No Great Mischief
eaNo Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod – Topics and Themes
Identify and give the significance of terms. Identify and elaborate on the significance (i.e. connection to plot development, characterization, symbols, motifs, patterns, contrasts, literary devices, etc). Make specific reference to the novel.
*”All of us are better when we’re loved.” * chess set * Christy * Calum Ruadh house * James MacDonald * “No great mischief if they fall…” Margaret Laurence’s “lost languages”
*Catriona * the wrench Calum Ruadh’s Point * family dogs
* parents * Scotland * plaid shirt * gille beag ruadh * crippled pigeon * Colin * Peru * Renco Development * Lucy Gray * joke picture * the wallet
* kitten (Piseag) * Grandma * Grandpa * Vietnam * blackfish * Grandfather * Catriona “’My hope is constant in thee, Clan Donald.”
* Fern Picard * Marcel Gingras * San Francisco Alexander MacDonald
Chapter 1 – introduction to the narrator (Alexander MacLeod and his brother, Calum); love of Cape Breton but not ever going back, Cape Breton Island shot glass (10)
Chapter 2 – gille beag ruadh (“the little red boy” or “the little red-haired boy”), history of Calum Ruadh (the red-haired Calum who came from Scotland in 1779 with his family), and reference to the original Calum at rest: “Fois do t’anam. Peace to his Soul” (27)
Chapter 3 – family knowledge, connections
Chapter 4 – twins raised by grandparents, story of grandfather’s father dying (32), grandfather’s careful habits --“He has always been loyal to his blood.” (35), “the chance” (p. 37), Grandpa’s maintenance job (37-38)
Chapter 5 – memories of paternal grandparents, Grandpa’s joke picture (43)
Chapter 6 – twins go to live with the grandparents, death of parents and Colin, “Lucy Gray” poem (class memory, reminders of death of the parents, past imagery) p. 50
Chapter 7 – the wake/visitation for Colin at home of grandparents, grandfather’s violin playing (54), melting ice -“as if eaten by a hidden
Identify and give the significance of terms. Identify and elaborate on the significance (i.e. connection to plot development, characterization, symbols, motifs, patterns, contrasts, literary devices, etc). Make specific reference to the novel.
*”All of us are better when we’re loved.” * chess set * Christy * Calum Ruadh house * James MacDonald * “No great mischief if they fall…” Margaret Laurence’s “lost languages”
*Catriona * the wrench Calum Ruadh’s Point * family dogs
* parents * Scotland * plaid shirt * gille beag ruadh * crippled pigeon * Colin * Peru * Renco Development * Lucy Gray * joke picture * the wallet
* kitten (Piseag) * Grandma * Grandpa * Vietnam * blackfish * Grandfather * Catriona “’My hope is constant in thee, Clan Donald.”
* Fern Picard * Marcel Gingras * San Francisco Alexander MacDonald
Chapter 1 – introduction to the narrator (Alexander MacLeod and his brother, Calum); love of Cape Breton but not ever going back, Cape Breton Island shot glass (10)
Chapter 2 – gille beag ruadh (“the little red boy” or “the little red-haired boy”), history of Calum Ruadh (the red-haired Calum who came from Scotland in 1779 with his family), and reference to the original Calum at rest: “Fois do t’anam. Peace to his Soul” (27)
Chapter 3 – family knowledge, connections
Chapter 4 – twins raised by grandparents, story of grandfather’s father dying (32), grandfather’s careful habits --“He has always been loyal to his blood.” (35), “the chance” (p. 37), Grandpa’s maintenance job (37-38)
Chapter 5 – memories of paternal grandparents, Grandpa’s joke picture (43)
Chapter 6 – twins go to live with the grandparents, death of parents and Colin, “Lucy Gray” poem (class memory, reminders of death of the parents, past imagery) p. 50
Chapter 7 – the wake/visitation for Colin at home of grandparents, grandfather’s violin playing (54), melting ice -“as if eaten by a hidden