12th Grade Theme for Senior Year - "The Individual and Society"
STONES FROM THE RIVER by Ursula Hegi
How do YOU as an individual define your "universe of obligation"? to others?
Stones from the River is an excellent introduction to the English 4 literary theme of "The Individual and Society"?. Author Ursula Hegi, a native of Germany, sets her dramatic novel in a small German town. In her story of lives disrupted by cataclysmic events, she weaves a tale of the whole community told from the viewpoint of her protagonist, Trudi, who is very "different"? from the others. The main character's own, unusual, personal story is enmeshed in the lives of her family and neighbors and developed against the rise of Nazism and its horrors.
As you read, keep a "Literary Journal"?. Take notes to help organize your thoughts on new vocabulary, characters and their facets of personality, sequence of events, unusualand/or shocking happenings, figurative language, quotable and memorable phrases, words in another language that youunderstand in context of their use, political events and figures of thetime, etc. Include questions you might have and answer them as the plot develops. Research Germany during this time , the author herself, and criticalacclaim for this major novel. Remember: this is the collegiate style ofreading a book. While you are reading this epic novel about "ordinary people living in extraordinary times"?, you will gain a new perspective on this era, and find the characters to be anything but ordinary. Keep these thoughts in mind as you read this book. Recall other works you have read andfilms/documentaries about this time period and what you know about thehistory of Nazi Germany and the two World Wars. What moral dilemmasconfront the average citizen in a gradually more tyranical andeventually deadly society? How can "normal"? life continue when all elseis crumbling , life as it has been known is disappearing, and onlysuffering remains? Could this story be told in another place and time?How do the townspeople's stories and secrets influence the plot? Whydoes Trudy risk her safety and life for others? How does her attitudeto her own suffering and life change? What is the collective feeling ofthe town after the end of the war and why ? Very importantly , what does the author have to say about the nature of prejudice and its ramifications for all? Why do you think Ursula Hegi, a native of Germany, feels burdened with "the heritage of my country's history"??
Enjoy reading this remarkable novel with a message and a theme that leads into the works for your senior year of English at Central.
