H4 Short Story When I Lay My Burden Down - Maya Angelou

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

Table of Contents

* Lesson Aims

* Setting

* Information author

* Exercises 

Lesson Aims:

* You can analyze a short story;

* You understand and know how to use the correct terminology for the analysis.

Setting:

* In Arkansas in the 1930s and 1940s.

* In an old house and shop in a rural area. 

* Jim Crow racial segregation laws in public institutions 

throughout the South

* "Separate but equal" myth, African-Americans were 

given unequal treatment, endured many hardships

* Systemic racism 

* Degrading of black adults, using first name basis 

* African-American mannerisms 

* The short story is a dedication to her grandmother. 

Information Author:

- Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri

- Grew up in Stamps, Arkansas. 

- Was a writer, poet, actress, Civil Rights activist

- Her most notable work is "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings"

- Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. 

- Died on May 28, 2014. 

Exercises 

Multiple choice questions and open questions. 

"Thou shall not be dirty” and “Thou shall not be impudent” were the two commandments of Grandmother
Henderson upon which hung our total salvation.

What is your visual imagery of the word "impudent"?

1. Someone who is unclean
2. Someone who is like an alien
3. Someone who is disrespectful
4. Someone who is racist

Why did Momma insist that the children were so clean before bedtime?

1. Cleanliness was next to God
2. To eliminate white folks' stereotypes
3. For health reasons
4. That dirtiness was the inventor of misery

Name some behaviors that the main character detested from poor white children in their Store, which they were themselves not allowed to do themselves.

What was Momma's way of dealing with the confrontation from the poor white children?

During the confrontation with the white children, what did Annie want her grandmother to do?

1. to kill them with kindness
2. to sing to them
3. to fight back
4. to call their parents

Why were the white girls upset with the grandmother?

1. they didn't get any candy
2. they did not get the response they wanted
3. they were late for school
4. Annie was not home

Writing assignment:

* After you have read the story, continue to work on the assignment in the handelingsdeel. 

* Write down difficult words in a learning journal.