Vocabulary and Notes

The First Part Last

By: Angela Johnson

Translucent: (adj.) Allowing light, but not detailed images, to pass through; clear

Delicate: (adj.) fragile; easily breakable, easily damaged

Pamphlet: (noun) a paper book with information

Ache: (verb) to feel pain

Whimper: (verb) to cry low or quietly

Mahogany: (adj.) reddish-brown color

Part I Vocabulary Set 1

A translucent piece of glass

Angora: (noun) wool; an expensive fabric

Holler: (verb) to shout or yell loudly

Responsibility: (noun) something that a person is in charge of or must take care of

Innocent: (adj.) without sin; not being morally wrong

Matinee: (noun) an entertainment, such as a movie, held in the daytime/afternoon

Threaten: (verb) to tell someone you are going to do something bad to them or hurt them

Part I Vocabulary Set 1

An angora sweater

Pediatrician: (noun) a doctor for babies and children

Obstetrician: (noun) a doctor for pregnant women

Plaster: (verb) to cover heavily

Prenatal: (adj.) before birth or before giving birth (having a baby)

Part I Vocabulary Set 2

Technically: (adverb) another word for actually

Appointment: (noun) a meeting set for a certain time or place

Gland: (noun) a cell, group of cells, or organ that makes something that the body needs

Swollen: (adj.) raised; enlarged

Part I Vocabulary Set 2

A pediatrician

An obstetrician

The thyroid gland in your neck produces hormones.

A swollen ankle

Now: - Exposition (beginning):

- Feather- baby’s name (11 days old) - Setting: starts off in a bed in a room in a city

Then: - New York City (Empire State Building) - 16 year old main character (Bobby) – narrator - K-Boy & JL (buddies) - Simile (everybody looks like ants) - Nia (Bobby’s girlfriend) - Fred (Bobby’s father’s name)

Part I Notes

Then (continued):- On 16th birthday- Bobby finds out he will be a father -

Now:Just Frank (dies saving a girl)- sits on corner drinking

forties – asks if Bobby is being a man...makes Bobby realize he will need to change and change his thinking - Page 8… simile.. Feather sleeps like…- Mary (Bobby’s mom/Feather’s grandma) - Bobby is the one taking care of the baby - Bobby = overprotective

Part I Notes

Hallucinate: (verb) to imagine and dream unreal things

Stance: (noun) standing posture or position Blur: (verb or noun) to lose clear vision, to make

less clear; a blurred condition

Savior: (noun) a person who rescues or saves you from harm or danger

Part II Vocabulary

Scope: (verb) to look at, read, or investigate, as in

order to evaluate or appreciate.

Damned: (adj) condemned or doomed

Tangy: (adj) having a sour, acidic or citrus taste

Scarf: (verb) to eat hungrily, or fast

Part II Vocabulary

Now:- Bobby is really struggling- no help from either of his parents- both too busy

- Bobby doesn’t want to show his mom he is struggling- cries low so she can’t hear; still feels like a child sometimes (wants his mom)

- Goes to Coco’s apartment for help- needs to get some sleep

Part II Notes

Then: - Bobby tells his friends Nia is pregnant: Initial

reaction- K-Boy and J.L. do not say anything- Bobby is waiting for them to say something (more afraid of their reaction than parents’ reaction)

- K-Boy- can’t stop laughing

- J.L.- asks Bobby for money to call 1-800-ISTUPID

Part II

Now: Bobby is falling asleep in Brit Lit:

Up all night with FeatherWalked her, played music for her, talked to her

After class, Mr. Philips asks about the baby’s mother: Where is she? Does she go to this school? Does she help out?

After school, Bobby goes to pick up Feather from Jackie:Her advice to him: Everything he is going through right

now will change.

Plot/Events for part II (Pages 42-54)

Now continued: The next day Bobby wakes up for school and

everything is going wrong: Feather pukes Bobby has to bathe her and take care of her

Bobby is late for school: Leaves Feather with Coco instead of the

babysitter

Bobby is very stressed out at this point.

Plot/Events for part II (Pages 42-54)

Then: Bobby and Nia are together:

He still thinks she looks good They are wrapped around each other.They show affection toward each other.They “do it.”

Plot/Events for part II (Pages 42-54)

Damsel (doncella)- (noun) a girl or young unmarried woman Distress (sufrimiento (m) angustia (f): (noun) pain, anxiety, or

sorrow A damsel in distress: una doncella en apuros

Imitation (imitación): (noun) a copy of something

Moat (foso): (noun) a deep hole in the ground filled with water that surrounds a castle.

Insane (demente, loco): (adjective) mentally ill or crazy

Nuke (atacar con armas nucleares): (verb) to attack or destroy

Part III Vocabulary

Verge (borde, margen ): (noun) the edge of something

Gurgle (borboteo): (verb) to make a bubbling sound

Hemorrhoid (hemorroides): (noun) a painful swelling of a vein in the area of the anus, often with bleeding

Same ole same ole: means “same old same old;” doing something that you've always done; nothing new; the same old thing

Shrug (encogimiento ): (verb) to raise one's shoulders to show lack of interest or acknowledgment

Caterer (empresa (f) de hostelería; hostelero) : (noun) someone who provides food and service for a party.

