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| SECOND LEVEL THIRD LEVEL LEARNING RESOURCES Resource created by Carol Magee My Name is Mina by David Almond Contents 2 Introducing My Name Is Mina 3 Biography 4 Starting a Journal 5 ‘There Is No Frigate Like a Book’ 6 Dreams, Visions and William Blake 7 Writing Poetry 1: ‘13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’ 8 Writing Poetry 2: ‘I should like to...’ 10 Writing Poetry 3: Concrete Poems and Building a Bird Mobile 11 Personal Writing: Changing Point of View ?? Nonsensical Writing 11 Extraordinary Activity: Birdbrain Among the Branches 12 Persephone – Springtime and Sorrow 14 Debate - On Education 14 Media – ‘Fly Away Home’ (U) 15 Additional Resources 1-5 Introducing My Name is Mina
of Mina, the neighbour of ‘Skellig’s’ boy hero, Michael. Mina is a misfit and school life is pretty difficult most of time but this novel is a presentation of Mina’s journey to hope from her own unique viewpoint. As it takes the form of a journal, it does not always present events in their logical order and contains some lovely tangents, especially her views on school and teachers! Her affinity with birds (she spends much of the novel in the branches of her tree) is however one of the many threads that hold the novel together and her emergence in the final pages as a ‘fledgling’ taking flight from her perch in search of friendship is deeply moving and satisfying. Although this pack is aimed at P6-S2, it is up to the individual teacher to decide which outcome from each activity best suits their class (depending on ability, maturity, progression etc). The novel touches on many conflicting themes including: courage and fear; creativity and those who stifle it; school teaching and home education; vision and blindness; death and new life. There are many discussion topics which will naturally arise from a class reading of the novel. Mina’s forays into creative writing are, however, an irresistible gift for teachers and so, many of the activities in this pack stem from her ideas or imaginary worlds. There is also, especially for secondary school classes, the opportunity to explore the writer’s craft through the symbolism in the novel and an analysis of Mina’s changing character. The implicit warning within My Name is Mina is that teachers of English 2 should not be too prescriptive! Our response is to include many opportunities to explore and enjoy our relationship with words: there are simple ideas to build curiosity and confidence; lessons to create structured poems and prose and resources to learn or reinforce literary techniques and terminology. Throughout, we have tried to stay true to the spirit of the novel with these activities so that they can enrich your classroom experience with true flights of the imagination! NB There are chapter by chapter reading notes (with questions and discussion starters) at the weblink below, which teachers may also find useful: www.davidalmond.com/pdf/mina_reading_notes_c.pdf Biography I was born in Newcastle and I grew up in a big Catholic family in Felling- on-Tyne. I had four sisters and a brother and lots of relatives in the streets nearby. My dad had been in Burma during the war. He and my mum married in the late 40s. Dad became an office manager in an engineering factory. Mum was a shorthand typist until she had the children. We moved several times when I was a child, but always within Felling. Felling had been a coal mining town, but by the time I remember anything the pits were all closed. The river at the foot of the town was lined with warehouses and shipyards. At the summit was a wild area we called the Heather Hills. I loved playing football in the fields above the town, camping out with my friends, messing about with my grandfather in his allotment. I was an altar boy, and I still know snatches of the Latin mass by heart. I loved our local library, and dreamed of seeing my books on its shelves one day. Favourite books as a child/teenager included the tales of King Arthur and his knights, the books of T. Lobsang Rampa, and Hemingway's stories. I also used to read my sisters' Enid Blytons. I always knew that I wanted to be a writer. One of my uncles had a small printing works. My mum said that she used to take me there as a baby and I used to laugh and point at the printed pages coming off the rollers - so maybe I began to fall in love with print when I was just a few months old. I went to primary schools in Felling and Sunderland - both of which I liked. I went to grammar school in Hebburn - which I disliked. To the surprise of some people (eg a few teachers and especially my headmaster) I went on to the University of East Anglia and did a degree in English and American Literature. After stints as a hotel porter, postman and labourer, I trained to be a teacher. It seemed the perfect job for a writer: short hours, long holidays, what more could I want? How wrong I was. I wasn't just exhausted by it, I also found it fascinating, and I learned a huge amount. I worked five years in a primary school on a large estate in Gateshead. While I was there, my first short stories began to be published in little
