Say Yes
Tobias Wolff
Say Yes
Unit 2
W arming up
B ackground
T ext Analysis
R einforcement
Preview Materials
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Assignments for each class;
Presentation topics;
The original text;
Questions about the text;
Some short stories by the same author.
Assignments
For the 1st class:
Come to class with a sheet of paper which contains:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The title of the text;
The name of the author;
Key words, phrases & idiomatic expressions;
A one-sentence summary of the text;
An outline of the text;
Parts of the text you find difficult to understand;
One meaningful question you especially want to raise
about the text.
Assignments
For the 2nd class:
Write a paragraph on the following topic.
• Because of its narrative point of view, "Say Yes"
does not show any significant interior drama of
the wife. What do you think the wife is thinking
while their argument is taking place and
afterwards? Try to put yourself in the shoes of
the wife, and write down your thoughts and
feelings.
Assignments
For the 3rd class:
Write an essay on the following topic.
• What do you think is the most important theme
of the story? Why?
Presentation Topics
1. The author Tobias Wolff: his life experiences, major
works and prizes, his usual topics, style of writing,
etc.
2. Racial discrimination in the US in the 1980s:
disguised and undisguised racial discrimination in
every aspect of the American society (stereotypes of
the black people, their interests and benefits,
education, jobs, etc.)
3. Sexual discrimination in the US in the 1980s: overt
and covert sexual discrimination at home and out of
home (in public affairs, business corporations,
government departments, etc.)
Questions About the Text
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
From whose point of view is the story told? What effect
does this point of view have on the story?
What are the questions discussed by the husband and
wife? What are their views on these questions?
In the husband’s remarks about black people and
foreigners, who are “we” and “they” respectively? What
is the husband’s attitude towards “them”?
How well does the husband know his wife? Cite evidence
from the text to support your point.
Gather all the things the husband does in the story and
judge whether he is a considerate husband.
…
Say Yes
Unit 2
Questions / Activities
Check-on Preview
Warming up
Objectives
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Warming up
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Questions / Activities
Form groups of 4, discuss the following two
questions, and keep a record of your
opinions to see whether they will change as
the text is analyzed in detail.
1. Is the man a good husband? Cite textual
evidence to support your view.
2. Is the man a racist? Cite textual evidence to
support your view.
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Warming up
Check-on Preview
Match the verbs with the nouns.
pitch in on
this trick
pinch
the housework
resort to
the silverware
mop
the floor
spray
her brows
snap through
her indifference
demonstrate
the pages
blur out
the right answer
come up with
the stars
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Warming up
Check-on Preview
Mark the following statements T for true and F for false.
F
1. The story is set in the 1960s in the US when racial issues
were hot on everybody’s mind and lips.
T
2. The story happened between two middle-aged people
who had been married for about 30 years.
T
3. The man had never thought that he was a racist and felt
greatly wronged by his wife who implied this.
F
4. The man was considerate, rational and forgiving while his
wife was selfish, emotional and ridiculous.
T
5. The husband had known all along what his wife wanted
from him, but simply didn’t want to give in to her.
F
6. After the husband turned off the light, someone broke
W
into their house and made some strange noise.
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Warming up
Objectives
• Know something about the author and his works;
• Gather some background information about racism
and sexism in the US;
• Learn to appreciate a short story;
• Learn to use the language items listed;
• Understand the story and appreciate its subtlety;
• Think about the themes and form your own opinions.
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Say Yes
Unit 2
Author
Time
Background
Culture Tips
Genre
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Background
Author Life
• Born in Alabama USA in 1945.
• Parents divorced when he was a
boy; traveled widely with his
mother; soon forced to endure life
under his strict and cruel stepfather.
• From 1964 to 1968, lieutenant with
the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green
Berets) in Vietnam.
• B.A. (1972) and M.A. (1975) from
Oxford University with First Class
Honors in English, a second M.A.
from Stanford.
• A revered writer& teacher of
creative writing and literature in
Stanford and elsewhere.
