Chance – Module 4

Chance can be used effectively to enhance linguistic awareness, not by teaching the content, but by using the content to assist students in their discovery of how words work. Let’s consider the first few words of the novel (The word spread like wildfire . . .) Most readers would would have no trouble understanding the phrase and glide right past it without a second thought. Asking those readers which word spread and how a word can spread, might, however, produce some interesting reflections. A thoughtful reader might suggest that it wasn’t an actual, literal word that spread but that word is used to stand for something else, such as a story or rumor, which is made up of words. A student coming up with this idea would be formulating the rhetorical trope of metonymy and could be challenged to find similar examples of word use in everyday speech. In this way, the words in a class text can be used to develop a better awareness of words and language in general and foster an interest in and appreciation of linguistic phenomena.

Continuing with the same phrase, students could be asked what it means for something to spread like wildfire. They might surmise that it meant to spread rapidly or widely or in an uncontrolled way. This kind of exercise could help expand students’ vocabulary and understanding of nuances. A phrase that can encompass different meanings such as rapidly, widely and in an uncontrolled way, might be recognized as quite useful. Furthermore, if asked what images the words wildfire, rapidly and widely brought to their minds, students might find that the word wildfire conjured up a picture of flames sweeping through a field or forest but that the other words did not produce any definite image. In doing this exercise, students would come to understand the power of certain words to produce powerful or vivid images, and would be on their way to defining what a simile is and why it is useful device for expressing something in a compelling way. Students might then be asked to suggest their own similes that could be used to describe something spreading quickly and might suggest such comparisons as like a viral video or like a bad odor – or even better, create their own. They might enjoy sharing other similes they use or hear regularly.

If students are asked why they were able to skip right over the phrase spread like wildfire without a second thought, they might indicate that it’s commonplace and not very noteworthy and in so doing would be defining what a cliché is. Once again they could be asked to find other examples of clichés in their own regular discourse.

We have seen how just the first five words of the novel supply a rich vein of material that a creative teacher can exploit in many ways to guide students to discover useful rhetorical principles on their own. What is especially important about the rhetorical devices they become familiar with is that they have real meaning and relevance and can be used as tools to understand, appreciate and master more fully the language of their daily lives. The key to the approach being suggested is not to teach the novel but to use the novel to help students make discoveries about the language they use every day.

The notes presented below are meant to serve as examples of the kinds of learning activities that can be generated by scrutinizing the words used to tell the story of Jeremy Chance. There is no attempt to be systematic or comprehensive here but only to demonstrate that almost any word, phrase or construction in any text can be cited for further attention and serve as a pretext for learning many things that are not part of the text itself. Teachers may find these glossaries of linguistics and rhetoric, tropes and schemes  useful for activities relating to language analysis of this and other texts.

Simile – like a chicken with its head cut off (page 2) If the goal is to get students to enjoy and appreciate language, there may be no better place to begin than with similes. There is still power in a simile like this, which has become a cliché (another topic for discussion), to conjure up an image that adds life to a description. Once students understand what a simile is, they should have fun discussing similes they use in everyday life, spotting similes they happen to come across and even inventing their own. Once students are attuned to recognizing similes they should have no trouble finding many more in Chance, such as like a flash of lightning(page 5); like a train zipping by (page 6); like a bus waiting to take on passengers (page 8); like a hyena (page 36).

Levels of Abstraction – ambled (page 2) In Chance many different words are used to describe the action of walking, such as: shuffling (page 3); raced (page 3); strode (page 36); sidled (page 83). Words with a lower level of abstraction have power to create more vivid images in the mind of a reader or listener, as can be seen by comparing the verbs went, walked and ambled. Students can create their own lists of words that indicate ways of walking – as well as for other verbs such as looking (stare, glance, gaze, leer, etc.) and talking (shout, whisper, murmur, stutter, etc.) – act them out, discuss how they differ from one another and in the process become more familiar with the thesaurus.

Metaphor – the school day would be a breeze (page 1) Metaphors are a bit trickier to spot than similes because there is no signal word (as, like) to mark them and because many are “dead” and fail to evoke an image in the mind. Nevertheless, both tropes work on the same principle of analogy and comparison. Awareness that language is being used figuratively and not literally when something is called a breeze or a piece of cake is an important step in language appreciation. Furthermore, recognition that a phrase like launch the ball (page 33) is more powerful than throw the ball; fired a cannonball (page 33) more vivid than threw hard; and stormed over(page 35) more descriptive than came over leads not only to better reading skills but better writing ability as well. Once the concept of metaphor is grasped (so to speak!) students can learn to recognize extended metaphors such as the train of thought . . . carried him away (page 2). Perhaps some students will become experts in metaphors, similes and other tropes in the way Jeremy became a punchline expert.

Onomatopoeia – zinging (page 2) If students have a good time with similes (and they should), they will probably enjoy onomatopoetic words that mimic sounds. Many other examples of onomatopoeia can be found in the novel including buzzed (page 8), popped (page 8), thump (page 8), coughing (page 9). Students can compare such words to the sounds they seem to imitate and compile lists of English words that they think are onomatopoetic. If there are students in the class who speak languages other than English, there might be interesting comparisons of onomatopoetic words in different languages.

Pleonasm – spacing out and losing track of what he was doing (page 1) These phrases are nearly synonymous but the redundancy is intentional because the second phrase serves as a gloss on the first and defines it more specifically. The benefit to students of being aware of such pleonastic constructions is that can sometimes figure out the general meaning of a word they do not know if it happens to be paired with one that they do.

Etymology – contend (page 1) Tracing where words come from and how they came to mean what they do is a fascinating and inexhaustible area of language study. Any word can be used to demonstrate how words can be analyzed but the word contend was chosen because it is comprised of two Latin roots , which students will see in many other words (con = with; tend from tenderemeaning to hold, which can be seen in intend, pretend, extend, portend, tendency and many other words). Developing a knowledge of common Latin and Greek roots is a great way of expanding vocabulary and establishing a basis figuring out the meaning of unknown words, and the stories behind words can be entertaining in themselves, as the explanation of the origin of Mr. Abizol’s nickname demonstrates.

Rhyme – damp . . . cramp; lawful . . . awful; give . . . live (page 4) Everybody is familiar with rhyme but it’s certainly worth examining how the rhymes in Dorothy Parker’s poem give it meaning so that students can explore its use in other places such as poems, song lyrics, rap songs and TV commercials.

Alliteration – cause cramp (page 4) While alliteration is more a feature of poetry than of prose, it is a part of our daily language as in the phrase quiet as a crypt (page 33), in which the simile is strengthened by by the common initial sounds of the two words – the phrase quiet as a tomb doesn’t have quite the same feel. Our ordinary speech patterns are not determined just by the meanings of words but how they sound.

Assonance – haphazardly (page 3) Assonance works much the same way as its partner alliteration in using sounds to form relationships between words and both are present within the word haphazardly, giving it its unique flavor. The idiom helter-skelter(page 3) likewise owes its special character to the repetition of vowel sounds in linked words.

Punchline – You might as well live. (page 5) The punchline of Parker’s poem, as Jeremy realizes, makes the reader reinterpret what has come before in a new light. Without that last line, which serves as a key for unlocking meaning, the rest of the poem makes little sense. Every student is undoubtedly familiar with punchlines, and the analysis of jokes and other memes that utilize them should prove entertaining and productive.