Alissa Timmons

English 112B

Dr. Warner

May 5, 2005

Dealing with Death:  Using Literature to Demonstrate Ways of Coping

Many books in the young adult literature canon fit under the heading of problem novels involving the subject of death.  Not enough of these novels, however, place an �emphasis on the positive� (Radley, 16).  And yet at this age, students, more than ever, need to be exposed to hopeful possibilities.  Literature can be used to help adolescents discern that there are various ways to deal with their problems, and that, usually, suffering eventually passes. 

 

Even though students are expected to keep up with their coursework, sometimes they encounter unavoidable problems at home.  A high-school student, for example, may have a parent who�s battling cancer.  Or another student might be struggling with a life-threatening illness herself.  Unfortunately, our schools don�t always address the social and emotional needs of students who are under immense stress.  This could be because our state�s schools have many curriculum standards that need to be met, with the teachers having a huge workload as a result.  In addition, some teachers might focus so much on what they are teaching (the content) that they could forget to concentrate on whom they are teaching (the student).  In any case, it is essential that students� psychological needs are addressed and, thus, weigh in as a factor in curriculum development.

 

Young adult literature with death as its subject doesn�t have to be depressing.  In fact, these books can be quite the opposite, as they can function as a kind of wellspring of emotional strength from which adolescents can draw.  Students can read about the struggles of others in the novels.  From books dealing with death, students can glean an understanding of �the importance of connecting with others, the role of ritual, and above all, the durability of the soul� (Radley, 16). 

For my unit plan, I chose John Knowles�s A Separate Peace as the center piece.  It is a classic work of young adult literature, first published in 1960.  Although the novel is less popular than it was in the early 1970�s, it is an enduring work, about envy, rivalry, friendship, loss, death, and regret.  The aspects of the novel on which I chose to focus involve a central character�s [Finny] death, and the resulting events.  The other components of the unit support the death and grieving focus.  Information on President Abraham Lincoln was included because he certainly experienced a great deal of loss in his life.  I felt that he knew what he was talking about.  Furthermore, I integrated Lincoln�s quote in the unit, as it highlights the ephemeral aspect of sadness:  It doesn�t last forever, although in the moment, it might seem like it will.

 

Launching the Unit

Before engaging your class in reading and discussing A Separate Peace, use one or more of the following activities.

1.a.      Post the following quotation from Abraham Lincoln (courtesy of www.thinkexist.com) and ask the class to examine what it means.  As a way to help students organize their thinking, students do quick-writes in which they can analyze the meaning of the quote, saying whether or not they agree with it.

 

�Sorrow comes to all...Perfect relief is not possible, except with time. You cannot now realize that you will ever feel better and yet you are sure to be happy again.�

 

b.         Give the class handouts on the events of Lincoln�s life, listed chronologically.  Have the class examine the series of setbacks, comparing the life events to the previous quotation.  Ask students what new insights can we gather on have them talk quietly in pairs about the quote.  After a couple of minutes of pair-share, have the Lincoln�s unique perspective and experience.  How does the quotation apply now?  Is it more, or less, relevant when viewed from this biographical angle?  What does Lincoln mean by �perfect relief�?  When might have Lincoln experienced this relief?  Have students add their new observations to their quick-writes.  The timeline is courtesy of www.historyplace.com/lincoln.

 

 

 

A Timeline of Some Events from Abraham Lincoln�s Life

            1809 � Lincoln is born in a log cabin.

            1828 � Lincoln�s sister dies while in labor.

            1832 � Lincoln is defeated for Illinois legislature.

1833 � The Village store he bought with a partner goes out of business.

1835 � Ann Rutledge, Lincoln�s love interest, dies.

1836 � Lincoln suffers a severe depression.

1841 � Lincoln breaks off engagement from Mary Todd.

            He experiences another episode of depression.

1842 � Lincoln marries Mary Todd.

1843 � He is defeated for U.S. Congress.

1850 � His son Edward dies.

1859 � Lincoln is defeated for U.S. Senate (second time).

