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I. Situation
A. Place: a small town in West Virginia, surrounded
by hills, with many coal mines. (see p. 660)
B. Time: the seventies, in the summer.
(p.651 tells us a leader in fashion is Jackie Kennedy
Onassis. Other references include Green Acres (660) and Laugh-in:
beautiful downtown
Burbank (659), and Gentle Ben)
C. Characterization:
SARA GODFREY, a 14 year old girl who wears
orange sneakers and thinks of herself as
awkward, with big feet. (651)
BOYSIE, her dog, on the old side
CHARLIE, her ten year old mentally handicapped
brother, who looks just like her (p.653). He
hasn't spoken a word since he had two serious illnesses. (688)
WANDA, her older sister (655) 19, who is beautiful (659)
FRANK, Wanda's boyfriend (651) He rides a motorbike (659)
AUNT WILLIE, in her early forties, their
guardian since their mother died six years ago. Sarah
doesn't like her very much (655) but she appears to be a real sport (655)
SWANS Sara thinks they live at the university and visit in a nearby pond. (664)
MARY WEICEK, Sara's friend (660)
MRS. WEICEK (662)
SAM GODFREY (684, 686) Sara's father.
Sam had to support his family when his own
father died. Later on, after his wife's death and Charlie's illness,
he became cold and
remote to Sara.
GRETCHEN WYANT, a girl Sara's age whom Sara hosed for calling Charlie a "retard."683
JOE MELBY, a boy Sara believes is a "crook" who stole Charlie's watch. (682)
(Students will soon see that
we are seeing everything through Sara's eyes, and her
interpretation
of these people are distorted by her selfishness.
It seems that she is wrong
about everybody,
as she will learn in the story.)
II. CONFLICT:
Sara must grow up:
1.She must get a better
self-image and overcome the awkwardness of adolescence. (652)
2. She must learn
to understand other people's feelings. (665)
III. EVENTS WHICH INTENSIFY THE CONFLICT:
650. Wanda criticizes her for dressing up Boysie.
651: Sara thinks she's ugly, big feet and all.
651-2. Even Boysie doesn't love her. (Sara's
scene with Boysie leads to an understanding of
her attitude toward Charlie. By dressing Boysie up, it shows she
has no respect for
Boysie's dignity. The class should see that she treats Charlie in
much the same way:
he is a retarded child for her to protect and defend, not a person to her
with human
dignity and frailties.)
652. Charlie is a burden to Sara, first with candy, then with a tent.
656. Sara gets mad at Wanda for discussing
Charlie with the doctors, and uses the word
retarded" for the first
time.
658. Aunt Willy tells Sara she is not ugly and will become a swan. Sara doesn't listen.
660- Aunt Willy can't afford a dress Sara wants,
so she will make one. (This is the first hint
That Sara is wrong about somebody. Aunt Willy is kind.)
662-Sara finds the beauty of the swans painful.
666. Sara doesn't like Frank--or boys in general.
668. Sara hears Charlie kicking the wall and remembers his illness.
670. Charlie can't sleep because he has a button missing on his pajamas and he tore his shirt.
670. Sara's shoes turn puce.
672. Charlie thinks he hears the swans and goes out to look for them.
673-75. Dogs terrorize Charlie; he is hurt, cut, scared, and crying.
676. Sara is worried about her hair.
676. It takes awhile before they realize Charlie
isn't in the house. (This part is especially
well-
written. While Sara worries about trivialities,
we sit there practically screaming at her
to go downstairs and help Charlie!)
679. They go to the lake, but Charlie isn't there.
681. Charlie's picture reminds them of the danger
of his situation. (This picture is a very
important
symbol because for the first time, Sara begins to see Charlie not as a
retarded
brother,
but as a human being, frightened, scared, and alone.)
683. Aunt Willy compares Sara to Uncle Bert who used
to hold grudges. (Another dead
relative!
It is unclear as to who he is. Aunt Willy's husband? Brother?
Either way,
it's
one more death for Sam to deal with.)
