Grade: 11

English Revision Summary & Analysis

Tasks:
1. Read the given examples and compare the alternatives. Decide: Which one is the best,
which one the least good option? Rank the given alternatives from to .
2. Give reasons for your evaluation in the column remarks on the right (buzz words).
3. Underline/highlight what you like and what you would change and take notes.
4. Discuss your evaluation and your reasoning in class.

1 Summary
remarks
A The excerpt from the novel “Wings” by M. Kitay which published in year 1968,
is about a visit of Benjie, who is a university student, who missed his brothers
funeral, to his family in farm. In the following part this excerpt will be
summarized. At the beginning Benjie’s mom reproaches to Benjie because he
didn't came to his brothers funeral. After Benjie couldn’t respond his mom, his
dad criticize Benjie’s hair and say hippies like Benjie shouldn’t be in
universities. Benjie slang with what his dad said. Then dad leaves the table.
His sentence to his dad left half-done. Mom asks the other half of sentence.
Benjie says he wants to continue to his education and not to be a farmer. This
makes his mom upset. Eventually mom confesses about the heart attack to
Benjie's father. Then Benjie understand why his brother left school, while his
dream was to be a pilot.
B The given short story “Wings”, written by M. Kitay and published in 1968, the
student Benjie has an emotional conversation at dinner with his parents
about his future, right after his brother’s funeral, which he did not attend. At
the beginning of the conversation, his mother expresses her disappointment
with Benjie about his absence at the funeral. Benjie’s father then complains
about the Benjie’s hair style and clothes, which he finds inappropriate for a
university student. After this disagreement, the father leaves the table and
Benjie continues the conversation with his mother, who implicitly states, that
his parents intend Benjie to take over his brother’s place on the farm. Benjie,
however, refuses this idea, as he does not want to drop out of school. His
mother eventually reveals, that his father has health issues, which is why his
brother, Travis, sacrificed his school career to support them in the first place.
After learning about this, Benjie is unsure about whether he will continue
school or become a full-time farmer and utters, that he needs some time to
make a decision.
C The given excerpt written by M. Kitay and published in 1968. This excerpt is
about a boy named Benjie and his family, having a serious conversation after
his brother’s tragic death. His family is openly disappointed with their only left
son for missing his own brother’s funeral. With their mixed emotions they can’t
help but tell their son that he will never be like their lost child, which soonly
backfires to them by Benjie learning the truth behind his brother dropping out
of school. Benjoe is seemingly disgusted after he finds out his parents are the
reason behind it. Mainly because during the whole conversation they were
expecting the same from him. He soon leaves the atmosphere, saying he is
very upset and needs time to think.

2 Introduc6on analysis
remarks
A The given short story contains numerous clues about Benjie’s state of mind,
which is presented as conflicted and torn between his individual choice and
the expectations of his family. In the following it will be analyzed, to what
extend this statement can be considered correct and how it is presented
throughout the text.

B The thesis is that his mother and father don’t want his son to leave them, but
they want him to stay with them and help them, especially because his dad is
angry.
 Grade: 11
English Revision Summary & Analysis

C The given excerpt deals with the discussion between Benjie and his parents,
in which he is calm and at first, then angry and shocked and eventually
overwhelmed and confused. Benjie’s emotions regarding his inner conflict,
which is the contrast between his dreams and his parents’ expectations is
conveyed through verbal and non-verbal communication, tone, word choice,
the narrative technique as well as stylistic devices.

D Throughout the story, Benjie‘s emotions change from bitterness and restraint
to confusion and guilt as he begins to understand the truth about his family.
This emotional transformation is conveyed through shifts in tone, fragmented
dialogue, and imagery that reflect his growing sense of isolation and
responsibility.

3 Analysis of a certain aspect (one paragraph)

remarks
A In the very beginning of the short story the reader acknowledges that Benjie is
in a devastated and sad state of mind. The devastation is presented when
"Benjie lowered his head, making no attempt to answer" (l.3), because it shows
how much the loss of his brother affects him, causing him to keep silent and
avoiding confrontation, not even opening his mouth, although his mother
directly addresses him. This point is emphasized further when Benjie wants to
respond: "Neither have you [...] " (l.5) but keeps quiet because "[w]ith Travis
gone he just didn’t have any stomach left for arguing. No reason to." (ll. 6-7),
which indicates that losing Travis has taken away his courage to speak up.
Therefore, it can be understood that arguing with his mother seems
meaningless to him, which indicates his devastation and sadness. Moreover,
the fact that he has no appetite (cf. l. 13) and that “[…] everywhere you looked,
there was that empty chair”, implies that losing his brother makes him feel
empty inside. The empty chair can consequently be considered a symbol, that
represents both the loss of Travis as well as Benjie’s inner emotions.
B The given excerpt takes place in a dining room, which creates a feeling of
happy family view. They sit around the table and it seems as if all of this is
normal, but it is not. His family doesn’t give any permission to Benjie to talk.
We can see this when Benjie argues with his father, because his father just
yells at him and he doesn’t want Benjie to give any back talk (cf. l. 28). This
situation creates distance between them and their relationship is affected in a
bad way. There is no communication.