magazines. I needed more time to write, so I resigned and sold my house. I went to live in a commune based in a dilapidated mansion in a beautiful part of Norfolk. I lived for a year and a half on a few hundred pounds and wrote my first decent stories there. When my money ran out, I found a job writing booklets for an adult literacy scheme. This led to my final teaching job, in a school for children with learning difficulties. My first book for young people, Skellig, was published in 1998. Before that, many short stories had appeared in magazines and anthologies, and were broadcast on Radio 4. Two collections of my stories for adults, Sleepless
small North Eastern publisher. I was editor of the fiction magazine Panurge from 1987-93. I wrote a novel called Seances that took five years to write and was rejected by every publisher in the country. Then Skellig came along. It seemed to come out of the blue, as if it had been waiting a long time to be told. At times seemed to write itself. Since Skellig, I've written several more children's novels: Kit's Wilderness, Heaven Eyes, Secret
childhood, Counting Stars. My first picture book, Kate, the Cat and the Moon, illustrated by the wonderful Stephen Lambert, came out in 2004. I also write for the theatre. My first children's play, Wild Girl, Wild Boy toured the UK in 2001. My stage adaptation of Skellig was produced at The Young Vic in 2003, alongside my play for younger children, My Dad's a Birdman. Heaven Eyes was premiered at The Edinburgh Fringe in 2005. I live with my family in Northumberland. We live just beyond the Roman Wall, which for centuries marked the place where civilisation ended and the waste lands began. Activity 1 – Starting a Journal
Write the quote from the novel on the board/smart board. Discuss the meaning of the simile and how effective it seems to describe writing in this way. How does Mina’s journal or any blank page seem to be like ‘an undiscovered land’. Give a fresh jotter (preferably a slim one with blank or combination of lines/blank pages) to each pupil. This will be their journal/jotter for the duration of the novel study. Pupils may prefer to supply their own jotter or journals. The emphasis should be on individuality. Discuss the importance of the title of the book. Mina does not feel that she fits in to her class and we have all had moments like this: when we are new to a group or we feel we have had different experiences or backgrounds to those around us. Give your own life examples. Explain that this journal is Reading and Writing ENG 217T/ENG 201 A/L/W
going to be important, that it will hold all of their ideas and imaginings for this period of time and that to make it unique they must cover it in plain coloured paper (this could be supplied by school) and then they must write on it in bold letters: MY NAME IS .................. and I love. Then they are going to list some of the things they like best. Each pupil can call out one thing - anything - around the class: Rangers, chocolate, my mobile, my pet dog etc but then ask them to continue with answers to the following: I love (favourite place)...(favourite word)...(favourite food)...(favourite animal). Continue with more abstract favourites (colour), (dream/hope for the future), (feeling), (time of day). Add further (favourite) words so the final front cover should be almost full of words/things which tell us who they are.
There are no wrong answers! Add additional adjectives for extra word power if desired, or keep it simple. Ask pupils to write these lines on the front of their new jotter, filling up the cover, just as on the cover/jacket of
NB Let this journal be a place for rough drafts of poems, a place to try some of Mina’s extraordinary activities; make personal word or spelling banks etc. Personal photos, illustrative doodles/drawings and other elements could be added as the novel study progresses. Activity 2: Reading Poetry: There is no Frigate Like a Book This poem’s ideas relate closely to Mina’s comment on the ‘undiscovered land’.
