Initiation

"Initiation"

Characterization

1. Decide whether each quotation is an example of direct or indirect characterization.

Multiple Choice

“How horrible it would be…if she were condemned to be the plain, shy Millicent of a few years back.”

• direct

• indirect

Multiple Choice

“Bev was suddenly there in the doorway. ‘Wipe that smile off your face,’ she commanded.”

• direct

• indirect

Multiple Choice

“Betsy Johnson, the vivacious blonde secretary of the sorority”

• direct

• indirect

Multiple Choice

“Walking beside Louise on the way to the drugstore, Millicent felt a surge of pride.”

• direct

• indirect

Read the passage

“Bev was coming toward them, then, her red mouth set in a bright, calculating smile. She ignored Millicent and sailed up to Herb. 

‘Why waste your time with gophers?’ She caroled gaily. ‘Their tongues are tied, but completely.’ 

Multiple Select

Based on the passage, what inferences can be made about the characters? Check ALL that apply (there are 3)

• Bev is attracted to Herb.

• Bev is a jealous person who dislikes female competition.

• Millicent looks like a gopher.

• Herb thinks that Millicent is attractive.

• Herb prefers women who are shy.

Conflict

Identify each type of conflict from the story.

Multiple Choice

Bev forces Millicent to interview everyone on the bus about breakfast.

• character vs. self

• character vs. character

• character vs. society

Multiple Choice

Millicent is troubled by the idea of leaving Tracy behind.

• character vs. self

• character vs. character

• character vs. society

Multiple Choice

Millicent decides to reject the sorority after successfully passing the initiation.

• character vs. self

• character vs. character

• character vs. society

Multiple Choice

Millicent knows that it will be a personal challenge to tell the others what she decided.

• character vs. self

• character vs. character

• character vs. society

Read the passage

“Seated on the woodpile in Betsy Johnson’s cellar, Millicent knew that she had come triumphant through the trial of fire, the searing period of the inferno which could end in two kinds of victory for her. The easiest of which would be her coronation as a princess, labeling her conclusively as one of the select flock.

The other victory would be much harder, but she knew that it was what she wanted. It was not that she was being noble or anything. It was just that she had learned there were other ways of getting into the great hall, blazing with light of people and of life.”

Multiple Choice

Which is the best conclusion that can be drawn about Millicent based on the conflict in the passage?

• Millicent would rather do a difficult thing she believes is right than the easy thing.

• Millicent cannot wait to be crowned the princess of the sorority.

• Millicent now knows that it is wrong to join a sorority.

• Millicent has learned how to achieve victory in a conflict with the others in the group.

Read this passage.

“Then the girls had led her here, blindfolded still, through the corridors of Betsy Johnson’s  house and shut her in the cellar. It would be an hour before they came to get her, but then Rat Court would be all over and she would say what she had to say and go home.

For tonight was the grand finale, the trial by fire. There really was no doubt now that she would get in. She could not think of anyone who had ever been invited into the high school sorority and failed to get through initiation time. But even so, her case would be quite different. She would see to that. She could not exactly say what had decided her revolt, but it definitely had something to do with Tracy and something to do with the heather birds.”

Open Ended

Think about the conflict at hand and how Millicent reacts to it. In your own words, explain how the central conflict leads Millicent to change.

Read:

“Millicent brushed back a strand of hair. It was stiff and sticky from the egg that they had broken on her head as she knelt blindfolded at the sorority altar a short while before. There had been a silence, a slight crunching sound, and then she had felt the cold, slimy egg-white flattening and spreading on her head and sliding down her neck. She had heard someone smothering a laugh. It was all part of the ceremony.”

Multiple Choice

What technique does the author use most to describe Millicent in this passage?

• indirect characterization to describe how Millicent looks

• indirect characterization to describe how Millicent feels

• direct characterization to describe how Millicent looks

• direct characterization to describe how Millicent feels

Read

“‘Remember the part about talking back and smiling,’ Louise Fullerton had put in, laughing. She was another celebrity in high school, pretty and dark and Vice-President of the student council. ‘You can't say anything unless your big sister asks you something or tells you to talk to someone. And you can't smile, no matter how you're dying to.’ The girls had laughed a little nervously, and then the bell had rung for the beginning of afternoon classes.”

Multiple Choice

Which phrase from the passage is the best example of indirect characterization?

• another celebrity in high school

• pretty and dark

• you can’t smile

• girls had laughed a little nervously

Read

Millicent and Bev took a bus ahead of the rest of the girls; they had to stand up on the way to Lewiston Square. Bev seemed very cross about something. Finally she said, "You were talking with Herb Dalton at lunch today."

"No," Millicent said honestly.

"Well, I saw you smile at him. That's practically as bad as talking. Remember not to do it again."

Multiple Choice

Which conclusion is best supported by the passage?

• Millicent feels confused by Bev.

• Bev wants to embarrass Millicent.

• Millicent is afraid of Bev.

• Bev is jealous of Millicent.

Multiple Choice

Which situation from “Initiation” is an example of internal conflict?

• Millicent struggles with her motivation for joining the sorority.

• Millicent struggles with her tasks during her sorority initiation week.

• Millicent struggles with the big sister the sorority assigns her.

• Millicent struggles with peer pressure from the sorority.

Read

“It would be rather fun for a change, Millicent mused, getting her books out of her locker in the hall, rather exciting to be part of a closely knit group, the exclusive set at Lansing High. Of course, it wasn't a school organization. In fact, the principal, Mr. Cranton, wanted to do away with initiation week altogether, because he thought it was undemocratic and disturbed the routine of school work. But there wasn't really anything he could do about it. Sure, the girls had to come to school for five days without any lipstick on and without curling their hair, and of course everybody noticed them, but what could the teachers do?”

Multiple Choice

The author most likely included the information about the principal’s and teachers’ reactions in order to:

• create a character vs. nature conflict

• resolve a character vs. character conflict

• complicate Millicent’s character vs. self conflict

• introduce another character vs. society conflict

Multiple Choice

Which excerpt from “Initiation” is the best example of an internal conflict?

• Millicent had waited a long time for acceptance, longer than most.

• Rebellion flooded through her. “I said get up. Are you deaf?”

• ...thinking, this is beginning to sound serious. Worse than a loyalty test, this grilling over the coals. What’s it supposed to prove anyway?

• “I mean, some of them thought Tracy was just a bit too different. Maybe you could suggest a few things to her.”

Read

"Get up, gopher," Bev ordered. There was something about her tone that annoyed Millicent. It was almost malicious. And there was an unpleasant anonymity about the label "gopher," even if that was what they always called the girls being initiated. It was degrading, like being given a number. It was a denial of individuality.

Rebellion flooded through her. "I said get up. Are you deaf?" Millicent got up, standing there. "Into the house, gopher. There's a bed to be made and a room to be cleaned at the top of the stairs."

Multiple Choice

This is an example of external conflict because it features character vs. _______________ ?

• Character

• Nature

• Self

• Society