EngLit

Teacher · Administrator Data inscrierii: 26/Mar/2008 Mesaje: 471

B. Wonder

Rat boy. Freak. Monster. Freddy Krueger. E.T. Gross-out. Lizard face. Mutant. I know the names they call me. I’ve been in enough playgrounds to know kids can be mean. I know, I know, I know.

I ended up in the second-floor bathroom. No one was there because first period had started and everyone was in class. I locked the door to my stall and took off my mask and just cried for I don’t know how long. Then I went to the nurse’s office and told her I had a stomach ache, which was true, because I felt like I’d been kicked in the gut. Nurse Molly called Mom and had me lie down on the sofa next to her desk. Fifteen minutes later, Mom was at the door.

(...)

For me, Halloween is the best holiday in the world. It even beats Christmas. I get to dress up in a costume. I get to wear a mask. I get to go around like every other kid with a mask and nobody thinks I look weird. Nobody takes a second look. Nobody notices me. Nobody knows me.

I wish every day could be Halloween. We could all wear masks all the time. Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks.

When I was little, I used to wear an astronaut helmet everywhere I went. To the playground. To the supermarket. To pick Via up from school. Even in the middle of summer, though it was so hot my face would sweat.

(R.J. Palacio - Wonder, chapter "August" and "Costumes")

B2. What/Whom does the "I" in this text refer to?

B2. Is the Narrator also a character of this story?

B3. Make deductions about the narrator's age, gender and nationality.

B4. Why does the narrator prefer to wear costumes or masks?

B5. Apply the Knowledge criterion!

B6. Is the narrator reliable? Argue.

B7. How important is comment and opinion (= Telling) in this text?

B8. Is there a distance between the time of the events and the time of narration? If so, how large? Is this text an old man's memoir?

B9. Apply Norman Friedman's PoV scheme! Explain.

Laczay Oana Alexandra · Dunker Data inscrierii: 19/Oct/2014 Mesaje: 21

B1. "I" refers to the character in the text.
B2. The narrator is also a character because of the use of 1st person in text.
B3. Narrator's age 45-50, narrator's gender male, narrator's nationality american
B4. The narrator prefer to wear costumes or masks because I don't think he likes the way he looks.

Lazarciuc Andreea · Trimis: 27/01/2015 21:17 Titlul subiectului:

B1: The "I" refers to the character from the text.
B2: Yes, it is, through the 1st person expressions.
B3: In my opinion, the narrator is a boy ("playgrounds", "kids"),male gender ("rat boy"), american nationality(" halloween holiday").
B4: He wears masks and costumes because he is feeling uncomfortable about the way he looks, so he is trying to hide his frame.
B5:
B6:The narrator is reliable, because he speakes through 1st person expressions, and is giving a lot of details about himself, and about his feelings.
B7: it's very important, because it's improving the overall image and helps to understand the character's feeling.
B8:I don't think that this is an old man's memoir, because there is no appropriate vocabulary , i think that there is not such a large distance between the time of the events and the time of narration.
B9:

Pop Lorena Valeria · Trimis: 27/01/2015 22:05 Titlul subiectului:

B1.The ,,I" is refer to the character in this text.
B2.The narrator is also a character because the speech is the 1st person.
B3.I think the narrator is a boy and the nationality american.
B4.The narrator prefer costumes or masks because he doesn't like way he looks.
B5.
B6.In my opinion the narrator is reliable because use 1st person and is giving details about himself.
B7.Every comment is important in this text because through them we can understand how he feels as character.
B8.In my opinion that there is not such a large distance between the time of the events and the time of narration.
B9.

Ulici Dorina · Trimis: 28/01/2015 20:53 Titlul subiectului:

B1. "I" refers to the first-person narrative, to the narrator himself, who is the main character of this text.

B2. The narrator is the main character of the story. From this text we get pieces of information about his feelings and memories.

B3. The narrator seems to be a young American boy. A boy, because he was called "Rat-boy", as opposed to "Rat-girl" if she was a girl. Young, because we are told that he is in school ("first period had started and everyone was in class") and he cried when he was insulted, locked himself in the bathroom and then went to the nurse's office where the nurse called his Mom. American, because he speaks about how much he loves Halloween, which is an American holiday.

B4. The narrator prefers to wear costumes or masks because he probably has some kind of a malformation which he wants to hide from the rest of the world and from the other kids who can be extremely mean. A costume or a mask allows him to blend in with the others without being noticed or mocked and to make friends who would not judge him based on the way he looks, but would get to know what he thinks and like him for who he is.

B5. We know the narrator's gender (male), nationality (American), condition (he has a malformation), occupation (school student), feelings (he is hurt and sad), preferences (he likes Halloween because on this holiday he gets to wear a mask and blend in with the others without being stared at), wishes (he wished that every day was Halloween and he could feel "normal"), memories (he used to wear an astronaut's helmet even in the summer when he was little).

