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It’s 1914. Susan O’Neal’s widowed mother takes in a boarder to help pay the rent---an Englishwoman named Bea. As Susan helps Bea unpack, she glimpses a letter with the words must be kept secret for now. Susan forgets about the letter for weeks…until Mum disappears. Suddenly Susan realizes how little they know about Bea---and she becomes sure Bea is somehow involved in Mum’s disappearance. Susan is swept into the Woman Suffrage Movement as she tries to uncover the secrets their mysterious boarder is hiding. |
| Talking About the Story |
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Susan lives in an immigrant neighborhood in the slums of New York City in 1914. What was her city like? Be sure to include its geography in your discussion.
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When Susan goes to the suffrage rally, she learns that “uptown was a different world from Chelsea.” Compare a scene on 26th Street to the scene Susan sees in uptown New York. Talk about how Susan’s life in Chelsea would be different from that of the wealthy uptown residents. |
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Lester Barrow was threatening to evict—remove—the O’Neal’s from their home because they were behind on their rent. Because they were poor, the O’Neals had many decisions forced upon them by economic necessity. What were some decisions (and actions) of the characters in the story that were driven by economics? |
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Talk about the ways Susan’s life had changed since Dad’s death. Have you ever had a life-changing event happen to you? Can you tell the class about it? |
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Mum tells Bea there are “reasons why some people can’t stand up for causes, even if they believe in them.” What were the reasons Mum felt that she couldn’t stand up for suffrage? Did the events in the story change her feelings? How? |
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Social change often comes at great cost to the people who fight for it. What cost did Bea pay for her attempts to bring about change in attaining equal rights for women? How about Mum? Susan? Do you think the cost was worth it to these people? Why or why not? |
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At the beginning of the story, Susan tells Helen that whatever the suffragists did, it wouldn’t change her or Helen’s life. Talk about the ways in which the suffrage movement did end up affecting Susan’s life, then think of ways it has affected your life. How might your life have been different if woman had never won the right to vote?
Even though Susan felt World War I was “faraway,” the war did have some impact on events in the story. What were they? Talk about how “faraway wars” have impacted your life, if at all. |
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After Mum and Bea have argued, Susan overhears Bea in her room mumbling “something about a war and beating them at their own game.” Later Susan finds out Bea was referring to the suffrage movement. Based upon what you learned about the suffrage movement in the story, carry Bea’s war metaphor further. In what ways was fighting for suffrage like a war? Think in terms of leadership, battle plans, opposition, public sentiment, etc. |
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In a classroom discussion, compare the suffrage movement to a more recent social “war,” in our country, the Civil Rights Movement. |
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The New York City of 1914 was a bustling place. Talk about the movement of people and goods in the story. What sort of commerce took place in Susan’s world? How were goods shipped about the city and elsewhere? What methods of transportation were available? How was Susan’s movement about the city limited by economics? |
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The United States is a “melting pot” of peoples and nowhere is this better illustrated than in New York City. What were some of the ethnic groups mentioned in the story? Susan’s family was Irish. What problems did she face because of her heritage? What is your own family heritage? Did your ancestors face problems or discrimination because of their ethnic background? |
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Not only was Lester Barrow the O’Neal’s landlord, he was also “the powerful district leader of Tammany Hall.” What did you learn from the story about Tammany Hall and the political boss system that ran New York City? In what ways is Susan’s life touched by this system? How does it influence plot elements in the story? |
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Compare the political boss system of New York City to your own local, state, and federal government. How are they similar? Different? |
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Susan dismisses her dream of going to college as “impossible.” Why? What did she think was the most realistic prospect for her future? Given the circumstances of her life, do you think she was right or wrong to limit the possibilities for her future? Do you think her acquaintance with Bea changed Susan’s perspective? Compare Susan’s dreams for her future to your own. What is the role of education in influencing your dream? |
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What were Bea’s motives in being dishonest with the girls about their mother’s disappearance? Why did Susan feel so betrayed by Bea’s deceptions? |
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How did Susan use technology to help her solve the mystery of Mum’s disappearance? |
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What were some of the attitudes about women (and stereotypes) that people in 1914 held that stood in the way of women being treated fairly? Which characters in the story voice these attitudes? |
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Writing About The Story
When Susan read one of Bea’s favorite passages in Middlemarch, she felt it spoke to her about her own life. Have you ever read something in a book or poem that spoke strongly to you about your own life? What was it and why? Write about it.
