Think, Pair, Share:
Discuss and respond to these 4 discussion questions with a blog comment that refers to text evidence. Cite page numbers and quote from text.:
1. The novel opens with the line, “This is an enchanted place. Others don’t see it but I do.” The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word “enchant” as ”to attract and hold the attention of (someone) by being interesting, pretty, etc.; to put a magic spell on (someone or something).” Why does the narrator call this place enchanted? What beauty does he find in his surroundings that others do not? What does this tell us about the narrator?
2. Talk about the main characters: the narrator, the lady, the priest, and York, the prisoner on death row at the center of the story. How are these characters’ lives and their fates intrinsically connected? What do we learn about the lady and the priest from the narrator?
3. Why does York want to die and why does the lady want to save him? Is he worth saving? How does she go about gathering evidence to understand his case, knowledge that might prevent his execution? What propels her choice at the novel’s end?
4. Think about York. What were your first impressions about him when he’s introduced? As you discovered more about his story, did your outlook towards him change? How does the experience of investigating York’s past affect the lady and her outlook towards York? How does it shape how she sees her own life?
The lady, an investigator who excels at uncovering information to save her clients from execution. . . The fallen priest, beaten down by his guilt over a terrible sin and its tragic consequences. . . The warden, a kind man within a cruel system. . . The mute prisoner, sensing what others cannot in what he calls "this enchanted place" . . .The enchanted place is an ancient stone prison. Two outsiders walk here: a woman known only as the lady, and a fallen priest. The lady comes to the prison when she has a job to do. She's skilled at finding the secrets that get men off death row. This gift threatens her career--and complicates her life--when she takes on the case of York, a killer whose date of execution looms. York is different from the lady's former clients: he wants to die. Going against the condemned man's wishes, the lady begins her work. What she uncovers about York's birth and upbringing rings chillingly familiar. In York's shocking and shameful childhood, the lady sees the shadows of her own.The lady is watched by a death row inmate who finds escape in the books he reads from the prison library and by reimagining the world he inhabits--a world of majestic golden horses that stampede underground and of tiny men who hammer away inside stone walls. He is not named, nor do we know his crime. But he listens. He listens to York's story. He sees the lady fall in love with the priest and wonders how such warmth is possible in these crumbling corridors. As tensions in "this enchanted place" build, he sees the corruption and the danger. And he waits as the hour of his own destiny approaches.The Enchanted is a magical novel about redemption, the poetry that can exist within the unfathomable, and the human capacity to transcend and survive even the most nightmarish reality. Beautiful and unexpected, this is a memorable story.
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Delete1) The narrator feels that something about the place, despite it being a prison, is beautiful. This is most likely due to the other prisoners, and how the narrator views most of them as supposedly “good people” who just did a bad thing in their life. So, he sees the “inner beauty” of these criminals that most people would not, leading him to call the prison enchanting - because of the inner beauty. He also calls it enchanted because the prisoners are all under the spell of looming death.
ReplyDelete2) The narrator, the priest, the lady and York all have tragic events in their past, so they could possibly relate to each other over their horrible upbringings. They all are connected through the prison (York and the narrator being inmates, the priest and the lady working there), and many of them interact often. We learn the lady works hard to get less painful sentences for her clients (some of the prisoners) and that the priest has some dark secrets, but wants to help the prisoners.
3) Why York wants to die is still unclear, but there are a few theories on it. The lady believes it’s due to his crimes, and he does not think himself worthy of living any further. Some things indicate York no longer feels like living, being stuck in a prison with no foreseeable future on the outside. The lady wants to save him because she believes that every life is worth saving, no matter what they’ve done. York, however, doesn’t want her help. He says to her, “Walk on out of here and let me die,”, indicating he no longer wants her to try. York just wants to give up and die.
4) I didn’t like York from the start. He doesn’t deny having done his crimes, and even the lady knows he’s a bad person. She says to him, “I would want to die if I were you,”, and makes it clear it’s because of his crimes and what he’s done. He is being humanized a bit more as the story progresses, and it’s clear we’re supposed to feel bad for him, but I don’t. He did his crime, he admitted to it, just give him the death penalty. York wants death, and it’s the punishment for his crime.
1.The narrator calls this place enchanted as she states, "Others don't see it but I do" (Denfeld 1), this allows the reader to underhand that lots of imaginative things happen in this place that is only appealing to her/his eye. The repetition of the word "I see" (Denfeld 1), allows the reader to notice and understand that the narrator is open-minded and able to see many things that are interesting catches it's attention.
