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Lesson 8

We will reread “A Quilt of a Country” by Anna Quindlen to deepen our understanding of how America is a country of contrasts by focusing on the allusions in the text. We will complete the Analyzing Relationships Tool in pairs or small groups. We will research allusions in the text.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I explain the effects of the allusions in the text “A Quilt of a Country” by Anna Quindlen?

  • Can I analyze how Quindlen’s writing style contributes to the persuasiveness and beauty of “A Quilt of a Country”?

Texts

Core

  • Unit Reader
    • “A Quilt of a Country,” Anna Quindlen, Newsweek, 2001

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read

We will read and annotate the text for allusions.

An allusion is a literary device in which the author briefly and indirectly references a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, literary, or cultural significance. An example of an allusion might be if someone sees a beautiful place and calls it the Garden of Eden.

Reread “A Quilt of a Country” and look for places the author makes a reference to a person, place, or thing of historical or cultural significance. Annotate the text for any allusions you notice.

Activity 2: Listen – Write

We will analyze allusions in a text.

Step 1

We will use the Analyzing Relationships Tool in this activity.

The Analyzing Relationships Tool supports and guides a process for identifying and analyzing how an author uses details in a text to create literary effects like mood or tone. You can use this tool to analyze how the author’s choices contribute to effects the text has on you as a reader and the meaning you find in the text. Using this tool usually begins with a guiding or text-specific question related to a literary element or device (e.g., setting, characterization, irony, figurative language). The tool can be used with both literary and informational texts, whenever you are analyzing the relationships among textual details.

Take notes as your teacher uses the Analyzing Relationships Tool to model how to analyze this allusion from Paragraph 7:

“There is a that Calvinist undercurrent in the American psyche that loves the difficult, the demanding, that sees mastering the impossible, whether it be prairie or subway, as a test of character, and so glories in the struggle of this fractured coalescing.”

Understanding an allusion helps the reader understand the text.

Respond to the following question on the Analyzing Relationships Tool:

  1. What can we infer about Calvinism from the language Quindlen uses?

Step 2

Work with a partner or in a group to research three allusions in the text. Note the allusion in the margin of the text. Choose one of your allusions, and use a new Analyzing Relationships Tool to respond to the following question:

  1. In what ways does the allusion of choice further develop Quindlen’s argument?

Group 1: Out of many, one; Burning of crosses; “Crown thy good with brotherhood”; World Trade Center destruction

Group 2: Mario Cuomo; Balkanized; Chester Avenue; World Trade Center destruction

Group 3: Brooklyn of Francie Nolan’s famous tree; the Newark of which Portnoy complained; WASP suburbs of Cheever’s characters; World Trade Center destruction

Activity 3: Discuss

We will share the allusions we analyzed with our classmates.

Share what the allusions mean to the entire class, group by group. Then, discuss the following question as a class:

  1. Why are allusions in “A Quilt of a Country” especially powerful or persuasive?

Activity 4: Write

We will explain how our understanding of what it means to be an American has changed.

Use details from the text help you answer in writing the following final question:

  1. How has Quindlen’s essay expanded your understanding of what it means to be an American?