Analyzing Lit - FM and Unit 1

Sample Teachers Edition pages through Unit 1
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000i-00vii_Lit3eG
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ST. PAUL LOS ANGELES INDIANAPOLIS
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Staff Credits
Senior Editor: Brenda Owens

Associate Editors: Keri Henkel Stifter, Stephanie Djock, Carley Bomstad
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Photo Researchers: Brendan Curran, Paul Spencer
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Cover Designer: Leslie Anderson
Text Design and Page Layout Lead: Matthias Frasch
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Production Specialist: Petrina Nyhan
Literary Acknowledgments: Literary Acknowledgments appear following the Glossary of

Vocabulary Words. We have made every effort to trace the ownership of all copyrighted mate-
rial and to secure permission from copyright holders. In the event of any question arising as to
the use of any material, we will be pleased to make the necessary corrections in future print-
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indicated.
Art and Photo Credits: Art and Photo Credits appear following the Literary
Acknowledgments.
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Consultants, Reviewers, and Focus Group Participants
Jean Martorana Patti Magee Elisabeth Blumer Thompson
Reading Specialist/English Teacher English Instructor Language Arts Instructor
Desert Vista High School Timber Creek High School Swainsboro High School
Phoenix, Arizona Orlando, Florida Swainsboro, Georgia
Tracy Pulido Margaret J. Graham Toi Walker
Language Arts Instructor Language Arts/Reading Teacher English Instructor
West Valley High School Elizabeth Cobb Middle School Northeast Tifton County High
Fairbanks, Alaska Tallahassee, Florida School
Tifton, Georgia
Cindy Johnston Elizabeth Steinman
English Teacher English Instructor Jeanette Rogers
Argus High School Vero Beach High School English Instructor
Ceres, California Vero Beach, Florida Potlatch Jr.-Sr. High School
Potlatch, Idaho
Susan Stoehr Wanda Bagwell
Language Arts Instructor Language Arts Department Chair Gail Taylor
Aragon High School Commerce High School Language Arts Instructor
San Mateo, California Commerce, Georgia Rigby High School
Rigby, Idaho
John Owens Betty Deriso
Reading Specialist Language Department Chairperson Carey Robin
St. Vrain Valley Schools Crisp County High School Language Arts Instructor
Longmont, Colorado Cordele, Georgia St. Francis College Prep
Brookfield, Illinois
Fred Smith Dr. Peggy Leland
Language Arts Instructor English Instructor Patricia Meyer
St. Bernard High School Chestatee High School English Department Chair
Uncasville, Connecticut Gainsville, Georgia Glenbard East High School
Lombard, Illinois
Penny Austin-Richardson Matthew Boedy
English Department Chair Language Arts Instructor Liz Rebmann
Seaford Senior High School Harlem High School Language Arts Instructor
Seaford, Delaware Harlem, Georgia Morton High School
Morton, Illinois
Cecilia Lewis Patty Bradshaw
Language Arts Instructor English Department Chair Helen Gallagher
Mariner High School Harlem High School English Department Chair
Cape Coral, Florida Harlem, Georgia Main East High School
Park Ridge, Illinois
Jane Feber Dawn Faulkner
Teacher English Department Chair Rosemary Ryan
Mandarin Middle School Rome High School Dean of Students
Jacksonville, Florida Rome, Georgia Schaumburg High School
Schaumburg, Illinois
Dorothy Fletcher Carolyn C. Coleman
Language Arts Instructor AKS Continuous Improvement Donna Cracraft
Wolfson Senior High School Director English Department Co-Chair/IB
Jacksonville, Florida Gwinnett County Public Schools Coordinator
Suwanee, Georgia Pike High School
Tamara Doehring
Indianapolis, Indiana
English/Reading Teacher
Melbourne High School
Melbourne, Florida
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Consultants, Reviewers, and Focus Group Participants (cont.)
K. C. Salter Michael F. Graves Rosemary Ruffenach
Language Arts Instructor Professor Emeritus Language Arts Teacher, Consultant,
Knightstown High School University of Minnesota and Writer
Knightstown, Indiana 330A Peik Hall St. Paul, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Lisa Broxterman Nancy Papsin
Language Arts Instructor Kathleen Nelson English Teacher/Educational
Axtell High School English Instructor Consultant
Axtell, Kansas New Ulm High School White Bear Lake, Minnesota
New Ulm, Minnesota
Shirley Wells Shannon Umfleet
Language Arts Instructor Adonna Gaspar Communication Arts Instructor
Derby High School Language Arts Teacher Northwest High School
Derby, Kansas Cooper High School Cedar Hill, Missouri
Robbinsdale, Minnesota
Karen Ann Stous Ken Girard
Speech & Drama Teacher Sara L. Nystuen Language Arts Instructor
Holton High School English Department Chair; AP Bishop LeBlond High School
Holton, Kansas Instructor St. Joseph, Missouri
Concordia Academy
Martha-Jean Rockey Jessica Gall
Roseville, Minnesota
Language Arts Instructor Language Arts Instructor
Troy High School Tom Backen Fremont High School
Troy, Kansas English Teacher Fremont, Nebraska
Benilde-St. Margarets School
Shelia Penick Michael Davis
St. Louis Park, Minnesota
Yates Center High School Daniel Sylvester Millard West High School
Yates Center, Kansas Jr. High English & American Omaha, Nebraska
Experience Teacher
John Ermilio Lisa Larnerd
Benilde-St. Margarets School
English Teacher English Teacher
St. Louis Park, Minnesota
St. Johns High School Basic High School
Shrewsbury, Massachusetts Jean Borax Henderson, Nevada
Literacy Coach
James York Jo Paulson
Harding High School
English Teacher Title I Reading Teacher
St. Paul, Minnesota
Waverly High School Camino Real Middle School
Lansing, Michigan Erik Brandt Las Cruces, New Mexico
English Teacher
Mary Spychalla Stacy Biss
Harding High School
Gifted Education Coordinator Language Arts Instructor
St. Paul, Minnesota
Valley Middle School Hackensack High School
Apple Valley, Minnesota Kevin Brennan Hackensack, New Jersey
High School English Teacher
Shari K. Carlson J. M. Winchock
Cretin-Derham Hall
Advanced ILA Teacher Reading Specialist, Adult Literacy
St. Paul, Minnesota
Coon Rapids Middle School Instructor
Coon Rapids, Minnesota Anna Newcombe Hillsborough High School
English Instructor Hillsborough, New Jersey
Rebecca Benz
Harding High School
English Instructor
St. Paul, Minnesota
St. Thomas Academy
Mendota Heights, Minnesota
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Consultants, Reviewers, and Focus Group Participants (cont.)
Matthew Cahn Barbara Stroh Terry Ross
Department of English & Related English Department Chair Secondary Language Arts
Arts Supervisor Aurora High School Supervisor
River Dell High School Aurora, Ohio Austin Independent School District
Oradell, New Jersey Austin, Texas
Mary Jo Bish
Jean Mullooly Language Arts Instructor Angelia Greiner
Language Arts Instructor Lake Middle School English Department Chair
Holy Angels High School Millbury, Ohio Big Sandy High School
Trenton, New Jersey Big Sandy, Texas
Judy Ellsesser-Painter
Fenice Boyd Language Arts Instructor Sharon Kremer
Assistant Professor, Learning and South Webster High School Educational Consultant
Instruction South Webster, Ohio Denton, Texas
State University of New York at
Adele Dahlin E. J. Brletich
Buffalo
English Department Chair Supervisor of English/Language
Buffalo, New York
Central Catholic High School Arts
Michael Fedorchuk Toledo, Ohio Spotsylvania City School
Assistant Principal Fredericksburg, Virginia
Joshua Singer
Auburn High School
English Instructor Jeffrey Golub
Auburn, New York
Central Catholic High School Educational Consultant
Robert Balch Toledo, Ohio Bothell, Washington
English Instructor
Debbie Orendorf Clifford Aziz
Beacon High School
Beacon, New York
Berlin Brothers Valley High School Washington High School
Rene A. Roberge Berlin, Pennsylvania Tacoma, Washington
Secondary English/AP English
Dona Italiano Becky Palmer
Instructor
English Teacher/Language Arts Reading Teacher
Hudson Falls High School
Coordinator Madison Middle School
Hudson Falls, New York
Souderton Area High School Appleton, Wisconsin
Melissa Hedt Souderton, Pennsylvania
Mary Hoppe
Literacy Coach
Tina Parlier English Teacher
Asheville Middle School
Secondary English Instructor Bonduel High School
Asheville, North Carolina
Elizabethton High School Bonduel, Wisconsin
Jane Shoaf Elizabethton, Tennessee
Lou Wappel
Educational Consultant
Wayne Luellen English, Humanities & Guidance
Durham, North Carolina
English Instructor Instructor
Kimberly Tufts Houston High School St. Lawrence Seminary High School
Department Chair for ELA Germantown, Tennessee Mount Calvary, Wisconsin
Cranberry Middle School
Ed Farrell Gregory R. Keir
Elk Park, North Carolina
Senior Consultant Language Arts Instructor
Cheryl Gackle Emeritus Professor of English East Elementary School
English Instructor Education New Richmond, Wisconsin
Kulm High School University of Texas at Austin
Kulm, North Dakota Austin, Texas
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CONTENTS IN BRIEF
Unit 1 Fiction 1
Introduction to Fiction ........................................................................ 2
Fiction Reading Model 4
Understanding Plot 12
Understanding Point of View 42
Understanding Character 60
Understanding Setting 80
Understanding Theme 106
Reading Fiction Independently

Theme: Choices ............................................................................................................... 130
Unit 2 Nonfiction 217

Introduction to Nonfiction ................................................................. 218
Nonction Reading Model 220
Understanding Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir 232
Understanding the Essay 276
Understanding Speeches 296
Understanding Informational Text 316
Reading Nonction Independently

Theme: Things That Divide and Things That Unite ....................................................... 338
Unit 3 Poetry 389

Introduction to Poetry ....................................................................... 390
Poetry Reading Model 392
Understanding Speaker and Tone 398
Understanding Setting and Context 410
Understanding Structure and Form 418
Understanding Figurative Language 444
Understanding Sight and Sound 452
Reading Poetry Independently

Theme: Realizations ....................................................................................................... 470
viii CONTENTS IN BRIEF
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Unit 4 Drama 501
Introduction to Drama ...................................................................... 502
Drama Reading Model 506
Understanding Shakespeare 524
Understanding Greek Drama and the Story of Oedipus 646
Reading Drama Independently

Theme: Between Friends ................................................................................................ 698
Unit 5 Folk Literature 739

Introduction to Folk Literature ........................................................... 740
Folk Literature Reading Model 742
Understanding Myths and Legends 746
Understanding Folk Tales 788
Understanding Epics 806
Reading Folk Literature Independently

Theme: What Makes Us Human ..................................................................................... 836
Unit 6 Independent Reading 887
Reading Independently: Use Reading Strategies

Theme: The Examined Life..............................................................................................888
Reading Independently: Use Reading Skills
Theme: Strange Happenings .......................................................................................... 942
Language Arts Handbook............................................................................... 1028

Literary Terms Handbook .............................................................................. 1122
Glossary of Vocabulary Words ....................................................................... 1133
Literary Acknowledgments .................................................................................1138
Art and Photo Credits ....................................................................................1143
Index of Skills ................................................................................................ 1151
Index of Titles and Authors ............................................................................ 1160
CONTENTS IN BRIEF ix
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Unit 1 Fiction 1
Introduction to Fiction 2
GUIDED READING
Fiction Reading Model 4

Saki The Open Window SHOR T S TORY 5
Understanding Plot 12
W. W. Jacobs The Monkeys Paw SHOR T S TORY 14
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Subject-Verb Agreement 26
Doris Lessing Through the Tunnel SHOR T S TORY 28

S c i e n c e C o n n e c t i o n Th e A ct of Brea t h ing 33
L I T E R AT U R E C O N N EC T IO N Te x t-t o -Te x t
Margaret Atwood Death of a Young Son by Drowning P OEM 37
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Parallel Structure 40
DIRECTED READING
Understanding Point of View 42

Hernando Tllez Lather and Nothing Else SHOR T S TORY 44
Nadine Gordimer The Moment Before the Gun Went Off SHOR T S TORY 50
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement 58
Understanding Character 60
C O M PA R I NG L I T E R AT U R E
Judith Ortiz Cofer Catch the Moon SHOR T S TORY 62
Amy Tan Two Kinds SHOR T S TORY 69
Understanding Setting 80
Edgar Allan Poe The Masque of the Red Death SHOR T S TORY 82
I N FOR M AT IO N A L T E X T C O N N EC T IO N Te x t-t o -Te x t
Questions and Answers About Plague FAC T SHEE T 89
A ND M A P
VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Idioms, Metaphors, and Similes 92
Guy de Maupassant Two Friends SHOR T S TORY 94

H i sto r y C o n n e c t i o n T h e F ra n c o - P r u s s i a n War 98
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Sentence Variety 104
x CONTENTS
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Understanding Theme 106
Alice Walker Everyday Use SHOR T S TORY 108
Louise Erdrich The Leap SHOR T S TORY 118
Nikki Giovanni Her Flying Trapeze P OEM 125
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Comma Usage 128
INDEPENDENT READING
Reading Fiction Independently 130

Theme: Choices
Hwang Sun-wn Cranes SHOR T S TORY 132
Tim OBrien On the Rainy River SHOR T S TORY 137
Khaled Hosseini from The Kite Runner NOV EL E XCERP T 150
Edward Hower The Kite Runner: A Servants Son RE V IE W 155
Wilma Elizabeth Who Said We All Have to Talk Alike SHOR T S TORY 157
McDaniel
Employment Contract for a Nanny EMPLOY EE DOCUMEN T 163
Juanita Platero Chees Daughter SHOR T S TORY 167
and Siyowin Miller
Lorna Dee Freeway 280 P OEM 178
Cervantes
Chinua Achebe Civil Peace SHOR T S TORY 180
Sarah Orne Jewett A White Heron SHOR T S TORY 185
Italo Calvino The Enchanted Garden SHOR T S TORY 195
R. K. Narayan Like the Sun SHOR T S TORY 200
F OR YOUR RE A DING L IS T 204

SPE A K ING & L IS T ENING WORK SHOP 205
Present a Horror Story
W RI T ING WOR K SHOP 206
Expository Writing: Plot Analysis
T E S T PR AC T IC E WORK SHOP 212
Reading Skills: Make Inferences
Love Poems, by Lon Otto
Writing Skills: Reflective Essay
Revising and Editing Skills
CONTENTS xi
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Unit 2 Nonfiction 217
Introduction to Nonction 218
GUIDED READING
Nonction Reading Model 220

Coretta Scott King Montgomery Boycott MEMOIR 221
Understanding Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir 232

Christy Brown from My Left Foot AU TOBIOGR A PH Y 234
S c i e n c e C o n n e c t i o n C e rebra l Pa l s y 236
Jean-Dominique from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly MEMOIR 241
Bauby
L it e r a r y C o n n e c t i o n In s i d e a D iv ing B ell 242
Yoshiko Uchida from Desert Exile: The Uprooting AU TOBIOGR A PH Y 246
of a Japanese-American Family
S o c i a l St u d i e s C o n n e c t i o n E x e c u t ive O rd e r 9 0 6 6 248
Gerald R. Ford Proclamation 4417: Termination GOV ERNMEN T 255
DOCUMEN T
of Executive Order 9066
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Colons and Semicolons 258
DIRECTED READING
Langston Hughes Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People BIOGR A PH Y 260
Cu lt u r a l C o n n e c t i o n Th e St or y of Mose s 262
Anonymous Go Down, Moses T R A DI T ION A L SPIRI T UA L 269
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Consistent Use of Verb Tenses 272
VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Word Meanings in Synonyms, Antonyms, 274

Homophones, and Homographs
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Understanding the Essay 276
Robert MacNeil The Trouble with Television PER SUA SI V E E SS AY 278
H i sto r y C o n n e c t i o n Th e Hi st or y of Tele v i s i o n 280
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Irregular Verbs 284
Anna Quindlen from How Reading Changed My Life PER S ON A L E SS AY 286

S o c i a l St u d i e s C o n n e c t i o n L it e ra c y in A m e r i c a 288
Understanding Speeches 296

Elie Wiesel Keep Memory Alive SPEECH 298
Wo rl d H i s tor y C o n n e c t i on T h e H o l o c a u st 300
A. M. Rosenthal No News from Auschwitz NE WS A R T ICL E 301
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Capitalization 304
VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Word Origins 306
Chief Seattle Yonder Sky That Has Wept Tears SPEECH 308
of Compassion
H i sto r y C o n n e c t i o n Na t ive A m e r i c a n s in P uge t S o un d 310
VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Prexes, Roots, and Sufxes 314
CONTENTS xiii
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Understanding Informational Text 316
Julian West We Heard It Before We Saw Anything NE WS A R T ICL E 318
S c i e n c e C o n n e c t i o n Ts u n a m i o f 2 0 0 4 320
David Williams Like Being Spun in a Giant NE WS A R T ICL E 323
Washer
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Sentence Fragments and Run-Ons 326
Anne Lamott Short Assignments HOW -TO WRI T ING 328

Hu m a n it i e s C o n n e c t i o n B i r d b y B i r d w i t h A n n i e D o c um e n t ar y 330
How to Write a Short Story WEB A R T ICL E 333
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Paragraph Form 336
xiv CONTENTS
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INDEPENDENT READING
Reading Nonction Independently 338

Theme: Things That Divide and Things Thatt Unite
Gordon Parks from A Choice of Weapons MEMOIR 340
Rudolph Giuliani Getting It Right at Ground Zero E SS AY 347
Lucy Kaplansky Land of the Living S ONG 350
and Richard Litvin
Garrison Keillor On This Day in 2001 REFL EC T ION 352
Le Ly Hayslip from When Heaven and Earth Changed Places MEMOIR 353
Nguyen Thi Vinh Thoughts of Hanoi P OEM 359
Esmeralda Santiago Something Could Happen to You AU TOBIOGR A PH Y 362
Barbara Gutierrez On Loan to the Lonely BOOK RE V IE W 368
Mark Twain An Encounter with an Interviewer HUMOROUS SK E TCH 370

Listen Actively and Take Notes
Narrative Writing: Personal Narrative
Reading Skills: Identify the Main Idea and Supporting Details
The Roots of Genius? The Odd History of a Famous Old Brain,
by Steven Levy
Writing Skills: Persuasive Essay
CONTENTS xv
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Unit 3 Poetry 389
Introduction to Poetry 390
GUIDED READING
Poetry Reading Model 392

Jimmy Santiago Baca I Am Offering This Poem LY RIC P OEM 395
Understanding Speaker and Tone 398

Naomi Shihab Nye Making a Fist LY RIC P OEM 400
S c i e nc e C o n n e c t i o n M o t i o n Si ck n e s s 402
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Phases 404
Joy Harjo Remember LY RIC P OEM 406

Cu lt u r a l C o n n e c t i o n Cre a t i o n St or i e s 408
DIRECTED READING
Understanding Setting and Context 410

Li-Young Lee Eating Alone LY RIC P OEM 412
Marilyn Chin The Floral Apron LY RIC P OEM 414
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Sensory Details 416
xvi CONTENTS
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Understanding Structure and Form 418
William Shakespeare Shall I compare thee to a summers day? S ONNE T 420
Edna St. Vincent I know I am but summer to S ONNE T 422
Millay your heart
Cu lt u r a l C o n n e c t i o n T h e S o nn e t 423
I N FO R M AT I O N A L T E X T C O N N EC T I O N Te x t-t o -Te x t
Joanne Lannin Well-Versed Approach Merits Poetry Prize NE WS A R T ICL E 424
Henry Wadsworth The Broken Oar S ONNE T 425
Longfellow
VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Literal and Figurative Meanings of Words 428
John Updike Ex-Basketball Player N A RR AT I V E P OEM 430

John Updike Marching Through a Novel LY RIC P OEM 433
VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Denotation and Connotation 434
Jamaica Kincaid from Holidays PROSE P OEM 436

L it e r a r y C o n n e c t i o n C ar i b b e a n L it e ra t ure 440
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Possessives 442
CONTENTS xvii
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Understanding Figurative Language 444
Nikki Giovanni Poetry LY RIC P OEM 446
Hu m a n it i e s C o n n e c t i o n B lu e s a n d G os p el I nf lu e n ce s 448
Billy Collins Introduction to Poetry LY RIC P OEM 449
P R I M A RY S O U RC E C O N N EC T I O N Te x t-t o -Te x t
Elizabeth Farnsworth Elizabeth Farnsworth Talks to IN T ERV IE W 450
Billy Collins
Understanding Sight and Sound 452

Gwendolyn Brooks The Bean Eaters LY RIC P OEM 454
Langston Hughes Dream Variations LY RIC P OEM 456
Hu m a n it i e s C o n n e c t i o n T h e H ar l e m R e n a i s s a n c e 457
Gwendolyn Brooks We Real Cool LY RIC P OEM 459
Langston Hughes Teacher LY RIC P OEM 459
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Use Precise Language and Avoid Clichs 460
Carl Sandburg Jazz Fantasia LY RIC P OEM 462

Cu lt u r a l C o n n e c t i o n Th e Hi st or y of Ja z z 464
Okamoto Kanoko, Three Tanka TA NK A 466
Miyazawa Kenji, and
Tsukamoto Kunio
xviii CONTENTS
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INDEPENDENT READING
Reading Poetry Independently 470

Theme: Realizations
Lucille Clifton miss rosie LY RIC P OEM 472
Marge Piercy Simple Song LY RIC P OEM 474
Robert Frost Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening LY RIC P OEM 476
Robert Hayden Those Winter Sundays LY RIC P OEM 478
Gabriela Mistral Eight Puppies LY RIC P OEM 480
Translated by Doris
Ocho perritos LY RIC P OEM 481
Dana
Pat Mora Immigrants LY RIC P OEM 482

Family Ties LY RIC P OEM 483
Immigration Statistics S TAT IS T IC S A ND M A P 484
Theodore The Waking V ILL A NELLE 486
Roethke

Present an Oral Response to Literature
W RI T ING WORK SHOP 490
Descriptive Writing: Lyric Poem
Reading Skills: Draw Conclusions
Sitting, by H. E. Francis
Writing Skills: Reflective Essay
CONTENTS xix
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Unit 4 Drama 501
Introduction to Drama 502
GUIDED READING
Drama Reading Model 506

Anton Chekhov A Marriage Proposal ONE - AC T PL AY 507
DIRECTED READING
Understanding Shakespeare 524

William Shakespeare The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act I PL AY 530
Wo rld H i s tor y C o n n e c t i on T h e R i s e a n d Fa l l o f a L e a d e r 542
Cu lt u r a l C o n n e c t i o n E li za b e t h a n Sup e r st it i o n 547
In Search of Shakespeare WEBSI T E 551
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Active and Passive Voice 554
VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Using a Dictionary and a Thesaurus 556
William Shakespeare The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act II PL AY 558

S o c i a l St u d i e s C o n n e c t i o n Th e L im b of C a e s ar 564
William Shakespeare The Tragedy Julius Caesar, Act III PL AY 577
Cu lt u r a l C o n n e c t i o n Wo un d s of A c c u s a t i o n 587
Constantine Cavafy The Ides of March P OEM 600
VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Spelling Rules and Tips 602
William Shakespeare The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act IV PL AY 604

William Shakespeare The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act V PL AY 620
Cu lt u r a l C o n n e c t i o n T h e Tr i u m p h 625
Wo rld H i s tor y C o n n e c t i on Th e Int r ig u e of C a e s ar 633
Niccol Machiavelli from The Prince T RE AT ISE 635
Allison Samuels Brutus on Broadway: Et tu, Denzel? A R T ICL E 641
Washington Shakes Up Shakespeare
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Hyphens, Dashes, and Ellipses 644
xx CONTENTS
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Understanding Greek Drama and the Story of Oedipus 646
Sophocles Antigone PL AY 648
Cu lt u r a l C o n n e c t i o n Greek T h e a t e r s 665
S o c i a l St u d i e s C o n n e c t i o n D e m o c ra c y in Gree ce 674
Cu lt u r a l C o n n e c t i o n T h e F ur i e s 684
L I T E R AT U R E C O N N EC T I O N Te x t-t o -Te x t
Dahlia Ravikovitch Pride P OEM 693
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Coordination, Subordination, and Apposition 696
INDEPENDENT READING
Reading Drama Independently 698

Theme: Between Friends
George S. Kaufman The Still Alarm ONE - AC T PL AY 700
Susan Glaspell Trifles ONE - AC T PL AY 708
Judith Kay Russell Glaspells Trifles LI T ER A RY CRI T ICISM 723

Deliver a Persuasive Speech
Persuasive Writing: Persuasive Essay
Reading Skills: Evaluate an Argument
Florence Kelley Speaks Out, by Florence Kelley
Writing Skills: Persuasive Writing
CONTENTS xxi
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Unit 5 Folk Literature 739
Introduction to Folk Literature 740
GUIDED READING
Folk Literature Reading Model 742

