Unit 5 Dream and Faith
Part I: Learning the Skills
Activity 1:
Match the themes with the following stories.
A. The greatest kindness will not bind the ungrateful.
B. Idleness brings want.
C. Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness.
D. Unity is strength.
E. Fine feathers don’t make fine birds.
Story 1：C
Story 2: B
Story 3: A
Story 4: E
Story 5: D
Activity 2:
Review the texts you have read in the previous units and figure out the theme(s) revealed in
each text. Discuss with your partner how these themes are developed and revealed in the
texts, and comment on the techniques that the authors use to develop the themes.
Text
Theme(s)
How the theme(s) is (are)
Comments
revealed
The Story of My
One could overcome --Offered background
Life (Chapter 4)
a problem that
information about herself at
seems to be
the beginning
insurmountable
--Described the skillfulness
and patience of Ann Sullivan
--the key moment of epiphany
“The Diamond
Vanity and pride can A great contrast between
Necklace”
be expensive
what life is and what life
Mathilde fancies at the
beginning
Mathilde borrowed a necklace
and had a moment of her
fancied life,
Madame Loisel’s vanity causes
her to want to live beyond her
means and her pride that
prevents her from telling
Madame Forestiere the truth.
“After Twenty
Justice is higher than
Years”
friendship
“The Selfish Giant” Sharing can bring joy
“Too Soon a
True courage is love
Woman”
“My Father sits in
the Dark”
“The three Little
Pigs (V1)
“The three Little
Pigs (V2)
“A Day’s Wait”
The love of family
members
One should try his
best
Truth might take a
turn when the
narrator is different
Courage is
Activity 3
Read the poem “Sea-Fever” by John Masefield carefully. Write your answer to each question
and then discuss your answer with your partner.
1) What is the theme, or message that the author expresses in this poem?
The simple things in life may be the best.
2) What words are repeated to point out the theme? Without these words, do you think that
the theme will be weakened or strengthened in the poem? Why?
“all I ask” is used in all these stanzas to emphasize that what “I” want is easy to satisfy.
Without these phrases, the effect will be weakened.
3) What do you gain from this poem in terms of living a life?
One can live a happy life without too many materials possessions.
Activity 4
Read the following passage, and then complete the statements that follow.
1) The phrase “not the brightest bulb in the lamp” in Para. 1 means he is not smart at all.
2) After reading about Epaminondas’ dealing with the cake, the butter and the puppy, your
impression about him is he is quite simple-minded--not able to adapt with the change of specific
circumstances.
3) The theme of this folk tale is give unconditional love and accept the differences between
people.
Part II: Case Analysis
Activity 5
Read Text A and consider how the author develops the main theme of the story.
Task 1 Understanding the text
Work in groups or pairs and fill in the blanks with the missing information about how the author
develops the main theme through a series of events and a twist with the last event.
Soapy’ Action
the 1st event
the 2nd event
Dined luxuriously at
some expensive
restaurant.
Results
Your Comments
The head waiter kept The snobbish
him from getting in. waiter judged him
by his appearance.
Broke a shop window The policeman did The
policeman
and waited for the not believe he did it. trusted only their
police to arrest him.
own judgment.
the 3rd event
the 4th event
the 5th event
the 6th event
the 7th event
Asked the waiters to
call the police by
telling them he had no
money for the dinner
he just had at a
restaurant.
Accosted a young
woman who was
nearby a police
Two waiters pitched He again failed.
him out.
Rather than being The
woman,
offended, the woman probably
a
came to him joyfully. prostitute, is a
social problem.
Started to yell and The policeman did
make a noisy scene in nothing considering
front of a police.
him as a university
student celebrating
their
victory
in
games.
Stole a well-dressed It turned out the man
man’s umbrella.
took the umbrella
that didn’t belong to
him in a restaurant.
Being touched by A policeman came
music from church over and arrested
Soapy decided to him.
restart.
The
law
was
enforced
differently
towards different
people.
It is ironic that a
well-dressed man
stole an umbrella.
The climax and
ending is quite
dramatic.
Task 2 Responding to the text
Write your answer to each question in full sentences. Then discuss your answers with your
partner.
1) Why did Soapy want to be arrested and what does that tell us about the theme of the story?
Soapy wanted to have a “nicer” place for the coming winter. The living of the poor in that
society seems quite hopeless and abnormal.
2) What are the regular responsibilities of a policeman? How did the cop respond to Soapy’s
several attempts to get arrested and how does that help to develop the theme of the story?
A policeman’s regular responsibilities include order maintenance and misconduct prevention.
By letting Soapy go several times despite his attempt to get arrested, it showed the police was
not doing their job. It further prepared for the climax of the story and strengthened the theme.
3) When Soapy was moved by the anthem music near the church and planned to start over, he
was arrested. What is the significance of this event in further developing the theme?
This is the climax of the story which made a sharp turn from what has happened in the
previous events and makes the readers feel strongly about the absurdity of the society.
4) Does the author convey his theme clearly in the text? How do you figure out the theme in the
story?
The author did not explicitly state the theme in the text. It was presented through the
description of Soapy’s winter plans and what he had tried hard to achieve his purpose.
