2. Reading Schedule
1. Chapters 1-2 (p 3-13); jigsaw context presentation due Tuesday 11/22
2. Chapters 3-5 (p 15-35) Wed. 11/23
3. Chapter 6-12 (p 37-84) Monday 11/28
6. Chapters (p ) Tuesday 11/29
7. Chapters (p ) Wed. 11/30
8. Chapter (p ) Thurs 12/1
9. Chapters 19, Interlude, 20 (p ) Fri. 12/2
10. Interlude, Chapter 22, Epilogue (p ; ) Mon. 12/5
11. Study Guide: 10 Quotes Tues. 12/6

3. Journals–Remember to complete BOTH assignments for each section.
Part 1–Analysis of Literary Conventions: For each section you will choose one convention Mphalele is using and analyze it. What is the effect of his use of this particular convention in this section and in the work as a whole? Quote and label the text with page number. If you are selecting a longer extract, write the opening and closing words. Identify the convention using the proper term and discuss the effect of the convention. Ground your analysis in the text. Length requirement: one half page per section.
Part 2—Thinking about discussion of a non-fiction work: Select one of the questions below and consider it in light of the section you read for today. Quote the text to support your points.
What cultural aspects of the context do you think had the strongest impacts in this section of the autobiography?
Is there any person in this section, other than the writer, whose presence you found to be forceful or memorable?
Were there some aspects of Mphalele’s life that you found he was significantly omitting in the story of his experience in this section?
What features of the work in this section most attracted you: for example, the history, the geography, the encounters with people, or the personal reactions of the writer?
What is the role of anecdote in this section and how well do you think Mphalele handled this feature in this section?
Do you have any reservations about Mphalele’s responses or attitudes to the places/people/idea in this section?
What human issues do you see forming the subjects of the work in this section? Do you find any of them particularly well handled?

5. What do you already know about African Apartheid?
Activate Prior Knowledge:
What do you already know about African Apartheid?

7. Apartheid
A system of legal racial segregation enforced by the government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority ‘non- white’ inhabitants of South Africa were reduced and minority rule by white people was maintained.

8. Apartheid Legislation classified inhabitants into racial groups
Black
White
Colored
Indian
TOWNSHIPS: residential areas were segregated, sometimes by means of forced removals.
The government segregated education, medical care, and other public services, and provided black people with services inferior to those of white people.

9. Last Night’s Intro Readings
Conventions of Autobiography: what did you learn?
Pair and Share— Intro to Down Second Avenue
One thing you did not know
One thing you found interesting
One thing you had a question about

10. Mphahlele’s Obituary
Read his obituary to gain additional context for understanding his autobiographical memoir.
Note two sentences that add to your knowledge of the author.

12. Homework Part 2—Thinking about discussion of a non-fiction work
Finish jigsaw research—print edited, scan- able page of notes—and rehearse your five- minute presentation
Read chapter one and two in DSA and write your first journal entry
Part 2—Thinking about discussion of a non-fiction work
Part 1–Analysis of Literary Conventions

13. Epigraph—Yeats!
While I stamp your journal entries, discuss:
Why do you think he chose it? What do you think it says about the content of the work to come?
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity.”

14. Ch 1-2 Character list Setting Character List
“I”—Ezekiel
Big brother and little sister
Mother and father
Paternal Grandmother
At least 2 daughters, one son
Sarah
Uncle
Old Modsie
Old Segone
Old Reba
Thelma and the pagan girl
Narrative voice is 5-y-o in 1924
Pretoria and Maupaneng, South Africa

15. Presentation Order:
1. British conquest of the Xhosa people and the Zulu people; British colonialism in South Africa
2. British conquest of the Afrikaner people (the Boers); Orange Free State and Transvaal; discoveries of diamond mines and gold mines; the Anglo- Boer war
3. Racial Distinctions in South Africa, (Categories and Classes of Races, relative position in society, percentage of the population etc.)
4. Apartheid, including the laws associated with apartheid such as the Bantu Education Act
5. African National Congress up until 1957
6. Drum Magazine (South Africa): history and importance of it 1950s
7. Segregation and Discrimination in South Africa,

16. CH 1-5 Discussion
What are the cultural values that Mphahlele communicates through his narratives?
Analyze the tone Mphahlele creates to critique those values
What cruelties did young Ezekiel experience in the autobiography’s exposition? Does he thrive? Could anyone, given these circumstances?

