Holiday Narrative Unit
We are going to be exploring different narrative stories over the next few weeks that all have a similar
theme.* “A Christmas Memory,” “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” and “A Christmas Story” all evoke the
enchantment that holiday celebrations hold for children. All three stories use the voice of the adult writer to
describe the memories from his childhood. They recall with fondness and nostalgia the activities, sensory
details, and people they associate with the holidays.
The Modes of Writing
Writing is a process that begins with the exploration of ideas and ends with the presentation of a final draft.
Often, the types of writing are grouped into modes according to form and purpose. Typically the modes or
types of writing include:
 Informative (or Expository)
 Persuasive
 Narrative
Narration
Whenever writers tell any type of story, they are using narration. Although there are many kinds of
narration, most narratives share certain elements, such as characters, a setting, a sequence of events, and,
often, a theme.
Autobiographical Writing
Autobiographical writing tells a true story about an important period, experience, or relationship in the
writer’s life. An autobiographical narrative can be as simple as a description of a recent car trip (or holiday
memory) or as complex as the entire story of a person’s life. Effective autobiographical writing includes:
 A series of events that involve the writer as the main character
 Details, thoughts, feelings, and insights from the writer’s perspective
 A conflict or an event that affects the writer
 A logical organization that tells the story clearly
 Insights that the writer gained from the experience
A few types of autobiographical writing are autobiographical incidents, personal narratives,
autobiographical narratives or sketches, reflective essays, eyewitness accounts, anecdotes, and memoirs.
*Theme – a central image or insight revealed through a literary work.
Examples:
Crime does not pay
Sacrifices bring reward
Absolute power corrupts absolutely
2
“A Christmas Memory” by Truman Capote
Vocabulary
armada – a large group of moving things
bantam – small domestic fowl; aggressive person
biddy – young (chicken); hen
cameo – profile medallion (jewelry) that contrasts in color (usually white on pink or black background)
carnage – massive slaughter
cavort - to leap or dance about in a lively manner
chamber pot - a bedroom vessel for urination and defecation
chastising - punishing
chicory – wood smoked
craggy – rugged; uneven
dilapidated - decayed, deteriorated, or fallen into partial ruin especially through neglect or misuse
ermine – weasel (a brown weasel that turns white in the winter time)
garish – flashy; gaudy
hominy grits – hulled and dried kernels of corn prepared by boiling
japonicas – a Japanese shrub with red flowers; camellia
muses – thoughts; reflections
potent – powerful; strong
prosaic – ordinary; lacking spirit or imagination
rime – frost
rollicks – high spirited; behaving carefree
ruination – total destruction
satsumas - medium-sized largely seedless citrus fruits with thin smooth skin (oranges)
shorn - short
skinflint – miser; cheap person
squander - to spend extravagantly or foolishly; to waste
stereopticon – a magic lantern, especially one made double so as to produce dissolving views
victrola – old fashioned record player
virile – masculine; potent
wrathful – very angry
3
Discussion Questions
(Be sure to answer each question using complete sentences.)
1. What was Buddy’s and his cousin’s only really profitable enterprise?
2. Why does Buddy’s cousin always spend thirteenths in bed?
3. How is Mr. Haha Jones like “Boo” Radley in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird?
4. For whom are the fruitcakes made?
5. According to Buddy’s cousin, how tall should a Christmas tree be? Why?
6. What did Buddy and his cousin make each other for Christmas?
7. Write down one example of imagery in the story. Imagery is the creation of mental picture by
pertinent word choice and heightened description. For example: His leathery, sun-abused face was
ridged like corrugated cardboard.
8. Write down one example of figurative language from the story. Just to remind you metaphors (a
comparison of unlike things without using “like” or “as”) and similes (a comparison of unlike things
using “like” or “as”) are figurative language.
4
“A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan Thomas
Literature books - Pages 694-701
Vocabulary (see definitions for the words below on page 693 of your literature book)
sidle
prey
wallowed
crocheted
brittle
trod
forlorn
**See page 701 for background information about Dylan Thomas.
Discussion Questions
(Answer questions 1-6 on page 701 after finishing the story.)
