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Lesson 1 (from Prologue, Chapter 1)

Objective

The first chapter immediately brings the reader into the author's memory of his father. He recalls his father being in and out of mental hospitals and dying when he was 11 years old. This lesson will discuss what insight and information this memory gives to the reader about the author, Frank Conroy.

Lesson

1.) Group Discussion:

Divide the class into groups and discuss what the background information about the author's father's death gives the reader. Do you think Conroy offers this information to clarify that Jean is not his real father? Do you think this information evokes a sympathy in the reader? How might the information about Conroy's father's death serve any other purpose to the text as an autobiography?

2.) Class Debate:

Divide the class into 2 and have one side argue that having the information that the author's father died when he was 11 is given for clarification purposes...

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