Nalungiaq Magic Words N A RR AT I V E P OEM 743
Understanding Myths and Legends 746

Robert Graves Orpheus MY TH 748
Hu m a n it i e s C o n n e c t i o n D e sce nt t o t h e Un d e r worl d 750
Denise Levertov Tree Telling of Orpheus LY RIC P OEM 753
D. T. Niane from Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali EPIC LEGEND 760
T. H. White from The Once and Future King LEGEND 768
P R I M A RY S O U RC E C O N N EC T I O N Te x t-t o -Te x t
Sir Thomas Malory from Le Morte dArthur LEGEND 779
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Transitions 784
VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Words with Multiple Meanings 786
DIRECTED READING
Understanding Folk Tales 788

Anonymous Naked Truth and Resplendent Parable F OL K TA L E 790
Jacob and Wilhelm Mother Holle FA IRY TA LE 794
Grimm
Retold by Parker The Wonderful Hair FA IRY TA LE 799
Fillmore
VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Informal and Archaic Language 804
xxii CONTENTS
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Understanding Epics 806
Elias Lnnrot The Drowned Maid, from The Kalevala EPIC 808
Cu lt u r a l C o n n e c t i o n T h e K a l e v a l as Im p a c t o n F in l a n d 811
Ruth MacKenzie In the Blue Woodland S ONG LY RIC S 819
Brian Handwerk Lord of the Rings: Inspired by an Ancient Epic M AG A ZINE A R T ICL E 821
Miguel de Cervantes from The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote NOV EL E XCERP T 825
Saavedra de la Mancha
Hu m a n it i e s C o n n e c t i o n T h e C h iva lr i c R o m a n ce 829
GR AMMAR & ST YLE Adjectives and Adverbs 834
INDEPENDENT READING
Reading Folk Literature Independently 836

Theme: What Makes Us Human
Anonymous, Mu-lan BA LL A D 838
Translated by
Hans H. Frankel
Retold by The Love of Cupid and Psyche MY TH 841
Sally Benson
Retold by Damon and Pythias MY TH 848
William F. Russell
Retold by Savitri and Satyavant MY TH 852
Walker Brents
Retold by The Death of Balder MY TH 857
Walker Brents
Homer, Translated from The Iliad EPIC 861
by Robert Fagles

Prepare a Multimedia Presentation
Expository Writing: Research Paper
Reading Skills: Evaluate Cause and Effect
History of Colombia, from Lonely Planet
CONTENTS xxiii
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Unit 6 Independent Reading 887
Reading Independently: Use Reading Strategies 888
Theme: The Examined Life

Toni Cade Bambara Geraldine Moore the Poet SHOR T S TORY 890
Sandra Cisneros Geraldo No Last Name SHOR T S TORY 895
Garrett Hongo The Legend LY RIC P OEM 897
P R I M A RY S O U RC E C O N N EC T IO N Te x t-t o -Te x t
Garrett Hongo Hongo Reflects on The Legend REFL EC T ION 899
Mark Doty New Dog LY RIC P OEM 901
Jack Finney Contents of the Dead Mans Pocket SHOR T S TORY 903
Mind/Body Health: Job Stress FAC T SHEE T 916
Bill Bryson from In a Sunburned Country T R AV EL WRI T ING 918
John Steinbeck from Travels with Charley N A RR AT I V E 928
NONFIC T ION
Leo Tolstoy Land Enough for a Man SHOR T S TORY 931
Reading Independently: Use Reading Skills 942
Theme: Strange Happenings

Stephen Vincent By the Waters of Babylon SHOR T S TORY 944
Bent
Ray Bradbury There Will Come Soft Rains SHOR T S TORY 955
Pablo Neruda House P OEM 960
Truman Capote Miriam SHOR T S TORY 962
Emily Dickinson The only ghost I ever saw P OEM 972
xxiv CONTENTS
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Gabriel Garca A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings SHOR T S TORY 974
Mrquez
Hortense Calisher Heartburn SHOR T S TORY 981
Health Information Privacy Rights C ONSUMER 990
DOCUMEN T
Naguib Mahfouz The Happy Man SHOR T S TORY 993
Lucille Fletcher The Hitchhiker R A DIO DR A M A 1000

Jan Harold from The Vanishing Hitchhiker A N T HROP OLOGIC A L 1012
A N A LY SIS
Brunvand

Analyze a Media Presentation
Narrative Writing: Short Story

Reading Skills: Classify and Synthesize Information
Sweet 16: Not for driving, by Patrick Welsh
CONTENTS xxv
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LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES
Language Arts Handbook 1028

1 Reading Strategies & Skills
1.1 The Reading Process 1029
1.2 Using Reading Strategies 1030
1.3 Using Reading Skills 1032
2 Vocabulary Skills
2.1 Using Context Clues 1040
2.2 Breaking Words Into Base Words, Word Roots, 1041
Prexes, and Sufxes
2.3 Exploring Word Origins and Word Families 1046
2.4 Using a Dictionary 1046
2.5 Understanding Multiple Meanings 1047
2.6 Understanding Denotation and Connotation 1047
2.7 Spelling 1047
3 Grammar & Style
3.1 The Sentence 1054
3.2 The Parts of Speech 1056
3.3 Nouns 1057
3.4 Pronouns 1057
3.5 Verbs 1059
3.6 Complements 1060
3.7 Agreement 1062
3.8 Modiers 1063
3.9 Prepositions and Conjunctions 1065
3.10 Interjections 1066
3.11 Phrases 1066
3.12 Clauses 1068
3.13 Common Usage Problems 1069
3.14 Commonly Misused Words 1071
3.15 Punctuation 1077
3.16 Capitalization 1082
3.17 Writing Effective Sentences 1084
4 Writing
4.1 The Writing Process 1087
4.2 Modes and Purposes of Writing 1094
5 Research & Documentation
5.1 Critical Thinking Skills 1095
5.2 Research Skills 1095
xxvi CONTENTS
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5.3 Internet Research 1098
5.4 Media Literacy 1100
5.5 Evaluating Sources 1100
5.6 Documenting Sources 1101
6 Applied English
6.1 Workplace and Consumer Documents 1105
6.2 Writing a Step-by-Step Procedure 1105
6.3 Writing a Business Letter 1105
6.4 Writing an Application Letter 1106
6.5 Writing a Rsum 1107
6.6 Writing a Memo 1108
6.7 Writing a Proposal 1108
6.8 Writing a Press Release 1110
6.9 Writing a Public Service Announcement 1110
7 Speaking & Listening
7.1 Verbal and Nonverbal Communication 1111
7.2 Listening Skills 1111
7.3 Collaborative Learning and Communication 1112
7.4 Asking and Answering Questions 1113
7.5 Conducting an Interview 1113
7.6 Public Speaking 1114
7.7 Oral Interpretation 1115
7.8 Telling a Story 1116
7.9 Participating in a Debate 1116
7.10 Preparing a Multimedia Presentation 1117
8 Test-Taking Skills
8.1 Preparing for Tests 1118
8.2 Strategies for Taking Standardized Tests 1118
8.3 Answering Objective Questions 1118
8.4 Answering Multiple-Choice Questions 1119
8.5 Answering Reading Comprehension Questions 1119
8.6 Answering Synonym and Antonym Questions 1119
8.7 Answering Sentence Completion Questions 1120
8.8 Answering Constructed-Response Questions 1120
8.9 Answering Essay Questions 1120
Literary Terms Handbook 1122

Glossary of Vocabulary Words 1133
Literary Acknowledgments 1138
Art and Photo Credits 1143
Index of Skills 1151
Index of Titles and Authors 1160
CONTENTS xxvii
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LANGUAGE ARTS WORKSHOPS
Grammar & Style

Subject-Verb Agreement 26
Parallel Structure 40
Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement 58
Sentence Variety 104
Comma Usage 128
Colons and Semicolons 258
Irregular Verbs 284
Capitalization 304
Sentence Fragments and Run-Ons 326
Paragraph Form 336
Phases 404
Sensory Details 416
Possessives 442
Use Precise Language and Avoid Clichs 460
Active and Passive Voice 554
Hyphens, Dashes, and Ellipses 644
Coordination, Subordination, and Apposition 696
Transitions 784
Adjectives and Adverbs 835
Vocabulary & Spelling

Idioms, Metaphors, and Similes 92
Word Meanings in Synonyms, Antonyms, Homophones, 274
and Homographs
Word Origins 306
Prexes, Roots, and Sufxes 314
Literal and Figurative Meanings of Words 428
Denotation and Connotation 434
Using a Dictionary and a Thesaurus 556
Spelling Rules and Tips 602
Words with Multiple Meanings 786
Informal and Archaic Language 804
Speaking & Listening

Present a Horror Story 205
Listen Actively and Take Notes 377
Present an Oral Response to Literature 489
Deliver a Persuasive Speech 727
Prepare a Multimedia Presentation 873
Analyze a Media Presentation 1017
xxviii CONTENTS
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Writing
Plot Analysis 206
Personal Narrative 378
Lyric Poem 490
Persuasive Essay 728
Research Paper 874
Short Story 1018
Test Practice
Reading Skills
Make Inferences 212
Identify the Main Idea and Supporting Details 384
Draw Conclusions 496
Evaluate an Argument 734
Evaluate Cause and Effect 882
Classify and Synthesize Information 1024
Writing Skills
Reective Essay 214, 498
Persuasive Essay 386, 736, 884, 1026
Revising and Editing Skills 215, 387, 499, 737, 885, 1027
CONTENTS xxix
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INDEPENDENT READING
Fiction
Cranes, Hwang Sun-wn 132 from In a Sunburned Country,
On the Rainy River, Tim OBrien 137 Bill Bryson, 918
from The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini, 150 from Travels with Charley, John
Who Said We All Have to Talk Alike, Steinbeck 928
Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel 157
Chees Daughter, Juanita Platero and
Siyowin Miller 167
Poetry
Civil Peace, Chinua Achebe 180
miss rosie, Lucille Clifton 472
A White Heron, Sarah Orne Jewett 185
Simple Song, Marge Piercy 474
The Enchanted Garden, Italo Calvino 195
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Like the Sun, R. K. Narayan 200
Evening, Robert Frost 476
Geraldine Moore the Poet, Toni Cade
Those Winter Sundays, Robert Hayden 478
Bambara 890
Eight Puppies, Gabriela Mistral 480
Geraldo No Last Name, Sandra Cisneros 895
Ocho perritos, Gabriela Mistral 481
Contents of the Dead Mans Pocket,
Immigrants, Pat Mora 482
Jack Finney 903
Family Ties, Pat Mora 483
Land Enough for a Man, Leo Tolstoy 931
The Waking, Theodore Roethke 486
By the Waters of Babylon, Stephen
The Legend, Garrett Hongo 897
Vincent Bent, 944
New Dog, Mark Doty 901
There Will Come Soft Rains, Ray
Bradbury 955
Miriam, Truman Capote 962 Drama
A Very Old Man with Enormous
Wings, Gabriel Garca Mrquez 974 The Still Alarm, George S. Kaufman 700
Heartburn, Hortense Calisher 981 Trifles, Susan Glaspell 708
The Happy Man, Naguib Mahfouz 993 The Hitchhiker, Lucille Fletcher 1000
Nonction Folk Literature

from A Choice of Weapons, Gordon Mu-lan, Anonymous 838
Parks 340 The Love of Cupid and Psyche,
Getting It Right at Ground Zero, Sally Benson 841
Rudolph Giuliani 347 Damon and Pythias, William F. Russell 848
from When Heaven and Earth Savitri and Satyavant, Walker Brents 852
Changed Places, Le Ly Hayslip 353 The Death of Balder, Walker Brents 857
Something Could Happen to You, from The Iliad, Homer 861
Esmeralda Santiago 362
An Encounter with an Interviewer,
Mark Twain 370
xxx CONTENTS
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TO THE STUDENT
Think about when you were young and about to start school for the first
time. When you stood in front of the mirror, your view was focused on your
own reflection and limited by your own experience. Then the windows of
learning began to open your mind to new ideas and new experiences, broad-
ening both your awareness and your curiosity.
As you discovered reading, you learned to connect with what you read and to
examine your own ideas and experiences. And the more you read, the more
you learned to connect with the ideas and experiences of other people from
other times and other places. Great literature provides mirrors that help you
reflect on your own world and windows that lead you into new worlds. This
metaphor for the reading experience expresses the power of words to engage
and transform you.
EMCs literature program, Mirrors & Windows: Connecting with Literature,

provides opportunities for you to explore new worlds full of people, cultures,
and perspectives different from your own. This book contains stories, essays,
plays, and poems by outstanding authors from around the globe. Reading
these selections will expand your appreciation of literature and your world
view. Studying them will help you examine universal themes such as hon-
esty, integrity, and justice and common emotions such as fear, pride, and
belonging. You may already have thought about some of these ideas and
feelings yourself.
As you read the selections in this book, try to see yourself in the characters,
stories, and themes. Also try to see yourself as a citizen of the worlda
world from which you have much to learn and to which you have much
to offer.
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Unit 1 Visual Planning Guide
Planning and Assessment Tools
Interactive Teachers Edition Assessment Guide and ExamView

One location for accessing, pre- A variety of assessments are available
viewing, and planning for use of for this unit in print and electronic
all program resources. forms, including:
Formative Survey
Unit Exams
EMC Launchpad Practice Test
Desktop application for Alternative Assessment Option
accessing, previewing, plan- Selection Quizzes for each lesson
ning, posting, and grading (see Lesson-by-Lesson Resources)
Annotated Teachers
all program resources. Post personal
Edition
resources and lessons, and access the
E-Lesson Planner, the E-Gradebook,
and training modules for computer
literacy.
Meeting the Standards: Unit 1 Program Planning Guide

In addition to lesson-by-lesson resources, and E-Lesson Planner
Meeting the Standards includes the fol- Alternative Teaching Options
lowing unit-based resources: Evaluation Guidelines
Unit Study Guide Lesson Plans for all the selections
Practice Test in the unit (see Lesson-by-Lesson
Active Reading Model R
Resources)
TThe E-Lesson Planner contains fully

ddeveloped lesson plans and unit
re
resources with an electronic calen-
ddar for editing lesson plans.
Technology Tools
Visual Teaching Package Interactive Student Text on CD Audio Library
Mirrors
& This package includes unit-based The student textbook on CD Authentic, dramatic record-
Windows
lectures, games, art collections, includes practice activities, addi- ings with listening activities
and Writing Workshops in tional vocabulary work, and a expand listening skills and
PowerPoint format; included direct link to the student website, offer additional support
within the EMC Launchpad. in addition to everything in the for developing readers and
student text. English Language Learners.
ETS Online Criterion-Based mirrorsandwindows.com

Essay Grader Student and teacher resources, sup-
Students can use this ETS web- port, references, technology tools,
based tool to evaluate their essays and state-specific activities are avail-
online before submitting them for able at mirrorsandwindows.com.
teacher review and final evaluation. The website is customizable using
the EMC Launchpad.
1A UNIT 1 FICTION
Gr 10 Unit Map U1.indd 2 5/2/08 4:11:24 PM

Unit-Based Resources
Exceeding the Standards Unit Resources

Each of the Exceeding the Standards resources provides fully developed lessons to help you extend the textbook lessons and to
expand upon the themes and skills covered in the unit. You can also download these lessons from mirrorsandwindows.com.
Grammar & Style Literature & Reading

This resource contains: This resource contains one extended
Four lessons on the Sentence and lesson:
Parts of Speech Fiction Study: Famous Characters
Five lessons on Nouns and Pronouns from Literature
Special Topics Test Practice

This resource contains one lesson in This resource contains the following
each of the following: test preparation lessons:
Hardware, Software, and Networks English, Reading, and Writing: ACT
Case Study: Character Format, Practice Test A
Finding a Good Job English, Reading, and Writing: ACT
Format, Practice Test B
Writing Speaking & Listening

This resource contains a lesson using This resource contains detailed
literature models from this unit as an lessons to expand on the Speaking
extension to the Writing Workshop in & Listening Workshop.
the student text.
Vocabulary & Spelling Extension Activities

This resource contains: This resource contains one extended
Three lessons on Word Study Skills lesson for each of the following:
One lesson on Research Tools Collaborative Learning
Lifelong Learning
Media Literacy
Critical Literacy
UNIT-BASED RESOURCES 1B

open
APPLY THE MODEL
THE
Reading Level: Moderate
WINDOW
W A Short Story by Sakii
Pacing: 2 days
It was certainly an unfortunate
coincidence that he should have paid
his visit on this tragic anniversary.
self pos sessed

(self< p@ zest>) adj.,
M y aunt will be down presently,1 Mr. Nuttel, said a very
self-possessed young lady of fifteen; in the meantime you
must try and put up with me.
confident; composed
Framton Nuttel endeavored2 to say the correct something
du ly (d2> l7) adv., as 5 which should duly flatter the niece of the moment without unduly
required; sufficiently
discounting3 the aunt that was to come. Privately he doubted
Meeting the Standards, Developing Readers, English Language

more than ever whether these formal visits on a succession of total
Quiz
strangers would do much towards helping the nerve cure
USE READING STRATEGIES which he was supposed to be undergoing.
10
Make Inferences What can you
I know how it will be, his sister had said when he was
How to Use an Active Make Predictions Learners, Text

guess about Framton Nuttel from his preparing to migrate to this rural retreat; you will bury
doubts about formal visits? yourself down there and not speak to a living soul, and
your nerves will be worse than ever from moping. I shall
just give you letters of introduction to all the people I know there.
15 Some of them, as far as I can remember, were quite nice.
1. presently. Soon, in a little while

2. endeavored. Tried; attempted
3. unduly discounting. Improperly disregarding
Reading Model Organization
6 UNIT 1 FICTION
0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01_1_UOpen.i6 6 11/19/07 11:28:43 AM
The
The
Monkeys Reading Level: Moderate
Paw
Hold it up in
Pacing: 2 days
your right hand and

wish aloud, said the
sergeant-major,
but I warn you

of the consequences.
A Short Story by W. W. Jacobs Quiz
W ithout, the night was cold and wet,
Guided Reading Make Predictions Learners, Sequence of

but in the small parlor of Laburnum
Villa the blinds were drawn, and the fire
burned brightly.
Father and son were at chess, the
Events
former, who possessed ideas about the game
involving radical changes, putting his king
into such sharp and unnecessary perils that
it even provoked comment from the white-
haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.
THE MONKEYS PAW 15
0012-0041_Lit3eG10_U01_2a_RegSel15 15 11/19/07 11:36:13 AM

Pacing: 3 days
Meeting the Standards, Developing Readers, Advanced Students,

The Rocks at Belle-lle, the Wild Coast, 1886. Claude Monet. Muse dOrsay, Paris, France.
A Short Story by Doris Lessing Quiz

G
Guided Reading Unlock Word Meaning Science Connection
oing to the shore on the first morning of the toward the bay and back again to his mother.
vacation, the young English boy stopped at When she felt he was not with her, she swung
a turning of the path and then over the crowded around. Oh, there you are, Jerry! she said. She
beach he knew so well from other years. His looked impatient, then smiled. Why, darling,
mother walked on in front of him, carrying a would you rather not come with me? Would
Project
bright striped bag in one hand. Her other arm, you rather She frowned, conscientiously
swinging loose, was very white in the sun. The
boy watched that white, naked arm, and turned con sci en tious ly (k5n[t]< sh7 en[t]> sh@s l7) adv., in
his eyes, which had a frown behind them, a manner governed by doing what one knows is right
THROUGH THE TUNNEL 29
Reading Level: Easy

Pacing: 1 day
A Short Story by Hernando Tllez
And so, which

will it be?
Murderer or
hero?
At the Barbers, 1912. Marc Chagall. Muse

National dArt Moderne, Paris, France.
Quiz
H e came in without a word. I was strop- and hung his cap above it. Then he turned
Directed Reading Make Predictions Learners, Classify

ping1 my best razor. And when I full around toward me and, loosening his tie,
recognized him, I started to shake. But he did remarked, Its hot as the devil, I want a shave.
not notice. To cover my nervousness, I went With that he took his seat.
on honing2 the razor. I tried the edge with the I estimated he had a four-days growth of
Information
tip of my thumb and took another look at it beard, the four days he had been gone on the
against the light.
Meanwhile he was taking off his cartridge- 1. stropping. Sharpening by rubbing back and forth on a thick
piece of leather, or strop
studded3 belt with the pistol holster suspended 2. honing. Sharpening
from it. He put it on a hook in the wardrobe 3. cartridge-studded. Adorned with bullets
LATHER AND NOTHING ELSE 45
0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel45 45 11/19/07 11:47:34 AM
The Moment
Before the
Gun Went Off

ffReading Level: Moderate
ff
A Short Story by Nadine Gordimer
M arais Van der Vyver shot one of his

farm laborers, dead. An accident, there
are accidents with guns every day of the
Theyll be able to use it in their boycott and
divestment campaigns, itll be another piece
evidence in their truth about the country.
iece of
y. The
Pacing: 1 day
weekchildren playing a fatal game with a papers at home will quote the story as itt has
fathers revolver in the cities where guns are
domestic objects, nowadays, hunting mishaps 1. Afrikaner. A South African of European descent whoseose native
language is Afrikaans
like this one, in the countrybut these wont ca from
2. National Party. Ruling political party in South Africa
be reported all over the world. Van der Vyver 19481994 that initiated the policy of apartheid
3. commandant. Commanding officer
knows his will be. He knows that the story 4. commando. An organized force of Boer troops in South Africa.
of the Afrikaner1 farmerregional leader of Boers are South Africans of Dutch or Huguenot descent.
the National Party2 and commandant3 of the
local security commando4shooting a black do mes tic (d@ mes> tik) adj., relating to the household or
family
man who worked for him will fit exactly their di vest ment (d8 ves[t]> m@nt) n., reduction of investments
version of South Africa, its made for them. for social or political reasons; selling of assets
The moment before the gun went off

was a moment of high excitement.
Quiz Meeting the Standards, Developing Readers,
Directed Reading Make Connections
51
Interactive Student Selection Web-based

1C UNIT 1 FICTION Text on CD-ROM Lesson Plan Resources

Lesson-by-Lesson Resources
L uis Cintrn sits on top of a six-foot pile
of hubcaps and watches his father walk
away into the steel jungle of his car junkyard.
Released into his old mans custody after six
months in juvenile hallfor breaking and
enteringand he didnt even take anything.
He did it on a dare. But the old lady with the

million cats was a light sleeper, and good with
her aluminum cane. He has a scar on his head
REFER TO TEXT
R REASON WITH TEXT

to prove it.
Now Luis is wondering whether he should 1a. Recall why Luis spends six months in
1 1b. What is the underlying reason for Luiss Understand
have stayed in and done his full time. Jorge juvenile hall. disruptive behavior? Conclude whether Find meaning
he is a typical gang member and
Pacing: 3 days
Cintrn of Jorge Cintrn & Son, Auto Parts and
explain your response.
Salvage, has decided that Luis should wash and
polish every hubcap in the yard. The hill he is 2 Repeat what Luiss mother often said to
2a. 2b. Make some generalizations about how Apply
him when she was alive. people react to the death of a loved Use information
n
sitting on is only the latest couple of hundred one. What kind of reaction do you think
wheel covers that have come in. Luis grunts and Luiss mother would have liked?
stands up on top of his silver mountain. He yells 3a.
3 Identify things Luis does to show he is 3b. Infer why Luis wants to create a new Analyze
at no one, Someday, son, all this will be yours, a good son. relationship with his father. Take things
and sweeps his arms like the Pope blessing a apart
crowd over the piles of car sandwiches and 4 What does Luis think of his father?
4a. 4b. Judge Luiss treatment of his father. Is Evaluate
mounds of metal parts that cover this acre of it justified? Explain. Make judgmentss
A Short Story land outside the city. He is the Son of Jorge 5 Luiss act of giving the hubcap to
5a. 5b. What do you think about the romantic Create
Cintrn & Son, and so far his father has had Naomi represents a turning point in his element in the story as it is related to Bring ideas
by Judith Ortiz Cofer more than one reason to wish it was plain Jorge life. List two things he has done since Luiss turning point? Write a note to the together
Cintrn on the sign. his mother died that he is probably not author about her inclusion of this bit of
Luis has been getting in trouble since he proud of. romance.
TWO
TWO Kinds
started high school two years ago, mainly
because of the social group he organizeda
bunch of guys who were into harassing the local
authorities. Their thing was taking something to
the limit on a dare or, better still, doing some-
thing dangerous, like breaking into a house,
Luis has been not to steal, just to prove that they could do it.
That was Luiss specialty, coming up with very A Short Story by Amy Tan
getting in trouble complicated plans, like military strategies, and
since he started
assigning the jobs to guys who wanted to join
the Tiburones. M y mother believed you could be anything
you wanted to be in America. You could

Tiburn means shark, and Luis had gotten
high school two open a restaurant. You could work for the
Quiz
the name from watching an old movie about a government and get good retirement. You
years ago. Puerto Rican gang called the Sharks1 with his
father. Luis thought it was one of the dumbest
could buy a house with almost no money
down. You could become rich. You could
films he had ever seen. Everybody sang their become instantly famous.
Comparing Literature Character Analysis Learners, Compare and