1860 � Lincoln is elected president of the United States.

 

2.         Play the song �Both Sides Now,� written by Joni Mitchell and performed by Judy Collins, from Collins�s album entitled Both Sides Now.  While the song is playing, display the lyrics on an overhead projector or on butcher paper posted on the wall.  Ask students to listen to the lyrics and to take notes on anything they feel is important.  Then, highlight some phrases from the song for a quick writing activity.  Some lines that could be used as a springboard for writing and for later discussion are:  �So many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way...  But something�s lost and something�s gained in living every day.�  Students could also write about the significance of the clouds and what they represent.  The lyrics are from www.lyricsdepot.com/judy-collins/.

 

�Both Sides Now�

Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere, I�ve looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun they rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud�s illusions I recall
I really don�t know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and ferris wheels the dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real, I�ve looked at love that way
But now it�s just another show, you leave �em laughin when you go
And if you care don�t let them know, don�t give yourself away


I�ve looked at love from both sides now
From give and take and still somehow
It�s love�s illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud, to say, �I love you� right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds, I�ve looked at life that way
But now old friends are acting strange they shake their heads, they say
I�ve changed
But something�s lost but something�s gained in living every day

I�ve looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It�s life�s illusions I recall
I really don�t know life at all

 

3.         Read the following poems with your students.

                        �Tears, Idle Tears�

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

 

  Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,

Tears from the depth of some divine despair

Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,

In looking on the happy autumn-fields,

And thinking of the days that are no more.

 

  Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,

That brings our friends up from the underworld,

Sad as the last which reddens over one

That sinks with all we love below the verge;

So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.

 

Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns

The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds

To dying ears, when unto dying eyes

The casement slowly grows a glimmering square;

So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.

 

  Dear as remembered kisses after death,

And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned

On lips that are for others, deep as love,

Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;

O Death in Life, the days that are no more!

 

a.  After reading Tennyson�s poem, discuss the poem�s meaning with the class.  Talk about the speaker�s grieving.  What kinds of loss does he mention?  What does the poem say about loss? 

 

            Sonnet from Mine the Harvest

            Edna St. Vincent Millay

 

Read history: thus learn how small a space

You may inhabit, nor inhabit long

In crowding Cosmos � in that confined place

Work boldly; build your flimsy barriers strong;

Turn round and round, make warm your nest; among

The other hunting beasts, keep heart and face, �

Not to betray the doomed and splendid race

You are so proud of, to which you belong.

For trouble comes to all of us: the rat

Has courage, in adversity, to fight;

But what a shining animal is man,

Who knows, when pain subsides, that is not that,

For worse than that must follow � yet can write

Music; can laugh; play tennis; even plan.

 

b.  Lead a class discussion on Millay�s poem.  What does she advise the reader to do?  What is the thing �worse than that [pain]� of which people are aware? 

c.  Have students compare and contrast the two poems, first in a class discussion and then in a short in-class essay.  Are the poems similar/different in message and tone?  How?

d.  Ask students to write their own sonnets on a related theme.  Their poems don�t need to have the same number of syllables per line as regular sonnets.  Their six-line sonnets do, however, need to follow the a-b rhyme scheme.  The rhyming lines should alternate, with the sonnet ending in a couplet.  

4.  In their journals, students can address their feelings on grieving. 

a.  Have you ever lost someone you loved, such as a close family member or friend?  How did you feel?  What are your feelings about it now?  What have you found to be helpful or not helpful in dealing with your grief? 

 

b.  Because death is such an uncomfortable subject in our society, talking about it can be seen as more of a taboo than is discussing sex or violence.  Why is death as a conversational topic so discouraged?  What do you think?  What is healthier � talking about it or not talking about it?  Why?  And if talking about death is acceptable, how much should it discussed?

 

c.  Write about a time a friend experienced loss of someone he/she loved.  How did you feel?  What were your reactions to your friend�s situation? 

