Vassa in the Night (39 page)

Is this supposed to make me happy? Maybe it should, but depression wells up in me again. Of course, with Erg dead, what connection could I still have to their world? “Thanks,” I say dully. “Good to know.”

“However, in appreciation for your remarkable contributions you will retain an honorary status as—shall we say—something of an auxiliary member of our society. That is, you would be welcomed at parties, events of that nature. You can expect to be acknowledged by sub-visible persons. And Picnic and I had a passing thought.” They exchange freighted glances.

“Vassa?” Chelsea says. She sounds worried. “Seriously?”

“With your employer so abruptly deceased, well, Picnic and I wondered if you might require a new position. Perhaps as an assistant in our firm. No need to give us your answer at this moment, of course. And Miss Bea Yaggen asked us to mention that she would be honored if you would join her for tea one day soon.” He sheds papers and gawks at me intently for a moment. “Miss Yaggen tells me that your mother was none other than Zinaida Annikova? A charming woman. We were very pleased to claim her as an acquaintance.”

“Oh,” Tomin tells Chelsea behind my back. “This is
beyond
serious. I don't exactly know what Vassa did, but I know she changed everything here. And not just for—for regular people.”

Chelsea shoots him a look, but I'm too busy puzzling through Pangolin's message to deal with them. Later I'll try to figure out how to explain.

“I don't know where to find you,” I finally tell Pangolin. “Or Bea.” I'm having trouble taking everything in, but it sounds encouraging.

Pangolin wallops me on the head with a patronizing claw, smiling broadly. “Float first,” Picnic explains. “Find later.”

Well, okay then. Chelsea's arm tightens around my shoulders as they turn and shuffle away. “I'm not sure I even
want
to know,” Chelsea sighs. “Okay, so now are you all through here? That's it?”

“You heard him,” I tell her. “I'm free.”

“Stephanie feels terrible about what she did, Vassa. You'll see. Though … she still kind of believes you stole her locket, honestly.”

Right. Stephanie. I understand now: Erg never would have stolen that stuff if there weren't part of me that really, really wanted to. Chelsea's psychoanalyzing was pretty much on target, embarrassing as it is to admit that. “Chelsea? I wasn't lying to you before. Not on purpose. But the thing is …
part
of me stole it. That's the truth.”

Chelsea stares. “So how is that part of you feeling now?”

“It's a lot calmer now,” I tell her. I think about what Erg said and I know that she was absolutely right, as usual. “I mean, I can
handle
it now.”

Chelsea kisses me on the cheek. “That's great news, li'l sis. I'm proud of you. Are you ready to come home? And, you know, actually stick around for a while?”

“Yes,” I say, and then I realize it's the first time since my mom died that the word
home
has sounded meaningful to me, and not like some squeaky little lie. No matter how Chelsea and I are or aren't related, she's as much my family as anybody ever was. She's my family because she cares enough to make the effort. No matter who I've lost in my life, Chelsea is here now and I'm grateful to have her. “Yes, Chelsea, I'm ready to go home.”

 

Tor Teen Reading and Activity Guide to

VASSA IN THE NIGHT

BY
SARAH PORTER

Ages 13–17; Grades 8–12

 

A
BOUT
T
HIS
G
UIDE

The questions and activities that follow are intended to enhance your reading of
Vassa in the Night,
a reinterpretation of the Russian folktale “Vassilissa the Beautiful” wherein the story is moved to a fantastical Brooklyn and enriched with additional elements from Russian history and folklore. Please feel free to adapt this content to suit the needs and interests of your students or reading group participants.

