Period 3: The Bluest Eye & Girlbomb, Textual Connections
Aim: How do Girlbomb and The Bluest Eye share similar themes of racism, bullying, and abuse? How are Janice Erblaum and Toni Morrison’s writing styles similar/different? How can we write a CER paragraph or a letter to include in the scrapbook we give Janice Erlbaum for her visit on Friday?
Link:
1) Which characters in The Bluest Eye experienced racism? How?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2) Which characters experienced abuse? How?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3) What literary technique and tone does Toni Morrison use?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4) Do you think white people can experience racism? Why/why not?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Agenda:
Link & Share out (10 minutes)
Read Excerpts from Girlbomb: Page 31, page 42-43, underline conflicts of racism/abuse (15 minutes)
Choose 1 Writing Prompt and write response on hand-out (15 minutes)
Proofread your writing for errors. Rewrite your response on looseleaf provided to be presented and given to Janice Erlbaum (15 minutes)
Writing Tasks: Choose ONE of the following writing tasks to include in scrapbook we will give the author of Girlbomb, Janice Erlbaum. You may write it in the hand-out below OR if you feel you are read, just write it on looseleaf to give Janice Erlbaum.
Task 1: CER Paragraph
Question: How did Janice Erlbaum and the characters in The Bluest Eye both experience racism and abuse?
Claim:
Evidence:
Reasoning:
Task 2: Letter from Toni Morrison to Janice Erlbaum in she talks about similar themes, characters, conflicts, and writing styles. Note: you don’t have to answer all of these questions or use all these sentence starters. They are just here to generate your thinking.
Dear Janice Erblaum,
My name is Toni Morrison and I just read a few excerpts from your book, Girlbomb, in which you are mistreated/harassed/bullied because of your race. The major differences between our books are…… My book is similar to yours because I include conflicts of racism against blacks. In your book, you experienced racism because you were white. For example, (quote from the book)……..This is similar to the part of my book/the character_________ who also….. You were similar to Pecola Breedlove because….I think you could also identify with Cholly Breedlove…. Also, the you said you were abused by your mom and stepfather….In my book, (character’s name) was also……
Sincerely,
Toni Morrison
Task 3: Letter from Pecola Breedlove to Janice Erlbaum in which they talk about their similar issue of racism and abuse. Note: you don’t have to answer all of these questions or use all these sentence starters. They are just here to generate your thinking.
Dear Janice,
My name is Pecola Breedlove. I just read a part of your book. I know we have some differences: I’m…..and you’re……Your grew up in (time period, city)……and I grew up in….(time period, city). However, I think we’re going through some similar problems of racism and parental abuse. You were being bullied and mistreated because of your race, too. You write….(give quote portraying racism). I can’t believe you went through this because….. See, I feel……I experienced racism because……I dealt with racism by…..I know you’re dealing with it by….I’ve also been abused by my father because….and I know you have…..I have a few questions for you: How did you….How do you think…..I just want……and want to be…..It seems like you just want….and want to be…..I think a solution to our problem would be to……
Sincerely,
Pecola Breedlove
CER Paragraph or Letter: Please draft your writing here. Then rewrite it on the looseleaf I give you, OR just begin writing on looseleaf.
Writing Task #_______
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Bluest Eye Unit Plan 