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154 Unit 2 ■ Analyzing Comparisons and Representations Nafissa Thompson-Spires ■ Fatima, the Biloquist: A Transformation Story 155 UNIT 2

IDEAS IN LITERATURE: Thought and Feeling SUGGESTED RESPONSES
TO THE QUESTIONS
10. This poem expresses thoughts and feelings about an emotional experience IDEAS IN LITERATURE
for the speaker. In your view, how do thoughts and feelings about experiences 10. Responses may vary.
The image shows a young boy illustrating evolve and shift over time? Does the passage of time bring more insight, or less? 11. The speaker recounts the horrific experience
the size of a fish he caught on a recent of hitting (and then subsequently killing) the
fishing trip. In retellings and reflections, PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER deer as a representation of the haunting
stories may become exaggerated or even 11. Explain how the poem’s speaker and the structure work together to achieve a effects of “the trail of ruin” that lingers
larger than life. Steven Gottlieb/Corbis Historical/Getty Images tone and reveal an interpretation of the poem. throughout one’s life. As the speaker recalls
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs were used with this sample chapter.
Consider events in life that have had a the event in the past, the poem’s structure
(controlled by couplets, rigid, rehearsed)
significant impact. How do stories allow us contrasts with the chaos of the vivid, detailed
to share thoughts and feelings? narrative.
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.

CHARACTER Fatima, the Biloquist: INTRODUCING THE TEXT
1. Who is the primary speaker of “Deer Hit”? How does this particular perspective A Transformation TRM Lit Links. Because the text relies on

contribute to the meaning of the poem? Story cultural references from the ’90s, you may ask
2. What details are revealed about the speaker’s knowledge of the past? How do students to discuss or do some research to
they affect your interpretation of the poem? Nafissa Thompson-Spires familiarize themselves with what the social and
3. How does the speaker describe the surroundings and the events of the poem? cultural atmosphere was like. Disney Pixar’s 2022
animated feature Turning Red is a similar text that
How does this description contribute to the tone of the text? Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images
THE TEXT IN CONTEXT engages with ’90s/2000s nostalgia and explores
STRUCTURE Thoughtful, witty, and ingenious, Nafissa the intersection of race, identity, belonging, and
Thompson-Spires (b. 1983) has emerged as navigating adolescence. You may watch the
4. Choose one example of a contrast in the poem, and then explain how that one of the most perceptive writers about identity and race in contemporary literature. trailer or a short clip and ask students to discuss
contrast contributes to the poem’s dramatic situation. Her stylish debut short story collection, Heads of the Colored People (2018), explores how the character changes (literally as a red
5. Explain how the poem ends. What is the resolution of its conflict or tension? the lives — and challenges — of various African American characters as they seek to panda monster but also figuratively as an
connect with others and discover their own identities. Thompson-Spires is currently individual).
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: Word Choice, Imagery, and Symbols an assistant professor at Cornell University. Her award-winning stories and nonfiction
have appeared in The Paris Review Daily, The Root, Buzzfeed Books, the Los Angeles
6. Identify and explain the use of repetition throughout the poem. What effect does Review of Books Quarterly Journal, and many other places. The following excerpt from
this repetition have in “Deer Hit”? Heads of the Colored People provides an excellent introduction to her inventive fiction. IDEAS IN THE TEXT
7. The poem is filled with antecedents (nouns) with ambiguous referents. How Content Note: This story includes the N-word, which we have chosen to reprint Race Communication
does the poet’s use of pronouns affect your interpretation of the poem? in this textbook to accurately reflect Thompson-Spires’s original intent as well as Authenticity Vulnerability
the culture depicted in the story. We recognize that this word has a long history as a Identity Language
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: Comparisons disrespectful and deeply hurtful expression when used by white people toward
Black people. Thompson-Spires’s choice to use this word relates not only to that
8. The speaker uses similes to make comparisons. Explain what is being history but also to a larger cultural tradition in which the N-word can take on different
compared in the first two-thirds of the poem. meanings, emphasize shared experience, and be repurposed as a term of endearment LITERARY CONCEPTS
9. Consider the simile in the last stanza. How does this comparison reveal a within Black communities. While the use of that word in the context of this story might Character Shift
change in the speaker’s perspective? not be hurtful, the use of it in our current context very often is. Be mindful of context, Perspective Comparison
both the author’s and yours, as you read and discuss “Fatima, the Biloquist: A Conflict Simile
Transformation Story.”
Tension Imagery
Contrast Word Choice

TEXT RESOURCES
TRM The following reusable graphic
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organizers can be found in the Teacher’s
Resource Materials on the digital platform.
Describing a Character’s Perspective
Analyzing Shifts and Contrasts
Explaining the Function of Words and Phrase
Explaining the Function of Comparisons

Nafissa Thompson-Spires Fatima, the Biloquist: A Transformation Story 155

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