Summary Of The Story ' Gryphon ' By Charles Baxter

In the story Gryphon (fictional) by Charles Baxter, There are two main question that are important to the whole entire story. Why does Tommy defend Miss Ferenczi? And What do you learn about Tommy from this pattern of behavior? There are some evidence to actually solve the answers.

The boy next to him, Carl, displayed a behavior of disliking Miss Ferenczi and thought she was lying, which is normal for anyone to think. Tommy, even though he has very little evidence of what she was saying was true, argues with Carl. “Oh yeah?” Tommy said, “If she was lying, what’d

In “Gryphon” by Charles Baxter, a class of fourth grade students gets a substitute teacher. She is very eccentric but knowledgeable and tells the whole class a lot of myths and facts. It is up to the class to decide what is true or not.

The short story Gryphon by Charles Baxter talks about a fourth grade boy named Tommy who has a substitute teacher, and how all the students think she is different from the other substitute teachers. Most of the students grow attached to Miss Ferenczi, even though she talks about random facts .Even if something is incorrect Miss Ferenczi is fine with it. Tommy especially is fond of her and when she leaves he is enraged. I think that Tommy believes and doesn’t believe Miss Ferenczi.

The preliminary settings are as ordinary as they can be. It is a “Wednesday afternoon” (245) boring classroom between a geography class and an art project. It is quite and peaceful in Five Oaks. In the background of a rural community consisted of “unemployed college graduates” and “stay-at-home moms”(246),Miss Ferenczi is a colorful stranger. She is a breath of excitement to the children's dull lives. She presents herself to the class in a very theatrical manner. First thing she mentions about herself is her royal Hungarian ancestors. Her tale fascinates the young minds. Tommy the narrator of the story, “does not take his eyes of the woman”(246). He notices a curious characteristic of her physical appearance “the two prominent lines, descending vertically from the sides of her mouth to the chin”(247). They resemble Pinocchio, who was never a real boy, but a prominent liar, further emphasizing the way Miss Ferenczi plays with truths and facts. Pinocchio reference is a push-pull phenomena. It brings to the story the argument of

Laurie, at first, did not seem at all interested. But when Laurie’s father and I both said that we knew that he was Charles, he just stared at us. “Laurie, or should I say Charles,” said Laurie’s father, “Your mother and I are very upset at your behavior.” “Lying to us is never the right thing to do. Not to talk about all the other trouble you have caused. Kicking the teacher, yelling in the classroom, being fresh, and telling other kids to say swear words is absolutely not ok Laurie!” I could see that Laurie felt a sense of fear. “Laurie,” I said, “Your father and I are going to have to punish you for what you have done. But first, we need you to apologize to your teacher and all of the students for your behavior during the past couple weeks. Do you know what it means to apologize?” “It means to say sorry,” said Laurie. “Correct,” I said. “So when you go to school today, I will ask your teacher to give you a chance to have a word

A theme evident in the story is believing everything you hear can end in a negative conclusion. Throughout Charles, Laurie’s mom is listening to her son and believing everything he says about Charles. This leads to her making bad assumptions about kindergarten for Laurie. In the story, Laurie’s mom is talking to her husband and she says “Do you think kindergarten is too unsettling for Laurie?” The dad responds with “ It’ll be alright, bound to be people like Charles in the world. Might as well meet them now as later”. As a result of Laurie’s mom believing what her son told her, it led to the conclusion of her making bad assumptions of kindergarten being too unsettling for Laurie. Also, in the story, Laurie’s mom makes a bad assumption based on what laurie told her about Charles. She talks about his mother. She is at a PTA meeting and she

On page 268, she shows a drawing of her younger self holding the school saying "I'm home!" This supports a form of pathos that she uses, it makes the reader see how she felt about the school. On the next page, she continues her essay with more generosity the teachers showed her. She also gives a point of view from her older self saying "It's only thinking about it now, 28 years later, that I realize I was crying for relief." She then continues, by defining one teacher (Mrs.LeSane) above the

