ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE

10th Grade Booklet

_________________
Name of Student
ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
Before Reading:
Do Now: Quick Write
Reflect on Weisel’s quote from his speech “The perils of
“Of course, indifference can be tempting more than Indifference” and answer the questions below.
that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from
victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude 1. Underline Weisel’s thoughts on indifference.
interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is,
after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in
another person’s pain and despair. Yet, for the person
who is indifferent, his or her neighbor are of no
consequence. And, therefore, their lives are
meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish8 is of
no interest. Indifference reduces the Other to an
abstraction.”

Elie Weisel, “The Perils of Indifference”

2. The author believes that it is dangerous to be

indifferent to the pain and suffering of others? Do
you agree? Why or why not?
ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
Vocabulary:
Key Vocabulary
genetics megalomania acquiesce liberated nurtured

Vocabulary Frayer Model

The Frayer Model is a graphic organizer for building student vocabulary. This technique requires students to define target vocabulary
and apply their knowledge by generating examples and non-examples, giving characteristics, and/or drawing a picture to illustrate the
meaning of the word.
 Vocabulary Frayer Model
The Frayer Model is a graphic organizer for building student vocabulary. This technique requires students to define target vocabulary
and apply their knowledge by generating examples and non-examples, giving characteristics, and/or drawing a picture to illustrate the
meaning of the word.

Definition Traits/Characteristics Definition Traits/Characteristics

Sentence Real World Examples Sentence Real World Examples

 Vocabulary Frayer Model
The Frayer Model is a graphic organizer for building student vocabulary. This technique requires students to define target vocabulary and apply their knowledge by
generating examples and non-examples, giving characteristics, and/or drawing a picture to illustrate the meaning of the word.

Definition Traits/Characteristics Definition Traits/Characteristics

Sentence Real World Examples Sentence Real World Examples

ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
“A Genetics of Justice” by Julia Alvarez
Directions: As you read, annotate for details about Trujillo provided by each author as well as other key details that are
important to you.
Culminating Question: Describe the details about Trujillo emphasized in Mark Memmot’s article, “Remembering to never Forget” and “A Genetics of Justice” by Julia
Alvarez. Identify the details that each writer emphasizes and discuss the impact that emphasis has on the authors’ portrayal of Trujillo.

Text Annotations/Questions

1 Perhaps because I was spared, at ten, from the dictatorship my parents 1. How does Alvarez begin her essay?
endured most of their lives, I often imagine what it must have been like for
them growing up under the absolute rule of Generalísimo1 Rafael Leonidas
Trujillo.

2 Especially, I imagine my mother’s life. Respectable families such as hers kept 2. How does this beginning inform your understanding of the word genetics in the title?
their daughters out of the public eye, for Trujillo was known to have an
appetite for pretty girls, and once his eye was caught, there was no refusing
him.

3 My mother must have been intrigued. She knew nothing of the horrid
3. What might Alvarez mean by “A Genetics of Justice” given the answer to question 2?
crimes of the dictatorship, for her parents were afraid to say anything – even to
their own children – against the regime2. So, as a young girl, my mother must
have thought of El Jefe3 as a kind of movie star. She must have wanted to meet
the great man.
4. How does Alvarez use specific word choices, such as the word “expecially,” to deepen
4 Images of the dictator hung in every house next to the crucifix and la your understanding of Trujillo?
Virgencita4 with the declaration beneath: In this house Trujillo is Chief. The
pale face of a young military man wearing a plumed5 bicorne6 hat and
gold-braided uniform looked down beneficently7 at my mother as she read her
romantic novelas and dreamed of meeting the great love of her life.
Sometimes in her daydreams, her great love wore the handsome young

1
Generalísimo - The commander of a combined military force consisting of army, navy and air force units.
2
Regime – a system of rule or government
3
El Jefe – “the Chief” or “the Boss”
4
La Virgencita – the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ Mother, from the Bible
5
Plumed – having or appearing to have a feather
6
Bicorne – a two-cornered cocked hat worn especially in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
7
Beneficently – kindly in action or in purpose
dictator’s face. Never having seen him, my mother could not know the portrait 5. Why are Alvarez’s grandparents afraid to say anything about Trujillo’s regime in
was heavily retouched. paragraph 3?

