Baker’s ELA 30-1

Voice & Choice 2021

Scope:
Using the novel of your choice from the series of titles in the independent novel study, this creative project
involves written and visual concepts of the major concepts in the book you’ve been reading.
The project presentation is in the format of a book (your choice on how that book looks and feels) and must:

• Include a UNIQUE book cover that is reflective of the story itself. This can include any type of media
including hand drawing, painting, collage, and digital artwork, literal or symbolic elements that feature a
major component of the novel itself. The book cover must include the title of the novel.
• Please ensure that your name is clearly written on the back cover of the project.
The pages inside the book will feature the following focus points (please title them accordingly):

THE CHARACTER:
Consider the protagonist of your chosen novel, describe how the author created certain character flaws
as well as heroic traits that lead him or her to a specific insight about themselves. What was their
“driving force” that moved them to a turning point. Comment on how satisfying or disappointing the story
came to a close and include your justification for either position. Ensure that you include the title of the
novel as well as the author in this response.

THE INTRIGUE:
What did your chosen novel have you questioning or wondering as you went through the story? Did your
investment or connection with the character increase or decrease as the story went on? What gave the
story a strong sense of verisimilitude (in other words, what made it believable)? Was this an accurate
portrayal of a fictional or real-life issue you could easily identify with OR what was it about the overall
story that pulled you into it? Explain and justify your answer with specific details that stuck with you.

THE CAST:
The supporting characters in a novel are often used to move the story along. Pick a major supporting
character and describe the role of his or her presence in the story. Besides a relational one, how did this
character bring out the best or worst in the main character? What attributes did this character possess
that highlights an opposing or parallel issue with the protagonist?

THE CONFLICT:
Describe the driving force that plagued the protagonist. In the end, how did the conflict make a claim
about an issue that is common to the human condition? In other words, what was the author getting at in
having the character live and learn from the force that was against him or her?

THE MOVES:
Over the course of the novel, what interesting piece of “artistry” did you pick up on? Was there a major
metaphor that the author used in the story? Was there a symbolic element you detected that enhanced
the overall idea? Expand on what you appreciated (or didn’t) about the voice in the story.

For each page of the project, the opposite page will feature a visual of the focus points being
discussed. Again, the visuals are completely your choice as to how you want to illustrate the
major concepts being discussed in the focus points.

There is an exemplar available for your perusal in the classroom.

THIS PROJECT IS DUE NO LATER THAN: DECEMBER 15TH 2021

Scoring:
Thought & Understanding: /10

Supporting Details: /10

Creativity: /10

Voice and Correctness: /10

TOTAL /40

EXEMPLAR of FOCUS POINTS:

THE CHARACTER:
The protagonist, Eva Khatchadourian, of “We Need to Talk About Kevin” by Lionel Shriver lives
and personifies what is perhaps every mother’s worst fear. What if you had a kid and didn’t like
it? What if the reason you just couldn’t bond with that kid was because he is a purely evil
psychopath and you’re the only one who knows it? It is the fictional story of a woman who must
mother a son, Kevin, whose intention is to create a living hell in her life. What makes Eva an
interesting character is that she did not want children. Ever. When her husband experiences a
lifethreatening crisis, she realizes the fragility of life and she eventually becomes pregnant at 37
years old. She feels “strangely cold” about the idea of becoming a mother and hates being
pregnant. Her husband, Franklin, in contrast, is thrilled to become a father. The only thing Eva
feels is fear and uncertainty. Once Kevin is born, he immediately rejects her by refusing to nurse.
Instinctively, she understands the baby “hates” her though she feels like the ultimate failure for
thinking so. As an infant, Kevin shrieks constantly when she is alone with him during the day but
settles calmly into Franklin’s arms when he returns from work. Franklin believes her resistance to
motherhood is the reason for Kevin’s intolerance. She goes through all the motions of being a
mom, caring for his physical needs but can’t bring herself to love him. He makes it impossible
because he is a literal demon from hell, cold and bluntly cruel to his mother. The storyline cycles
through Kevin’s life as an eerie and strange toddler that even the hired nanny cannot cope with.
Eva is forced out of her career to care for him at home where Kevin cycles through one
soulcrushing stage after the next, intent on psychologically destroying the woman who gave birth
to him. Because he is psychotically ingenious, he is the perfect son for his father Franklin, who
accepts nothing what his wife tells him about Kevin’s behavior. This puts husband and wife
against each other constantly. Eva, in turn, is determined to keep their family together and raise
Kevin as a loving mother despite the darkness she feels about him and herself. She continually
tries to connect with him to instill a sense of happiness in him and herself. Kevin, in turn, knows
her darkest secrets and enjoys the special kind of hell he creates for her. Eva becomes pregnant a
second time and gives birth to a daughter who is an immediate part of her soul, a human being she
not only bonds with but adores. This daughter is the stark opposite of Kevin; loving, warm, and
innocent. Though Eva is finally given a sense of joy in motherhood, Kevin’s maniacal hatred
festers. At 15 years old, he eventually masterminds a Columbine-style shooting at his high school
as well as the sickening murders of his sister and father. Kevin essentially robs Eva of everything
and everyone she ever loved. Except him. Told in first-person perspective, the story is focused
through her attempts to come to terms with what Kevin has done. Persecuted, shunned and
rejected for the bloodshed he’s responsible for, it is as if she faces the brunt of judgement, anger,
and hatred for the child she bore. Still, the story ends with her faithful visits to him in prison,
jailed along side him in an inescapable relationship that is bound by hatred she can’t escape. Eva
is a character who represents a brutal commentary on the bonds of motherhood.

