Sponono – Alan Paton 3/24/14
Homework:
Write a minimum of 2 paragraphs (minimum of 10 sentences in each paragraph) discussing one of the following topics. Make sure your first paragraph introduces the short story name and author, and then provides an overview that relates to the topic you will be discussing. Also make sure you let us know what topic you will be writing about and what your viewpoint is! In your 2nd paragraph, provide evidence that supports your viewpoint from the source material. Please use direct quotes or passages from the story and indicate the page number where you found the source.
Questions you can answer:
1. Why does Sponono quote the Bible so much when he is not a Christian?
2. Do you think Sponono wants to reform his life?
3. Why does Sponono expect the Principal’s conduct toward him to surpass “in superhuman degree” (50) his own conduct toward the Principle?
Honors: 2 pages (MLA format) answering one of the above questions.
"Sponono", by Alan Paton, is about a boy who lives in a reformatory. In the beginning Sponono tries to help a boy named Johannes Mofoking avoid going to jail, but Sponono didn't even know Johannes. On Christmas Day was always a big day at the reformatory because they had: special meals, a sports meeting with prizes, and gifts of sweets for the younger boys and tobacco for the older boys. (page 54) The Anderson's had packed a picnic lunch for that day and found a shady spot on the eastern portion of the reformatory farm. When they were laying down all of a sudden they had been rudely interrupted by a boy from the reformatory. He had menaced them with a large stone and grabbed Mrs. Anderson's handbag and ran off into the bushes. The principle got the call and called in Sponono. Two weeks later Sponono had a fight with a boy named Tembo and recieved a serious eye wound. Right before the principle excused Tembo, he asked Sponono "Do you forgive Tembo?" and Sponono said "Yes". When he forgave Tembo Mr. Van Dyk asked him where he got the idea of forgiveness. Sponono said "It is the teaching of Jesus," he said. "Jesus said that we must forgive those who offend against us, unto seventy times seven. "Are you a christian?" said the principle. I am not said Sponono. I am not good enough, but I like to obey the commandments. When Sponono finds out that the principle is leaving the refomatory Sponono asked if he could work for him in his
ReplyDeletegarden. When Sponono finally gets to go work for the principle in the garden he gets invited to Jane's sister's party, but when he doesn't like the food he goes out back and kills a chicken to eat instead. The police came to the principle to report what Sponono had done. The police said that he had a choice either to go back to the reformatory or to go to court. So he went back to the reformatory. He kept on writing letters to the principle, but after a while the principle stopped writing back.
I don't think Sponono really wants to reform his because he keeps on doing bad things. First he lies to Mr. Van Dyk about seeing the principle on urgent private business. (page 51) But Sponono really wanted to help Johannes Mofoking avoid jail. Again later on in the story he lies again. Except this time its about collecting rocks for the principle's garden that Sponono worked in. Instead all this time he had menaced Mr and Mrs Anderson with a large stone instead of being at the sports meeting. After menacing them with a stone he stole Mrs. Anderson's handbag that had: 60 pounds, 12 pounds of notes, and a whole month's worth of earnings. (page 55) When the principle heard about it he then called in Sponono inside his office. A couple weeks later Sponono had gotten into a fight with a boy named Tembo. Tembo had left a serious wound on Sponono's eye. But then, Sponono forgave Tembo. When Sponono found out that the principle was moving. Sponono asked if he could work in his garden, so he let Sponono work in his garden. Until he got invited to Jane's sister's party. He didn't like the food that the party provided, so he went out back and killed a chicken and ate it. He also drunk freely.
SPONONO REDONE:
ReplyDelete"Sponono", by Alan Paton, is about a boy who lives in a reformatory. In the beginning Sponono tries to help a boy named Johannes Mofoking avoid going to jail, but Sponono didn't even know Johannes. On Christmas Day was always a big day at the reformatory because they had: special meals, a sports meeting with prizes, and gifts of sweets for the younger boys and tobacco for the older boys. (page 54) The Anderson's had packed a picnic lunch for that day and found a shady spot on the eastern portion of the reformatory farm. When they were laying down all of a sudden they had been rudely interrupted by a boy from the reformatory. He had menaced them with a large stone and grabbed Mrs. Anderson's handbag and ran off into the bushes. The principle got the call and called in Sponono. Two weeks later Sponono had a fight with a boy named Tembo and recieved a serious eye wound. Right before the principle excused Tembo, he asked Sponono "Do you forgive Tembo?" and Sponono said "Yes". When he forgave Tembo Mr. Van Dyk asked him where he got the idea of forgiveness. Sponono said "It is the teaching of Jesus," he said. "Jesus said that we must forgive those who offend against us, unto seventy times seven. "Are you a christian?" said the principle. I am not said Sponono. I am not good enough, but I like to obey the commandments. When Sponono finds out that the principle is leaving the refomatory Sponono asked if he could work for him in his
garden. When Sponono finally gets to go work for the principle in the garden he gets invited to Jane's sister's party, but when he doesn't like the food he goes out back and kills a chicken to eat instead. The police came to the principle to report what Sponono had done. The police said that he had a choice either to go back to the reformatory or to go to court. So he went back to the reformatory. He kept on writing letters to the principle, but after a while the principle stopped writing back.
SPONONO REDONE:
ReplyDeleteI don't think Sponono really wants to reform his because he keeps on doing bad things. First he lies to Mr. Van Dyk about seeing the principle on urgent private business when he really wanted to talk to the principle about helping Johannes Mofoking avoid jail. (page 51) Again later on in the story he lies again. Except this time its about collecting rocks for the principle's garden that Sponono worked in. Instead all this time he had menaced Mr and Mrs Anderson with a large stone instead of being at the sports meeting on Christmas Day. After menacing them with a stone he stole Mrs. Anderson's handbag that had: 60 pounds, 12 pounds of notes, and a whole month's worth of earnings. (page 55) When the principle heard about it he then called in Sponono inside his office to talk about the problem. A couple weeks later Sponono had gotten into a fight with a boy named Tembo. Tembo had left a serious wound on Sponono's eye. Another reason I don’t think Sponono wants to reform his life is when he heard the Principle was moving he asked if he could work in the garden and he said “Yes”. Then Sponono got invited to a party and he didn’t like the food that had been provided so instead he went out back and killed a chicken to eat. Again in the story Sponono steals a jacket a watch inside the jacket pocket. All the reasons that I listed above are all the bad things that Sponono did and that is why I don’t think he wants to reform his life.