5 By the time my mother married my father, however, she knew all about the
true nature of dictatorship. Thousands had lost their lives in failed attempts to
return the country to democracy. Family friends, whom she had assumed had
dropped away turned out to have been disappeared. My father had been
lucky. As a young man, he had narrowly escaped to Canada after the plot he
had participated in as a student failed. This was to be the first of two escapes. 6. What is the true nature of Trujillo’s dictatorship as explained to Alvarez’s mother by
That same year, 1937, El Generalísimo ordered the overnight slaughter of some her father?
eighteen thousand Haitians, who had come across the border to work on
sugarcane plantations for slave wages. It was from my father that my mother
learned why Trujillo hated blacks with such a vengeance, how he disguised his
own Haitian ancestry, how he lightened his skin with makeup.

6 Perhaps because she had innocently revered him, my mother was now
doubly revolted by this cold-blooded monster. He became something of an
obsession with her – living as she was by then in exile with my father, isolated
from her family who were still living on the Island. As my sisters and I werte
growing up, Trujillo and his excesses figured in many of my mother’s
cautionary tales.

7 Whenever we misbehaved, she would use his example as proof that 7. How does Alvarez’s mother’s previous understanding of Trujillo impact her feelings
character shows from the very beginning. One such story showed the seeds of about him once she learns about his “true nature”?
Trujillo’s megalomania. As a child, Trujillo had insisted his mother sew coke
bottle tops or chapitas to his shirt front so that he could have a chest of
medals. Later, the underground’s code name for him would be Chapita
because of his attachment to his hundreds of medals.

8 When my sisters and I cared too much about our appearance, my mother
would tell us about how Trujillo’s vanity knew no bounds. How in order to 8. How does the word “obsession” in paragraph 6 develop your understanding of
appear taller, his shoes were specially made abroad with built-in heels that Trujillo’s impact on Alvarez’s mother in paragraph 4?
added inches to his height. How plumes for his Napoleanic hats were
purchased in Paris and shipped in vacuum-packed boxes to the Island.

9 How his uniforms were trimmed with tassels and gold epaulettes and red
sashes, pinned with his medals, crisscrossing his chest. How he costumed
himself in dress uniforms and ceremonial hats and white gloves – all of this in a
tropical country where men wore guayaberas in lieu of suit jackets,
short-sleeved shirts worn untucked so the body could be ventilated. My
mother could go on and on. 9. How does the word megalomania impact your understanding of Trujillo’s desire to
“have a chest full of medals” in paragraph 7?
10 At this point I would always ask her why she and my father had returned to
live in the country if they knew the dictatorship was so bad. And that’s when
my mother would tell me how, under pressure from his friends up north,
Trujillo pretended to be liberalizing his regime. How he invited all his exiles
back to form political parties. How he announced that he would not be
running in the next elections. My father had returned only to discover that the
liberalization was a hoax staged so that the regime could keep the goodwill and
dollars of the United States. 10. What is Alvarez’s purpose in providing specific details about Trujillo’s clothing in
paragraph 8? How do these details impact your understanding of Trujillo?
11 My father and mother were once again trapped in a police state. They laid
low as best they could. Now that they had four young daughters, they could
not take any chances. For a while, that spark which had almost cost my father
his life and which he had lighted in my mother seemed to have burnt out.
Periodically, Trujillo would demand a tribute, and they would acquiesce. A tax,
dummy vote, a portrait on the wall. To my father and other men in the
country, the most humiliating of these tributes was the occasional parade in
which women were made to march and turn their heads and acknowledge the
great man as they passed the review stand.
11. How does Trujillo pretend to “liberalize” his regime?
12 If you did not march, your cédula would not be stamped, and without a
stamped identification card, you could do nothing; in particular, you could not
obtain your passport to leave the country under the pretext of wanting to
study heart surgery. This was the second escape – this time with his whole
family – that my father was planning.

12. What can you infer about the meaning of the phrase “police state” from the word
trapped (paragraph 10)
ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
“Remembering to Never Forget: Dominican Republic’s ‘Parsley Massacre’”
by Mark Memmot (2012)
1 Seventy five years ago, thousands of Haitians were murdered in the 1. How does the title of the article impact your understanding of the article’s purpose?
Dominican Republic by a brutal dictator. It was one of the 20th Century's
least-remembered acts of genocide8.

