Discussion: Lesson Two

1) Ethan the Silent vs. Ethan the Soul. On page 105, Julian says
Mrs. Reynolds didnt recognize Ethan Potter for the person yelling Bravo! Was Ethan, the Soulnot Ethan the Silent. Why did Ethan the Silent return after Mrs. Reynolds asked about his brother Lucas? Discuss the difference between the two Ethans, basing your answer on your reading.

Ethan the Silent came back after Mrs. Reynolds asked about Luke, because Ethan must get pretty annoyed having to live up to his brother and everyone always asking about Luke. He probably wants to be known as Ethan, not Lukes brother. He must want to make his own reputation, not one he has to live up to, or one that his brother made for him. The two Ethans are very different, yet the same person. Ethan the Soul is more outgoing than Ethan the Silent, for example on page 86 Ethan says the eighth grader joke. This also shows that he is funny. Ethan the Silent is cold, such as when he puts his bag on the chair next to him, then his leg over it on the bus to make sure no one sits there (pg 63). Ethan the Silent can be well, silent! He is silent in Nadias Story when he should have said something like its okay, you go when Nadias dad only had four tickets to the opera. Even though both of the Ethans are very different, they are similar. First of all, they are the same person, so they kind of have to have some similarities. They both are very clever. When Ethan had to figure out the invitation to the first tea party, (pg.) he was being clever. That was when we didnt even know Ethan the Soul. Ethan the Soul was clever when (pg. 2) Were you confused by the books narrative structure?

The View from Saturday has an unusual structure in that some chapters are narrated by one of the children and other chapters are written in the 3rd person omniscient point of view although containing many of Mrs. Olinski's thoughts. Several of the same events are covered in different chapters from different points of view. Did you find this approach confusing? What is the advantage of having chapters narrated by each of The Souls? Would you have preferred a more traditional structure?

I wasnt confused at all by the books narrative structure. The

advantage of having each chapter narrated by one of the Souls was that with this type of narrative structure, you could see each persons point of view, opposed to just one person narrating the story. This narrative structure is good especially with a book like this one, which includes so much involvement from each Soul, and you arent left wondering what one person is thinking. Also, if the book wasnt written like this, it would have been a very short book, and you wouldnt have learned each persons story. Usually I have no preference, but with this book, since its about so many people, I dont think I would have liked a traditional structure. If there were a traditional structure, you wouldnt get to know each character as well/intimately as we did. Personally, I think the book wouldnt be as interesting.