III. Post-reading

3.1. Feelings.

They say teenage boys are easy to offend. In pairs, discuss the changes in Wade's state of mind during the rodeo. Match his feelings and what produced them, and then argue why exactly the teenager felt so.

He felt...	because he...
proud	was angry with his father
sorry	didn't like his father's antics
humiliated	thought highly of the winner
irritated	feared for his daddy
annoyed	hated the crowd laughing
bored	was on his own at a rodeo
enchanted	didn't enjoy barrel-racing
shocked	thought he'd have done better

3.2. Dreams, dreams, dreams...

Wade planned to be a bull-rider when he grew up. Do you think it to be a worthwhile dream? Say why, or why not. And what about you, Reader? Do you dream to become Rider? To put it seriously, name five professional choices you'd never ever make!

It looks as if I would never be

1

2

3

4

5

Compare your anti-choices and find out the list of the least preferred occupations of the group.

P.S. The profession of a teacher is not on the list, is it?

3.3. Fathers and children.

If Wade were not a boy but a girl, would the entire range of his feelings be different? Discuss the possibility in the group.

3.4. Family's but a stage...

Find out more about famous actors/actresses and their children who became actors/actresses in their turn. Is there any link between parental acting and their children's choice of careers? Here is but one example, the Barrymore family, to which Drew Barrymore, a Hollywood actress born in 1975, belongs.

Few families in entertainment history are more acclaimed than the Barrymores — and few are more troubled Drew Barrymore's great-great grandmother, Louisa Lane Drew, was the first to gain real fame, first an actor and then as a theater manager. In the mid-1800s, she married John Drew, an Irish actor who died at 34 of the effects of heavy drinking. Their daughter, Georgianna (known as Georgie), born in 1855, was a beautiful hlond actress who in 1876 wed a dapper British actor named Maurice Barrymore. Known as "The Dimpled Darling," he was one of the screen's first matinee idols.

It was Georgie and Maurice's three children — Lionel, Ethel, and John — who were known collectively as "The Fabulous Bar­rymores" and who reigned as the most famous members of the family tree (at least until Drew arrived in Hollywood). Lionel (1878—1954), Drew's great uncle, played nearly 200 roles in his film career, with his most memorable parts including the mean Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life. He won a Best Actor Oscar in 1931. Ethel (1879—1959) made her stage debut at 15 and eventually became a Broadway star. Perhaps best known for her 1940 performance in the play The Corn Is Green, she won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress in 1944 for None But the Lonely Heart. A Broadway theater is named in her honor. John (1882—1942), Drew's grandfather, embodied the Barrymore talent and curse in spades. A matinee idol known as "The Greatest Lover of the Screen," he was first a noted Shakespearean stage actor, then q dashing romantic lead in films. But he also had a long history of alcoholism and debauchery.

John's daughter Diana (1920—1960), Drew's aunt, followed her father's self-destructive path, dying at 39, another victim of alcoholism death came shortly after she had published her autobiography Too Much, Too Soon.

John's son, John Jr. (born 1932), Drew's father, was handsome and charismatic like his namesake, but had an erratic film career that was eventually overshadowed by alcohol and drugs.

3.5. Project work.

Find more information about theatrical or cinematographic dynasties. Share your findings in class making a 3-minute presentation.

GRANDMOTHER'S EARRINGS

by Debora Case Zisk