 

The Center Piece

A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, is the center piece of the unit.  This novel summary is courtesy of www.classzone.com.  �Gene Forrester returns to his alma mater, the Devon School, and recalls events that occurred there 15 years ago. In the summer of 1942, he forms a competitive friendship with his roommate, Phineas (Finny), the school�s best athlete. Soon, Gene resents Phineas�s efforts to distract him from his studies. One day, as Phineas prepares to jump from a tree into a river, Gene jounces the limb they are standing on, causing Phineas to fall to the ground and shatter his leg. Phineas will never play sports again, and his leg must remain in a cast for a long time.  During vacation, Gene visits Phineas and tries to confess that he caused the accident, but Phineas refuses to believe him. When Phineas returns to school during the autumn session, Gene changes his plans to enlist in the army because he feels that Phineas needs his help.  Later, some classmates hold a mock trial to determine whether Gene is responsible for Phineas's accident.  Phineas becomes terribly upset; upon rushing away from the students, he falls and reinjures his leg. When the school doctor tries to set it, some marrow from the shattered bone enters Phineas�s bloodstream, killing him. Although Gene later serves in the army, he believes his real fight was at school, where he killed the enemy within himself.�

After finishing reading the book, break up the class into smaller groups for literature circles.  Give each of the literature circles a couple of questions to address.  Have the groups report their findings back to the class.

Questions for the groups to address are listed below.  Many of them come from this site:

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/separate_peace.pdf.

 

1.  The story is told in flashback form, with an older Gene looking back fifteen years later on the events of 1942.  Why do you think the author organized the story that way?  What is the function of this use of flashback?  How does the separation of so many years between the story�s events and narration affect the novel?  In what ways does the time lapse make the storytelling more, or less, effective?

 

2.  Like real people, first-person narrators may have errors in judgment.  They might not always be aware of their own motivations.  As a narrator, how reliable is Gene?  If it were up to you, would you have him be the narrator, or would you have chosen another character to narrate?  What would the story be like then?  How would this other character relate the events of the novel?  For example, would he perceive Gene as guilty or innocent?  Why?

 

3.  Finny refuses to believe that Gene caused the accident.  He doesn�t want to blame his friend.  Was moving the tree limb a conscious decision of Gene�s or an impulsive action?  What do you think?  Why might he have wanted to see Finny fall?  How does Gene feel shortly after the accident?

 

4.  Sometimes we learn more about characters from their actions than from their words.  Find the part in the book where Gene starts wearing clothes that belong to Finny.  What are some possible reasons for his doing this?

5.  Gene feels envious of the athletic, charismatic Finny.  As a result, Gene projects his insecurity onto his trusting best friend.  How do Gene�s feelings affect the boys� friendship?  Have you ever felt envious of a friend?  What did it feel like? 

 

6.  Review the opening scene of the novel, in which Gene returns to Devon as an adult.  What places does he most want to see?  Why are these places significant to him?  What�s the real purpose of the visit?  Does Gene�s visit �support the idea that he has found inner peace or contradict it?� http://www.glencoe.com

 

7.  The minor characters, such as Leper, Quackenbush, and Chet, appear �two-dimensional at first glance; yet each represents a problem in adolescent development� (Crabbe, 110).  Which of these characters represent �insecurity, isolation, or inferiority� (110)?  Do you think they function as shadow symbols of adolescence?  Why?

 

8.  Examine Gene�s dealing with Finny�s accident in light of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross�s stages of grief.  From looking at the text, where do you see incidences of Gene experiencing certain stages?  Do you think he reaches the acceptance stage?  Why or why not?  Use textual evidence to support your claim.

 

9.  Use the stages of grief from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross to analyze Finny�s thoughts and actions after his fall.  How does he deal with grieving process?  What emotions does he feel?  Do you think he experiences anger or denial?  Where in the text do you see Finny dealing with his loss?

10.  Gene refers to killing the enemy inside himself.  What is the �enemy� to which he is referring?  What part (or parts) of his himself is gone?  How has Gene changed?

