Desiree’s Baby & Irony

Bell Work

Complete the anticipation guide on “Desiree’s Baby”. In your journals, explain

your rankings (why one factor is most/least important).

Minimum 50 Words

Objective:

• Students will build necessary background knowledge for reading “Desiree’s Baby” by viewing related non-print text.

• Students will begin reading and annotating “Desiree’s Baby.”

“Desiree’s Baby”

• Takes place in Louisiana before the American Civil War

• Includes aspects of Creole culture into the text

• Conveys how society’s views on race impact relationships

Terms in “Desiree’s Baby”• Providence-God’s care or guidance• Yellow nurse- light-skinned black person.

• Corbeille-Wedding gift to the bride from the groom, which usually included cashmere shawl, purses, fan, jewels, and lace.

What does it mean to be Creole?

Take notes while watching the video:Creole Culture in Louisiana

Questions to Consider:• What does it mean to be Creole?• What are the physical traits of Creole people?• How did physical appearances affect people’s

relationships? Do they still today?

Bell work:

Explain why this cartoon is funny. Make sure you cite textual evidence to support your answer.

Objective:

Students will develop the ability to distinguish among situational,

verbal, and dramatic irony by analyzing their use in a variety of

print and non-print texts.

Today’s Agenda:

• Bell Work• Share Out• Listening to Alanis

Morisette• Turn and Talk• Irony Notes• Guided Practice• Independent

Practice• Clean Up

An old man turned ninety-eightHe won the lottery and died the next dayIt's a black fly in your ChardonnayIt's a death row pardon two minutes too lateIsn't it ironic, don't you think

[Chorus]It's like rain on your wedding dayIt's a free ride when you've already paidIt's the good advice that you just didn't takeWho would've thought, it figures

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to flyHe packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-byeHe waited his whole damn life to take that flightAnd as the plane crashed down he thought"Well, isn't this nice."And isn't it ironic, l don't you think[Chorus]

Well, life has a funny way of sneaking up on you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm-1xvWibt0

And life has a funny way of helping you out whenYou think everything's gone wrong and everything blows upIn your face

A traffic jam when you're already lateA no-smoking sign on your cigarette breakIt's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knifeIt's meeting the man of my dreamsAnd then meeting his beautiful wifeAnd isn't it ironic, don't you thinkA little too ironic, and yeah I really do think[Chorus]Well, life has a funny way of sneaking up on youAnd life has a funny way of helping you out. Helping you out.

“Ironic”- Alanis Morissettte

Turn and Talk:

• Based on the situations Alanis Morisette sings about in her song “Ironic,” how would you define irony?

Literary definition of Irony

The discrepancy between what might be expected and what actually occurs.

Verbal Irony

Verbal irony is when a speaker or writer says one thing, but actually means the opposite.

Verbal Irony Examples 0:49

Example: Man comes in soaked from the rain and says, “Nice day we’re having!”

Are sarcasm and verbal irony interchangeable terms?

• Sarcasm is a specific case of irony. This means all sarcasm is irony, but all irony is not sarcasm. Sarcasm is not just saying something with the meaning something else. Sarcasm is used with the intention of ridiculing or hurting somebody.

Situational Irony Situational irony is when the outcome of a situation is inconsistent with what we expect would logically or normally occur. It is the reverse of what we expect will be or happen.

Dramatic Irony

Dramatic irony is when

the audience or the

reader is aware of

something that a

character does not

know.

Bell Work

In “Desiree’s Baby”, Armand finds a letter from his mother revealing that he, not Desiree, is black. What type of irony is this an example of?

Support your answer. 50 Words.

Bell Work

What is verbal irony? What tone is associated with verbal irony? Create one example of verbal irony.

Support your answer. 50 Words.

Today’s Agenda:

• Bell Work• Share Out• Review &

complete Irony Notes

• Guided Practice• Independent

Practice• Start background

for “Sonny’s Blues”

Objective:

Students will develop the ability to distinguish among situational,

verbal, and dramatic irony by applying these concepts in a

worksheet activity.

Why do author’s use irony?

- To increase suspense or tension- To heighten the reader’s emotional

response (esp. in the case of tragedies)- To emphasize the importance of certain

universal truths- To provide a comic effect- To create a satirical tone- To create a sarcastic tone

Read the following line from O’Flaherty’s “The Sniper”:

“Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face.”

Which type of irony is used? Explain your answer.

Answer: This is an example of situational irony. While the audience is fully aware that the sniper has shot and killed his enemy, we do not expect the enemy to be his brother. Therefore, the outcome of the story is the opposite of what is expected or seems appropriate.

Read the following lines from O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”?

"She would of been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.“

Which type of irony is used? Explain your answer. Answer: Since these lines are an example of sarcasm, they are also an example of verbal irony. The Misfit says that the grandmother is “a good woman,” but the second half of the sentence suggests that he does not sincerely mean it. What he means is that having her life threatened brought out the best in her. In actuality, she was a judgmental, manipulative and self-centered old woman.

Independent Work:Take 15 minutes to complete the activity on irony from “Desiree’s Baby.”

Hints: 1. Keep in mind the video on race and Creole

identity you watched yesterday.

2. LaBlanche literal means “the white one” in French. She is a light-skinned slave at L’Abri.

Sonny’s Blues

Objective

• Students will build necessary background knowledge for reading

“Sonny’s Blues” by viewing related non-print

text.• Students will begin

reading “Sonny’s Blues”.

Agenda• Background for Sonny’s Blues• Group reads “Sonny’s Blues”

together• Independent reading of

“Sonny’s Blues” –Complete Guided Questions

while reading–Homework: Read to P.9 &

Complete Questions– Irony Sheet

–Study for vocabulary Quiz

Agenda

Harlem 1950s Harlem Today

Let’s contrast these two images.

Gallery

Gallery

What is the setting?• Post World War II Harlem• Artists establish Greenwich Village as cultural

capital – Responding to the crisis caused by the war

• 50s leading up to the radical 60s • African American soldiers returning home from

the war and heading north towards Harlem– instead of finding new job opportunities and equal

rights, they found newly constructed housing projects and vast urban slums

HARLEM SHADOWSby Claude McKay

HEAR the halting footsteps of a lassIn Negro Harlem when the night lets fallIts veil. I see the shapes of girls who passEager to heed desire's insistent call:Ah, little dark girls, who in slippered feetGo prowling through the night from street to street. Through the long night until the silver breakOf day the little gray feet know no rest,

Through the lone night until the last

snow-flakeHas dropped from heaven upon the earth's white breast,The dusky, half-clad girls of tired feetAre trudging, thinly shod, from street to street. Ah, stern harsh world, that in the wretched wayOf poverty, dishonor and disgrace,Has pushed the timid little feet of clay.The sacred brown feet of my fallen race!Ah, heart of me, the weary, weary feetIn Harlem wandering from street to street.

Blues

• The blues became a dialogue between a human being and his guitar

• Comes from slave spiritual songs

• Expresses the sadness and hardships experienced by people

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgaxYEsEVVY

Jazz • Breaks the traditional

conventions of music• Music that relies on

instinct, not structure• Derives from the Blues• Originated in southern

black communities • Famous musicians: Louis

Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, etc.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnoKOlMomqA

FlashbackA narrative technique that allows a writer to present past events during current events, in order to provide background.

By providing background information, the writer provides the reader with insight into a character's motivation and/or background to a conflict.

After we read together…

• Continue to read independently.• Complete the guided reading

questions.