English 12

Greetings all!

A few of you have contacted me with questions on our close reading assignment. I've sent out the following, and it may be helpful for those of you still with some questions:

1. Find motifs in the passage you have selected. These are patterns in language. A pattern in language may look like repeated words or phrases and/or imagery. Honestly - any kind of pattern can be a motif. Even how characters present dialogue could be a motif. Motifs are often starting points for discussion on the kinds of issues that the text is addressing. Totem addresses many issues - from First Nations acceptance, colonization and so on.
   
2. Think about how these motifs address these issues. Does it add anything significant to the conversation? In Identities (the short story I read in class) I talked about how the main character pursued chaos and perhaps some self-destructive behaviour in order to escape his "domestic grief". I started thinking about what composes domestic grief. This whole line of thinking came from the motif of decay, and how decay became a desirable destination for our main character.
   
3. In a paragraph I would identify this motif and explain first how I know that this is a motif, then connect those findings​ with an exploration of what I explained in #2. The response does not need to be absolutely conclusive, but it's a great opening to a conversation about the intent of the story's message.