In the minds of ESL exam candidates, e ssay writing is one of the most daunting tasks they are required to complete, regardless of the level of the exam, the administering body or the ease with which they themselves use the language. The same applies to students who are asked to write an essay by their teachers at school. In the previous sample essays posted on the blog, the main point I stress is the need to become acquainted with this form of writing (as opposed to writing a letter, review or report, for instance), to get a feel of what authorial voice is and how to organize and progressively express the arguments you wish to make in a coherent manner. Unfortunately, the best way to prepare for exam writing or learn how to write good essays for school is to read as many essays from as many sources as possible, then write as
Teens who are instructed to read this story are told to do so in order to become aware of the difficulties they either experience or the pain they inflict on one another at that age. Ultimately, teachers hope that the messages this story conveys will sink in with their students and enable the latter to become more aware of each others' feelings, particularities and sensibilities, changing in this way their perception of their peers and their behavior towards them.
The following is a brief overview of the story in note form followed by discussion questions.
Norma Fox Mazer - Tuesday
of the Other June
- Biography
- 1931 – 2009
- author, teacher
- known for children’s books & books for teens
- usual themes: young people dealing with difficulties (eg. parents’ separation, death, bullying, maturity)
- Characters
- June T (aka Junie)
- scared child (thinks she hears thieves creeping around the house at night)
- loves her mother deeply (“I wanted to be rich and take care of her. She worked too hard…”)
- the Other June makes her become an even more fearful girl (in her imaginings, she replaces the thieves with the Other June)
- doesn’t react to the Other June’s abuse because she remembers what her mother has told her and obeys her words
- April
- June’s mother
- honey laugh, emerald eyes that warmed June
- hard-working , responsible woman (works in a pot factory)
- husband is “long gone” (dead or divorced?)
- cares deeply about June (“… just bring me your trouble, because I’m here on this earth to love you and take care of you.”)
- has been abandoned by her father-in-law (who is “glad to forget” her and her daughter)
- May
- Junie’s grandma
- June M. (aka the Other June)
- shorter than Junie but heavier
- met Junie at the Community Center swimming pool
- called Junie Fish Eyes
- Mr. Morrisey
- Junie’s new teacher after they move to Blue Hill Street
- Tilly
- April’s friend from work
- comes to help April & Junie move with John
- Kevin Clark
- Junie’s classmate in her new school
- seems to be a popular student (stands up on desk, “My fans … I greet you.”)
- Plot
- June meets the Other June at the swimming pool
- the bullying starts: the Other June calls her names, says she’s stupid, shoves her in the pool, twists her fingers, punches her, hides her clothes, steps on her feet, hits her while they are swimming
- days of the week:
- Tuesday = Awfulday
- Wednesday = Badday
- Thursday = Betterday
- Friday = Safeday
- Saturday = Goodday
- Sunday = Toosoonday
- Monday = the day before Awfulday
- Junie dreams she is brave and able to hit the Other June
- April and Junie move to another area of town: they are given an apartment rent-free in exchange for being caretakers of the 8-family apartment building
- 6 weeks until they move to Blue Hill Street
- on the last day of swimming lessons Junie calls to the Other June “… goodbye, good riddance to bad trash.”
- the Other June lives in the same street as them and Junie ends up in the same class as her too
- one day, while Mr. Morrisey steps out of the classroom, the Other June sharpens 3 pencils and is ready to poke Junie with them
- Junie is weighing her options: do what she has dreamt of doing to the Other June or listen to her mother who tells her to turn the other cheek?
- she says “No!” to the Other June and repeats it while putting her finger on the Other June’s chest
- Junie laughs as she sees the Other June’s eyes pop out in surprise; Kevin Clark laughs; the whole class starts to laugh; even Mr; Morrisey who returns and tells everyone to sit down, the Other June in particular, laughs as well.
- Themes
- bullying
- mother – daughter relationship
- passive submission (turning the other cheek)
- classroom dynamics
- violence vs. non-violence
- others’ advice
- Point of view
- first-person narrator
- Questions for discussion
1) Is April’s advice to her
daughter about turning the other cheek sound advice?
2) Why is Junie frightened of
thieves when she lies awake in bed at night?
3) Why do you think the Other June
behaves so badly towards Junie?
4) Is it plausible that after
Junie stands up to the Other June the bullying will stop?
5) Is bullying a conscious
individual’s choice or are bullies the result of their environment? In other
words, to what extent are bullies to blame for their behavior and to what extent
are their parents or other factors related to society?
6) Are teachers or parents to
blame for not being able to recognize a child that has been the victim of
bullying?
7) Do you think the fact that Mr.
Morrisey laughs at the end of the story implies that he was aware of what the
Other June is and what had happened to her in the classroom while he was out?
8) Which character in the story do
you think changes the most? Give reasons for your answer.
9) What is the climax of the story
and how does the author gradually build the tension up to reach it?
Norma Fox Mazer
Click the picture for explanations of literary terms