Chapter 1: Comprehension Questions:
1. Why was it important for the story’s main character to get a volunteer job?
2. What would happen if the main character did not earn all his credits?
3. Where was he going for the interview?
4. Describe the downtown area?
5. What did he think “the Club” was?
6. Describe the young man’s character, according to the teacher’s views. Did he agree with the teacher’s assessment of his character?
7. Why did the stranger tell Ian to put his wallet away?
8. What surprised Ian about the bum he met in the park?
9. What stereotypes do you have about people who live on the street?
10. Describe the woman Ian met along his way to his interview.
11. What happened to Ian’s shoes?
12. Who came to Ian’s rescue?
13. How did the stranger say Ian could thank him? And what advice did the stranger give to Ian.
Chapter 2: Comprehension Questions
- Describe the scene outside “The Club”.
- Describe the clothing worn my the men who stood outside “The Club”
- How do you get a volunteer job at “The Club”?
- Why does “Mac” say that Ian has a lot in common with the people who come to “the Club”
- Why is Ian smart to keep his “mouth shut”?
- What two words of advice does Mac give to Ian on page 24?
- Describe the men Ian served at “The Club”.
- What is Second Harvest?
- What is Centros? Why do they give food away?
- Where do people eat if they do not eat at the soup kitchen?
Chapter 3: Comprehension Questions
- How many people worked at “The Club?”
- How does Mac feel about the “do-gooders”?
- What are the things Mac likes about Ian?
- Who is Mac? What do you see as his mission?
- Where do the funds come from for rent and Mac’s salary?
- Why do you think Ian was surprised to hear how many homeless were in his city? What clues have you been given that tell you Ian is from “another class” of society?
Chapter 4: Comprehension Questions
- List five (5) things Ian’s class thought Canada was famous for.
- What was Ian’s answer to Mrs. Watkins question – “What are we famous for?”
- Who was Lester B. Pearson and what was he awarded in 1957?
Chapter 5: Comprehension Questions
- How does Ian feel about his father? Do you think they have a close relationship – why or why not?
- What impression do you get about Ian’s mother?
- What embarrassed Ian about being driven to the soup kitchen?
- Who was Berta?
- What is scurvy? Why do street people get it?
- Who is Sarge?
Chapter 6: Comprehension Questions
- According to Mac how many people die on the streets from year to year? Why is the public not aware of this issue?
- What does Mac do on his evening rounds?
- Who are the adults who end up on the streets and why do they make the streets their home?
- Why do kids end up on the streets?
Chapter 7: Comprehension Questions
- Compare the deaths of the street people in Guatemala to that of the street people in Canada.
Chapter 8: Comprehension Questions
- Why did Lester B. Pearson win the Nobel Peach Prize?
- What is the role of a peace keeping mission?
- How does the general public treat the homeless? List 5 words Ian’s class used to describe the homeless.
Chapter 9: Comprehension Questions
- What was Sarge trained for in the military?
- What did Sarge’s father say to him when he enlisted into the military?
- What caused Sarge to stop talking to Ian?
Chapter 10: Comprehension Questions
- Summarize the events that took place in Rwanda that caused the U.N to send in a Peace Keeping Mission.
- Define the word Genocide.
Chapter 11: Comprehension Questions
- How did Sarge say the street people got by?
- What is Sarge’s real name?
- Where does Sarge say his family is originally from?
- Comment in a sentence or two your feeling after reading Sarge’s description of what he witnessed in Rwanda.
Chapter 12: Comprehension Questions
- What is meant by the term “collateral causalities”?
- Explain what this statements means to you: “The best thing a sermon could ever do was comfort the troubled and trouble the comfortable.”
- What can a “Random act of Kindness” do?
Chapter 13: Comprehension Questions
- Who was Jacob? Why is his story important to the novel?
Chapter 14: Comprehension Questions
- Why does Sarge say: “You can’t let it (fear) over whelm you”?
Chapter 15: Comprehension Questions
- What does Ian want to do that caused Mac to say: “You’re becoming addicted.”?
Chapter 16: Comprehension Questions
- What is the name Sarge’s parent called him?
- When Sarge talks of racism, what is he really talking about on Page 165?
- What did Ian mean when he said “He (Sarge) was just another victim of Rwanda”?
Chapter 17: Comprehension Questions
- What was Berta’s father’s occupation?
- What happened to Berta’s family?
- Why did Berta’s father not want to leave Guatemala when he knew it was unsafe?
Chapter 18: Comprehension Questions
- What happened when Ian suggested a detox program to Sarge (Jacques)?
Chapter 19: Comprehension Questions
- Who is Eduardo and why does Berta call him “her hero”?
- What helped Eduardo get past the things he had seen during the civil war in Guatemala?
Chapter 20: Comprehension Questions
- What message did Ian give to Jacques by telling the story of the boy and the starfish?
Chapter 21: Comprehension Questions
- What was the birthday gift Ian got from Jacques and what did it mean?
