The Witch Of Blackbird Pond Need help with my homework.

[detportal 0]

Hi all,
Last time I posted here it was about how corrupted my school was. Well I must say, my new English teacher is quite so. It is stereotypical for English teachers to hate plagiarism. Well my English teacher has just plagiarized an entire study guide to give us work to do. It's about the book “The witch of Blackbird Pond” by Elizabeth George Speare. I had expected the questions to be interesting and to actually give me a chance to give a good answer.
But this book is just so incredibly boring, and the questions are just so ... annoying. And I doubt many people have read it. I must say, I've never said this with any comprehension/novel study task, but .. I can't do it! Here's the worst offender:

Why does Speare load the first chapter with so many important characters? Are all the principal characters well-drawn?

I think perhaps because the protagonist, Kit Tyler is a new character who does not know anybody within the novel, and so the first chapter must set the scene for the rest of the novel. Hence the reader must be introduced to these friends and enemies, as they will be with Kit for the rest of the novel. So in a sense, the characters are important simply because they were in the first chapter. Sounds a bit incoherent, but this book is really doing my brain in. Can someone help me with this question?

Other questions: Does Kit react to situations the same way that a sixteen year-old today would?
What might readers conclude about outcasts in this Puritan society? About the society's tolerance? How significant is group pressure in Puritan society?
What moral questions arise from the book?
What significance do you find in the characters' names?
What tension exists between Kit and Nat? Cite examples of increasing and diminishing tension.
Explain Kit's process of maturation in the novel.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me. Though I can understand if nobody can help, as this book is just so...BAD.

[biscuitrat 0]

Hi all,

Last time I posted here it was about how corrupted my school was. Well I must say, my new English teacher is quite so. It is stereotypical for English teachers to hate plagiarism. Well my English teacher has just plagiarized an entire study guide to give us work to do. It's about the book The witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. I had expected the questions to be interesting and to actually give me a chance to give a good answer.

But this book is just so incredibly boring, and the questions are just so ... annoying. And I doubt many people have read it. I must say, I've never said this with any comprehension/novel study task, but .. I can't do it! Here's the worst offender:

I think perhaps because the protagonist, Kit Tyler is a new character who does not know anybody within the novel, and so the first chapter must set the scene for the rest of the novel. Hence the reader must be introduced to these friends and enemies, as they will be with Kit for the rest of the novel. So in a sense, the characters are important simply because they were in the first chapter. Sounds a bit incoherent, but this book is really doing my brain in. Can someone help me with this question?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me. Though I can understand if nobody can help, as this book is just so...BAD.

Okay, as far as plagiarism goes, copying work is most definitely not the same as copying writing. A teacher has a responsibility to make you practice English, and study guides are fair game. I mean, they make you study, don't they?

 

I don't actually remember reading this book, but the title sounds familiar, so let's give it a go.

 

1) Why does Speare load the first chapter with so many important characters? Are all the principal characters well-drawn?

 

It sounds to me like she wants to introduce them all, to throw you right into the middle of Puritan New England. Because Kit is travelling over the ocean, she's being thrown into the chaos of having to live a new land, with all these people she doesn't know. Maybe Speare wants you to try to adjust alongside Kit, for experience maybe?

 

Your teacher also wants to know if Kit and the other very recurrent characters are portrayed very well so you can clearly see where they fall on certain issues, and predict how they're going to act. For example, you'll know which characters are prone to get angry, which are always sad, and which characters are the optimistic ones that lead the story forwards. Can you distinguish that about the characters?

 

Does Kit react to situations the same way that a sixteen year-old today would? - Is Kit like a modern teenager, or is she obedient and dependent? Look for her traits, and think about how they relate to how your older brother, sister, friend, cousin, etc. would act. I'm 16, but then again, I haven't read the book!

 

What might readers conclude about outcasts in this Puritan society? About the society's tolerance? How significant is group pressure in Puritan society? How are people who deviate from Puritanism treated? How receptive is the society to new changes, challenges, religions and races? Do individual people get a say, or do various groups gang up on other groups of people when they feel they're right and the other people are wrong? Basically: how are people who aren't part of the Puritan society treated?

 

What moral questions arise from the book? - She's probably looking for you to contrast tolerance and goodness in a Puritan society compared with what we believe is right. Then, ask yourself questions like "Why are they doing this? Where does this get them?". Make those questions specific ("Why did the guy push the dog off the boat if the dog wasn't doing anything to him? [DID NOT HAPPEN; Example]") and relevant to what's going on in the book. Try to answer those questions for your own comprehension.

 

What significance do you find in the characters' names? - Some people are named after what they look like or how they act. Can you see any of this naming system in the book?

 

What tension exists between Kit and Nat? Cite examples of increasing and diminishing tension. - I'm guessing there's romantic tension here from what I read. Give examples of times when they grow closer together, and times where they fall apart or become accustomed to whatever they're doing that's causing the tension in the first place.

 

Explain Kit's process of maturation in the novel. - How does Kit eventually grow up, basically? How is her character different at the end from the beginning? Your teacher wants you to describe how she changed as a person over the course of the novel...not necessarily what happened to her, but how she acts at the end of the novel compared to the beginning, because very few novels go backwards. You can assume that Kit learned some stuff throughout the novel (otherwise, it's pretty pointless), so use that to help you.

 

I don't even know if any of this makes sense. I think I asked more questions than you were initially given, but I hope this clarifies what each question is asking for. If it doesn't, sorry, I tried

[detportal 0]

Thanks biscuitrat. It certainly helped me in the way I approach the questions. But it looks as though I will need to re-read the novel, this time more thoroughly.[torture]

Edited February 10, 2007 by detportal (see edit history)

[iGuest 3]

I know this post is from many years ago, but this book is still part of the curriculum of an average school, so if anyone needs some help, especially on main characters, settings, and themes, you can read my essay. I understand there are many students who dislike the book and find it boring, because the people in the book are living in quite different circumstances than you or I live in today... I always loved the book and reread it many times. However, until I had a college class on children's literature, I hadn't really appreciated it for the masterpiece that it is....