Shedding Grace Teacher's Guide
Shedding Grace Summer Reading Guide
Shedding Grace Introductory Unit TAE
Shedding Grace Introductory Unit SE
Shedding Grace takes place in the summer of 1769 when the Americans begin to push their conflict with the crown to the point of no return. Jonathan Hamrick, the son of a prominent Boston merchant, has begun his career in the law and is passionately committed to the colonial causes of liberty and freedom. When he is called upon to rescue the failing family business, he finds himself unwillingly engaged in a slave trading venture, which his ailing father believed to be their last hope for financial salvation. He makes a voyage to determine for himself the true nature of this human trafficking and what he learns causes him to question the most fundamental ethical assumptions of his time. Upon his return he finds the town in turmoil and is thrust once again, headlong, into the cauldron of confrontation that would quickly lead to war. But, what had once seemed almost self-evident to him was suddenly not so simple and he was no longer sure what was right or what he believed.
As the plot unfolds the students gradually discover more and more about the nature of colonial life in the Late 18th Century and its relevance for ethical issues still with us today. Fundamental questions about freedom and equality are explored in several economic and political contexts as the characters cope with their own very real human weaknesses. In this way the novel becomes a catalyst for further study and the basis for Socratic seminar discussions. It encourages students to think deeply about themselves and their beliefs by examining universal ethical questions through the perspective of an historic political crisis and helps them to formulate astute questions to ask about conflicts and turning points in their own lives.
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