Periods 5 and 6

Welcome!Walk in work:

Please take out your notebooks and label your next A and B

pages:

Literary Allusions

Periods 5 and 6

Please record the following in your notebooks: (B side)

Allusion- a figure of speech that refers to a well known story, event, person, or object in order to make a comparison in the reader’s mind.

Add theme, archetype, allusion, Point of view and conflict to your Glossary section.

On your tables, you will find a large list of common allusions. While you may have never come across a

moment when your author mentions these allusions directly, there may be situations or characters that have the same characteristics, or serve the same purpose within the text.

It is important to recognize these allusions when they occur in your reading to deepen your understanding of the text (theme, character, conflict)

Periods 5 and 6

Watch as I read the “Three Sisters” vignette and look for literary allusions

This vignette comes from later in the House on Mango Street

Before this vignette begins, one of Esperanza’s baby cousins has died and there are strange family members arriving for the memorial.

Periods 5 and 6

The Three Fates – Greek Mythology

Usually three women (old, stern, ugly)

one who spins the thread of life

one who determines how long one lives by measuring the thread of life

one who chose how someone dies by cutting the thread of life with her shears

Three days after a child was born, it was thought that the fates would visit the house to determine the child's fate and life

Periods 5 and 6

On the “A” side, take 5-7 minutes to make a list of some of the allusions you could see in your books

EXAMPLE: If you have a Creature of Nightmare, look at how your

character defeats this creature (David vs. Goliath) If you have a character v. Society conflict, are

characters unjustly accused of crimes? (McCarthyism) If you have a mentor archetype, does this mentor die

to save the protagonist and others? (Jesus Christ) If you have a character that did something they

shouldn’t have done that has caused consequences (Pandora’s box)

Periods 5 and 6

Contrast the original allusion to the version referenced in your book

Three Fates

The House on Mango Street

• Came after a death

• One with blue veins

• One with cat eyes

• One with a funny laugh

• Could see the unknown: “They had the power and could sense what was” (Cisneros 104).

• Three Women• Old• Not described as

beautiful• “Magical” quality

• Come after a birth• One who spins the

thread of life• One who

determines how long one lives

• One who chooses how someone dies