683. This is the first summer that Sara did not have scabby knees. (She's less of a tomboy.)
685. Sam calls, but is very cold--says he'll call back later.
686. Joe Melby offers to help, but Sara still blames him for the watch.
688. Sara decides to let Joe help them.
690-691. Sara learns that Joe is innocent.
He got the watch back from some boys who were
teasing Charlie.
691. Sara begins to realize how badly she's treated Joe.
692. Mary can't stay long; she needs to go to Benny
Hoffman's party. (Compare this self-
centered bubbledhead to Joe.)
692. Aunt Willie's uncle and brother(?) were killed in a coal mine!
693. The radio reminds Sara to keep searching.
(Again, she is seeing Charlie as a person.
She knows how scared he will be if strangers find him first.)
694. Joe found Charlie's slipper. (When
Sara sees the slipper, she sees loneliness in the image
of the indian on the toe. Obviously, it shows more of her continuing
appreciation of the
humanity of her brother.)
696. Joe decides to go with Sara, rather than talk
to Mary about the party.
IV. CLIMAX:
696. Sara knows she
must say she's sorry to Joe. It takes her a long time to work up
the
courage but she finally says it, admitting that
she knows she was wrong about him.
V. TURNING POINT: (The turning point of novel
tells us the results of the climax. In this case,
we
see how Sara's opinions of all the other characters, including herself,
have changed. In
her
eyes, they have perhaps all become swans.)
697. Joe explains how he was hurt by a teacher.
(He is more sensitive than Sara realized.
She
knows that Joe is just like her.)
698. Charlie is stuck in a ravine, feels hopeless, decides to give up!
698: SYMBOLISM: CHARLIE'S WATCH HAS DIED! (This
is such an easy symbol for the
kids to see--Charlie had it all the time; it was just so much a part of
him. Now it is dead,
and we know Charlie has given up all hope.)
700. They climb a high hill to look for Charlie.
701. She calls but cannot get an answer.
702. Sara thinks she hears Charlie and races down the hill.
703. Charlie hears Sarah calling for him.
705. . . . As he saw Sara a strange expression came
over his face, an expression of wonder
and joy and disbelief, and Sara knew that if she lived to be a hundred
no one would ever
look at her quite that way again. (Sara now
sees him as a person, not a thing.)
707. Joe gives Charlie his watch to replace the broken
one. (IRONY--a reversal, or twist of
events)
707. She sees the swans going home. (SYMBOL:
all the swans are going home, including
Sara, Joe, and Charlie.)
708. Charlie runs to Aunt Willie, and it doesn't
bother Sarah. (Sara would have been jealous
of this yesterday, but now she understands that Aunt Willy will always
be the mother
figure for Charlie. Aunt Willy has just become a swan in Sara's eyes.)
708. Joe asks Sara to the party. (Sara is a swan in her own eyes at last.)
710. Dad calls. THE PARAGRAPH ON THE RIGHT
COLUMN SUMS UP SARA'S
LEARNING EXPERIENCE!
"A picture came into her mind of the laughing, curly-headed man with the
broken tooth in the photograph album, and she suddenly saw life as a series
of huge, uneven steps, and she saw herself on the steps, standing motionless
in her prison shirt, and she had just taken an enormous step up out of
the shadows, and she was standing, waiting, and there were other steps
in front of her, so that she could go as high as the sky, and she saw Charlie
on a flight of small difficult steps, and her father down at the bottom
of some steps, just sitting and not trying to go further. She saw
everyone she knew on those blinding white steps, and for a moment everything
was clearer than it had ever been."
(Sara
finally is adult enough to understand others. She knows now that
Charlie must be allowed to climb his own steps, perhaps at the school Wanda
spoke of; and she understands that her father has suffered too much and
doesn't want to try to climb anymore. Clearly, she knows what must
be done. And, clearly, Wanda and Sam have become swans, too.)
VI. DENOUEMENT:
Sara's got blue feet. (She is still Sara, despite the many changes she has undergone.)
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