5) What impact do you think the unexpected arrest would have on Soapy’s regained faith to
“battle with his desperate fate” and “make a man of himself again”?
It might ruin his plan to restart his life and probably he would lose his faith because of this
event.
Activity 6
Read Text B and consider how the author develops the main theme of the story.
Task 1 Understanding the text
Write your answer to each question in full sentences. Then discuss your answers with your
partner.
1) Who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist in this story?
The protagonist is a woman and the antagonist is a boy.
2) What is the conflict mentioned at the beginning of the story?
The boy tried to snatch her purse.
3) What leads to the encounter between the protagonist and the antagonist?
The boy wanted to buy a pair of shoes but couldn’t come up with the money needed.
4) What did the woman decide to do after the first encounter with the boy?
She dragged the boy to her home.
5) Did the boy try to run away when he got a chance later? Why or why not?
The boy did not try to run away when he got a chance at Mrs. Jone’s home because he got
treated well by Mr. Jones.
Task 2 Responding to the text
The dialogue plays an important role in the development of the theme of this story. Read the
following dialogue excerpts and discuss with a partner how they demonstrate the theme in the
story.
The dialogue helps to develop the plot in which the theme is embedded. The first two dialogues
introduced the first encounter of these two main characters as a background. Starting from the
third dialogue, Mrs. Jones showed her concern for the boy by asking him to come along with her
and wash his face. The following dialogues also revealed the kind heart of Mrs. Jones (not
sending him to the jail and inviting the boy eat together with her). She also revealed that she
made mistakes in the past but still warned that boy that he should not do illegal things in future.
Task 3 Making a comparison between “The Cop and the Anthem” and “Thank You, M’am”
Write your answer to each question in full sentences. Then discuss your answers with your
partner.
1) Are there any similarities between Soapy and Roger?
Both Soapy and Roger were trying to do something bad to meet their own purposes.
2) Are there any similarities between the policemen and Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones?
Both the policemen and Mrs. Jones did what they thought they should do when dealing with
Soapy and Roger respectively.
3) What might happen if Soapy had met someone like Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones
earlier in his life?
Soapy might have become what he intended to become at the end of the story.
4) What might happen if Roger had met a policeman as that in “The Cop and the Anthem”?
Roger might be sent to prison and became someone like Soapy or even worse.
5) What distinguishes Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones from the cops and what are the
consequences of these differences?
Mrs. Jones educated the boy in her own way and possibly prevented the boy from going
astray in his future life.
6) What are the respective viewpoints of the authors toward the disadvantaged (Soapy and
Roger) and the powerful (the cops and Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones) in your opinion?
How does that serve the theme of each story?
The authors showed sympathy towards Soapy and Roger but in “The Cop and the Anthem”
the author portrayed the cops as not doing what they were supposed to do while “Thank you
Ma’m” offered a positive image of Mrs. Jones. The different treatment of the powerful makes
these two stories developing towards different directions, each serving its own theme?????
7) Do you think Mrs. Jones acted out of faith in the story? Why or why not? In what ways do you
think a person of faith differs from a person without faith?
Yes, she mentioned that she had done something wrong as a youth but she would not tell.
Part III: Language Study
Activity 7
The following sentences are all from O. Henry’s works. Find out the figurative device(s) in each
sentence and discuss the effect with your partner. There may be more than one answer.
1) Hyperbole
2) Metaphor
3) Hyperbole
4) Personification
5) Metaphor
6) Irony
7) Personification
8) Metaphor
9) Understatement
10) Personification
11) Personification
12) Simile
13) Personification
14) Metaphor
15) Personification
Activity 8
Read the following lines of poetry and find out the figurative device(s) in each excerpt.
Excerpt 1: simile
Excerpt 2: hyperbole
Excerpt 3: personification
Excerpt 4: metaphor
Excerpt 5: personification
Excerpt 6: metaphor
Excerpt 7: simile
Excerpt 8: personification
Excerpt 9: metaphor
Activity 9
Read the following two stories and underline the different parts. What makes the difference?
Discuss your understanding with your partner.
In these two excerpts, the difference lies in the figurative use of language. In the second excerpt,
there were uses of onomatopoeia (Thunk, thunk) simile (soft pine needles covered the ground
like a soft brown blanket; as anxious as a fish out of water), alliteration (twittered and tweeted),
hyperbole (the sky-scraping branches of trees), and personification (made his heart dance). It
creates images in the readers’ mind.
Activity 10
Read the following paragraph and then rewrite it using figurative language.
1) Using Alliteration: Tanysha sat up late in her bedroom trying to study.
Tanysha sat up late in her bedroom silently and studiously trying to study.
2) Using Hyperbole: She was an all-A student…
She was such a great student that anything less than a 100++ would send her sobbing from
the room.
3) Using Simile: … and tomorrow’s math test was an important one.
Tomorrow’s math test was as important to Tanysha as a candidate’s final election speech is
in the presidential election.
4) Using Onomatopoeia: Lying back on her bed for a minute…
With a squeak of bedsprings and the crunch of crumpled paper, Tanysha lay back on her bed
for a minute.
5) Using Metaphor: … Tanysha started daydreaming about going to college and becoming a
doctor one day.
She started daydreaming about going to the ivory tower learning to become a disease
fighter one day.