Interpreting a Short Story Students will study the literary genre of the short story and examine how, through writing, an author can comment directly/indirectly on our society as a whole. Hopefully, the students will develop an awareness of the problems/concerns facing our society and an appreciation of how a skilled writer can mirror society's ills and sometimes offer solutions for the problems that plague us.
Learning outcomes
Students will:
• predict what will happen next in a story.
• act out a scene from the story, experimenting with different roles.
• discuss/evaluate scene and outcome.
• relate the problem of the main character to problems faced by some members of our society. Teacher planning Time required for lesson
90 Minutes Materials/resources
The short story entitled "Thank You Ma'am" by Langston Hughes
Pre-activities
Phase I. Warm up the group: Teacher- Do you recall reading the article about a problem being experienced in some middle schools? Pupils wear uniforms in an attempt to thwart school violence. Some students had been attacked by others because of the type of tennis shoes or jackets worn. Youngsters who did not have the "in" items were assaulting and stealing from their classmates. Sometimes it is difficult not to have what others have.
(Have students discuss the article and share feelings about what is taking place in some schools.)
We are going to read a story today entitled "Thank You, M'am by Langston Hughes. It is about a boy who wants things that he doesn't have. We will also discuss possible endings for the story.
"Thank You, M'am" is the story of an adolescent named Roger who attempts to steal a lady's pocketbook. Mrs. Louella Bates Washington Jones, the lady from whom Roger tries to steal, does the unexpected. She kicked him "right in his blue-jeaned sitter", and she "shook him until his teeth rattled." Mrs. Jones took Roger to her home where she tried to teach him about "wanting things he could not get".
(After reading the story, the teacher will focus the discussion on what might happen next in the episode.)
Example Questions:
• What do you think Roger will do next?
• Do you think Mrs. Jones successfully taught Roger that stealing is wrong?
• Do you think that Mrs. Jones has influenced Roger's life in a positive way?
• Do you think that Roger will lead a "straight" life in the future? Activities Phase II Selecting the Participants Teacher - Describe the characters from the story and tell what they are like, how they feel, and what they might do next.
(Make sure that the students understand that Roger and Mrs. Jones are the main characters; people on the street who witnessed the attempted theft are minor characters. Have students volunteer for the roles.) Phase III Creating the line of action (The stage has been set. The role players outline the scene, but they don't prepare dialogue. A section of the classroom becomes the street where Roger attempted to steal from Mrs. Jones. Another corner of the classroom becomes the home of Mrs. Jones, where she talks to Roger, attempting to teach him that stealing is wrong. The student playing Roger decides where in the action he wants to begin.) Phase IV Preparing the observers Teacher - Now different jobs will be assigned to you students. Someone will evaluate the role playing, one will comment on the effectiveness of the behavior of the role players, and another will define the feelings of the persons being portrayed.
(Students volunteer for the tasks, or the teacher assigns them.)
Phase V The enactment
(The students portray their roles, responding realistically to each other. The players/roles can be changed.) Phase VI Discussion and Evaluation Teacher - The enactment has been completed. Now we will discuss the following questions:
1. How did Roger feel when Mrs. Jones said that she, too, had once wanted things that she could not have?
2. What was Roger thinking about when Mrs. Jones left her purse out in the open where he could easily snatch it if he wanted to?
3. What was going on in Mrs. Jones' mind when she gave Roger money?
4. What did Roger mean when he said that he "did not trust the woman not to trust him"?
5. Why do you think Roger could only utter a "Thank You" before Mrs. Jones closed the door? Phase VII Share experience and generalize The students and teacher relate Roger's problem to real situations and current social problems. The teacher asks students to write in their journals about a time they had an experience similar to Roger's, where they wanted something they could not have. How did that make them feel? How did they act? The teacher then asks the students if they know of anyone like Mrs. Jones who decided to overlook their flaws and see the best in them. How did that make them feel? Did it change their feelings or behavior?
Assessment
Teacher/peer evaluation of discussion/role playing Graphic Organizer for Active Reader
http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_mk/la/latm/LITRES19.PDF Thank You, Ma'am
by Langston Hughes
She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a long strap, and she carried it slung across her shoulder. It was about eleven o’clock at night, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse. The strap broke with the single tug the boy gave it from behind. But the boy’s weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him to lose his balance so, intsead of taking off full blast as he had hoped, the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk, and his legs flew up. the large woman simply turned around and kicked him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then she reached down, picked the boy up by his shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rattled.
