Into the Beautiful North

Agenda:

BIG READ LESSON 7  CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!



Part 1: Ask students to make a list of the major challenges or obstacles the characters face in the novel. Divide the students into four teams by major characters: Team Nayeli, Team Tacho, Team Yolo, and Team Vampi. Although the characters face most of their challenges together, ask the teams to delve deeper into their individual character’s response to each challenge. What emotions do they experience? What attitudes, qualities, and resources
(or lack of) do they contribute to the group response? Has the character changed in any fundamental way as a result of these challenges?


Part 2: Focusing on the same character they had been assigned earlier, ask each student to think about the character’s attitudes, thoughts, and actions from the beginning of the novel through the most recent chapter they have read. In their journals, ask the students to write a letter home to a loved one in Tres Camarones from the point of view of their character. What might the character reveal to a loved one about his/her feelings at this point in the journey that he/she might not reveal to the others? The letter should express how the journey thus far has changed the character’s attitudes, feelings, and thoughts.


Post your group's letter HERE!

Continue to work on your quest stories........

QUEST STORIES

Drug Lord captured in Mexico:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/22/world/americas/mexico-cartel-chief-arrest/


look at Luis Urrea's website in links.

Go over SYMBOLS Handout #5.

Continue working on your "quest" stories.

HMWK:  Be sure to read through Ch. 26 in Into the Beautiful north

Into the Beautiful North Mid Book Quiz

Mid Book Quiz

Into the Beautiful North

In a well-developed short essay, answer ONE of the following questions.

1. In what ways does Nayeli fulfill the role of heroine? What is she searching for in her journey?  What obstacles (monsters) does she face along the way?

Provide specific examples from your reading so far.

                                                            OR

2.  Discuss the importance of friendships in the novel.  Why are friendships so important in a “quest story”?  Provide specific examples from your reading so far.

Into the Beautiful North, Discussion questions

1. In the novel, Nayeli and her friends go north–but not to join the ranks of immigrants looking for a better life. What is their mission?
2. Though the border seems far away from Tres Camarones, its influence seems closer than ever before. What forces are driving change in Tres Camarones? What are some examples of traditional aspects of life in Tres Camarones that are affected by border politics?
3. How does the author portray intergenerational relationships among the characters? How do different generations interact in the novel and what do they offer or teach each other?
4. Many people (including Nayeli and her friends) have never seen a place like the Tijuana garbage dump. How does Urrea use descriptive language to help the reader visualize and interpret the significance of this sight?
5. Urrea often takes a comic approach to tragedy. Does this approach enhance or diminish the emotional impact of events in the novel?
6. Urrea’s border is a many–layered symbol, holding multiple meanings, cultural subtleties, and contradictions. In addition to the literal U.S.–Mexico border, what other types of borders or boundaries do the characters experience?
7. Urrea underlines the novel’s connection to other classic quest narratives by paying homage to the classic film The Magnificent Seven. The author creates his own interpretation of the quest narrative, subverting traditional themes and roles. How does he create a fresh approach to the classic hero’s tale?
8. How do Nayeli’s experiences in Kankakee differ from her expectations? Why do you think she leaves Kankakee without confronting her father? Do you agree with her decision?
9. Did any scene, character, or event in the novel surprise you or change your attitude toward U.S.–Mexico border relations?
10. Urrea has often described the novel as "a love letter to the United States." Do you agree? How is this love conveyed in the novel? Could the novel also be considered a "love letter" to Mexico?

"I’m a magpie picking up shiny objects to take back to the nest all day long. I write with the ghosts of 12 authors, 13 movie directors, 14 musicians, and Steve McQueen in the room."
—Luis Alberto Urrea
One Book, One San Diego interview

Into the Beautiful North

 AGENDA:

1. Go over chapters 10-14


 Chapter discussion guide:


http://www.kpbs.org/stories/2011/dec/14/discussion-guide-beautiful-north/chapters/


2. Work on Lesson Four--about CHARACTERS

3. Work on your QUEST stories

The Quest Novel

The Basic Meta-plot
Most of the meta-plots are variations on the following pattern:

1. Anticipation Stage
   The call to adventure, and the promise of what is to come.
2. Dream Stage
   The heroine or hero experiences some initial success - everything seems to be going well, sometimes with a dreamlike sense of invincibility.
3. Frustration Stage
   First confrontation with the real enemy. Things begin to go wrong.
4. Nightmare Stage
   At the point of maximum dramatic tension, disaster has erupted and it seems all hope is lost.
5. Resolution
   The hero or heroine is eventually victorious, and may also be united or reunited with their ‘other half’ (a romantic partner). 

