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Outline:
- Introduction
- Ask students if they have ever visited a place and left feeling unfulfilled, as if they had only scratched the surface and failed to fully understand it.
- Who is Judith Ortiz Cofer?
- Born in Puerto Rico
- Moved to the US at age six
- Current trips back to the Island gave her an intense connection which is evident in her works
- Read through the poem
- Ask for the theme
- Importance of looking beyond the surface and understanding the true meaning of everything (not just places visited)
- Tone
- Regretful, gently critical, suggesting
- Audience
- Those who look at only the surface
- Purpose
- (Same as audience)
- Importance of the Title
- Why use the word “stage”?
- “Stage” connotes something contrived and put on; not the real thing
- Compare to Sherman Alexie
- “How to Write Indian Novel”
- Much like the native Americans are viewed as novelties, Cofer asserts that one who visits a foreign country is apt to believe that the residents and rituals are more novelties for tourists than actual parts of the town or country’s daily life.