Miss Ferenczi’s tutelage represents a breath of fresh air and a new experience for her students. Everything about her is foreign to the students yet not inaccessible. Hope and truth are connected within Miss Ferenzci; her style of dress, lunch choices, and forthright speech are prime examples. Miss Ferenczi has found her own truth, herself, as evidenced by her nonconformist attitude, elaborate dress, delightful stories, and a touch of humility. She exemplifies that all adults are not like those the children are accustomed in their community. Miss Ferenczi’s symbolism of truth is foreshadowed by Tommy when he notices his substitute’s peculiar marionette lines reminding him of Pinocchio. Pinocchio is a wooden boy who wants to be real and is a liar. Miss Ferenczi may be a real, in the flesh, person, but she is very surreal to Tommy and his classmates; they’ve never seen anything like her. Also, Miss Ferenczi bends the truth and tells stories of myths in order to provoke the students’ sense of thought, imagination, and wonder. The truths the children seek are far beyond spelling and arithmetic, but constitute the character the students will eventually mesh with and emit.

The teachers profiled in “Unforgettable Miss Bessie”, “My Favorite Teacher”, and “And the Orchestra Played On” are remembered and admired by the narrators. Miss Bessie, Miss Hattie, and Mr. K. possessed significant qualities that made them remarkable educators. They inspired and encouraged students. They only wanted the best for their students and prepared them for their futures, enabling them to overcome difficulties in school. Besides the content of their subject matter these educators their taught students to believe that their lives and future all depends from themselves: whether they would choose the clean asphalt road or dirty, bumpy one.

In the short story entitled “Gryphon” by author Charles Baxter, the author begins to formulate a storyline about a young boy named Tommy and his experience with his new substitute teacher, Miss Ferenczi. Miss Ferenczi being a new substitute teacher in Five Oaks, Michigan provides Tommy’s class with a unique atmosphere. Ferenczi’s personality and teaching methods are particular features newly encountered by Tommy. Moreover, Miss Ferenzi’s is presented as a strange individual amongst Tommy’s class because of her attire and the two lines present across her face. Tommy and other classmates begin to alter their perspective on Miss Ferenczi’s as her character begins to unravel. Further, characters such as Miss Ferenczi and Tommy begin to change behavior through the continuation of the story. For instance, Tommy starts to develop his imagination and Miss Ferenczi begins her ascension as a fictional storyteller. As the story progresses, each character experiences continuous changes such as Tommy’s development of a sense of imagination and Miss Ferenczi’s implantation of fictional storytelling.

The twenty-five stories that are contained in the book, My First Year As A Teacher, are about real teachers and their experiences during the first year of teaching. Each story is different. Some are about memorable students while other stories are about some of the hardships that are encountered as a novice teacher. The diverse sampling of stories in this book gives insight of what kind of problems one might encounter as a teacher, yet they also describe how rewarding the profession can be. I found it rather difficult to choose only ten stories as my favorite but after much consideration and rereading I decided on the following stories because in many ways I could relate to the students as well as the teachers that are given life in these stories.

I wrote this inspirational memoir to persuade the negative thinking substitute teachers to embrace a keen pride of their role as a professional substitute teacher.

As children, we absorb information and learn from experiences that mold us into who we are. Many individuals impact a child’s life, but the most powerful and influential role lies in a devoted teacher, a teacher provides growth to students as a gardener would to a garden of flowers. Each child can bloom into a thriving flower so long as you water their garden with optimism, love, patience, and guidance. Throughout my educational experiences I was lucky enough to have educators who poured their knowledge and optimism into me, and now I would like to reciprocate that back to students who are in the position I was once in. Balancing life and school is hard enough for a student, but a powerful and caring teacher can steer you in the right direction. In this autobiography you will read about my educational background, experiences that influenced my decision to become a teacher, and what I believe the role of a teacher should be in a student’s life.

Sybil, a substitute teacher in New York is very confused and frightened when she breaks a window in her apartment with her bare hand. When she was at the hospital being taken care of for her injury Dr. Wilbur came into the picture. Once Wilbur discovered information about Sybil’s life she found out that she was raised in a severely strict household with a father who was a Christian minister and her mother