Introduction
The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah, is a book that is full of complex character relationships and conflicts that readers can relate to when it comes to the everyday struggles of life. When a family hopes to find a new life in the loneliness of Alaska, their true selves are revealed to them during the 18 hour dark periods and through their struggles to live off the land. Many plot devices are at play in this novel, including an abusive relationship, several characters battling internal struggles while also fighting off the dangers of life off the grid in Homer, Alaska. This book is important because it brings to light issues that may normally be considered elephants in the room. With contrasting ideas such as love and heartbreak, safety and danger, and warmth in the dead of winter, this book seamlessly ties together fiction with the real world.
Author Kristin Hannah is a famous author, writing bestselling novels like The Nightingale, Winter Garden, and Night Road.
Task
In order to fully experience the literary devices and themes of this book, we must first educate ourselves on some of the main pillars of the story. After completing the process, you will be creating a Flipgrid about the most important contributors to the theme of this book, as well as an analyzation of the theme itself.
As well as a Flipgrid, answer the questions from the following Google Doc on a separate sheet of paper. Make sure to provide evidence when needed. Your responses should be anywhere from 4-6 sentences.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b6gEblzwtqmVuLi-oUw-FKjCnAxjVdRxYylVczzV5So/edit?usp=sharing
Process
An important idea in the book that you should have a good understanding of before diving in is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ernt Allbright was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and after coming home from being captured, he is no longer the same. So, what is PTSD, and how does it affect Ernt himself? The link attached is an article explaining the symptoms and behaviors of a person struggling with PTSD.
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd
This image shows where in the brain PTSD affects.
Also before you read, you should get a proper understanding of what it's like to live off the grid. Kristin Hannah does a wonderful job of immersing her readers in the setting, but here is a real life account of a man who gave up life in the city for a shack without electricity in Northeast America.
https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/what-its-like-living-off-grid/
Here is a link full of pictures from the website "Travel Alaska." Below are some other pictures of the wild, natural beauty of Alaska.
https://www.travelalaska.com/GetInspired/Photo-Gallery.aspx
When reading the book, something that seemed to frequently bother me was the dynamic of the Allbright household. Why couldn't Cora just leave Ernt? Why could Leni not just get up one day and walk out of her toxic household? Seeing as the majority of us have never been in a toxic, compromising household environment, the link below provides some answers to the questions that stuck out to me the most during the book.
https://www.joinonelove.org/learn/why_leaving_abuse_is_hard/
This next link is an article on the benefits of life in a small town. The Allbrights give up everything they had in Seattle to move to Alaska. This may seem crazy to most people, but the family of three was hoping that their new lives off the grid would act as a restart - a renewal of their lives. The transition from big city to practically forest came with some upsides, especially when it comes to having friends they can count on to have their backs. Following the link are more of the perks to living in a small town.
https://www.thebalance.com/benefits-of-living-and-working-in-a-small-town-453928
The final link in this process is a video clip from behind-the-scenes of the show "Life Below Zero" from National Geographic. It shows real footage of the crew spending an extended amount of time in Alaska and how they get through it.
Evaluation
The following chart is the rubric I will use to grade your submitted Flipgrid, as well as the questions you turn into me. The final column of presentation will only be applicable to the video, while the upper three categories will be how I grade both of your assignments. Therefore, there are 12 total points you can get from the questions, and 16 total points to be awarded from the video. Good luck on the questions and happy recording!
|
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
Content/ Length |
Project was good length. Content showed student understanding, and was relevant to the question(s) asked. |
Project was long enough; content was good, but could have provided much more to prove understanding. |
Project was slightly longer, but student did not provide enough content to support |
Answer was not long enough to get point across. Content was completely irrelevant. |
Student did not participate |
|
Accuracy |
Information included by the student proved ample participation in WebQuest and was accurate and relevant. |
Student was well researched and accurate; still some slight gaps in total understanding. |
Student was hardly right in their answer, but it was somewhat irrelevant. |
Student was completely inaccurate. |
Student did not participate |
|
Overall Effort |
Student really tried their best effort wise and gave it their all, even if the content was somewhat irrelevant or inaccurate. |
Student gave enough effort to fully complete the project decently. |
Student gave some effort, but most of the work was lazy. |
No evidence of effort given. |
Student did not participate |
|
Presentation |
Student showed lots of preparation and rehearsal. Well executed, like a real speech. |
Presentation was executed well with some slight hindrances. Practice beforehand evident |
Presentation was okay. Not well rehearsed or executed. |
Overall sloppy presentation. |
Student did not participate |
|
Total Score ___/28 |
Video Score ___/16 |
Questions Score ___/12 |
Conclusion
The Great Alone is a novel that has many messages and pillars behind the simple beauty of the language used within the pages. To fully understand the main aspects of the book that contribute to the theme, the WebQuest created provided many links of background knowledge to educate readers. The goal of the WebQuest was to make a Flipgrid video explaining the theme and prove it, as well as completing a Google Docs page of questions about the book and readers' opinions on it. Hopefully, the links provided allowed you as an audience to really get to know the characters and the message author Kristin Hannah wanted to convey.
If you want to check out her other novels, here are covers of the titles:
Credits
Here are my sources, cited in MLA 8 format in order.
“What Is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?” What Is PTSD?, www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd.
Cowan, Shannon. “What It's Like Living Off-Grid.” Eartheasy Guides & Articles, 9 June 2009, learn.eartheasy.com/articles/what-its-like- living-off-grid/.
“Travel Alaska - Alaska Photo Gallery.” TravelAlaska, www.travelalaska.com/GetInspired/Photo-Gallery.aspx.
“11 Reasons Why People in Abusive Relationships Can't 'Just Leave'.” One Love Foundation, 21 Dec. 2017, www.joinonelove.org/learn/why_leaving_abuse_is_hard/.
Pant, Paula. “Benefits of Living and Working in a Small Town.” The Balance, The Balance, 22 Oct. 2018, www.thebalance.com/benefits-of-living-and-working-in-a-small-town-453928.
“An Alaskan Storm - Behind the Scenes | Life Below Zero.” YouTube, National Geographic, 8 May 2019, youtu.be/ZKiagm1ug1Q.