17. CH 1-2 Discussion Symbols: Leshoana River, clothing, vermin …
Analyze Mphahlele’s use of:
Symbols: Leshoana River, clothing, vermin …
Punctuation: em-dashes …
Motifs: Religion, education
Themes: Civilization v savagery; urban v rural; …

18. Ch 3-5: Share and Stamp Journals
New Character List
Setting
Chief Mphahlele (not related)
Mother: Eva
Father: Moses
Maternal Grandmother-Hibila
Aunt Dora (three kids of her own), three uncles younger than E’s mother, husband (Titus) is dead
Ma-Janeware
Ma-Legodi
Dokie(s), both sharp and fat
Boeta Lem (Brother Blade)
Old Ramtese
Ra-stand
Mathebula
Oompie
China, Moloi, Ratau, and Little Links
Narrator is 12 in chapter three—seven years from the start of the novel
Marabastad (the greatest problem was the provision of water)

19. Analyze the literary structures Mphahlele employs in chapter 1-5:
Form and Structure
Foreshadowing
Plot/subplot
Chapter
Flashback
Flash forward
Chronological/disrupted narrative
Exposition
Climax
Plot
Suspense
Circular narrative
Personal/Archetypal myth
Convention/Genre of Autobiography: Anecdote, bildungsroman
Narrative Voice
Point of view
First person
Interior Monologue
Direct/indirect speech
Stream of consciousness

20. DSA Discussion Gender Roles: within families? Villages?
Analyze Mphahlele’s use of:
Gender Roles: within families? Villages?
Imagery: Seasons, Flowers, Houses, Death
Motifs: Growing, Poverty, Class Divisions
Themes: urban v rural; Christianity v paganism

21. CH 3-5 Culture Discussion
“A pilgrimage at a communal water tap. It was like this in Second Avenue, you knew it must be like this at every other communal tap in Marabastad.” (23) “Government is a strange person.” (25) “Inevitable white superintendent…” “But the back yards seemed to be beyond him.” (27)

22. Journal Stamping and Discussion
Discuss how the quote relates to the structure and voice Mphahlele constructs in his autobiography:
“No use trying to put the pieces together. Pieces of my life. They are a jumble.” (77)

23. Analyze the literary structures Mphahlele employs in his 1) chapters and 2) interludes:
Form and Structure
Foreshadowing
Plot/subplot
Chapter
Flashback
Flash forward
Chronological/disrupted narrative
Exposition
Climax
Plot
Suspense
Circular narrative
Personal/Archetypal myth
Convention/Genre of Autobiography: Anecdote, bildungsroman
Narrative Voice
Point of view
First person
Interior Monologue
Direct/indirect speech
Stream of consciousness

24. CH 6: “Saturday Night”
What are some of the ways Mphahlele felt that “Darkness had set in” during his childhood? (38)
Describe how the brewing of beer illuminates both gender roles in Marabastad and the relationship between people and the police?

25. CH 7 “Backward Child”
Does Mphahlele’s discussion of education, partiularly ‘Kuzwi’, reflect a mature or immature worldview? Hyperbole?
How does the cinema anecdote show the role of art and literacy in Mphahlele’s life? In Apartheid African culture?

26. CH 8 “The Foxes”
Evaluate the moral character of Mphahlele’s friend group
Toward each other
Toward girls
Toward outsiders--Chinese, Indian, and from the Rand (a.k.a. Ranteng or Johannesburg)

27. CH 9 “Hawker’s Daughter”
Analyze the initial characterization of Rebone and her father, Dinku Dikae
Role of gossip
Foreshadowing…

28. CH 10 “Ma-Lebona”
What does the extended anecdote about Ma-Lebona, Joel, and Anna (and “pretty Kuku”) reveal about gender roles and marriage roles in Marabastad?

29. CH 11 “Ma-Bottles”
Why are “Marabasted and winter” inseparable in Mphahlele’s mind?
What tragedies are related in this chapter?

30. Interlude Biblical Allusion: Levi, Moses “…God will provide…” (76)
“No use trying to put the pieces together. Pieces of my life. They are a jumble.” (77)

31. CH 12 “Witchcraft Next Door”
“I had the same strong fear of Witchcraft as Maupaneng had instilled in me.” (82)
P. 82/24: tortise symbol

32. Post-6 & 11 Interlude Discussion
What function do Mphahlele’s two interludes serve in the book thus far?
A: ; B:
Analyze the content, style, and conventions of your assigned interlude. Contrast with that of the other chapters.
Mphahlele writes three more interludes: post-19, post-21, and post-22

33. CH 13-16 Small-Group Discussion Record responses in your comp books on a dedicated page.
For a possible A (88%), respond— analyzing specific evidence—to at least one question per chapter slide.
For a possible A+, respond well to more questions than just the four.

34. CH 13 “Big Eyes”
How does the anecdote about Big Eyes, the choir, and the laundry reveal the subjugation of the Africans, to both European Government and Religion?
Analyze the friendship between Rebone and Ezekiel.
Evaluate the failure of educators: censorship or awkwardness? (76, 90)

35. 1934: Prince George, British Duke of Kent, visits Africa

36. CH 14 “The Columbia Dance Hall”
30s international depression—how does it’s inclusion in the narrative reveal the depth of poverty in Marabastad?
Analyze the racism Es’kia admits to in this chapter.
What cultural values does the story about Old Rametse and the Blade reveal?
Analyze Ezekiel’s evolving religious consciousness.

