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Celebrating the Strong Woman Character
By Sheryl Row Overview One
approach a secondary school instructor might take when studying Langston Hughes' short story "Cora Unashamed" is to focus on the celebration of strong, dignified women, especially lower class women surrounded
by a patriarchal middle and upper class. This lesson plan works well as a "through" lesson. Reading Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use" offers a wonderful "beyond" or extended
activitylesson for "Cora Unashamed" by having students compare Cora to Mama in "Everyday Use." Objectives Students will:
- Recognize and identify phrases in "Cora Unashamed" that illustrate Mrs. Art Studevant's bigotry, hypocrisy, and overwhelming concern with social status
- Recognize and identify phrases in "Cora Unashamed" that illustrate Cora's strength, power, dignity, and resilience in the face of adversity
- Analyze the ways that Cora's economic and racial reality separates her from the Studevants and others like them
- Demonstrate an understanding of Cora's combination of strength and gentleness
- Demonstrate an understanding of Cora's resilience in the face of disappointment and sorrow
- Determine how Hughes describes Cora so that her powerful strength combined with gentleness is believable
- Identify important characteristics in a protagonist, organize these characteristics, and write a character analysis
Skills Attained
- Small group collaboration
- Close reading skills to find details and incidents in a short story
- Recognition of various methods of character development
- Infer implied meaning by recognizing details that characterize Cora and Mrs. Art Studevant
- Organizing thoughts by writing a comparison/contrast essay
- Application of learning from one task to another
Lesson Outline I. Anticipatory Set Options
Depending on class size, either divide students into small groups to brainstorm and report back to the large group or
have the entire class brainstorm all the following or only the first three, the first four, or the first five depending on time and the depth you wish to explore. Because students are asked to think about so many
characteristics, consider either putting these questions on the blackboard or a transparency; or creating a chart for the students to use in organizing their thoughts.
When you think of women who are strong, powerful, and dignified, what noteworthy, public women come to mind? What women in your own life fit that same description?
What qualities do these women have that make you think of them as strong, powerful, and dignified?
What qualities do you think make up the ideal woman? What qualities determine an ideal mother or mother figure?
What is the difference between a "lady" and a "woman"?
What qualities do society and the media indicate the ideal woman possesses? Give examples from sports, television, the music industry, the national and world stage, etc.
What are the characteristics of a morally or ethically strong person?
Journal Writing Assignment
This assignment can be used in lieu of the class brainstorming session or as a follow up
activity to help each student clarify his or her thinking about strong, powerful, and dignified women.
a. As a replacement for group brainstorming
- Homework: Have students brainstorm their individual answers to the questions about strong women. You will want to provide a handout of the questions and/or create a chart for the students to complete.
- Classwork: For 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of class, have students brainstorm their answers to the questions about strong women. You will want to provide either a handout or a transparency of the
questions. (Great warm up or dispatch at the beginning of class.)
b. As a follow up activity to the group brainstorming
- Have students write a brief (one to two double spaced pages) character sketch of a powerful woman in their own lives or in the public sphere. They should supply at least three examples illustrating why they
believe this woman is powerful.
- Have students defend in a brief paragraph the qualities they believe the ideal woman and/or mother figure should possess.
- Have students defend in a brief paragraph the qualities they believe that a morally or ethically strong person possesses.
Class Discussion
After students have brainstormed answers to the
questions, take a few minutes to share with the group at large the answers to the questions. Ask the students to try to reach some consensus for the qualities of a powerful woman, the ideal woman/mother figure,
and a moral or ethically strong person. It is not important for every student to agree with the findings. In fact, it probably will not be possible. The importance of this task is to get students thinking about
these issues and to begin clarifying their own thoughts.
II. Reading Activities
- Have students complete a "close reading" of "Cora Unashamed" by highlighting the following:
- In yellow: description of Cora (physical, emotional, socio-economic situation, etc.)
- In blue: description of Mrs. Art Studevant
- In green: description of Jessie
- In pink: description of the setting (Melton, nature, the Studevant house)
- In orange: description of Cora's family
- Have students annotate the text in the margins of the story or on separate paper. The annotations should consist of:
- Questions the students have about plot, character, or thematic development; questions about the purpose or symbolism of the setting; identification of conflict and its resolution (or not)
- Connections the students are making and conclusions the students are drawing while reading (about plot, theme, character, point of view, setting, tone, conflict, style)
- Have students do the same thing for "Everyday Use." Substitute the following highlighting instructions:
In yellow: description of Mama (physical, emotional, socio-economic situation, etc.)