Of course you can be prodigy,1 too, my
1. Sharks. Fictional Puerto-Rican gang from the movie West Side
Story In all of my mother told me when I was nine. You can be
best anything. What does Auntie Lindo know?
OMPARING LITERATURE COMPARING LITERATURE COMPARING
CATCH THEWRITING LITERATURE
MOON / TWO
WORKSHOP
KINDS 63 COM imaginings, I was Her daughter, she is only best tricky.
America was where all my mothers hopes
Activity Contrast
filled with a sense lay. She had come here in 1949 after losing
everything in China: her mother and father,
that I would soon her family home, her first husband, and two
become perfect. 1. prodigy. Person who has extraordinary talent, especially a

child
OMPARING LITERATURE COMPARING LITERATURE COMPARING LITERATURE

CATCH THE MOON / TWO KINDS 69 COM
The Masque
of the Red Death
th
A Short Story by Edgar Allan
n Poe Reading Level: Challenging
All these and
security were Pacing: 2 days
within. Withoutt
was the Red
Death.
T he Red Death had long devastated

the country. No pestilence had ever
been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was
its Avatar1 and its sealthe redness and
the horror of blood. There were sharp
pains, and sudden dizziness, and then
profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolu-
tion.2 The scarlet stains upon the body and
especially upon the face of the victim, were the
Quiz
pest ban3 which shut him out from the aid and
from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the
whole seizure, progress, and termination of the
disease, were the incidents of half an hour.
Directed Reading Informational Text Learners, Meaning of

But the Prince Prospero was happy and
dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions
1. Avatar. God in human form. In this case, the term refers to the
diseases form.
Activity Words
2. dissolution. Death
3. pest ban. Official declaration that an individual has the plague
pro fuse (pr@ fy2s>) adj., plentiful; available in great amounts

daunt less (d0nt> l@s) adj., fearless; daring
sa ga cious (s@ g6> sh@s) adj., wise
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH 83
Two
Friends
Guy de Maupassant
A Short Story by
Pacing: 2 days
The Marshes of Arleux, 1871. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.
Its too bad for you that youve

fallen into my hands. But war is war.
P aris was under siege,1 in the grip of famine, Sauvage, whom he had got to know on fishing
Meeting the Standards, Developing Readers,

at its last gasp. There were few sparrows expeditions.
Quiz
on the rooftops now, and even the sewers were Every Sunday before the war it was
losing some of their inhabitants. The fact is Morissots custom to set off at the crack of
that people were eating anything they could get dawn with his bamboo rod in his hand and a
Directed Reading Historical Context

their hands on. tin box slung over his back. He would catch
One bright January morning Monsieur the Argenteuil train and get off at Colombes,
Morissot was strolling dejectedly along one of from where he would walk to the island of
the outer boulevards, with an empty stomach Marante. The minute he reached this land of
and his hands in the pockets of his old army his dreams he would start to fishand he
Project
trousers. He was a watchmaker by trade and a would go on fishing till it got dark.
man who liked to make the most of his leisure.
Suddenly, he came upon one of his close
friends, and he stopped short. It was Monsieur 1. siege. Cutoff of supplies by an enemy military force
TWO FRIENDS 95
0092-0129_Lit3eG10_U01_2c_RegSel95 95 11/19/07 11:57:00 AM

verydayy
E U S EPacing: 2 days
A Short Story by Alice Walker
for your grandmama
Maggie cant appreciate these
quilts!...Shed probably be backward
enough to put them to everyday use.
I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie

and I made so clean and wavy yesterday
afternoon. A yard like this is more comfortable
Youve no doubt seen those TV shows
where the child who has made it is
confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother
than most people know. It is not just a yard. and father, tottering in weakly from backstage.1

It is like an extended living room. When the (A pleasant surprise, of course: What would
Quiz
hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine they do if parent and child came on the show
sand around the edges lined with tiny, irregular only to curse out and insult each other?) On
grooves, anyone can come and sit and look TV mother and child embrace and smile into
Directed Reading Take Notes

up into the elm tree and wait for the breezes each others faces.
that never come inside the house. Maggie Sometimes the mother and father weep, the
will be nervous until after her sister goes: she child wraps them in her arms and leans across
will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and the table to tell how she would not have made
ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and
legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy 1. TV showsbackstage. Refers to This Is Your Life, a 1950s
television show in which celebrities were surprised by family and
and awe. She thinks her sister has held life
friends from their past
always in the palm of one hand, that no is a
word the world never learned to say to her. home ly (h9m> l7) adj., simple; plain
EVERYDAY USE 109
M y mother is the surviving half of a blind-

fold trapeze act, not a fact I think about
much even now that she is sightless, the result
of encroaching and stubborn cataracts.1 She
walks slowly through her house here in New
Hampshire, lightly touching her way along ong
walls and running her hands over knickknacks,knacks,

books, the drift of a grown childs belongings
gings
and castoffs. She has never upset an object ect or
as much as brushed a magazine onto thee floor.
She has never lost her balance or bumped ed into
Pacing: 2 days
a closet door left carelessly open.
It has occurred to me that the catlikee preci-
sion of her movements in old age might be
the result of her early training, but she shows
hows
so little of the drama or flair one might expect
from a performer that I tend to forget thee Flying
Avalons. She has kept no sequined costume, ume,
no photographs, no fliers or posters from m that
part of her youth. I would, in fact, tend to think
that all memory of double somersaults and
heart-stopping catches had left her arms and
legs were it not for the fact that sometimes, as
I sit sewing in the room of the rebuilt house in
which I slept as a child, I hear the crackle, catch
a whiff of smoke from the stove downstairs,
The Acrobat, c. 1900s. and suddenly the room goes dark, the stitches
THE Marc Chagall. Muse dArt burn beneath my fingers, and I am sewing with
Moderne de la Ville de Paris,
Paris, France.
a needle of hot silver, a thread of fire.
L A Short Story by
Louise Erdrich
I owe her my existence three times.
The first was when she saved herself. In the
town square a replica tent pole, cracked

and splintered, now stands cast in concrete.
E My mother once
said that Id be
It commemorates the disaster that put our
town smack on the front page of the Boston
and New York tabloids.2 It is from those old
Quiz
Directed Reading Take Notes

newspapers, now historical records, that I get
A amazed at how
many things
a person can
my information. Not from my mother, Anna
of the Flying Avalons, nor from any of her
P
1. cataracts. Clouding of the lenses of the eyes or their mem-
branes that prevents the passage of light
do within the 2. tabloids. Small newspapers often containing sensationalized
material and many photographs
act of falling.
rep li ca (re> pli k@) n., an exact copy
THE LEAP 119
Quiz
Selection Quiz Audio Library

LESSON-BY-LESSON RESOURCES 1D

INDEPENDENT READING
A Short Story by Hwang Sun-wn

Translated by Peter H. Lee
Theres no need to make excuses.
es.
Pacing: 1 day
Youre going to be shot anyway..
Why dont you tell the truth heree
and now?
T
he northern village lay snug beneath the
high, bright autumn sky, near the border at
the Thirty-eighth Parallel.
White gourds lay one against the other on
the dirt floor of an empty farmhouse. Any village
elders who passed by extinguished their bamboo
pipes first, and the children,
Hwang Sun-wn (19152000) faced many difficulties as a Korean writer. too, turned back some
From 1910 to 1945, Japan forcibly occupied his country. In an effort to end distance off. Their faces
Korean nationalism during their occupation, the Japanese jailed those who
Meeting the Standards,

were marked with fear.
wrote books in Korean. Promising Korean students, such as Hwang, had to
go to Japan for college. Despite these obstacles, Hwang wrote extensively,
and many consider him the greatest Korean writer of his generation.
As a whole, the village
showed little damage from
the war, but it still did not
Quiz
Cranes is set in a village near the thirty-eighth parallel, the line at which
Independent Reading
Korea was divided into North and South. The communist Soviet Union occu- seem like the same village
pied North Korea, and South Korea became a democracy supported by the Sngsam had known as a
United Nations. In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, beginning the boy.
Korean War. Soon other countries became involved. Much of the war was
At the foot of a chestnut
fought around the thirty-eighth parallel. When two childhood friends on
opposite sides of the war meet, one of them has a difficult decision to make. grove on the hill behind
the village he stopped and
When have you had to make a difficult decision? What was the situation,
and how did you decide what to do? climbed a chestnut tree.
Somewhere far back in his
mind he heard the old man
132 UNIT 1 FICTION
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.132 132 11/19/07 12:23:41 PM
INDEPENDENT READING

Pacing: 2 days
A Short Story by Tim OBrien
I REMEMBER OPENING UP THE LETTER, SCANNING THE FIRST FEW

LINES, FEELING THE BLOOD GO THICK BEHIND MY EYES. I REMEMBER A
SOUND IN MY HEAD. IT WASNT THINKING, IT WAS JUST A SILENT HOWL.
Tim OBrien (b. 1946) grew up in a small town in

T
Meeting the Standards, Advanced Students,
his is one story Ive
Quiz
Minnesota. In 1968, he was drafted for the Vietnam War. never told before.
He served in Vietnam and earned a Purple Heart. Much
of his writing draws upon his experience in Vietnam. He
Not to anyone. Not to my
won the National Book Award for fiction in 1979 for his parents, not to my brother
novel Going After Cacciato, which tells the story of a or sister, not even to my
Independent Reading Literary Analysis

soldier going AWOL and walking to Paris. wife. To go into it, Ive
OBrien struggled with the idea of going to war. He explores always thought, would
the role shame and embarrassment played in his decision in the short story only cause embarrassment
On the Rainy River. The story is one of many found in OBriens 1990 for all of us, a sudden need
Activity
collection entitled The Things They Carried. A review of the book says he
moved beyond the horror of the fighting to examine with sensitivity and
to be elsewhere, which is
insight the nature of courage and fear. the natural response to a
confession. Even now, Ill
How would you define courage? Have you met any courageous people?
What made them so? admit, the story makes me
squirm. For more than
ON THE RAINY RIVER 137
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INDEPENDENT READING
Reading Level: Easy

Pacing: 1 day
A Novel Excerpt by
Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in

1965 and spent his early life there. When Hosseini
was eleven years old, his family moved to Paris, where
his father was assigned to a diplomatic post with the
Meeting the Standards, Advanced Students,

Afghan Embassy. In 1980, after the Soviet invasion
of Afghanistan, his family immigrated to the United
States for political protection and settled in California.
The Kite Runner is Hosseinis first novel.
Quiz
The novel describes the experiences of Amir, a young Afghan boy, as his
Independent Reading Cultural Context

country undergoes dramatic changes. This excerpt is set in winter, when
Kabul hosted a kite-fighting tournament in which boys try to cut down
their opponents kites while protecting their own. Kite runners would run to
collect the fallen kites. As you read, notice how the kite-fighting tournament
provides a chance for the narrator to develop and analyze his relationships
Project
with his father and his best friend and servant, Hassan.
What connotations, or emotional associations, does the word kite have for
you? What images come to your mind when you think of kites? What time of
year do you picture? How do these images make you feel?
150 UNIT 1 FICTION
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INDEPENDENT READING
Reading Level: Easy

Pacing: 1 day
In fact, Neffie never really
knew that she talked different A Short Story by
from most other people. Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel
Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel (19182007) was born

in Oklahoma. Like many people from Oklahoma, Texas,
Arkansas, and other Great Plains states, McDaniel moved
W ho knows how
Neffie Pikes speech
pattern was formed? Her
to California to escape the Dust Bowl in 1936. McDaniel
writes poetry, fiction, and drama. McDaniel said of her Ozark1 family had talked
experience during the Dust Bowl, You had to have the same way for genera-
magic and art to survive those Dust Bowl days. We tions. They added an r to
need our art to get through the toughest times.

many words that did not
McDaniel draws upon her life in Oklahoma and her knowledge of not quite
fitting in to a new place in Who Said We All Have to Talk Alike. In
the story, the Okie accent of Neffie, the protagonist, causes problems for
contain that letter. In spite
of this, or because of it, Quiz
her when she moves to California for a job. As you read, notice how Neffie their speech was clear and
Independent Reading
speaks in dialect, or a version of a language spoken by the people of a colorful and to the point.
particular time, place, or social group. Also notice how McDaniel re-spells Most people understood
words to show nonstandard pronunciations. If you have trouble figuring out what they were talking
the meaning of a word that is re-spelled, try saying it aloud.
about, exactly.
Describe a situation when you felt out of place. What did you do to deal Neffie was her parents
with the situation?
daughter. She called a
1. Ozark. Mountainous area between the Arkansas and Missouri

Rivers that lies in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas
WHO SAID WE ALL HAVE TO TALK ALIKE 157
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INDEPENDENT READING

Pacing: 2 days
Chee sat upright, a terrible fear
possessing him. For a moment
his mouth could make no
sound. Then: The Little One! A Short Story by
Mother, where is she? Juanita Platero and

Siyowin Miller
Dine Country, 1996. Nelson Tsosie. Nelson Tsosie Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Chees Daughter is the story of a traditional Navajo farmer, Chee,

whose ways come into conflict with modern society and materialistic
T he hat told the
story, the big, black,

drooping Stetson. It was
values. After Chees wife dies, his daughter is taken by his in-laws to live
Quiz
with them, according to a Navajo custom that maintains that a girl child not at the proper angle, the
belongs with her mothers relatives. Chee struggles to maintain his belief proper rakish angle for so
in the promise of the land as he fights to get his daughter back. young a Navajo. There was
Independent Reading Take Notes

no song, and that was not
Juanita Platero, a Navajo writer, lived at one time on a reservation in
New Mexico, the setting for Chees Daughter. She began working in in keeping either. There
collaboration with Siyowin Miller in 1929. Most of the stories the two should have been at least
wrote together share the theme of the conflict in values between the a humming, a faint, all-to-
old Navajo ways and the new ways of industrial society. As you read, himself he he he heya, for
consider why the setting is important to the story. it was a good horse he was
Have you ever lost something you valued? What were you willing to do riding, a slender-legged,
to get it back? high-stepping buckskin
that would race the wind
CHEES DAUGHTER 167
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Interactive Student Selection Web-based

1E UNIT 1 FICTION Text on CD-ROM Lesson Plan Resources

Lesson-by-Lesson Resources
INDEPENDENT READING
Civil Reading Level: Moderate

Peace
Nothing puzzles
Pacing: 2 days
God, he said in
wonder.
A Short Story by
Chinua Achebe
Victory, 1947. Jacob Lawrence. Private collection.
Chinua Achebe was born in 1930 in Nigeria. At the

time, Nigeria was a British colony. Achebes first, and J onathan Iwegbu counted

himself extraordinarily
addresses
perhaps best-known, novel, Things Fall Apart, add
the effects of colonialism and Western influences on
the traditional Igbo way of life. The Igbo are on
Nigerias largest ethnic groups.
one of
lucky. Happy survival!
meant so much more to
him than just a current
Quiz
Independent Reading
Civil Peace, published in 1971, was probab
probably set fashion of greeting old
in 1970 shortly after the Nigerian civil war ended. Th
The war friends in the first hazy
began in 1967, when the Igbo people tried to secede and form an indeindependent days of peace. It went deep
nation, the Republic of Biafra. Achebe has said, Any good story, any ggood to his heart. He had come
novel, should have a message, should have a purpose. As you read C Civil
Peace, try to determine the message or purpose Achebe intended it to have. out of the war with five
inestimable blessingshis
Think about a person you know or have heard about who has survived some-
head, his wife Marias head
thingan illness, a natural disaster, a war. What qualities does this person
have? What did he or she have to do to survive? and the heads of three out
of their four children. As a
180 UNIT 1 FICTION
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01.indd 180 2/12/08 8:43:59 AM
INDEPENDENT READING

Pacing: 2 days
A Short Story by
Sarah Orne Jewett
Suddenly this little woods-girl

is horror-stricken to hear a Louisiana Heron. Rodney Busch. Private collection.
clear whistle not very far away. I

T
he woods were already filled with shadows
one June evening, just before eight oclock,
though a bright sunset still glimmered faintly

among the trunks of the
Quiz
Sarah Orne Jewett (18491909) grew up in a small trees. A little girl was driving
town in rural Maine. Jewett published her first short story
home her cow, a plodding,
as a teenager. In her writing, she celebrated rural Maine
and its people. dilatory, provoking crea-
ture in her behavior, but
Independent Reading Ask Questions Learners, Take Notes

A White Heron, one of her short stories published
in a collection of the same name, is an example of a valued companion for
regional literature. The nineteenth-century regionalists all that. They were going
wrote at a time when the United States was being rapidly away from whatever light
industrialized. People had to work in factories, and many people moved from there was, and striking deep
the country to the city looking for work. Old-growth forests were being cut
into the woods, but their
down to plant farms to feed city dwellers, and the wild animals that lived in
these places were losing their natural habitats. Like much regional literature, feet were familiar with the
A White Heron can be seen as a protest against these events. path, and it was no matter
Which do you prefer, the country or the city? Why? whether their eyes could see
it or not.
A WHITE HERON 185
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.185 185 11/19/07 12:26:46 PM
INDEPENDENT READING
The
Enchanted
Garden Reading Level: Moderate
The pale boy was wandering
about his shady room
furtively, touching with his
Pacing: 1 day
white fingers the edges
of the cases studded
with butterflies; then
he stopped to listen.
A Short Story by
Italo Calvino
Artists Garden at Vtheuil, 1880. Claude Monet. National Gallery of Art,
Washington, DC.
Born in Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba, Italo Calvino

(19231985) left Cuba for Italy in his youth. There,
G iovannino and
Serenella were strolling

he joined the Italian Resistance during World War II.
along the railroad tracks.
After the war, he wrote his first novel, The Path to the
Nest of Spiders, when he was only twenty-four years
Below was a scaly sea of
somber, clear blue; above, Quiz
old. In the 1950s, Calvino turned his attention to a sky lightly streaked with
writing fantasy and allegory.
Independent Reading Visualize

white clouds. The railroad
The Enchanted Garden is a realistic short story with elements tracks were shimmering
of fantasy. Taken from Calvinos collection Difficult Loves, the selection and burning hot. It was
is written in lyrical and sharply realistic prose, particularly the descriptive fun going along the tracks,
passages of the garden grounds that Giovannino and Serenella find by there were so many games
chance. Chance is an invisible character in the story, governing among to playhe balancing on
other things the childrens discovery of the garden. one rail and holding her
If you could design your own paradise, what would it look like? hand while she walked
along on the other, or else
THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 195
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INDEPENDENT READING
Reading Level: Easy

All the time the headmaster was
singing, Sekhar went on commenting
Pacing: 1 day
within himself. He croaks like a
dozen frogs. He is bellowing like a Truth, Sekhar reflected, is like the sun. I
suppose no human being can ever look
it straight in the face without blinking or
ok
buffalo. Now he sounds like loose being dazed. He realized that, morning till
night, the essence of human relationships
window shutters in a storm. consisted in tempering truth so that it might
not shock. This day he set apart as a unique
A Short Story by R. K. Narayan dayat least one day in the year we must
give and take absolute Truth whatever may
happen. Otherwise life is not worth living.
The day ahead seemed to him full of possi-
bilities. He told no one of
R. K. Narayan (19062001) was born in Madras, his experiment. It was a
India. The author of more than thirty books, Narayan
quiet resolve, a secret pact
didnt always find writing easy. He once said, Writing

in the beginning is like going uphill. Absolutely between him and eternity.
terrible. It was all frustration and struggle for more
than fifteen years. Narayan persevered, however,
The very first test came
while his wife served him Quiz
and published many short stories, essays, travel his morning meal. He
pieces, and translations.
Independent Reading Set Purpose

showed hesitation over
Like many of his stories, Like the Sun is set in the imaginary town a tidbit, which she had
of Malgudi in southern India. Through the ordinary experiences of the thought was her culinary
characters in this town, Narayan portrays the quirkiness of human rela- masterpiece. She asked,
tionships and the ironies of daily life. Why, isnt it good? At
Think of a time you struggled with telling the truth at the risk of hurting other times he would
someones feelings or causing someone to be angry with you. What did have said, considering
you decide to do? What was the outcome of your decision? her feelings in the matter,
I feel full up; thats all.
200 UNIT 1 FICTION
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.200 200 11/19/07 12:27:05 PM
Quiz
Selection Quiz Audio Library

LESSON-BY-LESSON RESOURCES 1F

Unit 1 Scope & Sequence Guide
Selection or Feature Genre Reading Word Reading Skill Graphic
Support/ Count Organizer
Reading Level
Introduction to Fiction
pp. 23
Fiction Reading Model, p. 4
The Open Window Short Story Reading Model/ 1,216 Draw Conclusions Drawing Conclusions
Saki Moderate Chart
pp. 511
Understanding Plot
pp. 1213
GUIDED READING
The Monkeys Paw Short Story Guided Reading/ 3,950 Sequence of Events Time Line
W.W. Jacobs Moderate
pp. 1425
Through the Tunnel Short Story Guided Reading/ 3,948 Text Organization Plot Diagram
Doris Lessing Moderate
pp. 2839
Literature Connection: Poem Moderate 184
Death of a Young Son by
Drowning
Margaret Atwood
pp. 3738
Understanding Point of
View
pp. 4243
Lather and Nothing Else Short Story Directed Reading/ Easy 1,910 Classify Information Pro and Con Chart
Hernando Tllez
pp. 4449
The Moment Before the Short Story Directed Reading/ 2,051 Distinguish Fact Fact and Opinion Chart
DIRECTED READING
Gun Went Off Moderate from Opinion

Nadine Gordimer
pp. 5057
Understanding Character
pp. 6061
Comparing Literature: Short Story Directed Reading/ 3,470 Compare and Venn Diagram
Catch the Moon Moderate Contrast
Judith Ortiz Cofer
pp. 6279
Two Kinds Short Story Directed Reading/ 4,601
Amy Tan Moderate
pp. 6279
1G UNIT 1 FICTION

Literary Element Mirrors & Cross-Curricular Writing Options Extension Activities
Windows Theme Connections
The Genre of Fiction

Elements of Fiction
Character and Practical Jokes Creative: Letter of Collaborative Learning: Perform

Characterization Introduction a Skit
Narrative: Personal Essay Critical Literacy: Research and
Compare Social Conventions
Plot
Elements of Plot
Plot and Conflict
Plot and Organization
Plot and Foreshadowing Fate Creative: Horror Story Media Literacy: Write a Public
Expository: Analytical Service Announcement
Introduction Collaborative Learning: Videotape
a Performance of the Story
Conflict and Symbol Taking Risks Science Connection: The Creative: Storyboard Collaborative Learning: Conduct
Act of Breathing Narrative: Narrative an Interview
Paragraph Lifelong Learning: Create a
Coming-of-Age Presentation
Point of View
Types of Narration
Types of Narrators
Determining Point of View
Point of View and Internal Loyalty Creative: Dialogue Media Literacy: Analyze Point of
Monologue Applied Learning: Step-by- View in News Reporting
Step Instructions Collaborative Learning: Create a
Graphic Novel
Point of View and Narrator Bias Creative: News Story Lifelong Learning: Create a Time
Narrative: Retelling Line of Apartheid in South Africa
Critical Literacy: Role-Play a
Conversation
Character
Types of Characters
Characterization
Character and Positive Change Creative: Dialogue Media Literacy: Analyze Ideas of
Characterization Expository: Compare-and- Success
Contrast Essay Collaborative Learning: Debate
Ideas about Extracurricular
Activities
Expectations
SCOPE & SEQUENCE PLANNING GUIDE 1H

Reading Level
Understanding Setting Sensory Details Chart
pp. 8081
Masque of the Red Death Short Story Directed Reading/ 2,424 Meaning of Words
Edgar Allan Poe Challenging
pp. 8291
Informational Text FAQ Document Directed Reading/Easy 639
Connection: Questions and and Map
Answers About Plague and
Map of World Distribution
of Plague
pp. 8990
Two Friends Short Story Directed Reading/ 2,701 Sequence of Events Sequence Map
DIRECTED READING
Guy de Maupassant Moderate

pp. 94103
Understanding Theme
pp. 106107
Everyday Use Short Story Directed Reading/ 3,598 Compare-and- Compare-and-Contrast

Alice Walker Moderate Contrast Chart Chart
pp. 108117
The Leap Short Story Directed Reading/ 2,884 Cause-and-Effect Cause-and-Effect Chart
Louise Erdrich Moderate Chart
pp. 118127
Literature Connection: Her Poem Directed Reading/ 119
Flying Trapeze Moderate
Nikki Giovanni
pp. 125126
Reading Fiction Main Idea Map
Independently
Theme: Choices
pp. 130131
Cranes Short Story Independent Reading/ 1,610
INDEPENDENT
Hwang Sun-wn Moderate

READING
pp. 132136
On the Rainy River Short Story Independent Reading/ 6,670
Tim OBrien Moderate
pp. 137149
1I UNIT 1 FICTION

