7th Literature
A View From Saturday Review Sheet
Literature Elements
1. Irony: The difference between what appears to be and what truly is
2. Simile: A comparison of objects using ‘like’ or ‘as’
3. Metaphor: A comparison of one object with another and ascribing to the first object one or more attributes of the second
4. Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds
5. Foreshadowing: The presentation of material in a work in such a way that later events are prepared for
6. Conflict: The struggle that grows out of two opposing forces
7. Plot: The story line
8. Point of View: The vantage point from which an author presents a story
9. Setting: The environment in which a story takes place
10. Theme: A central idea
11. Hyperbole: An exaggeration to make a point
12. Characterization: The development of a fictitious character through a character’s actions, words, thoughts and feelings, appearance, another character’s words or thoughts about the character, and the author’s opinion of the character.
* Flat: A character constructed around a single idea or quality; a stereotypical
character
* Round: A character sufficiently complex to be able to surprise the reader
without losing credibility; a realistic character.
* Static: A character that most likely does not change during the story.
* Dynamic: A character who develops or changes as a result of the action of
the plot.
13. Allusion: A figure of speech that makes brief reference to a historical or literary event, or object.
14. Personification: A figure that endows animals, ideas, abstractions, and inanimate objects with human form.
15. Negative Turn: When a turn for the worse happens to the protagonist in the plot’s story. (Used to bring suspense to the story)
16. Positive Turn: When turn for the better happens to the protagonist in the plot’s story line.
Know the Plot pyramid:
From whose point of view is this story told?
1. Author’s all knowing view- 3rd person
2. Noah’s – 1st Person
3. Nadia – 1st person
4. Ethan – 1st person
What is a B & B letter? A bread and butter letter – usually a thank you letter
The theme of this book is:
The idea of choice and freedom
It’s not the destination, but the Journey
Metaphors – puzzles, journeys, and mysteries
The theme of balance – the monkey
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Himself –
The School: Epiphany 1. an appearance of a god or other supernatural being. 3.
The Four Souls and four journeys: The Metaphor: Life is a journey
1. Noah - First to return from Century Village in Florida — Noah’s journey with calligraphy – filling the pen
p.10 — “When I told Tillie(Noah’s Grandmother) that six steps seemed a lot to have to do before you begin, she said, “You must think of those six steps not as a preparation for the beginning but as the beginning itself.”
2. Nadia – Returns from the Sargasso Sea like her turtles - p. 57 “In the years between leaving their second home and their return to their native beaches, they commute. Year after year, all up and down the Atlantic, turtles swim north in the summer a nd south in the winter. Did you already know that?”
“I didn’t know for sure, but I had my suspicions.”
I had to smile. “And did you have your suspicions about me?”
“For a while,” he said. Then he took his eyes off the road long enough to return my smile. “But not now.”
“Of course,” I said, “I will be doing the same but opposite. I will commute north in the winter and south in the summer.”
“Yep,” he said. “And there will be times when you or I will need a lift between switches.”
“Yes,” I replied, “there will be times.” Note: They are riding in a car as they have this conversation – metaphor of their journey
3. Ethan – Shortest journey, but it took a little longer than the rest – It was a ride on a school bus – p. 61 I am always the longest rider. I live farther from school than anyone else on my route. I board the bus first and get off last. I always have. The bus ride is the worst part of the school day. It always has been. Going is bad; coming home is worse.
I knew every stop along the route. I knew every house, every tree and shrub, every pothole in the road.
Ethan notices everything – he introduces us to Julian Singh and Sillington House and shows how all the Souls are related. He is there when Julian is caught with the eraser at the board where paraplegic has been erased and cripple has been written. Only Ethan realizes that Hamilton Knapp did it. Ethan also noticed the book bag incident and tried to intervene.
We also get the mystery invitation to the Mad Tea Party via Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. At the tea party we learn that Julian’s mother was a chanteuse and that she had died and that Julian lived on a Cruise ship. Ethan tells jokes at the tea party.
P. 93 Something in Sillington House gave me permission to do things I had never done before. Never even thought of doing. Something there triggered the unfolding of those parts that had been incubating. Things that had lain inside me, curled up like the turtles hatchlings newly emerged from their eggs, taking time in the dark of their nest to unfurl themselves. I told jokes I had never told before. I asked questions I had never asked before. When it was my turn to tell what day I would like to live over, after Nadia had finished, after Noah and Julian had, too, I told mine.
The Souls listened and were not embarrassed to hear, and I was not embarrassed to say, “I would like to live over the day of our first tea party. And, Look,” I added, “every Saturday since, I get to do just that.” Note: This is the View from Saturday
4. Julian – Last and Longest – voyage –
5. Mrs. O – Automobile – journey back into life – Note the connection of Mrs. O with Mrs. Margaret Draper her former elementary principal and Ethan’s grandmother who marries Nadia’s Grandfather and Noah becomes their best man.
P. 97 – Souls want to help Mrs. O – Help her stand on her on her own two feet.
The ivory monkey - Giving Mrs. O a lift – like the turtles.
Through the Looking Glass – Humpty Dumpty
Mrs. Olinkski = Humpty Dumpty and is put together again by the Souls
What is a B and B Inn? Bed and Breakfast – The Sillington House
What did the four souls find on their journeys? Mrs. O?
A cup of kindness
“Kindness, yes, Mrs. Olinski. Noah, Nadia, and Ethan found kindness in others and learned how to look for it in themselves. Can you know excellence if you’ve never seen it? Can you know good if you have seen only bad? Julian knows –perhaps even more than the others—about kindness. We have found much kindness when we journeyed on the ship. When sixth grade started, my son found malice. Spite and malice. Mean things were done to him.
Know the Three Eternal truths.
1. Things and People are not what they seem.
2. There is a battle going on.
3. In the battle, you have a crucial role to play.
Know Communication statements.
1. Communication always has consequences.
2. Communication always has eternal consequences.
Know the “Everything has a place and everything in its place” saying
Know the “You don’t know what you have until you lose it” saying
Know the “Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” saying
Know the Bible in a nutshell sentence.
God working in history to restore relationships with people like us.
Be prepared to rate this novel on a scale of one to ten – one being I couldn’t stand this book and ten being I would recommend this book to everyone! Be prepared to back up your rating.
