Literature Circles Meeting 2

In class on Friday we discussed chapters 4-9. At the beginning of class it was just Andrew and me. First, Andrew brought mentioned that there are many un-settling men in the book. This relates to our first meeting because our group discussed the possibility of something bad happening to Francie because of all the creepy men we had already seen in her life. The man Andrew mentioned was the fiddle teacher who has his female students take off their shoes so he can look at their feet. I agreed with the fact that this man is creepy. I also thought this was a really weird way to be creepy. Next, Andrew mentioned that Francie makes a really big deal about getting meat on page forty-seven, and thought this was confusing. I was confused by Francie's process too, so we went back to take a closer look at the text. We realized that Francie does all these things to sort of trick the butcher into giving her the best possible quality for the money she has. Andrew's last question was about the rubber item's bought in whispers, and I explained to him that those were condoms.

After we had discussed all of Andrew's questions, we moved on to my questions. First, I asked why Johnny Nolan isn't in awe at his new baby. I was confused, because most parents think their new children are the most beautiful things in the world no matter what they look like. Looking back at the text as far as how Johnny reacts when he found out he was going to have a child. He is sad that his fun life with Katie will end. Johnny also said in our first reading that he never wanted to have a family. These all helped me to understand Johnny's reaction to his new baby girl. Another question I had was why Henny remains gloomy when Francie comes to visit if Mrs. Gaddis says on page thirty-nine that company keeps Henny's mind off himself. Andrew didn't know the answer to this either. Lastly, I did not know what Sissy means when she says that Francie is "all of her ten children." Andrew explained that, since all of Sissy's children were born dead, Francie was like the daughter she never got to have. Sissy treats Francie like her own child.

After discussing our questions, we went on to share the passages we selected. Andrew selected the fourth paragraph on page seventy-two. His passage describes how Francie is made up of different traits from all the different members of her family. Andrew mentions that we haven't really seen the cruel will that she supposedly inherited from her grandfather. The paragraph relates to the rest of the book because it foreshadows the later chapters in which different back-stories are told about each of the family members that show their traits. Francie sort of symbolizes the family as a whole since she is a part of everyone, and also has her own traits.

My passage is from page eighty-eigtht, and it is the second paragraph. My passage is from Johnny's point of view and it shows a new perspective on good and bad with Sissy as an example.

Ariel arrived to class towards the end of our discussion, but when she did get to class she shared her passage with us. Her passage is the last paragraph on page 41. In this passage, Francie thinks she sees the Grim Reaper coming for Henny in Flossie's closet. Ariel thought this might be a sign that adds further evidence to our thoughts from the last discussion, we thought Francie might be abused. I, however, thought what Francie sees is just a symbol to show Henny's death is coming soon.