Module 3/Genre 3 - Poetry

Witness

Bibliography

Hesse, Karen. 2001. Witness. New York: Scholastic Press.

Plot Summary

This is a story in verse that is also a historical novel. It is a story about a small town in Vermont in 1924. You start with pictures and very brief descriptions of each character. Then the story begins. First you meet Leanora Sutter, a twelve year old African American girl who is full of passion and very smart. All the characters are varied. Besides Leanora, there’s six year old Esther, whose first narration causes you to adore her and her quirky way of story telling. There are shop owners, a town constable, a newspaper editor, clergyman, rum-runner, a lady-farmer, a doctor, and an eighteen year old boy. All these characters give different perspectives on their town and how the Ku Klux Klan tries to come in and take over. The story clearly shows how destructive the Klan is and how the town starts turning on itself and how they eventually get free from the evil influence.

Critical Analysis

This collection of narrations tells a full and compelling story that engages and enrages. It also helps the reader feel like they were there, in 1924, and what each person was struggling with. Esther, almost commits suicide as she wants to go see her mother in heaven. Mrs. Pettibone fights her husband about his mixing with the Klan. Sara Chickering, the old-maid farmer softens as she grows more attached to little Esther, who is staying with her. Leanora faces injustice daily, but is befriended by a visually impaired man whom she starts to take care of and ends up being the unlikely savior of not one, but two people in this tale. This story shows character development and growth while still being poetic with Hesse’s free verse style.

The list of characters at the beginning of the book really help as a reference as starting to read the story and figuring out who is who. It’s also interesting that in this story of prejudice the pictures communicate in such a way that the reader pre-judges the characters from those pictures until getting to know them through their stories. Also, the staccato lines of poetry and lack of capitalization really relay the casualness of people telling a story without much dialog.

Mentions of Clarence Darrow and Calvin Coolidge help draw from real history to set the story and give a background that can help the reader have hooks into the time of the story. Overall, this is an eye-opening story for older children and adults who can grasp the cruelty of the Klan and the hardships of that time in history.

Review Excerpts

Booklist – “The story is told in five acts, and, in fact, it will work best as reader's theater. It's more a situation than a straight narrative, with too many characters and too many plot threads that aren't fully developed. But Hesse's spare writing leaves space for readers to imagine more about that time and about their own.”
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books – “…this is also a thoughtful and thought-provoking examination of a national phenomenon on a local level. The book is rife with curricular applications…”
School Library Journal – “The small details seem just right, and demonstrate that this is much more than a social tract. It's a thoughtful look at people and their capacity for love and hate.”

Connections

Have students choose parts and read the story as a class.

Have children research what life was like in the north in 1924. Have them compare and contrast to their current culture and way of life.

Students could write about times when felt like they were treated unjustly or when they misjudged or pre-judged someone and was wrong. They can explore the thought processes behind each subject.

Compare and contrast their technology with our technology (i.e. running water vs. having a well). Discuss how things have changed with technology and how much have things really changed or not.