– Emily Dickinson (c.1860) This poem makes a good basis for exploring simile and metaphor. It also helps pupils to see a further extension of the idea that books and the imagination can take us on all sorts of journeys.
l Copy poem into journals. Use the poem for a textual analysis activity either in group discussion or as an individual reading task, depending on your group’s age and ability. Blooms Taxonomy Question Starters could be useful. or l As you reflect on the ‘lands’ away, discuss the imaginary worlds the pupils enjoy in books they have read (Fairy Tales, Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, Roald Dahl , Philip Pullman novels etc) or in television/film worlds (Dr Who, Star Wars etc). Homework Primary School: Bring in your favourite book which features a fantasy/imaginary world – from childhood (e.g. Mina’s Where the Wild Things Are) or from current reading. Be prepared to discuss three things which attract you to the fantastical world of the story. Homework Secondary School: Fantasy worlds seem very different to our world but often the characters face similar problems and trials. Choose a book from a fantasy genre for your personal reading programme. Write a short book review* and share your recommendations as a class *Additional Resource 1 Activity 3: Dreams, Visions and William Blake Mina’s belief in Blake’s poetry draws our attention to this visionary poet. Ask pupils to look at some of the poetry of ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’. You might analyse ‘The Tyger’ to explore use of imagery or ‘The Lamb’ as revealing the opposite side of human nature. Mina’s motto is from Blake’s The Schoolboy, which could be read in isolation, or as a prompt for the debate on education styles. NB BBC TV Learning Zone have done an interesting series on Blake – some of which might be age/ability appropriate to your group: www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/william-blake-the-tyger-and-the- lamb/1389.html Dreams play an interesting part in the novel and truths seem to attend them. The dream of the old lady, Grace, sees Mina as a bird ‘with little feathers on’. The dream of the horses ends with the animals telling Mina its ‘time to wake up’ and a prompt to ‘peck her way out of her egg’ or the Talking and Listening: ENG 219V Reading for Enjoyment: ENG 211M
ENG 211M ENG 311M
Reading and Talking/
Listening ENG 201A/L/W; ENG 219V; ENG
216T/217T CfE 6 cocoon she has made herself. The astral flight around the world expresses Mina’s curiosity about all she sees, yet the silver thread which ties her to home shows she is not yet independent. And the vision of her father helps her to find a sense of peace about where she belongs (for the time being). l Ask pupils to write about their own dreams about the future in their journal. They could write in the third person describing a day in their life as a grown up. Anna climbed into her car and headed off to work. The traffic in London was ...... When the task has been completed, ask the children to pick out key ideas from the text – what family situation they have written, what they own, where they live, what possessions seem to be important? Then ask them to think if there is anything else they feel will be important to their future happiness and write these ideas down too. l Or write about a future society – what will it be like? In 2030, 2080, 2111? What about transport? Clothing? Education? Government – independent Scotland? Values? Will it be better or worse than our current world? Activity 4: Writing Poetry 1*: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
‘This might be heaven...and we might be the angels!’ p.30 Mina’s delight in the everyday world and her time spent quietly reflecting is quite different from the normal noisy helter-skelter of school life. Remind the children of how as youngsters they took great pleasure in small things. Perhaps a stone became a special ‘pet’ or they spent hours stirring mud/ poking holes in the garden or just splashing in puddles. The special bond Mina forms with the blackbirds in her tree reminded me of this Sandy Brownjohn activity: Originally from Wallace Stevens’ Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, this exercise asks pupils to consider how many different ways there are of looking at something? The answer is as many as you can find. Creating Texts 1: ENG
226AD/227AE Creating TEXT 1: ENG 230AH
