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Why does she tell the Norse origin story on page 23, as opposed to earlier? (Cyclical
time)
Read GENESIS King James Version, Chapters 1-3, and compare to this creation story.
What are the meanings about creation conveyed by this story as compared to
Genesis? Where is the good in each story? Where is the evil? How is good
treated? How is evil?
Page 26Why doesnt the thin girl want echoes of the Bible in the Norse
mythology?
P30decay and renewal: Killer gods become life givers; then, in the thin girls life,
flowers fade and return (35).
When reading pages 34-end of chapter, the thin girl names the species of plants
and animals again. Why does she like to list these? What does the gas mask
reference in last page, again, have to do with her listing of natural elements?
Pages 37-58
Chapter: Asgard
Where do we see the theme of decay and renewal? P38The Boar that is
resurrected each night after being devoured
ANNOTATION ACTIVITY: Why is the thin child squeezed into the same paragraph on
Odin (page 40)?
-The thin child hears the sounds of war, and likens them to Odins hunt. Does
she become less fearful by comparing reality to myth? Then she compares
her father being an airman to Odins wild hunt. Why does she compare her
father to Odin? Is there comfort in comparing ones mortal father to an allpowerful God?
Reread from the break on 52 to the end of the chapter. How does the
theme of order versus chaos work here? Is chaos needed to have order?
What is the relationship between order and chaos? With a partner, find
quotes that help you make a claim about this theme.
[note for next year: make the childrens book activity its own classthere wasnt
enough time to pair it with the annotation activity] Or, Read one of the childrens
versions of Fenris the Wolf (check out from the lower school library) with a partner
(there are 6 copies of books). Compare the childrens version to Byatts? What do
the childrens versions include that Byatt leaves out? How does reading the
childrens version help you see Byatts purpose in HER retelling? What IS Byatts
purpose in retelling this wolf story in the way she does? (see handout)
PAGES 77-102
Close reading passage from Baldur Chapter, page 81, for 30 minutes (see prompt in
separate document). Discuss response, and then discuss Frigg chapterwhat are
the themes of the Baldur death story that might appeal to the thin girl? Invincibility.
Control. And their oppositesthe impossibility of invincibility and control when it
comes to deathwhat might the thin girl wish for her father? That she could solicit
a promise from all to protect him?