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Salem 1692: Prejudice and Hysteria
A Literature Unit
Integrated with American Colonial Studies

The Trial of Rebecca Nurse
Photo Courtesy of Salem Witch Museum Archives

Thematic Unit Novel Titles:
A Break With Charity by Ann Rinaldi
Beyond the Burning Time by Kathryn Lasky
Tituba by Anne Petry
Cry Witch! Juliet H. Mofford Ed.

Other Links:

Research Links:
www.salemwitchmuseum.com
www.salemwitchtrials.com
www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/salem/
http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/index.html
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/trials/salem/SALEM.HTM

See the Salem Unit Photo Album 2003-2004
Descriptive Writing: MLR Anchor Task
Extension Project Ideas
Reading Response Questions to Salem Novel Unit

Directions: Please answer each response question fully on separate paper. Use complete sentences/paragraphs as needed and provide examples whenever possible or as indicated. See your assignment sheet in this packet for due dates. Label each question clearly as to type and number. (Ex. Setting # 2, etc.) If possible, please type your responses. If you do not have a computer available to you, neatly handwritten answers will be accepted.

Please write the name of your novel on each assignment in this unit.

Setting

1. Where does the story take place?

2. When does the story take place?

3. How important is the setting to the story? In other words, how does the setting in your novel affect the plot and story events? Give 2 examples from the text.

4. Could the prejudices, scapegoating and/or ignorance exhibited in this story have happened in a different place and time? Explain why or why not using at least 3 supporting ideas.

5. Explore the author’s development of setting and its connection to the plot by locating an excerpt from the story where the author uses sensory images or details. Quote this passage and describe how these sensory details add to our understanding of the plot and or the story’s character(s).

Characters
Go to Character Development Graphic Organizer

1. Identify the main characters. Include a 1 paragraph description of each. (Appearance,
personality and key motivations.)

2. Show how the author develops the personalities of the main characters in your novel. Please give examples such as a character’s action or dialogue that helps you to understand what these people are like.

3. Focus on the changes in one major character in this novel. Describe how the character changed as the novel progressed. What were the causes of these changes?

4. Pick one character who you feel could use some special help or advice that could improve or change their circumstances for the better. 1) Explain why you chose them,
2) what advice you could give them and 3) how their life would be changed.

Plot

1. Describe in detail the key inciting event in your novel that sets the plot in motion.

2. Describe 5 key elements of the story’s conflict and give examples of what character decisions or actions elevate this conflict.

3. Summarize how the main story conflicts are resolved and discuss what problems you feel may still remain to be solved by these characters. (In other words, what does the future hold for them?

Point of View

1. Identify how the story is told. Does a narrator who is a part of the story tell it, or, is it
     told in the 3^rd person by an author who is not part of the actions but knows of the
     actions and thoughts of all characters? Imagine the same story as told by a very
     different character. Discuss in detail how their point of view might change the story.

2. How does the author seem to feel about the characters? Who seems to be the author’s favorite? Least favorite? Defend your view with story evidence (How do you know this?)

Theme

1. What seem(s) to be the main or most important idea(s) in the story? What main idea

(lesson) do you take away from the story which could also apply in our world today?
Discuss how this idea is important or applicable to our world today.

2. Does the story or its themes, conflicts and/or characters remind you of any other
stories that you have read or a movie you have seen. Compare in detail.