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Climbing the Stairs | Padma Venkatraman | India
Speak Publishers | 2010 | ISBN: 0142414905
Synopsis:
Fifteen year old Vidya has always dreamed of going to college, and is prepared to do so. Even though it is not common for Indian girls to go to college during the British occupation, Vidya’s physician father promises to help her make her dream a reality. As political tensions in India intensify, tragedy strikes Vidya’s family and she is sent to live with her traditional relatives, who believe women exist to get married and are firm believers in India’s Caste system. Vidya struggles in this new house, with its new views and rules, yet she finds solace in the library, where she can read about all different places and worlds. In the library Vidya also discovers love, and how to reconcile her love for Ramon and her plans for her own future. The novel also contains strong political undercurrents, examining the Indian response to World War II, and the strong feelings many Indians had about the war effort. Climbing the Stairs is a beautiful coming of age novel that leaves the reader satisfied and interested to learn more about India during the World War II period.
Teaching Ideas:
A. Rationale for Use in the English Classroom (where/how it would “fit”, complement to other ELA content, etc.)
This book could easily be used in any ELA classroom. It is another classic coming of age novel that incorporates literary elements. It would be a great novel to focus on teaching characterization because the characters are so richly developed. I also think it would be an interesting addition when teaching Colonial literature. We read so much (British) colonial literature like Rudyard Kipling and “The Monkey’s Paw” is in almost every anthology, but never read about what is going on with the Indians during the occupation.
B. Before/during/after Reading Activity
For a before reading activity, I would introduce my students to the Caste System and have them begin to analyze the impact on the Caste System and women by looking at this brief video clip (I would stop the clip at 3:45)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTC51EZbtf8
I would then have my students take some time to think about economic mobility in the United States (and specifically in Baltimore in their neighborhoods) and have them write a journal entry (and maybe some discussion) about any similarities/differences.
For a During reading activity I would focus on characterization. I would have my students work with a characterization STEAL chart (I have used the one I attached as PDF in my classroom). Each student will get a folder and they will place all of their characterization work in there (for the eventual character project). Inside the folder there would also be a list of different character traits and descriptive adjectives.
For an After Reading Activity, I would have my students make a Facebook page for their chosen character using “Fakebook”,
http://www.classtools.net/fb/home/page.
The facebook pages would have status updates from the student’s chosen character, in reverse chronological order (just like facebook), that reflect different changes in the character throughout the course of the novel. They would also need to put in different responses to the status updates from other characters
C. Connections to other content areas
This novel has clear connections to World History, World Religions or Geography. It could also be used in a global Women’s studies unit.
