Boston Girl Monologue

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In the excerpt The Boston Girl, Miss Chevalier organizes a book club at the library for girls to attend. The author, Anita Daimant develops Miss Chevalier's compassionate nature character trait by utilizing the interactions she has with Addie, who is a part of the library club for girls. The first interaction occurs at the beginning when Miss Chevalier checks in on the club. Miss Chevalier presents Addie with an exciting opportunity to "recite the whole poem to the Saturday Club." Miss Chevalier then proceeds to explain that "a famous professor was going to give a lecture about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow" who was the writer of the poem Addie was going to read. The author characterizes Miss Chevalier as compassionate in a way the reader can …show more content…

Addie, already a nervous wreck, starts and gets about halfway through. Miss Chevaliers stops and questions Addie if she knows the meaning of impetuous, "She was nice about it, but I wanted to sink through the floor...I'm sure I turned bright red, but Miss Chevalier pretended not to notice." The author's purpose for creating that sense of embarrassment is to create a connection with Addie and the reader by using a common feeling that everybody feels. As a reader you can really connect to Addie and feel that sense of relief given by Miss Chevalier's kind action of pretending not to notice. Lastly, Addie still in the room practicing Miss Chevalier asks Addie what Mr. Longfellow meant by using the term impetuous as there were multiple definitions. Miss Chevalier jumps in, reassuring Addie that "there is no wrong answer, she said. *I want to know your opinion, Addie. What do you think?" Miss Chevalier asks Addie's opinion, causes Addie to feel acknowledgement for her own thoughts and boosts her confidence. The author portrays the feeling of doubt, another common feeling among students. The reader is able to imagine what it would be like to question their own answer. They are also able to picture the great feeling of being asked for their