The objective is that the children choose a subject and try to look at it from different angles. Six or more is ideal to start with. Try to make the children work for their poems, forcing them to look in greater depth at their chosen subjects – good practice for all their writing! EXAMPLE: Six ways of Looking at the Wind The wind in the open Tosses and hurls the leaves about the trees The wind in the mountains howls like hyenas And wisps around the mountain tops The wind in the trees Whirls around the birds’ ears and blows in. It winds itself in and out of their legs When the sun and wind meet They make shadows like people dancing, moving swiftly The rain comes and kills them. The flag droops on the flagpole. Suddenly the wind draws up its breath The flag flies around gaily and shows the Union Jack. The salient wind drives up the steep walls And goes in through open windows The windows bang shut and crack into a hundred pieces. – S Gregory Activity 5: Writing Poetry 2: ‘I should like to’ Mina’s motto by Blake is well worth reflecting on both for its beauty, its symbolism for Mina, and for its comment on educating children:
TIP Have plenty of thesauruses in the classroom – ideally one between two. Underline any words which are overused or unexciting after the first draft. Model a few lines on the board and get pupils to choose words from the thesaurus to improve it. Children take enormous satisfaction in finding good words and this is a really helpful way to start them thinking about improving self expression in all of their writing Talking:
Understanding, Analysing and Evaluating: LIT 207G; ENG 219V
I have used the following Sandy Brownjohn activity many times with great success both with P6/7 groups and with S1/2. It fits really well with Mina’s desire to let her imagination fly . Read the Poem ‘To Paint the Portrait of a Bird’ – Additional Resource 3 - by Jacques Prevert (trans. Lawrence Ferlinghetti). This is in Touchstones
door and place the canvas against the tree. Then you must hide and wait for the bird to come and enter the cage. Then you must paint the cage closed and then paint out all the bars. Then you must paint certain things to make the bird sing..
The intangibility of these lines is what sets the children free to imagine what they would like to do. Things which could not normally be done – e.g. they hear things you could normally see, touch or taste, and have to try to see sounds, to taste smells, or touch tastes. Ask the children to write for each ‘wish’ and to expand the description of it to make each picture more vivid. Although at first they might read the poem and feel it can’t be done, once they are off, it is amazing what flights of fancy they are capable of. With all the barriers down and constraints of the real world forgotten, the children are free to experiment with words and ideas. Examples:
– R Luff I should like to paint the noise of a vulture on the eastern mountains on a summer’s evening, The buzz of dragonflies on the marsh The sound of a hummingbird’s wings as they go up and down in a plant. I should like to take home the rays of the moon on a frosty night, Or touch the magic of a witch in Hell I should like to hear the glow in a tiger’s eye on a very dark night, The calling of a painting to an artist. I should like to understand the ways of the gods of ancient Mexico, The mystery of the dark, And the paint in the tin, waiting to be mixed. – R Mattinson Writing: Creating Texts 2: ENG 230AH
Activity 6: Writing Poetry 3: Concrete Poetry Mina’s fondness for concrete poetry or shape poems offers a really good opportunity to study and try writing some concrete poems of your own as a class. Look closely at Mina’s Egg Poem p.178 Explore with your class how the words and shape are formed. What words and phrases especially suit the ‘egg’ shape of the poem. Most anthologies have some concrete poetry for you to use as models. Ask the pupils to try shapes of their own. Rain drops, snow flakes and other shapes from the natural world are quite good starting points, and then allow their imaginations to take off. Example: A mixture of poets’ and children’s work which could be displayed on your smartboard or copied as models. A resource for Primary School Children which is available as an interactive poetry builder is available on: www.readwritethink.org/classroom- resources/student-interactives/shape-poems-30044.html Homework and/or Extension (all levels) Create shape poems on a bird theme: and then: make a mobile for the classroom on which you suspend your bird shape poems (Additional Resource 4). Creating Texts 2: 230AH ; Reading ENG 201 A/L/W ENG 230AH Cross
Curricular Link ART: EXA 2- 06a Design
