1. Agenda (for me) Voice Lesson: Figurative Language #1 ATSS, Chaps. 1-3
Background notes
Discuss Declaration of the Rights of the Child, etc. (p & respond to questions 1-4)
Intro to Research Paper and Project
Question Flood/Brainstorming

2. Reminders – 3-21-18 Bring A Thousand Splendid Suns every day!
ATSS Chaps. 4-9 due tomorrow!
HW: ATSS Chaps due tomorrow!

3. What is Figurative Language?
Any language that is NOT used in a literal (meaning exactly what it says) way
A way of saying one thing and meaning another
Examples:
That ball sat in the outfield.
Jimmy ran like a cheetah to first base.
If looked at literally, the statements don’t make sense at all.

4. Why use Figurative Language?
It’s a rich, strong, and vivid way to express meaning
We are able to say much more in fewer words.

5. Example
“My love is like a red, red rose” (Robert Burns)
He is saying is love is beautiful, soft, and fragrant.
The rose is red, the color of passion and love. This adds another dimension.
The rose also has thorns, which says that there’s a potential danger in loving her. She may hurt him.
The poet has squeezed many ideas into a single line.

6. Caution about Figurative Language
While it is useful, it can be overdone.
When a figure of speech is used over and over again, it loses its freshness and originality and becomes a cliché, a stale and overused expression.
Pretty as a picture
Quiet as a mouse
Laughter is the best medicine
Every cloud has a silver lining.

7. Metaphors and Similes
Used to compare things that are not usually seen as similar.
Metaphors IMPLY the comparison
Similes STATE the comparison directly
Comparison of unlike things

8. Let’s look at an example
Metaphor (IMPLY)
Simile (STATE)
My anger roared and devoured everything it encountered; its ferociousness made it unconquerable. Its teeth glared and shined when facing any foe.
Not saying it was a literal lion, but that it was roaring and unconquerable; teeth glaring and hard to deal with.
Comparison is not directly stated; rather it is implied or suggested
You identify the lion with the anger.
“My anger was like a ferocious lion!”
Still not literal – not really like a lion.

9. Metaphors and Similes
They have literal terms and figurative terms
The literal term is what we are comparing to something else. It’s what’s real; it means what it is.
For example, “That test was a bear!” (Literal term is test)
The figurative term is what is being compared to the literal term.
For example, “That test was a bear!” (Figurative term is bear)

10. Try it Out!
Read the following sentences and determine a) metaphor or simile; b) literal term c) figurative term
I got a flood of mail yesterday.
Alice sang like a crow.
Jeff was taller than the Empire State Building.
The shoes cost a king’s ransom.

11. Figurative Language in Action
Read and Think:
Write About It:
I was seven, I lay in the car
watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.
My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.
-- Naomi Shihab Nye, “Making a Fist,” Words Under the Words: Selected Poems
What is the metaphor in this poem? What is literal term? What is the figurative term? What does the metaphor imply?
How would the meaning and impact of these lines change if Nye said simply, My stomach really hurt?

12. ATSS – background notes

13. A Thousand Splendid Suns Contemporary Literature
Khaled Hosseini

14. Setting Afghanistan Story begins in late 60’s,early 70s Ends in 2003
Major Cities: Herat, Kabul
A couple fictional villages,
but most places are real
Story begins in late 60’s,early 70s
Ends in 2003
Encompasses great span of political turmoil in Afghanistan

15. About the Author: Khaled Hosseini
Born in Kabul, Afghanistan 1965
Father worked for Afghan Foreign Ministry – constantly moved around due to violent political instability
Mother was a teacher of Persian Literature – gained passion for this poetry
Family moved to California in 1980 – Hosseini would graduate high school in Cali. and college with an M.D.
1st Novel: The Kite Runner, 2003
2nd Novel: A Thousand Splendid Suns, 2007
Both are highly acclaimed best-sellers

16. Title Inspiration:
Came from a poem by 17th century Persian poet Saib-e-Tabrizi
“Every street of Kabul is enthralling to the eye Through the bazaars, caravans of Egypt pass One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls”
*Let’s look at the poem!

17. Novel’s Influences Treatment of women under the rule of the Taliban
Political turmoil of Afghanistan over the past 30 years
Beauty of a country that lies hidden beneath a violent political past

18. Political Circumstances:
Main conflicts in switching governments: modernizing Afghan culture or keeping with old traditional ways (i.e. – women being allowed education, wearing burqas…)
Soviet Union also infiltrating (basically want more power geographically)
Taliban is one reactionary group which gained strong control throughout Afghanistan
In a war-ridden country, many people took refuge in the neighboring countries of Pakistan and Iran

19. Marriage Rights: Polygamy is socially accepted
Wives expected to do domestic chores
Generally wives all live in the same house
Certainly not all men were abusive to wives – but public would generally turn heads to obvious abuse
Men could choose how they wanted their wives to behave – burqa, go in public alone…

20. Women:
Before the Taliban take over, women’s role in society was beginning to modernize (in more urban areas)
Allowed education
Dress code was lightened – could wear just a loose scarf over head, could wear lipstick, nail polish, high heels
Voting rights granted in select areas
With Taliban, women basically lose all forms of freedom

21. Under Taliban:
Aim was to “secure environments where the chasteness and dignity of women may once again be sacrosanct,"
Forced to wear Burqa – “face of a woman is a source of corruption”
Could not be in public without male escort

22. Taliban Continued: Not allowed to work
Could not be educated past age 8
Could only read Koran
Not allowed to be treated by doctors unless escorted – led to diseases that never got treated
Women were publicly punished if they broke these laws – beaten, shot, hanged, stoned…
Countless more inhumanities suffered upon the Afghan women

23. Afghanistan Today
Now titled the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan – has a president and a parliament
International powers are trying to help reform the political infrastructure, although Taliban and other insurgent groups still have considerable power
Small gains in women’s rights have been made (right to vote), but certainly nowhere close to the freedoms that women in our world have
Remains a very unstable environment where many people live in constant fear

24. Perspective
Told from two different women’s perspective at different points in their lives.
Mariam- illegitimate child of a rich man and a housekeeper- 15 years old when story starts
Laila- child of loving and progressive parents- believes in woman’s education and rights- 9 years old when story starts
Story divided into 4 parts:
1. Mariam
2. Laila
3. Switches between Mariam/Laila
4. Laila
Provides a compelling view of Afghan society from two very different women as their journeys through life collide unexpectedly

25. Thematic Concepts and Themes
Man’s inhumanity to man
Systematic victimization of women by patriarchal institutions
Resistance to victimization
Power of education
Education for women
Corrupting influence of absolute power
Inner strength of women
Enduring the unendurable
Finding hope in midst of despair
Discovering strength in an unlikely companion
Human capacity for evil
Loyalty and devotion

26. Archetypes: Good vs. Evil The cast-out child Female suppression
Star-crossed lovers
Controlling husband
Tragic Hero

27. Declaration of the Rights of the Child

28. Research Topic Proposal
Model Question Flood
Group brainstorm/share
Whole group share/discuss
Content of Topic Proposal – what? Where? When?