Wing’s Chips (not to be confused with Wang’s Chaps)
You Will
Make with me a little plan to analyse this story:
Read this story (or as much of it as you can before my ADD takes over and I start teaching (hard)
We will break into LGOPs and we will attack a couple of areas of the plan and create some response
Share those out and then we will become amazing.
Plan of Attack
Read the story.
9. CONTEXT! - SCHEMA!
who wrote this?
when? 1920s - that says a LOT
what is the cultural context?
socio-political? Chinese, French <-> English, Quebec
are there “attachments” that affect our thinking? - BIG ideas.
2. Characters
Development/Arc
Dialogue
3. Plot
4. Setting
a) Mood/Atmosphere
5. Theme
a) moral values
6. Style/Structure
Tone
b) Dialogue (creative decisions)
c) perspective (POV)
7. Denotation - the obvious (NO!)
8. Connotation
associations
symbols
inner meanings
interpretations
“I believe that one of the best ways of getting at truth is reflecting with others who have opposing views and who share your interest in finding the truth rather than being proven right.”
The 20s - The Jazz Age - Boom
There’s a mindset in this era that permeates aspects of the story. If you know that mindset, you can get more from the story. If you don’t, you are not understanding key bones in the story.
The Blues Merchant
Titles - blues - blues music -
2. Author - Jerome Washington - served time in prison - sounds like a “black” name (stereotype) - suffered from the typical American syndrome of being incarcerated for a crime he did not commit, however, he is the wrong colour for the justice system
Jail is a very segregated place, but in this story, the prisoners are united by the music
WHY would this be appealing to this author, or to the POV character?
For a black man, to be not conscious of his race as a definer of who he is must feel an amazing thing. - a glimpse into the black experience and it’s not even described in the piece
The writer might say - nope, didn’t put that in, don’t flatter yourself -
Context thing -> an observation that has an element in the story (reference, quotation) -> leads us to explore and explain the connection -> then we evaluate the importance and meaning
The above is not unlike what you would write in the body of an essay
Point proof
Observation - reference - explanation - example - meaning - importance
How does music help one to transcend?
another analysis style is to ask a question that the piece gives us, then answer it, using the context, the source piece, and our thinking - reasoning and logic
The music creates a very personal interaction in the mind of the listener that is transportive - nobody can get into that and disrupt it.
3. Style - structure
Contrast - placing together elements (images of, the language of, the idea of) of freedom and containment (oppression) (captivity)
the setting itself is a prison, obviously, but in the moment of the music’s power, the guards are not allowed to enjoy it and let themselves feel it, whereas the prisoners are, and in that moment those who truly feel it are free
the music somehow changes the perspective the prisoners have forced upon them by being imprisoned
the experience of listening, and feeling, the music supplants the feeling of being held prisoner
the music gives them back something that imprisonment takes from them
the freedom is actually: something normal - choice - music is normal! we take it for granted, but for the prisoners, it is a change to be normal
by examining a contrast, we are presented with some focus points that take us to conclusions, possibilities, associations - and we can explain how we arrived at these conclusions - this is an answer, or an essay, or a report, or a seminar
prison is dehumanizing and music is rehumanizing
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