Socially-based Curriculum Unit

In this unit developed for ENG2P (English, Grade 10 Applied), students will learn that beauty, while “real,” is complex, subject to the pressures of many forces: culture, family, false appearances, wealth, personal desire, self-esteem. They will learn that their own individual perspective counts but that others have something to say as well, including the aged. They will see that appearances are deceiving, that thought gives some advantage to feeling, and that beauty is deep. They will also learn that the stories of “others” are beautiful, precisely because they add value to their own.

This unit is best used as a completer unit for the short story. It uses a simple story, “The Woman Everyone Liked”, to illustrate sophisticated learning around the traditional short story elements of setting, character, plot, and theme. Elements of style, as in storytelling technique, tone, narrative voice, pathos, symbolism, are also transparent. But the story is principally engaging as a heartfelt challenge to ideas of beauty and love, as these might be limited by prejudices in favour of culture, money or age.