Setting
Elements of Setting
Setting and Symbol Social Responsibility Creative: Invitation Collaborative Learning: Make a
Descriptive: Descriptive Map
Paragraph Lifelong Learning: Research an
Epidemic
Mood and Irony Taking Risks History Connection: The Creative: Screenplay Lifelong Learning: Present on
Franco-Prussian War Persuasive: Persuasive Naturalism
Essay Media Literacy: Create a Flier
Theme
Elements of Theme
Types of Theme
Discovering Themes
Theme and Metaphor Heritage Creative: Journal Entries Lifelong Learning: Create a
Expository: Introduction Museum Exhibit
Media Literacy: Stage a Talk Show
Theme and Anecdote Life Lessons Creative: Compile a Media Literacy: Promote a Circus
Transcript Lifelong Learning: Create a
Expository: Essay Bibliography
Using Reading Skills with

Fiction
Friendship and Choices Creative: Ode to Friendship

Expository: Symbolism
Analysis
Personal Principles Creative: Story or Anecdote
Expository: Selection
Analysis
SCOPE & SEQUENCE PLANNING GUIDE 1J

Reading Level
from The Kite Runner Novel Excerpt Independent Reading/ 3,470
Khaled Hosseini Easy
pp. 150156
Informational Text Literary Review Independent Reading/ 647
Connection: A Servants Moderate
Son
Edward Hower
pp. 155156
Who Said We All Have to Short Story Independent Reading/ 2,380
Talk Alike Easy
Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel
pp. 157166
Informational Text Employee 966
INDEPENDENT READING
Connection: Employment Document

Contract for a Nanny
pp. 163165
Chees Daughter Short Story Independent Reading/ 5,310
Juanita Platero and Siyowin Moderate
Miller
pp. 167179
Literature Connection: Poem Independent Reading/ 160
Freeway 280 Moderate
Lorna Dee Cervantes
p. 178
Civil Peace Short Story Independent Reading/ 1,993
Chinua Achebe Moderate
pp. 180184
A White Heron Short Story Independent Reading/ 4,265
Sarah Orne Jewett Moderate
pp. 185194
The Enchanted Garden Short Story Independent Reading/ 1,633
Italo Calvino Moderate
pp. 195199
Like the Sun Short Story Independent Reading/ 1,268
R.K. Narayan Easy
pp. 200203
1K UNIT 1 FICTION

Teasing Creative: Retelling

Descriptive: Personal
Narrative
Diversity Creative: Postcard

Applied: Nanny Contract
Words and Actions Creative: Daydream

Description
Descriptive: Compare-and-
Contrast Settings
Fate and Luck Creative: Personality Profile

Expository: Expostitory
Essay
Moral Compromises Creative: Dialogue
Expository: Compare and
Contrast
Simple Pleasures Creative: Story
Expository: Summary of
Theme
Lying Creative: Fable
Persuasive: Reflective Essay
SCOPE & SEQUENCE PLANNING GUIDE 1L

Unit 1 Language Arts Workshops
Grammar & Vocabulary & Speaking & Writing Test Practice
Style Spelling Listening
Subject-Verb Idioms, Metaphors, and Present a Horror Expository Writing: Plot Reading Skills: Make Inferences, from
Agreement, Similes, pp. 9293 Story, p. 205 Analysis, pp. 206211 Love Poems by Lon Otto, pp. 212213
pp. 2627
Writing Skills: Reflective Essay,
Parallel Structure, pp. 214-215
pp. 4041
Pronoun and
Antecedent
Agreement,
pp. 5859
Sentence Variety,
pp. 104105
Comma Usage,
pp. 128129
Unit 1 Building Vocabulary

The lists below identify the Words in Use and Key Terms within this unit. These words are listed at the bottom of the
Teachers Edition pages at the beginning of each lesson. Vocabulary development activities are provided in the Meeting the
Standards unit book and in Exceeding the Standards: Vocabulary & Spelling.
WORDS IN USE
Preview Vocabulary
Preview Vocabulary are words taken from the sentences within each selection. These words are defined in the side margin
or at the bottom of the pages on which they appear. The Preview Vocabulary section introduces these words in the Before
Reading page preceding each selection.
alcove, 114 discordant, 74 incredulous, 34 relic, 67
amiably, 16 dismantle, 65 indelible, 48 replica, 119
apathy, 21 divestment, 51 indulge, 99 reproach, 71
atrocity, 98 doctrine, 113 inquiry, 52 respite, 100
attribute, 19 domestic, 51 lament, 70 revolutionary, 46
avaricious, 19 dubiously, 18 listlessly, 71 rifle, 114
averted, 20 duly, 6 looming, 124 sagacious, 83
beseeching, 32 eccentric, 84 luminous, 30 scalding, 111
blasphemous, 87 edifice, 121 makeshift, 65 self-possessed, 6
buoyant, 30 egocentrism, 121 maligned, 18 spectral, 87
callously, 56 emit, 46 minutely, 47 surge, 31
chivalry, 30 engulf, 8 mock, 65 tentative, 123
conscientious, 29, 46 extricate, 121 myriad, 32 tranquil, 48
constricting, 122 falteringly, 8 pensive, 97 unperturbed, 102
contrition, 30 fanatical, 96 persistence, 34 usher, 110
convey, 10 fiasco, 76 porous, 122 venture, 47
countenance, 85 foray, 46 presumptuous, 17 vignette, 120
cull, 53 furtive, 111 profuse, 83 vulgar, 64
culprit, 123 ghastly, 9 prosaic, 19 wanton, 86
dauntless, 83 homely, 109 recompose, 111
delusion, 9 imminent, 10 regime, 46
disconcert, 85 inaudible, 21 rejuvenate, 47, 97
1M UNIT 1 FICTION

Selection Words
Selection Words are additional words from the reading that may be challenging, but are not central to the selection and
are not identified in the prereading section. These words can easily be learned using the story context, and they provide
excellent practice for using content clues to find meaning without explicit instruction.
acquiescence, 141 culinary, 200 hallucination, 147 psuedo, 170
acrid, 173 deference, 176 hordes, 153 rakish, 167
anticipation, 120 deferments, 140 impenetrable, 196 rawhide, 111
appease, 54 defiant, 32 impetuosity, 87 reverberated, 24
aptitude, 53 dejectedly, 95 incessantly, 201 ruddier, 86
arabesque, 86 demure, 189 indifference, 46 sadistic, 155
archive, 54 dilatory, 185 indignity, 71 scrutinized, 203
assassins, 48 dissent, 184 indolence, 171 shirked, 201
avenger, 48 doggedly, 18 inestimable, 180 simian, 19
averted, 134 dominions, 83 infiltrators, 54 snide, 160
belligerently, 171 eccentric, 98 lamented, 74 snipe, 9
bereaved, 158 edifice, 181 liability, 21 stout, 112
botched, 64 emanating, 85 lofty, 84 succession, 6
broach, 20 encroaching, 119 loitered, 186 sufficient, 7
burdened, 10 eradicated, 161 looting, 98 surmise, 176
censure, 141 evacuating, 134 marred, 18 tangible, 146
cessation, 86 finite, 138 mascot, 64 tempering, 200
collision, 10 flank, 53 migrate, 6 tilling, 134
commandeered, 181 flintrock, 161 mortar, 197 tolerably, 9
commemorates, 199 forthrightly, 138 mutilated, 46 torrent, 16
condoling, 16 foundered, 160 nape, 46 treasonous, 141
confinement, 122 frenzied, 72 nemesis, 156 truant, 171
confronted, 109 furtively, 20, 199 nonchalantly, 76 tyranny, 156
conspired, 74 garish, 170 obstruction, 134 utensils, 67
contrition, 30 girdled, 84 perpetually, 122 villa, 198
coveted, 153 gnarled, 168 pettishly, 191 whorls, 47
cowering, 112 habitation, 8 prevailing, 85 wince, 201
credulity, 19 haggle, 156 promontories, 30
BUILDING VOCABULARY 1N

Unit 1 Building Vocabulary
Teaching Words
Teaching Words consist of vocabulary that is used in the directions about the lessons. Teaching words explain to students
what to focus on within the selection, help establish the story context, clarify the meaning of literary terms, and define the
goals or instructional purpose.
acrid, 81 eccentric, 104 inevitably, 94 ravaging, 80
adversity, 107 electrifying, 206 initial, 194 refute, 103
affixes, 93 emergence, 39 intensified, 3 regionalists, 185
allegory, 195 empowerment, 62 interaction, 60 revelries, 80
altered, 118 enliven, 5 interrupter, 129 rite, 28
ambassador, 44 epidemic, 82 intervals, 26 ruddy, 93
anthology, 25, 118 etiquette, 11 intervenes, 12 secede, 180
apathy, 60 evicted, 57 intricate, 213 segregation, 50
authentic, 42 evoke, 23 ironic, 59 sharecroppers, 108
AWOL, 137 expanding, 104 irrelevant, 206 siege, 80, 94
bias, 42 extensively, 132 isolate, 206 signifies, 130
brutality, 59 extracurricular, 79 keen, 178 socio-economic, 80
cognizant, 82 extremity, 184 literal, 28 somber, 5
collaboration, 167 fantasy, 195 longing, 131 stability, 12
compromise, 49 fatalities, 44 lyrical, 195 striding, 104
consumed, 128 figurative, 28 manipulative, 179 sufficient, 214
contagion, 209 flamboyant, 80 masquerade, 82 summit, 105
contested, 108 forcibly, 132 materialistic, 167 syllabus, 149
conventional, 11 fractions, 26 nationalism, 132 taints, 43
credibility, 50 frantically, 212 neutral, 58 tempering, 200
critique, 130 frustration, 200 nonstandard, 157 termination, 163
crucial, 12 fundamentalist, 155 nostalgia, 178 textures, 205
demonstrate, 41 generalizations, 69 perception, 3 transition, 39
detonation, 105 gestures, 205 perspective, 44 treacherous, 13
diplomatic, 150 grievances, 163 pleasantries, 5 unobtrusive, 213
disconcerting, 93 guru, 125 posture, 205 urgency, 40
discrimination, 50 habitats, 185 prevalent, 91 validity, 42
dismantled, 50 heirlooms, 108 proactive, 184 vantage, 3
disruptive, 69 heritage, 108 profile, 59 vaulted, 129
distinctive, 60 immigrated, 150 profuse, 93 volumes, 26
doggedly, 41 implied, 3 prominence, 125 wharf, 14
dominance, 50 inciting, 39 pseudonym, 5 witty, 5
dominant, 106 industrial, 167 queues, 184 worldview, 106
drafted, 137 industrialized, 185 quirkiness, 200
dual, 44 industrious, 106 rampant, 89
1O UNIT 1 FICTION

KEY TERMS
Key Terms are commonly referred to as academic vocabulary. These terms appear in the instructional material to teach
the terminology that students need to acquire to understand literature. The repetition of the terms throughout the program
ensures student mastery and provides a solid foundation for the continuing study of literature and language arts.
anecdote, 118 constructed response, 213 inferences, 4, 22, 156, 212 prose, 2, 213
antagonist, 3, 60 context, 5, 14, 28, 44, 50, 62, internal monologue, 44 protagonist, 3, 60, 157
antecedent, 58 82, 94, 108, 118 intonation, 205 reflective essay, 214
assess, 56, 116 context clues, 5, 14, 28, 50, 94, introduction, 207 relate, 78
authors purpose, 130 108, 118 irony, 3, 94 resolution, 3, 12
body, 208 contrast, 49, 108 linking verb, 26 rhetorical device, 40
cause, 118 contrasting, 62 main idea, 130 rising action, 3, 12
central conflict, 131 dialect, 61, 157 metaphor, 92, 108 second-person point of view, 42
character, 5, 60, 62 dialogue, 61 modifier, 105 sensory details, 80
characterization, 3, 5, 60, 62, 131 effect, 118 mood, 3, 80, 94, 131 sequence, 4, 14, 94
chronological order, 13 enunciate, 205 motivation, 60 setting, 3, 80, 82
classify, 44 epilogue, 88 narrator, 3, 42, 50 short story, 2
clause, 104, 128 evaluate, 4, 36, 88 novel, 2 simile, 92
climax, 3, 12 exposition, 3, 12 opinion, 50 simple sentence, 104
collective noun, 26 fact, 50 parallelism, 40 singular, 26
comma, 128 falling action, 3, 12 participial phrase, 105 stated theme, 107
compare, 108 fiction, 2 phrase, 104, 128 subject, 26, 105
comparing, 62 first-person point of view, 3, 42 plot analysis, 206 subordinate clause, 104
comparison clues, 82 flashback, 13 plot diagram, 12 summarize, 131
complex sentence, 104 foreshadowing, 13, 14 plot, 3, 12, 14, 131, 206 symbol, 28, 82, 106, 108
compound sentence, 104 generalize, 102 plural, 26 theme, 3, 106, 108, 118
compound-complex sentence, 104 genre, 2 point of view, 42, 44, 50, 131 thesis statement, 206
conclusion, 208 idiom, 92 predicate, 26, 104 third-person point of view, 3, 42
conflict, 13, 28 independent clause, 104 prepositional phrase, 105 tone, 205
connotations, 150 inference chart, 212 pronoun, 58 transcript, 127
BUILDING VOCABULARY 1P

UNIT 1 OVERVIEW Fiction
Unit 1 Overview Fiction
Objectives
Studying this unit will help students to
make connections to the themes
and topics expressed.
identify common forms of fiction.
understand plot, character, point of
view, setting, mood, symbol, irony,
and theme.
apply reading strategies and skills.
develop effective grammar skills.
acquire vocabulary and spelling
skills.
present a horror story.
write a plot analysis.
answer questions commonly found
on standardized tests that measure
reading comprehension, writing, and
revising and editing skills.
Reading Strategies
Ask Questions Make Inferences
Clarify Make Predictions
Make Connections Visualize
Reading Skills
Cause and Effect Draw Conclusions
UNIT 1
Classify Sequence of
Information Events
Compare and Text Organization
Contrast
Distinguish Fact
from Opinion
Literary Elements
Anecdote
Character
Characterization
Conflict
Mood
Narrator
Point of View
Plot
Fiction ATWOOD
Foreshadowing Setting
Internal Simile COFER MAUPASSANT
Monologue Symbol
Irony Theme
Metaphor Tone
Launch the Unit

0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01_1_UOpen.iii ii 11/19/07 11:28:21 AM 0000-0011_Lit3eG
Point out that people have enjoyed story- summarize the core narrative of each one.
telling throughout recorded history. Ask Choose one that all students are familiar with
students to share the names of books and and, as a class, identify the fiction elements in
stories they have particularly enjoyed or that it, including major and minor characters, the
influenced them. Then point out that story- protagonist and antagonist, setting, plot, con-
telling is also at the root of films and televi- flict, and theme. Which is better, in students
sion shows. Call on volunteers to name their opinions, watching a story on a screen, or
favorite TV dramas or movies and to briefly reading it in a book? Why?
UNIT 1 FICTION
0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01_1_ATE.indd ii 5/1/08 2:17:25 PM

Writing Options
Creative Descriptive
Dialogue Daydream
Fable Descriptive
Horror Story Paragraph
Interview Expository
Transcript Analytical
Invitation Introduction
Journal Entries Compare-and-
Letter of contrast Essay
Introduction Critical
Note to a Friend Introduction
Ode Expository Essay
Poem Literary Analysis
Postcard Summary
Screenplay Narrative
Short Story Anecdote
Storyboard Narrative
Applied Paragraph
Employment Personal Essay
Contract Reflective Essay
Step-by-step Persuasive
Instructions Persuasive Essay
Language Arts Workshops

Grammar & Style
Comma Usage, page 128
Parallel Structure, page 40
Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement,
page 58
Stories ought to judge and interpret the world. Sentence Variety, page 104
Cynthia Ozick Subject-Verb Agreement, page 26
Vocabulary & Spelling
Has anyone ever played a trick on you? Put too much pressure on you? Given you a memorable piece of advice?
Idioms, Metaphors, and Similes, page 92
Think of a time you had to make a difficult decision or a time you worked really hard to accomplish something.
As you read the stories in this unit, notice how the challenges and experiences of their characters both mirror Speaking & Listening
your own and portray a greater message about the world around them. Present a Horror Story, page 205
Writing
Plot Analysis, page 206
POE OBRIEN
Test Practice
Reading Skills: Make Inferences,
TAN page 212
Writing Skills: Reflective Essay,
1 page 214
/19/07 11:28:21 AM
Program Resources
0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01_1_UOpen.i1 1 11/19/07 11:28:25 AM
For a visual reminder of the unit-based resources

available for Unit 1, Fiction, see pages 1A and
1B. As you introduce the unit, you may want
to provide students with the Unit Study Guide,
which is contained in the Meeting the Standards
resource.
UNIT 1 OVERVIEW 1
0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01_1_ATE.indd 1 5/1/08 2:17:30 PM

Teach the Genre
The Genre of Fiction
The Introduction to Fiction provides
a brief overview of the most common
elements of fiction. Instead of read-
ing all the text of the Introduction
to Fiction at one time, begin by
using the questions in the Classic
Short Stories and Memorable Literary
Settings boxes to generate discussion
about what fiction is and the experi- THE GENRE OF FICTION
ences students have had with it. INTRODUCTION Genre is a type or category of literary composition,
such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. The
Launch the Lesson
Track down a recent best seller list
TO FICTION genre known as fiction includes any work of prose
(writing other than poetry and drama) that tells an
for fiction and provide copies for stu- invented or imaginary story. Fiction is a popular choice
dents. Ask students if they have read for people who read primarily for entertainment. Its
any of the books on the list. Lead stu- The man who opened the door that two main forms are the short story and the novel. A
short story is a brief work of fiction. A good short
dents in a discussion of what makes day is the hero of my life. How do I say story is crafted carefully to develop a plot, a conflict,
a work of fiction become a best seller. characters, a setting, a mood, and a theme, all within
Are best sellers necessarily the best this without sounding sappy? Blurt it
relatively few pages. The majority of the selections in
works of fiction? Why, or why not? outthe man saved me. this unit are short stories. The novel, a close cousin of
Ask students to give examples of Tim OBrien, the short story, is a long work of fiction. A novel typi-
fictional works they have enjoyed and cally features an involved plot, many characters, and
from On the Rainy River
those they disliked and to explain numerous settings.
their reasons. Students may men-
tion such factors as plot (exciting or If youre interested in reading a horror story, mystery,
boring? surprising or formulaic and romance, or work of science fiction, youll want to Classic Short Stories
browse the fiction section of a bookstore or library.
predictable?), setting (memorable and What makes a short story worthy of being consid-
A person who enjoys chilling tales might pick up
vividly described, or forgettable and a story by Edgar Allan Poe, such as The Masque ered a classic? Why are there certain stories that
dull?), and characters (realistic and of the Red Death (page 83). Someone who likes throughout the decades most people have heard
fully rounded, or flat caricatures?). reading about intense personal conflict might be of and many people have read? Take a look at the
in the mood for Tim OBriens On the Rainy River stories listed below. Have you read any of them?
Point out that while a work of fiction If you have, why do you think they have withstood
(page 137). Fiction has something for everyone.
tells an invented or imaginary story, the test of time?
the story may be based on real life, The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov
and the characters in the storyto The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
be satisfying and credibleshould The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
exhibit motives and behaviors that To Build a Fire by Jack London
Why I Live at the P.O. by Eudora Welty
readers recognize as realistic.
2 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01_1_UOpen.i2 2 KEY TERMS 11/19/07 11:28:29 AM 0000-0011_Lit3eG
GENRE, 2 FIRST-PERSON POINT

Teaching Words FICTION, 2 OF VIEW, 3
intensified, 3 PROSE, 2 THIRD-PERSON POINT
vantage, 3 SHORT STORY, 2 OF VIEW, 3
perception, 3 NOVEL, 2 PROTAGONIST, 3
implied, 3 PLOT, 3 ANTAGONIST, 3
EXPOSITION, 3 CHARACTERIZATION, 3
RISING ACTION, 3 SETTING, 3
CLIMAX, 3 MOOD, 3
FALLING ACTION, 3 THEME, 3
RESOLUTION, 3 IRONY, 3
NARRATOR, 3
2 UNIT 1 FICTION

ELEMENTS OF FICTION Setting
A good reader is an active participant. As you read,
The setting of a literary work is the time and place in
which it occurs, together with all the details used to
Teach the Genre
consider each of the elements discussed below.
create a sense of a particular time and place. Setting
Plot helps establish a context and a mood. Mood, or atmo-
sphere, is the emotion created in the reader by part or More About Fiction
The plot is the series of events related to a central
all of a story. (See Understanding Setting, page 80.) Ask students to brainstorm genres
conflict, or struggle. Typically, the plot introduces a
conflict, develops it, and eventually resolves it. The
of fiction. Examples include mystery,
plot often contains all or some of the following parts: science fiction and fantasy, romance,
exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and Memorable Literary Settings suspense and thriller, horror, and
resolution. The exposition, or introduction, sets the western. Explain to students that
The settings some writers of fiction create are so
tone or mood, introduces the characters and setting, vivid and creative that they become real to readers.
works of fiction can be classified as
and provides necessary background information. In From the list below, which of the settings do you commercial or literary. Commercial
the rising action, the conflict is developed and recognize? What is it that makes these settings fiction, or mainstream fiction, focuses
intensified. The climax is the high point of interest seem so real? on riveting story lines and attracts a
or suspense, and the falling action consists of all Middle-earth large, general audience. Authors of
the events that follow the climax. The resolution, Hogwarts Academy commercial fiction include Stephen
or dnouement (d6< n2 m5n>), is the point at Hundred Acre Wood
which the central conflict is ended, or resolved. (See
King and John Grisham. Literary
Green Gables fiction explores characters and
Understanding Plot, page 12.) Neverland themes in more depth and appeals
Point of View Narnia
to smaller, more specific audiences.
Point of view is the vantage point from which the Oz
Authors of literary fiction include
story is told. The one who tells a story is the narrator. John Updike and Amy Tan.
In first-person point of view, the story is told by Theme
someone who participates in or witnesses the action; The theme is the central idea or perception about As you work through this unit,
this person uses words such as I and we in telling the life that is revealed through a literary work. A stated address the following questions with
story. In third-person point of view, the narrator theme is presented directly, whereas an implied theme your students:
usually stands outside the action and observes, using must be inferred. Most works of fiction do not have a What makes a work timeless?
words such as he, she, it, and they. There are two types stated theme but rather several implied themes. (See How does fiction help people
of third-person point of view: limited point of view and Understanding Theme, page 106.)
omniscient point of view. In limited point of view, the
develop empathy?
How does fiction reflect the cul-
thoughts of only the narrator or a single character are Authors Style
revealed. In omniscient point of view, the thoughts of Style is the manner in which something is said ture in which it was written?
all the characters are revealed. (See Understanding or written. A writers style is characterized by such
Point of View, page 42.) elements as word choice (or diction), sentence structure
and length, and other recurring features that distinguish More About Theme
Characters his or her work from that of another. You can think of Many students worry about identify-
The characters are the individuals that take part in literary style as the authors personal signature. ing the theme of a work, especially
the action of a story. The protagonist is the main Some authors are known for using certain literary
character in a literary work, whereas the antagonist
if the theme is implied rather than
devices, such as irony. Irony is the difference between stated. Point out that writers usu-
is the character or force in conflict with the protago- appearance and realityin other words, what seems
nist. Characterization is the act of creating or ally supply clues to the theme: for
to be and what really is. The three types of irony are
describing a character. Writers create characters using example, the works title, the way in
as follows:
three major techniques: showing what characters dramatic irony: something is known by the writer or
which the central conflict is or is not
say, do, or think; showing what other characters say audience but unknown to the characters resolved, the words used to describe
or think about them; and describing what physical verbal irony: a character says one thing but means the main character, and the overall
features, dress, and personality the characters display. another atmosphere or mood of the work. In
(See Understanding Character, page 60.) irony of situation: an event occurs that is contrary to inferring a works theme, it is espe-
what is expected by the characters or the audience. cially important to consider its end-
INTRODUCTION TO FICTION 3
ing. Also remind students that works
can have more than one theme.
/19/07 11:28:29 AM
Differentiated Instruction
0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01_1_UOpen.i3 3 11/19/07 11:28:35 AM
Reading Proficiency English Language Learning

Encourage students to keep a reading log of Invite students who recently emigrated from
fiction titles and authors they have read. Have other countries to share with the class exam-
them research other titles by their favorite ples of popular fiction they enjoyed there and
authors and try to find these works in the the writers who were their favorites.
school or local library.
INTRODUCTION TO FICTION 3