Tobias Wolff (1945-)
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Background
His Works
Short stories (O Henry Award):
• “In the Garden of the North
American Martyrs” (1981)
• “Next Door” (1982)
• “Sister” (1985)
• Our Story Begins (short story
collection in 2003, The Story
Prize in 2004)
Memoirs:
• This Boy’s Life: A Memoir (1989)
• In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of
the Lost War(1994)
Novels:
• The Barrack's Thief (1984,
PEN/Faukner Award for Fiction)
• Old School (2003)
This Boy’s Life
Film Poster
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Background
His Style
• A direct writing style, obeying the “show, don’t tell”
maxim, leaving much to the reader’s intuition
• Non-dramatic, focusing more on the psychological
dimensions of a character in dilemmas than on plot
development
• Often understated, forcing readers to become engaged in
the collection of strands that will result in the full
comprehension of a story.
• Exploring alienation, the nature of lying, and the
essential foundations of relationships
• Hoping to instruct and inspire people to triumph over
their situations through character change and
development
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Background
Time
The Republican Years
• The 1980s was a decade led by Republican policy. Ronald
Reagan took office as president of the United States in
1980, served two terms, and then was succeeded by his
vice president, George Bush.
• Reagan held conservative political beliefs, both on the
domestic front and when it came to foreign policy.
Although his economic programs brought the national
inflation rate down, they also seemed to favor the
wealthy.
• By the 1980s, as the United States and the Soviet Union
built up a stockpile of nuclear weapons, the cold war
had been ongoing for almost forty years. Reagan, an
ardent opponent of communism, encouraged his
administration to greatly increase military spending.
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Background
Culture Tips
Racism
• Definition: Racism is prejudice or discrimination based on the
belief that race is the primary factor determining human traits
and abilities. Racism includes the belief that genetic or inherited
differences produce the inherent superiority or inferiority of
one race over another.
• Institutional racism: e.g. the Jim Crow laws in the US from 1876
to 1965 mandating segregation in all public facilities in the
southern states of the former Confederacy with a supposedly
“separate but equal” status for the black Americans; officially
overruled with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights
Act of 1965.
• Overt and subtle racism: The Civil Rights Movement did away
much overt racism, but racism persists in many subtle forms, in
many aspects and on many levels.
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Background
Culture Tips
Race & Marriage
• Despite the public opposition to interracial marriage, in 1948,
the California Supreme Court became the first state high court
to declare a ban on interracial marriage unconstitutional.
• The decision was controversial, courageous and correct. At that
time, 38 states still forbade interracial marriage, and 6 did so
by state constitutional provision.
• Then, in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the
remaining interracial marriage laws nation-wide.
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Background
Culture Tips
Sexism
As with racism, overt sexism is not very much on display now in
much of the world. But subtle sexism persists and can be found
everywhere at all time. It is a cluster of social expectations and
practices that reinforce sex-based inequality. For example:
• At school: more boys in science classes and more girls in arts
classes (“boys are logical while girls are imaginative”)
• At work: a male boss and a female secretary, and rarely the other
way around (we have “career women” and “family men” but no
“career men” and “family women”)
• At home: housework regarded as the wife’s responsibility
whether she has a full-time job or not (the husband reputed as a
considerate one because he “pitched in on the housework”) W B
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Background
Genre
A Short Story
• Setting: kitchen, cleaning up after dinner, USA, 1980s
• Characters: husband & wife, white, middle-aged, middle-class
• Conflict: different views on interracial marriages
• Plot: casual talk, argument, fight, hurt feelings, failed attempt at
reconciliation
• Narrative point of view: 3rd person, the husband
• Characterization: showing instead of telling
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Say Yes
Unit 2
Theme
Text Analysis
Structure
Detailed
Analysis
视频
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Text Analysis
Para. 1-18
Structure
• The argument: The husband disapproved interracial marriages on
the ground of cultural differences while the wife approved on the
ground of love.
