together and then onto a piece of batting, or stuffing. Traditional quilting patterns and techniques are passed on from generation to generation. Quilts are functional—they keep beds warm and serve as a way to reuse small scraps of fabric—and they are beautiful. Today, people cherish quilts not only for their history and usefulness but also for their artistic value.

p. 123

What details are revealed about Asalamalakim? What inference can you make based on those details?

Meanwhile, Asalamalakim is going through motions with Maggie’s hand. Maggie’s hand is as limp as a fish, and probably as cold, despite the sweat, and she keeps trying to pull it back. It looks like Asalamalakim wants to shake hands but wants to do it fancy. Or maybe he don’t know how people shake hands. Anyhow, he soon gives up on Maggie.

p. 121

What is ironic about

this name?

• “No, Mama,” she says. “Not ‘Dee,’ Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”7

     “What happened to ‘Dee’?” I wanted to know.     “She’s dead,” Wangero said. “I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.”      “You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie,” I said. Dicie is my sister. She named Dee. We called her “Big Dee” after Dee was born.     “But who was she named after?” asked Wangero.     “I guess after Grandma Dee,” I said.     “And who was she named after?” asked Wangero.     “Her mother,” I said, and saw Wangero was getting tired. “That’s about as far back as I can trace it,” I said. Though, in fact, I probably could have carried it back beyond the Civil War through the branches.     “Well,” said Asalamalakim, “there you are.”

p. 121

Keep this conversation in mind! Think about what it implies about Dee/Wangero’s connection to her heritage.

What details are revealed about Dee/Wangero?What inference can you make based on the details?

“I can use the churn top as a centerpiece for the alcove table,” she said, sliding a plate over the churn, “and I’ll think of something artistic to do with the dasher.”

Is this butter churn being used? What does it say about Dee/Wangero that she wants to take parts of the churn to use as decorations in her home?

p. 122

Does Dee really value the quilts as part of her heritage?

After dinner Dee (Wangero) went to the trunk at the foot of my bed and started rifling through it. Maggie hung back in the kitchen over the dishpan. Out came Wangero with two quilts. They had been pieced by Grandma Dee, and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them. One was in the Lone Star pattern. The other was Walk Around the Mountain. In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’s paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil War. p. 123

What can you infer about Dee/Wangero’s opinion of her sister? What details support your inference?

She gasped like a bee had stung her.     “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” she said. “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.”      “I reckon she would,” I said. “God knows I been saving ’em for long enough with nobody using ’em. I hope she will!” I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style.     “But they’re priceless!” she was saying now, furiously; for she has a temper. “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!”

p. 124

Which character doesn’t really understand? How do you know?

“You just don’t understand,” she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car.     “What don’t I understand?” I wanted to know.     “Your heritage,” she said. And then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, “You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live, you’d never know it.”

p. 124

How has this experience changed Maggie? You can make an inference! What details would support your inference?

Maggie smiled, maybe at the sunglasses. But a real smile, not scared. After we watched the car dust settle, I asked Maggie to bring me a dip of snuff. And then the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed.

p. 124

Character Motivation

• What motivates Dee/Wangero?

• What motivates Mama?

• What motivates Maggie?Th

ink

abo

ut w

hy

she

com

es to

vis

it.

Think about why she

prepares the yard.

Think about why she

gives the quilts to Maggie.

Think about why she is

willing to give up the quilts.

Cotton Fields, Sunflowers, Blackbirds and Quilting Bees (1997) by Faith Ringgold. © Faith Ringgold, 1997.

Which character would you side with in the conflict over the quilts? Why?

Homework

• Week 12 by Monday, Nov. 22.• Quiz on “Everyday Use” on Friday, Nov.

19.

Exit Ticket: Based on the inferences you have made, state the theme of “Everyday Use.” Explain your theme by using your inferences about the characters, their motivations, and interactions. Support your inferences with details.