Advanced English(Lesson 4, Book I)

School of Foreign Languages,

Handan College

Shi Yunxia

shiyx806@163.com

Objectives of Teaching

1. To comprehend the whole story 2. To learn to paraphrase the difficult

sentences 3. To understand the structure of the text 4. To appreciate the style and rhetoric of the

passage. 5. To lean and master the vocabulary and

expressions

Important and difficult points

1. The comprehension of the whole story 2. The understanding of certain expressions 3. The appreciation of the writing technique 4. Colloquial, slangy or black English 5. Cultural difference between nationalities

in the US

Background information(see guide book)

The author wrote quite a number of novels, among them were The Color Purple which won the Pulitzer Prize of Fiction （普利策小说奖） and The American Book Award （美国图书奖） . In 1985, The Color Purple was made into a movie which won great fame.

Part I: a description of the situation and main characters

Paragraph 1 Mama’s announcement: she and Maggie ar

e waiting on the return of Dee for a visit. Her return is just like that of a princess. A very vivid description of the yard, the elm t

ree, and the breeze (how about the life attitude of the mother reflected?)

Point of view ( 叙述视角 ) ： the first-person point of view

Paragraph 2

Maggie will be nervous until her sister goes. She will be nervous because she has

always been devalued in comparison to Dee by her mother and, once she returns, by Dee herself.

Find out the words & expressions in the paragraph to describe how Maggie acted

Paragraph 3-4 A description of the TV show where the child

who has “made it” is confronted by her parents.

What is the mother’s attitude towards this kind of program? How do you know that ?

The mother’s imagination of appearing on a TV program.

What kind of feeling does this reflect of the mother?

Paragraph 5-6 A detailed description of the mother: Her appearance Her daily house chores Her characteristics What does her daughter Dee want her to be

like? What is she like in fact? Is there any

difference between the mother and Dee?

Paragraph 7-12 The mother’s description of her two daughters:

Maggie & Dee (who does she love more? How do you know?)

Maggie: how is she dressed? her way of talking to her mother; her way of walking; why is that?

Dee: her appearance the fire and burning of the other house how is Maggie burnt? what is the feeling of Dee towards the fire? force her mother and sister to listen to her

reading without caring about their feeling her own style of dressing and behaving

Paragraph 13 A self-description of the mother: Her education Her future life Maggie’s bad luck and her marriage to John

Thomas

Paragraph 14-15

The description of their house Dee’s attitude toward their house What does she decide to do? Why? What kind of attitude of the mother towards

Dee’s doing so? Dee’s making friends and her boyfriend

Part II: the main plot of the story

Dee’s coming back home together with her boyfriend

The whole family having a dinner together Their talk and photo taking Dee’s asking for the two quilts Mother’s refusal---the climax of the story

Paragraph 17-20 Dee’s arriving at home : Their getting out off the car The appearance of the boy What Dee dresses and wears Dee’s hair Her introduction of her boyfriend to her mother and

sister (their strange names) The nervousness and surprise of Maggie when

seeing her sister

Paragraph 21-40

Dee’s going back to the car to get the camera Their taking pictures in front of the house Dee’s boyfriend trying to shake hands with Maggie Dee’s talk with her mother: Her change of her name The origin of her name according to her mother The pronunciation of Dee’s new name The name of the boy

Paragraph41-44

The difference between Dee’s boyfriend and the beef-cattle people (what does this illustrate?)

the difference in doctrines The different dieting habits of the boyfriend The benches instead Dee’s attitude towards

these benches of chairs

Paragraph 45-69

Dee’s asking for the things she wants to take from her home: the churn top; the dasher; the two old quilts

Her mother’s refusal and quarrel with Dee Dee’s argument The mother’s recall of Dee’s refusal to

accept the quilts when she goes to college What is Dee going to do with the quilts?

Paragraph 70-79

What about the attitude of Maggie towards Dee’s asking for the quilts?

What does Maggie say? Can you see her attitude towards the

heritage? What does the mother do finally? What does Dee do in the end?

Part III: the end of the story

Maggie and the mother are sitting in their yard, enjoying their beautiful scene until it is time for them to go to bed.