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Lesson 4

We will continue to read Chapter 7: “María Teresa, 1953 to 1958.”

Lesson Goals

  • Can I use connections among details, elements, and effects to make logical deductions about an author’s perspective, purpose, and meaning in a text?

  • Can I recognize and interpret language and sentence structures to deepen my understanding of a text?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2010

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will discuss chapter 7.

The end of Chapter 7 contains significant development in Mate’s character. Discuss at least five of the following questions from the Section 3 Question Set in a small group:

  1. What happens to Minerva after she finishes law school?

  2. Why does Mate end up living with Minerva and Manolo?

  3. What happens in Minerva and Manolo’s marriage?

  4. What events and people are Mate now privy to because she is living with Minerva?

  5. Who is Mariposa #2, and how does she come to be known as that?

  6. Why do you think Mate draws diagrams of the bomb and Minerva’s house?

  7. How does Mate portray her romance with Leandro?

Activity 2: Write – Read

We will analyze the text’s literary devices and vocabulary.

Step 1

Think about the Marxist lens as you reread the text. Reread the section of the text that begins with "Mama and I just spent most of the afternoon" and ends with "Mama can sign it with her signature I’ve taught her to write." Annotate the text for rhetorical, syntactical, and literary devices.

Choose two of the questions below, and answer them in your Learning Log:

  1. What does the syntax reveal about Mama’s social status in the letter Tio Chiche suggested she write?

  2. What does the alliteration "flowery feelings" depict about the different roles of each Mirabal sister?

  3. What does the rhetorical question, "Guess who wrote it for her?" reveal about Mate’s position within the family?

  4. What does the following sentence reveal about gender power structures: "Suddenly, she got her permission to go to law school"?

Step 2

Find the sentence, "Then I worry that Sonia’s been nabbed leaving town, and I’ll be ambushed when my last delivery comes" (p. 146).

Using the excerpt you just reread and considering what Mate is thinking about, respond to the following questions in your Learning Log:

  1. What are the meanings of the words nabbed and ambushed?

  2. Is the tone of the sentence containing nabbed and ambushed positive, negative, or neutral?

  3. How do nabbed and ambushed relate to each other? What is the impact of using words with such strong negative connotations?

  4. What feelings do the words connote? Define the words and add them to your Vocabulary Journal.

Activity 3: Read – Write

We will apply our understanding of the marxist literary criticism lens to our reading.

Think about the text through the Marxist lens. Use what you have read in Chapter 7 to respond to the following questions:

  1. What is happening in the text?

  2. Are events happening because of a social, financial, or power structure?

Find four details in the text that illustrate dynamics created by power, money, or social status. Write them in your Learning Log and on your Marxist Lens Note-Taking Tool.

Activity 4: Discuss

We will discuss how reading the text through the marxist lens changed how we understand the text.

Step 1

For homework, you answered the following questions:

  1. How does reading the text through the Marxist lens impact my understanding of the text?

  2. How do I understand the text (the characters, plot, setting, and conflicts) differently through the Marxist lens than through the historical or biographical lenses?

As a class, discuss how your understanding of the text shifts as you read through different literary criticism lenses.

Step 2

Finally, discuss the following questions:

  1. Why is it important to examine a text through a variety of literary criticism lenses?

  2. How do the different perspectives help deepen my understanding of the text?