B6. The narrator is reliable because he speaks honestly and openly about his feelings, about the names he used to be called. He knows that kids can be mean, he is used to it, but still, sometimes they get to him and hurt him and then he suffers and hides away. This is a sad kid who speaks openly to the reader, so he is reliable.

B7. Through the narrator's comments we learn about his mood or what he thinks, he feels, he likes or dislikes. He is hurt ("I felt I'd been kicked in the gut), he cries, he runs to the nurse's office and waits for his Mom, and he prefers wearing masks to hide his face from everybody, he wishes that everyday was Halloween.

B8. The first and the last paragraphs are in the distant past ("I've been in enough playgrounds" and "when I was little").
The second paragraph is about a recent past. The narrator uses Simple Past Tense.
The third paragraph uses Simple Present Tense to express general truths, habits, repeated actions.
The fourth paragraph describes the narrator's wishes and desires, how he sees a perfect world.

B9. As shown at B8, the point of view shifts from one paragraph to another. It starts in a distant past, to a recent one, then to stating general truths, followed by wishes and finally going back to the distant past again.

Alina Bughesiu · Trimis: 31/01/2015 20:02 Titlul subiectului: Feedback (text B: Wonder)

B1. Laczay Oana, Lazarciuc Andreea and Pop Lorena: incomplete answers.
Ulici Dorina: yes, you are absolutely correct! (In this context, it's better to say "first-person narrator", not "first-person narrative").

B2. Best answer (although not perfect): Ulici Dorina. What are the narrator's memories about?
Laczay Oana, Lazarciuc Andreea and Pop Lorena: The 1st person alone does not mean that the narrator is also a character.

B3. Best answers: Lazarciuc Andreea and Ulici Dorina.
Laczay Oana and Pop Lorena: You're right about the narrator's gender and nationality (American, with capital "A"), but some textual arguments would have been useful.
Laczay Oana: Are you sure about the narrator's age? What were the words in the text that gave you this impression?

B4. Good answers: Laczay Oana, Lazarciuc Andreea and Pop Lorena (some references to the text would have been nice).
Lazarciuc Andreea: I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "frame".
Best answer: Ulici Dorina (very good understanding of the text!). However, I'm not sure that the narrator feels that he blends in at all times. Does he seem blended in at the beginning of the text, hiding and crying in the bathroom? Sure, he doesn't feel like a monster at Halloween, when everyone wears masks. That's why he wishes it were Halloween all the time. You're right: he hopes that if it were Halloween every day, people would be less judgmental.

B5. The Knowledge criterion refers to how much the narrator knows: more/less than the other characters or as much as they do. In this respect, please see the information in the lecture (the classifications made by Pouillon and Todorov).

B6. Good answers, everyone!
Most complex answer: Ulici Dorina.

B7. Good answers, everyone!
Most complex answer: Ulici Dorina.
Lazarciuc Andreea, what do you mean by "it's very important, because it's improving the overall image"? I'm not saying it's wrong (I think you might be right), but I would just appreciate it if you could develop this idea in a few more words.

B8. Best answer: Lazarciuc Andreea.
Pop Lorena: I'm afraid I'm repeating myself when I say this, but your answer is dubiously similar to the last part of Andreea's answer. Please try to rephrase your answer.
Ulici Dorina: Just how distant is this "distant past" you mention? To some extent, this contradicts your answer to question B3 (in which you say that the narrator is a young boy). Please also pay attention to the last part of the question ("Is this text an old man's memoir?").

B9. Ulici Dorina: I'm afraid that's not right. You have to refer to Norman Friedman's typology.

alexandru.istrate · Rookie Data inscrierii: 26/Ian/2015 Mesaje: 1

1 "I" marks the firs-person narration, it refers to the narator .
2 Narrator is the main-character in this story, he present his life in short words.
3 The narator is a boy (Rat Boy), is young , beacause he is in school and goes to the playgrounds too(No one was there because first period had started and everyone was in class), it's American because he told us about his favourite holiday , Halloween ( traditional amercian holiday)
4 The narrator prefer to wear mask, because he can hide behind the costume , no one can see his true face , or know who it is , and everybody treate him like a natural kid.
5 The narrator knows more than the other characters because he is the main-character, he knows how it feels to have a problem and everyone judge you , and becouse is the first-person narration the events are related from his point of view
6 The narrator is reliable: he use first person , he speaks about his feelings, about his nicknames .
7 The comments and opinion are improtant , because this help us to understand better how the main character feels , we know what he likes or dislikes , we know how it feels when everybody puts him nicknames, we know he enjoy Halooween and why.
8 The text is not an old man's memoir, because the narrator talks like a child , and in my opinon the distrance between the time of events and the time of narattion is short.