A Perfect Day for Bananafish
Seymour is comfortable talking to this character, who, as a child possesses an innocence that adults have lost
Who is Sybil?
Frances’ adolescence and awareness of others’ perceptions of her made her feel uncomfortable. This can be seen by these two words (three counting the conjunction) of Mr. Lafkowitz's effect on her (how he made her feel).
What are clumsy and overgrown?
The town which provided an environment for Zora to be herself and not defined by her race.
What is Eatonville?
A general term describing the setting for Walker's story.
What is rural/countryside/nature/natural?
To adapt something means to do this to it.
What is "change" it?
What is PTSD?
This term may be used to describe Carson McCullers (in addition to Frances) since, as a teenager, she planned to study classical piano at Julliard, and also showed tremendous talent as a writer.
What is a wunderkind?
Describe the setting where Hurston’s intense enjoyment of music contrasted with the white man’s reserved comments that made her aware of a racial and cultural divide between them.
What is the jazz club?
Myop discovers this while picking her flowers (be specific).
What are the skeletal remains of a man?
Older works may be adapted for modern audiences for one of these reasons.
What is "make it familiar", "connect the modern to the older/ancient/traditional", "see universal truth in older works through a modern lens", or "reimagine a work"?
The bananafish in the story are often seen as metaphors for these two things.
What are Seymour Glass and materialism?
Frances' struggle to communicate the emotion and complexity of Beethoven and Bach causes Mr. Bilderbach to have Frances play this piece, which is easier, less complex, and reconnects him with her childhood.
What is the Harmonious Blacksmith?
This is the extended metaphor used at the end of the essay.
What is humans/people are bags?
This is a term used to describe the mistreatment and violence suffered by the victim in Walker's story.
What is lynching?
This type of adaptation was being done in the NYT article read in class. Be specific. (medium and content).
What is Shakespeare's plays adapted into modern novels?
Muriel's conversation with her mother is full of concern due to Seymour's behavior, but also can be described by this word, as seen by the focus on fashion in their dialogue (hint: think of a metaphor seen in the story).
What is materialistic/materialism?
In his poem about her, Charles Bukowski described McCuller’s books as having a “terrified loneliness.” This phrase describes this character from Wunderkind, due to their alienation from their childhood and difficulty socializing with people.
Who is Frances?
When Zora was thirteen and going to school in Jacksonville she writes that “I was not Zora of Orange County any more, I was now a little colored girl.” This shows that she was no longer seen as an individual but was defined by this.
What is her race/ethnicity/skin color?
Walker's descriptive words and phrases such as "The strangeness of the place", the use of the word "haunts", and a description of a "gloomy cove" are examples of this, a literary term that gives us clues about something that will happen later in a story.
What is foreshadowing?
List one method or way that authors adapted or changed Shakespeare's work for a modern audience.
Teacher's discretion. Several answers will be correct.
One of these four things is not found in Muriel's conversation with her mother:
the work of a German poet, the behavior of Seymour, bananafish, thoughts on fashion.
What is bananafish?
Frances constantly compares her self to this character, a wunderkind on violin and more successful than she is.
Who is Heime?
Zora's description of herself, as seen in comments like "Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me" shows Zora as having this quality.
What is empowerment or confidence?
The story ends with the sentence "And the summer was over." The theme suggested by this ending and the story in general is this.
What is a loss of innocence?
Choose one work you would adapt, explain why you would adapt it for a modern audience, and one method you would use in your adaptation.
Answers may vary. Up to teacher's discretion.