QUESTION: Teaching allusion

[Melissa L]

I would like to have students do a close reading of the scene in THE GIVER where Asher and Jonas are playing catch with the apple.

 

I want them to understand this as a biblical allusion. 

 

Any suggestions for helping them make this connection?

 

Any suggestions for opening activities (i.e. some cool youtube videos that students might connect with) to help them remember and understand allusions that they see in their everyday lives?

 

THANKS!

[Joan Axthelm]

Melissa -

This isn't an area of expertise for me, but would this link help? Beloved Children's Classics as Minimalist Posters

Might help in the opening?

I hope you get better answers!

Yours,

Joan

[Ryan Goble]

Melissa, well you might first start with exploring Biblical allusions in popular music - you could assign each kid a different song from a collection like THIS and have them share their findings / research with peers. There are a bazillion websites that look at Biblical allusions in popular culture. You might even look at a book like this to get kids started outside The Giver - Everyday Biblical Literacy: The Essential Guide to Biblical Allusio...

From there, I've always had a good time using music and album covers to teach allusion - here are some of my favs ...

To be honest, if you google American Gothic allusions you can find an infinite number of images...

Without a ton of details - that should give you a sense of how I tackle this topic - if you give them enough stuff to hunt through / for they just have a great time uncovering allusoins after you share a few models.

[Tia Miller]

Can you get a copy of The Avengers?  I bought it as soon as it came out because when I saw it in the theater, I noticed one of the best examples of what an allusion is and how they work.  If you are unfamiliar with the movie or characters, you need to know that two of the characters are outsiders.  Captain America was frozen for 70 years or so, so his memories stop somewhere around 1940-ish.  Thor is an alien from another planet.  Throughout the movie, both characters have trouble understanding references that the other characters make.  Then, there is one scene where Nick Fury says something about flying monkeys.  Thor looks at him in confusion, but Cpt. America pops up and says "I got that!  I got that one!"  Though it is not a biblical allusion, it is an allusion that your students should recognize.  Plus, you have the added example of how allusions work.  The person on the other end also has to know the source or the allusion fails.  For once, Cpt. America "gets" the reference, while Thor does not.  The allusion is lost on one character and not on the other.  I cannot wait to use this clip when we get to allusion this year (which only serves to remind me how far behind I am since we should have already been there!)  Hope this helps!

[Jennifer Sekella]

I'm about to teach The Giver for the second year - but I've never thought of the apple playing as a Biblical allusion.  Can you explain to me how you make that connection?  Then I might have some suggestions for you!  :)

 

Jen

[Melissa L]

Thanks everyone!

First off, thanks Ryan because I already created a whole lesson on intertextuality, which is pretty much allusion in the sense that I teach it.  I could definitely go back to that.  I was thinking about creating a music allusions project, but that might be quite the undertaking.  What I thought might be fun is to partner kids up and have them pick a term out of a hat, then create a presentation where they explain that term and show different artists making allusions to it.  So for example, I could assign one set of students the term "American Gothic."  Here is where I get stuck though.  What would some other often used ones be?  I was thinking maybe the red cape from little red riding hood or something like that, but I get stuck there.  I would need at least ten different allusions, and I would probably model this lesson with the album covers.

As for the Avengers Tia - it is now on my netflix queue.  I did end up using some short clips from Shrek, but I like the Avengers examples much better.

Jennifer - What I did was have the students do a close reading of the passage where Jonas and Asher toss the apple back and forth.  Most students underline or circle the word "CHANGED" because that word is italicized and it lends itself well to where I want them to go.  I start asking them questions, "What does it mean, the apple changed?  The kids start guessing that maybe ASher took a bite or there is a worm, but ultimately someone points out a line a few lines later where it says that it is the same nondescript SHADE as his tunic, and that brings up a whole other can of worms.  The word SHADE? Not COLOR?  What does this mean?  Eventually, I get them to realize that their world is colorless.  

Then I start asking them about the apple.  I say, "Why the apple?"  We talk about how authors make choices and how he could have thrown a football, a baseball, an orange, etc.  And how each of those objects represents certain ideas, etc.  

THen I have to hint to them about the Bible story. Someone guesses Adam and Eve- we retell that story and talk about the apple and all that it represents.  Then we return to the story.  Why the apple?  Is this in a sense foreshadowing?  You and I both know what JOnas' job will be, and we know that he will acquire quite a bit of knowledge.  I argue that Lowry uses the apple as an allusion to the knowledge he will soon acquire.

Hope this helps!

[Joanna Drusin]

I wonder if you'd want to start with something simpler, like "Nothing Gold Can Stay," get the Eden references down, and then look at Lowry.  There's also an Eden reference in the Sam chapter in Seedfolks, for what it's worth...I think my students need to LEARN the classical stories before they can have any hope of catching an allusion.  And it's an interesting question of which stories they should know...

JD

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