After allowing students to only read the fairy tale at the beginning of the chapter, ask the following questions:
What does each character, item, or action in the story represent?
What do you think the moral of the story was?
How do you think this applies to dating?
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There are a lot of sensitive topics in this chapter that could be discussed. I would leave the selection of discussion topics and the approach taken to you to decide because it depends a lot on the dynamics of the class and the needs of your individual students. Here are some of the items you might find it important to address and discuss:
Bullying - I know from personal experience, and from the experiences of others, that getting bullied, made fun of, and picked on can have a huge affect on how you interact with other people. When I was in middle school, I only had a couple of friends. We were very close, and we were all nerds. We were picked on constantly - everything from being physically assaulted and robbed to being embarrassed and made fun of. Common forms of harassment were things like being offered chips or candy, only to be told after I ate it that it had been licked or spat on, or for someone to hold the door open so that they could trip me as I passed, or for someone to call me over like they wanted to talk to me only to get over there and be punched, yelled at, or otherwise humiliated.
After a couple years of that, my friends and I pretty much didn't trust anyone. We were suspicious of anyone that offered anything to us. If you weren't part of our group, we assumed you were trying to hurt us, because experience had taught us that was probably the case. It had the affect of making us even more withdrawn and awkward than we were before, which did not help. I had the fortune of moving to a new town for high school - one in which the kids were far more accepting and encouraging. I had trouble at first, but after a while I quit being suspicious and began interacting normally with my peers.
As a teacher, I have seen many students try to be nice to the awkward social outcast, only to get rudely rejected. They then become another antagonist because they don't understand why they were lashed out at. The point is that students need to understand that everyone is molded by the social interactions of their life, and you half to stop and consider what years of previous social experience may have done to the attitudes and behavior of a person. We are not the only person that another person has ever interacted with, and we can't judge what happens in the vacuum of that single encounter.
While nice guys aren't necessarily bullied, there is a social stigma to being a nice guy, and the interactions that result from that have a huge affect on how Nice Guys will act around other guys and around girls.
"Used Goods" - I have unfortunately met many girls that consider the fact that they have made so many mistakes in the past a reason to give up hope of anything better in the future. They think of themselves as used and broken. This is only reinforced by men who will say as much to a girl in order to break down her self esteem and make it easier to take advantage of her. It is important for students to understand that while the past can't be undone, humans are living organisms that heal and change and grow, not inanimate objects that can be smashed beyond repair. Our worth comes from the decisions we make now and the direction we are headed. Runners are judged for the races they run now, not the stumbles they took as a toddler, or the losses they suffered in years past. Every life has value, and any life can change for the better.
Hypocrisy - Many of us live the double standard of expecting much more than we are willing to give. Do we cheat, but want others to be honest? Do we want a partner that is fit, but we are a couch potato? And in the case of this chapter, are we looking for someone that has standards higher than we try to maintain? Are girls looking for guys that will respect them when the girl has never been willing to do what it took to get that respect? Are guys looking for nice girls when they themselves have been players? Hypocrisy is a serious obstacle to friendships, family ties, and lasting relationships.
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Cross-Curricular Language Arts Activity:
There have been a lot of metaphors and analogies used in this book so far. Look back through the chapters you have read and identify 10 of metaphors/analogies and write down a brief description of each of them. Which is your favorite? Which did the best job? Were there any that you thought were weak?
Possible examples include the dogs in the intro, fishing in chapter 1, the fairy tale in chapter 5, the bear safety rules in chapter 3, the gorillas in chapter 5, the nickel in the gutter in chapter 2, the cactus/nice guy in chapter 5, etc.
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