THE INTRIGUE:
What did your chosen novel have you questioning or wondering as you went through the story? Did your investment or
connection with the character increase or decrease as the story went on? What gave the story a strong sense of
verisimilitude (in other words, what made it believable)? Was this an accurate portrayal of a fictional or real-life issue you
could easily identify with OR what was it about the overall story that pulled you into it? Explain and justify your answer
with specific details that stuck with you.

The story became increasingly uncomfortable as Kevin got older. It definitely had me wondering
whether I ever want to be a mother (ha ha!) however it also had me thinking about the
responsibility of a parent towards a child and how guilt is the glue that leaves Eva feeling
committed to her son. Eva wants to be a “good mom” and questions herself within a family that
seems normal. Because Kevin continually makes her appear as though she is cold and insensitive,
she constantly has to defend herself towards others, especially her own husband. She assumes
Kevin’s hatred towards her is because she cannot love him. What made the story frighteningly
believable is that Kevin appears to be evil personified in a realistic way. He refuses to be potty
trained and ends up going to Kindergarten in diapers to his mother’s embarrassment and shame.
He sardonically enjoys watching her suffer through what is perceived as her failings. He
systematically tortures and eventually kills the family pet. He tampers with the neighbour’s bike so
that the neighbour ends up suffering a horrific accident. Eva is aware of everything Kevin does.
He does not represent evil in a Hollywood way (one who needs to be exorcized by a priest) but he
knows all his mother’s weaknesses and uses them against her. In one scene, he drives her into a
rage when he is five years old and she accidently breaks his arm. Horrified, she brings him to
Emergency fully expecting to be arrested for child abuse. She also knows it would be the end of
their marriage if Franklin ever knew she laid a hand on him. Kevin lies to the doctor about how the
injury happened and uses this as leverage against her. He continually manipulates both his parents
to his advantage, mostly to drive his mother insane. Just when I thought Kevin could not get
worse, he did, but always in ways I didn’t see coming. To me, this story was scarier than a
paranormal horror because the boy does personify evil that’s targeted towards the one specific
person who is supposed represent love; his mother.

THE CONFLICT:
Describe the driving force that plagued the protagonist. In the end, how did the conflict make a claim about an issue that
is common to the human condition? In other words, what was the author getting at in having the character live and learn
from the force that was against him or her?

Eva believed it was her own fault that her son was so hateful. She believed he hated her because
she couldn’t love him. What mother can admit to not loving her child? This was a deep-seated
secret she could barely admit to herself, never mind someone else. She fights her own guilt in not
being able to bond with him, attempting to win his love and convince herself she is worthy enough
to be a mother. It leaves the reader understanding that motherhood is a reflection on the loving
nature of who one is. If you can’t love your own child, who can you love, including yourself?

THE CAST:
The supporting characters in a novel are often used to move the story along. Pick a major supporting character and
describe the role of his or her presence in the story. Besides a relational one, how did this character bring out the best or
worst in the main character? What attributes did this character possess that highlights an opposing or parallel issue with
the protagonist?

Kevin is Eva’s son and she has no choice but to try to mother him the best she can even though
he’s as unlovable as a human gets. Before she decided to have kids, her passion was travel and
she was a professional who wrote tourism books. Because she had to give up her job, she tries to
find some sort of expression in what she once loved. In her world travels, she collected antique
maps that were rare and expensive. She decides to wallpaper her home office with these maps and
takes a special pride on how the finished product looks. She momentarily leaves Kevin alone in
the office to respond to a phone call and returns to find that Kevin has taken an indelible ink
marker and scribbled all over the walls Eva was so proud of. He turns to her and tells her the maps
“looked stupid anyway.” He mocks her life before him just as he ruins her life after him. As Kevin
gets older, he becomes more and more sullen and withdrawn but Eva continues to try and nurture a
sense of happiness in him. The only thing he seems to enjoy is “Robin Hood” and to Eva’s relief,
she finally feels a sense of accomplishment with her son. Together, they read the entire Robin
Hood series and Eva eventually convinces her husband to buy him a real bow and arrow once he’s
old enough to learn how to use it. As a teenager, this is the only thing that Kevin takes any
pleasure from and he and his father go on hunting excursions with it. This is the same weapon he
uses to kill his father and little sister on the day he launches on mass shooting at the school. The
fact that Kevin purposely used the bow and arrow as the final nail in his mother’s coffin speaks to
the depth of Kevin’s evil. He knew that gift represented a sense of closeness she finally she
thought achieved with him, so he chose this as a weapon to kill the only love she had left in her
life.

THE MOVES:
Over the course of the novel, what interesting piece of “artistry” did you pick up on? Was there a major metaphor that the
author used in the story? Was there a symbolic element you detected that enhanced the overall idea? Expand on what
you appreciated (or didn’t) about the voice in the story.

The entire story is told through a series of letters Eva writes to her husband. I kept thinking that
they had divorced and she was writing him letters that she never intended on sending. It wasn’t
until I got to the end of the story that I realized she’s actually writing letters to her dead husband in
an attempt to process and understand her life. Because of this technique, the reader is not only left
with a sense of shock, but an understanding of her emptiness in trying to continue to communicate
with someone who is no longer alive. The last letter talks about her visit with Kevin in prison and
his smug satisfaction in seeing her so alone yet forced to face what she cannot accept. She is stuck
with him as her son and has no choice but to continue on their relationship this way. This book
highlights the raw and real emotions of a mother who gives birth to hatred, hatred she feels she’s
somehow responsible for, that destroys her entire life