Vassa in the Night
is an excellent text for developing skills outlined in the following Common Core State Standards (
www.corestandards.org
) areas: RL.8.9 (analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths or traditional stories … including describing how the material is rendered new); RL.9-10.9 (analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work); and RL.11-12.7 (analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem … evaluating how each version interprets the source text). The activities in this guide correlate to these additional Common Core State Standards: RL.8.1-6, RL.9-10.1-6, RL.11-12.1-6; W.8.1-7, W.9-10.1-7, W.11-12.1-7; WHST.8.7, WHST.9-10.7, WHST.11-12.7; SL.8.1-2, SL.8.4-5, SL.9-10.1-2, SL11-12.1-2, SL.11-12.4-5.

B
EFORE
R
EADING
THE
B
OOK

  1.   As indicated by the title, the action of the novel takes place almost entirely at night. Consider how you would define the word “night.” What notions do you have about night in terms of nocturnal creatures, the Earth's rotation around the sun, and even dream theories? What books, movies, television programs, types of music, or visual artworks do you associate with night? Given your sense of the word “night,” and the way it is used in the title, what assumptions might you make about the novel you are about to read?

  2.   In his 1949 book,
The Hero with a Thousand Faces,
writer and mythologist Joseph Campbell presented the notion of the “Hero's Journey” or “Monomyth”—a storytelling pattern that can be identified in many folktales, as well as works of science fiction and beyond. Go to the library or online to learn about Campbell's stages of the “Hero's Journey.” (Hint: A handy resource can be located at
www.wiu.edu/users/mudjs1/monomyth.htm
.) Consider whether a favorite fairy tale, modern-day novel, or recently viewed film fits into Campbell's pattern.

  3.   Read a traditional version of the Vassilissa folktale, such as
Vasilisa the Beautiful and Baba Yaga
by Alexander Afanasyev or
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
by Marianna Mayer.

A
FTER
R
EADING
THE
B
OOK

Discussion Questions

  1.   The novel begins with a “Prelude in Night.” What is the purpose of this prologue? What is significant about the absence of “the” in the chapter title—why is the chapter not titled “Prelude in
the
Night” in the way the novel is called
Vassa in
the
Night
?

  2.   As Chapter 1 opens, Vassa tells readers that “People live here on purpose.” What sense of attitude and mood does this opening give to readers? How is the situation with night introduced in this chapter, and how is it connected to BY's both through imagery and dialogue?

  3.   
Vassa in the Night
is set in Brooklyn. Classic Vassilissa folktales are set in a forest. What qualities make these settings similar? What language does author
Sarah Porter
use to create a forestlike vibe for an urban setting? (Note: This question is best discussed after completing “Before Reading” activity #3.)

  4.   Can a “time” (such as “Night”) be a setting in a novel? Can it be a character? Explain your answer using quotes from the text.

  5.   What four key words would you choose to describe the character of Vassa? How do these attributes relate to her decision to stay at BY's?

  6.   Vassa says of her mother, “Once I got wise to Zinaida—or, at least,
wiser
—then I didn't want to be like her anymore. Then there was no one left for me to want to be,” (Chapter 14). To what does Vassa “get wise”? Is it important to want to be someone? How might you understand Vassa's reference to “no one left” in terms of her larger journey in the story?

  7.   Throughout the novel, there are chapters titled “Interlude in Fur,” “Interlude in Feathers,” etc. How do these “interlude” chapters relate to the larger story? Why you think the author chose to create these special chapters? Why do you think she chose to use the terms “Prelude” and “Interlude” to create offset chapters in the story?

  8.   List the tasks Babs assigns to Vassa on each of the three nights of her stay at BY's. What relationships or progressions do you see in the list? What discoveries does Vassa make after engaging in each task?

  9.   What do the swans represent? How are they connected to Vassa's father's ambition to be transformed into a dog? How does the novel blur the lines between human and nonhuman, magical and nonmagical?

10.   Who and/or what are Dexter and Sinister? What is their role in the story?

11.   Do you think Erg is “real”? Is she always hungry? Does she steal? What has really happened to her at the end of the story?

