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Lesson 5

We will analyze the vocabulary, language, and meanings in this opening letter from The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. We will use evidence from the text and our knowledge of community from previous lessons to make inferences about the narrator, his community, and the letter’s audience.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I use a variety of strategies (e.g., context clues, word study, and vocabulary resources) to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, phrases, and figurative expressions in The Fire Next Time?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” excerpt from The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin, Dial Press, an imprint of Random House, 1962

Materials

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Write – Discuss

We will determine the central ideas of the text and use textual evidence to make inferences about the narrator and his message.

Step 1

Individually, skim your annotations and notes you wrote down while reading The Fire Next Time for homework. Then respond to the following questions in your Learning Log:

  1. What is unique about this text’s form? Who is the audience, and how do you know? Is there more than one audience? If you think there is more than one audience, who else is Baldwin writing to?

  2. What are the five most important words from this text? Consider words that evoke a response from the reader, as well as those that are repeated or seem out of place.

Step 2

With a partner, share the important words you selected and then discuss the significance of the words you selected.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will use context clues to examine the connotation and impact of specific vocabulary choices in this text.

Step 1

In a small group, read the following sentence aloud:

You were not expected to aspire to excellence: you were expected to make peace with mediocrity.

Then discuss the following questions to help deepen your understanding of the words aspire and mediocrity:

  1. What is the relationship between these two words? The colon in the sentence serves as a divider between the two clauses. How does that help you understand the meanings of the words?

  2. Does this sentence, or the parts of this sentence, have positive or negative connotations? How does this fact help you understand the meanings of these two words?

  3. The word to comes right before the word aspire. How does this help you understand the meaning of the word? What are some other forms of aspire, considering its part of speech?

  4. Mediocrity begins with a familiar morpheme, med. What other words can you think of that have that same morpheme?

  5. Reread the section of text immediately before and after the sentence containing aspire and mediocrity. How do the comments about expectations mentioned there help you to understand these words more clearly?

Step 2

As a group, work together to generate definitions for aspire and mediocrity.

Reconsider the sentence: "You were not expected to aspire to excellence: you were expected to make peace with mediocrity." Then discuss the following question:

  1. How does Baldwin’s use of aspire and mediocrity help to develop his message about the conflict between his community’s expectations and his nephew?

Activity 3: Read – Write – Discuss

We will use context clues to examine the connotation and impact of specific vocabulary choices in this text.

Step 1

In a small group, locate the following sentences:

But it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime.

Highlight these sentences and paraphrase them. Consider the following question:

  1. What does it mean to be innocent? When have you heard this word used most often?

Work together as a group to generate a shared definition of the word innocent.

As a class, brainstorm a list of synonyms and antonyms for this word. Notice that these two sentences do not quite match up. Discuss the following questions with the class:

  1. How can the "authors of devastation" also be innocent?

  2. How can being innocent be a crime?

Step 2

With your small group, examine Baldwin’s use of the words innocent and innocence in your assigned sentence. Read the sentence and its surrounding context to determine the literal meaning of the word in the sentence. Then consider the following question:

  1. What is the figurative meaning of the word in this sentence? Does it have a positive or negative connotation? How do you know?

Step 3

Join another group with members who studied different sentences than you, then share your insights about your assigned sentence. What do you notice about the use of innocent and innocence in these different examples?

Activity 4: Read – Write

We will write about Baldwin’s use of the word innocent.

Step 1

In your Learning Log, describe Baldwin’s use of the words innocent and innocence in this letter. Then respond to the following questions:

  1. Who are the people described as such?

  2. What is the underlying message that he is conveying about them by referring to them this way, and how does this impact the overall message?

Step 2

Write down any applicable notes from your analysis of Baldwin’s writing in the “Writer’s Rhetorical Toolbox” section of your Learning Log.