The stage will be set for reading, discussing, and evaluating “A Summer Tragedy” by Arna Bontemps, once the students finish exploring Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series: his paintings that document the exodus of black sharecroppers, from the ravages of the racist South in the early 1900’s, to the rumored prospects of a better life, in cities in the North. This story, like Lawrence’s paintings, exposes the treatment of black sharecroppers in the South, while it serves as an excellent vehicle for the study of what has been the final task in the Language Arts section of the CAPT: “Give your definition of ‘good literature,’ and discuss, including evidence, in what ways this story fits your definition.” CAPT preparation aside, this task of defining good literature and evaluating a story according to that definition is an excellent critical thinking skill, and can be further developed into a writing process activity that produces a five-paragraph essay.
OBJECTIVES
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Students will search out reasons why black sharecroppers, who were able, abandoned the South for the North.
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They will explore reasons why Bontemps’ characters chose another escape (suicide), that could lead to a class discussion on why Bontemps chose to write about characters that were unable to escape through migration.
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Students will participate in a teacher-guided collaboration to come up with a working definition for “good literature” that they can use to evaluate “A Summer Tragedy.” (I have been successful guiding students into a three-part definition: conflict, character development, and a universal lesson or theme.)
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Filling out Graphic Organizers students will observe whether the story fits their definition for good literature, and using these Organizers, they will find evidence from the story for their observations.
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Students will use these Organizers to practice writing a basic five-paragraph essay based on the topic: In what ways does “A Summer Tragedy” fit the definition for ‘good literature.’ Each of the three Organizers provides the content for the three support paragraphs in the body of the five-paragraph essay.
Once the students have participated in a teacher-guided activity to write a definition for “good literature,” this definition will be transposed onto the tops of three Graphic Organizers. The definition might read like this: “The majority of good literature, especially stories, must contain a minimum of the following characteristics: (1) a conflict or problem that gets resolved in some way, (2) a character that grows or develops (for better or for worse) in some way, and (3) a lesson about life or society or the world that the author wants to communicate to the reader.
(Graphic Organizers available in print form)@Text:Each of the previous three Graphic Organizers will appear on an 8.5 X 11 inch piece of paper, giving students space to make their observations and copy evidence from the story. These Organizers can be completed by individual students or in teams, giving students the opportunity to collaborate on the task. Once the Organizers have been completed, the entire class can compare their findings, discussing: the conflict or problem that gets resolved in the story, the character who changes or grows in understanding, and the lesson or universal theme conveyed in the story.
This discussion naturally leads to another discussion about why Bontemps chose characters that were unable to escape through migration. Students might consider the impact of characters who pack up and head North to escape the ravages of racism and poverty, as opposed to an old, decrepit, physically handicapped, now childless couple, that sees no way out except through double suicide.
To set up the five-paragraph essay writing activity using the Graphic Organizers, I remind students that their original task was to define “good literature,” and to evaluate whether the story “A Summer Tragedy” by Arna Bontemps fits their definition of “good literature.” Now, referring to the original task and using their observations and the evidence they have gathered, they will develop a basic five-paragraph essay:
Paragraph 1 (the introductory paragraph) consists of five sentences:
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- a sentence clarifying the student’s definition of “good literature”
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- the thesis statement identifying “A Summer Tragedy” as fitting this definition of “good literature”
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- a “controlling idea” sentence constructed from the observation column of G.O.I, stating the conflict in the story
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- a “controlling idea” sentence constructed from the observation column of G.O. II, stating how a character changes in the story
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- a “controlling idea” sentence constructed from the observation column of G.O. III, stating the lesson or universal theme in the story
Paragraph 2 (the first supporting paragraph) consists of a repetition of the first “controlling idea” sentence about conflict, and observations and evidence from Graphic Organizer I.
Paragraph 3 (the second supporting paragraph) consists of a repetition of the second “controlling idea” sentence about character change, and observations and evidence from Graphic Organizer II.
Paragraph 4 (the third support paragraph) consists of a repetition of the third “controlling idea” sentence about the lesson, and observations and evidence from Graphic Organizer III.
Paragraph 5 (the concluding paragraph) consists of four sentences:
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- a variation of the thesis statement from the introductory paragraph
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- a variation of the “controlling idea” sentence stating the conflict, from the introductory paragraph
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- a variation of the “controlling idea” sentence stating how a character changes, from the introductory paragraph
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- a variation of the “controlling idea” sentence stating the lesson, from the introductory paragraph
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End Notes
Huggins, 68.
Rampersad, 311.
Minnesota Humanities, 185.
Minnesota Humanities, 181.