1_GoAskAlice

The following is a study guide that I developed for my students at Greenwood High on the novel Go Ask Alice by Anonymous. Feel free to
use it for your own personal study of the novel or for classroom use. Happy Reading!!!

DEFINE THE FOLLOWING WORDS/PHRASES:

•        Blasé’
•        Impregnable
•        Antagonistic
•        Inhibitions
•        Apprehensions
•        Aeronautical
•        Penance
•        Transgressions
•        Irony
•        Repent
•        Bungling
•        (drug term) Benny
•        (drug term) Hooka
•        (drug term) Dexie
•        (drug term) Barbs
•        disreputable
•        Mundane
•        Prodigal
•        Vacillating
•        Fortitude
•        Eccentric
•        Prodding
•        Dissonant
•        (drug term) Paregoric
•        Inundated
•        Degenerate
•        Lamented
•        Paltry
•        Woebegone
•        Disreputable
•        Deplorable
•        Firmament
•        Persecuting
•        Vindictive
•        Disintegrated
•        Concerto
•        Morbid
•        Phosphorescent
•        Interminable
•        Communal
•        Premonitions
•        Begetting

JOURNALS:
Write at least 1 full page on the following journals. Choose and complete at least 10.

1.        Write about your first crush.
2.        How many times do we make promises that we don’t keep? Why do we do it? Write about one time that you made a promise that you did not keep
  and the effect it had on the other person.
3.        Describe a time when you reinvented yourself. Were you still “you” deep inside? Were you more or less the “you” that you see yourself as deep
  inside?
4.        Is it true that we only have one real love? Why or why not?
5.        How “NORMAL” is Alice?
6.        How are new students at your school treated? Have you ever seen someone treated the way Alice was? Have you participated in the treatment?
  Were you the one that was treated that way? How did it make you feel?
7.        How quickly can someone become addicted to something? Write about a time when you became addicted to something very quickly.
8.        Is it easier to become addicted to things that are bad for you that make you feel good or things that are good for you that might make you feel bad
  (like exercising for instance)? Discuss.
9.        What do you think would have happened if Alice had told her parents what was really happening on September 7, like she wanted to do?
10.      What did Alice see in the Mellani family that made her lonely? Have you ever watched a group of people and desired what they had together?
  Why or why not?
11.        On February 27, Alice’s mother sends Tim with her to the store for colored pencils. Should she have done so? Why or why not? What differences
  would have occurred in Alice’s life is her mother had sent Tim with Alice everywhere Alice went?
12.        In March, Alice leaves her home in a drug induced state and leaves the state. In the middle of this time she says “We get p-ed off when someone
  tells us what to do, but we don’t know what to do unless someone tells us.” How typical is this of teens? Is this statement true of more teenagers?
  Discuss a time when you felt this way and why.
13.        When Alice is clean her vocabulary is much better. Discuss times when you have noticed yourself using more slang and times when you have
  noticed yourself stretching the limits of your vocabulary and the situations in which you foresee yourself doing so in the future.
14.        (Related to #13) Alice is writing in her Diary, not speaking to someone, so why would she use elevated language when just talking to herself?
  What is the purpose of elevated vocabulary? Why does it exist and why should we continue to expand our vocabulary throughout life?
15.        What is the difference between Sympathy and Empathy? Under what circumstances would you Sympathize with Alice and under what
  circumstances would you Empathize with Alice?
16.        Think of someone that you know that has had a reputation as a certain kind of person that tried to change his or her reputation. How difficult was
  it? Why did they want to change? What obstacles did they face? Did you participate in helping them change or hindering them? Why?

RESEARCH PAPERS: Choose and complete at least 3.

1.        Research Addictive behavior(s) and write a two page paper analyzing your behavior for addictive tendencies using the research you located.
  Use MLA citation.
2.        Do teens and parents speak different languages? Research language formation and/or English as a Second language and compare the research
  to teen-parent languages to your research in a 2 page paper. Use MLA citation.
3.        What is Alice’s “point of no return”? Research drug addiction and back up your theory in a two page paper with research. Use MLA citation.
4.        What did the word “Hippie” mean in the 1970's? Research the meaning of the word and the lifestyle from the perspective of the Hippies and from the
  perspective of American society in general and contrast the two in a two page paper. Use MLA citation.
5.        On September 11 of the second year, Alice reads an article on identity and responsibility. She reads that kids that are not allowed to make their own
  decisions never grow up and kids that have to make all their own decisions before they are ready never grow up either. Fine research on this subject
  and write a two page paper analyzing the age at which decisions should be handed over to children from the parents and the age at which the children
  desire for those decisions to be handed over. Take any viewpoint you wish. Use MLA citation.

FINAL PROJECT: Complete in decorated format. May include pictures, poems, or any other embellishments you deem important to the
theme of the overall project. Must be bound.

Write, in diary format, detailed diary entries from Alice’s last three weeks of life. Write in Alice’s voice. Pay particular attention to her voice when "straight"
and when drugged. Use her vocabulary, slang, tempo, terminology, and attitude.