Activity 7: Personal Writing Use one or more of Mina’s extraordinary activites – Write a story about yourself as if writing about someone else. Mina uses this technique to distance herself from what has happened to her – usually the difficult or painful situations. It can be a lot easier to do this than to write as yourself. Remember a time when you were alone or afraid. Explain the situation you were in and how you coped. Try to express your thoughts and feelings. Mina’s SATS episode is really funny and worth dipping into again. It is also a turning point in Mina’s journey as it leads to her being taken out of mainstream education. Ask pupils to look at one or two paragraphs of her SATS essay to see if they could replace the nonsense words with plain English. Then, more fun, try writing their own nonsensical story on a topic of their choice. This freedom from restraint can be liberating and create some funny words too. You could keep a class glossary of the best invented words. [See also The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll]. Activity 8 - Extraordinary Activity: Birdbrain Among the Branches Visual displays are often a great way to reinforce discussion points and this activity asks pupils to discuss, read, create and draw. The purpose of the exercise is to get the children to recognise the significance of the bird motif in the story and to see how Mina fits into this. Start by discussing the many types of bird. (see table Additional Resource 2). Which ones can they remember? Ask the pupils to think of any associations they have with any of those birds – e.g. owls associated with wisdom, the night, bird of prey, hunter etc. Give each group the table and ask them to discuss then research the symbolism/associations of that bird. This may be a good homework task. Each group presents their findings and adds them to the table... Then as a whole class think about MINA. How is she like a bird. What aspects of the birds in the story also apply to her? E.g.wants to fly like a lark, (literally? In what sense?), sits in a tree? Seems to rise above her peers (e.g. squawks from the tree to Sophie and others)? More comfortable in the night? Relationship with Whisper? Like a chick herself, fledgling child – growing up. Writing:
Creating Texts 2: ENG 229A Nonsensical Writing: ENG 230AH Art EXA 2- 03a/2-04a; Reading LIT 216S/316S; ENG
219V/319V; Discussion 209J
Create through collage or painting a large tree (wall size) – draw plenty of branches. Pupils in small groups can take a bird template (Additional Resource 5) or draw an outline of a specific bird. Once cut out, write on the key words associated with the bird and stick the shape onto a branch. Another group could prepare a collage of the nest with 3 green/blue eggs. Another group should prepare a collage of Mina sitting. Try to remember details (e.g. pale skin, black hair) to be accurate. Create a book to place in her hands. In the book write all the words which also apply to Mina. Perhaps draw a skeleton of a bird or the archaeopteryx. Discuss the relevance of these in the story – links to the past/survival of a cataclysmic event? How do these ideas relate to Mina? The final display will cement the symbolic meaning of the birds and Mina’s attachment to them. Read the last few pages again. Notice the references to ‘chick’, ‘fledgling’, ‘making a first flight’ – discuss with the pupils the part that the bird imagery adds to the meaning of Mina’s first ‘flight’ from her tree to make a new friend. Extension/Homework Primary or Secondary School (levels 1 2 3) Write a character study of Mina. Try to describe her struggle to fit in to an ordinary school and how like a bird she seems to be. Explain the ending in detail and the way in which the author portrays her like a chick taking her first flight. Secondary School Write an essay on the use of symbolism in My Name is Mina. Explore the many symbols (Persephone, Whisper, eggs, nests) in the story, especially the symbolic references to birds. Try to explain how the writer links Mina’s ‘journey’ to the emergence of a chick from an egg. Activity 9: Persephone : Springtime and Sorrow READING AND WRITING AND DISCUSSION The figure of Persephone is an interesting one and she appears several times in the novel. Her story is told p.41-61 indirectly on Mina’s journey into the ‘Underworld’ of Heston Park, but she also appears in p.103-110 as Mina, fed up with the cold spring day, thumps the ground to awaken her. She is linked to Mina’s grieving and there is an unspoken hope that in some way she will heal Mina’s pain over her father’s death and help her find her place in the world. The search for the Underworld is really a journey for answers; the longing for spring and the physical awakening of Persephone is an expression of hope – both deep human needs. ENG 219V/319V; LIT 328 AF ENG
319V/419V (Level 3) Cross Curricular Link – RME/HWB
CfE 12 Discuss with the children Mina’s sorrow and need for hope and reassurance in circle time (Primary) or PSE/RME (Secondary) – l Discuss different ways in which we express grief or sorrow in our culture/in other cultures. l Reincarnation as well as a Christian heaven and astral flying are all mentioned in the novel. l Different views of an afterlife could be explored and explained. l Since ancient times, because of the Birds connection to the sky, they have been thought of as a supernatural link between the heavens and the earth. What Indian spiritual idea does Mina want to believe about birds? HOMEWORK/EXTENSION READING ACTIVITY - RESEARCHING THE MYTH Research the story of Persephone and Pluto from the Greek myths. HOMEWORK/ EXTENSION WRITING ACTIVITY - REWRITING TEXTS l