Para 19-24
• The wound: The wife was hurt; the husband helped her quickly
and hoped she would reward him by letting go of the topic.
Para 25-44
• The question: The wife persistently asked whether her husband
would marry her if she were black and got a straight no in the
end.
Para 45-48
• The anger: The husband felt deeply hurt by his wife’s indifference
to him but then decided to forgive her out of love.
Para 49-57
• The stranger: When the husband tried to make up with his wife,
he found her a stranger despite three decades of marriage.
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Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I
Part II
Part III Part IV Part V
Main Idea
Sentence Paraphrase
Words & Expressions
Exercise
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Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I: Main Idea
1. What is the setting of the story? (the fictional time, the
historical time, the place)
2. Who are the main characters? What do you know about them?
3. What is the conflict of the story?
4. How did the wife feel when her husband said it was a bad idea
for white people to marry black people?
5. How did the husband show that he was not a racist?
6. Why shouldn’t white people marry black people, according to
the husband? Is this reason justifiable?
7. How did the wife retort her husband?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I: Sentences
A few months earlier he’d overheard a friend of his wife’s
congratulating her on having such a considerate husband. (para. 1)
Questions:
1. How did the man earn the reputation of a considerate husband?
What do you think of this reputation?
2. What did the husband feel about his reputation?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I: Sentences
Sometimes his wife got this look where she pinched her brows
together and bit her lower lip. When he saw her like this he knew
he should keep his mouth shut, but he never did. Actually it made
him talk more. (para. 4)
relative adverb introducing a relative clause to modify “look”
Question: What does this show about the husband?
Compare:
1. He was wondering about the strange look that he saw on the face of
his wife. (relative pronoun)
2. When he is displeased he has this look where his eyes are narrowed
and brows closely knitted. (relative adverb)
3. I saw a movie last night which was real junk.
4. I saw a movie last night where there was a lot of violence.
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I: Sentences
“But that’s different. A person from their culture and a person from our
culture could never really know each other.”
“Like you know me?” his wife asked.
“Yes. Like I know you.”
…
“How can you understand someone who comes from a completely different
background?”
“Different,” said his wife. “Not the same, like us.”
“Yes, different,” he snapped, angry with her for resorting to this trick of
repeating his words so that they sounded hypocritical. (para. 10-18)
Questions:
1. Why did the wife constantly bring themselves in for
comparison?
2. Do they really know each other?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I: Language
Words
overhear
Phrases
do/dry the
dishes
Somehow
pitch in (on
/with sth.)
snap
Congratulate
sb. on sth.
Take my word
for it
Break up
Resort to
Sentence
Pattern
…he’d overheard a
friend …
congratulating her
…all things
considered, it was a
bad idea.
I don’t need you
coming along and
implying …
Grammar
… this look
where she
pinched her
brows …
视频
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I: Exercise
Translate the following sentences, and pay special attention to the
underlined parts.
1. My brother pitched in with an offer to loan us some money.
2. Her husband really pitched in on housework.
3. The entire company pitched in to help.
4. Channel 4 arrived and somehow created a different role for television.
5. He's been very quiet and withdrawn, sort of different, somehow.
6. Contemporary career women often find themselves in a situation
where they have to sacrifice their career for their family.
7. Take my word for it, time will heal all wounds and cure all pains.
8. Don’t snap at me! It’s not my fault that you lost your wallet.
9. She snapped the suitcase shut and left angrily.
10. People often resort to body language when words fail.
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part I: Exercise
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
我弟弟主动借钱给我。
她丈夫真的帮她做家务。
公司所有人都来帮忙了。
第四频道开播了，从某种意义上改变了电视的作用。
他最近非常安静内向，好像有点不一样了。
当代职业女性常会面临不得不为了家庭牺牲自己事业的情况。
相信我，时间会治疗一切伤痛。
别冲我嚷嚷！你丢了钱包又不是我的错！
她啪的一声关上手提箱，怒气冲冲地走掉了。
词不达意时人们常借助于肢体语言。
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part II: Main Idea
1.
