Symbolism By: Michelle

Symbolism: symbolic meaning or character; The practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships. In the novel, on page 109, the chocolate bar Jeremiah shares with Ellie symbolizes the beginning of something new. The start of a new kind of relationship people rarely see or is not use to. It will be new to their families, some of their friends, school, people on the outside but they don't care once they are together. The chocolate bar also symbolizes sharing. It shows Jeremiah is willing to share with Ellie his life and what he has too. When they share their problems they both seem to feel better because then they know they are not alone.

Mood By: Michelle

Mood: is the atmosphere or general feeling in a literary work. The general atmosphere of this novel is sad because Jeremiah is black and Ellie is white which adds to the problems they already face in their personal lives. When they go to Central Park on page 106, while they are walking together two old women ask Ellie if she's okay. It is obvious to Jeremiah they only asked that because he's black and probably thought she was in some kind of trouble like the time Anne thought the jogger was a mugger. They probably thought the same way Anne did that time. Both Anne and the women seem concerned about Ellie being with a black guy because they think she is not safe with him and it probably isn't normal for someone black to be with someone white around in public like that. On top of that, Ellie is always expecting her mother to leave her again one day. Jeremiah just feels alone most days even with his friends maybe it has to do with his parents and how his father is across the street from his mother with another women. He never knows where he is going to sleep the next night because he doesn't have just one bed to call his own. He has two,since he has no choice but to be switched around between his mother and father.

FlashBack By: Michelle

Flashback: recurrent and abnormally vivid recollection of a traumatic experience, as a battle, sometimes accompanied by hallucinations. Ellie has flashbacks of her and Anne after they fight on the phone. She remembers Anne seeing a black man coming towards them and thought he was a mugger when he turned out to be just a jogger on page 69. Ellie has this flashback because she doesn't understand how Anne someone who would know what it's like to be different because she has a girlfriend not support Ellie liking Jeremiah just because he's black. She is remembering that day to understand why Anne changed over the phone after Ellie had told her the guy she liked was not white. Ellie remembers her reaction the way she screamed and grabbed Ellie from a guy who was only jogging. From that description, I think because he was black Anne felt like he was more likely to attack them than someone white. Even Ellie thinks to herself "would Anne have reacted that way if the guy had been white?"

Irony By: Michelle

Irony: is the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of it's literal meaning. In the novel, irony is used when Ellie calls her mother Marion instead of mother. The reason she calls her by her first name is because since her mother left her and came back Ellie feels like she's going to leave again someday. This is ironic because she calls her own mother by her first name and treats her like someone else other than her own mother but, her mother tries so hard to act like her mother and be part of Ellie's life again only because she feels bad for leaving her now. On page 122, Ellie thinks to herself when Marion says that Ellie can talk to her to that
"How could I tell her it was too late to start growing close- that we had lost that chance years and years ago?" Ellie seems to not trust her since she had left her. Jeremiah doesn't have problems with his parents he just has a problem with being with his dad one night and his mom the next. It is ironic that he and both Ellie know there are people out there who thinks it wrong for them to be together because of color but on page 89, when his best friend Carlton, tells him that he's in love Jeremiah says "but she's white." That is the reaction you would expect from someone on the outside or even worse. I think Jeremiah was just asking for an opinion from his best friend so he said that because he just wanted to know what someone on the outside close to him thinks.

Characterization By: Michelle

Title: If You Come Softly
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Pages: 181
Genre: Coming of age

Characterization: is the methods a writer uses to reveal the personality of characters.
In the book If you come softly, the author uses characterization to show how two people with a different skin color can have a lot more in common than you think. Though Jeremiah is black, he is not a mugger or thief like what Ellie's sister Anne makes black people seem like by jumping to conclusions when she sees a African American jogger at the park one day with Ellie, on page 69. When Anne screamed and grabbed Ellie this shows us something about how she sees black people but, Ellie doesn't see African Americans the way she does. On page 70 she wonders to herself why "these black people who were just like us- who were equal to us? Why weren't they coming over for dinner? Why weren't they playing golf with daddy on Saturdays or quilting with Marion on Thursday nights? Why weren't they in our world, around us, part of us?"Jeremiah goes to Percy Academy, where he feels different sometimes being among white people. He wishes that he didn't have to be switching beds every night because since his parents split, he still has to be with each of them who live right across the street from each other. He is not a mugger or thief, just a human with the same problems as many others. On page 100, Jeremiah admits some of his feelings. How sometimes even with his homeboys he felt alone most days a loneliness that settles deep inside of him and lingered. Ellie is a girl he meets at Percy. At the park Ellie and Jeremiah both admit to each other sometimes they get scared. Though the color of their skin is different both of them are just human beings who have family problems and find comfort in each other.

Charlie

Title: If You Come Softly
Author: Jaqueline Wodson
Pages: 181
Genre: Romance
Motif: A recurrent image, symbol, theme, character type, subject, or narrative detail that becomes a unifying element. The fact that Jeremiah was Black and Ellie was white gave the story a different point of view. Sometimes it included other people questioning their relationship or just sharing. The type of characters also were a motif. Miah and Ellie bolth were kind people and that no matter howdifferent they were from each other, they always were nice to each other and always showed love for eac other.
Dialogue: The words spoken by characters in a fictional work or participants in a nonfiction film. The words in this story that are spoken by the characters are emotions such as showing their love for each other and their feelings. Most of their conversations are when they are holding hands. A good part of the book with alot of dialogue is when they bolth cut class and take a walk together. There is alot of dialogue until Jeremiah quotes "so are you gonna let me kiss you" then everythingis all descriptions.
Diction: The writer’s choice of words. A stylistic element that helps conveys voice and tone. The writer chose to write this book slow. The scenes where Jeremiah and Ellie are together, every movement is mentioned with thoughts and feelings about every movement. For example, before Jeremiah and Ellie firt kiss, they describe thoughts and picture after every inch closer they move to each others lips. Then when they kiss the writer describes how his lips feel and how warm they are.
Syntax: The arrangement of words and the order of grammatical elements in a sentence. The way in which words are put together to make meaningful elements such as phrases, clauses, and sentences. The arrangement of words in this story are quotes and thoughts mixed into little paragraphs. Every thought is noted in this book, every movement when Ellie and Miah are together is noted.

Plot : Gabby

Plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution) is the sequence of related events that make up a story or novel.

The novel starts when Ellie is at home and is with her mother. In the begginning as in every book, the author explains about her life and her background with her mother and sister. Throughout the novel, this information expands with the reader finding out that her sister, Anne is lesbian and how she really doesnt agree with Miah and Ellie.

Ellie goes to school the next day and her and Miah aka Jeremiah bumped into each other. They both felt as if it was heaven as they met eyes as the text explains. The book grows on when Miah and Ellie are thinking and dreaming about each other every second of the day. A chapter also then explains Miah's past and background.

At school, they became closer and got to know each other better when Miah transferred into Ellie's social studies class, sitting next to her. They read the textbook and talked to each other little, probably being that they both liked each other and was nervous.

As the novel went on, they started going out, getting closer then ever. Miah and Ellie then cut class together in order to spend time with each other. They went to Central Park. As they started to go out in public, (holding each others hands, kissing and being together all the time) people started looking at them the wrong way becuase Miah was black and Ellie was jewish and white. Getting ever closer, Ellie went with Miah to Brooklyn to meet Miah's dad and his girlfriend. Reading the book, I think it was very awkward for Ellie being that his father was with his girlfriend and they were black.

In the end of the story, Miah was playing basketball with his friends in a white neighborhood. A police officer came and was looking for a tall black skinny man who was dark-skinned. Miah wanted to make the last shot so his b-ball team would win and the officer yelled "stop". He was shot and lost his life. Ellie was devastated in the end when they had his funeral.

Discussion Questions
(If you read the book only) How did the author explain Miah's death? Did you know he died when he was shot?
What does a plot/summary have to consist of to explain everything in the book?

Structure By: Gabby

Structure is a way a literary work is organized; the arrangement of the parts in a literary work.

If You Come Softly is structered in a unique way. Every other chapter is told from either Miah's point of view or from Ellie's point of view. It gets interesting becuase the author played around like that, but it can get confusing if you dont pay attention to what your reading. The way the events take place in the book is normal. They bump into each other, they dream and think about each other, they get closer, they start dating when people start staring at them, he gets shot by a police officer, and she is devastated. It is basically like every other love story, but it has its moments. I think that the fact that the main point of the book is that they love each other, but of different races is what makes it a unique and touching novel.

Disscussion Questions
1. What are some other structure notices in the novel?
2. How does the author convey a feeling of a regular love story, but with a twist? Use different examples then what is said above.

Imagery By: Gabby

Imagery is the verbal expression of sensory experience' descriptive or figurative language used to create word pictures; imagery is created by details that appeal to one or more of the five senses.

Imagery is noticed in If You Come Softly. The words that the author uses create images in your mind about how it happens, kind of like a movie. For Example, dialogue can affect the way you see it : "Other players drifted in noisily. There were a couple of other girls scattered around the gym. We all knew that the minute the coach walked in, we'd all be kicked out. I crossed one ankle over the other and stared down at my loafers." That passage can be found on page 150. Another example of imagery is "And in another moment he felt his breath catch deep in his throat. He felt a slow burn of something-something hot and hard against his side. And then he was falling, grabbing for the ball but falling, falling and losing control" That passage can be found on page 171.

Discussion Questions
1. What are some other examples of imagery that you can picture in your mind?
2. Do you think the author saw this in her mind? (Use example from above)

Figurative Language By: Gabby

Figurative Language is words or phrases that describe one thing in terms of another not meant to be take literally; similes, metaphors, and symbols are examples of figurative language.


A lot of figurative language is used by the author throughout the novel. Figurative Language is language that communicates ideas beyond the ordinary, literal meaning of words. Since the book is a novel for young adults, the type of language the author used wouldn't be some small words like "Big" or "Small". Some words or sentences that are mentioned in the novel that are considered figurative language are "When Anne first came out, Marion hit the roof." Just because Anne came out with not being straight, Marion, her mother, did not actually hit the roof. Another example is "ions connecting across synapses of time and air". This is what Ellie is saying and it is very descriptive. Shes talking about science and its actually her love for Jeremiah.

Discussion Questions
1. What are some words that Jeremiah uses that you would consider descriptive?
2. What do you think the author wanted to convey when she wrote the second example?

Point of View By: Gabby

Point of View is the perspective from which a narrative is told. In Example: First Person, Third person limited, and third person omniscient.

In If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson, point of view is noticed widely throughout the chapters. Point of view is the perspective from which a narrative is told. For Example, three of the different views are first person, third person limited, and third person omniscient. The chapters are organized in which every other chapter is told from either Jeremiah's or Ellie's point of view. When it is in Ellie's point of view, it is in first person, but when it is Jeremiahs point of view it is in third person. An example of Ellie's point of view is "I pulled a strand of hair into my mouth and chewed on it for a moment. Maybe one day me an Jeremiah would have a commitment ceremony. What vows would I make - that if we ever met for the first time in the hallway again. I'd remember to tell him my name?" , which could be found on page 53 of chapter 4. An example of Jeremiahs point of view is " Jeremiah lifted his sweatshirt over his head and jogged out onto the floor slapping Joe's hand as they passed each other. He wasn't the tallest guy on the team, but in the week of practice, he had realized that he was easily the fastest and best shot." Keywords to notice the first person view was "I" or "My". Keywords to notice the third person view was "He", "Him", "His", or "They".

Discussion Questions
1. How would you tell if a chapter in a book is a certain point of view? Explain.
2. Why do you think the author played around with different point of views? What did it do to make the book more interesting or bad?

Voice By: Kathleen

Voice: the way a writer or speaker uses words and tone to express ideas as well as his or her personas or personalities.

Ellie is first person in the novel, while Miah is third person. The transition throughout the chapters give us readers perspectives on each character. This style of writing lets each character really express their feelings toward each other and the issues involved with their family. Although Miah 's chapters are third person you still get that presence like he's talking to you and sharing his thoughts, just like Ellie. On page 5, the narrator for Miah tells us readers how Miah feels, being black, "He felt warm inside his skin, protected. And in Fort Greene, Brooklyn-where everyone seemed to be some shade of black-he felt good walking through the neighborhood,". The narrator in this piece uses, "he felt...", thats what third person is. Ellie is presented at first as a lonely fifteen year-old girl who seeks a close relationship with her mother. She often mentions how she is the last sibling in her house and how she has no one to talk to. Her strained relationship with her mother Marion is due to the fact that her mother left twice when she was younger. This left Ellie broken almost like she couldn't trust her mother because she never knew when she would pick up and leave. "When you're young and your mother leaves, something inside of you fills up with the absence of her. I don't know how to explain. For a long time, there was this place inside me where love for Marion should have been but wasn't," page 22. In this excerpt, Ellie describes her basic feelings after her mother Marion left. Miah is also lonely but in a different sense. It is said that he has no siblings and that his parents divorced. His parents are famous, his mother for her novels, and his father for his movies. The way Miah is portrayed it tells how he wants companionship maybe just a friend, (not like his "homeboys") to talk to about his problems with his parents. His relationship with his mother is genuine, and simple. His father seems to be more focused on making films and letting Miah meet people from his work. These two end up being close because of their problems. They did say that it was love at first sight.


DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Desribe Ellie's relationship with her father and Miah's relationship with his father. Compare and contrast.

- Why do you think Miah was put as third- person and Ellie was put as first-person?

Tone By: Kathleen

Tone: a writer's or speaker's attitude toward a subject.

Based upon the information we learned about Jacqueline Woodson we've come to a conclusion that she is probably very sensitive about this subject. Not sensitive in that she is unable to talk about it because it upsets her, but sensitive in the fact that she is somewhat of an activist. Jacqueline Woodson is a lesbian and she is African American. In her novel Ellie's sister Anne is a lesbian and of course Jeremiah is an African American. So the two subjects she mentions in the book, that also relate to her are, homosexuality and racism. "Once Anne and I were walking through Central Park when this black guy started running toward us. I frowned, remembering how Anne had screamed, and grabbed me. When the guy got up close, we realized he was a jogger, not a mugger or anything...," page 69. In this example it portrays the common mindset of so many people. So quick to judge. Even though the novel doesn't revolve around lesbians and gays, it is a subject, like racism, that some parts of society just can't accept.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Based upon what you know about the author and the novel, how would you describe Ms. Woodson's feelings toward racism and homosexuality?

- What other races, besides African Americans, has racism been displayed towards them?

Theme By: Kathleen

Theme: a writer's central idea or main message about life.

The obvious theme in this book revolved around race, interracial dating, and society's view. The book also raises a topic many people try to avoid; it's the racism and prejudice that still rule people's thoughts and actions. Besides the interracial dating, racism is a topic most prominent in Jacqueline Woodson's novel. Ellie and Miah look beyond this and just see the affection and common interest they have with each other. Everyone else feels stationary almost like you can't possibly have a white person and a black person together because it just unbalances nature. "Ellie smiled, then leaned foward and kised him again. A black woman eyed them suspiciously...Jeremiah felt Ellie's hand close tighter around his own," pages 130-131. This is an example of how people react to them. The theme in this book is basically the challenge of loving someone outside of your 'group'.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Find two quotes in the book that identify racism as a theme in the book.

- Why is it ironic the way Anne reacted to Elli liking an African American?

Foreshadowing By: Katheleen

Foreshadowing: the use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest future action.
Of course there are many accounts of foreshadow in this novel. We focused on one main part that we found interesting and vital. "Jeremiah didn't know that they had been looking for a man. A tall, dark man. If he had known, he would have stopped when the shout came from behind him. But he was tangled up inside his thoughts. Deep inside himself." page 170, first paragraph. Using context clues we can predict unseen events. The first sentence is what signals a warning because before this sentence Jeremiah describes how he feels light, like flying. This means he's happy. As this sentence follows it's almost like a mood lifter. He was unaware they were looking for a man, and it says a tall dark man. Jeremiah, as we know, is a tall dark man. The third sentence literally tells you that something bad WILL happen to him. If he had known.... But Jeremiah was caught up in his own little world, he could care less about everyone and everything in the world. These were all hints or clues that suggest future action. And as we know, Jeremiah was shot.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Identify two accounts of foreshadow.

- On page 101, Jeremiah tells himself that he's going to kiss Eliie soon, that he doesn't know when or where but he will. Later on, in the very next chapter he kisses her at the end of the chapter. Was what Jeremiah said before an example of foreshadow? EXPLAIN.

Conflict By: Katheleen

Conflict: a struggle or problem in a story. An internal conflict occurs when a character struggles between opposing needs or desires or emotions within his or her own mind. An external conflict occurs when a character struggles against an outside force. this force may be another character, a societal expectation, or something in the physical world.

The central conflict in this novel is race and the reactions of people to Ellie and Miah's relationship. People cast those shady looks at them as they walk in hand in hand. Others make crude remarks, but their love is not black and white. " You think it'll always be like this, Miah?" Ellie asked on page 131. "...Ellie had come to see it, to understand how stupid the world could be sometimes," Miah thought on page 131. Miah and Ellie understand that being an interracial couple, many people give them funny looks, thinking they're trying to make a statement or be 'radical' so to speak. The only thing Ellie and Miah are proving is their true and simple love. Society can't look past the melanin and see the bond they share. In a world shrouded with skeptics and racists Ellie and Miah shine.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- How do you feel about interracial dating?

- Do you think our society today has evolved and learned to except different races dating?