My Brother, My Heart. Plot Summary. Interpreting the Story: Focus on Symbols. Connecting with Cultural Values and Students Lives.

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1 My Brother, My Heart by Nancy O Neale (p. 37) Teacher s Page Plot Summary As the story opens, Ree is sitting in church wishing she could be in the choir. She doesn t join because she would have to leave her brother, Riley, who stutters, to sit alone. The minister preaches that God is no respecter of persons. This leads Ree to wonder later why some people are more disadvantaged than others. At school, Riley sees a movie about snow. On the walk home he tells Ree he wants to go north to visit their father in Chicago and see snow. Ree knows this is impossible. Their father dislikes Riley because he stutters. A boy in a passing car shouts N-N-N-Nigger at Riley. Ree throws a rock and hits the boy, then tries to console her brother. When they get home, Riley becomes more and more insistent about visiting his father and seeing snow. Ree finally loses her temper, grinds up Popsicles and throws the ice flakes at Riley. Her grandmother appears at this moment, slaps Ree, and orders her to clean up the mess. Ree feels betrayed by everyone; she puts on a clean dress and rolls in the dust beside the house. Interpreting the Story: Focus on Symbols 1. On page 40, a boy in a car shouts N-N-N-Nigger! at Riley, thereby insulting both Riley s disability and his race. At seven years old, Riley is devastated by this cruel act. Invite the students to discuss the consequences of such needless cruelty. If your class is mature, you may wish to have them discuss the connotations and symbolism of the word nigger and why this word is so cruel and powerful in American culture. 2. Invite the students to discuss the significance of the title. My Brother, My Heart could mean two things. It could mean that Riley is close to Ree s heart. Or it could mean that Ree sees a conflict between her loyalty to her brother and her own heart s desires. In this story, the title seems to mean both things. 3. Invite the students to discuss the meaning snow has for Riley. Snow becomes an important symbol to Riley. The students may note that Riley associates snow with escape from Greenville, with his father, and with beauty. 4. Invite the students to discuss the meaning of Ree s final act. At the end of the story, Ree expresses her frustration and anger with a symbolic act. She puts on a crisp-ironed white dress, goes outside, and rolls in the dust. She says she wants to reshape my life in this clay. Connecting with Cultural Values and Students Lives These questions may guide your students to a deeper understanding of how the story relates to their own lives. The discussion of the story may also be used to foster the positive values of tolerance and responsibility. 1. The minister tells the congregation that God is no respecter of persons (p. 38). Ree later wonders how this can be true when some people are rich and some are poor. How do you answer Ree s question? 2. Ree feels great love for her brother and at the same time she feels restricted by having to care for him. Her frustration boils over in the incident at the end of the story where she throws the crushed Popsicles at Riley. What pressures are at work on Ree? Do you think she is doing a good job as an older sister? What would you do in her place? Guide to Sophomores 9 My Brother, My Heart

2 Before You Read Write for ten minutes about a time or several times when you were responsible for someone else. It might have been a time when you had to babysit or a time when you had to show someone how to do something. After You Read I. Ree feels responsible for Riley. She obviously takes pride in her brother, but she also feels limited and frustrated by him. At the end of the story, Ree expresses her frustration by putting on a clean dress and rolling in the dust. This is an odd but powerful action. It is not logical, but it has deep symbolic meaning for Ree. Being responsible for others can bring out strong and contradictory feelings. Select one of the situations you wrote about before you read the story. Use the space below to recall more details about one time you felt responsible for someone. Describe the situation. What did you like about the situation? What did you dislike about the situation? Was there a point (like there was for Ree) where your feelings about your responsibility changed? If so, try to describe it. II. Write an account of your care of this person. Describe specific incidents where you can. Try to capture your feelings about the situation. Guide to Sophomores 10 My Brother, My Heart

