The Books Of Kevin Major - Teaching Aids[Hold Fast]

Kevin Major
St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
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Teaching Aids - Hold Fast

'Holdfast' is a biological term, referring to a part of certain seaweed. Find its meaning in a good dictionary. Talk about how Michael is like a 'holdfast'. Give examples of 'holdfasts' in your own life, thinking of when you were rejected, or lonely, or ridiculed.

See Newfoundland Words and Their Meanings for a short selection of Newfoundland words. The language used in the novel is a storehouse of colourful figurative language and dialect. It shows how the constants of geography, social class, and time may produce a distinctive language form.
Scholars at Memorial University in St. John's have published The Dictionary of Newfoundland English, University of Toronto Press, 1982.
Consider the language used in your own community, or within your peer group. Prepare a Dictionary of English for it.

Kevin Major has written that he likes to leave readers with the feeling that much more will go on in the lives of his characters after the novel has ended. At the end of this novel Michael mentions a letter from Curtis which says "nothing much is settled at his place yet." Write the letter that Curtis might send to Michael a year later.
Hold a court hearing to decide Michael's future after he returns to Marten. Decide which of the class will be judge, Michael, Michael's lawyer, the spokesperson for Michael's guardianship. Call the witnesses, including those to vouch for Michael's character. Take a class vote when you are ready to decide.

Michael and Curtis happily agree on the next day's prospects in the National Park. "Right on, man." "Now you're talkin." "You got it." "We're all set." "Right you are. "Proper t'ing." Choose a partner. See how long you could keep up such an exchange. Keep a record of your exchange of expressions of agreement and enthusiasm.
Design a bumper sticker for Michael's (Mrs. McKay's) car. Design a t-shirt for Michael. For Curtis. For Uncle Ted. For Brent.

There has been a script written for a movie of Hold Fast. Choose some scenes for the book and decide if they would work on screen. Decide which scene from the book you would most like to see on film. Decide which could be the funniest, or have the most impact.

Compile a list of "Dos and Don'ts for Parents", using specific incidents from the book to illustrate them. Base your list on all the parenting in the book, including Michael's parenting of Brent.

The following are statements taken from reviews of the novel. Each comments positively or negatively on the book. Use them as a basis for discussion or debate.

'Hold Fast' resembles much of the social realism written today: frank language, honest expression of sexual feelings, lots of problems. But there is more to the novel than this.
Michael is a tough, likable kid capable of extending his concern beyond just his own troubles.
Major seems to regard adults as destroyers of freedom and of natural human relations. The only exception is Michael's grandfather.
Michael beats up a kid, lies, steals, defies adults, and runs away. Major portrays this happening because Michael has been displaced from a way of life natural and right for him. That is why Michael expresses no remorse or apology for his actions. The author has gone too far, particularly when Michael is not punished for his transgressions.
In most adolescent novels, the hero emerges from his trials with a deeper understanding. 'Hold Fast' fails to satisfy because Michael remains stubbornly unchanged.
Just as Michael successfully reclaims his home, another loss, that of his grandfather, occurs. Now only too familiar with sorrow, he accepts this tragedy as a part of life. It's a long way to have come in one year.