To start class today, please get into groups of three. First, read your letter aloud to your peers. Then discuss what you think is significant in each one. What did your peers respond to or find significant that you did not? What did you learn from their reflections?
Next, as a group, identify the most important scene in Dorothy Allison's text, the scene that you think most vividly represents the point of her writing. Generate a paragraph that briefly describes the scene and then explains your choice to the rest of class. What are your reasons for why this scene best illustrates the main argument of this text?
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Passage: Pg. 64-65 "Running the quarter mile"
ReplyDeleteAllison, like the women in her life, is usually quiet. But as she runs, "some piece", "Something in the bottom of [her] spine" broke away and she felt "lifted". This describes Allison's writing style by showing how she does not care what people think about her and that she can overcome the doubt that she cannot join the class. Overcoming her doubt symbolizes her ability to overcome her past and talk about her life as a woman.
This narrative must have been incredibly important for her own drive to get over the stigma of her troubles.
Page 67-68
ReplyDeleteOn Allison's 16th birthday her stepfather gave her a "birthday spanking," which to her family seems to be a joke. However, Allison and her friends know that she's being beaten. Afterwards, she is able to stand up to her stepfather saying that he'll never touch her again. This is the most important scene because she's able to stand up for herself and come to terms with being abused when she was a young girl, the main argument of the text.
We believe that the most significant scene in the book was when she took up karate. Karate symbolized Allison’s perseverance. She had struggled with many tragedies throughout her life. Karate reflects her motivation to move past those tragedies and move forward in life. Also, karate represented her finally coming to peace with herself. Even though she never became amazing at karate, it lead to her accepting herself. Group: Seth, Khanh and Kathleen
ReplyDeleteThroughout the book, a central conflict is Allison coping with her childhood rape. An important scene that exemplifies her struggle throughout her life and her overcoming these struggles occurs near the middle of the book when the Sensai brings his wife to the karate class and she proves that a women can do anything men can do. This helped Allison understand that she is just as strong as the men and she is able to run to the front of the pack of men. The passage shows that women undergo struggles unique to their gender yet they are still able to be just as strong and able as men.
ReplyDeletep. 32-43
ReplyDeleteThis passage beginns with the author describing the other women in her family. We believe that these women need to learn to respect themselves before men will respect them and that the author has learned to respect herslef over time. The author goes on to explain how she, like the women in her family, is very hard headed like a brick wall. She realizes that she has just been lieing to herself and that to find a solution she needs to tell her story. From here, the author explains how she was raped when she was 5. When she describes her story so graphically the reader is more likely to believe it and sympathise with it. She realizes that many other girls may be in this same situation and that all people need to face their problems and learn to express them before they can overcome them.