An author uses flashbacks to provide readers with prior information, to intensify emotions, or to help shed light on a character’s motivation. Many of the flashbacks in Secrets on 26th Street have to do with Susan’s life before Dad died. Find some of these and tell what the author’s purpose was in using them. Then write a story where you use flashbacks.
At the beginning of the story, Susan sees a headline, “German Spy Caught in Paris.” Later this headline sparks her imagination and she spins an adventurous tale to herself about Bea’s secret. Choose a headline from the newspaper or a news magazine and use it to spin your own tale of adventure or intrigue.
Predict what happens to the characters in Secrets on 26th Street after the story ends. Use your predictions to write an epilogue. Be sure to include whether Susan ever makes her dream of going to college come true.
In the story, the subject of woman suffrage made people react very passionately one way or another. Pretend you lived during Susan’s time and you had to take a stand for or against suffrage. Which side would you take and why? Write an argument where you list the reasons for your stand. Be sure to counter the argument you think your opponents might make and include reasons why they are wrong.
In Secrets on 26th Street, each of the major characters---Susan, Bea, and Mum---had secrets they were keeping from the others. What were Susan’s secrets? Bea’s? Mum’s? What consequences did their secret-keeping have? Have you ever had a secret you felt you couldn’t share with anyone? What were the consequences of keeping your secret? Write about it. Is there ever a time when secret-keeping is appropriate?
The themes of friendship, trust, and honesty are important ones in Secrets on 26th Street. How do the plot elements develop these themes? Choose one of these themes and use it for your own story or poem.
In the story, Bea is a sympathetic character, one the author intends for readers to like and approve of. Yet Bea is far from perfect; her several deceptions cause pain and trouble for Susan. On the other hand, Lester Barrow is an unsympathetic character, one readers are intended to dislike. He, too, uses deception and dishonesty to get what he wants. Analyze the two characters and determine why one is sympathetic and the other unsympathetic. Then write a story or play where a less-than-perfect sympathetic character struggles against an unsympathetic character.
Pretend you are Susan (or Bea) writing a letter to the newspaper in response to the editorial that claimed women’s minds were inferior to men’s. Be sure to support the points you make in your letter. |
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| Learning More |
Read George Eliot’s Middlemarch, either as a class or individually. In what ways do the female characters “rely on themselves?” Why do you think the book appealed to a suffragist like Bea? Find out more about George Eliot. What was her real name? How did her society’s attitudes toward women affect George Eliot’s life?
Trace the history of the Woman Suffrage Movement in both England and the United States. Who were the important people in the movement, and what did they do to help bring about passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
Research one of the leaders in the suffrage movement, and write a short biography about her (or him.) Possibilities for your research might be Alice Paul, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Stanton, or one of the Pankhursts (a mother and her two daughters.)
Find out what role men played in the suffrage movement, especially President Woodrow Wilson. What made President Wilson decide to support a constitutional amendment giving women the vote?
Research the role of the United States in World War I. Find out when the US entered the war, how long we fought, and how the war influenced the politics of the time.
As a class, research the reasons why people felt so strongly for and against the issue of women’s voting. Then divide the class into teams and debate the issue. |
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Reading More
Here are some books you might enjoy on related topics.
Fiction:
Retreat from Gettysburg by Kathleen Ernst
Whistler in the Dark, by Kathleen Ernst
The Ballot Box Battle, by E.A. McCully
The Bobbin Girl, by E.A. McCully
The Bet’s On, Lizzie Bingman! by R.B. Ross
Nonfiction:
They Shall Be Heard: Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, by K. Connell
You Want Women to Vote, Lizzy Stanton?, by Jean Fritz
We Shall Not Be Moved: The Women’s Factory Strike of 1909, by J. Dash
The Day Women Got The Vote: A Photo History of the Women’s Rights Movement, by George Sullivan
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Chapter One
damsel
vaudeville
immense(ly)
suffragist
accomodat(ing)
hoodlums
Chapter Four
baffled
Chapter Seven
heckler(s)
Chapter Ten
hoity-toity |
Chapter Two
emerge(d)
envelope(d)
stifling
waft(ing)
threshold
Chapter Five
massive
Chapter Eight
constrict(ed)
stammer
Chapter Eleven
conspicuous
commotion
blokes
jostling
seedy
hordes
rotunda
intensity |
Chapter Three
depot
oblige
betrothed
Chapter Six
suffrage
stinginess
corruption
decisively
ruckus
scornful
din
tenement(s)
rowdiness
Chapter Nine
longshoremen
dribbled
defiance
feud
pondering
disclosure
wracked
Chapter Twelve
dilemma |
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