A Christmas Memory Questions
INSTRUCTIONS: FIND A PARTNER OR A GROUP OF 3 AND READ THE STORY TOGETHER. THEN, DISCUSS THE QUESTIONS AND FORMULATE RESPONSES TOGETHER. ELECT SOMEONE TO RECORD YOUR RESPONSES. WHEN FINISHED, THE RECORDER WILL EMAIL THE COMPLETED DOCUMENT TO ALL GROUP MEMEMBERS AND TO MS. MACZUGA.
In-text questions (these are the questions found within the text of the story OR see yellow boxes in the textbook)
Reading For Details 1. Which senses does the author appeal to in the description of the kitchen in this paragraph? What mood is created?
Reading For Details 2. What does the description of the hiding place for the Fruitcake Fund tell you about Buddy and his friend?
Reading For Details 3. What details in this paragraph help convey the feelings of Buddy’s friend?
Reading For Details 4. Pick three images in this paragraph that appeal most forcefully to your senses. Explain why they help you imagine the setting.
Details 5. This paragraph includes interesting figures of speech, or comparisons, describing the stars and the dawn. What are the comparisons, and why are they effective?
Reading Check
1. What do you know about Buddy? What is his relationship to the old woman he calls “my friend”?
2. Why do Buddy and his friend make fruitcakes each year?
3. What obstacles must they overcome to make their gifts?
4. What does Buddy’s friend discover after flying her kite on their last Christmas Day together?
Thinking Critically
5. How would you describe the character of Buddy’s friend? Consider
• what she says
• the way her face is described
• the things she does and has never done
• Buddy’s description of her as “still a child”
6. Look carefully at the sensory details in Capote’s description of the kitchen at different points in the story. What mood—or feeling—do these details of setting convey in each scene? Provide specific examples in your answer.
7. Which details in the description of Mr. Haha Jones’s cafe make it seem like a threatening place? Does the setting accurately reflect Haha Jones’s character? Explain your answer.
8. As friends, what do Buddy and his cousin give to each other, and what do they get in return? In your opinion, why does this friendship have a lasting effect on Buddy? Support your answer with evidence from the story, and check your Quickwrite notes.
9. Explain the reference to kites in the last paragraph. What do kites represent, or symbolize, for Buddy? What does this reference tell you about Buddy’s feelings concerning the death of his friend?
WRITING (complete this part independently)
There’s No Place Like Home
People’s homes reveal a great deal about their characters. We learn, for example, that Buddy’s friend “sleeps in a scrap-quilt-covered iron bed painted rose pink,” which may suggest her simplicity, her desire for beauty, or her own rosy, childlike personality. Write a description of the home of someone you know. Use sensory details to make the setting vivid and to create a mood. Be sure to convey the person’s character through your description of his or her home. If you want to, you can create your own fictional character and setting.