Literature: Rebecca Brown's "Forgiveness"

Sometimes you need to cut off your own arm in order to come of age.  That's kind of what this story is about.

Rebecca Brown: Forgiveness

As you read, be sure to keep track of vocabulary with the Vocabulary Study Tracker

After reading and annotating, answer the following questions:

1. Choose three events in the story that you feel are most important.  Briefly summarize each event and explain why you feel it is most important.

2. How would you describe the relationship between "you" and "I" at the beginning of the story?  Use two quotation sandwiches.

3. The story starts off with a figurative expression "give my right arm for you" that becomes very literal.  Let's pay attention to figurative language.  In class, with "Handful of Dates" we talked about simile.  A simile is a figurative comparison using like or as.  Find four similes in the story and discuss what you feel the writer is trying to say with the simile.  What is the function of the use of figurative language in each instance.  Use one quotation sandwich for each simile.

4. How does "I" change from the beginning of the story to the end?  Do you think I has come of age?  Use two quotation sandwiches to answer this question.