Language Focus

1 Words and word combinations to be memorized:

sample intersection

curb fatherhood

inflate deflate

restorative loafers

orderly to starv

2 Answer the following questions. Motivate your answers.

a) What impression did the baker make on the mother?

b) Why was the boy in the hospital?

c) Why did the father drive home from the hospital?

d) What was the boy’s condition?

e) Why was the mother sent home?

f) Whom did she speak with in a little waiting room?

3 Can you give a British English equivalent to these American words or phrases?

potato chips tub

loafers sunup

elevator parking lot

someplace else purse

4 Throughout the story the main characters are nearly always referred to as the mother/the woman, the boy/the child, the husband/the father/the man. We never learn the father's name and the names Scotty and Ann Weiss are used hardly at all. What is the effect of this continual use of the definite article? Would the effect be different if names or possessive adjectives were used (e.g. her husband, his wife, their child)? Rewrite two or three paragraphs making these changes, and compare your version with the original.

5 The story is written in a simple, plain style with very few adjectives or images. Sometimes the sentence patterns are very repetitive and might, in another context, be called boring. Look at this extract from the end of the story:

… She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wheel. She listened to the ticking of the engine.

She got out of the car and went to the door. She turned on lights and put on water for tea. She opened a can and fed the dog. She sat down on the sofa with her tea.

Here the pattern she (did) is repeated again and again. What do you think the author is trying to suggest? Is the language itself representing something? Try rewriting this or a similar passage in longer, more complex sentences and using adjectives. Is the effect the same?

6 Describe the mother’s feelings and behaviour, give your reasons.

7 Find in the text words and phrases connected with the hospital,use them in your own sentences.

8 Give your observations to the subject of the story and the ideas expressed.

Activities

1 Imagine that the boy dies, and that the driver who knocked him down does not come forward. Write a short report of the accident for the local newspaper.

2 Would you like a more definite ending? Decide how you want the story to end, and write a final extra paragraph. Try to follow the author's style, using simple sentences, the mother, the child, and so on.

3 Imagine that the boy recovers. Write a letter from the mother to her best friend, telling her about the accident and Scotty's recovery.

Ideas for Comparison Activities

1 In the stories They Gave her a Rise and The Bath, parents are afraid that their child might die or be dead. How are these stories different in their treatment of emotion and suspense? For example, how do we learn what the characters are feeling? Write a short paragraph to summarize each story, describing the differences.

2 Did you find either story moving? Why? Which story did you prefer?

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29