playscript to be acted in a small group OR: l Rewrite the tale from Persephone’s point of view – in the first person. Try to express the contrast in moods and atmosphere during her transition from Hades to the surface of Earth. If you have used the activity Bird Brain among the Branches, you could now add cut outs of white or pink blossom to your tree – signifying the healing of the springtime. You could write words on the flower shapes to show a change for Mina – new life, threshold, hope, courage, flight, friend, Persephone, possibility...etc CfE: RME 2 - 09a/2-09d Technologies to Enhance Learning 2- 03b/LIT 215R ENG
230AH/330AH CfE 13 Activity 10: Debate – on Education There is a great discussion of education in the novel and teachers get a mixed press! Spend some time discussing the different attitudes to education in the novel – from Mina – ‘school is a prison cage’ - to the immoveable Mrs Sculley, to the unflappable Malcolm at Corinthian Road YPU. Consider the names Mina gives the teachers she does not rate – Scullery, Palaver etc. What do these names mean? Are they helpful in revealing Mina’s attitude to school? Read The Schoolboy by William Blake Debate the Motion: Home Schooling is better than Mainstream Education Homework : You could follow up the debate with a written report on the different kinds of education which feature in the novel. Activity 11: Media – Fly Away Home (U) Watch the film ‘Fly Away Home’ (U) starring Jeff Daniels/Anna Paquin. This film features another girl, Amy, who loses her mother in a car accident and must uproot herself to live with an estranged father in Canada. Like Mina she must come to terms with a new situation and also like Mina she has a special relationship with birds – specifically geese. The opportunities to compare and contrast the central character are obvious but discussion could also cover: Primary School (level 1 and 2) The Character of Amy – consider Amy’s journey. What does she learn about family throughout the film? In what ways do the geese help Amy? Secondary School (level 3) l Representation of Amy – grieving child/Mother Goose l Symbol of Birds l Ideas of Home/family portrayed in the film l Use of Soundtrack CONNECTIONS WITH MY NAME IS MINA: Compare and contrast the different treatments of the themes of grief/parent-child relationship/significance of birds to the development of central character. Talking and Listening : LIT 207G/208H/20 9J LIT 228A Listening and Watching: UAE – LIT 207G/307G LIT 207G LIT 307G
CfE 14 Additional Resource 1 – Book Review WHAT IS A BOOK REVIEW? A book review is a written or oral report on a book that you have recently read and enjoyed. WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE? Its purpose is to inform and to entertain. It should give a brief synopsis (summary) of the plot, give character sketches of the main characters and cover the important issues in the story and how the author conveys them. HOW DO YOU GET STARTED? 1: Decide which of your recent reading books you would like to review. 2: Write an introduction in which you state the book’s title and author. You could at this point give a little information on the author if you feel it is relevant: 3: Describe what happens in the story giving details of the characters and how they evolve (change) as the story develops. Are there any key moments or important turning points in the story that you feel test the characters or help them to learn something 4: Try to write a paragraph on the theme(s) (key issue(s) of the book. Ask yourself what message the writer is trying to convey or what important life issue the author is encouraging us to think about. 5: Conclusion. Summarise your feelings about the novel and state what made it memorable for you. Was it the vivid characters? Exciting plot? The way it was written? Try to be specific and give an example. Finally state why you would recommend this book to your classmates. (NB: No mark out of 10 required!) You may be asked to present this as a talk instead! 15 Additional Resource 2A: Bird Brain Among the Branches (Teachers) Bird Symbolic Meaning Significance to Mina OWL
The owl is associated with night. Native Americans saw them as guardians or protectors and wore owl feathers in their clothing. l intelligence l brilliance l perspective l intuition l quick-wit l independence l wisdom
l protection l mystery
l power
Mina is associated with dreams and night from the very first pages of the novel. She sees herself as at one with the owls in Crow Road. She has intuition and is obviously wise herself. The other children recognise her mystery but are not mature enough to accept her differences so they call her ‘weird’.
