“THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS”

Short Story1973

Ursula LeGuin

ENTRY TASK—NOTE CARD/COMPLETE IDEAS

1. Your name & class period2. Who suffers so you

can try to be happy? Explain, analyzing specific evidence.

3. How do you know they suffer? #tokcrossover

MARGARET ATWOODTHE HANDMAID’S TALE

CHAPTER 32

•“Better never means better for everyone… It always means worse, for some.”

URSULA KROEBER LE GUIN(1929-2018)

• Author of 21 novels, 11 volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, 12 children’s books, six volumes of poetry and four of translation.• Ursula Kroeber was born in 1929 and grew up in Berkeley, California. • Her parents were anthropologist Alfred Kroeber and writer Theodora

Kroeber, author of Ishi. • She attended Radcliffe College (Harvard’s women’s college; absorbed by

Harvard in 1999) and did graduate work at Columbia University. • She married historian Charles A. Le Guin, in Paris in 1953; they lived in

Portland, Oregon, beginning in 1958, and had three children and four grandchildren. • Le Guin died peacefully in her home in January, 2018.

HOMEWORK

For Friday, print and critically read LeGuin’s short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”

• Critically read however you like, but your unique annotations should show active engagement with the whole text and be able to:

• Provide an objective summary of the text and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well

as inferences drawn from the text.

• Determine the texts’ central ideas analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shapedand refined by specific details.

• Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in this text, including figurative and connotative meanings.

• Make valid connections between this text, other literary texts you’ve read, the world, and your life.

ENTRY TASK—NOTE CARD/COMPLETE IDEAS

1. Your name & class period2. Who suffers(ed?) so

you can try to be happy? Explain, analyzing specific evidence.

3. How do you know they suffer? #tokcrossover

ANALYZE THE POSTED DATA FROM YESTERDAY’S ENTRY TASK

1. What cultural analysis can you draw from these data?

2. What further questions do these data pose?3. What are the next steps for our community?•Students•Parents•Teachers•Administrators

REFLECTIONS ON “SUFFERING”

• How can we better understand and widen our perspective on “poor people?” 2nd• Who do you consider poor? 3rd

• Why did people mention their mom more than their dad? What cultural trends does this data trend have? 2nd

• What is “suffering” and how is it different from “discomfort”? 2nd

• How do we use our privilege to change others’ suffering? 2nd

• What makes your friends suffer? 2nd

• Do we suffer to make others happy? 2nd

• If we were to take out “Family,” what would be the dominant answer? 3rd

• What were the people who mentioned themselves thinking about? 3rd

• Do we empathize with people suffering the most or people who are closest to us? 5th

• Who do the people we think suffer, think suffer? 2nd• Why the apathy, if we know? 5th

• Are peoples’ suffering proportional to their financial situation? 3rd

• How could these data change based on surveyed-person’s age? 3rd

• Has social media helped or hurt awareness of suffering of certain groups? 5th

• Did Matheny using the farmer example influence our discussions? (yes) 5th

• Do these data indicate a communication problem in plateau families? 3rd

• If we do less for ourselves to help parents more, is a likely subsequent decline in personal achievement worth the possible amelioration of parental suffering? 3rd

• Is our happiness worth suffering for? 3rd• Why do people tend to forget about the

suffering of people ‘above’ them? 5th

TITULAR ANALYSIS

TITULAR ANALYSIS

AS I CHECK YOUR CRITICAL READ, DISCUSS IN YOUR TABLE GROUPS:

1. Summarize the text.• What aspects of the text were sad, complex, or funny? • Mark when narrative voice shifts in POV if you haven’t

already.2. Describe LeGuin’s style and the extent to which you

enjoyed her writing.• Which sentences were particularly well-written or moving?

Why?3. What morals or ideals does LeGuin forward with this

narrative?

TITULAR ANALYSIS•“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”•LeGuin’s title’s focus is on the leavers, not the people who stay—why? How does this connect to the author’s purpose for writing the short story? The morals the story conveys?•Alliteration—effect?•Real-world allusion to Salem, O(r)-–effect?

SPIDER WEB DISCUSSIONS:

A SMALL-GROUP, STUDENT-TRACKED, COLLECTIVIST STRATEGY

SPIDER WEB DISCUSSIONS

• S = Synergetic = Collaborative, group effort with a single group grade• P = Process = Must be practiced and hones• I = Independent = You work independently; teachers watch and

give feedback• D = Developed = A developed, sustained discussion that aims to get

somewhere• E = Exploration = Exploration of ideas, texts or questions through

discussion• R = Rubric = Clear, Specific Rubric against which you can self

assess

RUBRIC FOR DISCUSSION EXCELLENCE:

•The well-prepared group appears to enjoy themselves during a discussion of the text’s literal and figurative significance, dominant literary techniques, historical context, and cultural implications. Sometimes, respectful laughter ensues. Outside research and inquisitive questions show a genuine interest in the text. Respect between group members is obvious.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. When and why does LeGuin manipulate narrative voice in this text?a. Review the POV shifts, their placement, and effects. b. To what extent can readers articulate an audience for “you” that the narrative voice speaks to?c. When is this text like a narrative? When does it seem like a lecture? When does it use a satirical

tone? Why?2. Where does LeGuin present paradoxes in this text? Effect?3. Analyze LeGuin’s use of repetition in the text.4. Analyze the significance of LeGuin’s use of imagery motifs in this text.

a. Musicb. Light and Darkness/Day and Nightc. Others?

5. What thematic and stylistic connections to dystopian fiction narratives like The Giver, Brave New World, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Lottery?

6. What is the role of authority in the story? in collectivist societies? The role of suffering in collectivism? Answer with evidence from the text and history.

7. To what extent is this narrative an allegory?8. Where do the people who walk away from Omelas go?

EXIT SLIP: TAKE OUT A NOTECARD AND CHOOSE ONE PROMPT

1.Analyze the significance LeGuin’snarrative voice in this text.

2.What does this narrative teach about suffering and collectivism?

Respond in a thesis with supportive bullets citing quoted or paraphrased evidence from the text.