37. CH 15 “Fight with Abdool”
“For Aunt Dora, the past never seemed to hold any romantic memories; she never spoke about the future; she simply grappled with the present.” (112)
Does the story about the stamp book prove or disprove Mphahlele’s narration about Dora?
Why do Aunt Dora and Grandmother loathe boys who “[hung] around on shop verandas”?

38. CH 16 “Dinku Dikae’s Terror”
Dinku Dikae is the first father Mphahlele allows to stick around in his narrative. Why?
(…where are the sheep?) p. 56
What is the foundation of the friendship between Rebone and Ezekiel? What shifts evolve in this chapter for her?

39. Homework for Thursday
Read chapters 17 and 18 for tomorrow and complete your required journal entry
Bring your stamped small-group discussion questions with you as well to be stamped.

40. CH 17 “St. Peter’s School”
Setting shift—how does his move affect Ezekiel’s attitude toward:
Education
Racial stratification of society
European Leaders/Rule
Differentiation between English and Afrikaans
Who surrenders and who rebels?
Story arc length
Writing style

41. CH 17 “St. Peter’s School” Motifs of…
friendship—Peter Abrahams, Peter’s Jews, Thomas
love—Maria Louw from Kimberly
family—Solomon and the “bomb”
Literary Allusions: significance of titles?
Cervantes, Herrick, Shakespeare, Byron, Tennyson
Historical Allusions:
Marcus Garvey, Jim Crow, George V’s death; George VI’s coronation

42. “To Daffodils”—Robert Herrick
We have short time to stay, as you, 
We have as short a spring; 
As quick a growth to meet decay, 
As you, or anything. 
We die 
As your hours do, and dry 
Away, 
Like to the summer's rain; 
Or as the pearls of morning's dew, 
Ne'er to be found again. 
Fair Daffodils, we weep to see 
You haste away so soon; 
As yet the early-rising sun 
Has not attain'd his noon. 
Stay, stay, 
Until the hasting day 
Has run 
But to the even-song; 
And, having pray'd together, we 
Will go with you along. 

43. CH 18 “Trouble with Whites”
What accounts for Ezekiel’s nascent political consciousness?
Motif of Love—Rebone, again…
Historical Allusions:
Hertzog Bills (135)
African National Conference v. All African Convention
Literary Allusions:
Dickens—Madame Defarge; Stevenson
Tekane is the new Okonkwo?
What is the moral of Dinku Dikae’s death?

44. Homework for Friday
Read Chapter 19, the next interlude, and chapter 20 (p ) and journal for Friday

45. Analyzing Anecdotes in DSA
In groups of three, select an anecdote from Chapter Create a poster which includes:
A thesis arguing the anecdote’s purpose and effect
Deep analysis of quoted evidence from the text that supports your point and shows knowledge of the whole text we’ve read so far.
A symbolic illustration representing either the anecdote itself or its purpose.
Be ready to give a brief 1-minute presentation of your poster to the class today or Monday.

46. Homework for Monday
Read the next Interlude, Chapter 22, and the Epilogue (p ; )
Upcoming:
“10 Quotes” review assignment due to turnitin.com by Wednesday—you’ll have Tuesday with laptops to work on it
Culminating Socratic Seminar—next Wednesday and/or Thursday

47. Summarizing and Analyzing DSA Objective: Collaborate to create viable, electronic review materials discussing both Mphahlele’s content and the techniques he uses to communicate that content in autobiography.

48. Summarizing and Analyzing DSA
Each student has been assigned one chapter (TBA)
Re-read the chapter, and locate the online Google form where you will submit your work before class tomorrow
Review the examples Matheny has provided on the coming slides
Distill your chapter’s content/plot into 3-6 analytical sentences
List the literary conventions and techniques of autobiography that Mphahlele uses to convey that plot
Evaluate the novel as prompted on the Google Form
Your work will be published online on our IOC/IOD Review page with your name, so know you have a broad, appreciative audience for your thoughtful work!
That motivation doesn’t mean you should write a lot—write a valuable little about your chapter

49. 4th th

51. Chapter 21: “Church Shillings” p 187-193
Mphahlele’s inability to tithe foreshadows his admission that he now forgoes prayer for thought, showing his belief that the Anglican church “represent[s] the institution of white oppression” (189).
Religion for Rebecca is now a “custom, not a conviction,” revealed through a disparaging traffic metaphor when poverty initially precludes the rite of baptism. (190)
Mphahlele uses personal anecdotes to illuminate the dehumanizing corruption of the criminal justice system under apartheid, revealing his futile wish to “hate all whites” (189).
Mphahlele uses parallelism, showing how his peacefully subversive missionary-style Artists’ Syndicate facilitates multi-racial audiences, allowing him to “resolve [his religious crisis] himself”; theater and music now replace “the aesthetic experience of church worship” (189-90).