Recognizing Plot Structures
In a complete sentence for each, write the 5 W’s about the novel (who, what, where, when , why)
The Plot:
You need to show the beginning, the middle and the ending of the novel. Use one of the following methods to do this:
a) draw a drawings that illustrates the basic progression of the nvel.
b) Draw a plot graph outline the movement of the novel. (see example on the following page of this hand out)
c) Or a create idea of your own. Please check with your teacher first.
Plot Diagram  |
Climax
Describe (1 paragraph) the climax of the novel
Context Definitions:
Make a list of 5-10 words that you did not know the meaning of, look up their definitions and write out the definition for each word, use each in a sentence of your own
Parts of Speech:
Copy 5 medium length sentences from your novel, and underneath each word write its part of speech.
Example:
| The | whole | school | waited | with | bated | breath |
| article | adjective | noun | verb | preposition | adjective | noun |
Punctuation:
From your novel, find the following punctuation marks and copy the entire sentence from which they came.
| a) comma | b) colon | c) quotation mark |
| d) exclamation mark | e) hyphen |
Writing activities:
Choose one (1) of the following activities:
1. Write a diary entry that one of the characters might have kept throughout the novel. Date each entry and have at least 3 entries, one from the beginning of the novel, one from the middle and one from the end of the novel.
2. Pretend you are a parent who disapproves of the novel. Write a letter to the author of the novel explaining your reason for your concern.
Media/Drama Activities
Choose one of the following activities:
1. Create a radio play dramatizing one of the scene in your novel. Remember to use sound effects. You may put this on a tape and submit it or you may write it up as a script.
2. Create a billboard to sell your novel. Submit your work on Bristol Board.
3. Record a song which relates to your novel. Write the words to a song and a paragraph explaining how it relates to your novel.
4. Choose 5 passages from your novel, and explain why the passages appeal to you and how they demonstrate good writing.
Part B: Writing a Character Sketch
1. Introduce your character
| Name | Dress | Physical attributes |
| Facial expressions | Voice quality | Mannerisms |
| Home | Family | Ethnic background |
2. Personality Characteristics
| Hopes | Habits | Challenges |
| Attributes | Secrets | Fears |
| Pet peeves | Values | Favourite expressions |
3. Relationships (who is this character comfortable with uncomfortable with?)
| With self | With strangers |
| With others close to him/her | With nature |
4. Choices
| Choices with negative results | Choices with positive results |
5. Changes (last sentence will sum up character in a sentence or two)
| How character has changed | How character has grown |
Sample Character Sketch
Mrs. Sloane, a central character in Morley Callaghan’s “A Boy Grows Older,” is a middle-aged wife and mother. She and her husband are not poor, but must work to make ends meet. The newspaper and occasional movies are their only luxuries. Mrs. Sloane has spent many years worrying about a son who, now in his late twenties, is still unable to control his own finances and has fallen into a cycle of returning home frequently to “borrow” money from his parents. Mrs. Sloane is constantly pulled between letting Jim learn to survive on his own and helping him because he is her son. Before her son’s arrival, she sat in her living room and “folded her hands tight in her lap and swallowed hard” attempting to hide the tension her son’s visits have created in her life. Her feelings of helplessness and resignation are evident as she sighs and shakes her head at his accusations. “She wanted to tell him she believed in him, but she was puzzled herself.” The tragedy of Mrs. Sloane’s life is that she never realized that by giving their son “everything” she and her husband had allowed him to grow older without ever growing up.
Alfred Higgins
Alfred Higgins is a young man possibly in his late teens. He has two older brothers and a younger sister who have married and left home, while he still lives with his parents. Alfred is an incompetent, immature young man who has difficulty holding a job. As the story begins, he has been working for six months in a drugstore, but he is about to be confronted by his employer about his habit of pilfering from the store. At first he tries to bluff and then lie his way out of the situation. When that does not work, his mother has to come and rescue him. However, the selfish Alfred grows psychologically during the course of the story. He realizes how hard his mother’s life is, and he seems to be ready to make a new, more mature start to his own life.
Assignment
You are to write a character Sketch for two of the following characters you met in the novel “Shattered”. Use the brainstorm outline on the following page. Hand in both the brainstorm activity and the final character sketch for your two characters
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For each character answer the following brain storm questions.
Brainstorm
Step #1 –
Referring back to the box of adjectives, which words would you choose to describe character? Why? Which words would you not use? Why?
Step #2
Can you think of any words of phrases to describe your character that are not listed in the box of adjectives on the previous page?
Step 3:
Your final task is to write your character sketch. You could write about:
His/ her appearance
His/ her strengths and weaknesses
His/ her likes and dislikes
His/ her feelings and behaviour towards the other characters
How the other characters feel about him /her
His/ her personality at the beginning of the story
What happens to change his/ her personality
Your own opinions about the character
Be sure to sue examples from the novel to back up your comments.
Assignment
1. What was the most important idea presented in your novel?
2. Write about two things you have learned from reading this novel.
3. Write about two things that you would change in the novel and why.
Final Essay Question:
In the novel “Shattered” on page 165, Jacques says: “All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing” Comment on the truth of this statement with regards to what you learned about the street people, and the atrocities of what happened in Rwanda and Guatemala.
Use the 5-paragraph essay format found on the following pages.
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