Lesson 27 — Activity 1: Chapters 13 and 14 (pages 79 – 91)



Please read Chapters 13 and 14 (pages 79 – 91). Remember, as well, to continue with the vocabulary activity.


These two chapters present a range of emotions felt by the community and especially by Rennie. Review the chapters below.



The chapter began with a fight between Rennie and Robbie when Robbie brought a message to Rennie from Julie. Robbie told Rennie that if she tried to have anything to do with Julie when school started again, Julie would pray that Papa never comes home. Angry and upset, Rennie went to the McLeans' house and interrupted their backyard picnic by yelling to Julie that her brother would get killed and it would be Julie's fault for being mean.

Rennie went home feeling ashamed for having been so cruel. Mama added to her sadness by telling her that her brothers may have to enlist in the army.

A more cheerful scene followed when people came to the bakery to see Rick on his last day there before he returned to university. We learned that many families struggled to purchase goods and that although the mine had reopened, all the Italian workers had been fired. Just as they were ready to close the bakery, a group of miners who had been drinking burst in, led by Mr. McLean. He and Serge began pushing and shoving.

The chapter ended after Rennie ran to Mr. McLean and said, "Please stop! Julie's my friend!" This made Mr. McLean think twice and the miners left.


       

The chapter began with Rennie's return to school, which was very difficult because she saw Julie every day and had to try to deal with the many emotions that the past few months had stirred up. Rennie tried to find a way to talk to Julie, but Julie was not interested in hearing from her. When Rennie tried to apologize for her cruel words about Tom, a crowd gathered and started teasing Rennie. When someone called her father an Italian traitor, Rennie lost her temper and swung her arm, which gave one person in the crowd a bloody nose.

One of the nuns gave Rennie the strap for fighting, so after school, before she could face Mama or anyone else, she went for a walk and ended up throwing rocks at the steel mill fence until she got rid of some of her anger and frustration. She returned to the bakery. While sitting at the counter, Julie and her mother came in. Mama welcomed them and Mrs. McLean apologized for her husband's actions. (Remember that in the last chapter, he was one of the miners to come in and try to fight with Serge.)

Mrs. McLean also made Julie apologize for not telling the nuns the truth about Rennie's "fight" in the schoolyard. She said that Julie understood how important Rick's sweater was to Rennie as Julie felt the same way about her brother Tom's ID bracelet. Mrs. McLean also said how sad Julie has been since she lost the bracelet at the start of the summer. Mama offered them some doughnuts, but Mrs. McLean said, "We don't deserve them just yet." After the McLeans left the bakery, Mrs. Hobinsky said that things will get better.

The chapter ended after Mama asked Rennie if she knew anything about Julie's bracelet. Rennie thought about the mean things Julie had said before and lied to her Mama, saying she gave it back.



An author’s choice of language plays a major role in drawing readers into a novel. Specific language choices can create mood and atmosphere, heighten interest, develop suspense, and bring characters to life so that a reader becomes absorbed in the story. The reader may even feel like a part of the action.

Let’s look at some of the tools an author will use to achieve this goal.

1. Authors use vivid or interesting verbs to heighten action and make their stories more exciting. Compare the following pairs of sentences to see how the more vivid underlined verbs in the second column present a stronger image than do the general underlined verbs in the first column:


The snake moved across the floor.
 The snake slithered across the floor.
The child cried when she burnt herself.
 The child screamed when she burnt herself.
The hawk flew high in the air.
 The hawk soared high in the air.
The wind blew the trees all night.
 The wind whipped the trees all night.
The squirrel ran across the power lines.
 The squirrel scampered across the power lines.
         






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2. Words are chosen very carefully to reinforce the atmosphere that an author is trying to create. 

Consider the different atmosphere that is presented in the following pairs of sentences:

The wind blew through the trees.
The breeze caressed the trees.

Look at what happens when some descriptive words are added:

The slight wind blew through the new foliage on the trees.
The gentle breeze caressed the springtime leaves on the trees.


3. Changing the verb tense to use an "ing" ending further reinforces the atmosphere.

The slight wind was blowing through the new foliage on the trees.
The gentle breeze was caressing the springtime leaves on the trees.

In each of the above pairs of sentences, the mood is calmer in the second sentence than it is in the first sentence.

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4. The same techniques can be used to create a tense atmosphere in a story as is shown in the two sentences below.

The small child was scared by the loud plane as it flew overhead.
The small child trembled, terrified by the thunderous roar of the plane overhead.

The first sentence simply tells the reader about the event, while the second sentence recreates the situation.

Even the sounds of the letters in the words play a role in creating atmosphere. Soft sounds such as in breeze and caressing have a soothing effect; harsh sounds such as in trembled and terrified reinforce the image of the child’s terror.



5. There are also other techniques that an author will use.

  • One is to manipulate the length of the sentences. Longer sentences slow down the action while short, quick sentences speed things up and add to the urgency or fear of a situation. 
  • Punctuation and grammar rules are often followed throughout a novel, but an author may break a rule to create a specific effect. This explains why you may sometimes see a one-word sentence in a novel, even though your teacher won’t allow this.
  • The final consideration is that any dialogue used should reflect the character who is speaking. Imagine how artificial it would sound to you if a member of a street gang was to speak politely to a police officer who was about to arrest him.


So you can see that an author has a lot to think about when writing a novel.

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