3 Connecting with Other Stories In Moonshine, another story from Sophomores, two sisters puzzle over questions of race and religion. In Raymond s Run, by Toni Cade Bambara, Hazel looks after Raymond, who is mentally retarded. The story tells of her fierce love for Raymond and her frustration with him. In Marigolds, by Eugenia Collier, Elizabeth, a young African American, destroys old Miss Lottie s marigolds in anger after her father loses his job. She comes to regret her action. Elizabeth s impulsive destruction is similar to Ree throwing the ice in her brother s face. In the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Jem alternately cares for and shuns his younger sister, Scout. Although he loves her and is very protective of her, he doesn t want to be seen with her at school. Vocabulary from My Brother, My Heart Directions: Based on the way each word in bold below is used in the sentence, write what you think the word means. Then look up the same word in your dictionary and copy the definition that comes closest to the way the word is used in the sentence. Finally, write a sentence of your own using the word. Make sure the sentence shows what the word means. Use a separate sheet of paper. Example: To block out the noise of the choir, I examined the celestial building and all the people in it. (p. 37) Definition based on context: holy Dictionary definition: of or relating to heaven; divine Original sentence: As he saved the life of the drowning child, Harry had a sense that celestial beings were smiling on him. 1. The light shone through the apse in the summer. (p. 37) 2. The preacher took his stand behind the sturdy pulpit. (p. 37) 3. As soon as we left the wooden edifice, I knew my mother would not forget my misbehavior of speaking in church. (p. 38) 4. & 5. Although my mother often camouflaged it, the fact of our indigence still remained. (p. 39) 6. The dawns were bitter cold, but the vermilion dirt in the afternoon was enough to make the soles of your shoes melt. (p. 39) 7. We ll talk to Momma when we get home, I said in a restrained voice. (p. 40) 8. & 9. Incredulous concern mixed with the cracked impairment that would never heal. (p. 41) 10. At his every demand he made a crescendo of uproar. (p. 41) 11. Maybe I was going to succor my brother, as if giving candy to a baby. (p. 42) 12. The right side of my sheepish face throbbed. (p. 42) Guide to Sophomores 11 My Brother, My Heart

4 Reading Check for My Brother, My Heart Circle the letters of all the correct answers. Some questions may have more than one correct answer. 1. Ree gets into trouble for a. talking in church b. throwing crushed Popsicles at her brother c. breaking a chair d. cutting her hair 2. Riley saw snow a. in the yard b. on a trip north c. in a movie d. in a book 3. Riley s disability is that a. he walks with a limp b. he is deaf c. he stutters d. his right arm is paralyzed 4. Ree and Riley s father a. works at a local gas station b. is dead c. takes the children camping and fishing d. lives in Chicago 5. At the end of the story, Ree shows her anger by a. putting on a white dress and rolling in the dust b. running away from home c. slapping her grandmother d. quitting school Language Skills in Context: Sentence Combining Rewrite the passage below. Experiment with ways to combine sentences to make them more effective. You will have to leave some words out and you may make small changes in wording. You may use conjunctions (and, or, but) to join sentences, but you may also want to use words like as, who, and with to join ideas. When you are finished, compare your work to the original passage on page 38 of My Brother, My Heart. Example: Fritzy and Char owned this house. The house was in Madison, New Hampshire. That s one of my favorite towns in the world. Combination #1: Fritzy and Char owned this house in Madison, New Hampshire. That was one of my favorite towns in the world. Combination #2: Fritzy and Char owned this house in Madison, New Hampshire, one of my favorite towns in the world. Rewrite this altered, simplified passage on a separate piece of paper. Riley and I enjoyed taking long walks. Our distances were challenging. We always tried to discover new territory. My brother and I held hands as we started the mile-long journey. That was about the same as the distance to school. We stepped over plenty of rocks on the dirt road and hardly spoke. Crush, stomp, crush, stomp. When we reached home, my stockings were a bit discolored. My brother remained spotless. We sat down on the worn-out porch. We licked cherry-lemonade Popsicles and watched my grandmother sway in her rocking chair. She sipped her lemonade, which tasted tart. Guide to Sophomores 12 My Brother, My Heart

5 Brainteasers for Critical Thinking 1. The narrator says that her little brother is her best friend. Would you call it a friendship? Why, or why not? How would you describe their relationship? 2. According to Ree s pastor, God is no respecter of persons. If you re unfamiliar with this expression, try using the story context to figure it out. Does Ree believe this statement is true? 3. Products from the earth such as dirt, rocks, vermilion clay, and concrete figure heavily in the narrator s perception of things; she even calls her family dirt poor. Find instances of this motif and try to understand why the author may have found it useful. 4. Why do you think Riley becomes so hung-up on snow? What personal satisfactions beyond novelty and beauty might it represent to him? 5. Ree does not know how to explain racism and bigotry to a seven-year-old. Do you? If Riley were your little brother, how would you explain it? 6. Ree becomes enraged on three occasions, each time for greatly different reasons. Compare and contrast these episodes the rock-throwing, the Popsicle attack, the dress-wrecking in terms of her motivation. In other words, what feelings spark these outbursts, and how do they differ? 7. Why do you think Ree rolls in the red clay? Is she getting back at her grandmother and mother, at Riley, at the world? Could she be punishing herself for hurting Riley? In a more positive light, can you see her as saying, I m the boss now!? Or, might her motives be mixed and confused, as in I just don t care anymore! Guide to Sophomores 13 My Brother, My Heart

Be able to define the following words and understand them when they appear in the story and class discussions.

Name:, per. Date: Be able to define the following words and understand them when they appear in the story and class discussions. Short Stories Marigolds by Eugenia Collier Vocabulary 1. bravado Part of