going home pete hamill

Going Home Pete Hamill

Culture Backgroundabout the authorFlorida, New Jersey, New York, GeorgiaHoward Johnson’sSing the song

Text appreciationstructure analysistopic discussion

Language understandingsentence paraphraseword study

Going Home about the author

Catholic schools as a child. He left school at 16 to work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a worker, and then went on to the United States Navy. While serving in the Navy, he completed his high school education. Then, using the educational benefits of the G.I. Bill of Rights, he attended Mexico City College in 1956-1957, studying painting and writing.

Pete Hamill was born in Brooklyn, N. Y. in 1935. He is the oldest of seven children of Irish immigrants from Belfast, Northern Ireland and attended


For several years, he worked as a graphic designer, while studying at Pratt Institute. Then in 1960, he went to work as a reporter for the New York Post. A long career in journalism followed. He has been a columnist for the New York Post, the Daily News, and New York Newsday, and has won many journalistic awards. As a journalist, he has covered wars in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Lebanon and Northern Ireland. He has also covered murders, crime, the police, along with the great domestic disturbances of the 1960s. His work has also been published in all the major magazines, including Esquire, New York, the New York Times Magazine; he is currently on the staff of the New Yorker.

Going Home about the authorSince the 1950s, he has had a continuing interest in Mexico, living there for extended periods, visiting every year. For six months in 1986, he served as editor of the Mexico City News. He has one additional distinction: he has been editor-in-chief of both the New York Post and the New York Daily News.


At the same time, Hamill has pursued a career as a fiction writer, producing 8 novels and 2 collections of short stories. His 1997 novel, Snow in August, was on the New York Times bestseller list for four months, and has been published in more than a dozen foreign editions. His memoir, A Drinking Life, was on the same New York Times list for 13 weeks. He has published 2 collections of his journalism, a book about the relationship of tools to art, and a book about New York City, along with Why Sinatra Matters, an extended essay on the music of the late singer and the social forces that made his work possible.


Hamill is married to the Japanese journalist, Fukiko Aoki. He has two grown daughters, one a poet, the other a photographer for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix. He and his wife divide their time between New York and Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Howard Johnson’s

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Sing the songTIE A YELLOW RIBBON ROUND THE OLD

OAK TREE

I'm coming home I've done my timeNow I've got to know what is and isn't mineIf you received my letter telling you I'd soon be

freeThen you'll know just what to do if you still

want meIf you still want me

TIE A YELLOW RIBBON ROUND THE OLD OAK TREE

Oh tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree

It's been three long years do you still want me

If I don't see a ribbon round the old oak tree

I'll stay on the bus forget about us put the blame on me

If I don't see a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree


Bus driver please look for me

'Cause I couldn't bear to see what I might see

I'm really still in prison and my love she holds the key

A simple yellow ribbon's what I need to set me free

I wrote and told her please


Oh tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree

It's been three long years do you still want me

If I don't see a ribbon round the old oak tree

I'll stay on the bus forget about us put the blame on me

If I don't see a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree


Now the whole damn bus is cheering

And I can't believe I see

A hundred yellow ribbons’ round the old oak tree

I'm coming home

Draw a line to follow their route.

Text Appreciation Structure of the text

Part 1 (para. 1- ) :

Part 2 (para. ):

Part 3 (para. ):

4

5-9

10-12

The introduction of the setting and the characters.

Where Vingo was going and what for, and how the young people got interested in what was going to happen.

Vingo was forgiven and welcomed home.

Text Appreciationfor group discussion in class

Plot of the story: Setting of the story: Protagonist v.s. Antagonists: Drama of the story lies in: Theme of the story:

Text Appreciation for group discussion after class

1. What do you think Vingo had done that got him in prison?

2. How do you think Mingo behaved in prison? What do you think he wanted to do after his release?

3. What kind of person do you think his wife was? Why didn’t she write to Vingo?

Text Appreciation for group discussion after class

4. Do you agree the yellow ribbon is a symbol? What does it symbolize? What did it mean to Vingo?

5. What lesson do you think the young people can learn from Vingo’s story?

6. Do you think the ability to forgive and forget is important in human relationships?

Analyze the Main Characters in the Story ①the young people:

②Vingo:

③Vingo’s wife:

active, talkative, happy, considerate

sad, worried, nervous, silent

wonderful, strong-willed, kind-hearted, capable

Analyze the Writing Skills

1. detailed and vivid description of the appearance of Vingo

2. keeping the reader in suspense until the very end

3. happy ending 4. in rhetoric

Analyze the Writing Skills the young people, quite a lot of present participles, to indicate

liveliness and joyfulness. -dreaming of golden beaches and sea tides-waiting for the approach of the great oak tree-screaming and shouting and crying, doing … ...

