by Karina Moreschi
“I think it was very scary and intresting at the same time. I live in sweden and are oundering where you can buy this book about boo-hangs and the other scary stuff. Once again this is the best story I,Ve heard for many years.” (Anonymous post accessed October 2011)[Original Spelling]
“My friends coming over this weekend and I live on a farm here in PA. This weekend Im going to set the tent up out in the wheat field with only the light of the stars to let us see and Im going to tell me friend this story, I dont know what he's gonna do, I have known him to scare easily he he he ....” (Anonymous post accessed October 2011)[Original spelling]
These comments posted on a website refer to the story “Boo Hag”, a tale taken from “Spooky North Carolina”, retold by S.E Schlosser on the website americanfolklore.net (2011). They show the attraction that horror stories produce among young adults. According to the research carried out by Gonzalez &Mores chi (2011), “Horror” is the most popular election as regards literary genres among adolescents in Argentina. “Boo Hag” tale includes a young adult protagonist, suspense, black magic and fantasy as its main ingredients, which turn this story into a successful election for young adults’ classroom. The purpose of this paper is to explore how “Boog Hag” can be used as a reading strategy in order to encourage critical reading and thinking in the EFL’s classroom. Critical reading refers to a careful, active, reflective, analytic reading. Critical thinking involves reflecting on the validity of what you have read in light of the prior knowledge and understanding of the world (Kurland, 2000).
Theoretical Framework. Critical Reading and Critical Thinking
Most of the time, the types of readings carried out in classroom involve some kind of reading comprehension activity, with exercises concerning multiple choice or true or false activities that require the students work within a pre-determined activity. In other words this is what Daniel Kurland,(2000) defines as “non- critical or pre-critical reading concerning with recognizing what a text says about the topic, with the presentation of a sequence of thoughts, to understand the information, ideas, and opinions stated within the text”. At this point it is worthwhile to define critical. According to Kurland, (2000) he states that being critical implies acting with rationality, self-awareness, honesty, open-mindedness, discipline and judgement. The same author makes a distinction between critical reading and critical thinking. "Critical reading is a technique for discovering information and ideas within a text”, whereas “critical thinking is a technique for evaluating information and ideas, for deciding what to accept and believe” (ibid). In the previously mentioned concepts, the key words are “discovering” and “evaluating”. They imply that while critical reading refers to a “careful, active, analytic reading” critical thinking alludes to “reflecting on the validity of what have been read in the light of our prior knowledge and understanding of the world”. Through the analysis of “Boo Hag” tale it is expected that the acts of “discovering” and “evaluating” can be accomplished by EFL’s students. A concept that it is close connected to critical reading and thinking is ideology. It is defined as “the particular framework of knowledge that is tied to social power and may be manifested in language” (Pennycook, 2001). Using “Boog Hag” in the EFL’s classroom will lead the students to think about the context of the story, to reflect upon what is portrayed in it; customs, roles, stereotypes, values, which characters are shown in a positive or negative role, what values are displayed.
Boo Hag in the EFL’s classroom under critical reading and thinking analysis
Boo Hag narrates the story of Bobby Hansen, a young boy lucky with cards, but unfortunate in love. Bobby was mighty discouraged because of his misfortune love matters. But this situation did not last forever. Lately, Bobby met a girl to whom he marries. But their marriage is a strange one, because of his wife’s weird behaviour. The story deals with the Boo Hag course. The Boog Hag is a shape-shifter witch that lures men into her trap and then delivers them to her Boo-Daddy, who eats their flesh and gnaws their bones. Bobby copes with this course with the help of a course woman, who advised him to get some blue paint to spread it on every window frame and every door frame, because a Boo-hag could not fly through a window or door that was painted blue. And if she did not get back into her skin before dawn, she would be trapped without it, and be revealed the monster she was. Then he was to fill up her skin with salt and pepper, which would burn her up from the inside out, in order to get rid of her at last. After overcame the course Bobby became a bachelor again.
