The Color Purple

Grade Levels

Excerpt

Objectives: To do a close reading of Color Purple, Plot changes in character throughout the novel, Glean evidence for an essay

Directions: You will create a TRACKING POSTER for one of the characters from the novel with your group members. The basic idea of a fever chart is that you are tracking your character’s psychological state through the course of the novel, using your own created scale as the “Y-AXIS” and direct quotes and page numbers from the novel as the “X-AXIS.” A careful look at your fever chart will allow you to draw conclusions about your character.

For example, if you were to examine Celie’s changes in character, you would locate quotes that show when she was more “man”-thinking, quotes where you felt she was more “neutral,” and quotes where you thought she was “woman-thinking.”

The goal for your group is to determine the changes in the character and what happens to that character the more she is exposed to feminism or African heritage.

Some ideas:

• Celie’s relationship with Mr. ___________.

• Celie’s relationship with Shug.

• Celie’s relationship with Nettie.

• Celie’s relationship with Sophia and/or Harpo.

• Celie’s role as it relates to the home.

• Celie’s discovery of her African heritage.

You will choose 8-10 quotes for your topic and will rate them on a scale of your making but symbolic of the personality changes that occur. You must include page numbers with your quotations. They can be lines from the character himself, what others say about him, or what the author narrates. You will have to determine the role each group member plays in this project.

You will have five to seven minutes to present your fever poser in class and discuss the importance of your topic. The poster can be creatively done by adding symbols that represent the character’s changes. I will provide you with supplies, paper and time to finalize your poster. The majority of the work will be done outside of class!

Thesis: Hamlet’s behavior reflects his desire to seek revenge, which increases as Hamlet discovers more about Claudius’ actions and acquires more attention by characters in the play; Hamlet is able to be sane again once he has accomplished his task of seeking revenge on Claudius.

Explanation:

• This line shows how Hamlet feels that his father was everything to him, and his death makes Hamlet feel like there is no good left in the world to him. This typical emotion for someone to experience whom has lost a love one.

• Hamlet’s emotion in this sentence shows how he is so disgusted with the fact that after such a small amount of time, Gertrude falls in love with another man, forgetting his father. The fact that Gertrude committed an act of incest by marrying Claudius is what disgusts Hamlet even more than just Gertrude falling in love with someone else. This emotion is also typical if this were so happen to someone else.

• Hamlet is hinting to the beginning of his insane behavior when he “no longer values his life”, and is not afraid of the ghost as he feels that since the ghost is immortal, it cannot damage his soul.

• Hamlet’s vow to remember the ghost and forget all trivial facts and memories to remember the ghost’s requests shows his first real sign of insanity.

About

Chart how "hot" or "cold" a character is throughout the novel. Comes with directions and a sample from Hamlet.