LARK
Merriment – as the lark sang hymns at the gates of heaven; the lark was the bird that announced the coming of the day. Because of the bird's boundless energy, it is said the lark is also the symbol hope, happiness, and of good fortune; creativity. Mina’s creativity and natural passions (that her school suppresses) are like the skylark she wishes to be. Note her poems on the skylark... What other aspects of the lark are like Mina? BLACKBIRD Enchantment, the Gateway, the inner call, Guide, illumination Mina’s mother says ‘she is poised on the threshold of a time of wonder’ The idea of illumination is interesting – what do the blackbirds show/guide Mina to see The nest is very important to Mina. What does it signify in the novel? 16 Bird Symbolic Meaning Significance to Mina 17 ARCHHAEOPTERYX Does this bird have any significance in the novel? Survival – a link to the past?
How does this relate to Mina? Just as the archaeopteryx survived the death of the dinosaurs so Mina must try to survive the death of her father and carry on. PIGEON Pigeons are of the dove family and represent spiritual peace. Peace in the hubbub of the city is hard, yet Mina finds a way to make her peace with the past and move on.
Additional Resource 2B: Bird Brain Among the Branches (Pupils) 18 Bird Symbolic Meaning Significance to Mina OWL
The owl is associated with night. Native Americans saw them as guardians or protectors and wore owl feathers in their clothing. l intelligence l brilliance l perspective l intuition l quick-wit l independence l wisdom
l protection l mystery
l power
Mina is associated with dreams and night from the very first pages of the novel. She sees herself as at one with the owls in Crow Road. She has intuition and is obviously wise herself. The other children recognise her mystery but are not mature enough to accept her differences so they call her ‘weird’.
LARK
What other aspects of the lark are like Mina? BLACKBIRD The nest is very important to Mina. What does it signify in the novel? 19 Bird Symbolic Meaning Significance to Mina ARCHHAEOPTERYX Does this bird have any significance in the novel? PIGEON
Can you see any relevance of this bird? Additional Resource 3: To Paint The Portrait Of A Bird First paint a cage with an open door then paint something pretty something simple something beautiful something useful for the bird then place the canvas against a tree in a garden in a wood or in a forest hide behind the tree without speaking without moving... Sometimes the bird comes quickly but he can just as well spend long years before deciding Don't get discouraged wait wait years if necessary the swiftness or slowness of the coming of the bird having no rapport with the success of the picture When the bird comes if he comes observe the most profound silence wait till the bird enters the cage and when he has entered gently close the door with a brush then paint out all the bars one by one taking care not to touch any of the feathers of the bird Then paint the portrait of the tree choosing the most beautiful of its branches for the bird paint also the green foliage and the wind's freshness the dust of the sun and the noise of insects in the summer heat and then wait for the bird to decide to sing If the bird doesn't sing it's a bad sign a sign that the painting is bad but if he sings it's a good sign a sign that you can sign so then so gently you pull out one of the feathers of the bird and you write yours name in a corner of the picture – Jacques Prevert (translated by Lawrence Ferlinghetti) 20 Additional Resource 4 – Bird Template and Mobile Scale up or down as appropriate: How to make a Shape Poem Mobile: full instructions with stage-by-stage images:
http://catonalimb.blogspot.com/2010/11/paper-string-and-branches-bird- mobile.html 21 Additional Resource 5 : Bird Templates for Birdbrain Among the Branches 22 Yüklə 138,88 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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