Sentence.: A Period-To-Period Guide to Building Better Readers and Writers by Geraldine Woods

Author:Geraldine Woods [Woods, Geraldine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: education, Teaching Methods & Materials, Language Arts, Secondary, Language Arts & Disciplines, writing, Composition
ISBN: 9780393714821
Google: Yy_xDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2021-03-16T00:21:06.714523+00:00

Brief context: This sentence, from the beginning of a children’s fantasy novel, sets the scene for a meeting between a stranger with a treasure map and a ship captain who hates the letter o. The two become partners and travel to an island in search of the treasure. The captain bans anything with an o in its name: people may wear cats but not coats, for example.

Extended context: James Thurber’s novel, filled with comic wordplay, makes serious points about power. The captain’s dislike of o began when his mother became stuck in a porthole. Unable to pull her back inside, he pushed her into the sea. His edict (not a command because of spelling!) is arbitrary; nevertheless, his crew enforce it brutally. They ban oranges and tomatoes and food in general, as well as goats and horses and other animals spelled with o. They move on to pastimes, professions, and more and more categories. Most residents of the island formerly known as Ooroo (now called R) follow the rules as best they can, while the scope of their lives gradually shrinks. Some refuse to give up hope, love, and valor, and little by little, the rebels regain control, ultimately discovering the treasure the invaders sought: freedom.

Analysis

With brief context:

•Read the sentence aloud and note how many different ways the letter o sounds. What’s the significance of varied o sounds? (illustrates the diversity and flexibility lost by banning the letter)

•Which words with o sound the same? (ponderous, clock, dropped)

•What do those words have in common? (all could refer to time passing slowly and create a sad or ominous mood)

•What else do you notice about the sounds in the sentence? (repetition of consonant sounds, but with small variations—s in Somewhere, slowly, strokes and d in dropped, dozen)

•What’s the significance? (repetition emphasizes unity, variations show individuality; both essential components of a free society)

•Read the sentence again and listen to the pacing. What do you notice? (impossible to read quickly because of long vowels and clipped consonants; creates a somber mood)

•Delete the o wherever it appears and read the result: Smewhere a pnderus twer clck slwly drpped a dzen strkes int the glm. How does it sound? (nonsensical) What’s the significance of that change? (absurd rules yield absurd results)

With extended context:

•Can you relate the plot to the pacing of the sentence? (lives slowly diminished, freedom slowly regained)

•Say the island’s name before and after the ban. How does the sound relate to meaning? (Ooroo—two oo sounds resemble a noise made by someone who’s eager, R is diminished, as the islanders are when o is banned; the power to change a name is power over identity)

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