After that the woman said, “Pick up my pocketbook, boy, and give it here.” She still held him. But she bent down enough to permit him to stoop and pick up her purse. Then she said, “Now ain’t you ashamed of yourself?”
Firmly gripped by his shirt front, the boy said, “Yes’m.”
The woman said, “What did you want to do it for?”
The boy said, “I didn’t aim to.”
She said, “You a lie!”
By that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some stood watching.
“If I turn you loose, will you run?” asked the woman.
“Yes’m,” said the boy.
“Then I won’t turn you loose,” said the woman. She did not release him.
“I’m very sorry, lady, I’m sorry,” whispered the boy.
“Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain’t you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face?”
“No’m,” said the boy.
“Then it will get washed this evening,” said the large woman starting up the street, dragging the frightened boy behind her.
He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail and willow-wild, in tennis shoes and blue jeans.
The woman said, “You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I can do right now is to wash your face. Are you hungry?”
“No’m,” said the being dragged boy. “I just want you to turn me loose.”
“Was I bothering you when I turned that corner?” asked the woman.
“No’m.”
“But you put yourself in contact with me,” said the woman. “If you think that that contact is not going to last awhile, you got another thought coming. When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.”
Sweat popped out on the boy’s face and he began to struggle. Mrs. Jones stopped, jerked him around in front of her, put a half-nelson about his neck, and continued to drag him up the street. When she got to her door, she dragged the boy inside, down a hall, and into a large kitchenette-furnished room at the rear of the house. She switched on the light and left the door open. The boy could hear other roomers laughing and talking in the large house. Some of their doors were open, too, so he knew he and the woman were not alone. The woman still had him by the neck in the middle of her room.
She said, “What is your name?”
“Roger,” answered the boy.
“Then, Roger, you go to that sink and wash your face,” said the woman, whereupon she turned him loose—at last. Roger looked at the door—looked at the woman—looked at the door—and went to the sink.
Let the water run until it gets warm,” she said. “Here’s a clean towel.”
“You gonna take me to jail?” asked the boy, bending over the sink.
“Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere,” said the woman. “Here I am trying to get home to cook me a bite to eat and you snatch my pocketbook! Maybe, you ain’t been to your supper either, late as it be. Have you?”
“There’s nobody home at my house,” said the boy.
“Then we’ll eat,” said the woman, “I believe you’re hungry—or been hungry—to try to snatch my pockekbook.”
“I wanted a pair of blue suede shoes,” said the boy.
“Well, you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes,” said Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. “You could of asked me.”
“M’am?”
The water dripping from his face, the boy looked at her. There was a long pause. A very long pause. After he had dried his face and not knowing what else to do dried it again, the boy turned around, wondering what next. The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!
The woman was sitting on the day-bed. After a while she said, “I were young once and I wanted things I could not get.”
There was another long pause. The boy’s mouth opened. Then he frowned, but not knowing he frowned.
The woman said, “Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn’t you? You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t going to say that.” Pause. Silence. “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son—neither tell God, if he didn’t already know. So you set down while I fix us something to eat. You might run that comb through your hair so you will look presentable.”
In another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas plate and an icebox. Mrs. Jones got up and went behind the screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse which she left behind her on the day-bed. But the boy took care to sit on the far side of the room where he thought she could easily see him out of the corner of her eye, if she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.
“Do you need somebody to go to the store,” asked the boy, “maybe to get some milk or something?”
“Don’t believe I do,” said the woman, “unless you just want sweet milk yourself. I was going to make cocoa out of this canned milk I got here.”
“That will be fine,” said the boy.
She heated some lima beans and ham she had in the icebox, made the cocoa, and set the table. The woman did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or anything else that would embarrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told him about her job in a hotel beauty-shop that stayed open late, what the work was like, and how all kinds of women came in and out, blondes, red-heads, and Spanish. Then she cut him a half of her ten-cent cake.
“Eat some more, son,” she said.
When they were finished eating she got up and said, “Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes. And next time, do not make the mistake of latching onto my pocketbook nor nobody else’s—because shoes come by devilish like that will burn your feet. I got to get my rest now. But I wish you would behave yourself, son, from here on in.”
She led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. “Good-night! Behave yourself, boy!” she said, looking out into the street.
The boy wanted to say something else other than “Thank you, m’am” to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but he couldn’t do so as he turned at the barren stoop and looked back at the large woman in the door. He barely managed to say “Thank you” before she shut the door. And he never saw her again.
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