2 As many as 20,000 people are thought to have been killed on orders given by

Rafael Trujillo. But the "parsley massacre" went mostly unnoticed outside
Hispaniola. Even there, many Dominicans never knew about what happened in
early October 1937. They were kept in the dark by Trujillo's henchmen.

3 This week, people from around the world are expected to gather in the 2. In paragraphs 1 and 2, what specific phrases does Memmot choose to describe Trujillo
Dominican Republic for a "Border of Lights" commemoration that aims to and his actions? How do these descriptions impact your understanding of Trujillo?
"honor a tragedy long forgotten, and unknown to many people."
Writer and Middlebury College professor Julia Alvarez, the daughter of
Dominicans and someone who lived there as a child, said on Tell Me
More today that the killings must be acknowledged and testified to. "We can't
change the present of the future unless we acknowledge what has happened,"
she told guest host Celeste Headlee. "There's no place on this planet anymore
where that should be happening. It's time that the people themselves say ...
'that's enough.' "

4 Trujillo, as the Border of Lights website explains, fed and nurtured9

anti-Haitian sentiment and created an atmosphere10 that still excludes ethnic
Haitians from becoming part of "the Dominican melting pot."

5 The method his soldiers used in 1937 to try to identify those who would be 3. What details does Memmot provide about Trujillo’s attitude toward “ethnic Haitians”?
killed was cruelly unique. When confronting someone in the lands along the How do these details further develop Trujillo’s character?
border with Haiti, they would hold up a sprig of parsley and ask what it was. If
the person responded by trilling the "r" in perejil (Spanish for parsley), he
would be free to go. Anyone who didn't trill the "r" was thought to be a Haitian
Creole speaker — and was likely to be killed.

8
Genocide – the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group
9
Nurtured – supported or encouraged
10
Atmosphere – a general pervasive feeling or mood
5 On Tell Me More, Alvarez and Haitian-American author Edwidge
Danticat demonstrated the slight difference in speech that cost many people 4. Why were Trujillo’s soldier’s methods for killing “cruelly unique”?
their lives. Danticat's book The Farming of Bones tells the terrible tale of the
1937 massacre "through the eyes of a young domestic servant." She was
among the 2009 winners of a MacArthur "Genius Grant."

6 As for Trujillo, he stayed in power until 1961, when he was assassinated. Last
year, the BBC spoke with one of the army officers who killed the dictator. "The
only way to get rid of him was to kill him," Gen. Antonio Imbert told the BBC. 5. What does this description emphasize about Trujillo?

1937: Haitians who were hoping to escape the killing in the Dominican Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo, in a portrait taken in the 1950s.
Republic.
ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
After Reading, Directions: Write an objective summary of both texts.
What is an objective summary?
An objective summary is a short statement or
paragraph that tells what something is about but
does not include unnecessary details or your
opinions.
Narrative Objective Summary Strategy:
Somebody | Wanted | But | So
SWBS (Macon, Bewell, & Vogt, 1991, Beers, 2003)
offers students a framework as they write narrative
summaries. Students read a story and decide who the
Somebody is, what that somebody Wanted, But what
happened to keep something from happening, and
So, finally, how everything works out.
Objective Summary: “A Genetics of Justice”
What does an objective summary look/sound like? How will I know if my objective summary is
complete?
In chapter 3 of the third part of the novel, Irene goes shopping with
her friend, Felise Freeland. It is a cold day, and the women In an objective summary, the writer:
unexpectedly run into Clare’s husband, John Bellew. Mr. Bellew □ Explains the central idea of the
recognizes Irene, but Irene pretends not to know him and does not subject (text)
greet him. Although they do not speak, it is clear that Mr. Bellew □ Records essential details of the text
notices that Felise and Irene are not white. When they are away
□ Moves from general description to
from Mr. Bellew, Felise chides Irene for “passing,” and Irene wishes
that she had spoken so that Clare’s secret might also be found out specific description
by her husband. Irene regrets her loyalty to Clare and to her race. □ Chooses exact descriptive words
Irene also says she intends to tell Clare about the meeting, but she □ Suspends his or her own beliefs and
never does, instead praying for March to “come quickly” because feelings about the text
that is when Clare and Mr. Bellew are scheduled to leave New York.
Objective Summary: “Remembering to Never Forget”
ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
Before Reading:
Warm Up: Vocabulary Activity

Expand the following kernel sentence:

Rafael Trujillo was a dictator.

