[This lab material supplements Chapter 8 Narration (Pages 99-116) in the textbook, Real Writing with Readings.]
Narration is writing about events or personal experiences that we want to reveal to others. Often the writer hopes an important lesson will be learned.
The first two stories told in this section are tragic stories that reveal disturbing events that happened in the first half of the twentieth century. Sadly, they are true stories that will reveal the depth of racial hatred and intolerance that is one aspect of the background for the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. As you read these articles, be aware of two things:
• the chronological (time) words and phrases that connect the events in the story, clearly placing them in the order in which they occur.
• the main point of the story. What is its importance? Can you find or inferTo infer is to make an intelligent guess based on information you already have or from the context of the reading itself. a main point the writer is making?
Open the links to read the articles and close them to get back to this page. Use the inner scroll bar to scroll through the reading passage.
1. Reading one is the story of a barbarous lynching written by a southern white woman and published in the Daily Telegraph
in Macon, Georgia on September 14, 1922. Read this disturbing account and determine why she wrote it. Of what importance is the story? What was her purpose in writing it? [Open][Close]
2. Reading two narrates the tragic story of a young northern boy, Emmett Till, who went to Mississippi one summer to visit his uncle without having any knowledge or experience of southern segregation laws and customs. Learn what happened and note where the writer indicates the importance of this story. [Open][Close]
3. Reading three is a lengthier biography of James Earl Jones, who is the subject of a narrative paragraph in the textbook (page 106), which describes an event that changed his life. In the following biographical narrative, you will read more about this legendary screen actor. As you read through the article, note all of the chronological markers that add coherence and clarity to the writing. Don't open the hyperactive links within the page or you'll never finish! [Open][Close]