Critical reading and thinking and ideology in Boo Hag.
Critical reading and thinking are “designed to show what to look for (analysis) and how to think about what is found (inference),” respectively (ibid). In the case of “Boo Hag”, many issues can be put under consideration.
Parental & filial relationship:
“They worked together in the family grocery store, and Bobby would sometimes sit on top of the pickle barrel and tell his Pa all his woes.”
“Seems she had this daughter who was hankering after a husband with a good steady job, and the old woman thought Bobby would do the job nicely
In order to have a critical view of the tale, students will have to think about the context of the story to make connections and reflect upon the relationships presented. The two parental and filial relationships are portrayed showing opposition between them. The father and son relationship is presented in a positive way that is to say within the constraints of the western cannon, with a male dominant society, with a loving father pursuing his son’s happiness. On the other hand, the mother and daughter relationship is shown in a negative way, according to the same social constraints described above, only based in the mother’s anxiety for marrying his daughter. These description evidence a male view. An alternative activity to encourage in the classroom could be deconstruct the story and rebuilt it from a woman’s perspective.
Women’s role and women’s stereotypes:
“...the old woman who poled her barge through the swamp to deliver milk and eggs to the grocery store...”
“His wife was sweet and pretty and loving. She kept the house sparkling clean and cooked him wonderful meals”
“The conjure woman knew all about hoodoo magic and was an excellent herbalist”.
The women’s role and stereotype show the place that women occupy in western society in the early twenty century. They do the less qualified jobs as the ones described in the story, such as selling in unfavourable circumstances or relegated to obscure practices. It is also described the expected role of a housewife with the accessories of sweetness, prettiness and loveliness. A suggested debate to encourage in class could be about to what extend the women’s role and stereotype portrayed are operating in the social context of the students.
Men’s role:
“He was the best poker player in the county, but somehow he couldn’t find himself a bride.”
“But bachelorhood looked much better to him after that, and he never went looking for a wife again. ‘Course, after he made a pile of money in oil, the girls started chasing him. But that’s another story!”
In this story the male point of view is evidenced in the fact that male character performs the main role, with positive attributes, which have the strengths to overcome the course. The male character is the one with active voice, whose story has a “happy end”. In the case of this issue, a reflection to encourage is about the fact of women performing the men’s role in the story.
Religion & popular belief:
“The visiting priest had gone on to his next parish, and there was no one they could consult but the local conjure woman.”
“Boog Hag” shows that religion and popular belief are perfectly combined. The main character appealed to both in the story. The idea of religion and popular belief is a sensitive issue close connected with ideology and critical literacy because of multiple positions that can be found within the classroom.
Folklore:
“A boo-hag, the conjure woman said at once. “You’ve married a boo-hag.”
Finally the inclusion of folkloric terms such as “Boog Hag” gives an ingredient that leads to inquire about cultural issues that might expand the world view of the students
The quotations previously mentioned are, according to Kurland, examples of “what to look for” and “how to think about what you find”. The first one implies those “aspects of discussion that control meaning”, and the second one requires inference or interpretation of the data within the text. (ibid). The same author observes that critical reading assumes that each author offers a portrayal of the topic, and critical reading relies on an examination of the choices made by the authors connected with content, language, and structure, that affects meaning. (ibid)
Conclusion:
There are many points that can be extracted from “discovering” and “evaluating”. “Boo Hag” has proved to be a good election for the EFL’s classroom. By applying critical reading and thinking as a strategy, students can find within the text what lies beyond the words; values, stereotypes, habits, belief and also the ideology that is found critically. Fostering this strategy in the classroom will allow the students to understand their readings from a different point of view.
References:
- Accessed on October 2011: http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/05/boo_hag.html
- Daniel J. Kurland, (2000) http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_reading_thinking.htm
- Florencia Gonzalez & Karina Moreschi, (2011) Young Adult’s Reading: A Research About Their Preferences.
- Pennycook, Alistair (2001) Critical Applied Linguistic: A Critical Introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum Associates.
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