 

After the students have convened for literature circles, have a class discussion on A Separate Peace.  Talk about the issues raised from the reading group questions.  Ask students to look again at the journal entries they had composed before beginning the novel.  Have each student create a new journal entry, which can be either on the same topic he/she had addressed earlier or on another topic from the list.  Also, a writing activity that could be included is revisiting the �Sorrow� quotation from Abraham Lincoln.  Ask students such questions as:  �Is perfect relief possible?  If so, how it is achieved?  What do you think Lincoln meant by the term �perfect relief�?� 

            To give more coherence to the unit, return to the �launching� activity on Lincoln�s quote.  Have the class write in-class open-book essays on whether or not Gene�s character has found �perfect relief.�  It has been a long time since Finny�s accident (fifteen years).  Does Gene feel better?  Has he attained that sense of relief that Lincoln described?   Have students support their opinions with citations from the novel.  Then, into their concluding paragraphs, have students include their predictions for Gene�s future, fifteen years later, when he�s forty-five years old.

 

To reinforce the concepts of the unit, select two or three activities from the following list.

1.     Have students each choose a character from A Separate Peace and write an essay about that character.  Tell the class to identify at least three defining qualities of the characters they choose, providing specific evidence from the book.  Make sure the students address whether they like the character.  Encourage them to have a strong opinion, either positive or negative, about their topic.  Remind the students to base their theses on their opinions, rather than on facts.

 

2.     Ask the class to write a story that deals with loss or grief as a topic, like A Separate Peace.  Review story structure (including rising action, falling action, and denouement).

 

3.     Watch the most recent movie rendition of A Separate Peace.  Have students compare and contrast the film and the novel.  As a group, discuss the two versions.  Then, follow up by assigning the students to write individual essays based on their comparisons.  Students should say which version they prefer � the book or the movie � and why.  The film shown in class would be Showtime channel�s 2004 film version.  Directed by Peter Yates, the film lasts 92 minutes and stars J. Barton, Toby Moore, and Jacob Pitts, as Gene, Finny, and Brinker, respectively (http://amazon.imdb.com). 

 

Extending the Unit

            It�s important to incorporate into the unit other works of young adult literature dealing with the topic of grief.  That way, the students are exposed to a more richly textured curriculum.  Since students often learn well when taught by their peers, use this time to have each student present a �book talk� � a short presentation on a novel which includes an introduction and a couple of excerpts read from the book.  Book talks are �comparable to movie previews or teasers in presenting the characters and a hint of the plot� (Donelson and Nilsen, 307).  But, a couple of weeks before the class presents book talks, �begin with a Book Pass Activity; this involves providing copies of the novels and having students spend five minutes with a book before passing it on to the next reviewer� (Warner, 12).  Introducing the class to this buffet of books is a good way to spark student interest.  From the Book Pass selections, students can choose novels that they would later use for their book talk presentations.  All of the novels presented here deal in some way with the theme of grief and loss. 

 

Young Adult Literary Selection

1.     A Death in the Family by James Agee: This novel is �about a family's reactions to the accidental death of the father. Published in 1957, the novel was praised as one of the best examples of American autobiographical fiction, and it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1958. As told through the eyes of six-year-old Rufus Follet, the story emerges as an exploration of conflicts both among members of the family and in society� (www.amazon.com).

 

2.     Both Sides Now by Ruth Pennebaker: �Fifteen-year-old Liza is the antithesis of the stereotypical teenager. Buttoned-down and straight-laced, Liza thinks carefully before she speaks, jogs regularly, and doesn�t waste her valuable time on tantrums or tears. �If you don't plan, you'll get taken by surprise, and I don�t want that to happen to me. I want to plan for everything so that I can have a good, successful life.�  But the one thing that Liza could never have planned on was her mother Rebecca getting breast cancer.  With her mom's diagnosis, Liza is abruptly launched into a world without rules or meaning... Suddenly, she begins to understand how her mother must feel, having to take life as it comes, and not being able to control every outcome� (www.amazon.com).