C Moreover, the non—verbal communication strengthens the difficulty of the

dilemma. “Do? […] Rubbing his eyes” (l. 71f.). “Hell” symbolizes the difficulty
of the situation that Benjie is in and he rubs his eyes to indicate that he feels
overwhelmed and to emphasize his inner struggle and turmoil.

D Secondly, through the word choice of Benjie’s parents his state of mind can
be understood better, as his father uses the word “hippie” (l. 21-22) to describe
his son’s appearance. The reader can understand that his parents do not like
him when they say things like that to him.

E Furthermore, the narrator’s word choice and several rhetorical devices,

describing the moment Benjie realizes the truth about his father’s illness and
his brother’s motives reveal that the protagonist feels shocked and betrayed
when he finds out. Benjie knows that his brother quitting school has kept him
 Grade: 11
English Revision Summary & Analysis

from accomplishing his dream of being a pilot (cf. ll. 56f.), however, he has
never understood why he quit until “[i]t finally dawned on him […]” (l. 27). The
imagery used by the narrator emphasizes how negative coming to this
unexpected realization feels to Benjie. When he then learns about his father’s
illness the narrator expresses Benjie’s discomfort and shock with the help of
the metaphor, stating that “[t]he words froze in his mind” (l. 60) and stresses
his negative emotions with a repetition of the threatening health condition of
his father (cf. ibid.). The imagery, the metaphor and the repetition convey and
highlight the intensity of the negative emotions and of being overwhelmed to
the reader.
F Despite the rightful anger he feels against his cruel parents, Benjie still feels a
strong sense of obligation to stay, which is the root of his main inner conflict.
This conflict emerges during the family dinner, as he realizes his brother Travis
gave up on his dream to become a pilot after his father’s health deteriorated
(cf. ll. 66-68). The author emphasizes the unmendable rip he left in his family
through the use of the empty chair symbolism (cf. ll. 13-15), which has seeped
into every corner of the family. With a capable worker gone, Benjie’s parents
were left helpless. They need money to live, and someone to work at the farm
for money. With Travis gone and Benjie’s father being sick, this responsibility
falls on Benjie’s shoulders, even he sees himself as someone who was
expected to take Travis’ place (cf. l. 27). His mother is clearly aware of this
fact, as she softens her words and quiets her tone. Her voice is described as
“small” (l. 51) and she speaks “softly” (l. 60). Now that they need him and his
labor, and she has to convince him, her earlier condescending tone
disappears. Her soft tone, which is something Benjie craves as he had never
stopped hoping that his parents truly loved him (cf. ll. 48-49) and it is obvious
that he wasn’t shown enough love judging from the spiteful argument earlier,
causes him to soften up as well. He gets emotional and the realization that
Travis has given up his dreams for his father’s sake disturbs him to the point
that he feels “physically sick” (l. 64). He calls Travis’ sense of loyalty “warped”
(l. 67) and claims he “wreck[ed]” (ibid.) his life, but deep down he feels the
same sense of loyalty as he, despite his anger, doesn’t flat out refuse his
parents’ wishes (cf. ll. 71f.).

5 Conclusion
remarks
A All in all, it becomes clear, that Benjie goes through several stages in the
course of this conversation: At first he has to face confrontation and criticism,
when he is passive and dismissive, which is followed by realization, when he
understands his parents’ expectations, which make him angry, and finally the
stage of inner conflict, when he finds out the truth about his brother and his
father, which shock and overwhelm him as he has to make a decision. The
atmosphere as well as the way the figures communicate play an important role
on the protagonist’s state of mind.
B In conclusion, Benjie struggles to decide whether he shall pay back his
brother’s sacrifices even though he is not the favorite child or follow his passion
and finish university. In my opinion, he should follow his passion and dreams
because he was not paid attention to for all his life.

C To conclude, the author employs imagery, various stylistic devices, the

narrative perspective, and deliberate word choice in the dialogue to illustrate
the protagonist’s emotional transformation - from restraint, bitterness, guilt and
anger to confusion and indecisiveness - as he is confronted with the demand
for responsibility during the conversation.