FICTION READING MODEL
Preview the Model
Fiction Reading Model
This model walks students through BUILD BACKGROUND SET PURPOSE
the before-, during-, and after-reading
Read the Build Background feature to see if there Use the purpose explained in the Set Purpose feature
process. The selection that follows, are any hints about what happens in the story. Note or preview the text to create a purpose of your own.
The Open Window (page 5), pro- also the years the author lived in the Meet the What do the art and quotations that accompany the
vides point-of-use reading strategies, Author feature to get an idea about the time period story suggest to you about what it is about?
reading skills, and analyzing literature in which the author wrote. USE READING SKILLS
questions during reading to guide ANALYZE LITERATURE Before reading, apply reading skills, such as analyzing
students through the reading process. The Analyze Literature feature will focus on one text structure and previewing new vocabulary words.
Explain that as they read the rest of or more literary techniques or elements that are used The Use Reading Skills feature will give you
the stories in the unit, students will in the selection. You will be asked to pay attention to instructions on how to apply the skills while you read;
follow the same process they use for things such as plot, characters, setting, and theme. for instance, by using a graphic organizer.
reading The Open Window.
Before Reading
Stress the distinction between the two USE READING STRATEGIES Clarify, or check that you understand what you
types of backgrounds, or contexts, read. Go back and reread any confusing or difficult
Ask questions about things that seem unusual or
students need to apply, and encour- parts before continuing.
interesting or things you do not understand.
age students to always set a specific Make predictions about what is going to happen next. ANALYZE LITERATURE
purpose for reading. Visualize by forming pictures in your mind to help Pay attention to the literary elements that stand
you see the storys characters or action. Imagine how out as you read the story. Are the characters engaging
the characters might speak and act. and lifelike? Is there a strong central conflict or theme?
During Reading Make inferences, or educated guesses, about
Point out the questions that appear in what is not stated directly. Things may be implied MAKE CONNECTIONS
the margins of The Open Window. or hinted at, or they may be left out altogether. Notice where there are connections between the
Sometimes, you must infer what the common under- story and your life or the world beyond the story.
Explain that the margin questions will
standing of a situation would be in the time period What feelings or thoughts do you have while reading
ask students to use a specific reading in which it was written. the story?
skill (listed Before Reading in the Use
Reading Skills section), apply reading
strategies, and check their understand-
ing of literary elements (listed Before
Reading in the Analyze Literature REFER TO TEXT Evaluate the text. Draw conclusions by bringing
together what you have read and using it to make a
section). Remember details like characters names, location
decision or form an opinion.
or setting, and important action in the story.
Determine the sequence of events, the order in ANALYZE LITERATURE
After Reading which things happen in the story. Apply the ideas that you understand about the char-
Direct students to turn to the After Try to summarize the story in a sentence or two. acters, plot, or theme to see if they help you answer
Reading questions on page 11. Explain REASON WITH TEXT any additional questions. Review how the authors
that the Refer to Text questions will use of literary elements increased your understanding
Interpret the events of the story to help you find
help them recall details from the story, or enjoyment of the story.
meaning.
while the Reason with Text questions Analyze the text by breaking down information into EXTEND THE TEXT
will ask them to analyze the story and smaller pieces and figuring out how those pieces fit Extend your reading beyond the story by exploring
into the story as a whole. ideas through writing or doing other creative projects.
determine how specific details contrib-
ute to the storys meaning.
4 UNIT 1 FICTION
0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01_1_UOpen.i4 4 11/19/07 11:28:36 AM 0000-0011_Lit3eG
Reading Proficiency Enrichment

Instruct students to preview the text. First, they Saki (H. H. Munro) was part of a talented gen-
should look over the first few paragraphs of eration of English writers who lost their lives
the story and the pictures; next, have them in World War I. Have students research the
read the contextual sentences in the Preview life and works of Wilfred Owen, one of Sakis
Vocabulary section and guess what the words most talented contemporaries, who was killed
mean based on context clues. Point out that just before the armistice was reached in 1918.
the definitions for these new vocabulary words Students can summarize their research in an
are given in the margins of the story. oral report.
4 UNIT 1 FICTION

APPLY THE MODEL
Preview the Model
The Open Window At a Glance
Reading Model
A Short Story by Saki Reading Level: Moderate
Difficulty Considerations: Satiric
BUILD BACKGROUND USE READING SKILLS elements, style
GUIDED READING
Social Context In The Open Window, Framton Nuttel, a nervous and Draw Conclusions When you Ease Factor: Dialogue
depressed man who is new in town, pays a formal visit to Mrs. Sappleton. draw conclusions, you gather
While Framton awaits the arrival of Mrs. Sappleton, her niece, Vera, tries to pieces of information and then
enliven the conversation by telling Framton a storywith shocking results. decide what the information
Objectives
means. You can draw conclu- Studying this lesson will enable stu-
As a newcomer to the community, Framton carries a letter of introduction dents to
sions about the characters in
when he arrives at the Sappleton home. This letter serves as a kind of social
rsum and states the newcomers family connections, qualifications, repu-
a story by using a Conclusions recognize how social conventions
Chart like the one below. In the of Victorian England dictated the
tation, and interests. This type of letter was common in nineteenth-century
first column, record important
England, the period in which this story is set.
things a character says or does.
behavior of people living in that
Readers Context Think about a social situation in which you were expected In the second column, record the time period.
to behave in a certain way. Did you behave in the manner expected of you? conclusion you can draw about read, interpret, analyze, and evalu-
Why or why not? the character based on his or her ate a humorous short story about
words or actions. an eccentric group of characters.
ANALYZE LITERATURE: Character and Characterization Characters My Conclusion apply reading strategies and skills
A character is an individual who takes part in Words or About the before, during, and after reading a
the action of a literary work. The main character or Actions Character literature selection.
protagonist is the central figure in a literary work. My aunt will Vera seems define character and characteriza-
Authors use techniques of characterization to be down pres- very polite. tion and recognize the use of these
create a character. Such techniques include showing ently. literary elements in the selection.
what a character says, does, or thinks; showing what
other characters say or think about him or her; and describing the charac- PREVIEW VOCABULARY
ters physical features, dress, and personality. Launch the Lesson
Use the context clues in the
sentences below to figure out
Ask students to comment on some
SET PURPOSE the meanings of the underlined expected, polite things to do in the
Think about the expectations you have about how people will behave when words from the selection. following social situations: dining at
you meet them. We live in a fairly informal society, yet we still expect certain 1. A self-possessed speaker in a fancy restaurant, going on a job
pleasantries and polite acts. Considering that The Open Window takes place any situation, she was not interview, attending class, watching a
upset by the disruptive
in a formal society, how do you expect the characters of this story to act? As baseball game, going on a first date,
you read, look for different ways the characters are created and think about audience.
2. The foamy waves engulfed the sitting in the movie theater. Inform
whether the characters behave according to your expectations.
childrens sand castle. students that expected behaviors are
MEET THE AUTHOR
3. Nervous and unsure, the boy called social conventions.
falteringly took his dates
Hector Hugh Munro (18701916) was born in Scotland. He hand.
later took the pseudonym Saki. Though he is mostly known for 4. Suffering from paranoia, Refer to page 1032 of the
his witty short stories, of which this selection is an example, some the patient lived with the Language Arts Handbook 1.3, Using
of Sakis stories, such as Sredni Vashtar and The Muse on the delusion that others wished Reading Skills, for additional instruc-
Hill, are rather somber. Sakis literary career was cut short when, to harm him.
at the age of forty-four, he volunteered for active duty in World 5. The ghastly news photographs tion on drawing conclusions.
War I and was killed in action. of the war shocked and upset
viewers.
THE OPEN WINDOW 5
/19/07 11:28:36 AM 0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01.indd 5

Words in Use KEY TERMS 3/19/08 10:05:07 AM
INFERENCES, 4
Preview Selection Teaching SEQUENCE, 4
Vocabulary Words Words EVALUATE, 4
self-possessed, 6 succession, 6 enliven, 5 CONTEXT, 5
duly, 6 migrate, 6 pleasantries, 5 CHARACTER, 5
engulf, 8 sufficient, 7 pseudonym, 5 CHARACTERIZATION, 5
falteringly, 8 habitation, 8 witty, 5 CONTEXT CLUES, 5
ghastly, 9 snipe, 9 somber, 5
delusion, 9 tolerably, 9 conventional, 11
convey, 10 burdened, 10 etiquette, 11
imminent, 10 collision, 10
THE OPEN WINDOW 5

open
APPLY THE MODEL
Teach the Model
Summary
In search of a rest cure for his nerves,
Framton Nuttel pays a call on Mrs.
Sappleton. While waiting for her to
THE
appear, he chats with her niece, Vera.
After establishing that Framton knows
nothing about the household, Vera
WINDOW
concocts a dramatic tale about the
deaths of Mrs. Sappletons husband
and brothers, killed on a hunting
expedition. Mrs. Sappleton appears
and predicts that the menfolk will
return shortly for tea. When they
appear through the open window, A Short Story by Saki
Framton bolts in terror, thinking they
are ghosts.
It was certainly an unfortunate
W The Mirrors
coincidence that he should have paid
IRRORS
W INDOWS & Windows
question at
his visit on this tragic anniversary.
tthe
he eend
nd of th
the selection focuses
oonn tthe
he theme of playing practi-
cal jokes as humor. Ask stu-
dents to think about how they
self pos sessed
(self< p@ zest>) adj.,
M y aunt will be down presently,1 Mr. Nuttel, said a very
self-possessed young lady of fifteen; in the meantime you
must try and put up with me.
confident; composed
typically react when people Framton Nuttel endeavored2 to say the correct something
play jokes on them. Do they get du ly (d2> l7) adv., as 5 which should duly flatter the niece of the moment without unduly
angry, or do they find the jokes required; sufficiently
discounting3 the aunt that was to come. Privately he doubted
funny? A
more than ever whether these formal visits on a succession of total
strangers would do much towards helping the nerve cure
USE READING STRATEGIES which he was supposed to be undergoing.
Use Reading Strategies 10 I know how it will be, his sister had said when he was
Make Inferences What can you
Make Inferences Model how to guess about Framton Nuttel from his preparing to migrate to this rural retreat; you will bury
make inferences about Framton doubts about formal visits? A yourself down there and not speak to a living soul, and
Nuttels personality. You might say, your nerves will be worse than ever from moping. I shall
Framtons fears about the social vis- just give you letters of introduction to all the people I know there.
its show that he is shy and reserved. 15 Some of them, as far as I can remember, were quite nice.
Strangers make him nervous. His
doubts about the nerve cures success
hint that Framton may be a hypo- 1. presently. Soon, in a little while
2. endeavored. Tried; attempted
chondriac or may actually enjoy being 3. unduly discounting. Improperly disregarding
ill. A
6 UNIT 1 FICTION
Program Resources
Planning and Assessment Meeting the Standards

Program Planning Guide, Selection Lesson Plan Fiction: Unit 1, How to Use an Active Reading
E-Lesson Planner Model
Assessment Guide, Selection Quiz
Differentiating Instruction
ExamView
Developing Readers, Make Predictions
Technology Tools English Language Learners, Text Organization
Interactive Student Text on CD
Visual Teaching Package
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows
mirrorsandwindows.com
6 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Model
Art Connection
The British artist Harry Morley
(18811943) was about ten years
younger than Saki and may well
have read the writers popular sto-
ries. Morley grew up and studied art
in Leicester, which is located in the
English Midlands region.
Art Activity Have students discuss
elements and details in the picture
that create a certain sense of mystery
or fantasy. For example, what lies
beyond the open window? What may
the girl be thinking about as she
sews? What emotions are suggested
by the girls costume, facial expres-
sion, and posture?
More About the Context

Explain to students that Sakis
stories were popular in large part
because they made fun of the social
conventions of Victorian England. In
the Victorian era, named for Queen
Victoria (ruled 18371901), young
The Girl by the Window, Harry Morley. people were expected to follow strict
norms in social situations, especially
Framton wondered whether Mrs. Sappleton, the lady to whom he those in which adults were present.
was presenting one of the letters of introduction, came into the nice Children were to be seen and not
division. heard, unless invited into the con-
Do you know many of the people round here? asked the niece versation.
when she judged that they had had sufficient silent communion.4 20
Rules of etiquette governed every-
Hardly a soul, said Framton. My sister was staying here, at the
thing in Victorian Britain, including
rectory,5 you know, some four years ago, and she gave me letters of
conversations. For example, polite-
introduction to some of the people here. ness was more important than hon-
He made the last statement in a tone of distinct regret. esty. A person engaged in conversa-
Then you know practically nothing about my aunt? pursued the 25 tion was expected to always compli-
self-possessed young lady. ment the other speakers and listen
with rapt attention, even if hearing a
4. communion. Sharing of thoughts story for the second or third time.
5. rectory. A residence of a parish priest
THE OPEN WINDOW 7
/19/07 11:28:43 AM
0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01_1_UOpen.i7 7 11/19/07 11:28:58 AM
English Language Learning Reading Proficiency

Be sure students realize they should use the Copy a section of dialogue from the story on
footnotes provided with the text, as well as the the board to show students how it is punctu-
vocabulary words in the margins. Share with ated. Remind students that two characters in
students the following additional vocabulary the story are having a conversation, and that
words. what they say is enclosed in quotation marks.
moorbroad area of open, rolling land with Each time a new person speaks, there will be an
few trees, 8 indented paragraph. If students are confused
scarcityinadequate supply, 9 about who is speaking, they can look for clues
boltmove suddenly, 10 in the text before or after the quotation marks.
THE OPEN WINDOW 7

APPLY THE MODEL
Teach the Model
Only her name and address, admitted the caller. He was wondering
Use Reading Strategies whether Mrs. Sappleton was in the married or widowed state. An
Ask Questions Encourage students undefinable something about the room seemed to suggest masculine
to keep a questions log in their note- 30 habitation.
books and to write down questions Her great tragedy happened just three years ago, said the child;
they have as they read. Remind them that would be since your sisters time.
that sometimes they will find answers Her tragedy? asked Framton; somehow in this restful country spot
to their questions as they continue tragedies seemed out of place.
reading. Other times, they will have to 35 You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on
reread to find answers. A an October afternoon, said the niece, indicating a large French
USE READING STRATEGIES
window that opened on to a lawn.
Ask Questions Is there anything
Use Reading Strategies that puzzles you about the informa- It is quite warm for the time of the year, said Framton;
Make Predictions Model how to tion Vera gives Framton? Write a but has that window got anything to do with the tragedy?
predict what the meeting will be like. question about it. A Out through that window, three years ago to a day, her
You might say, I think the meeting husband and her two young brothers went off for their days
will be strained, since Framton has shooting. They never came back. In crossing the moor to their favorite
arrived on the very day marking the en gulf (in gulf>) v., snipe-shooting6 ground they were all three engulfed in a treacherous
anniversary of the mens deaths. I swallow up piece of bog.7 It had been that dreadful wet summer, you know, and
dont think Framton will know what A 45 places that were safe in other years gave way suddenly without warning.
to say to Veras aunt. As a character Their bodies were never recovered. That was the dreadful part of it.
who is already nervous and easily fal ter ing ly Here the childs voice lost its self-possessed note and became falteringly
upset, Framton may find the situation (f0l> t@r i4 l7) adv., C human. Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back some day,
awkward. B uncertainly; unsteadily
they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in
50 at that window just as they used to do. That is why the window is kept
open every evening till it is quite dusk. Poor dear aunt, she has often
told me how they went out, her husband with his white waterproof
coat over his arm, and Ronnie, her youngest brother, singing, Bertie,
why do you bound?8 as he always did to tease her, because she said it
55 got on her nerves. Do you know, sometimes on still, quiet evenings like
this, I almost get a creepy feeling that they will all walk in through that
window
She broke off with a little shudder. It was a relief to
USE READING STRATEGIES Framton when the aunt bustled into the room with a whirl of
Make Predictions What 60 do you apologies for being late in making her appearance.
think will happen in Framtons I hope Vera has been amusing you? she said. She has
meeting with Veras aunt? How will
it go? B
been very interesting, said Framton.
I hope you dont mind the open window, said Mrs.
Sappleton briskly; my husband and brothers will be home directly from
6. snipe-shooting. Bird-hunting
7. bog. Wet, spongy ground
8. Bertiebound? Line from a popular song
8 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Visual Saki offers few details about the physi-
Auditory Invite students to practice reading cal appearance of the three main characters,
the dialogue between Framton and Vera in Framton, Vera, and Mrs. Sappleton. How do stu-
pairs. A volunteer may read Veras dramatic dents visualize them? Invite students to sketch
monologue on page 8 aloud for the class. or paint one or more of the characters, or to
Alternatively, play the recording from the Audio portray them in cartoons.
Library and have students read along as they Kinesthetic Have students role-play the story
listen. C in a readers theater. Ask them to use clues in
the text to develop appropriate movements,
gestures, posture, and facial expressions.
8 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Model
shooting, and they 65
always come in this Analyze Literature
way. Theyve been Characterization Framton thinks
out for snipe in the that his own health is a good topic for
marshes today, so conversation. This choice suggests, in
theyll make a fine 70 turn, that he is socially awkward and
mess over my poor somewhat self-centered. D
carpets. So like you
men-folk, isnt it?
She rattled on
cheerfully about the 75 TEACHING NOTE
shooting and the Whats in a Name?
scarcity of birds, and Students may like to know that Veras name
the prospects for comes from the Latin word meaning truth. Ask
duck in the winter. students how Veras name is ironic.
To Framton, it was 80 Answer: Vera doesnt tell the truthshe
all purely horrible. makes up stories. This is ironic because
He made a desperate her name means truth.
but only partially
successful effort to
turn the talk on to a 85
less ghastly topic; he ghast ly (gast> l7) adj.,
horrible; frightful
was conscious that
his hostess was giving
him only a fragment
of her attention, 90
Hunters and Dogs, Joseph Cusachs y Cusachs.
and her eyes were
constantly straying past him to the open window and the lawn beyond.
It was certainly an unfortunate coincidence that he should have
paid his visit on this tragic anniversary. ANALYZE LITERATURE
The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence Characterization
95 What does
of mental excitement, and avoidance of anything in the nature Framton think is a good topic for
of violent physical exercise, announced Framton, who labored conversation? What does this fact
suggest about his character? D
under the tolerably widespread delusion that total strangers and
chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of ones ailments and de lu sion
infirmities,9 their cause and cure. On the matter of diet they are not so 100 (di l2> zh@n) n., false belief
or opinion
much in agreement, he continued. D
No? said Mrs. Sappleton, in a voice which only replaced a yawn at
the last moment. Then she suddenly brightened into alert attentionbut
not to what Framton was saying.
9. infirmities. Physical weaknesses or defects
THE OPEN WINDOW 9
/19/07 11:29:05 AM
Connecting with Literature
0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01_1_UOpen.i9 9 11/19/07 11:29:09 AM
Geography
Tell students that the word moor is a clue to the
setting of the story, which may take place in
rural Scotland or in another part of Great Britain.
Have students locate photographs of moorland in
travel books about Great Britain and gather infor-
mation about the animals and plants that live in
this environment.
THE OPEN WINDOW 9

APPLY THE MODEL
Teach the Model
105 Here they are at last! she cried. Just in time for tea, and dont they
Use Reading Strategies look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!
Visualize Point out that the scene Framton shivered slightly and turned towards the niece with a look
might seem frightening if the viewer, con vey (k@n v6>) v., intended to convey sympathetic comprehension. The child was staring
make known
like Framton, had prior information out through the open window with dazed horror in her eyes. In a chill
leading to the belief that the figures 110 shock of nameless fear Framton swung around in his seat and looked in
were ghosts. However, if the viewer the same direction.
were Mrs. Sappleton, the sight of the In the deepening twilight three figures were walking across the lawn
returning men would be welcome. A towards the window; they all carried guns under their arms, and one of
A them was additionally burdened with a white coat hung over his shoul-
Analyze Literature 115 ders. A tired brown spaniel kept close at their heels. Noiselessly they
Characterization Point out to stu- neared the house, and then a hoarse young voice chanted out of the
dents that Vera seems to make up sto- dusk: I said, Bertie, why do you bound?
ries often and enjoys doing so. Students Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall-door,
might say Vera is mischievous, imagina- USE READING STRATEGIES the gravel-drive, and the front gate were dimly noted stages in
tive, confident, and clever. B Visualize Picture the 120
scene of the his headlong retreat. A cyclist coming along the road had to
returning hunters in your mind. How run into the hedge to avoid imminent collision.
might that scene seem frightening or Here we are, my dear, said the bearer of the white mack-
W You may
pleasing in different contexts? A
intosh,10 coming in through the window; fairly muddy, but
IRRORS
W INDOWS want to
ask stu-
im mi nent
(im> @ n@nt) adj., coming 125
soon; threatening
most of its dry. Who was that who bolted out as we came up?
A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel, said Mrs. Sappleton;
ddents
ents ttoo write a journal entry or could only talk about his illnesses, and dashed off without a word of
qquick
uicck w rite oor discuss this ques-
write, good-bye or apology when you arrived. One would think he had seen a
tion in groups or with the class. ghost. C
Students may respond that mak- I expect it was the spaniel, said the niece calmly; he
ing up stories to shock people ANALYZE LITERATURE 130 told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into a
could be harmful or could be all cemetery somewhere on the banks of the Ganges by a pack of
Characterization
in fun, depending on motivation. How would you describe the pariah dogs,11 and had to spend the night in a newly dug grave
character of Vera? Why? B with the creatures snarling and grinning and foaming just
above him. Enough to make any one lose their nerve.
Critical Thinking Romance12 at short notice was her speciality.
Discussion Guide Irony is a differ-
ence between appearance and reality. 10. mackintosh. Waterproof outer coat
Lead a discussion about the irony in 11. Gangesdogs. Gangesriver in India; pariah dogsstray dogs, outcast and rejected by others
12. Romance. A made-up story
The Open Window using the follow-
ing questions:
&
Why has Framton Nuttel moved W
to the countryside, and why does IRRORS Why would someone make up a story to shock another person? Is it wrong to do
his sister insist that he make social
visits? How is his experience at the
W INDOWS so, or is it a harmless joke?
Sappleton home an example of situ-

ational irony, considering Framtons
and his sisters expectations?
What is ironic about Mrs. 10 UNIT 1 FICTION
Sappletons remark, One would
think he had seen a ghost? C
TEACHING NOTE
The Writing Is On the Wall
After students have read the The Open
Window, fasten four or five large pieces of

paper to walls around the room. Divide students
into small groups, and assign each group to a
piece of paper. Ask each group to write on its
sheet of paper as many questions about the
text as possible. As a class, determine which
questions are recall and which are higher-level.
Score one point for each recall question
and two points for each higher-level ques-
tion. Discuss the higher-level questions
as time allows.
10 UNIT 1 FICTION

APPLY THE MODEL
Review the Model
Refer to Text
1a. Vera asks Framton if he knows
REFER TO TEXT REASON WITH TEXT

many of the people around there
1a. List questions Vera asks Framton about 1b. Infer why Vera asks these Understand and what he knows about her
the people round here and about her questions. Find meaning
aunt. aunt.
2a. Framtons sister wants him to feel
2a. Identify what Framton knows about the 2b. Social conventions in Victorian England Apply at home in the countryside as he
Sappletons before his visit. were strict and formal. How does Vera Use information
violate these conventions? What do you tries to rest and calm his nerves.
think was Sakis attitude toward polite- He knows only Mrs. Sappletons
ness and proper behavior? name and address.
3a. How does Vera direct Framtons atten- 3b. Explain why Vera wants Framton to Analyze 3a. Vera says that Framton may think
tion to the open window? How does notice the window. How does Vera use Take things it is odd to have the window
Framton respond? this opportunity to create romance at apart open on an autumn afternoon.
short notice? He responds that it is quite warm
4a. Record how Framton reacts to the arrival 4b. Do you think Framtons reaction is Evaluate for the time of year and wants to
of the hunters and how Mrs. Sappleton believable? Would someone really be Make judgments know if the window is linked with
reacts to Framtons departure. frightened by such a tale? Explain.
Mrs. Sappletons tragedy.
5a. What does Vera suggest is the reason 5b. Explain the purpose of Veras story Create 4a. He is shocked and afraid, since
for Framtons quick departure? about Framton Nuttel. Bring ideas he thinks they are ghosts. Mrs.
together
Sappleton thinks that Framtons
behavior is eccentric and strange.
ANALYZE LITERATURE: Character and Characterization
5a. Vera says Framton has a horror of
How would you describe the characters of Vera and Framton to a friend who hasnt read
dogs, instilled in him during a ter-
The Open Window? Give examples from the text that show how Vera and Framton are
characterized. rifying experience in India.
EXTEND THE TEXT Collaborative Learning Reason with Text

Writing Options Perform a Skit Work with a partner to write a skit, 1b. Vera wants to see if she would be
Creative Writing Using what you have learned about or short play, about two characters in a conventional able to fool Framton by telling a
Framton and his sister from the story, and filling in the social situation who find things are not turning out as fictional tale about the family.
rest with your imagination, write the letter of intro- expected. Examples of conventional social situations
include attending a party, having dinner at a restau- 2b. Vera seems to have no regard
duction Framton presents to Mrs. Sappleton. Keep in
rant, going on a date, or hanging out at a local club or for social conventions because
mind that the Nuttels and Sappletons belong to polite
society. mall. Once you have written and rehearsed your skit, she frightens away a guest. Saki
act it out for your class. seems to be portraying social con-
Narrative Writing Reread the story and look
for clues that indicate what Framton is thinking
Critical Literacy ventions as rather ridiculous and
Research and Compare Social Conventions difficult to maintain.
and feeling during his visit to the Sappleton home.
Research the social conventions of another time period in 3b. Vera wants Framton to notice the
Then write a three-paragraph personal essay from
American or world history. Provide as much information
Framtons point of view that describes his experience at
as you can to explain the reasons behind the conven- window so she can use its being
the Sappleton home and the effect it had on him and open as a springboard for her
tions. Then write a report comparing and contrasting
his health, as well as his opinion about the Sappleton
these conventions (or rules of etiquette) with modern story.
family, especially Vera.
conventions for similar situations. 4b. Responses will vary.
W
Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more. 5b. Responses will vary.
W
THE OPEN WINDOW 11
Analyze Literature Rubrics for Writing Options

