Folk Tale. A folk tale is a story passed by word of mouth from generation to generation. As you read “The People Could Fly,” imagine hearing this story from your grandmother or grandfather.
Mood. Mood, or atmosphere, is the feeling or emotion the writer creates in a literary work. By working carefully with descriptive language, the writer can evoke in the reader an emotional response such as fear, discomfort, longing, or anticipation. What are some of the details used to create a mood in “The People Could Fly”? As you read, look for words and phrases that evoke emotion or appeal to the senses. Use the graphic organizer below to track your findings.
|
- History Connection. This story emerged from the era before the Civil War of 1860, when slavery was legal in the United States. Slavery was brutal. Slaves worked hard, from sunup to sundown. They were given little to eat; forced to live in shabby, filthy shacks; whipped and mistreated; forbidden to read or write; sold away from family; and denied the dignity of living as free human beings.
- Slaves often created and passed along stories and songs to remind one another to never give up hope and to continue dreaming and fighting for freedom. Out of these songs and stories grew a literary tradition that included spirituals, folk tales, and narratives. Spirituals were songs that combined traditional African and European music and religious themes. Folk tales such as “The People Could Fly” were originally told orally but were later written down. Slave narratives were autobiographical accounts of the lives of individuals. Hundreds of slave narratives were published before the war by extraordinary men and women wishing to tell of their struggles.
Make a chart like the one shown. As you come across a word or phrase that creates a mood, write the details in the first column. In the second column, write what mood was created from that word or phrase.
When have you wanted to use magic in your life?
|