5
“Christmas to Me” by Harper Lee
Vocabulary
audacity - intrepid boldness
bedlam (bedlam prevailed) - Bedlam, popular name for the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, London, an
insane asylum, from Middle English Bedlam Bethlehem
evince - to display clearly
melancholy - depression of spirits
rectitude - moral integrity: righteousness
smilax - a tender twining asparagus which are often used in floral arrangements
viscous - sticky
wallop - to hit with force
Discussion Questions
1. At the beginning of the story, what does Ms. Lee miss?
2. How does Ms. Lee describe the family with whom she spends Christmas in New York?
3. What did the family give to Ms. Lee for Christmas?
4. How was this story different from “A Christmas Memory,” and “A Child’s Christmas in Wales?”
6
“A Christmas Story”
(novel and screenplay by Jean Shepherd)
Background of Jean Shepherd:
Raised in Hammond, Indiana, Jean Shepherd went on to work in the steel mills and was a veteran
of the Army Signal Corps before entering the arts. In the 1950s, he began a long career as a radio
personality telling stories of his youth, commenting on current topics and performing silly songs.
While at WOR-AM in New York, he also broadcast live night club acts from the Limelight in
Greenwich Village. The magazine articles that he wrote were published in a series of books
including The America of George Ade, In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, Wanda Hickey's
Night of Golden Memories, and Other Disasters, and A Fistful of Fig Newtons. During the 1970s,
he did two series of humorous programs as well as several “American Playhouse” (1982)
episodes for PBS. In 1983, he wrote his first feature film, A Christmas Story (1983) putting
together many tales of his semi-autobiographical character "Ralphie." A sequel, My Summer
Story (AKA It Runs in the Family) was made in 1994.
Early in his tenure at WOR, he and his listeners decided to play a prank on the New York Times
best-seller list; he suggested that they go to bookstores around the city and start asking for a book
that didn't even exist; the listeners suggested the title (I, Libertine!), an author name (Frederick
Ewing), and even gave this fictitious author a fairly detailed biography (former British civil servant,
lived in South Africa, was married to Marjorie "a horsewoman from the North Country"). As his
radio listeners included airline pilots who traveled overseas and press agents who fed information
to leading gossip columnists in the city, the phony book and its phony author were soon a hot
topic in transatlantic publishing circles, appearing on best-seller lists, getting mentioned in Earl
Wilson's syndicated gossip column, and even getting banned in Boston. Finally, one of his
listeners, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal persuaded him that it was time to let the rest of the
world in on the joke - by then, the book was such a big deal that Ballantine Publishing asked
Shepherd to actually write a book called I, Libertine!, and with the help of science-fiction writer
Theodore Sturgeon, he did. Needless to say, The Times didn't take kindly to having been fooled,
and when they reviewed the book, they implied that Shepherd had misled his fans into asking for
the book, when in fact the listeners were part of the hoax from the very beginning.
Trivia: Cameo: [Jean Shepherd] writer/narrator is the irate man waiting in the Santa line at
the department store.
Source: www.imdb.com
7
Figurative Language: Simile and Metaphor
A figure of speech is an expression that uses words in ways different from their literal meaning.
When an author uses figures of speech in his or her writing, the author is using figurative
language. Similes and metaphors are a type of figurative language writers use to create certain
emotions and sensations, and to cause the reader to form “mental pictures” of what the author is
describing. A simile is a direct comparison, usually using “like” or “as.” In a metaphor, the “like” or
“as” is omitted, and the comparison is simply stated.
The passage below, from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, contains both similes and
metaphors:
A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale
flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over
the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea.
The curtains are “like pale flags” and the shadow on the rug is like the one the wind makes on the
sea (similes). The ceiling is a frosted wedding cake (metaphor).
8
Figurative Language in “A Christmas Story” Activity (worth 10 points)
NAME: ________________________________
DUE DATE: _________________
Directions: As you watch “A Christmas Story” in class, write down at least FIVE examples of
figurative language. After watching the movie, translate the figurative language examples into
“boring language.”
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
TRANSLATION
Examples:
-My little brother looked like a tick about ready
to pop.
-My brother was wearing so many layers of
clothing that he looked very big and swollen.
-The Holy Grail of presents…
-The best present of all.
9