 

3.     Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper: �Andy was there. He had been driving the car. He had seen his best friend Robert's legs trapped in the burning vehicle and he had tried to pull Robert out of the wreckage. He had heard Robert's final screams. The other kids at school feel bad about Robert, but they weren't there and Andy doesn't believe they will ever understand� (http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/youth/booklists/friends.html).

 

4.     Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep by Lurlene McDaniel: �Carrie and Keith have a great friendship. They also have cancer, but Keith wants to live out the rest of his life at home, not in a hospital� (http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/youth/booklists/friends.html).

 

5.     A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry: �Meg...and her sister Molly couldn't be more different, and it�s hard for Meg to hide her resentment of Molly's beauty and easy popularity. But now that the family has moved to a small house in the country, Meg has a lot to accept. Just as the sisters begin to adjust to their new home, Meg feels that Molly is starting up again by being a real nuisance. But Molly's constant grouchiness, changing appearance, and other complaints are not just part of a new mood. And the day Molly is rushed to the hospital, Meg has to accept that there is something terribly wrong with her sister. That's the day Meg's world changes forever. Is it too late for Meg to show what she really feels?� (http://oakmontmethodist.org/bookstore/descriptions/s/summertodiepbD.html)

 

6.     The Terrorist by Carolyn B. Cooney: �Sixteen-year-old Laura, an American living in London, puts her mourning on hold while she tries to find the person responsible for killing her 11-year-old younger brother, Billy. As time passes, she begins to feel her grief� (http://www.counselingstlouis.net/young.html).

 

7.     Ordinary People by Judith Guest: �The Jarrets are a typical American family. Calvin is a determined, successful provider and Beth an organized, efficient wife. They had two sons, Conrad and Buck, but now they have one. In this memorable, moving novel, Judith Guest takes the reader into their lives to share their misunderstandings, pain...and ultimate healing�

(http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=um2kbRFA2W&isbn=0140065172&itm=2).

 

8.     Carolina Autumn by Carol Lynch Williams: The novel centers on �ninth-grader Carolina McKinney, [who�s] struggling to cope with the accidental deaths of her father and older sister who left on a trip from which they would never return. A year after their fatal plane crash, Carolina and her mother are just starting to put their lives back together.  Mrs. McKinney, made remote by her grief, is making a concentrated effort to reconnect with her surviving daughter. Carolina takes a few tentative steps toward fresh beginnings as she starts high school, falls in love for the first time, and becomes interested in photography. Carolina sorely misses having an older sister to guide her through hard times� (www.amazon.com).

 

9.     Dead Birds Singing by Marc Talbert: �Matt loses both his mother and later his sister in a car accident. He has to go and live with a friend and come to terms with the tragedy� (http://www.counselingstlouis.net/young.html).

 

10.  Phoenix Rising: Or How to Survive Your Life by Cynthia D. Grant: �When her 18-year-old sister Helen dies of cancer, Jessie (Helen�s younger sister) begins reading Helen�s journal. As the story unfolds, moving between Helen�s journal entries and Jessie�s telling of the story, the reader is drawn into Helen�s struggle with dying and Jessie�s struggle with staying alive (http://www.counselingstlouis.net/young.html).

 

11.  Probably Still Nick Swanson: A Novel by Virginia Euwer Wolff: �Sixteen-year-old Nick struggles everyday because of his learning disability. Nick is also troubled by the memory of watching his older sister drown� (http://www.counselingstlouis.net/young.html).

 

12.  Missing May by Cynthia Rylant: This book �is the story of Summer's efforts to come to terms with a death that has already occurred (her aunt's) and to help her grieving uncle. Because Summer has lived much of her early life as an unwanted orphan passed from home to home, the situation also takes on elements of a survival story� (Radley, 15).

 

13.  Toning the Sweep by Angela Johnson: �portrays Emily in the anticipatory grief stage, the stage in which one begins mentally and emotionally preparing for an expected death. Stricken with cancer, Emily's grandmother Ola has decided to spend her remaining days with family, though it means leaving the desert home she and Emily love� (Radley, 14).

