Denise

Pre-event Assignment 1, Story Statement

Sukie learns that that the continuity of family traditions have value and are an integral part of who she is.

Pre-Event Assignment 2,

Ciana, the antagonist’s main goal is to be accepted by her family, to heal the wounds of being dropped off by her mother to live with her grandparents and cousins. Ciana struggles to understand why and how she doesn’t fit in her family structure. Although she knows she is loved, she constantly competes with her cousin Sukie for her grandparents’ affection and in doing so, she tries to be the opposite of Sukie, who is well-behaved and a model student. Ciana’s goal is get her mother’s attention and love while she struggles to understand why she can’t live with her mother.

Pre-Event Assignment 3 – Breakout Title

1.       One More Mango Season

2.       Families are not all Blood Born

3.       Under a Tropical Sun

Pre-Event Assignment 4 – Comparables

The first comparable is “Their Eyes are Watching God”, by Zora Neale Hurston, because it is set in a small Florida town and brings to life the fabric of the community, which is made up of different black people who are flawed and yet likeable. The second comparable is “Ugly Ways” by Tina McElroy Ansa. This novel is also set in a small town and depicts the rivalry between siblings. Both of these comparable have rich dialogues and they characters have diverse backgrounds that are integral parts of the novels.

Pre-Event Assignment 5 – Logline

After being raised privileged and the object of her grandparents’ affection, Sukie must now share the limelight with her cousin Ciana after she is dropped off by her mother to live with Sukie’s grandparents.

Pre-Event Assignment 6 – Conflict

Sukie, the protagonist, inner conflict involves being raised as a responsible child and yet having to do the right thing when it comes to watching over her cousin Ciana because Ciana was left by her mother. Sukie doesn’t understand why this makes Ciana so special because Sukie’s mother died when she was a young girl. Sukie resents having to share her grandparents with Sukie and has to navigate this resentment with her grandparents’ expectation that she must look after her cousin.

Pre-Event Final Assignment – Setting

The novel takes place is an all-black neighborhood in Coconut Grove, which is bordered by white neighborhoods. The flora and fauna and accessibility to the bay gives the neighborhood its character as boys ride their bicycles to the bay to go fishing, black women and men make their livings working in white folks mansions, and school children look forward to attending the all black high school, until integration uproots their lives. ,