Lesson 4: Red, White, and Whole, Part 1: “Give and Take” and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”

Place students with partners to discuss common phrases containing the word blood.

Think-Pair-Share

Prepare students for the first activity.

• Say: In the previous lesson, we looked at how Reha lives between two cultures in “Two,” and how this bicultural identity has shaped her experience of the world. We can think of this idea as a lens, looking through it helps us understand Reha's experiences.

• Say: Today, we are adding a new lens. The word blood occurs often in the poem. We will look at how Reha uses this word to describe something physical as well as symbolic. This matters because your Performance Task asks you to explain how a poem reveals an important connection.

• Ask: When you hear expressions like bloodline, blood is thicker than water, cold-blooded, or blood brother, what do they suggest to you? Is the word blood used literally in those examples or symbolically?

  • These phrases use the word symbolically, to mean something that ties people together. They suggest family connection, loyalty, and the idea that some relationships are permanent.

  • In everyday language, blood can stand for who you come from or who you are tied to. It means a relationship that is important to who you are.

• Say these Directions: Partner A, share one word or phrase, and describe the idea underlying it. Partner B, listen for whether the word or phrase is about family, loyalty, or character. Then switch.

  • Bloodline

  • Blood is thicker than water

  • Cold-blooded

  • Blood brother

After students share, display the essential question and read it aloud:

• Ask: What is blood, and how does it work as a symbol of both family ties and our shared humanity?

• Say: In this book, some symbols repeat many times and add layers of meaning and importance.

Connection to Today's Learning:

• Say: These everyday meanings give us a starting point for reading today’s poems, where blood is both a physical substance and a powerful symbol that helps us understand Reha’s family story.

Language Study

Display page 2 and direct students to read the lines beginning with “I am Reha…” and ending with “…Daddy’s as well.”

• Say: Read the following excerpts from the first and third stanza of “Give and Take” (p. 2).

“I am Reha,

born in a pool of my mother’s blood,

proper, prim, obediently alive

as she lies close to death.”

“To stay for me,

she forfeits all future children,

not just on her behalf

but Daddy’s as well.”

• Say: Let’s slow these lines down and study how the sentence parts work. A phrase is a group of words that adds meaning but does not have a full subject and verb, and a clause has a subject and a verb. When we figure out what each part is doing, we can understand why this poem feels so intense even in very few words.

Teach: Analyzing Phrases and Clauses for Meaning

• Say: Readers can use sentence structure as a clue. In the first line, the phrase “born in a pool of my mother’s blood” is not a full sentence, but it hits hard because it is placed right after “I am Reha” (pp. 2). Reha’s identity is introduced through sacrifice. Then the dependent clause “as she lies close to death” adds a second action, which forces the reader to consider life and danger together.

• Say: In the second sentence, the opening phrase “To stay for me” gives the reason before we even hear the action, so the poem makes us feel the mother’s purpose first (pp. 2). After that, the clause “she forfeits all future children” states the cost in a blunt way. Notice how the author arranges these parts, and how structure, not just the words, helps build the poem’s meaning.

• Ask: In the lines beginning “I am Reha,” which chunk is a phrase, and what job does it do?

  • The phrase “born in a pool of my mother’s blood” adds detail about how Reha entered the world, and it makes her birth feel connected to danger and sacrifice right away.

• Ask: In the lines beginning “To stay for me,” how does the opening phrase shape the meaning of the whole sentence?

  • The opening phrase “To stay for me” tells the reason first. That makes the reader understand that the mother’s choice is about living for Reha before we hear the cost of what she gives up.

Students are now ready to assess how LaRocca uses compressed structure to build the symbol of blood. Have students read “Give and Take” with a partner. Pause after the opening section and again after the line about forfeiting future children. In Part B, students will compare this poem with an additional poem from Red, White, and Whole, to see how the two poems work together.

Part A: Blood as a Repeated Symbol in “Give and Take” (RL.7.5) (15 minutes)

Guide students in tracking a symbol across a poem using a 3-column chart. Support students in connecting literal details to symbolic meaning and explaining how structure strengthens theme.

Think-Pair-Write-Share

• Say these Directions: As you read “Give and Take,” use the 3-Column Chart to track one literal detail about blood, what that detail symbolizes, and how the poem’s structure makes the idea stronger. In your discussion and writing, use the words sacrifice and forfeit.

SAMPLE RESPONSE

Teach: Tracking a Symbol Across a Poem

• Say: A symbol that repeats throughout the poem or story often shows an important theme or message. When I read for a repeated symbol, I don't just look for repeated words, but for an idea that keeps picking up meaning. In “Give and Take,” the meaning of blood is continuously changing.