2.
3.
What did the husband do when the wife’s finger got hurt?
What does this show?
What did the husband expect from his wife? What does this
show?
Is the cut symbolic of something?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part II: Sentences
He hoped that she appreciated how quickly he had come to her aid.
He’d acted out of concern for her, he thought that it would be a nice
gesture on her part not to start up that conversation again, as he was
tired of it. (para. 21)
done by her
because he cared about her
come to help her
Question: What does this show about the husband?
Paraphrasing: He hoped that his wife was grateful that he had
helped her so quickly. He did it because he really cared about her
and he thought that she should show her concern for him in return
by not continuing the conversation because he did not want to.
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part II: Language
Words
Plunge
Rummage
Dab
Phrases
Out of
concern for
On her part
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part II: Exercise
•
1.
Translate the following sentences into English, using words
in the brackets.
他把脸扎进一盆冷水里，想借此清醒清醒头脑。(plunge)
2.
现在看来什么也不能阻止这个国家陷入一片混乱。
(plunge)
3.
有些婚姻因性格不合而破裂，有的因原则问题而破裂。
(break)
4.
我们会尽可能地提供帮助，但也需要你们做出努力。
(part)
5.
为了关心在寒冷的冬夜里无家可归的人们，政府设立了
这些临时收容所。(concern)
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part II: Exercise
Key to the translation:
1. He plunged his face into a bowl of cold water to clear up
his mind.
2. It seems that nothing can save the country from its plunge
into chaos.
3. Some marriages break up because of personality clashes
and some because of principle problems.
4. We’ll do all we can to help but efforts on your part are
also required.
5. The government set up these temporary shelters out of
concern for the homeless on the cold winter nights.
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part III: Main Idea
1. How did the wife pursue the argument after the
husband dressed her wound? Why did she do so?
2. “The only black girl I ever knew was my partner in
the debating club.” (para. 28) Is this remark
contrary to what he said in the first part?
3. What did the husband mean when he said “if you
were black you wouldn't be you?” Do you agree?
4. Why did the husband feel cornered?
5. Did the husband know what was expected of him?
6. Why did the husband refuse to say “yes”?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part III: Sentences
There was no possible way of arguing with the fact that she
would not be herself if she were black. (para. 32)
Question: What did the husband mean?
introducing an
appositive clause
which explains
what the fact is
Compare:
1. Do you accept the view that people from
different cultures should not marry?
1. Appositive
clause
2. Do you accept the view that is so popular
among the students?
2. Relative clause
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part III: Language
Words
Spray
Unattached
Corner
Phrases
Put it that way
Sentence
Pattern
the fact +
that +
appositive
clause
Grammar
Subjunctive
mood
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part III: Exercise
Compare the structure of the sentences and translate them
into Chinese.
1. How do you explain the fact that my missing purse is under
your pillow? (appositive clause)
2. How do you explain the fact that we have just discovered?
(relative clause)
3. What do you think of the idea that we put aside some
money each month for a trip in summer holiday?
4. What do you think of the idea that we discussed just now?
5. I can’t accept the reason that you simply didn’t get my
message.
6. I can’t accept the reason that is clearly made up in a hurry.
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part III: Exercise
Learn the subjunctive mood in the following sentences.
1. She would not be herself if she were black.
2. You wouldn’t have married me if I’d been black.
3. You would probably have been going out with a black guy if you
had been black.
Respond to the following questions.
1. What would you do if you were given a large sum of money?
2. The old woman found a wallet on the pavement and waited for
hours in the cold wind for its owner. What would you have done
if you had been in that situation?
3. The school was funded to pull down the old classrooms and
build new ones. What would have been the students doing if
they hadn’t been given the money?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part IV: Main Idea
1. What did the wife do after her husband answered
“No” ?
