1. MALLAM SILE BY: MOHAMMED NASEEHU ALI
ANALYZING SETTING
MALLAM SILE
BY: MOHAMMED NASEEHU ALI

2. WHY THIS TEXT?
Short fiction allows the reader to briefly enter – and learn from-- a world with which they may be unfamiliar. This short story illustrates the relationship between a shopkeeper and his customers in a close-knit Ghanaian neighborhood

3. Objective
The student will be able to analyze setting as a story element and use textual evidence to make inferences and draw conclusions.

4. Analyze Story elements: Setting Lines 1-20 (RL.1.3)
The setting is often introduced at or near the beginning of a short store. Ali uses vivid details to bring the setting to life for his readers.
What is the setting? What are the specific details the author uses to evoke it?

5. Support inferences lines 10-12 (RL.1.1)
Details in the text offer clues about what the author is trying to convey. You can draw upon these clues and your own experiences to make inferences – logical assumptions – about the text.
In lines 10-12, the author goes itno detail about the tea shop. What inferences can be made about the shop owner based on those details?

6. Analyze Story elements: Setting Lines 45-62 (RL.1.1)
Local customs can add to the setting. In these lines, you see foreign language terms in italics. These can serve to describe the customs that make up part of the setting.
Why might the author include such references in the story?

7. Support inferences: draw conclusions lines 45-62 (Rl.1.3)
Conclusions are general statements readers make based upon inferences supported by the text.
Identify details that refer to Mallam Sile’s social position and economic status. What conclusion can you draw about Mallam Sile’s character and his relationship with his parents.

8. Support inferences: draw conclusions lines 69-99 (Rl.1.1)
Physical description is an element of (direct) characterization.
Summarize Mallam Sile’s appearance. How does Mallam Silerespond to hardships brought about by his health? What inferences can be made based on his response to hardship?

9. Support inferences: draw conclusions lines 100-106 (Rl.1.1)
Infer how the neighborhood women feel about Mallam Sile when he tries to flirt with them. Using your inferences so far, draw a conclusion about Mallam Sile’s social position in the neighborhood.

10. Support inferences: draw conclusions lines 109-132 (RL.1.1)
Fictional characters, like their real counterparts, sing songs to express their emotions. You can draw conclusions about Mallam Sile based on the love song he sings. What does Mallam Sile want and why is it difficult for him to find it? Use details from the song as well as what you already know about his situation to support your claim.

11. Analyze story elements: Setting Lines 109-132 (RL.1.3)
Characterization can improve the understanding of the setting and story.
What word does the author use to describe the visitors to the tea shop? How does the author describe their living conditions? What do these details add to your understanding of the story?

12. Support Inferences lines 139-158 (RL.1.1)
Indirect Characterization allows you to make inferences based on how characters think, what they say and how they behave.
What is Mallam Sile’s response to the teasing and mocking of the “rascals” in his tea shop? What does his reaction tell us about him as a person?

13. Determining Themes lines 159-167 (RL.1.2)
A theme is a message about life or human nature communicated through a fictional work. Details bout a character that are surprising or seemingly contradictory often point to a theme.
What contradictions are presented in lines ?What theme might these details suggest?

14. Analyze story elements: Setting Lines 186-219 (RL.1.3)
Elements of setting, such as how neighborhood residents typically interact, can contribute to other story elements such as plot and conflict.
Find examples of how the neighborhood communicates information ina harmful way.
Do you feel that these developments will result in conflict?

15. Support Inferences Lines 212-215 (RL.1.1)
Readers can make inferences from dialogue, or the exact words spoken by a character, to understand the characters’ personalities and their relationships with others.
What can you infer about Abongo’s personality based on the dialogue? Cite dialogue and other evidence to support your inferences.

16. Analyze story elements: Setting Lines 220-267 (RL.1.3)
Authors sometimes use contrast between two characters to create an effect or to make a point.
Summarize Abeeba’s appearance based on lines How does her appearance compare to Mallam Sile’s appearance? Why would the author give Mallam Sile a wife that appears, at first, to be very different from him?

17. Analyze story elements: Character. Development Lines 268-294 (RL. 1
Analyze story elements: Character Development Lines (RL.1.2; RL.1.3)
Writers show how characters interact with each other to both develop the characters and to move the action along.