 Go to the library to check out a book for your outside reading! › The book can NOT have a movie based from it! › It needs to be a book you have NOT read before.  Tic Tac Toe Book Report.

 Practice pronoun antecedent agreement!

1. Find the pronoun 2. Find the antecedent- what the pronoun is referring to 3. Determine if the antecedent is: singular or plural/masculine or feminine (or neither), possessive or not. If it agrees, great! If not, change it so it does. Complete the practice handout.

 Discuss what comes to mind when you think of a personal legend? What happens? Why must people have a personal legend? Think about what you wrote as I read the Introduction. Did you have the same idea as the author?

Answer the following questions with a partner. 1. What is alchemy? 2. What is an alchemist? 3. Who is Narcissus? 4. What is a fable? 5. What is an allegory?

1. Alchemy is the ancient practice of trying to turn lead into gold. 2. An alchemist can be defined as a profession/person that practices alchemy which is the quest of searching for a way in which to turn metals into gold. 3. Narcissus is a character from Greek mythology who loved his beauty. He would look at his reflection everyday in the water. One day, he drowned. His love of his own beauty was his tragic flaw. 4. A Fable is a short imaginary tale that teaches a moral or a lesson. The story can be in prose or verse. 5. An allegory is a narrative that has two levels of meaning: a literal one and a figurative or symbolic one.

The Alchemist is a fable. In fact, The Alchemist is subtitled "A Fable about Following Your Dreams." Like most fables, The Alchemist has a theme/moral that reflects a universal truth concerning life and human existence. The universal point this story makes is that everyone has a special destiny, and yet not everyone tries to achieve it because it takes hard work. Reaching one's destiny requires leaving behind familiar surroundings. It also demands courage, persistence, the ability to change when appropriate and the willingness to respond to omens that point the way.

Also, like many fables, the story told in The Alchemist does not make its universal point directly, or in so many words, by the author telling the reader in plain language what the moral of the story is. Instead, the story of the main character in The Alchemist is what we call an allegory. An allegory is a narrative that has two levels of meaning: a literal one and a figurative or symbolic one. As a reader, your challenges with this fable are to watch for and try to interpret symbols (symbolism=something that is itself but also represents something else or something deeper). Remember, most anything in a story can have symbolic meaning, including objects, characters, places, names, events, etc.

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Read pages 3-25 and answer the questions on your own paper. In groups at your table, decide who will answer what question. Do only 3-4 questions at a time. Once you have completed your particular question for your group, discuss the answers for those questions. Rotate the order of the questions for the next set. In order to study for the test, you will be responsible for keeping up with all your work with The Alchemist unit.

 Many successful adults recall a time in life when they were considered a failure at one pursuit or another. Some of these people feel strongly that their previous failures taught them valuable lessons and led to their later successes. Others maintain that they went on to achieve success for entirely different reasons. In your opinion, can failure lead to success? Or is failure simply its own experience? In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either one of the two points of view given, or you may present a different point of view. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.  I am looking for: organization (intro, body, conclusion, transition words) and strong claims for each body!