In blue: description of Maggie
In green: description of Dee
In pink: description of the setting (the house and yard)
In orange: description of items Dee wants to have
In blue ink: Underline
references to the relationship between Dee and Mama and Dee and Maggie
In red ink: Underline references to the relationship between Mama and Maggie
III. Post-reading Activities Have students complete the character analysis worksheets for "Cora Unashamed" and "Everyday Use":
- Character Analysis Worksheet for "Cora Unashamed"
- Character Analysis Worksheet: Conclusions for "Cora Unashamed"
- Character Analysis Worksheet for "Everyday Use"
- Character Analysis Worksheet: Conclusions for "Everyday Use"
Students can share their responses and/or use the information later in an essay. Essay Topic: The Athenian historian Thucydides (c. 460-400 B.C.E.) said, "The secret of happiness is freedom, and the
secret of freedom, courage." Write a contrast essay examining how Thucydides' notions of happiness, freedom and courage apply to Cora and Mrs. Art Studevant. Essay Topic:
Compare and contrast the motivations behind Cora and Mama's actions. How are they similar? How are they different? How does their reality factor in their decisions? Assessment For assessing student performance on this lesson, use either the lesson worksheets as
graded activities or have students write formal compare/contrast essays, based on the suggested topics listed above. Related Works The theme of strength and/or the healing power of women may be explored through these other literary works:
- Isabel Allende – Clara, Alba, and the Mora Sisters in The House of the Spirits; also in the "Epilogue" the description of the native woman who aids Alba's return home from the prison camp is a
wonderful piece to use to celebrate the power of the common woman.
- Rudolfo Anaya – Ultima in Bless Me, Ultima
- Sandra Cisneros – Esperanza in The House on Mango Street
- Zora Neale Hurston – Janie Mae Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God
- Toni Morrison – Pilate in Song of Solomon
- Amy Tan – any of the mother/daughter relationships in The Joy Luck Club
- Alice Walker – Celie in The Color Purple
- August Wilson – Rose in Fences
Interdisciplinary Links Studying Hughes' celebration of the common folk in "Cora
Unashamed" offers an excellent opportunity to explore the celebration of the common folk in fine art. Folk art lends itself well to this discussion, but several trained artists also work well. Linking real themes
of the times to the stories give students the visual connection that they may need. Some artists to consider are listed below. Folk Artists
Folk art is self-taught art by the folk, the common people. Most folk artists use whatever materials they find, perhaps using common house paint
or colored markers on cardboard, milk jugs, lumber scraps, or driftwood. Common subjects range from the whimsically abstract to primitive depictions of everyday life. The African American Museum in Dallas, Texas, has
one of the country's most extensive collections of folk art as well as an excellent research library.Both Clementine Hunter and Ellis Ruley are self taught artists who painted with whatever materials they had
available. Both also painted scenes they witnessed as they went about their daily lives. Samples of both artists' work can be found on the Internet.
- Clementine Hunter
(1886?–1988) was born in late December of 1886 or early January of 1887 on the Hidden Hill cotton plantation near Cloutierville, Louisiana. Her family eventually moved to the Melrose Plantation where Hunter worked in the fields as a young girl and later worked in the house as a maid and cook. At the age of 54 Hunter borrowed some paints from a visiting artist and "marked" her first picture. Through the help of patrons, Hunter was able to continue painting, sometimes after putting in a full day of work. Her titles often suggest the subjects of her paintings: "Saturday Night at the Honky Tonk," "Cane River Fish Fry," and "Fixing Hair and Drinking Coffee."
- Ellis Ruley
(1882–1959) was born in Norwich, Connecticut. Most of his life was spent as a laborer in construction and coal mines. Ruley began painting at age 57 using house paint. Although Ruley was unappreciated in his lifetime and many of his paintings were destroyed by fire shortly after his death, his work has received recent interest.
Trained Artists Many trained artists have celebrated the common folk in their art. Two
examples of non-African American artists are Francisco Zuniga and Amado Pena. The Internet offers a wealth of material on various artists.
- Francisco Zuniga
was born in Costa Rica in 1912. By 1938 Zuniga was a well-known sculptor. Zuniga presents an interesting comparison to Hughes in that he sees ancient pre-Hispanic cultures as surviving
colonization through their still existing sculpture. He prefers to sculpt women and depicts his reverence for them by focusing on the Indian woman as the eternal earth mother: healer, child bearer, comforter.
His pieces play up the prominent breasts, rounded hips, and undulating abdomens of his subjects.
- Amado Pena
was born in Laredo, Texas, in 1943 of Chicano and Yaqui Indian heritage. He sees his art as a means to deliver social commentary especially about family, love, solitude, and pain. His works often
depict women in daily acts like baking bread or crooning to babies. Like Zuniga, Pena's reverence for women as mother, healer, comforter is obvious in his works.
Sheryl Row teaches at the Jesuit Prep School at Dallas, Texas. There are four worksheets needed for this lesson. Click the links below to view and print them individually. |