/19/07 11:29:11 AM 0000-0011_Lit3eG10_U01_1_UOpen.i11 11 11/19/07 11:29:15 AM
Character and Characterization Responses For writing rubrics and student models of the
will vary. Students will notice that Vera is Writing Options assignments in the Extend the Text
mischievous and amuses herself by making up section, go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
stories. She has a good imagination and sense
of humor. Shes also a good actress and con-
versationalist. Framton, on the other hand, is
nervous. He doesnt like making calls and would
just like to be alone. Hes not comfortable mak-
ing conversation with strangers.
THE OPEN WINDOW 11

Teach the Element Understanding Plot
Launch the Lesson PLOT Rising Action: The main character encounters and
Name a few well-known fairy tales: tries to solve a problem. This results in a conflict devel-
A plot is a series of related events that drive a story. oping and becoming more and more intense.
Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Have you ever been so wrapped up in a book that
and Cinderella, and ask the students you find yourself staying up until the early hours of Climax: At this crucial moment, the main character
to name the problem or conflict that the morning to finish it or flipping to the end of the has to take action or make a decision. Sometimes, fate
drives the plot in these stories. book to see how it turns out? Books and stories that intervenes and forces the characters hand.
Then, ask students to turn to page 12 are hard to put down usually have an interesting or Falling Action: This part of a story explores the
to see how the conflict in Cinderella exciting plot. events that follow the climax, including the results of
is developed through exposition, the main characters action or decision.
rising action, climax, falling action, ELEMENTS OF PLOT
Resolution: This part of a story is sometimes called
and its resolution at the storys end. A car is built around a frame, which gives it shape and the dnouement (d6 n2 m5>). At this point, the
Students could continue the exercise stability. In the same way, the plot is the frame that conflict is resolved.
by diagramming the plot of another gives a story its structure. In general, the main parts of
fairy tale. A Plot Diagram is a useful tool for keeping track of
a plots framework are as follows:
all the parts of a plot. To create a Plot Diagram, draw
Exposition: The characters are introduced, the setting a pyramid shape and make notes on it about each
Elements of Plot is established, and necessary background information part of the plot. Below is a Plot Diagram of the story
Direct students to the Notable is provided. Cinderella.
Conflicts box and ask them to match
the protagonist-antagonist pairs with
the books from which they are taken. Plot Diagram
The answers are listed below. All of
the novels listed are available in film Climax: At the ball, Cinderella
meets the prince who falls in love
form. You may want to locate the film with her. She leaves at the stroke
versions and use excerpts to show of midnight and accidentally
students how internal and external leaves behind her glass slipper.
conflicts are portrayed.
Aslan versus The White Witch: The Rising Action: There is Falling Action: The
a ball at the palace, and prince searches for the
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Cinderella is forbidden to owner of the glass slipper.
from The Chronicles of Narnia go. Her fairy - godmother The evil stepsisters try to
series by C. S. Lewis helps Cinderella go to the wear the slipper.
Snowball versus Napoleon: Animal ball.
Farm by George Orwell
Hester Prynne versus Roger
Chillingworth: The Scarlet Letter by
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Jekyll versus Hyde: The Strange Exposition: Cinderella lives Resolution: The glass
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by with her stepmother and slipper fits Cinderellas
stepsisters, who treat her foot, so she marries the
Robert Louis Stevenson poorly. prince and lives happily
Ebenezer Scrooge versus greed: A ever after.
Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
12 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
0012-0041_Lit3eG10_U01_2a_RegSel12 12 KEY TERMS 11/19/07 11:36:00 AM 0012-0041_Lit3eG
PLOT, 12
Teaching Words EXPOSITION, 12
stability,12 RISING ACTION, 12
crucial, 12 CLIMAX, 12
intervenes, 12 FALLING ACTION,12
treacherous, 13 RESOLUTION, 12
PLOT DIAGRAM, 12
CONFLICT, 13
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, 13
FLASHBACK, 13
FORESHADOWING, 13
12 UNIT 1 FICTION
0012-0041_Lit3eG10_U01_2a_ATE.indd 12 5/1/08 2:31:05 PM

Teach the Element
PLOT AND CONFLICT PLOT AND ORGANIZATION Use Reading Skills
Reading skills that can help students
A plot revolves around some type of conflict, or A story has to have a beginning, a middle, and an
struggle. Usually, throughout the course of a story, a end. A storys plot, therefore, is often framed by time.
understand plot include the following:
central conflict is introduced, developed, and resolved. Some stories focus on one hour in a persons life; Identify Sequence of Events
others may span one hundred years. For instance, The Encourage students to create a time
An internal conflict is a struggle that takes place within line or plot diagram to keep track
Open Window (page 6) takes place in an afternoon,
the character. For instance, the barber in Lather and
whereas Two Kinds spans many years. of the events of a story. Remind
Nothing Else (page 45) struggles with his conscience
as he decides whether or not to murder his customer. Most stories are told in chronological order, where
them that events are not always told
the writer unfolds events in the order in which they in chronological order; often, past
An external conflict is a struggle that takes place events are filled in through the use
occurred. A flashback interrupts the chronological
between a character and some outside force. One type of flashbacks. Signal words such as
sequence of a literary work and presents an event that
of external conflict is between a character and nature.
occurred earlier. Sometimes, writers play with time once, earlier, and had may indicate a
This type is demonstrated in Through the Tunnel
(page 29) as Jerry attempts to swim through the treach-
sequence and may use flashbacks to reveal what has flashback.
happened at a prior time. For instance, in Cranes Evaluate Cause and Effect Point
erous sea tunnel. Another type of external conflict is
(page 132), Sngsam remembers the time when he out to students that a satisfying plot
between two main characters, such as Jing-mei rebel-
and his childhood friend, Tkchae, captured a crane. consists of an ordered series of events
ling against her mothers expectations in Two Kinds
This flashback helps explain Sngsams later actions
(page 69). A third type of external conflict is between in which the incidents are related to
toward Tkchae.
a character and society. In On the Rainy River (page each other through cause and effect.
137), the narrators desire to ignore the draft is in direct Encourage students to create a cause-
conflict with the expectations of society. and-effect chain for a short story such
Once, when Sngsam and Tkchae were
about twelve, they had set a trap here, as The Monkeys Paw.
Notable Conflicts unbeknown to the adults, and caught a
crane, a Tanjng crane. They had tied the
A compelling conflict is central to a memorable crane up, even binding its wings, and paid More About Plot
plot. Do you recognize any of the protagonist- it daily visits, patting its neck and riding Direct students to the following
antagonist pairs below? on its back. Then one day they overheard titles to see examples of plots that
Aslan vs. The White Witch the neighbors whispering: someone had have suspense:
Snowball vs. Napoleon come from Seoul with a permit from the Two Friends, page 94
Hester Prynne vs. Roger Chillingworth governor-generals office to catch cranes as Civil Peace, page 180
Jekyll vs. Hyde some kind of specimens. Then and there Contents of the Dead Mans
Ebenezer Scrooge vs. greed the two boys had dashed off to the field.
Pocket, page 903
from Cranes by Hwang Sun-wn
Writers can use foreshadowing, or the act of

presenting hints to events that will occur later in a
story, to build interest and suspense. In The Monkeys
Paw (page 15), Sergeant-Major Morriss grave tone
as he recounts how he came by the paw suggests that
the paw does more harm than good.
UNDERSTANDING PLOT 13
/19/07 11:36:00 AM
Program Resources
See Meeting the Standards, How to Use an

Active Reading Model.
UNDERSTANDING PLOT 13

Preview the Selection
The Monkeys Paw
A Short Story by W. W. Jacobs
At a Glance
Guided Reading BUILD BACKGROUND USE READING SKILLS
Reading Level: Moderate Literary Context A horror story, The Monkeys Paw creates in the Sequence of Events
Difficulty Considerations: Style; reader a sense of dread. British short story writer W. W. Jacobs achieves this Sequence refers to the order in
suspenseful effect by introducing into the ordinary, everyday life of the White which things happen. In short
vocabulary; supernatural events
GUIDED READING
family an odd objecta monkeys paw. This paw was brought home by stories, events are not always
Ease Factors: Few characters; dia- Sergeant-Major Morris from a tour of duty in India, which, at the time of the told to readers in the order in
logue story, was controlled by Britain. As the White family soon discovers, the lives of which they occurred; this is why
those who fall under the spell of the paw are forever changed. it is important to write down
Objectives The Monkeys Paw was published in 1902, and its success over the years lies events.
Studying this lesson will enable stu- in its classic horror elements: a dark, misty night; a mysterious stranger; the As you read The Monkeys
dents to magical powers of an object; the temptation of greed; and the struggle against Paw, use a Time Line like the
humankinds ultimate enemyfate. This story has been adapted for film, tele- one below to keep track of
recognize how something that vision, and stage productions. the events in the story. As you
seems too good to be true probably create your Time Line, circle any
Readers Context If you were granted three wishes, what would they be?
is. events you think might fore-
Describe what your life would be like if these wishes were granted. What unin-
read, interpret, analyze, and evalu- tended consequences might come of these wishes? shadow something to come.
ate a short story about a family
Sergeant-
whose three wishes bring them
ANALYZE LITERATURE: Plot and Foreshadowing major
tragedy rather than happiness. visits
define plot and foreshadowing and Plot is a series of events related to a central conflict, or
struggle. A typical plot introduces a conflict, develops it,
recognize the use of these literary and eventually resolves it. Foreshadowing, or the act of
elements in the selection. presenting materials that hint at events to occur later in the
use the skill of identifying the story, can help advance the plot by creating suspense. Several
sequence of events to understand a events foreshadow the ending of The Monkeys Paw.
PREVIEW VOCABULARY
short story. Use the context clues in the
write a horror story, an analytical SET PURPOSE sentences below to figure out
introduction, and a public service The idea of three wishes is common in literature, folktales, and oral tradition. the meanings of the underlined
announcement. This concept is introduced early in The Monkeys Paw. Using what you know words from the selection.
videotape a performance of the about other stories in which wishes are granted and about The Monkeys Paw, 1. Gregor has been maligned
predict what will happen in the story. As you read the story and learn about because he hangs out with
story.
wishes that were granted, predict what this information may foreshadow. people who get in trouble.
practice reading assessment by 2. The teacher listened dubiously
answering multiple-choice and MEET THE AUTHOR to Antonios excuse for being
short-answer questions about the late to class.
William Wymark (W. W.) Jacobs (18631943) 943) was 3. Katarina attributes her
selection. born in London, England, and grew up in a house use success to both talent and
along a Thames River wharf, where his father worked. hard work.
Launch the Lesson Although never a seaman himself, he drew on his 4. The avaricious man loved
Ask students if they can recall any sto- childhood memories to write comic tales about the his wealth so much that he
misadventures of sailors, though many of thesee tales were would not even help his poor
ries, jokes, or movie plots that involve ollection of
set on land. Many Cargoes was Jacobss first collection mother.
making wishes. Discuss what usually such stories. Jacobs gained enough success as a writer to 5. Clarks apathy was a sharp
happens in these stories and why. Ask is work
quit his job in civil service in 1899. Although his contrast to his usual enthu-
students what they would do if they is collected in more than twenty volumes, he is best siasm and excitement.
were given three wishes. known for his horror story The Monkeys Paw.
14 UNIT 1 FICTION
0012-0041_Lit3eG10_U01.indd 14
Words in Use KEY TERMS 3/19/08 10:08:52 AM 0012-0041_Lit3eG
CONTEXT, 14
Preview apathy, 21 liability, 21
PLOT, 14
Vocabulary Selection reverberated, 24
FORESHADOWING, 14
amiably, 16 Words Teaching SEQUENCE, 14
presumptuous, 17 torrent, 16 Words CONTEXT CLUES, 14
maligned, 18 condoling, 16 wharf, 14 INFERENCES, 22
dubiously, 18 doggedly, 18 evoke, 23
prosaic, 19 marred, 18 anthology, 25
attribute, 19 simian, 19
avaricious, 19 credulity, 19
averted, 20 furtively, 20
inaudible, 21 broach, 20
14 UNIT 1 FICTION

The
The Teach the Selection
Monkeys Summary
Having returned to England from
army service in India, Sergeant-Major
Morris dines with Mr. and Mrs. White
and their son Herbert. He shows the
Whites a dried-up monkeys paw that
Paw
has had a spell put on it. The owner
of the paw will have three wishes
granted. Taking the paw eagerly
despite Morriss warnings, Mr. White
wishes for two hundred pounds. His
wish tragically comes true the very
next day, when Herbert is killed in an
industrial accident and his employers
pay the parents two hundred pounds
Hold it up in in compensation. Some days after
the funeral, Mrs. White pressures
her husband to wish that Herbert
your right hand and would return to life. Late that night,
someone bangs on the door, and Mr.
wish aloud, said the White uses his third and final wish.
sergeant-major, W
IRRORS The Mirrors
but I warn you W INDOWS & Windows

questions
aatt tthe
he end of the selection ask
sstudents
tudeents abo
about the role of fate
of the consequences. in their lives. Introduce this idea
A Short Story by W. W. Jacobs by asking a few opening ques-
tions: Have you ever experienced
W ithout, the night was cold and wet,

but in the small parlor of Laburnum
Villa the blinds were drawn, and the fire
a really eerie coincidence, that
didnt seem to be just chance,
or some event that seemed
burned brightly. uncanny or fateful? How did you
Father and son were at chess, the explain it?
former, who possessed ideas about the game
involving radical changes, putting his king
into such sharp and unnecessary perils that
it even provoked comment from the white-
haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.
THE MONKEYS PAW 15
/19/08 10:08:52 AM
Program Resources

Program Planning Guide, Selection Lesson Plan Fiction: Unit 1, Guided Reading
E-Lesson Planner
ExamView
English Language Learners, Sequence of Events
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows
THE MONKEYS PAW 15

Hark at the wind, said Mr. White, who,
having seen a fatal mistake after it was too late,
Teach the Selection was amiably desirous of preventing his son
from seeing it.
Analyze Literature Im listening, said the latter, grimly
Foreshadowing The dark and surveying the board as he stretched out his
stormy weather creates a spooky hand. Check.
atmosphere, or mood. Students might I should hardly think that hed come
note that dark and stormy weather in tonight, said his father, with his hand poised
fictional tales typically indicates that over the board.
something bad is going to happen. A Mate,1 replied
ANALYZE LITERATURE the son.
Connecting with Literature Foreshadowing What Thats the worst
atmosphere does the
Humanities living so far out,
description of the bawled Mr. White,
Great Britain first began to colonize weather create? What
parts of India in the mid-1600s, and kind of events might the with sudden and
by 1858 had control over the entire weather foreshadow? A unlooked-for violence.
nation. British rule continued until Of all the beastly,
India gained its independence in slushy, out-of-the-way places to live in, this is
1947. Point out that long-term British the worst. Pathways a bog, and the roads a
colonization of India brought two torrent. I dont know what people are thinking
very different cultures into contact about. I suppose because only two houses in
with each other. Many British people the road are let; they think it doesnt matter.
viewed Indians with a mixture of arro- Never mind, dear, said his wife sooth-
gance and awe. No subject mystified ingly. Perhaps youll win the next one.
the British more than Indian religions Mr. White looked up sharply, just in time
and rituals. In The Monkeys Paw, to intercept a knowing glance between mother tumblers and stood a small copper kettle on
W. W. Jacobs exploits the Western fas- and son. The words died away on his lips, and the fire.
cination with these areas of culture. he hid a guilty grin in his thin gray beard. At the third glass, his eyes got brighter,
There he is, said Herbert White, as the and he began to talk; the little family circle
gate banged loudly and heavy footsteps came regarding with eager interest this visitor from
toward the door. distant parts, as he squared his broad shoul-
The old man rose with hospitable haste, ders in the chair and spoke of wild scenes
and opening the door, was heard condoling and doughty3 deeds; of wars and plagues and
with the new arrival. The new arrival also strange peoples.
condoled with himself, so that Mrs. White said, Twenty-one years of it, said Mr. White,
Tut, tut! and coughed gently as her husband nodding at his wife and son. When he went
entered the room, followed by a tall, burly away he was a slip of a youth in the warehouse.
man, beady of eye and rubicund of visage.2 Now look at him.
Sergeant-Major Morris, he said, intro-
ducing him. 1. Mate. The winning move in chess, capturing an opponents
The sergeant-major shook hands, and king, is announced with checkmate.
2. rubicund of visage. Pink-faced
taking the proffered seat by the fire, watched 3. doughty. Brave
contentedly while his host got out whisky and
ami a bly (6> m7 @ bl7) adv., pleasantly
16 UNIT 1 FICTION
0012-0041_Lit3eG10_U01_2a_RegSel16 16 11/19/07 11:36:19 AM 0012-0041_Lit3eG
Reading Proficiency examples from the storys opening scene on the

Have students read along while listening to the board, and allow students to guess their mod-
dramatic recording in the Audio Library. ern equivalents. Remind students that context
English Language Learning can furnish helpful clues to the meaning of a
Explain to students that this story was written word or expression.
by a British author slightly more than a century hark atlisten to, 16
ago. Understandably, the story contains some beastlyterrible, 16
expressions that are not current in contem- letrented, 16
porary American English. Write the following profferedoffered, 16
leastwaysat least, 17
16 UNIT 1 FICTION

He dont look to have taken much harm, The soldier regarded him in the way that
said Mrs. White politely. middle age is wont to regard presumptuous
Id like to go to India myself, said the old youth. I have, he said quietly, and his blotchy Teach the Selection
man, just to look round a bit, you know. face whitened.
Better where you are, said the sergeant- And did you really have the three wishes Use Reading Strategies
major, shaking his head. He put down the granted? asked Mrs. White. Make Predictions The three wishes
empty glass, and sighing softly, shook it again. I did, said the sergeant-major, and his resulted in death for the first man to
I should like to see those old temples and glass tapped against his strong teeth. possess the monkeys paw. Model for
fakirs4 and jugglers, said the old man. What And has anybody else wished? persisted students how to predict. You might say,
was that you started telling me the other day the old lady. I predict someone in the story is going
about a monkeys paw or something, Morris? The first man had to die, but Im not sure who. B
USE READING
Nothing, said the soldier hastily. his three wishes. Yes, STRATEGIES
Leastways, nothing worth hearing. was the reply. I dont Make Predictions In Use Reading Strategies
Monkeys paw? said Mrs. White curi- know what the first B Make Connections As noted on
this passage, what do
ously. two were, but the third you learn about the three the Before Reading page, the motif of
Well, its just a bit of what you might was for death. Thats wishes made possible three wishes recurs throughout litera-
by the monkeys paw?
call magic, perhaps, said the sergeant-major how I got the paw. ture, particularly in the oral tradition.
Predict what you think
offhandedly. His tones were so will happen in the story. B You may wish to share with students
His three listeners leaned forward eagerly. grave that a hush fell the Grimms fairy tale entitled The
The visitor absentmindedly put his empty glass upon the group. Three Wishes. In this story, a wood-
to his lips and then set it down again. His host If youve had your three wishes, its no cutter is chopping down a tree when
filled it for him. good to you now, then, Morris, said the old a fairy who dwells in the tree begs
To look at, said the sergeant-major, man at last. What do you keep it for? him to stop, offering three wishes as a
fumbling in his pocket, its just an ordinary The soldier shook his head. Fancy, I reward. The woodcutter returns home
little paw, dried to a mummy. suppose, he said slowly. I did have some to tell his wife the good news. As he
He took something out of his pocket and idea of selling it, but I dont think I will. It talks with her, he begins to feel hun-
proffered it. Mrs. White drew back with a has caused enough mischief already. Besides, gry and exclaims, I wish I had a good
grimace, but her son, taking it, examined it people wont buy. They think its a fairy plate of black pudding right now!
curiously. tale; some of them, and those who do think The plate appears before him. His
And what is there special about it? anything of it, want to try it first and pay me wife shouts, I wish that pudding were
inquired Mr. White as he took it from his son, afterward. attached to the end of your nose, you
and having examined it, placed it upon the If you could have another three wishes, fool! The pudding firmly attaches to
table. said the old man, eyeing him keenly, would the end of the woodcutters nose, and
It had a spell put on it by an old fakir, you have them? no amount of pulling or prodding will
said the sergeant-major, a very holy man. He I dont know, said the other. I dont remove it. In desperation the woodcut-
wanted to show that fate ruled peoples lives, know. ter uses up his last wish, and the pud-
and that those who interfered with it did so to He took the paw, and dangling it between ding returns to the plate.
their sorrow. He put a spell on it so that three his forefinger and thumb, suddenly threw it
separate men could each have three wishes upon the fire. White, with a slight cry, stooped
from it. down and snatched it off.
His manner was so impressive that his
hearers were conscious that their light laughter 4. fakirs. People who, for religious purposes, live a thoughtful life
of poverty and self-denial
jarred somewhat.
Well, why dont you have three, sir? said pre sump tu ous (pri zum[p]> ch@ w@s) adj., arrogant;
Herbert White cleverly. tending to assume
THE MONKEYS PAW 17
TEACHING NOTE
Summarize
/19/07 11:36:19 AM
Share with students the summary of the story
on pages 14 and 15 of the Annotated Teachers

Edition. Remind students that a summary only
focuses on key events in a story and doesnt
contain small details. Divide students into
pairs; have each pair work together to
summarize each page after theyve
read it.
THE MONKEYS PAW 17

second installment of the soldiers
adventures in India.
Teach the Selection If the tale about the monkeys
paw is not more truthful than
Analyze Literature those he has been telling us, said
Foreshadowing Herberts joking Herbert, as the door closed behind
about the monkeys paw creates a their guest, just in time for him
lighter atmosphere, or mood, than to catch the last train, we shant
before. Herberts attitude might fore- make much out of it.
shadow something bad, as he seems Did you give him anything
positive nothing will happen to him, for it, Father? inquired Mrs.
and this might cause him to be care- White, regarding her husband
less or reckless. A closely.
A trifle, said he, coloring
Critical Thinking slightly. He didnt want it, but I
Discussion Guide Ask students if made him take it. And he pressed
they have ever possessed a good-luck Better let it burn, said the soldier me again to throw it away.
charm of some kind, such as a rab- solemnly. Likely, said Herbert, with pretended
bits foot or four-leaf clover. Why, do If you dont want it, Morris, said the horror. Why, were going to be rich, and
they suppose, do people believe in other, give it to me. famous and happy. Wish to be an emperor,
magical charms? Interested students I wont, said his friend doggedly. I threw Father, to begin with;
may research a good-luck charm or it on the fire. If you keep it, dont blame me for then you cant be ANALYZE LITERATURE
superstition to find out the history what happens. Pitch it on the fire again like a A henpecked. Foreshadowing How
behind it. does Herberts joking
sensible man. He darted round
about the monkeys paw
The other shook his head and examined his the table, pursued by contrast with the atmo-
new possession closely. How do you do it? he the maligned Mrs. sphere established by the
inquired. White armed with an sergeant-major? What
Hold it up in your right hand and wish antimacassar.6 might Herberts attitude
foreshadow? A
aloud, said the sergeant-major, but I warn Mr. White took the
you of the consequences. paw from his pocket
Sounds like the Arabian Nights, said Mrs. and eyed it dubiously. I dont know what to
White, as she rose and began to set the supper. wish for, and thats a fact, he said slowly. It
Dont you think you might wish for four pairs seems to me Ive got all I want.
of hands for me? If you only cleared the house, youd be
Her husband drew the talisman5 from his quite happy, wouldnt you? said Herbert, with
pocket, and then all three burst into laughter as his hand on his shoulder. Well, wish for two
the sergeant-major, with a look of alarm on his hundred pounds, then; thatll just do it. His
face, caught him by the arm. father, smiling shamefacedly at his own credu-
If you must wish, he said gruffly, wish lity, held up the talisman, as his son, with a
for something sensible. solemn face, somewhat marred by a wink at his
Mr. White dropped it back into his pocket,
and placing chairs, motioned his friend to the 5. talisman. Magic charm
table. In the business of supper, the talisman 6. antimacassar. Cover on a chair or sofa, which prevents soiling
was partly forgotten, and afterward the three
ma ligned (m@ l8ngd>) adj., slandered
sat listening in an enthralled fashion to a du bi ous ly (d2> b7 @s l7) adv., skeptically; doubtfully
18 UNIT 1 FICTION

