Activity 1:
How do they escape from their reality?
Drag the correct answer to each of the characters.
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Now that you understand how different people escape from reality, what do you recommend they should do instead?
Answer:
Both George and Mr. Cattanzara try to escape from reality. George goes to the park to day-dream and Mr. Cattanzara drinks alcohol. I would recommend to George to learn something or to find a job and then he will do something instead of day-dreaming. Mr. Cattanzara does other things to escape his reality – he reads "The New York Times" newspaper every evening from the beginning until the end of it, but sometimes he drinks alcohol. Instead of that he should go out with his wife or find another job that would challenge and attract him.
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Activity 2:
Answers:
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Activity 2:
1. Explain the following line from the story. Say what has happened to make George feel this way. Use the thinking skill of Explaining Cause and Effect to help you: "George knew he looked passable on the outside, but inside he was crumbling apart."
2. Another issue to discuss here is the effect George's lie had on his life:
How did the lie George told affect his life? Consider both the short term and possible long term effects of the lie.
Answers:
1. George met Mr. Cattanzara while he was wandering in the streets. Mr. Cattanzara was drunk and George hoped that he won't(gr.-wouldn't) see him, but he had seen him and after that he treated him like a little kid, probably because he knew that he(had) lied to him about his reading. George tried to act like everything is(gr.) fine, but inside he felt devastated. He was really ashamed to have disappointed Mr. Cattanzara. He liked him a lot because Mr. Cattanzara always took care about(ww.-of) him.
2. George told Mr. Cattanzara that he has(gr.) a list of 100 books to read in the summer, but this was a lie. After he told the lie, people started to respect him and he liked it, because he wanted people to respect him. But after Mr. Cattanzara found out the truth, George was depressed and closed himself up in his room, because he thought he disappointed Mr. Cattanzara. The long term effect on George's life was that he started reading.
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Activity 3:
| Find and tick all the autobiographic details reflected in the story. | |
Bernard Malamud wrote about famous people.
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Bernard Malamud worked at odd jobs.
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Bernard Malamud's mother died when he was young.
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Bernard Malamud was interested in simple people.
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Bernard Malamud wrote about people whose hopes come true.
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How is the information you have just read about the author reflected in "A Summer's Reading
How does reading this information about Bernard Malamud add to or change your understanding of the story?
Answer:
There are some details which are similar between Bernard Malamud and George. Both George's mother and Bernard Malamud's mother died. They both grew up in the same period of time - the great depression - and in the same area - New York
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Activity 4:
How would you define the character of George Stoyonovich?
George is a neighborhood boy who quit(s) school at the age of 16. He always wants people to respect him, but the truth is that he doesn't do anything to gain this respect. His mother died and his father is poor, so he tries to escape the reality by wandering through the park every night. George's dream is to find a good job, so that he will be able to afford dating girls and he will be able to buy a big house in a nice neighborhood with a lot of green trees.
1. What is true about Mr. Cattanzara?
2. Compare and contrast George and Mr. Cattanzara. How are they similar? How are they different?
Answers:
1. Mr. Cattanzara is a bald headed man who works as change maker in the IRT station. He is George's neighbor and he is like a father figure for(ww.-to) him. As I can understand from the story and from the meaning of his name, Mr. Cattanzara is chained to his place – he did something in the past that makes his reality bad and now he tries to escape it by drinking alcohol and by reading the whole "New York Times" newspaper everyday, from the beginning to the end. He wants George to be able to take his life in his own hands (and improve it), unlike him.
2. Between George and Mr. Cattanzara there are similarities and differences. They both live in the same neighborhood in a difficult time. They both try to escape their difficult realities. The difference between them is that they deal with the reality (or try to escape from it) in different ways - George wanders through the park every night and Mr. Cattanzara sometimes drinks alcohol and everyday reads "The New York Times"(wo.) from beginning to end. In addition, George still can take his life in his hands and he can learn, but for Mr. Cattanzara it is maybe too late.
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Activity 5:
Why is the story titled "A Summer's
Answer:
The story is titled "A Summer's Reading", because it has at its core(phr.) George's lie about his summer reading. Even though he started reading only in the fall, during the summer time George got(ww-learned) an important lesson for his(מיותר) life thanks to which he would eventually be able to learn and succeed as he dreamed.
(18) Very good work! (96) Daphna |
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