The Friday Everything Changed
The Friday Everything Changed Plot line Exposition (introduction, setting) One room school house Rural North America Post World War II Likely 1950s Plot line Complication Alma Nile’s question: Why can’t the girls carry the water bucket? Conflict: or initiating incident: Man vs. Society Girls vs. Boys on a basic level Women vs. Society to gain equal rights Plot line Rising action: Miss Ralston surprises them by taking the question seriously The boys intimidate and beat up the girls The girls come together in each other’s defence Miss Ralston observes but does not intervene Plot line Climax: Miss Ralston grabs the bat and tells the pitcher, ‘Come on!’ She has taken up the girls’ fights and wants to show that girls are just as good as boys, even in baseball. Plot Line Falling action: Miss Ralston hits the ball into the ox pasture Dénouement (resolution): Two girls are chosen to carry the water, thereby changing tradition Miss Ralston sweeps the dust off her desk in a gesture of satisfaction and pride Miss Ralston Story’s protagonist Round character represents the new ‘modern woman’ Pretty and feminine yet firm and tough Role model for the girls Becomes an advocate for the girls (stands up for them in their fight for equal rights) Able to compete with the boys Isn’t afraid to stand up for what is right Characters The boys and girls are mostly flat characters Not described in detail Not identifiable from each other Not so much ‘individual personalities’ as they are ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ Similes National Geographics… ‘like huge butterflies folding up their yellow wings’ As for Alma… ‘we stuck to her like burrs’ ‘when… we’re hanging around the entry door like a lot of scared chickens’ Irony Girls What do you know about those developing countries they read about in the National Geographic? What is one the daily occupation for girls? Who gets to go to school? Miss fighting to carry water Ralston’s ball soars into an ox pasture An ox is usually a castrated male bovine (not a cow or bull) The author did NOT choose a ‘wheat field’! Metaphors The story itself Fighting for the right to carry the water bucket represents women’s fight for equal rights throughout history. ‘such a bombshell’: Alma’s question The dancing dust motes Only visible when the sun shines and otherwise invisible Miss Ralston is like the sunlight enabling the girls to be seen and recognized. the girls can dance and celebrate their rights. It feels good to help others achieve equality. Topic and Theme Topic: Challenging tradition Theme: Directly stated: Equal rights Indirectly: The courage, patience and determination it takes to change any tradition Specifically, change for women’s rights but also generally, for everyone’s rights: children, LBGT, the poor, mentally ill, seniors, etc. Characterization Direct Author’s description of the character and how she behaves ‘she was young…she was pretty big…she was strict’ Indirect What the reader understands or interprets by what the character says or does Indirect characterization But the unusual thing about Miss Ralston was the way she sometimes stopped in the middle of a lesson and looked at us as if we were real people… ‘I’ll think about that,’ she said, -- as if, you know, she would – ‘and I’ll let you know next Friday.’
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