Sokolov

Lesson Plans for Ragnarok:

Day 1: Sampling of below activities:

-Ask students if they are familiar with the names Odin, Thor, Loki, Frigga, and the
land of Asgard
-Use my bulletin board to introduce the main characters and the COSMOGONY,
meaning A theory or story of the origin and development of the universe, the solar
system, or the earth-moon system.
-Make comparisons to Greek mythology, as a transition from Odyssey to Ragnarok
(ex: Zeus = Odin; Baldur is invincible by all but the mistletoe, as Achilles is
invincible everywhere but his heel)
- read intros of select Childrens versions of Norse Mythology posted to website
-Put un-annotated copy of first 2 pages on projector to do a group annotation.
-Discuss the texts genre as a Discourse on Myth, or a Meditation on Myth, as
opposed to a novel.
-Do an exercise where students retell a known story or myth to each other to see
how each telling advances a different agenda or ideology (the belief that guides an
individual) or perspectiveCinderella, Noahs ark
-Pass out the childrens versions of the Norse stories, and have students peruse
read a story, read a few pages
Day 2: Pages 7-16 OVERARCHING QUESTIONS: WHAT DO WE LEARN
ABOUT HER CHARACTER, and WHY DOES SHE RESPOND MORE TO NORSE
MYTHS THAN CHRISTIANITY?
Chapter The End of the World: The Beginningexamine the title, and the paradox
of itthe cycle of it.
WHAT DO WE LEARN ABOUT THE THIN GIRL?
-she asks big questions (7)
-she is creativethinks of her own stories
-She is curious about the old vs new Germans (8) (war)
-Wants to identify ethnically with Vikings (8)
-Rich imagination (10)
-wants to writeinspired by Norse stories (10)

Just as the thin girl read introductions, so too did we

PAGE 9--GIVE CONTEXT TO PILGRIMs PROGRESS: A religious allegory by John
Bunyan, published in 1678. The character named, appropriately, CHRISTIAN,
journeys from City of Destruction to Celestial City, ultimately meeting Christ. On
his way, he is stuck in a swamp, called the Slough of Despond, where a pilgrims
doubts, fears, shames, and sins, sink them in the mud. He also battles Apollyon, a
lord in the city of destruction, shaped like a dragon, and one of the devils
companions, who tries to force Christian to work for him.
According to the Thin Girl, what is the difference between Pilgrims Progress and
Asgard and the Gods? PP has a clear message and meaning. Not so, Asgard and
the Gods (9). Why might the thin girl enjoy a formlessness of meaning, as
opposed to a clear meaning? What is going on in her life that contributes to her
attitude?
Read Psalm 23 King James version to understand more deeply the clarity that
comes from Pilgrims Progressthe world view one is to understand about ones
relationship to God.
In a similar vein, why cant the thin girl respond to the traditional image of Jesus
with the forest animals? (11) Does she have no faith in a time of war?
Why doesnt the innocent or the tortured image of Christ make her want to write?
Why do such images numb her imagination?
Look at the language on 11: She saw their unformed faces, peering at herself from
behind the snout of her gas-mask, during air-raid drill. Is she LIKE a giant, now,
deformed by the gas mask, by the terror of war?

YGGDRASIL: the World-Ash Tree Chapter

VISUAL JOURNAL. There are 7 paragraphs. Have students work alone or in pairs to
illustrate ONE paragraph of the chapter. Have them draw the details given in EACH
sentence. They should label their drawing with quotes and names of characters and
objects and places, where relevant. Put drawings in order of the chapter, and
discuss. What is the message of this chapter? Decay and renewal process. Past,
present, and future all working simultaneously.
Have students start keeping a chart of examples of decay and renewal to add to as
we go
Pages 17-36
Randrasill (The Sea Tree) Chapter
In pairs, re-read this chapter, collecting examples of the theme of decay and
renewaladd to your list
Homo Homini Deus Est Chapter (Man is A God To Man)

Why does she tell the Norse origin story on page 23, as opposed to earlier? (Cyclical
time)
Read GENESIS King James Version, Chapters 1-3, and compare to this creation story.
What are the meanings about creation conveyed by this story as compared to
Genesis? Where is the good in each story? Where is the evil? How is good
treated? How is evil?
Page 26Why doesnt the thin girl want echoes of the Bible in the Norse
mythology?
P30decay and renewal: Killer gods become life givers; then, in the thin girls life,
flowers fade and return (35).
When reading pages 34-end of chapter, the thin girl names the species of plants
and animals again. Why does she like to list these? What does the gas mask
reference in last page, again, have to do with her listing of natural elements?

