KTU Chart
Use the following chart to identify specific examples and literary techniques that will help you
prepare for your oral. Hopefully, this will allow you to achieve balance between not only the
works, but also between discussion of the passage and the work as a whole, and maintain a
focus on how the author’s use of technique demonstrates the global issue that you have
selected.
Passage Level literary elements: diction (connotation, denotation, register, sensory language),
figurative language, syntax, tone
Structure Level literary elements: characterization, genre, narrative structure (conflict,
foreshadowing, flashback, POV)
Potentially either: symbol, motif, archetype, allusion, irony
Global Issue: Conflict influences bystanders’ identity and interpersonal relationships
Knowledge
Text-as-whole examples (at least 4)
Techniques
Text-as-whole
Understanding Connected to Global Issue
“But the postal system, along
with most everything else in
Dacca, had collapsed, and he
had not heard word of them in
over six months.”
Narrative
Structure (POV)
Characterization
Narrative
Structure
(Conflict)
The text as a whole shifts back and
forth between the conflict happening
in Dacca and in the US. The reader
learns how Mr. Pirzada is at our
narrator’s (Lilla’s) home quite often
so he can keep up with the ongoing
conflict back home, mostly because
his family is there. We learn that he is
not Indian but Pakistani, an insight
that changes Lilla’s thoughts about
Mr. Pirzada. Mr. Pizada’s relationship
with Lilla’s parents become stronger
because of the conflict as they still
treat him the same (Lilla’s family are
Indian). Even though the conflict in
Dacca is mostly affecting Mr. Pirzada,
Lilla experiences her own struggles as
she learns that American history is
idolized in her school and Indian
history is cast aside.
“ He seemed concerned that
Mr. Pirzada might take offense
if I accidentally referred to
him as an Indian…”
“As he watched he had an
immovable expression on his
face, composed but alert, as if
someone were giving him
directions to an unknown
destination.
““Don’t worry,” I said. It was
the first time I had uttered
those words to Mr. Pirzada,
two simple words I had tried
but failed to tell him for
weeks, had said only in my
prayers.”
“...which made me feel, for an
instant, like a stranger in my
own home”
KTU Chart
“No one at school talked
about the war followed so
faithfully in my living room.”
Knowledge
Passage examples (at least 4)
“...My father no longer asked
me to watch the news with
them, and that Mr. Pirzada
stopped bringing me candy,
and that my mother refused
to serve anything other than
boiled eggs with rice for
dinner.”
“…high-pitched voices
hollering in the middle of the
night when my parents called
our relatives in Calcutta to
learn more details about the
situation”
“...I remember the three of
them operating during that
time as if they were a single
person, sharing a single meal,
a single body, a single silence,
Passage techniques
Understanding Connected to Global Issue
Lengthy syntax
Repetition
(Polysyndeton)
Tone
Sensory language
Narrative shift
When the conflict in Dacca escalates,
the story shifts as habits between the
family and Mr. Pirzada that started
upon Mr. Pirzada’s arrival discontinue.
The tone of the story declines
suddenly and Lilla illustrates the
shared emotion and feelings of the
adults in the house. Once Mr. Pirzada
leaves, she’s finally able to
understand how he felt being away
from his family, not knowing when or
if he would ever see them again.
Lilla’s identity develops throughout
the story, becoming cognizant about
her identity and upbringing, a
development to a coming of age
story.
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and a single fear.”
“...It was only then that I felt
Mr. Pirzada’s absence. It was
only then, raising my water
glass in his name, that I knew
what it meant to miss
someone who was so many
miles and hours away, just as
he had missed his wife and
daughters for so many
months”
KTU Chart