Part III Vocabulary

She is usually a beautiful, young woman placed in a terrible situation by a villain or a monster and who requires a hero to come to her rescue.

“A Damsel in Distress”

A Moat

Now: Bobby is taken to jail. Afraid of what his mother will do…

She doesn’t take “bullsh*t” and lives by the rules Bobby’s one phone call from jail is to his father:

Most likely busy at the restaurantWon’t be “nasty mad”

Bobby’s father picks him up and: Asks him if he has eatenReminds of the mess he made at home/tells him he

messed upReminds him of the responsibilities that await him at

home.

Plot/Events for part III (Pages 65-80)

Then:Bobby is imagining he is in a fairy tale:

Bobby is the hero; Nia is the damsel in distress. Imagining the city life that he loves. Doesn’t include a monster.Rescuing his damsel from her parents. Bobby reflects on his friends

Plot/Events for part III (Pages 65-80)

Then: Nia sounds frustrated, upset, and annoyed

about the pregnancy. Swollen ankles, hemorrhoids, and aching backThey say they didn’t mean for this to happen.

Nia’s parents want to send her to her grandma’s house in Georgia and getting her a tutor. Less stress; she has high blood pressure

Plot/Events for part III (Pages 65-80)

Cranky: (adjective) annoyed, bothered

Drown: (verb) to kill by sinking and cutting off air supply in water or another liquid.

Revenge: (noun) an action taken in return for an injury or offense

Obvious (adjective) easily seen, recognized, or understood

Reflex: (noun) any automatic, unthinking, often habitual behavior or response.

Part IV Vocabulary

Eclampsia: (noun) a form of blood poisoning from pregnancy, characterized by high blood pressure; can cause a coma in the mother and even death; most often seen in first time pregnancies and teen pregnancies.

Irreversible: (adjective) not able to be turned around or changed.

Persistent Vegetative State: a wakeful, unconscious condition of patients with severe brain damage who were in a coma.

Coma: (noun) a state of deep and often prolonged unconsciousness; usually the result of disease or injury.

Incubator: (noun) a box designed to maintain a constant temperature by the use of a thermostat; used for premature infants.

Part IV Vocabulary

An incubator

NOW:- Paul: Bobby’s brother & has two children of his

own- Paul gives Bobby the same advice as Jackie:

everything will change, everything will get better- Paul is the only one who understands Bobby and

says what Bobby needs to hear; single father just like Bobby (divorced)

Bobby is going back to Brooklyn to live with his father.- Mom is out of town too much (unable to help) - Bobby needs a parent who will be around more often

- He loves Feather more than anythingKnows he made the right decision by keeping her

Part IV Notes

THEN: Pg. 97 – “Everytime her mom touches her she

jumps like she is being hit.” Example of a? What does this tell us about Nia at this very moment?

Bobby, Nia, and their parents go to a social worker. Why? Discuss adoptionWhat is Bobby thinking about in considering giving

the baby up for adoption? How is Bobby feeling while the social worker is

speaking?Bobby is not sure what the right thing is. Traditional vs. Open Adoption?

Part IV Notes

Open Adoption: The birth parents and the adoptive family speak

prior to and even after the child is born, i.e., phone calls and face-to-face visits.

Some open adoptions are very open, with the adoptive family and birth parents exchanging contact information and agreeing to periodic visits by the birth parents as the child grows.

It is common for the adoptive family to mail pictures and letters to the birth parents

Part IV

Closed Adoption: The adoptive family and birth mother remain

confidential, with no contact prior to or after the placement of the child.

It was common to keep adoptions closed; however, in the early 1980s, adoption began to shift toward more openness.

Today, some people believe closed adoptions to be "safer," out of a fear that if the birth parents know where the adoptive family lives, that they will "take back" the child.

Adoption laws are very clear - once the adoption is finalized, the adoptive family is recognized as the child's legal family.

Part IV

NOW: Bobby is now living in Brooklyn with his dad

Fred parents Bobby and Feather different from Mary.

How? How is Bobby handling being back in

Brooklyn? Are things the same? Different?

Part IV

PART IV NOTES- Nia is in a vegetative coma (vegetable)… won’t ever

talk, walk, smile … brain is dead … this is a result of Eclampsia

- Bobby tears the adoption papers and decides to keep Feather… she is all he has left of Nia and he thinks this is what a man would do

- Bobby is considering moving to Heaven, Ohio to live with his brother

- Why? – Being in NY has too much memory, too big for him, not the best place to raise kids, needs support from his brother, needs a change

- Bobby moves to Heaven, Ohio… looking for a new beginning, looking for peace

Part IV Notes