1. AP Lit & Comp 3/3 ‘16 1.Some points of interest from the ending of TPWB and final discussion for the book. 2.Look at themes slides. 3.TPWB essay assignment description and rubric (also on Classroom) due Fri 3/11. 4.IRP #2 due next class.

2. Check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCMniNKx LFk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCMniNKx LFk Get those lit terms under your belt before the AP exam.

3. Books Six and Seven

4. Rachel says she is happy. Find textual evidence to support / refute her claim. On p.512, she gives us reasons why she never went back to the United States. Are her reasons legit, or do you think there is some other reason she didn’t return? Let’s look at Rachel…

5. Rachel is not able to have children. Why do you think Kingsolver fashioned the story with this detail? Is Rachel too selfish to have children? What would have happened if she had? In life, do things really happen for a reason? Rachel…

6. Finally…  Surprisingly, Rachel sometimes offers wisdom to the reader:  “You can’t just sashay into the jungle aiming to change it all over to the Christian style, without expecting the jungle to change you right back.”  How has Rachel been able to handle living in Africa her entire adult life?  Rachel’s final words: “That’s how it is and ever shall be. You stick out your elbows and hold yourself up.”  How are these fitting last lines for her character?  In a book full of microcosms, do you think Rachel is supposed to represent anyone in particular?

7. Very interesting line on p.520: “Our marriage has been, for me, a very long convalescence.” Significance? Convalescence from what? Read top of p.522 aloud. What’s the significance of the section about the couple trying to cross the river and Anatole’s line, “Such a river should not be crossed” (522). The reader can really hear Kingsolver’s views in this narrative: “There is not justice in this world…”(522) Is that true? Leah

8. How is Leah trying to combat injustice in the Congo? Is she making any progress? Leah’s line about Nathan on p.525 What’s the significance of her last line? “…and I understand that time erases whiteness altogether.” Why does “whiteness” need to be erased? Is Leah part of a microcosm? Leah

9. Adah’s last word Her perspective on p. 527 “Culture is a slingshot moved by the force of its past.” “Poor Africa. No other continent has endured such an unspeakably bizarre combination of foreign thieves and foreign good will.” “Five million years is a long partnership. If you could for a moment rise up out of your own beloved skin and appraise ant, human, and virus as equally resourceful beings, you might admire the accord they have all struck in Africa.” Is Adah’s point valid? Are all life forces equal?

10. Adah About Orleanna: “Lock, stock, and barrel, she us. Rachel is clearly the one with locks on every possible route to defenestration. And Leah barrels forward, setting everything straight. So I am the one who quietly takes stock, I suppose. Believing in all things equally. Believing fundamentally in the right of a plant or a virus to rule the earth. Mother says I have no heart for my own kind. She doesn’t know. I have too much. I know what we have done, and what we deserve.”

11. Adah “We constructed our lives around a misunderstanding, and if ever I tried to pull it out and fix it now I would fall down flat. Misunderstanding is my cornerstone. It’s everyone’s, come to think of it. Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization.” “I am born of a man who believed he could tell nothing but the truth, while he set down for all time the Poisonwood Bible. Significance of that last line? Is Adah part of a microcosm?

12. Book Seven “Every life is different because you passed this way and touched history.” “But in truth they are saying goodbye to their mother. They love her inordinately.” Connotation of inordinately? (going beyond what is usual, normal, or proper) DO they love her this way? Why are they so distant from her (except Adah)? Read from p. 540 – the Congo waking up

13. Book Seven How did the woman know that an okapi statue would mean something to Orleanna? (Why include this detail if you’re Kingsolver?) Note the syntax in Book Seven. What purpose might it serve?

14. Discuss this… Family members sometimes commit the worst crimes against one another. Are these infractions forgivable? What do you believe the book says about forgiveness within a family? Was Orleanna a good mother? What is a good mother? What is a good father?

15. And finally… What does this book say about forgiveness? – Is it possible in all cases? – What all is involved in forgiveness? – Is it something we should do? – What happens if you don’t forgive? – How does Kingsolver show us a variety of scenarios involving forgiveness throughout the novel? – Does the story provide the reader with an ultimate conclusion about forgiveness?

16. For next class… IRP #2 is due in its entirety on Tues 3/8. If you’d like me to provide feedback on your TPWB essay, share it with me by Tues 3/8 at 3:10p.m.