Components of a Novel

1. Setting / Background
Where the novel takes place reveals the social/economic background of the
author/ character.

2. Plot - logical order of events.

3. Characters are of two types
i. Main character focus of the story.
ii. Minor character present for a short period of time.

P – Protagonist (main)

A – Antagonist

4. Styles
Method of Narration
a. i. First Person Narration
ii Eye of God
b. Flashbacks – highlights on previous situations which links with the current situation.
c. Vocabulary Usage – emotive
d. Suspense – maintains interest of readers
e. Figure of Speech – makes the story interesting and lively
5. Climax – turning point (highest point of a story)
6. Themes – central idea or lesson you learn in the story

Sequence of Incidents

Climax (peak)

Intense situation

Series of small incident falling action

Exposition (situation) resolution (problems may or may not be solved)

(Expressed with problems/conflict)

 Title: T Heard The Owl Call My Name

Author: Margaret Craven

Part I: Yes My Lord –No My Lord

Summary –Chapter 1

- The flashback of the story is where Bishop took the young ordinant to the doctor where it is
known that the young ordinant cannot live longer than two years.
- The doctor suggests sending the young ordinant to Kingcome where most Indians lived.
- The young ordinant is namely Mark Brian and Celeb is an old canon, who is retired guides Mark
before he goes to Kingcom on a ship.

“You’ll not take the boat without him until you get your papers, he knows more about the coast
than you will ever know.”

- On board Mark Brian meets Jim Wallace who is a Indian man who has pride in his eyes without
arrogance and behind the pride he was a deep sadness.
- Jim shares myths with Mark Brian during their journey. Myths about the wolves and their
relation with the two brothers, “The Salmon and the myth of the Eagle, the wolf and the raven”.
- Calamity Bill is also introduced in this chapter it is said when people pass by his house, they
need to slow down to shoe respect.
- Mark is also known as a young vicar.

“This is the village. If you go there from the time you tie up at the float in the inlet, the village is
you. But there is a thing you must understand. They will not thank you. Even if you should leave
a man broken, they will not thank you. There is no word for thank you in Kwa’kwala.”

- Kwa’kwala is the language that people of Kingcome use.

Chapter 2

- When they reach Kingcome they go to the old vicarage which is not used because they fear the
white men.
- At the old vicarage no one is seen except a old lady who is waling loudly in front of a dead body
of a small boy (Weesa-Bedoo).
- The burial only takes place in Kingcome when the RCPM gives a written approval. Otherwise all
the dead bodies are kept at the vicarage.
- RCMP- Royal Canadian Mountain Police.
 - Alert Bay (Town) is from where the police travels, it is a five hour trip.
- The body of the young is lead to rest.
- Mark Brian says the prayer

“protect him all day long until the shadows lengthen

and the evening comes”

- Weesa-Bedo’s mother thanked Mark with her eyes.

Chapter 3

- Introduction of Chief Eddy. Mark Brian has no experience of fishing, hunting and has little
knowledge of boats.
- Jim gives him opinion about Mark

“shall we have dinner now? Shall we tie up here?

Pretty soon he will say, shall we build a new vicarage?”

- Marta Stephens was one of the grandmothers of the tribe.

- She was a daughter of a chief.
- Introduction of Sam, who was lazy and used to beat his wife and daughter Ellie.

“you must begin by working with your hands. The Indians work with
their hands. This is the way they will respect you and this is your
Ministry.”

Chapter 4

- The Bishop has sent Mark to Kingcome to learn about life and hardships a person goes through
to survive it.
- Marks qualities are being admire by the villagers.
- Mark Brian starts the maintenance of the vicarage.

“I’d rather come down on top of the vicarage than have the vicarage
come down on me”
And for a moment he saw the humor rise in the sad eyes and hold.

- Marks attitude – he starts reducing the vicarage until the villagers offer help to him by himself.
 - Mark befriends with two six year olds, and they paid a frequent visit to his vicarage.
- Mark faces many challenges in learning and pronouncing the tribal language.

Activity: Group Presentation

Group One

Chapter 5

- Mark finds it hard to talk to Jim-sadness is seen in Jims eyes

“Jim served him well and dutifully, the cautious waiting still in his eyes”.

- Jim takes up the river to see the end of the swimmer.

“the whole life of the swimmer is one of the courage and adventure”.

- Mark said a small prayer to the Salmon that he has once read in a book.

“come, swimmer,” he said. “I am glad to be alive now that you have come to this good
place where we can play together. Take this sweet food. Hold it tight, younger brother”.

- Mark comments on the beauty of Keetah.

- Jim Makes statement that Keetah is going to marry him instead of Gordon because

“Gordon is Che-kwarta, means fast moving water, and Keetah is

the pool”.

Group Two Presentation

Chapter 6

- Mark and Jim go on a hunting trip.