Check out this website for more information about the quest story:
http://thewritepractice.com/the-quest/

More advice:
http://www.thewritersworkshop.net/wordpress/2010/12/19/quest-narratives/


The Quest
Examples: The Odyssey, Pilgrim’s Progress, King Solomon’s Mines, Watership Down
Meta-plot structure:

The Call (Oppressed in the City of Destruction)

The Journey (Ordeals of the Hero/Heroine & Companions)

May include some or all of the following:
a. Monsters
b. Temptations
c. The Deadly Opposites
d. The Journey to the Underworld

Arrival and Frustration

The Final Ordeals

The Goal (Kingdom, Other Half or Elixir won)

And more advice:

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-quest-plot-create-quest-plot-your-324587.html

from:

The Quest Plot: How to Create a Quest Plot for Your Story

 Phebe Durand, Yahoo Contributor Network

Create a Quest Plot Checklist
When you decide to write a quest story, it is absolutely essential that you outline at least the main points of your story. Quests are by nature very in-depth, with a lot of side-story and back-story that comes into play. It's very easy to stray so far from your main plot that you can't recapture the theme unless you have a way of reminding yourself - constantly - what that theme is.
Jot down or type up this checklist, and answer the questions before you start writing. This series of questions will keep your main story at the front of your mind, continually pushing what's unimportant to the side.
1. What is the goal of the quest?
2. How will the characters and readers determine quest success or failure?
3. Why does the main character care about the quest?
4. What is the theme of the quest - the "wisdom" the characters come to see?
5. Why do the hero/ine's companions continue through the quest with them?
6. How does the quest change the characters, and how is that change displayed?
Reference your checklist often as you write, and you'll find that the imaginary walls blocking your creativity have little substance against the thoughtful consideration you've already given to your plot.


The Magnificent Seven:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiXFJdiGoWA 

The Seven Samurai:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnRUHtSgJ9o

Into the Beautiful North

AGENDA:

 

EQ:  What is a quest novel?  How is "Into the Beautiful North" a quest novel?

A quest novel involves a physical odyssey in which the main character sets out to search for something and usually comes to a greater understanding of life 

 

 

1. THINK, PAIR, SHARE BLOG POST:

In the first three chapters, the Mexican village of Tres Camarones is affected by a number of forces that challenge the traditional way of life. Though the border seems far away from this rural village, economic realities have brought its influences closer to home than ever before. 

Discuss the following questions with a partner and post a comment for credit on the blog:
• What are some examples of the old ways or traditional aspects of life in Tres Camarones?
• What are some examples of changing times in Tres Camarones? 

• What forces (economic, technological, cultural) are driving change in Tres Camarones? 

 

2. Character chart

Work on the character chart to keep track of the different characters.  Cite pg. numbers from your reading where the author provides description of the characters.

Sinaloa

More information about Sinaloa

Violence in the region:

Mexican beauty queen Susana Flores María Gámez, winner of Mujer Sinaloa 2012 contest, her boyfriend and three other people were killed over the weekend in a confrontation that involved military and a group of armed men.
The killings took place in the small town of Caitime, in Sinaloa.
The State Ministerial Police confirmed Monday that the 22-year-old was with the alleged attackers Saturday night, who confronted the soldiers in a safe house.
Flores was elected Mujer Sinaloa in February 2012, and in 2009 was named Model of the Year. Selected Miss Oriental Tourism México, in May she represented the country at the Miss Oriental Tourism International, held in China.
In addition to Flores and her boyfriend, the scuffle took the life of two of the soldiers and one more civilian.
According to information provided by the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA) to the daily newspaper Milenio, a military convoy was patrolling Caitime streets when it was attacked by gunmen who later took refuge in a safe house.
To repel the aggression the soldiers killed one of the men, after which the attackers were able to flee the home and escape.
They were chased then to a neighboring town, where Flores was reached by a bullet.
The armed group is said to be linked with Orso Iván Gastélum, also known as El Cholo Iván or El Cholo Vago, alleged head of the Sinaloa cartel hitmen in the region of Evora.
In the safe house authorities found seven AK-47 fusion, a grenade launcher, two grenades, a .40 mm caliber rifle and a thousand rounds, and six vehicles (one armored).
Susana Flores’ killing follows the death of the former mayor of Tiquicheo, María Santos Gorrostieta, just over 10 days ago.
Gorrostieta, 36, had served from 2008 until early this year as the mayor of the small town, where several drug gangs, including La Familia Michoacana, are active.
Mexico's drug war has claimed the lives of at least 656 women through the end of October this year, out of 10,485 total deaths, according to Milenio.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/11/27/mexican-beauty-queen-killed-in-sinaloa-shooting/#ixzz2HOS0OnX3

 Tijuana dump:

 
Tijuana border:









HOMEWORK:

Read through Ch. 9 for Monday