• Say: First, the blood referred to is a physical substance. The meaning is literal; Reha is born through her mother’s blood loss. But the poem quickly gives that detail symbolism. The birth scene becomes a story about what Reha’s mother gives up so Reha can live. I also need to pay attention to structure: when I read the first stanza out loud, I feel almost breathless in the third and fourth lines, which matches how intense the moment is. The next sentence makes a direct statement about sacrifice by using the word forfeits. That tells me the poem’s structure helps move blood from body to symbol.

• Ask: In the opening of “Give and Take,” how does LaRocca place life and danger side by side?

  • At the beginning of the poem, Reha says she is “born in a pool” of her mother’s blood while her mother is “close to death.” The structure puts Reha’s life and her mother’s danger in the same sentence, so the reader feels that Reha’s life begins with her mother's sacrifice.

• Ask: What does blood symbolize in this poem beyond its literal meaning?

  • In this poem, blood symbolizes family connection and sacrifice. It is not only the blood from childbirth but also a reminder that Reha’s life is tied to what her mother gave up for her.

• Ask: How does the line beginning “To stay for me” change the way we understand the mother’s choice?

  • The line begins with purpose, “To stay for me,” so we understand first that the mother wants to live for Reha. Then the poem reveals what she must forfeit, which is her future children. This makes the sacrifice feel more personal and lasting.

Part B: Holding Joy and Obligation Across Two Poems (RL.7.5) (15 minutes)

Guide students in analyzing how poem's order and contrast deepen meaning across texts. Support discussion to connect themes of joy, obligation, and identity using evidence from both poems.

Think-Pair-Share

• Say these Directions: Now read “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” with your partner (p. 3). As you talk, think about how reading this poem after “Give and Take” changes the way you understand Reha’s: everyday desires, freedom, and sense of what she owes her family.

Teach: Comparing Poem Order and Contrast

• Say: When we analyze a work made up of many poems, such as this one, we can analyze each poem individually. But we don't only look at what each poem means by itself. We also think about why the poems are in a particular order and how each poem contributes to our understanding of a larger idea.

• Say: After reading “Give and Take,” the weight of the ideas carries over into the next poem, so even a poem about wanting fun and freedom feels more layered. The contrast matters: one poem deals with serious ideas about loss and gratitude, while the other feels lighter and rooted in the everyday. That helps us understand Reha's life in terms of conflict, between the two cultures she is a part of and how she relates to her family. She is torn between gratitude to her family and the wish to have a life of her own.

• Say: Placing the poems in a particular order, with a "lighter" poem following one full of "heavy" ideas, helps create a tension that adds depth and meaning.

• Ask: In “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” what does Reha seem to want for herself?

  • In this poem, Reha seems to want ordinary fun and space to be a regular girl. She wants something for herself, not just to live under the weight of family sacrifice all the time.

• Ask: How does reading “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” after “Give and Take” deepen the idea of blood as a symbol?

  • Reading the second poem after the birth poem makes blood feel like an invisible tie that stays with Reha. Even when she wants fun or freedom, the earlier poem reminds us that her life began with a sacrifice, so blood symbolizes both love and obligation.

• Ask: What does the contrast between these two poem titles help reveal about Reha’s identity?

  • “Give and Take” sounds serious and balanced around loss and exchange, while “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” sounds light and conversational. Putting those titles near each other shows that Reha is pulled between responsibility and her own wishes.

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Students synthesize how syntax inside a poem, and structure across poems, deepen the repeated symbol of blood.

Quick Write

• Say these Directions: In your Quick Write, explain how Rajani LaRocca uses structure in “Give and Take” or “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” or the pairing of the two poems to show that blood can symbolize both love and obligation. Use at least two specific details from the poem(s). If you’d like, use the optional sentence starter:

• A structure move that matters in these poems is __________ because __________.

• Ask: How does the structure of one poem or the order of the two poems help develop the meaning of blood in Reha’s life?

  • In the opening of “Give and Take,” LaRocca puts Reha’s birth and her mother’s danger in one packed sentence, which makes blood feel tied to both life and sacrifice. Then the line that begins “To stay for me” gives the mother’s reason before the cost, so the sacrifice feels personal. When “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” comes after that, the second poem feels different because Reha’s ordinary wishes are now connected to the blood tie and what her mother gave up. The structure across the poems shows that blood symbolizes love, family, and pressure all at once.

Instruct students to read “First Memory,” “Our Home,” “The Star,” “Sunny,” “Red and White,” “Rachel,” “Bindi,” and “Amma’s Orbit.”

Then ask them to respond to the following questions in their in their Journal:

• What does home mean to Reha? How do you know?