What………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

When…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………

Where……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Why…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Expanded Sentence:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
After Reading
Exit Ticket
Describe the details about Trujillo emphasized in Mark Memmot’s article and in paragraphs 7-8 of “A Genetics of
Justice.” Which details does each writer emphasize and what impact does that emphasis have on their portrayals
of Trujillo? Use evidence from both texts to support your thinking.
ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
Before Reading
Warm Up
What details about Trujillo does each author provide? Use the chart below to organize your evidence.

Alvarez Memmot
ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
Evidence Collection Chart Directions:
“Attack the Prompt” - Unpack what the prompt expects from you using the process below
1. Identify the part of the prompt that provides actual instructions for writing. Cross out the rest.
2. Circle the verbs. By identifying ALL the tasks, you will avoid only partially answering the prompt.
3. Draw an arrow from each circled word to what it specifically tells you to do.

Culminating Writing Task:

Create an Evidence Collection Chart --Create a chart below to help you gather textual evidence to answer the
prompt.
ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
Multiple Paragraph Outline
Name _______________________________________________Date: ___________________________________

Topic:_______________________________________________________________________________________

Thesis Statement: ___________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Main Idea Details

Introduction

¶1

¶2

¶3

¶4

Conclusion

¶5
ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
After Reading: Answer the following questions. Use evidence from both texts to support your thinking.
Assessment

1. Compare paragraphs 6-8 in “A Genetics of Justice” with paragraphs 1-3 of Memmot’s article. How do the details they provide impact the tone of each
piece?

2. How do Alvarez and Memmot’s word choices impact their respective tones when describing Trujillo?
ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
Do Now: Quick Write
After reading the article by Memmot and the essay by
“Of course, indifference can be tempting more than Alvarez, discuss the importance of remembering the
that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from past and honoring the experiences of those that have
victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude suffered terrible tragedies. What can happen if we
interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, forget?
after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in
another person’s pain and despair. Yet, for the person
who is indifferent, his or her neighbor are of no
consequence. And, therefore, their lives are
meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish8 is of
no interest. Indifference reduces the Other to an
abstraction.”

Elie Weisel, “The Perils of Indifference”

ON THE THEME OF INJUSTICE
Name _________________________________________Date: _______________________

Focusing Question: Describe the details about Trujillo emphasized in Mark Memmot’s article,
“Remembering to never Forget” and “A Genetics of Justice” by Julia Alvarez. Identify the details that
each writer emphasizes and discuss the impact that emphasis has on the authors’ portrayal of
Trujillo.
Target Writing Standard  
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas,
concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and
analysis of content. 
A. Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and
distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding
comprehension. 
B. Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details,
quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience's knowledge of the topic. 
C. Use appropriate and varied transitions to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify
the relationships among complex ideas and concepts. 
D. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic. 
E. Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of
the discipline in which they are writing. 
F. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation
presented (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic). 
Target CCSS Writing Standard Checklist 

W.2  Write informative/explanatory text 

●  Introduces a topic 
● Organizes complex 
o Ideas 
o Concepts 
o Information  
● To make important 
A. 
o Connections 
o Distinctions 
●  Includes aids to support comprehension 
o Formatting (e.g., headings) 
o Graphics (e.g., charts, tables) 
o Multimedia 
● Develops the topic with 
o Relevant, well-chosen, and sufficient facts 
o Definitions 
B.  o Concrete details 
o Quotations 
o Or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of
the topic 
●  Use transitions that are: 
o Appropriate 
o Varied  
● Use transitions 
C.  o To link major sections of the text 
o To create cohesion 
o To clarify relationships 
▪  Among ideas 
▪  Among concepts 

D  ● Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage complexity of the topic 

● Establish a formal style 

E.  ● Maintain a formal style 
● Attend to norms and conventions 
● Provide a concluding statement or section that  
F.  o follows from  
o supports (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic)