Task 1: Comprehension

Answer the “while-reading” questions for both texts.

1) Santee is an idyllic suburb in California, U.S, with a population of 58.000 people

2) Charles Andrew Williams took out his .22 revolver and started shooting at his High School

3) Bryan Zucker and Randy Gordon were both left fatally wounded, while 13 other students was hit

4) That the school lived too much by its usual cliques and since Williams were the odd one out, it was bound to break him.

5) We are told that he is a 15-year-old boy who grew up neglected by his father. He came to Santee about two years before the incident from a rural town in Maryland. His parents was divorced and he barely saw his mother. He was jug-eared, skinny and timid.

6) Andy was a victim to extreme neglect from his parents and bullying from his fellow peers, which of course in the end brought him to lose it. Not that his actions in anyway is excusable but with the neglect and bullying he became lonely and isolated more than he was before. People were constantly at his back and mean to him (like when two of his friends called him a pussy, when he threatened to pull a columbine) and that kind of treatment is bound to have some kind of effect. For Andy Williams the effect to shape in a school shooting.

7) They called him a pussy and did not believe that he had the guts to do it.

8) I would blame his so-called friends and his neglecting parents that did not see what their son was going through.

9) Because there was many signs around Andy Williams to warn people about how far out he was, yet no one did anything about it

IT’S ONLY ME

1) Why is the article called “It’s only me”?

2) Comment one the children’s motives for threating to shoot.

The girl he liked kissed another boy, but he was only kidding

3) Why do parents at nearly every school shooting say they “never thought it would happen here”

They of course haven’t seen the signs of any kind of gun violence.

4) According to the article, what do school shootings and plane crashes have in common?

“ Rare but retrieving for the primitive fears they evoke. “

5) Why are Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris mentioned?

Because they were in one of the biggest school shooting feuds of all time.

6) What is the awful shorthand they have given kids?

Children have such an easy access to weapons at home. Parents are allowed to have guns lying around in the house.     

7) “… the adults fire back at a moving target” Explain.  

8) “The culture cracked down on itself” Explain

9) What is your impression on the writer’s attitude to Charles Andrew Williams.

She feels sorry for him

10) What is/are the message(s) of the article?

11) Is “It’s only me” a good title? Why/ why not?

12) Can you think of a better title?

Task 2: Analysis

Read the model and do the tasks below.

NON-FICTION:

Communication model:

Relationship between sender and receiver

IT’S ONLY ME

Who                                          Nancy

Says what                                 Stop School shootings

To whom                                  EVERYBODY - THE PUBLIC

Under which circumstances                   

With which purpose                

With which effect                    The receiver's reaction

WARNING:

Who                                          Time

Says what                                  School shootings in Santee, CA

To whom                                   Everyone with kids or grandkids in school, authority

Under which circumstances      Through the newspaper   

With which purpose                   Eye-opener to parents to aware them of these school shootings  

With which effect                     

Violence - Payton and Kim...

Study Questions for Rendezvous by David Ransom ­­­­­­__________

1. Write a short summary of the short story Rendezvous.

- The story is about a man and a young girl.

The girl has ran away from home, she wants to teach her parents a lesson. The man is frustrated and listens to drums ans saxophones on the radio. They are both on their way to the interstate, in the end they meet at she gets into his car...

2. What genre is the text?

Criminal-novel short story

3. How does the author build suspense?

- thru the music in the car, the weather and structure of the text as a whole.

You may want to consider:

Choice of words

General language use

Sentence structure

Structure of the text as a whole.

Content:

4. Why has Payton been visiting a priest and going to funerals? (lines 10-26, p. 52)

Payton has visited a priest so he can become clean, but the priest only says go to the police. He has visited funerals after each of his murders.

5. What happens at the end? (give arguments for your claims)
   The young girl gets into Paytons car, with the only thought of being home, safe and most of all away from the cold rain.

Content (continued):

6. Make a thorough character sketch of Payton and Kim.

Payton:

- Pumped guy

- Short hair (Dark)

- Tattoos

- Style of clothing

- Older (25/30)

Kim:

- Young (15)

- Long hair (Light)

- Thin and confident

- Needs attention

Content (continued further ;-))

7. What could be the symbolic meaning of the drums?

His heart beat and the way he changes mood

8. And of the tattoo?

The tattoo could be a symbol of his mental sickness.

9. What are the themes of the text?
   Violence and murder

Study Questions for Rendezvous by David Ransom - Ida&Rebecca

Study Questions for Rendezvous by David Ransom ­­­­­­__________
Ida & Rebecca

1)      Write a short summary of the short story Rendezvous.

