Navigating Narratives A Thematic ReaderNavigating Narratives A Thematic ReaderProject Manager: Sarah Quinn Editor: Caitlin Edahl Assistant Editors: Laura Brown, Caitlin Coleman, Elias Mansell Permissions Manager: Steven Steinbacher Creative Services Manager: Trudy Tronco A division of Quant Systems, Inc. 546 Long Point Road Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 Copyright © 2022 by Hawkes Learning / Quant Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Control Number 2021948119 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Acknowledgements Sedaris, David. “A Plague of Tics” from Naked by David Sedaris, copyright © 1997. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Acknowledgements and copyrights are continued at the back of the book on pages 357–360, which constitute an extension of the copyright page. ISBN: 978-1-64277-499-3 iii Table of Contents Connections We Share Stories of love, expression, tradition, and the humanistic ties that bind us ue 1 Most Important Day 8 rafts 12 versation with My Father 16 ing Things 22 lague of Tics 25 , Sour, and Resentful 37 atitude 19 April 41 a Fire in Bristol 44 46 nted House 48 adition and the Individual Talent 51 Prophet (Excerpt) 59 Turning Points Reflections on change in our ever-evolving society Birmingham Jail (Excerpt) 81 Speech 91 ing Us Stupid? 96 o Die (Excerpt) 107 th Debate: Charleston, Illinois (Excerpt) 120 emocratic National Convention keynote speech 130 ntrepreneur During COVID-19 136 t to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? (Excerpt) 139 146 By Our Own Power Responses to personal and societal imbalances Modest Proposal 149 laughter 157 amer 166 an Elephant 169 e Cask of Amontillado 177 ood Man Is Hard to Find 184 he Snake of Power 198iv rison Bergeron 210 tle into that good night 217 Lake Effect 219 Who Am I? Searching for our true identity and the courage to embrace it pora 221 pology of a Body: The Highs and Lows of Recovering from an Eating Disorder 225 dge a Book by Its Character (even if it is Chinese): Why I Wrote The Year of the Dog 233 gh mental illness 236 parates One from a Willow 242 low Along 244 an Thinketh 253 The Roles We Play Navigating identities projected on us by others tamorphosis (Excerpt) 273 Chicken Wings 280 Baby 282 nd of Man I Am at the DMV 288 291 llpaper 297 Model Millionaire 312 eeing Stars 318 Breaking Free Rejecting imposed identities that confine us l I Rise 321 ing Men to Be Emotionally Honest 325 eclaration of Sentiments 331 One and the Problem with Virtual Universes 335 Garden of Eden 342 345 Acknowledgements 357 v Preface This reader is the product of a collaborative effort, born of requests from instructors and students. Our aim was to develop a reading resource that would offer something for every student. A story or poem can help us realize that we are not alone—that there are others who share in our joys, struggles, connections, and experiences. We hope that the passages in this book help open students’ minds to reading and to seeking a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them. In line with this aim, we sought out a rich variation of passages in terms of genre, topic, theme, length, voice, and perspective. Some literary classics, some contemporary masterpieces. Fiction and nonfiction. Poems, short stories, essays, speeches, articles, letters. Recognizable authors from past and present, and authors of unpublished works which we felt held a strong place in this reader. The authors and their works make up a diverse tapestry of perspectives, experiences, and purposes, which are celebrated across six thematically grouped units that emphasize the powerful relationship between literature and the human experience. In order to make this an easily implementable, helpful teaching aid, we worked with English instructors across the country to build a framework of straightforward, approachable, and thought-provoking content to support each passage: an introduction with author background, discussion questions, style and strategy questions, and a writing assignment. First and foremost, we hope this book encourages and equips students to be critical readers, writers, and thinkers. With that intent as the driving force, partnered with collaborative efforts from English instructors and consulting authors, we hope there is something for everyone to find in this book—and perhaps—about themselves.Mother Tongue 1 Unit 1 Connections We Share Stories of love, expression, tradition, and the humanistic ties that bind us Amy Tan INTRODUCTION Amy Tan is a California-born writer most well-known for her novel The Joy Luck Club, which was made into a film in 1993. She has authored several other novels, a memoir, and two children’s books, including Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, which became an animated series. Tan often writes about Chinese culture, immigration, and nuanced mother-daughter relationships. Tan had a troubled relationship with her own mother, who revealed after Tan’s father died that she previously had a husband and children in Shanghai. “Mother Tongue,” the narrative essay shown here, examines Tan’s relationship with her mother and the differences between Chinese and American culture through the lens of language. Mother Tongue Amy Tan 1 I am not a scholar of English or literature. I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on the English language and its variations in this country or others. 2 I am a writer. And by that definition, I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language—the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all—all the Englishes I grew up with. 3 Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use. I was giving a talk to a large group of people, the same talk I had already given to half a dozen other groups. The talk was about my writing, my life, and my book, The Joy Luck Club, and it was going along well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. My mother was in the room. And it was perhaps the first time she had heard me give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I have never Next >