The Face - Folklore

     The Face retold by S.E Schlosser is about a young medical student, insecure about his father's asylum confinement, falls in mutual love with another med student. He is consumed with jealousy and rage even when his girlfriend simply asks another male student for a pencil. Finally, his jealousy consumes him wholly and he kills his girlfriend and cuts off her face. He goes to live in the padded room next to his father when his roommate finds the ex girlfriend face in his desk drawer. To defend my sanity, I was not thinking that's how this story would go after randomly selected it.
     This story falls under the genre of folklore. Folklore, generally with an unknown author, is passed down from generation to generation with the intention of educating or entertain it's listeners/readers. All known cultures have folklore with common themes. Though stories may be revised each time their told, their theme or message remains the same. This story is no exception. With the intent to entertain and provide a good ghost story and teach about the negative effects of jealousy and rage, it fits perfectly into this genre. There are no illustrations for this story.
     The style of the story is told in third person, with a narrator tone. The setting is in a modern day university. The theme is a spooky ghost story, including elements of rage and jealousy. It is highly emotional, same as the characters within it.
     I would not recommend using this book in an elementary school setting, simply because it is quite spooky and gory. However, for middle school, high school or a very mature set of fifth graders, this story could be told during a unit on emotions in literature. Accompanied by other highly emotional pieces of literature, like Romeo and Juliet, a teacher could use this to talk about rage and jealousy. The teacher could have students share a time they were jealous or angry about something prior to telling the story. After the story, a teacher could have students change the ending to something lighter. Like the medical student learning to overcome his jealousy and fits of rage and the two live happily ever after, or even the girlfriend getting away in time and committing the medical student to helpful treatment. The ending should be left up to the discretion of the student. This will allow students to use their imagination while still following the conventions of the story. It can also be used to measure how well students picked up on different aspects and elements of the story.
     Another activity for The Face in the classroom could be when doing a unit on folklore. There are many versions of folklore, from tall tales, to myths and rhymes. Ghost stories around the camp fire are a common folklore not many of us think of as such. This could be a great way to introduce the subject. Without telling students what you're reading or why, the teacher could simply begin reading the story, maybe shutting off the lights and lighting up a single flashlight for effect. This would keep students curious and interested, and perhaps give everyone a good chuckle when they realize the purpose of the ghost story. Lessons should start out lighthearted a fun, yet spooky and intriguing works all the same.

Reader Response Questions:

1. Why do you think the medical student became so enraged when Sheila would call him "crazy" or "mad?"
2. Based on your personal judgement, do you feel the medical student could change his spurts of anger if given the chance?
3. If you were Sheila, and you noticed a repeat pattern of the medical students jealousy and age each time you spoke to a member of the opposite sex, would you continue to forgive him? Why or why not? Be specific in detail in your answer.

     This story really surprised me. I was not expecting such a gruesome ending. Had I known, I would have chosen another story since making activities for elementary students with this type of ghost story can be difficult. Rather than finding a new story I stuck with it, knowing it would bring a challenge. However, I do feel this story could be a good way top introduce folklore to middle schoolers, that's generally an age where weird and gruesome things are a topic of interest anyways. Though it was strange, it definitely had the elements of a quality ghost story folklore.

References:

 Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature and the child. Belmont: CA.

  "The Black Cat's Message." The Black Cat's Message: From Halloween Stories at Americanfolklore.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Feb. 2017.