Themes, symbols, and motifs come alive when you use a storyboard. In this activity, students will identify themes and symbols from the poem, and support their choices with details from the text.
As a classroom activity, students can track the rich thematic and symbolic writing Alice Walker uses in her poetry. In the example storyboard above, the creator has focused on the following themes in the poem.
The poem focuses on the women of the narrator’s mother’s generation who made sacrifices and broke down barriers, much like warriors, in order to make sure that their children had a chance to receive an education. The imagery Walker uses is very militant, including comparing women to “headragged generals” leading armies across “mined fields”.
The ultimate goal of these women warriors is to ensure that the children would receive an education. Education leads to more opportunities. In looking at Walker’s own biographical information, her mother was a maid and her father was a sharecropper. Both of her parents didn’t make much money, which didn’t allow them many opportunities; however, their parents refused to make their children work in the fields and drop out of school to help work. To them, they hoped for a better life for their children, spurred on by their chance at a good education.
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Student Instructions
Create a storyboard that identifies recurring themes in “Women”. Illustrate instances of each theme and write a short description below each cell.