Unit 1
Ever-changing Adolescent
Identities in Literature
Notebook Requirements
 Notes/Literary
Terms
 Classwork/Homework
 RTL (Response to Literature)
Literary Terms
Literary Terms
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1. Theme – the central idea in a work of literature
2. Character – a person or animal who takes part in the
action of a literary work
3. Plot structure – the structure of the sequence of events
in a story
4. Setting – the time and place of the action
5. Autobiography – a person’s account of his/her own life
6. Memoir – a sub-category of autobiography, a memoir
may only depict a small portion of a life (a year, a summer,
or a series of events)
Unit Theme
Unit Theme
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Ever-changing Adolescent Identities in
Literature
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Learning Target: Explain how literature
portrays the ever-changing adolescent
identities
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Extended Text: Bad Boy: A Memoir by Walter
Dean Myers
Genre Review
Literary Genres
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Fiction
Nonfiction
Poetry
Drama
Stories passed on by word of mouth
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
1.
Nonfiction – prose writing that presents and explains ideas
or that tells about real people, places, objects, and events
Examples:
Functional texts
Essays
Biographical/Autobiographical writing
Media
Reference materials
Periodicals
Speeches
Functional Texts
2.
Functional text – writing with a specific purpose
that helps you function in everyday life
Examples:
Textbooks
Instruction manuals
Cookbooks
Maps
Menus
Brochures
Essays
3. Essay – a short work of nonfiction about a particular
subject. Most essays have a single major focus and a
clear introduction, body, and conclusion.
Examples:
Expository – explains an idea
Narrative – tells a story
Persuasive – offers an opinion
Informational – explains a process
Informal – uses casual, conversational language
Historical – gives facts and explanations about
historical events
Biographical/Autobiographical
Writing
4.Biography – a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the
life story of another person
5. Autobiography – a nonfiction story of the writer’s own
life, told by the writer
6. Memoir – an account of someone’s personal life and
experiences
7. Anecdote – a brief story about a single interesting,
amusing, or strange event
8. Journal/Diary – a daily, periodic account of events and
the writer’s thought and feelings about those events
9. Letter – a written communication from one person to
another
Media
10.Media – reports, explanations, opinions,
or descriptions written for television, the
radio, or the internet.
Reference Materials
11.Reference materials – any resource that
can be referred to for specific information.
Reference materials include:
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Dictionary
Thesaurus
Atlas
Almanac
Encyclopedia
Periodicals
12.Periodical – a publication issued at
regularly recurring intervals (daily, weekly,
monthly, etc.), such as magazines or
newspapers. Features include:
Articles
Editorials
Pictures/captions
Advertising
Speeches
13.Speech – a talk given in public
 Refrain – a repeated sound, word, phrase,
line, or group of lines
 Allusion – a reference to a well-known
person, event, place, literary work, or
artwork
Historical
Background
Pre-reading
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Learning Target:
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Use the historical context of a text to enhance my
reading/understanding of the content
Historical Background Overview
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Before the African American Civil Rights Movement
of the 1950's and 1960's, racial discrimination was
deeply imbedded in American society.
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The reality of life for the great majority of African
Americans meant that they lived with gross
inequities in housing, employment, education,
medical services, and public accommodations.
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The memoir takes place during the 1940s.
Pre-Civil Rights Era
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After the Civil War, Congress passed 13th
Amendment to the United States
Constitution ending slavery in 1865.
However, this amendment only outlawed
slavery. It didn’t provide citizenship or equal
rights for African Americans.
In 1868 the 14th Amendment was passed
and granted African Americans citizenship.
Segregation “Separate but Equal”
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Even though African Americans were granted citizenship, they were not
granted equal rights.
As a result after 1868, segregation became society’s norm and then
became constitutional law in 1896.
By law, blacks and white were to have separate public facilities one for
“white” and one for “colored”.
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For example, schools and government facilities were separate.
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African Americans had separate water fountains and restrooms.
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African Americans were not allowed to share a taxi with whites or enter
a building through the same entrance.
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Blacks were also excluded from restaurants and public libraries.
Segregation was a way of life…
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Blacks had little access to "good" jobs,
finding work mainly in positions of service
to white employers.
The result of being denied both
employment and educational opportunities
was that the great majority of African
American families lived in poverty.
Segregation
Change came slowly…
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In the late 1940's following World War II (when
America had fought for freedom and
democracy abroad and therefore felt
compelled to make good on these promises at
home), the federal government began to pass
laws against racial discrimination.
The United States military was integrated for
the first time, and new laws and court rulings
prohibited segregation in schools, government
buildings, and public transportation.
Bitter Opposition
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However, many of these laws met with bitter
opposition especially in the South or were
simply ignored.
When members of the African American
community tried to break through old barriers,
they were often threatened or beaten and, in
some cases, killed. Likewise, black homes and
churches were sometimes burned or bombed.
Bitter Opposition
“The Great Migration”
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Due to the lack of jobs and extreme violence and
opposition in the southern states, hundreds of
thousands of African Americans moved to the northern
industrial cities starting before World War I and through
1940.
However, they were confronted with similar problems
such as racism, poverty, and police abuse in the north.
But these problems were in a new setting, where the
men and women could vote and possibilities for political
action were more opportunity than in the South.
This brings us to the setting of the memoir….
Introduction to the Setting
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Harlem, New York
Harlem
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Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City
borough of Manhattan.
Since the 1920s it has been a major African
American cultural, residential, and business
center ever since the Great Migration brought
blacks to this area beginning in 1904.
During the 1920s, this neighborhood was the
focus of the Harlem Renaissance.
Culture
Harlem Renaissance
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The Harlem Renaissance was an outpouring of literary,
artistic, and intellectual work that helped foster a new black
cultural identity in the 1920s and 1930s.
It has been described it as a "spiritual coming of age in which
the black community was able to seize upon its first chances
for group expression and self determination."
With racism still rampant and economic opportunities scarce,
creative expression was one of the few avenues available to
African Americans.
More than just a literary or artistic movement, it redefined
how American and the world viewed African Americans.
Influential
People
Jazz
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A musical style that originated
in the early 1910s from black
southern communities.
Fats Waller, born Thomas
Wright Waller, was a jazz
pianist from Harlem
Fats Waller “Honeysuckle
Rose”
May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943
Jazz
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Billie Holiday, born Eleanora
Harris, was an American jazz
singer and songwriter.
She had an important
influence on jazz and pop
singing.
Billie Holiday “The Very
Thought of You”
April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959
Sports
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Jack Roosevelt "Jackie"
Robinson became the first black
Major League Baseball player of
the modern era when he
debuted with the Brooklyn
Dodgers in 1947.
As the first black man to play in
the major leagues since the
1880s, he was instrumental in
bringing an end to racial
segregation in professional
baseball.
January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972
Literature
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Langston Hughes was a writer
during the Harlem Renaissance.
His works express the pride in the
African-American identity and its
diverse culture.
Excerpt from the poem "My
People":
The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.
The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people
Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my
people.
February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967
Major World Events
Major World Events
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World War II 1939-1945
Attack on Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941
Vietnam War 1955-1975
Bad Boy: A
Memoir
All of these people, places,
and events have an
influence over the memoir.
Introduction to the Book
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Walter Dean Meyers