ReplyDelete2.The narrator is a warden character taht changes the view readers view of people working in prison, because when we read about people that work in prisons, we stereotype them thinking that they are bad. The narrator is this story is a good man because he is kind and feels empathy for the men whom are under his watch. Through the narrator's imagination and open-mind, he is able to empathize with others. The other characters are also very interesting because Denfeld doesn't give any character a name, they are called by what they are, or who they are. "The fallen priest doesn't hear the whipping in his won voice when he talks to the lady. He doesn't hear the longing and desire" (Denfeld 3), the narrator calls everyone by their name, he calls them by what they are. The other people don't see or understand the enchanted world because only the narrator does, "Though he lives in this enchanted place, he doesn't see the enchantment in here or anywhere" (Denfeld).
3. York says that he wants to die to the lady, '"It isn't just that it is torture, " he says, "being locked in a cage. It's never being allowed tot touch anyone or go outside or breathe fresh air. I'd like to feel the sun again just once" (Denfeld 11), York doesn't see the enchantment of the place like the narrator does, and he wants is freedom.
4. When the narrator spoke about York, "York knows the truth doesn't matter in here" (Denfeld 3),and "York is already in a cage" (Denfeld 8), I thought that York had said something horrible which was a lie, but actually never did it, and that's why he is in such a horrible state. York speaks to the lady about how he wants to die, and about the confusing mess inside of him. That everyone thinks of him in a certain way when he feels messes-up, "everyone thinks sociopaths are super-smart criminals" (Denfeld 12). She starts to understand him when he speaks about killing someone and the way he feels. "She steps just close enough for him to feels her human warmth" (Denfeld 13).
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ReplyDelete1. The narrator calls the prison enchanted because of its strange appeal and attraction, saying that they're interested in how prisons work and the concept of it. The people within the prison all have stories as to why they're in there in the first place, and that's why he's fascinated by the prison.
ReplyDelete2. Each of the character's lives are related to the prison. We learn that the lady and the priest know each other. Both have had tragic things happen to them. The prison connects the, since they all work/live there. We learn that the priest has a secret he'd rather not have revealed, but still wants to help the prisoners.
3. York doesn't feel the will to live and the lady sees good in him. The lady thinks it's because of his crimes, but from the way he speaks, it's likely because of the way he's treated within the prison.
4. I don't usually try to make first impressions, so it was a blank slate. But I had high hopes for him and wanted to see how his story would play out throughout the book.
1. The narrator calls this place enchanted as to show that there is beauty in the prison and in the prisoners that nobody else sees. It also shows that most of the things happening are visible only to the narrator which shows the magical realism in the story.
ReplyDelete2. The narrator in this story kind of sympathizes with everyone and every character in this book has a tragic past. Many of the characters interact often and also learn the lady's job to get rid of the prisoners' sentences and the priests wanting to help prisoners although he has a past of his own.
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3. York wants to die because he's tired of being in prison. He can't do none of the things that he wants to, such as feeling the sun outside or touching other people. He's not allowed to do those things, so he sees no point in living. The lady wants to save him because she doesn't think York really wants to die, she also sees good in him.
4. When York was first introduced, I liked him from the start and I thought he was a good character, even though he lied because he thinks the truth doesn't matter in prison. I agree with him, when your in jail, you can be whoever you want because your life is stripped from you.
Faduma and Fadumo worked together. Faduma did 1 and 2 and I did 3 and 4
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ReplyDelete1. The narrator calls the place enchanted for multiple reasons. The first page of the book after the narrator calls the prison enchanted he goes onto say “I see the golden horses as they run deep under the earth” (Denfeld 1). This tell the audience that the narrator that they’re is re-imaging the world that they’re currently living in. Instead of the narrator focusing on death that surrounds the prison they instead talk about “small men with tiny hammers” and “flibber-gibbets dancing”. (1).
2. Their lives and fates are connected. According to the lady “we all die...for some it just comes earlier” (36). So their lives are connected because they’re all going to die, the only difference the lady is pointing out to the fallen priest is that for some people in the world, it comes earlier.
3. York doesn’t see the point in living, even if the he does get taken off of death row, it’s not like he’s going to be walking free. “I can only say I postponed their death” (118). So even if the lady does get him off the row, he’s still going to be locked up in the prison until he dies.
4. When he was first introduced, I just saw him as a con who was on the row for a crime, but as the story went on, and you really find out who York is, I kind of felt bad, not because he’s on death row, but because he’s got a serious problem, and that it sucks that he couldn’t get the help he needed, and unfortunately it’s too late now.
Question 1: The word enchanted is used as a symbol of a metphorical term where the reader can feel the need for the feeling of beauty and a miracle.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: These characters impact the lives of the prisoners on death row in on different terms and angles.
Question 3: York doesn't see the point in living, where he'll still be in hell if he is taken off of death row.
Question 4: When the reader first meets York you can't quite understand why he acts the way he does. Whereas later in the book you find out the reasoning.