Point out to students that Herberts dialogue Encourage students to read through the text for
in this part of the story reveals him to be the gist of what happens rather than getting
lighthearted and humorous. His words are not bogged down by difficult vocabulary. Discuss the
to be taken seriously; for example, he is only meanings of the following idioms:
teasing when he says, were going to be rich, burst into laughterstart laughing suddenly, 18
famous, and happy and when he remarks that henpeckeddominated by ones wife, 18
something horrible may appear in the Whites clear the housefinish paying for the house, 18
bedroom. ill-gotten gainssomething gotten by evil or
unfair methods, 19
18 UNIT 1 FICTION

mother, sat down at the piano and struck a few dirty, shrivelled little paw was pitched on the
impressive chords. sideboard with a carelessness which betokened7
I wish for two hundred pounds, said the no great belief in its virtues. Teach the Selection
old man distinctly. I suppose all old soldiers are the same,
A fine crash from the piano greeted the said Mrs. White. The idea of our listening to Use Reading Strategies
words, interrupted by a shuddering cry from such nonsense! How could wishes be granted Ask Questions Encourage students
the old man. His wife and son ran toward him. in these days? And if they could, how could to ask questions about words in the
It moved, he cried, with a glance of two hundred pounds hurt you, Father? story they dont understand. You can
disgust at the object as it lay on the floor. As I Might drop on his head from the sky, model this by saying, I dont really
wished, it twisted in my hand like a snake. said the frivolous Herbert. understand what the word simian
Well, I dont see the money, said his son Morris said the things happened so natu- means in the last paragraph of the
as he picked it up and placed it on the table, rally, said his father, that you might if you so first column. I think Ill look it up in a
and I bet I never shall. wished attribute it to coincidence. dictionary later. Meanwhile, it doesnt
It must have been your fancy, Father, said Well, dont break into the money before I really affect how I understand the
his wife, regarding him anxiously. come back, said Herbert as he rose from the story, so Ill keep reading. B
He shook his head. Never mind, though; table. Im afraid itll turn you into a mean,
theres no harm done, but it gave me a shock avaricious man, and we shall have to disown Use Reading Skills
all the same. you. Sequence of Events Point out to
They sat down by the fire again while His mother students that the paragraph begin-
the two men finished their pipes. Outside, USE READING laughed, and following ning In the brightness of the wintry
the wind was higher than ever, and the old STRATEGIES him to the door, sun next morning signals the pas-
man started nervously at the sound of a door Ask Questions Write watched him down the sage of time and moves the plot to
banging upstairs. A silence unusual and down any questions you road; and returning a new phase. Discuss with students
depressing settled upon all three, which lasted have about the events to the breakfast table, what events they think this phase will
of the story so far. Then focus on. C
until the old couple rose to retire for the night. continue reading and was very happy at
I expect youll find the cash tied up in see if your questions are the expense of her Possible Answer: The storys next stage
a big bag in the middle of your bed, said answered. B husbands credulity. will focus on whether and how the
Herbert, as he bade them good night, and All of which did not wish for two hundred pounds may
something horrible squatting up on top of the prevent her from scurrying to the door at the come true.
wardrobe watching you as you pocket your ill- postmans knock, nor prevent her from referring
gotten gains. somewhat shortly to retired sergeant-majors of
He sat alone in the darkness, gazing at the bibulous8 habits when she found that the post
dying fire, and seeing faces in it. The last face brought a tailors bill.
was so horrible and so simian that he gazed Herbert will have some more of his funny
at it in amazement. It got so vivid that, with remarks, I expect, when he comes home, she
a little uneasy laugh, he felt on the table for a said, as they sat at dinner.
glass containing a little water to throw over it. I dare say, said Mr. White, pouring
His hand grasped the monkeys paw, and with himself out some beer. But for all that, the
a little shiver, he wiped his hand on his coat thing moved in my hand; that Ill swear to.
and went up to bed.
In the brightness of the wintry sun next 7. betokened. Indicated
8. bibulous. Tending to drink too much
morning as it streamed over the breakfast table, C
he laughed at his fears. There was an air of
pro sa ic (pr9 z6> ik) adj., commonplace; dull
prosaic wholesomeness about the room that at trib ute (a tri> by2t<) v., think of as resulting from
it had lacked on the previous night, and the av a ri cious (a< v@ ri> sh@s) adj., greedy
THE MONKEYS PAW 19
/19/07 11:36:21 AM 0012-0041_Lit3eG10_U01_2a_RegSel19 19 11/19/07 11:36:22 AM
Enrichment
In Hinduism, the majority religion of India,
monkeys are sacred animals that represent the
popular god Hanuman, who plays a heroic role
in the ancient Indian epic The Ramayana and
is worshiped in the form of a monkey. Have stu-
dents in small groups research Hanuman and
present their findings in brief oral reports.
THE MONKEYS PAW 19

You thought it did, said the old lady her husbands coat, a garment that he usually
soothingly. reserved for the garden. She then waited, as
Teach the Selection I say it did, replied the other. There was patiently as her sex would permit, for him
no thought about it; I had justWhats the to broach his business; but he was at first
Analyze Literature matter? strangely silent.
Foreshadowing Because the visitor His wife made no reply. She was watching Iwas asked to call, he said at last, and
seems uncertain and nervous about the mysterious movements of a man outside, stooped and picked a piece of cotton from his
approaching the house, this could who, peering in an undecided fashion at the trousers. I come from Maw and Meggins. The
mean he is the bearer of bad news. house, appeared to old lady started. Is anything the matter? she
The visitors actions foreshadow the ANALYZE LITERATURE be trying to make up asked breathlessly. Has anything happened to
news the Whites will soon receive Foreshadowing What his mind to enter. In Herbert? What is it? What is it?
about Herbert. A does the description of mental connection Her husband interposed. There, there,
the visitor suggest about
with the two hundred Mother, he said hastily. Sit down, and dont
what he might have
A come to say? How is this pounds, she noticed jump to conclusions. Youve not brought bad
an example of that the stranger was news, Im sure, sir, and he eyed the other
foreshadowing? A well dressed, and wistfully.
wore a silk hat of Im sorry began the visitor.
glossy newness. Three times he paused at the Is he hurt? demanded the mother wildly.
gate, and then walked on again. The fourth time The visitor bowed in assent. Badly hurt,
he stood with his hands upon it, and then with he said quietly, but he is not in any pain.
sudden resolution flung it open and walked Oh, thank God! said the old woman,
up the path. Mrs. White clasping her hands. Thank God for that!
at the same moment Thank
placed her hands
behind her,
Unconscious She broke off suddenly as the sinister
meaning of the assurance dawned
and hurriedly
unfastening
of his wifes shriek, upon her, and she saw the awful
confirmation of her fears in the
the strings
of her
the old man smiled faintly, others averted face. She caught
her breath, and turning to her
apron, put
that useful
put out his hands like a slower-witted husband, laid her
trembling old hand upon his.
article of
apparel
sightless man, and dropped, There was a long silence.
He was caught in the
beneath the
cushion of
a senseless heap, machinery, said the visitor at
length in a low voice.
her chair.
She brought
to the floor. Caught in the machinery,
repeated Mr. White, in a dazed
the stranger, who fashion, yes.
seemed ill at ease, into He sat staring blankly out at the
the room. He gazed at her window, and taking his wifes hand between
furtively, and listened in a preoc- his own, pressed it as he had been wont to do
cupied fashion as the old
lady apologized
for the appearance a vert ed (@ v3rt> ed) adj., turned away
of the room, and
20 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Morrislook like. Remind them to use evidence

Auditory Divide students into small groups to from the text to support their representations.
read the story aloud. Allow students to decide Kinesthetic Kinesthetic learners might ben-
how to divide the reading among the group, efit from acting out one of the scenes in the
with the rule that each student reads aloud at story. Suggested scenes include the opening
least one time. dinner party or the scene in which the man
Visual Have students paint or sketch their from Maw and Meggins reports Herberts
ideas of what the main charactersMr. and death.
Mrs. White, Herbert, and Sergeant-Major
20 UNIT 1 FICTION

in their old courting
USE READING days nearly forty years
STRATEGIES
before. Teach the Selection
Visualize Imagine in He was the only now they had nothing
your mind Mrs. Whites
physical reaction to the one left to us, he said, to talk about, and their Use Reading Strategies
strangers news. B turning gently to the days were long Visualize Encourage students to
visitor. It is hard. to weariness. sketch how they think Mrs. White
The other coughed, and rising, walked It was looked as she reacted to the news. B
slowly to the window. The firm wished me to about a week
convey their sincere sympathy with you in your after, that Critical Thinking
great loss, he said, without looking round. I the old man, Discussion Guide Point out that
beg that you will understand I am only their waking suddenly in the irony is the difference between
servant and merely obeying orders. night, stretched out his appearance and realityin other
There was no reply. The old womans face hand and found himself words, what seems to be and what
was white, her eyes staring, and her breath B alone. The room was in darkness, and really is. Take a moment to discuss
inaudible. On the husbands face was a look the sound of subdued weeping came from with students the irony in The
such as his friend the sergeant-major might the window. He raised himself in bed and Monkeys Paw. What do the Whites
have carried into his first action. listened. expect to happen when they ask for
I was to say that Maw and Meggins Come back, he said tenderly. You will be two hundred pounds? What actually
disclaim all responsibility, continued the cold. happens?
other. They admit no liability at all, but in It is colder for my son, said the old
consideration of your sons services, they wish woman, and wept afresh.
to present you with a certain sum as compensa- The sound of her sobs died away on his
tion. ears. The bed was warm, and his eyes heavy
Mr. White dropped his wifes hand, and with sleep. He dozed fitfully, and then slept,
rising to his feet, gazed with a look of horror until a sudden wild cry from his wife awoke
at his visitor. His dry lips shaped the words, him with a start.
How much? The paw! she cried wildly. The monkeys
Two hundred pounds, was the answer. paw!
Unconscious of his wifes shriek, the old He started up in alarm. Where? Where is
man smiled faintly, put out his hands like a it? Whats the matter?
sightless man, and dropped, a senseless heap, She came stumbling across the room
to the floor. toward him. I want it, she said quietly.
In the huge new cemetery, some two miles Youve not destroyed it?
distant, the old people buried their dead, and Its in the parlor, on the bracket, he
came back to a house steeped in shadow and replied, marvelling. Why?
silence. It was all over so quickly that at first She cried and laughed together, and
they could hardly realize it, and remained in a bending over, kissed his cheek.
state of expectation as though of something else I only just thought of it, she said hysteri-
to happensomething else that was to lighten cally. Why didnt I think of it before? Why
this load, too heavy for old hearts to bear. didnt you think of it?
But the days passed, and expectation gave
place to resignationthe hopeless resigna-
in au di ble (i[<] n0>d@ b@l) adj., that cannot be heard
tion of the old, sometimes miscalled apathy. ap a thy (a> p@ th7) n., indifference; lack of emotion
Sometimes they hardly exchanged a word, for
THE MONKEYS PAW 21
THE MONKEYS PAW 21

Think of what? he questioned. the small passage with the unwholesome thing
The other two wishes, she replied rapidly. in his hand.
Teach the Selection Weve only had one. Even his wifes face seemed changed as he
Was not that enough? he demanded entered the room. It was white and expectant,
Use Reading Strategies fiercely. and to his fears, seemed to have an unnatural
Make Inferences Model how to No, she cried triumphantly. Well have look upon it. He was afraid of her.
make inferences by saying, Mrs. one more. Go down and get it quickly, and Wish! she cried, in a strong voice.
White is speaking rapidly, panting, wish our boy alive again. It is foolish and wicked, he faltered.
and quivering with excitement. She The man sat up in bed and flung the Wish! repeated his wife.
physically drags her husband toward bedclothes from his quaking limbs. Good He raised his hand. I wish my son alive
the door, insisting that her husband God, you are mad! he cried, aghast. again. The talisman fell to the floor, and he
bring her son back. She is not consid- Get it, she panted. Get it quickly, and regarded it fearfully. Then he sank trembling
ering the consequences of bringing wishOh, my boy, my boy! into a chair as the old woman, with burning
someone back from the dead. Her Her husband struck a match and lit the eyes, walked to the window and raised the
grief for her son seems to have made candle. Get back to bed, he said unsteadily. blind.
her go mad. A You dont know what you are saying. He sat until he was chilled with the cold,
We had the first wish granted, said the glancing occasionally at the figure of the old
old woman feverishly. Why not the second? woman peering through the window. The
A A coincidence, stammered the old man. candle-end, which had burned below the
Go and get it and wish, cried his wife, rim of the china candlestick, was throwing
quivering with excitement. pulsating shadows on the ceiling and walls,
The old man turned and regarded her, until, with a flicker larger than the rest, it
and his voice shook. He has been dead ten expired. The old man, with an unspeakable
days, and besides heI would not tell you sense of relief at the failure of the talisman,
else, butI could only recognize him by his crept back to his bed, and a minute or two
clothing. If he was too terrible for you to see afterward the old woman came silently and
then, how now? apathetically beside him.
Bring him back, cried the old woman, Neither spoke, but lay silently listening to
and dragged him the ticking of the clock. A stair creaked, and
USE READING toward the door. Do a squeaky mouse scurried noisily through the
STRATEGIES
you think I fear the wall. The darkness was oppressive, and after
Make Inferences child I have nursed? lying for some time screwing up his courage,
Based on Mrs. Whites
behavior, what can you He went down he took the box of matches, and striking one,
infer about her state of in the darkness, and went downstairs for a candle.
mind? A felt his way to the At the foot of the stairs the match went out,
parlor, and then to the and he paused to strike another; and at the
mantelpiece. The talisman was in its place, and same moment a knock, so quiet and stealthy
a horrible fear that the unspoken wish might as to be scarcely audible, sounded on the front
bring his mutilated son before him ere he could door.
escape from the room seized upon him, and The matches fell from his hand and spilled
he caught his breath as he found that he had in the passage. He stood motionless, his breath
lost the direction of the door. His brow cold suspended until the knock was repeated. Then
with sweat, he felt his way round the table, and he turned and fled swiftly back to his room,
groped along the wall until he found himself in and closed the door behind him. A third knock
sounded through the house.
22 UNIT 1 FICTION
TEACHING NOTE
Student-Generated Questions
Divide the class into small groups and ask

each group to create six questions about The
Monkeys Paw. Instruct the groups to pass their
questions to another group to answer. Invite
each group to share the best answers.
22 UNIT 1 FICTION

Whats that? cried the old woman, starting and called after her
USE READING SKILLS
up. appealingly as she
A rat, said the old man in shaking hurried downstairs. He Sequence of Events Teach the Selection
Take a look at the
tonesa rat. It passed me on the stairs. His heard the chain rattle Time Line you made.
wife sat up in bed listening. A loud knock back and the bottom Summarize what has Use Reading Skills
resounded through the house. bolt drawn slowly and happened in the story Sequence of Events Students
Its Herbert! she screamed. Its Herbert! stiffly from the socket. so far. B should have noted the following key
She ran to the door, but her husband was Then the old womans events on their Time Lines:
before her, and catching her by the arm, held voice, strained and panting. The Sergeant-Major visits the White
her tightly. The bolt, she cried loudly. Come down. family and tells them about the
What are you going to do? he whispered I cant reach it. monkeys paw.
hoarsely. But her husband was on his hands and Mr. White uses the monkeys paw
Its my boy; its Herbert! she cried, strug- knees, groping wildly on the floor in search to wish for two hundred pounds.
gling mechanically. I forgot it was two miles of the paw. If he could only find it before the Mr. and Mrs. White receive word
away. What are you that their son Herbert was killed in
holding me for? Let go. I an accident at work. They are given
must open the door. two hundred pounds as compensa-
For Gods sake, dont tion.
let it in, cried the old Mr. White uses the monkeys paw
man, trembling. to wish for Herberts return from
Youre afraid of your the dead.
own son, she cried, There is a loud banging on the
struggling. Let me go. door; Mr. White uses his last wish.
Im coming, Herbert; Im The knocking stops and the road is
coming. empty. B
There was another
knock, and another. Critical Viewing
The old woman, with a Students should note especially the
sudden wrench, broke shadowy doorways and windows of
free and ran from the the painting. C
room. Her husband
followed to the landing,
TEACHING NOTE
Print Reproduction
Critical Viewing Sydney Lee (18661949), a British printmaker,
What atmosphere is reflected made The House of Mystery by etching a sheet
in this image? What feelings of copper with acid, rolling ink on it, and print-
does the title of the work evoke ing it on paper. Before putting the copper in the
in you? How does the atmo- acid bath, Lee painted varnish where he wanted
sphere of this image compare
with that of the story? C
white areas. The acid ate only into the exposed
surface. Although it looks much the same as an
ink drawing, the advantage of a print is
that it can be reproduced many times.
The House of Mystery,
1926. Sydney Lee. Harris Museum
and Art Gallery, Preston, UK.
THE MONKEYS PAW 23
/19/07 11:36:23 AM

Discuss the following additional vocabulary: Encourage students to visualize the action as
aghastshocked; amazed, 22 they read this intense, dramatic scene, paying
mutilatedseriously damaged, 22 special attention to the sensory detailsdetails
screwing up his couragegathering his cour- of sight, sound, and touchthat make the
age, 22 Whites terrifying experience come alive for
stealthyquiet and secretive, 22 readers. On a second reading, students may like
wrenchtwist or pull, 23 to go back and create a sensory detail chart
landingthe area at the top of the stairs or to keep track of these details. How do these
between two sets of stairs, 23 details work to build the story to its climax?
THE MONKEYS PAW 23

thing outside got in. A perfect fusillade9 of opened. A cold wind ANALYZE LITERATURE
knocks reverberated through the house, and rushed up the stair-
Review the Selection he heard the scraping of a chair as his wife put case, and a long, loud
Plot What is the climax
of the story? How can
it down in the passage against the door. He wail of disappoint- you tell? A
Analyze Literature heard the creaking of the bolt as it came slowly ment and misery from
Plot The climax of the story is when back, and at the same moment he found the his wife gave him
Mr. White makes his final wish. A monkeys paw, and frantically breathed his courage to run down to her side, and then to
third and last wish. the gate beyond. The street lamp flickering
The knocking ceased suddenly, although opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road.
W You may the echoes of it were still in the house. He
IRRORS
W INDOWS
9. fusillade. Simultaneous discharge of many firearms
want to heard the chair drawn back, and the door
ask stu-
ddents
ents ttoo write a journal entry or
&
qquick
uicck w rite, oor divide students
write, W It had a spell put on it by an old fakir. He wanted to show that fate ruled
into discussion groups or lead a IRRORS
W INDOWS
peoples lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. Do you
whole-class discussion about this believe that fate, coincidence, or your own actions determine your future?
question.
Refer to Text
1a. The sergeant-major says, I warn
you of the consequences.
2a. The fakir put a spell on the paw REFER TO TEXT REASON WITH TEXT

that allowed three men to make 1a. State the warning that the sergeant- 1b. Infer what might have happened to Understand
three wishes with it. He wanted to major gives Mr. White. make the sergeant-major feel this way Find meaning
show that fate rules peoples lives. about the monkeys paw.
3a. The sergeant-major says, It has 2a. Recall the spell that was put on the 2b. Apply the fakirs idea to real life. What Apply
caused enough mischief already. monkeys paw by the fakir. Why did the does the story suggest about the role of Use information
Mrs. White believes a second wish fakir put the spell on the paw? fate in human life?
will bring her son back. Mr. White 3a. Identify a quotation or action taken by 3b. Compare the ideas the sergeant-major, Analyze
drops the monkeys paw because the sergeant-major, Mr. White, and Mrs. Mr. White and Mrs. White have about Take things
he feels it move in his hand. White that shows each believes in the the monkeys paw. Identify who believes apart
4a. Mr. White wishes for two hundred power of the monkeys paw. most strongly in the power of the paw.
pounds. 4a. Name Mr. Whites first wish. 4b. Determine what human weakness led Evaluate
5a. Each person could be granted to Mr. Whites wish. Describe how you Make judgments
three wishes. would have handled the situation in
Mr. Whites place.
Reason with Text 5a. Identify the limit the fakir put on the 5b. What would you do if the monkeys Create
1b. We can infer that the sergeant- monkeys paw. paw still had power and you had the Bring ideas
chance to use it? together
majors wishes resulted in some-
thing bad and painful happening
in his life. ANALYZE LITERATURE: Plot and Foreshadowing
2b. The story suggests that toying Look over your Time Line and use the events you listed to create a Plot Diagram like the one on page 12.
with fate produces dire conse- What examples of foreshadowing did you find as you recorded events? What effect did they have on
you as a reader?
quences.
3b. Responses will vary.
4b. Responses will vary. 24 UNIT 1 FICTION
Analyze Literature
0012-0041_Lit3eG10_U01_2a_RegSel24 24 Climax: There is pounding at the Whites 11/19/07 11:36:24 AM 0012-0041_Lit3eG
Plot Students should model their Plot front door. Realizing what his second wish may
Diagrams after the one on page 12. The follow- mean, Mr. White makes his third wish.
ing pieces should be included: Falling Action: Mrs. White cries loudly.
Exposition: The sergeant-major shows the fam- Resolution: The knocking stops and the road
ily a monkeys paw that he says has the power is empty.
to grant three wishes.
Rising Action: Mr. White makes his first wish
and it is granted, though not as he expected. A
stranger comes to the house to tell him his son
is dead. He uses his second wish to request his
son alive again.
24 UNIT 1 FICTION

EXTEND THE TEXT
Writing Options Media Literacy Review the Selection
Creative Writing Something terrible must have Write a Public Service Announcement Imagine
happened to the sergeant-major when he made his that there is an e-mail scam going on. Recipients of the
wishes, but readers are never told what. Write a horror scam e-mails are invited to purchase a monkeys paw Media Literacy
story from the sergeant-majors point of view that for $199.99. The e-mail promises that the monkeys Before they begin writing, students
tells about the wishes he made and the consequences paw has magical powers and will grant the purchaser may want to use an Internet search
of those wishes. Before you begin writing your story, three wishes. Write a public service announcement engine to identify examples of public
brainstorm ideas for the plot using a Plot Diagram like warning people about this scam. A public service
service announcements on various
the one on page 12. You might also want to brainstorm announcement is a brief, informative article intended
ideas for how you want to create the characters and to help the community. topics. They can then use one of these
setting. announcements as a model.
Collaborative Learning
Expository Writing Imagine The Monkeys Paw is Videotape a Performance of the Story In a small
going to be included in a suspense anthology. Write group, write a dramatization of one scene in The Collaborative Learning
a one-page analytical introduction to be included Monkeys Paw. Choose a scene that is particularly Students can begin by writing a script
in the anthology in which you discuss the use of effective in creating suspense or dread. Choose roles that calls for sound effects and props
foreshadowing in the story. Use the notes you took and practice your scene. Then videotape it. Use props,
while reading or skim the story to find examples of simple costumes, lighting, and music to help create the
as well as dialogue. They can then
foreshadowing. Introduce the story, describe examples scene and mood. Share your videotape with the class. improvise a performance, brainstorm-
of foreshadowing, and explain the impact of each W ing for additional elements that will
example. Summarize how the foreshadowing contributes
W Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more. enrich the dramatization.
to suspense.
Reading Assessment
READING ASSESSMENT 1. D
2. E
1. Which quotation best illustrates the sergeant-majors 3. Which statement best describes the theme of the
3. Model how to think aloud about
feelings about the monkeys paw? story?
A. Well, its just a bit of what you might call A. The story examines the role of fate in human this question by saying, I know the
magic, perhaps. lives. theme is the main idea of the story.
B. To look atits just an ordinary little paw, B. The story exposes the credulous nature of What do I think this story is really
dried to a mummy. humans. about? I dont think its about
C. It had a spell put on it by an old fakirHe C. The story shows that humans are inherently people being greedy or curious
wanted to show that fate ruled peoples lives, curious and greedy.
and that those who interfered with it did so to D. The story demonstrates the maxim look before because Mr. White wasnt greedy,
their sorrow. you leap. nor did he ask for a lot of money.
D. I threw it on the fire. If you keep it, dont E. The story illustrates that money cannot buy This eliminates answers C and E. I
blame me for what happens. Pitch it on the happiness. dont think the story is about the
fire again like a sensible man. credulous nature of people, as the
4. Which of the following could be considered an
E. If you must wishwish for something
sensible.
antonym of the word avaricious? White family didnt really believe in
A. doubtful the monkeys paw at first. The story
2. Which event indicates the conclusion of the plot? B. greedy
does, however, examine the role of
A. The sergeant-major throws the monkeys paw C. lovely
on the fire. D. generous fate, as that is the reason the fakir
B. Mr. White wishes for two hundred pounds. E. kind put the spell on the paw. Answer A
C. Herbert dies.
5. What was Mr. Whites last wish? Explain how you
seems to be the best choice.
D. Mrs. White begs her husband to wish for 4. D
know what he wished for and what you think moti-
Herbert to return to life.
vated him to make the wish. 5. Responses will vary.
E. Mr. White makes his third wish, and the
knocking stops.
THE MONKEYS PAW 25

Rubrics for Writing Options
For writing rubrics and student models of the
Writing Options assignments in the Extend the Text
section, go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
THE MONKEYS PAW 25

