The Metaphor

Title and Author: The Metaphor by Budge Wilson

Biography:  Budge Wilson was born and raised in Nova Scotia. She attended Dalhousie  University and graduated with a B.A in philosophy and psychology.  Since her first book was published in 1984 , she has successfully written and published another 33 books. Some of which have gotten awards such as 23 Canadian children's books "our choice" awards, a city of Dartmouth book award, and countless others. She is a very highly acclaimed Canadian author.  Her most recent work as of now, is her prequel Before Green Gables.

Symbol:     This cake represents Miss Hancock. A cake with frosted with unschooled cake decoration skills.

Response:   3. Is Charlotte right in blaming herself for Miss Hancock's death? Would being more friendly to Miss Hancock at senior high have made any difference?
  I do not believe that Charlotte was right in blaming herself for the death of Miss Hancock. Though many times when someone very close to us dies we may blame ourselves. If we had been neglecting or not acknowledging the recently deceased when they still breathed, we see it as if we killed them by our actions. Even if Charlotte had absolutely nothing to do with her teacher's death , she still believes that she could have stopped it from happening if she had only payed more attention to miss Hancock. Maybe just smiled at her every so often. I don't believe that her being friendly would have averted this tragedy. She did not commit suicide, she didn't die from depression. She died because of an accident. An occurrence that could have happened to absolutely anyone. It just happened to happen to someone Charlotte cared about.
            1. a) Why do you think Miss Hancock got along so well in junior high school, but had so much difficulty in senior high?
  In my opinion, Miss Hancock had a much easier time teaching the junior high students, simply for the fat that they were younger. They didn't care who they impressed or what they did to get a laugh. They had found a teacher that they loved to learn from, and who made all this learning seem so much funner that some teacher might make it seem. Senior High becomes a much different story.  The older we get, the more unruly we may become. Sure, some teenagers may become more mature, but appearance and what people think of you become more and more important. People may start acting out in class, doing stupid things for a cheap laugh. Miss Hancock was totally unprepared for this kind of behavior. She didn't know how to react to kids who didn't share the same excitement for English as she did.
             b) In your experience, what were some of the differences you noticed between your teachers in grades 7-9 and your teachers at grades 10 - 12?
      I personally haven't noticed much difference in the teachers I had from grade nine to ten, but there have been some changes. It seems to me that as I got older, teachers started to treat me with more respect, if I had earned it. They seem to treat you more like a young adult rather than an immature teenager. Unless of course you acted like one.  Which brings me to the point of me saying, teachers become much more strict every year. Some not as much. It probably has something to do preparing us for adulthood, and working for someone who may be that strict.
           5.  What do you think was the author's main purpose for writing this story?  One of the purposes for this story, in my opinion, is to show how much high school can change us. Charlotte used to be a young girl who didn't really care about what people thought of her. She loved to write metaphor's and just play with words for hours on end. She was totally innocent, only hanging with friends she liked, and enjoying school to the fullest. And then she went to high school. She seemed to changed quite a bit. She had a self-centered and self-conscious sophistication about her that wasn't there when she was younger. She still loved literature and all that, but wasn't willing to speak out about it. Instead of trying to help Miss Hancock, or even just speak with her about the things that had been happening, she decided to ignore her. She sat quietly, snickering at the jokes of her fellow classmates.   High school can change you in many ways,  and not all of them are good.
      4. How were the metaphorical descriptions similar to the actual characters of Charlotte's mother? And Miss Hancock?   The metaphors for Charlotte's mother and miss Hancock are different in the sense of, her mother is something rigid, but always seems to be hidden behind something. Whether it be a bush or some other means of hiding, while Miss Hancock is something very vibrant and big. They are similar because they both have something hidden in them. While miss Hancock had many layers to her, hidden throughout the cake, her mother is also hidden behind something, but in a different way.
   Critical Thinking:
       
                    i) Why do you think the author wrote the text?
                      I believe that the author wrote this story to show kids that they are not the only ones having a difficult time transitioning from elementary or junior high to senior high. Teachers are feeling just as out of place as us.

ii) What does the author want you to think?
The author wants us to think about how the person on the opposite end feels. Think about how a teacher may feel coming to a new school for she or he has absolutely no respect.

iii) Do you belong to any of the groups in the text?
   I would belong with Charlotte's group in the sense that I feel a little uncomfortable being a new kid at my school. So I could also belong to miss Hancock's group. It's never easy to be going to a new school no matter how old you are.

iv) Does the story remind you of a real-life event (your own or others)?  
     This does not remind me of any real life event.

v) Does the story remind you of another book or movie on a similar topic?
 To my knowledge there is no book or movie on a similar topic.

vi) How does the story help you think about social issues and social justice?
     One of the social issues that I believe this story tackles is people ignoring their teachers and new students. Charlotte seemed to be ignored at first, but she in turn totally ignored her teacher.  This had made me think that teachers probably feel the exactly the same way as us. Even substitute teachers would have difficulties like this, a lack of respect. Reading this makes you understand how they may feel. Exactly like you as a new student.

vii) What action might you take from what you have learned?
  I would definetly treat any future substitute better than I have to date. Acknowledge them more, treat them with the respect they deserve. They've earned if they have the courage to come in and teach us when the teacher had enough of us for a day.

viii) What big question has this text left you with?
       Would Charlotte acknowledging actually have changed the fact that Miss Hancock died. I don't believe that it would have made much of a difference, but it makes you wonder.