The two women who found freedom
Characters:
Theme: Estrategias de comprensión oral
Competencies
Competence in Linguistic Communication
Multilingual Competence
Personal, social and learning to learn competence
Competence in cultural awareness and expressions
Subjects and year by Educational System
Spain > English > 3rd ESO > Communication
Spain > English > 3rd ESO > Multilingualism
Enunciation
ACTIVITY 1:
Read the story by the writer Angela Carter and do the following activities:
The two women who found freedom
Innuit
Once there lived a man who had two wives. His name was Eqqorsaq. And he was so jealous of these wives that he would keep them locked up in his hut. He would thrash them if they did not behave themselves. Or he would thrash anyone who happened to lay eyes on them. He killed a man named Angaguaq because rumour had it that Angaguaq had slept with one of the wives. Which he hadn’t done. Eqqorsuaq was a somewhat mean-spirited person.
Finally, the two women got a bit tired of their husband. They left him and fled along the coast until they were all worn out and hungry. When they could go no further, they saw the huge carcass of a whale washed up on a beach. They crawled in through the mouth and hid inside this carcass. The smell was foul, but better a foul smell than another thrashing.
Now Eqqorsuaq was in a furor. He searched high and low for his wives. He questioned everyone in the village and threatened not a few. But no one seemed to know about the missing women. At last, the man paid a visit to the local witch doctor, who told him:
‘You must look for the body of a big whale which is on the Skerry of the Heart-Shaped Mountain’
And so Eqqorsuaq set out for the Skerry of the Hear-Shaed Mountain. He sang old drum-songs all along the way, for he looked forward to the pleasure of thrashing his wives. At last, he arrived at his destination and saw the dead whale. But the stench was so awful that he could get nowhere near it. He called out again and again for the women, yet there came no answer. Perhaps they were no longer here. Eqqorsuaq camped on the beach for three days and then went home, determined to thrash the witch door.
Meanwhile the two wives lived on inside the whale. They had grown so accustomed to the stench that it did not bother them. They had plenty of food to eat, however rotten, and a warm place to sleep. It is said that they were very happy in their new home.
thrash: azotar
fled: pasado de flee 'huir de'
foul: repugnante
threaten: amenazar
stench: hedor
crawl: gatear
- Exercise 1: Match the phrasal verbs underlined in the text with their definition:
- To make someone extremely tired __________
- To start a journey _________
- To make a building or room safe by locking the door and fastening the windows _________
- To appear on land because the ocean or a river or lake left it there _____________
- To feel pleased and excited about something that is going to happen _____________
- An occasion when someone is asked to come to a person’s home or to a particular place in order to do a job, help someone, etc. __________
- Exercise 2: Answer the following questions:
- Why did the women flee their home?
- Why did they decide to stay inside the whale?
- Who told the husband where his wives were?
- Why didn’t the husband find the women?
- How many days did the husband wait at the beach?
- Exercise 3: Write a summary of the story in 5-10 lines.
Observations and context
- Podemos encontrar unos cuantos términos de vocabulario complicados para tercero, por eso se encuentran traducidos. Como sugerencia, antes de realizar la segunda lectura, así como la actividad de los Phrasal Verbs podemos presentar el concepto de Phrasal Verbs y empezar una lista en nuestra clase. Finalmente, podemos pedir a nuestro alumnado que escriba un pequeño resumen de entre 5 a 10 líneas.
- Puede que esta lectura sea un poco complicada para algunos grupos de 3.º ESO. Siempre se puede utilizar con 4.º ESO.
- Angela Carter se resistió a ser identificada con ningún grupo. Se interesó por deconstruir los roles y las estructuras típicas que marcan nuestras existencias, sobre todo las de género.
Sus innovadores procedimientos narrativos y sus frecuentes referencias intertextuales la relacionan con el postmodernismo anglosajón, así como con autores franceses como Sade o Bataille. Muchas veces se la relaciona con el realismo mágico, pero realmente este no tiene mucho sentido fuera de Sudamérica.
Estuvo influenciada por el cine, el psicoanálisis, el surrealismo, la segunda ola del feminismo y Japón entre otros. En La cámara sangrienta (1979) revisita los cuentos de hadas de una manera que nos puede recordar a Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve (La bella y la bestia).
- En España otras autoras han hecho cosas similares, como es el caso de Carmen Martín Gaite o Ana María Matute.
- Otras figuras contemporáneas de Carter son, por ejemplo, Doris Lessing, que recibió el mismo premio que Carter diez años antes y a la que esta admiraba.
- Otra importante escritora que en la misma época trabaja la fantasía combinada con lo subversivo es Margaret Atwood.
- Por su pensamiento feminista, la podemos enlazar con Simone de Beauvoir, pues ambas veían la feminidad como una construcción social.
Description
En esta actividad trabajamos una de las historias tradicionales recopiladas por Angela Carter en su libro Cuentos de Hadas mediante una comprensión lectora.
En este caso, esta historia corta tiene origen innuit, y la utilizaremos para que nuestro alumnado aprenda nuevos Phrasal Verbs. Una vez han comprendido el texto, responderán unas preguntas cortas para comprobar su comprensión.
Los objetivos de la actividad se centran en practicar la comprensión lectora de nuestro estudiantado, así como ayudarles a que se familiaricen con nuevos términos (Phrasal Verbs).
Léxico, expresiones y modismos de uso frecuente (recepción).