2. How did she feel?
3. How did the husband react? Why?
4. How did the husband’s feelings change?
5. What brought about the change?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part IV: Sentences
He knew that she was too angry to be actually reading it, but she
didn’t snap through the pages the way he would have done. She
turned them slowly, as if she were studying every word. She was
demonstrating her indifference to him, and it had the effect he knew
she wanted it to have. It hurt him.
He had no choice but to demonstrate his indifference to her. (para.
45-46)
Questions:
1. From whose point of view is the situation described?
2. Are the husband’s guesses about his wife’s thoughts and
feelings reliable?
3. Is it true that the husband “had no choice”? What would a
really considerate husband do?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part IV: Sentences
He felt ashamed that he had let his wife get him into a fight.
(para. 48)
Questions:
1. Who did the husband blame for starting the fight?
2. Why did the husband feel “ashamed”?
3. Do you notice the sexism of the husband?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part V: Main Idea
1. How did the husband try to make up with his wife?
2. Why did the wife ask her husband to turn off the
light?
3. What did the man expect to happen when he
turned off the light?
4. What do you think really happened? Why?
5. What does the ending of the story imply?
视频
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part V: Sentences
“I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”
“How?” she said.
He knew that he had to come up with the right answer. … “I’ll
marry you,” he whispered.
“We’ll see,” she said. (para. 49-52)
Questions:
1. Is it usual for one to ask “how” when someone promises to
“make it up to you”? Why did the wife ask this question?
2. Did the husband really mean that he would marry her if she
were black?
3. What did the wife mean by saying “We’ll see”?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part V: Sentences
The room was silent. His heart pounded the way it had on
their first night together, the way it still did when he woke
at a noise in the darkness and waited to hear again–the
sound of someone moving through the house, a stranger.
(para. 57)
Questions:
followed by a relative clause the relative
adverb (how) of which is omitted
1. How did the husband feel on their first night together?
2. How did he feel when he woke at a strange noise at night?
3. Who was the “stranger”?
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part IV & V: Language
Words
Phrases
Sentence
Pattern
Grammar
Mop the floor
Snap
Demonstrate
blur
Be done
To the west
Make it up
to/with sb.
Come up with
Reach over
the way +
relative clause
Subjunctive
mood
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part IV & V: Exercise
Complete the following sentences.
1. I don’t like _______ he treats his parents.
2. He likes observing children _____ play.
3. Now that we are in the supermarket, we ______ look
around and buy something we need.
4. Sorry I can’t take you to the cinema today, but I’ll
__________ you next week.
5. I’ll lend you the book when I am _________ it.
6. Have you _________ her since your fight last week?
7. If you hadn’t come up with that bright idea our company
__________ (struggle) for survival.
Text Analysis
Detailed Analysis
Part IV & V: Exercise
Complete the following sentences.
1. I don’t like the way he treats his parents.
2. He likes observing children at play.
3. Now that we are in the supermarket, we might just as well
look around and buy something we need.
4. Sorry I can’t take you to the cinema today, but I’ll make it up
to you next week.
5. I’ll lend you the book when I am done with it.
6. Have you made it up with her since your fight last week?
7. If you hadn’t come up with that bright idea our company
would still have been struggling for survival.
Text Analysis
Theme
The theme of this story is everybody’s guess. So what is yours?
• Attitudes towards interracial marriages (racism)?
• Man-woman relationships (feminism)?
• The unreasonable nature of women?
• The arrogance of men?
• The impossibility of effective communication?/Alienation in
modern society?
视频
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Say Yes
Unit 2
Discussion
Reinforcement
Retelling
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Reinforcement
Discussion
1. From whose point of view is the story told? How does this
narrative point of view affect the story? What difference
would it make to choose another perspective?
2. From what the husband said and did, is he a racist or not?
3. In what sense is the man a considerate husband? In what
sense is he not?
4. Do you notice sexual inequality in the relationship between
the husband and the wife? Explain yourself.
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Reinforcement
Retelling
Choose one topic
1. Suppose you were the husband and tell the story of
that night to your friends.
2. Suppose you were the wife and tell the story of that
night to your friends.
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