14.  911: The Book of Help: Authors Respond to the Tragedy, edited by Michael Cart: �Cart used his reputation for careful work and his acquaintance with many of the best authors for young adults to entice such writers at Katherine Paterson, Walter Dean Myers, Russell Freedman, Marion Dane Bauer, James Cross Giblin, and Naomi Shihab Nye to share their thoughts and experiences related to the September 11th tragedy� (Donelson and Nilsen, 261).

 

Concluding Activity

            Since the focus of the unit is coping with death, the closing activity will connect to that concept.  Read a picture book called The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, by Leo Buscaglia, to the class.  According to Amazon.com, �As Freddie [a leaf] experiences the changing seasons along with his companion leaves, he learns that death is part of life.�  This is a beautiful story and a nice way to wrap up the unit.  In The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, the leaves serve as a metaphor for how people face death.  Some resist it, like leaves clinging to a tree in a storm, while others pass peacefully, lightly drifting from the metaphorical tree of life.  The book would work well as bibliotherapy, because it could help a person (not necessarily a child) in dealing with death.   

 

               The Fall of Freddie the Leaf places an emphasis on death as a part of life�s natural cycle.  As an extension of the reading the story, have students write their own short children�s stories about a life cycle.  Students could bind and illustrate their children�s books.  An option to extend the activity further is to have the class submit their stories to a local children�s book writing context, like the �Young Author�s� contest. 

 

            Buscaglia�s The Fall of Freddie the Leaf closes the unit.  As this children�s book is about perceiving death as a natural part of life, perhaps this unit will assist us, and our students, in doing the same.

             

 

           

 

 

 

Works Cited

Websites

www.amazon.com

http://amazon.imdb.com

www.classzone.com

http://www.counselingstlouis.net/young.html

http://www.glencoe.com

www.historyplace.com/lincoln

www.lyricsdepot.com/judy-collins/

http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org

http://oakmontmethodist.org/

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/

www.thinkexist.com

 

Agee, James. A Death in the Family. New York: Vintage Books, 1998.

Buscaglia, Leo. The Fall of Freddie the Leaf: A Story of Life for All Ages. New York: Charles B. Slack: Distributed to the trade by Holt, 1982.

Cart, Michael, editor. 911: The Book of Help: Authors Respond to the Tragedy. Chicago: Cricket Books, 2002.

Cooney, Carolyn B. The Terrorist. New York: Scholastic, 1997.

Crabbe, John K. �On the Playing Fields of Devon.� The English Journal. Vol. 52.2, (1963): 109-111.

Draper, Sharon. Tears of a Tiger. Simon Pulse, 1996.

Donelson, Kenneth L., and Alleen P. Nilsen. Literature for Today�s Young Adults. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc, 2005.

Grant, Cynthia D. Phoenix Rising: Or How to Survive Your Life. New York: Atheneum, 1989.

Guest, Judith. Ordinary People. New York: Penguin Books, 1982.

Johnson, Angela. Toning the Sweep. NY: Scholastic, 1993.

Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Bantam, Doubleday, Dell Books for Young Readers, 1985.

Lowry, Lois. A Summer to Die. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977.

McDaniel, Lurlene. Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. New York: Bantam, Doubleday, Dell Books for Young Readers, 1991.

Pennebaker, Ruth. Both Sides Now. New York: Henry Holt, 2000.

Radley, Gail. �Coping with death in young adult literature.� The ALAN Review. Vol. 27.1, (1999): 14-16.

Rylant, Cynthia. Missing May. NY: Orchard, 1992.  

A Separate Peace. DVD, Peter Yates, director.  Starring:  J. Barton, Toby Moore, et al., 2004.

Talbert, Marc. Dead Birds Singing. Boston: Little, Brown, 1985.

Warner, Mary. �Stories Moving Readers from Fear and Bias to Tolerance and Acceptance: An Unfinished Curriculum.� The Ohio Journal of the English Language Arts. (1999): 8-15.

Williams, Carol Lynch. Carolina Autumn. New York: Delacorte Press, 2000.

Wolff, Virginia Euwer. Probably Still Nick Swansen: A Novel. New York: Henry Holt, 1988.