Pages 37-58
Chapter: Asgard
Where do we see the theme of decay and renewal? P38The Boar that is
resurrected each night after being devoured
ANNOTATION ACTIVITY: Why is the thin child squeezed into the same paragraph on
Odin (page 40)?
-The thin child hears the sounds of war, and likens them to Odins hunt. Does
she become less fearful by comparing reality to myth? Then she compares
her father being an airman to Odins wild hunt. Why does she compare her
father to Odin? Is there comfort in comparing ones mortal father to an allpowerful God?

See Handout for pages 37-58guided annotation activity

Suggested beginnings for a thesis: By linking the story of Odin with the thin
girls life, Byatt
Or sample thesis: As the thin girl recounts the story of Odin, she creates a
metaphor for the war outside her window and gives meaning to her fathers
absence from her life.

Chapter: Homo Homini Lupus Est

Reread from the break on 52 to the end of the chapter. How does the
theme of order versus chaos work here? Is chaos needed to have order?
What is the relationship between order and chaos? With a partner, find
quotes that help you make a claim about this theme.
[note for next year: make the childrens book activity its own classthere wasnt
enough time to pair it with the annotation activity] Or, Read one of the childrens
versions of Fenris the Wolf (check out from the lower school library) with a partner
(there are 6 copies of books). Compare the childrens version to Byatts? What do
the childrens versions include that Byatt leaves out? How does reading the
childrens version help you see Byatts purpose in HER retelling? What IS Byatts
purpose in retelling this wolf story in the way she does? (see handout)

Norse Mythology Books I used from Lower School Library:

A Selection of Norse Myths: Axe-Age, Wolf-Age, by Kevin Crossley-Holland (p44)

Why Heimdall Blew His Horn by Frederick Laing (57)
Favorite Norse Myths retorld by Mary Pope Osborne (p27)
The Doom of the Gods by Michael Harrison and Tudor Humphries (p12)
DAulaires Norse Gods and Giants (2 copies) (p50)

PAGES 59-76 Jormungandrsnake chapter

GO OVER CLOSE READING RUBRIC. HAVE STUDENTS PICK A PASSAGE TO
ANSWER THE QUESTION WHAT DOES THE SNAKE SYMBOLIZE?
What are the attributes of the snake? What are the pros and cons of these
attributes?
What might the snake symbolize?
Thor fishing chapterwhat is the effect of this battle? Connect to war.

PAGES 77-102
Close reading passage from Baldur Chapter, page 81, for 30 minutes (see prompt in
separate document). Discuss response, and then discuss Frigg chapterwhat are
the themes of the Baldur death story that might appeal to the thin girl? Invincibility.
Control. And their oppositesthe impossibility of invincibility and control when it
comes to deathwhat might the thin girl wish for her father? That she could solicit
a promise from all to protect him?

Pages 103-123 PLAY WAGNERs OPERA based on Norse Mythology DURING

THE beginning of classSee separate handout on Two Passages, paired
one guided question on role of death in the text, and one guided question
to lead students to the theme of environmentalism. Students worked in
pairs on the death question, and we did the environmental one together,
with students expanding the discussion to include other moments in the
text where an argument can be made for Byatt addressing the
environmental issue (like p75, and the idea of a tree holding up the
worldetc) Ask students what is valuable about looking at PAIRED
passages

Ragnarok Chapter P127-144student run discussionallow students time

to gather thoughts on a passage or passages, first. Then they lead
discussion. To help them along, possibly have them compare the
destruction of the world to the creation story on page 23. Also have them
discuss if what they expected would be in the Ragnarok chapter was in it
what was missing? Why dont we see the regeneration? Read on to p147
for a sneak previewContinue the environmental conversation going into
the RAGNAROK chapter.

147-154end of textsig of fathers garden? P148what does it mean

that she carries Ragnarok with her? 153moonlight in her world vs
Ragnaroksig of father chopping down treewhy does she end on the
note she ends on?

Discuss why the thin girl is thin

Compare the lack of butter and honey in opening page to the presence of
it now
Discuss how even in peacetime, there is a sense of decaythe mothers
mental state, the childs asthma returnsremind them of the paradoxes
from the opening chapter, now returned to normal.
Why does the Norse mythology drops off in the final chapter?

Time to brainstrorm essay.