Tough Text: Quarter 3 Week 8
February 22 – 26, 2016
Searching for The Unbearable Lightness of Being
by Nika Mavrody
You know Charlie,
I was riding on the El today. And I was thinking, do you remember that day we went to the used bookstore? The one that
has the sign that says “New Town Cleaners?” The one run by the big man of around 60 who likes to comment on the
books you buy and call me sweetie? You remember that?
You remember how we climbed around on stepladders and searched through Dylan Thomas and Emile Zola? I was trying
to find the Unbearable Lightness of Being, but someone had just bought it. I edged Therese Raquin into your hands and I
begged you to buy it. You gave in. I can’t remember if you liked it.
But regardless, remember how we took the El home? How we sat side by side, pretending we were reading while
instead we looked carefully at each passenger at each new stop. I remember a man with six lines of scars forming a big V
across his forehead. V for vindictiveness. V for viral. V for vanish. Do you remember that? Dear Charlie.
I don’t know what it is that I’m trying to tell you. But I do know I feel so much like Madame Raquin. I feel as if I can’t
speak and I can’t write, but there’s a horrible, destructive knowledge of something in my mind. Madame Raquin knew
who killed her son, and she lived in the hands of those same murderers.
Do you remember that night you were at my house, and we lay on my bed, looking through my art books. I can’t believe
you were a fan of Byzantine. Remember how we decorated my walls, and how we wrote down our inside jokes. We
laughed so hard at them. We laughed so hard at everything, really.
Remember our fascination with that Browning poem, “Porphyra’s Lover?” We were so morbidly in love with it. The sick
surprise and macabre shock of him choking her with her own long, flaxen hair. Why do I keep coming back to murder?
I met this guy. You’d like him if you knew him. His name’s Mark. And he’s brilliant. Ranked #1 in his class. His fingers
smell like oranges and they remind me of you. He doesn’t get morbid poetry, he’s naively shocked by “Porphyra’s
Lover.” But he can help me with AP Bio, even though he’s taking Physics.
I keep thinking I should wait for you. I just finished Chronicle of a Death Foretold. You recommended it to me. I thought
maybe you’d come back if I retraced my steps, if I went back to that bookstore. If I sat on the El, pretending to read, but
watching the passengers. I saw a woman with a glass eye. If I did all of that, if I finished your book, maybe than, you’d
show up at my house. Knock on my door. Walk into my kitchen. Maybe you’d pour yourself some water. You’d yawn
melodramatically. “It’s been awhile,” you’d say. “What’cha reading?” But as far as I can tell, you’re not doing any of that.
Just because of that one night. I’m sure it must have been hard to spot a boy wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. And you
were probably distracted by something. You were probably on your way to the beach. You liked to go to the beach alone
at night. You always had sand in your pockets. What could you have possibly been thinking about? Thinking so hard, that
you didn’t see a red Ford coming your way.
But I just wanted to tell you that I need to stop thinking equally hard about you. I need to stop, or I might not notice
something coming fast at me, too. You know, I still haven’t gotten my hands on The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I’ve
been busy. My mom’s pregnant, did I tell you? My grandmother might be moving in with us.
There’s a picture of you on my computer. I took it of you one night after you’d fallen asleep. We watched The Suicide
Club that night, laughing at the overabundance of blood and detached limbs. You don’t know that I have this picture.
Your eyes are closed and you’ve got your hands folded in a prayer position as a pillow. I wonder what you dream about,
when your eyes are closed like that. I wonder what you dream about when you’re asleep.
Tough Text: Quarter 3 Week 8
February 22 – 26, 2016
Narrator’s Voice
Voice is the distinctive use of language and overall style. The narrator’s voice conveys his/her attitude, personality, and
character. A narrator’s voice can also affect the readers’ view of other characters and events.
Think about the way real people speak. Each and every person has his/her own voice. No, not vocal sound, but rather
the way they verbally communicate with others. Some people speak eloquently and could go on for hours without
pause, while others prefer short, abrupt sentences. Some people are loud, speak quickly, or use an exaggerated tone.
Some people use their hands to gesture wildly, while others are more relaxed and calm. The way people speak can tell
others about their attitudes, personality, and character.
Consider the following examples.
1. “Oh, man! Just as I was finally dozing off, he starts playing that stupid saxophone. I’ve already been fired from
one job because I fell asleep on the night shift. Now it’s going to happen again. I don’t know which sounds worse,
that tone-deaf saxophonist or that yowling dog. I’m going to call the police.”
How would you describe the narrator’s attitude, personality, and/or character? Which words contribute to this effect?
** Also notice how a distinctive voice can influence the readers’ views of other characters in the text.
From the narrator’s voice, what impression do you get of the saxophone player?
2. “You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At
length I would be avenged ; this was a point definitively settled - but the very definitiveness with which it was
resolved, precluded the idea of risk.
TRUE! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The
disease had sharpened my senses - not destroyed - not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I
heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad?”
How would you describe the narrator’s attitude, personality, and/or character? Which words contribute to this effect?
Tough Text: Quarter 3 Week 8
February 22 – 26, 2016
TEACHER NOTES
Skill of the Week: Determining the voice of a narrator
Corresponding Standard: 10.3.13: Explain how voice, persona, and choice of speaker (narrator) affect the mood, tone,
and meaning of text.
Notes:

Use this text to specifically model and allow student practice with determining the narrator’s voice.

Example questions:
o
o
o
What adjectives can be used to describe the narrator’s personality? Explain
How does the narrator’s voice influence the meaning of the text?
How does the narrator’s voice influence the reader’s understanding of other characters?

Additional literacy skills may be incorporated (e.g. citing text evidence), but the primary focus while using this
text should be the Skill of the Week.

This text can also provide an opportunity for students to practice the Constructed Response strategy you have
selected. The Constructed Response prompt should be reflective of the Skill of the Week.

Example Constructed Response question:
o
How does the narrator’s voice affect the reader’s understanding of other characters in the text? Support
your answer with details from the text.