Literature Circle Role Sheets

Honors English Ten per. 5

1. Look on my blog to your right, and click on the link for the story, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Print out the first five chapters. 2. Repond to the following: What is the perfect age to be? Think about the question carefully, then write at least a one page response in which you identify a speficic age to be and why you think that age is the perfect age to be. 3. In the story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", there are several allusions to the Bible, mythology and culture which if we do not know, reduce our understanding of the story. Look up the following allusions and jot down their definitions/associations: Methuselah; Benjamin; seventy years of age; the wandering Jew (chapter 4); Hildegarde Moncrief; John Wilkes Booth; Midas. 4. begin studying literary terms for upcoming exam.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Close Reading Questions—“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Please answer questions 1,2,3,4,5,6,9. Also construct a timeline of events that you hope to accomplish in your life. Timeline should be a mix of general: (want to have kids; want to get married; to specific—want to go to UCLA) 1. Make a chart/list in which you identify as many conflicts, protagonists and antagonists in the story. Consider each chapter. Be sure to consider chapter 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 2. Look up the story’s extensive use of allusions—Methuselah; Benjamin; seventy years of age; the wandering Jew (chapter 4); Hildegarde Moncrief; John Wilkes Booth; St. Midas; The Boy Scouts in Bimini; the VWCA. 3. How is the allusion to Midas critical to understanding the story?” 4. Why are there soooo many allusions in the story? Look up the definition of allusion, preferably in your Metaphor packet from first semester. 5. Concerning Benjamin and Hildegarde: What statement about age (both old and young) does Fitzgerald seem to make upon Benjamin’s discontent with his wife? Hint…we discussed some of it in class. 6. How did Benjamin gain his revenge on Yale College? Remember what happened to Benjamin in chapter 4? Re-read it and then answer. 7. Explain the irony of the following quotes: “Old fellows like me can’t learn new tricks,” “It’s you youngsters with energy and vitality that have the great future before you.”; “He must be the wandering Jew”; “He seems to grow younger with every year” 8. Explain the irony of Hilda’s adoration of older men; and Benjamin’s attraction to her as a younger woman. 9. Explain the significance of names—even of the minor characters—the doctor, Dr. Keene; the registrar at Harvard, Mr. Hart; Chief Justice Fossile; and even the name “Button” itself. Consider the functions of a button. How is the name significant? Symbolic even? 10. Explain the irony of Benjamin’s life of getting younger with age. 11. Remember the prompt: If you were born curiously like Benjamin Button, at what age would you be born? What would lie ahead of you? What would lie behind you? Construct a narrative in which you write your own Curious story. Please begin drafting in your writers notebook. Finally, be prepared to discuss this and additional questions on Thursday regarding “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. Also have your books on Thursday for Independent Reading.