52. Chapter 21: “Church Shillings” p 187-193
Anecdote
Reflection
Juxtaposition of two anecdotes--parallelism
Metaphor of traffic
Literary Allusions: Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Hopkins, Dickens, Keats’ “Isabella,” Handel, Venda tales
Historical Allusions: Father Trevor Huddleston, African School Feeding Scheme

53. Interlude: p 213-219 Mphahlele uses the metaphor of a
closed-up room to reflect on “how sordid [South African Black] life is” as he waits for a passport to Nigeria (214).
Mphahlele reveals his anxiety about abandoning the “ulcers” South Africa, now using education to indoctrinate children as “slaves” (214).
Mphahlele plays with light imagery, pondering whether lights look lovelier when they’re “more distant” (213).
Mphahlele introduces Sasha, a Jewish friend, to show his hesitance to do what the Jews are doing in Israel: to “seek a new little dominion elsewhere where you can sow your seed” (216).

54. Interlude: p 213-219 Comparison to chapter 41—parallel
with light/darkness imagery
Effect of metaphorical distance
Organic and inorganic light metaphors
Disease imagery
Motif of imprisonment
Shift to 2nd person for the Sasha/Jewish anecdote comparison
Allusion to Gerald Manly Hopkins “Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend”

55. Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89).  Poems.  1918. ‘Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend’
THOU art indeed just, Lord, if I contend
With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just.
Why do sinners’ ways prosper? and why must
Disappointment all I endeavour end?
  Wert thou my enemy, O thou my friend,
How wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost
Defeat, thwart me? Oh, the sots and thralls of lust
Do in spare hours more thrive than I that spend,
Sir, life upon thy cause. See, banks and brakes
Now leavèd how thick! lacèd they are again
With fretty chervil, look, and fresh wind shakes
Them; birds build—but not I build; no, but strain,
Time’s eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes.
Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.

56. Chapter 23: “Ticket to Nigeria” p 221-230
Mphahlele reveals omissions in his own political activism while explaining why his passport request was initially denied.
The SA government reveals their fear that Africans would turn “more bitter”—and more educated--and become communist, revealing fears of communism’s equality-based principles.
Mphahlele makes a rare reference to his sister, whose life is “on the rocks” foreshadowing a sad existence for her five children (225).
Mphahlele provides resolution, detailing the state of both his grandmothers, Aunt Dora, Rebecca’s mother, Zeph Mothopeng, Isaac Matlare, Arthur and Florence Blaxhall, various political leaders, Adams College, the Syndicate of African Artists

57. Chapter 23: “Ticket to Nigeria” p 221-230
Bird imagery— “bird of power”
Allusion to Chekhov’s “On the Harmfulness of Tobacco” (О вреде табака)
A one act play with only one character (Ivan Ivanovich Nyukhin)
Originally published in 1886, Chekhov revised it later into the better-known 1902 version
What began as an actual critique of tobacco was gradually transformed into a tragic-comic expose of the tragic private life of a pathetic hen-picked husband and a critique of the hollow man in society

58. Autobiography: DEFENSE MECHANISMS tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety in various ways, but by distorting reality. Where do you perceive Mphahlele’s unconscious enhancing or avoiding aspects of his life as he creates this autobiographical literary memoir?
Repression
Regression
Projection
Rationalization
Displacement
banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts and feelings from consciousness
retreating to an earlier, more infantile stage of development
Attributing one’s own unacceptable threatening impulses to others
offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions
shifts impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet

60. Which person in the autobiography did you find most interesting
Which person in the autobiography did you find most interesting? Can you account for that effect based on some choices you see that the writer has made in constructing the character?
Did you observe any contrivances in the autobiography that were in some way distracting, such as coincidences, or unresolved questions, unconvincing resolutions and so on?
How powerfully—or not—would you say the setting affected the events or action of the work?
How emotionally or intellectually satisfying did you find the conclusion of the autobiography?
How enthusiastic were you about the memoir in the opening pages or paragraphs? Did that change? What choices Mphahlele made account for that effect?

61. Discuss a significant theme in Down Second Avenue and how Mphahlele uses language, structure, technique and style to shape meaning.
Describe the significance of Yeats’ epigraph for the autobiography.
Discuss the significance of racial identity in Down Second Avenue.
How does wealth and privilege—or poverty and apartheid—affect characters in Down Second Avenue.
What authorial techniques show that this is a memoir? What does the memoir accomplish?