Vocabulary

1. barracks: (n) a building used to lodge soldiers
2. comrade: (n) a fellow soldier or a roommate or a companion
3. hooligan: (n) criminal
4. orderly:   (n) a soldier who performs various services for a superior officer
5. to smirk: (v) sarcastic or ugly grin
6. squad:    (n) a small group of organized military personnel

Materials

• "A Contract", by Ha Jin
• (Father and Son) Ha Jin, Ocean of Words (First Vintage International Edition, August 1998) 97-102
• Graphic Organizer

Procedure

• Students will learn about the setting of the story, a military base, and discuss the vocabulary in this context. Students will be asked to write down what they think each vocabulary word means. After they have done this, teacher will write sentences containing the vocabulary and have the students compare their definitions to what they think they mean in context and if there are still questions the students will used dictionaries.
• Students will read “A Contract” either out loud, silently, in pairs, or in groups. The class level, size, and time will dictate the method.
• Students will complete the graphic organizer for this story when they are done reading.
• Students will discuss the relationships within “ A Contract” and answer the questions below relating to the story.

Questions

1. What is the initial conflict that arises in the barracks between the new soldier (Feng Dong) and the older soldier (Gu Gong)?
2. What situation arises out of this conflict?
3. After the squad leader gets in the middle of the conflict, how does Gu Gong want to deal with the squad leader?
4. How does the squad leader decide to deal with Gu Gong in the end of the story?
5. What does the narrator’s decision tell you about the relationship between a squad leader (ruler) and soldier (subject)?
6. What situation does the squad leader take advantage of when he decides ti fight Gu Gong using Weapons?
7. What does Gu Gong’s response tell you about the responsibility a son has to his parents?
8. Does this follow the Confucian ideals of the father/son relationship?
9. How does the Confucian ideal of a father/son relationship help maintain the Confucian ideal relationship between a ruler and subject in this story?

Writing

1. Students will discuss the question, “How would the relationship between ruler and subject change in this story, if the squad leader had fought Gu Gong with his hands?”
2. Students will then rewrite the story, imagining that the squad leader had fought Gu Gong with his hands, when he had initially been challenged. Half the class will write from the perspective of Gu Gong and the other half will write from the perspective of the squad leader. They will write about what happens and how they feel about it.
3. Students will exchange their writing with someone who wrote from the opposite perspective.
4. After reading their classmates writing two students will discuss their different reactions and share it with the class.

Homework