Vingo, past participles, to indicate his sadness, nervousness, and his control of feelings. -dressed in a plain, ill-fitting suit-frozen into complete silence-He sat rooted in his seat-Vingo sat there stunned, looking at the oak tree

The Yellow Handkerchief

Yellow ribbon as a symbol

Language Understanding—— sentence paraphrase

They were dreaming of golden beaches and tides of the sea as the grey, cold spring of New York vanished behind them.

It was a grey, cold day in spring. As the bus left New York City, these young people were thinking about what they would enjoy in Florida-- the golden beaches and tides of the sea.


He sat in front of the young people, his dusty face masking his age, dressed in a plain brown suit that did not fit him.

He sat in front of the young people. You could hardly tell how old he was because his face was covered with dust.


He kept chewing the inside of his lip a lot, frozen into complete silence:

He kept biting the inside part of his lip, sat there completely speechless as if frozen up.


She’s a wonderful woman, really something: She is a wonderful woman, a really good, remarkable woman.

Something: a thing or a person of some value or importance

-He considers himself to be something, but actually he is nothing.

_He thinks he is something, since he was elected chairman of the committee.


When I was sure the parole was coming through:

When I was certain that the conditional release from prison was to be approved by the authorities


She told the others, and soon all of them were in it, caught up in the approach of Brunswick:

She told other boys and girls, and soon they all learnt Vingo’s experience, they were all interested in the coming of Brunswick.


Now they were 20 miles from Brunswick, and the young people took the windows seats on the right side, waiting for the approach of the great oak tree:

Now they were only 20 miles away from the town, and the young people all sat by the window, waiting for the coming of the big oak tree.


Vingo stopped looking, tightening his face, as if fortifying himself against still another disappointment: Vingo moved his eyes away from the window, and his face again became expressionless as if he was trying to find the courage to face another possible blow, another disappointment in his life.

the ex-con’s mask: the expression of a former prisoner trying to hide his true feelings

to fortify oneself (against sb./sth.): to make oneself feel stronger or braver


Then suddenly all of the young people were up out of their seats, screaming and shouting and crying, doing small dances, shaking clenched fists in triumph and exaltation. All except Vingo.

Then all of a sudden, all the young people left their seats and began doing all sorts of things they could think of to express their happiness and excitement. Vingo alone remained still.

Language Understanding—— word study

Freeze: become unfriendly in manner

-After their quarrel, they sat in frozen silence.

-She gave me a freezing look.


Pull into: (of a vehicle) arrive at (a station); move in towards

-The train pulled into the station on the stroke of 12.

-Let’s pull into the parking lot and have a rest.


to engage sb. in sth.: to make sb. take part in sth., eg.

She tried to engage her roommate in a philosophical discussion.

engagement

engaged

engaging


①Wonder about: feel curious about; be doubtful about

-John says he didn’t do it, but I am still wondering about that.

②rooted: fixed

-The boy stood rooted to the spot.

-He had a deeply rooted belief in free trade.


Retreat into/to: yield; move back to

-The soldiers were ordered to retreat to safer positions.

-At last we forced the enemy to retreat into the mountains from the town.


The preposition “in” is often used to show a state or condition. Vingo nodded in ... He sat in complete … … shaking clenched fists in … but then some boys began to glance at me in … Good God! I was in …

Compare: He thanked her and retreated … his silence. Vingo stopped looking, tightening his face … the ex-con’s mask.


come through

i. arrive as expected

-Has the train come through?

ii. appear; show clearly

-We are waiting for the results of the entrance exam to come through.


Be caught up in: be completely absorbed in -I was caught up in conversation with a

friend when someone knocked at the door. -He was caught up in the story he was

reading that he forgot it was time for supper.


Fortify against: strenthen (sth. or oneself) so as to be able to deal with (sth. such as an attack)

-Have some hot ginger soup to fortify yourself against cold.


Make one’s way to/through/across/along: go forward with difficulty

-They made their way through the crowd.

-I made my way to the center of the town.


ex = fully (exchange, exalt)He felt very humble in such ______ company. The two teams _______ presents before the game.

ex = former (ex-con, ex-wife, ex-president)ex = out of (exceed, except, expose, exit)

Your advice would be valuable to him, who is at present at his wit’s end.

Too much to X-rays can cause skin burns, cancer or other damage to the body.

exalted

exchanged

exceedingly

exposure


a./n. + -en v.1. She’s lost her job so she had to … her belt.

2. He … his pencil with a knife.

3. Their opposition only … her resolve.

4. … your seat belts.

5. The terrorists … to blow up the plane if their demands were not met.

(dark, fast, height, length, sharp, strength, threat, weak, worse, tight, broad, wide…)


The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.

going home pete hamill

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