- When they reached the mountain called Quanade, they followed a bear.
- They shot a bear but there was a no bullet hole –it was hidden by the form and the rolls
of fat.
- Mark thought they were being followed and he mentioned that to Jim. Jim told Mark
that

“its only the mate of the wolf that was killed. When we move , she moves. When we
stop, she stops. Let’s rest”.
- Mark wrote to the Bishop

“I have learned a little of the Indians as yet. I know only what they are not. They are
none of the things one has been led to believe. They are not simple, or emotional, they
are not primitive”.

- It was a Christmas season.

- Mark opens up to Jim that he cannot hunt and handle a boat.

“And I’ll never fish as well as the Indians. Sometimes

I’m not even sure I’ll learn to handle the boat”.

Group 3

Chapter 7

- Radio telephone is the medium of communication.

- Mark gets busy in the month of December and goes through a lot of struggle.
- Mark and Jim hand out gifts to Villages.
- Mark believes in sharing love and joy.

Group 4

Chapter 8

Part Two: The Depth of Sadness

- Gordon reads the books from Mark’s presents that was given to him by Keetah.
- Keetah’s sister has to marry a Whiteman, therefore when she marries him they can no longer be
part of the village.

“Here in the village my people are at home as th fish in sea”

- The residents of Kingcome celebrate Christmas in a grand way.

- Children are back from school for the festive season. One thing that really makes the people
emotional is that children have forgotten their mother tongue and chose to speak English at all
times.

“Don’t do it that way. The white man does it this way”.

- Mrs Hudson is worried about her granddaughter.

 “She will no longer be an Indian. Legally she will be white. She
will have no right to come here, except as a visitor”.

Group 5

Chapter 9

- It is the time of the year where the tribes are received by the dances.
- After the dances of Potlatches were over, Mark was summoned by the radio telephone to
transport a sick boy from Turnour Island to Alert Bay hospital.
- Mrs. Hudson’s family gets ashamed of Gordon’s gesture and decides to leave the village.

“Her family does not think so. The old of her family are leaving. They are
leaving in shame and sadness. They are going to a deserted village”.

- Mark tries to stop them but he fails to do so.

“What have you done to us? What has the white man done to our young?”

Group 6

Chapter 10

- Mark has started to understand the Kwa’kwala language.

“ I didn’t say that at all”

- Jim visits Keetah and tells her that

“I told that some day she would marry me, and that I would build her a fine house
with a pink bathtub. No woman in the tribe has seen a pink bathtub”.

- Keetah told Jim that he had no manners.

- Keetah’s missing sister was found by the sergeant.
 - The white man left Keetah all alone in Vancouver.
- Keetah’s sister worked at the beer parlor- the man paid her just to keep her alive.
- She was ashamed to come back to her village and later she dies.
- Mark has begun to understand the depth of sadness of the people of Kingcome.
- In Kingcome, there is no frequent visit of doctors.

Chapter 11

- Mark gets very busy in the village, handling many of the chores and emergencies.
- Men are off fishing.
- Mark promises Gordon that he will attain education.
- Gordon’s mother dies while delivering her sixth child.
- Mark is helped by the villagers to build the vicarage and they assume that Mark will build it
before heavy rains.

“You suffered with them, and now you are theirs and nothing
will ever be the same again”.

- These were the words of Bishop to Mark, when he told him that they will help in construction.

Chapter 12

- The vicarage is being renovated.

- The whole village is involved, even women and children.

“In August for the first time, the Indians was to be permitted to buy liquor.”

- Bishop was called to bless the new vicarage and a tribal feast was planned in his honor.
- Bishop was accommodated in the new vicarage.
- Mark is worried that the villagers will be drinking liquor and the consequences of that gets him
worried as the Bishop leaves for Vancouver.

Chapter 13

- August was the month of worry and waiting (a lot of money was spent on liquor and there was a
lot of merry making).
 - Mark adjusts his lifestyle in Kingcome.
- Mark tried to that no village, no culture can remain static (remain steady).
- Any village culture that is attracted through external forces is bond to change and so was
Kingcome.

“You will fish and hunt to feed your family. You were born with
a paddle and a hook in your hand. Use them”.
- An individual is born with skills and abilities. She/he is to use them when required to support
his/her family.

Chapter 14

- Late summer- Mark and Jim leave Vancouver. Gordon and three other boys accompany them.
- Gordon promises to write to Keetah.

“ I promise you I will write . I will come on the seaplane, and his eyes were bright with eagerness.”

- It was a long journey to Vancouver.

“Would you pass bread please? Excuse me. I beg your pardon- How do you do? When you shake
hands, press a little.”

- The boys were not aware of the new culture so Jim and Mark briefly explained it to them.
- He explains them the expectations in a new environment.

“When he looked up some of the friends with whom he had

attended college, he realized with a shock that he no longer talk
the same language.”
- Mark Brian no longer spoke the same language he used to speak.
- Celeb looks for accommodation for Gordon and the other three boys in Vancouver.

Chapter 15

- The villagers clear the old burial ground.

- The ancestors boxes and carvings were shifted to the new burial ground.
- A proper burial ceremony was conducted by Mark Brian in the new burial.