The story is about Payton and Kim. Kim is 15, and she is running away, to give her parents a lesson. Payton is driving, and drinking. He is hearing the drums, and it gives him energy. At the end, he picks the young girl up (like he has done 5 times before, with the 5 other young girls that he killed)

 

2)      What genre is the text?
It is a short story.

3)      How does the author build suspense?
He starts the story by Payton’s point of view. We do not know who he is. All we now is, that he is driving and drinking, hearing the drums. After this, the author changes the point of view to Kim. We find out that Kim is running away from her parents. The author changes the point of view through the story, which makes it kind of confusing and interesting, because you see both Kim’s and Payton’s point of view. She also uses the drums, to build up the suspense.

 

Content:

4)      Why has Payton been visiting a priest and going to funerals? (lines 10-26, p. 52)

We think he visited the priest to confess. Confess his sinners to get forgiveness, but instead the Priest told him to call the police. We think Payton visited the funerals, to try and make it “okay” again, even though we think he knows it never will be. But he just cannot stop doing it.

 

5)      What happens at the end? (give arguments for your claims)
We think that when he picks up Kim, she is his new victim. We claim that because he has done it 5 times before (lines 20-23, p. 52). He also tries to forget what the priest said, about calling the police to tell everything (line 24, p. 52).

 

Content (continued):

6)      Make a thorough character sketch of Payton and Kim.
Payton: Payton has long dirty hair (line 7, p. 51), which makes him an unstructured and unhygienic man. He does not care about other people, the laws and the community, because he is driving and drinking at the same time, which is illegal (Lines 2-4 and 11, p. 51). He has a cobra tattoo on his left bicep (line 8, p. 51). He is a psychopath because he kills young girls, and afterwards shows up at their funerals with flowers, in his own way of giving an apology.
Kim: Kim is a 15 years old girl (line 24, p. 51). She is running away from home, to give her parents a lesson. She thinks that she is ‘perfectly capable of running her own life’ (lines 24-25, p.51. She wants and tries to be something she is not: an independent adult.

 

Content (continued further ;-))

7)      What could be the symbolic meaning of the drums?

It could be a symbol of his heartbeat and maybe his excitement about what is going to happen. We think he gets an adrenaline kick, when he picks up the girls, and drives fast while drinking.

8)      And of the tattoo?
The cobra could symbolize evilness. A snake is very sneaky and gets off with a lot of things. It is a selfish animal that does not care about others, even not its own kind.

 

9)      What are the themes of the text?
Moral – Payton goes to the priest to talk about his sinners, but does not listen to the priest. He also drives and drinks at the same time.
Murder – Payton has killed 5 young girls, about to kill number six.
Growing up – Kim is about to grow up. She is learning, and she is in a phase of her life, were she is very impressionable.

Rendezvous

Study Questions for Rendezvous asm  by David Ransom ­­­­­­__________

1)         Write a short summary of the short story Rendezvous.

Payton was driving on the Interstate. He fled not only from the police but also from the priest, because he had killed 5 persons. The priest did not want to help him. He had sinned too hard.

Kim fled from her home. She wanted to punish her parents for not treating her like a 15 year old. She is hitchhiking

Payton picks up Kim on the Interstate. Payton sees her as another victim.

2)         What genre is the text?

Crime

Violenzia

3)         How does the author build suspense?

You may want to consider:

Choice of words this

General language use

Sentence structure that

Structure of the text as a whole this'n'that

Content:

4)         Why has Payton been visiting a priest and going to funerals? (lines 10-26, p. 52)

Payton has been visiting the priest, because has sinned by killing people

5)         What happens at the end? (give arguments for your claims)

I think Payton murders Kim. The story tells us that Payton is a serial killer. It tells that he has been sending flowers and visited 3 of 5 funeral homes. I think he has been picking up hitchhikers and then killed them

Content (continued):

6)         Make a thorough character sketch of Payton and Kim.

Payton is a mentally ill man. He has been killing people without feeling bad about it. He may have gotten sympathy for the casualties’ family and friends. He then seeks the priest for God’s absolution. He is driving around on the Interstate while both speeding and drinking Budweiser, looking for innocent hitchhikers to slay.

Kim is 15 years old. She is disrespectful. She wants to punish her parents for treating her inappropriately

Content (continued further ;-))

7)         What could be the symbolic meaning of the drums?

I think it is a symbol for the atmosphere inside of the car, Payton getting hyped

8)         And of the tattoo?

The tattoo is a picture of a cobra snake. A snake is dangerous, so is Payton

9)         What are the themes of the text?

Violence

Now, submit your answers to the blog J