12.   In Chapter 18, Tomin tells Vassa, “Just 'cause it's obvious doesn't mean it's true.” How might this statement be understood in terms of Vassa's experiences at BY's? Can you apply Tomin's insight to an experience in your own life?

13.   In Chapter 20, Vassa considers staying in the Night with the motorcycle man: “What would a life in this place even mean? It definitely qualifies as
anywhere but here,
anywhere but home and Brooklyn, anywhere but any normal human location. And I might become
anyone but me,
more a dream-ghost than a girl.” Answer her question.

14.   Is Vassa wrestling with sanity, with grief, or perhaps with both? How might these struggles be regarded as the central motif of the novel, especially in terms of her relationship with Erg?

15.   What are the most important relationships Vassa forms in the course of the story? Are her most powerful relationships with humans, with places, or with other sorts of creatures?

16.   Compare and contrast the ways in which Vassa's relationships with the motorcycle man and with Tomin change over the course of the story.

17.   In Chapter 3, Vassa asks Babs, “What do you think I owe you?” Later, in Chapter 13, Vassa wonders, “What
do
I owe myself … What did I borrow from myself, and how on earth will I ever give it back?” How are these two questions related? What is important about the person of whom they are being asked? What does Vassa owe to Babs? To herself? Do you feel a sense of obligation to yourself, or to others, in your own life? How might you understand Vassa in the context of your own experiences of obligations?

18.   In Chapter 23, Erg forces Vassa to to spill the “forbidden beans that we don't spill, because the beanstalk that grows from them will skewer our chests.” What does Erg tell Vassa (and how is this simply Vassa admitting to herself) the truth about the kind of “magic” that went into Erg's wooden form the moment Zinaida died?

19.   At the story's start, Vassa tells readers, “My sisters think I'm the greedy one, always stashing cookies in my pockets for later. They think I suffer from strange compulsions,” (Chapter 1). After finishing the book, do you think this is true or not? In what ways might you answer this question “yes” and/or “no”?

20.   At the end of Chapter 23, Erg asks Vassa to “go back into the painting. Because that's where she is. And because you've been there, too, really. All this time.” How does Vassa re-enter the paining? What is the “all this time” to which Erg refers, and in what way has Vassa remained in the painting for this duration? How is Vassa's re-entry into the painting related to the silencing of Erg? To Vassa's return to Chelsea and her ordinary world?

21.   In
The Hero with a Thousand Faces,
author Joseph Campbell writes:

The hero's journey always begins with the call. One way or another, a guide must come to say, “Look, you're in Sleepy Land. Wake. Come on a trip. There is a whole aspect of your consciousness, your being, that's not been touched. So you're at home here? Well, there's not enough of you there.” And so it starts.

How can Campbell's statement be applied to
Vassa in the Night
? Who do you see as Vassa's guide: Babs, Erg, or someone else? Can you define her “Sleepy Land” in three different ways? To what “aspect of [her] consciousness” do you think Campbell refers? How can
Vassa in the Night
be read as a story of the main character's conscious and subconscious journey of self-discovery? Of liberation from grief? Cite quotations from the story to support your answer.

Research and Writing Activities

W
RITE:
Vassa's journey begins when leaves home to buy lightbulbs at BY's. In the character of Chelsea or Stephanie, write a journal entry describing your feelings immediately after Vassa has left the house, noting whether you think Vassa is acting naïvely or intelligently and if/how you feel a sense of responsibility for her departure.

D
IAGRAM:
The author creates an almost telescopic setting for her novel, beginning with Night, narrowing to Brooklyn, then closer in to a neighborhood, and ultimately into dreams and memories. Create a diagram of the most important settings in the story and annotate each point with key events that take place in that setting. What was the most surprising or revealing discovery you made as you completed your diagram?

M
IXED
M
EDIA:
Vassa's half- and stepsister are distracted by a BY's television advertisement. Using clues from the story, and your imagination, make a video recreation of the advertisement to share with friends or classmates.