GRAMMAR & STYLE
Teach the Workshop
Objectives
Participating in this lesson will enable Subject-Verb Agreement correct: The family were divided in their
students to A noun that describes or stands for one person, place, response to the monkeys paw.
understand the concept of subject- thing, or idea is singular. Examples are sergeant- In the case of a linking verb, which connects the
verb agreement. major, paw, and fire. A noun that describes or stands subject with a word or words in the predicate that
review terms relevant to subject- for more than one person, place, thing, or idea is describe the subject, the linking verb agrees with its
verb agreement. plural. Examples are perils, houses, and visitors. In subject, not with the predicate noun or predicate
a sentence, a verb must be singular if the noun that
practice the concept by completing adjective that follows it.
serves as its subject is singular. It must be plural if the
skill exercises. noun that serves as its subject is plural. This rule for EXAMPLE
apply the concept to extension agreement is true regardless of the number of words incorrect: The monkeys paws greatest danger
activities. or phrases that come between the subject and verb. are its wishes.
correct: The monkeys paws greatest danger
EXAMPLES
Launch the Lesson is its wishes.
singular agreement: The simian face in the
As an attention-grabber, write the flames grows more vivid. Words of amount or time may be singular or plural. Use
following quote by actress Scarlett plural agreement: Wishes related to the a singular verb with words and phrases that refer to
Johansson on the board. Ask students monkeys paw come true so naturally. single units: fractions, measurements, amounts of money,
what grammatical error they see and singular agreement: Herbert tells his father weights, volumes, or specific intervals of time when the
how to correct it. to wish for money. intervals refer to a specific unit.
It was interesting doing that scene plural agreement: Three terrible events EXAMPLE
with Josh but it wasnt particularly happen to the White family because of the Four hours seems like a lifetime when you are
curse of the monkeys paw. waiting for news. (Four hours is being equated
romantic. Shooting these sorts of
scenes often end up being more funny If the sentence contains a compound subject, the with a lifetime.)
than anything else. verb must be plural. Use a plural verb when the amount or the time is
Scarlett Johansson, about filming a EXAMPLES considered to be a number of separate units.
romantic scene with Josh Hartnett in incorrect: Mr. White and Mrs. White has one son. EXAMPLE
Black Dahlia correct: Mr. White and Mrs. White have one son. The three wishes were used up quickly.
incorrect: Sergeant-Major Morris and Mr.
White uses the monkeys paw to make a wish.
correct: Sergeant-Major Morris and Mr. White REVIEW TERMS
TEACHING NOTE use the monkeys paw to make a wish. subject: the part of the sentence that tells
Collective Nouns Collective nouns, such as team, family, committee, whom or what the sentence is about
Students may be confused by the rule regarding or class, take a singular verb when the group is predicate: the part of the sentence that
collective nouns. Especially in American usage, acting as a whole, but they take a plural verb if the contains the verb phrase, including the
phrases such as the family were divided or the members are acting as individuals. objects, or recipients, of the action
linking verb: a verb that does not express an
committee have reached a decision may sound EXAMPLES
action; rather, it connects the subject with a
odd or wrong, even though grammatically cor- incorrect: The family welcome the sergeant- word or words in the predicate that describe
rect. Ask them how they might reword such sen- major. or rename the subject
tences to avoid this problem. The class should correct: The family welcomes the sergeant-
discover that a good work-around solution major.
incorrect: The family was divided in their
is to insert the word members after the
response to the monkeys paw.
collective noun in these cases to make
it clear that the plural is meant.
26 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
SINGULAR,26
Teaching Words PLURAL, 26
fractions, 26 COLLECTIVE NOUN, 26
volumes, 26 LINKING VERB, 26
intervals, 26 SUBJECT, 26
PREDICATE, 26
26 UNIT 1 FICTION
0012-0041_Lit3eG10_U01_ATE.indd 26 5/28/08 2:06:05 PM

Teach the Workshop
Apply the Skill
Identify Subjects and Verbs Improve a Paragraph Identify Subjects and Verbs
Copy the following sentences onto your own paper. Rewrite the following paragraph so that the verbs 1. Sergeant-Major Morris tries
Underline the subject once and the verb twice. agree with the subjects. 2. Mr. White and his adult son play
1. Sergeant-Major Morris tries to get the Whites to The Monkeys Paw are a horror story about a cursed 3. writhes the monkeys paw.
take the monkeys paw seriously. monkeys paw. Sergeant-Major Morris bring the paw 4. Is there anything
2. Mr. White and his adult son play chess. back with him from India and show it to the White 5. Mrs. White doesnt believe
3. In the light of the flames writhes the monkeys family. The Whites is fascinated by the monkeys 6. The sergeant-major shook hands
paw. paw and demands to hear the story. Hesitantly, the and took
4. Is there anything Mrs. White could do to bring sergeant-major tell them the story. At first, the family
7. Herbert was alive, and the mon-
her son back? do not believe him, until the first of three wishes are
5. At first, Mrs. White doesnt believe in the made. This wish cause the family a lot of pain and
keys paw was
powers of the monkeys paw. sorrow. The monkeys paw is truly cursed. 8. The matches fell...spilled
6. The sergeant-major shook hands and took the 9. The man...appears
seat by the fire. Use Subject-Verb Agreement 10. Mr. White and his wife are
7. Herbert was alive, and the monkeys paw was Write a note to a teacher about what a club, team,
responsible. or other group you are involved with is doing. Use Correct Subject-Verb Agreement
8. The matches fell from his hand and spilled in subjects that refer to yourself, other group members, 1. Mr. White wishes for money.
the passage. and to the group as a whole. After drafting your 2. The money comes from an unex-
9. The man from Herberts place of employment note, check for subject-verb agreement by underlining pected source.
appears at the door nervously. the subject of each sentence once and the verb twice. 3. The wishes often come with a price.
10. Mr. White and his wife are aware that their lives Make corrections as necessary. 4. The warnings of the sergeant-
will never be the same again. major go unheeded.
Correct Subject-Verb Agreement EXTEND THE SKILL 5. Nobody thinks ahead when
Rewrite the following sentences to correct errors in offered wishes.
Imagine you are responsible for testing your class-
subject-verb agreement. mates knowledge of subject-verb agreement. Write a 6. Herbert goes to work and never
quiz that can be used to evaluate whether or not a comes home again.
1. Mr. White wish for money.
person understands what subject-verb agreement is all 7. Mr. and Mrs. White blame the
2. The money come from an unexpected source.
3. The wishes often comes with a price. about. Write an answer key for the quiz, as well. Then, monkeys paw for Herberts death.
4. The warnings of the sergeant-major goes exchange the quiz you wrote with one your classmate 8. Good horror stories have suspense
unheeded. wrote. Take the quiz your classmate wrote and see how and a compelling plot.
5. Nobody think ahead when offered wishes. well you do. Also evaluate whether the quiz you took is 9. The Monkeys Paw and other
6. Herbert goes to work and never come home an effective way to check your knowledge or if another stories focus on the role of fate in
again. means would work better. peoples lives.
7. Mr. and Mrs. White blames the monkeys paw 10. A character like the sergeant-
for Herberts death. major adds mystery and intrigue
8. Good horror stories has suspense and a compel- to a story.
ling plot.
9. The Monkeys Paw and other stories focuses Improve a Paragraph
on the role of fate in peoples lives. Responses will vary.
10. A character like the sergeant-major add mystery
and intrigue to a story. Use Subject-Verb Agreement
Responses will vary.
GRAMMAR & STYLE 27
/19/07 11:36:25 AM
Program Resources
Refer to page 1062 of the

You will find additional lessons on Subject-
Language Arts Handbook 3.7,
Verb Agreement in the Exceeding the
Agreement, for additional instruction
Standards: Grammar & Style resource.
on subject-verb agreement.
GRAMMAR & STYLE 27

Through the Tunnel
A Short Story by Doris Lessing
At a Glance
Guided Reading BUILD BACKGROUND USE READING SKILLS
Reading Level: Moderate Literary Context Through the Tunnel is the story of a boy named Jerry Text Organization
Difficulty Consideration: Style and his mother on vacation. When the two first arrive at their destination, they Understanding the way a story
spend their time together on the safe beach, but Jerrys thoughts are on the is organized can help you under-
Ease Factors: Few characters; short
GUIDED READING
wild bay. What Jerry experiences in that bay will help him to leave behind the stand the story itself. One way
sentences familiar world of childhood and enter the unfamiliar world of adulthood. As to track the organization of a
you read, watch for the many layers of meaning in this carefully crafted tale story is to use a Plot Diagram.
Objectives about a literal passage and a figurative rite of passage into adulthood. Review the elements of plot in
the Understanding Plot feature
Studying this lesson will enable stu- Readers Context Jerry challenges himself and accomplishes something
on page 12. Then draw a Plot
dents to quite difficult. When have you tested yourself by accomplishing something
Diagram like the one below.
recognize how different people that at first seemed impossible? How did that experience change you?
As you read, record on your
experience the transition from Plot Diagram events, dialogue,
childhood to adulthood. ANALYZE LITERATURE: Conflict and Symbol or details that represent each
element of plot.
read, interpret, analyze, and evalu- A plot revolves around a central conflict, or struggle. There are
ate a short story about a young two types of conflicts: external and internal. In an external Climax
boys coming of age. conflict, the main character struggles against another char-
acter, the forces of nature, society or social norms, or fate. Rising Falling
define conflict and symbol and In an internal conflict, a struggle takes place within a char- Action Action
recognize the use of these literary acter.
elements in the selection.
Symbols are things that stand for or represent both themselves and Exposition Resolution
use the skill of analyzing text something else. In Through the Tunnel, Jerrys external struggle with
organization to understand a wanting to go through the tunnel is symbolic of his internal struggle. PREVIEW VOCABULARY
short story. Use the context clues in the
write a storyboard and a narrative SET PURPOSE sentences below to figure out
paragraph. the meanings of the underlined
What ideas come to mind when you think of the word tunnel? Based on words from the selection.
conduct an interview and create a these ideas and what youve read in the Build Background and Analyze 1. The boy felt bad about
coming-of-age presentation. Literature sections, consider how a tunnel could be symbolic. As you read, try stealing the ball, and his feel-
practice reading assessment by to determine why the tunnel is so important to Jerry and what it symbolizes. ings of contrition led him to
answering multiple-choice and return it.
short-answer questions about the MEET THE AUTHOR 2. The knight always behaved
selection. Doris Lessing (b. 1919) was born in Kermanshah, with the utmost chivalry,
Persia (now Baktharan, Iran), and lived for many years sparing those he beat in
in Africa.
A She set her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, duels and aiding damsels in
Launch the Lesson A
in Africa. Lessings experimental novel The Golden distress.
Ask students to think about outdoor Notebook
No has become a classic of feminist literature. 3. We stood outside in the dark-
adventures, feats, or sports that theyd When
Wh asked about rites of passage in her own life, ness, our only source of light
Lessing said, What Im on the lookout for now is the
Less the luminous full moon.
like to try but havent yet. Have a 4. It amazed us that the old
class discussion about why these unex
unexpected, for things that come from outside and that
I never thought might happen.Im constantly changing rubber raft was still buoyant
activities seem appealing and why perspective on my own life. I see the past differently,
my pers after all these years.
they seem risky. and tthats a wonderful thing. In addition to novels 5. It had been a calm day for
and
an short stories, Lessing has written plays, operas, sailing, so the sudden surge
essays, and a graphic novel. Lessing was awarded of water caught us unpre-
Refer to page 1032 of the pared.
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007.
Language Arts Handbook 1.3, Using
Reading Skills, for additional instruc-
tion on analyzing text organization. 28 UNIT 1 FICTION
0012-0041_Lit3eG10_U01.indd 28
CONTEXT, 28
Preview persistence, 34 Teaching CONFLICT, 28
Vocabulary incredulous, 34 Words SYMBOL, 28
conscientiously, 29 Selection literal, 28 CONTEXT CLUES, 28
contrition, 30 Words figurative, 28 EVALUATE, 36
chivalry, 30 contrition, 30 rite, 28
luminous, 30 promontories, inciting, 39
buoyant, 30 30 transition, 39
surge, 31 defiant, 32 emergence, 39
beseeching, 32
myriad, 32
28 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
Summary
Young Jerry, a boy on the verge of
adolescence, accompanies his mother
to the French seacoast for a holiday.
While his mother relaxes on the
beach, Jerry seeks adventure on a
wild, rocky bay. As he swims there,
he longs to join a group of athletic
French boys. He notices that the boys
have a game: they dive deep down
and swim through a rocky tunnel
under water. Jerry vows he will master
this skill and spends days practicing
at holding his breath underwater with-
out his mothers knowledge. Finally,
he succeeds in swimming through the
tunnel, despite his fears and the physi-
cal demands that the feat requires. At
the end of the story, he has proved to
himself that he is independent and
can hold his own.
W The Mirrors
IRRORS
W INDOWS & Windows
questions
aatt tthe
he end of the selection focus
oonn th he theme of taking risks.
the
Before they begin reading, ask
The Rocks at Belle-lle, the Wild Coast, 1886. Claude Monet. Muse dOrsay, Paris, France.
students if they have ever taken
risks. As they read, have them
A Short Story by Doris Lessing consider whether the risk Jerry
takes is worth it.
G oing to the shore on the first morning of the
vacation, the young English boy stopped at
a turning of the path and then over the crowded
toward the bay and back again to his mother.
When she felt he was not with her, she swung
around. Oh, there you are, Jerry! she said. She
beach he knew so well from other years. His looked impatient, then smiled. Why, darling,
mother walked on in front of him, carrying a would you rather not come with me? Would
bright striped bag in one hand. Her other arm, you rather She frowned, conscientiously
swinging loose, was very white in the sun. The
boy watched that white, naked arm, and turned con sci en tious ly (k5n[t]< sh7 en[t]> sh@s l7) adv., in
his eyes, which had a frown behind them, a manner governed by doing what one knows is right
/19/08 10:09:38 AM
Program Resources

Program Planning Guide, Selection Lesson Plan Fiction: Unit 1, Guided Reading
E-Lesson Planner
Developing Readers, Unlock Word Meaning
ExamView
Advanced Students, Science Connection Project
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows

worrying over what amusements he might and the crisping, lapping surface showed stains
secretly be longing for, which she had been too of purple and darker blue. Finally, as he ran
Teach the Selection busy or too careless to imagine. He was very sliding and scraping down the last few yards,
familiar with that anxious, apologetic smile. he saw an edge of white surf and the shallow,
Analyze Literature Contrition sent him running after her. And yet, luminous movement of water over white sand,
Conflict Jerrys mother is concerned as he ran, he looked back over his shoulder at and, beyond that, a solid, heavy blue.
about his safety, as there is no one the wild bay; and all morning, as he played on He ran straight into the water and began
else at the bay and it is a wild-looking the safe beach, he was thinking of it. swimming. He was a good swimmer. He went
place. On the one hand, she loves him Next morning, when it was time for the out fast over the gleaming sand, over a middle
and wants to make sure he is safe; on routine of swimming and sunbathing, his region where rocks lay like discolored monsters
the other hand, she doesnt want to mother said, Are you tired of the usual beach, under the surface, and then he was in the real
be overprotective. This is an internal Jerry? Would you like to go somewhere else? seaa warm sea where irregular cold currents
conflict. A Oh, no! he said quickly, smiling at her from the deep water shocked his limbs.
out of that unfailing impulse of contritiona When he was so far out that he could look
Art Connection sort of chivalry. Yet, walking down the path back not only on the little bay but past the
Direct students to the painting by with her, he blurted out, Id like to go and promontory that was between it and the big
Monet on page 29. The French artist have a look at those rocks down there. beach, he floated on the buoyant surface and
Claude Monet (18401926) was one She gave the idea her attention. It was a looked for his mother. There she was, a speck
of the most influential figures in the wild looking place, and there was no one there; of yellow under an umbrella that looked like
late nineteenth-century artistic move- but she said, Of course, Jerry. When youve a slice of orange peel. He swam back to shore,
ment known as Impressionism. The had enough, come to the big beach. Or just go relieved at being sure she was there, but all at
Impressionist painters experimented straight back to the villa, if you like. She walked once very lonely.
boldly with brushstrokes and lighting away, that bare arm, now slightly reddened from On the edge of a small cape that marked
effects to create a distinctive atmo- yesterdays sun, swinging. And he almost ran the side of the bay away from the promontory
sphere, or mood, in their works. after her again, feeling it unbearable that she was a loose scatter of rocks. Above them, some
Art Activity Have students identify should go by herself, but he did not. boys were stripping off their clothes. They
and discuss elements in the painting She was thinking, came running, naked, down to the rocks. The
that suggest the wildness that Lessing ANALYZE LITERATURE Of course hes old English boy swam toward them, but kept his
describes in the story: for example, the Conflict What conflict enough to be safe distance at a stones throw. They were of that
surf, the shape of the rocks, and the is Jerrys mother facing without me. Have I coast; all of them were burned smooth dark
mysterious shapes on the horizon. in this paragraph? Is this been keeping him too brown and speaking a language he did not
A an internal or external
close? He mustnt feel understand. To be with them, of them, was a
conflict? A
he ought to be with craving that filled his whole body. He swam a
TEACHING NOTE me. I must be careful. little closer; they turned and watched him with
Rite of Passage He was an only child, eleven years old. She narrowed, alert dark eyes. Then one smiled
Through the Tunnel is a story about what was a widow. She was determined to be neither and waved. It was enough. In a minute, he had
anthropologists call a rite of passage. This possessive nor lacking in devotion. She went swum in and was on the rocks beside them,
phrase was coined by the French anthropolo- worrying off to her beach. smiling with a desperate, nervous supplication.
gist Arnold van Gennep (18731957) in 1909. As for Jerry, once he saw that his mother They shouted cheerful greetings at him; and
In that year, van Genneps landmark book The had gained her beach, he began the steep then, as he preserved his nervous, uncompre-
Rites of Passage systematically compared the descent to the bay. From where he was, high hending smile, they understood that he was a
ways in which individuals pass from one status up among red-brown rocks, it was a scoop of
to another within societies throughout the moving bluish green fringed with white. As he con tri tion (k@n tri> sh@n) n., remorse
world. went lower, he saw that it spread among small chiv al ry (shi> v@l r7) n., sense of courage and honor
lu mi nous (l2> m@ n@s) adj., shining; bright
promontories and inlets of rough, sharp rock, buoy ant (boi> @nt) adj., having power to keep something afloat
30 UNIT 1 FICTION

Have students take turns reading selected Be sure students realize that they should use the
portions of the story aloud. Students should footnotes provided in the text. Share with stu-
practice so that they can read their parts with dents the following additional vocabulary words.
the appropriate tone, expression, volume, and villaa country or seaside cottage, 30
pacing. cravingintense want or yearning, 30
inquisitivecurious, 32
innumerablenumberless; too many to be
counted, 32
clamberedmoved or climbed awkwardly, 33
30 UNIT 1 FICTION

foreigner strayed from his own beach, and they water but the blank ANALYZE LITERATURE
proceeded to forget him. But he was happy. He rock. When he came Symbol What does the
was with them. up the boys were all rock barrier prevent Jerry B Teach the Selection
They began diving again and again from on the diving rock, from doing? What might
a high point into a well of blue sea between preparing to attempt this barrier symbolize in Analyze Literature
the story? B
rough, pointed rocks. After they had dived and the feat again. And Symbol The rock barrier prevents
come up, they swam around, hauled them- now, in a panic of Jerry from doing what the other boys
selves up, and waited their turn to dive again. failure, he yelled up, in English, Look at me! can do. The barrier might represent
They were big boysmen, to Jerry. He dived, Look! and he began splashing and kicking in the invisible line drawn between child-
they watched him; and when he swam around the water like a foolish dog. hood and adulthood or the obstacles
to take his place, they made way for him. He They looked down gravely, frowning. He and challenges faced as a person
felt he was accepted and he dived again, care- knew the frown. At moments of failure, when moves into adulthood. B
fully, proud of himself. he clowned to claim his mothers attention, it
Soon the biggest of the boys poised was with just this grave, embarrassed inspec-
himself, shot down into the water, and did not tion that she rewarded him. Through his hot
come up. The others stood about, watching. shame, feeling the pleading grin on his face like
Jerry, after waiting for the sleek brown head to a scar that he could never remove, he looked
appear, let out a yell of warning; they looked up at the group of big brown boys on the
at him idly and turned their eyes back toward rock and shouted, Bonjour! Merci! Au revoir!
the water. After a long time, the boy Monsieur, monsieur!1 while he hooked his
came up on the other side of a big fingers round his ears and waggled
dark rock, letting the air out of them.
his lungs in a sputtering gasp Water surged into his
and a shout of triumph. mouth; he choked, sank,
Immediately the rest came up. The rock,
of them dived in. lately weighted with
One moment, the boys, seemed to rear
morning seemed full up out of the water
of chattering boys; the as their weight was
next, the air and the removed. They were
surface of the water were flying down past him,
empty. But through the heavy blue, dark now, into the water; the air
shapes could be seen moving and groping. was full of falling bodies. Then
Jerry dived, shot past the school of under- the rock was empty in the hot
water swimmers, saw a black wall of rock sunlight. He counted one, two, three.
looming at him, touched it, and bobbed up At fifty, he was terrified. They must all be
at once to the surface, where the wall was a drowning beneath him, in the watery caves of
low barrier he could see across. There was no the rock! At a hundred, he stared around him
one visible; under him, in the water, the dim at the empty hillside, wondering if he should
shapes of the swimmers had disappeared. Then yell for help. He counted faster, faster, to hurry
one, and then another of the boys came up them up, to bring them to the surface quickly,
on the far side of the barrier of rock, and he
understood that they had swum through some 1. Bonjour!monsieur! [French] Hello! Thank you! Goodbye!
Sir, sir!
gap or hole in it. He plunged down again. He
could see nothing through the stinging salt surge (s@rj) v., to rise and fall
/19/07 11:37:19 AM
Learning Styles the boys do in the story. Ask everyone to stand

Auditory To help establish the setting and up, and on the count of three, take a deep
mood for this story, you might play an audio breath, then plug their noses and begin hold-
recording of the ocean. Choose a recording ing their breath for as long as they are able,
that captures the sounds of waves crashing while you keep track of time. When students
against a rocky shoreline, and ask students how can no longer hold their breath, they should
they might feel about swimming along such a sit down. How many students can hold their
shoreline. breath for thirty seconds? Can anyone hold his
Kinesthetic Allow students to experience the or her breath for fifty seconds? sixty?
sensation of holding their breath as Jerry and

to drown them quicklyanything rather than But now, now, now! He must have them
the terror of counting on and on into the blue this minute, and no other time. He nagged
Teach the Selection emptiness of the morning. And then, at a and pestered until she went with him to a
hundred and sixty, the water beyond the rock shop. As soon as she had bought the goggles,
Use Reading Strategies was full of boys blowing like brown whales. he grabbed them from her hand as if she were
Make Inferences Students might They swam back to the shore without a look at going to claim them for herself, and was off,
infer that Jerry is very sensitive, which him. running down the steep path to the bay.
is why he cries when the boys leave. He climbed back to the diving rock and sat Jerry swam out to the big barrier rock,
Other students may say that Jerrys down, feeling the hot roughness of it under his adjusted the goggles, and dived. The impact of
crying so openly is a sign that he is thighs. The boys were gathering up their bits the water broke the rubber-enclosed vacuum,
still a child and rather immature. He of clothing and running off along the shore to and the goggles came loose. He understood
has not yet learned to control or hide A another promontory. They were leaving to get that he must swim down to the base of the
his emotions. A away from him. He cried openly, fists in his rock from the surface of the water. He fixed
eyes. There was no the goggles tight and firm, filled his lungs,
USE READING one to see him, and and floated, face down, on the water. Now, he
STRATEGIES
he cried himself out. could see. It was as if he had eyes of a different
Make Inferences What
It seemed to him kindfish eyes that showed everything clear
inferences can you make
about Jerry based on the that a long time had and delicate and wavering in the bright water.
fact that he cries when passed, and he swam Under him, six or seven feet down, was
the boys leave? A out to where he a floor of perfectly clean, shining white sand,
could see his mother. rippled firm and hard by the tides. Two grayish
Yes, she was still there, a yellow spot under shapes steered there, like long, rounded pieces
an orange umbrella. He swam back to the big of wood or slate. They were fish. He saw them
rock, climbed up, and dived, into the blue pool nose toward each other, poise motionless, make
among the fanged and angry boulders. Down a dart forward, swerve off, and come around
he went, until he touched the wall of rock again. It was like a water dance. A few inches
again. But the salt was so painful in his eyes above them the water sparkled as if sequins
that he could not see. were dropping through it. Fish againmyriads
He came to the surface, swam to shore and of minute fish, the length of his fingernail, were
went back to the villa drifting through the water, and in a moment he
to wait for his mother. could feel the innumerable tiny touches of them
Soon she walked against his limbs. It was like swimming in flaked
slowly up the path, silver. The great rock the big boys had swum
swinging her striped through rose sheer out of white sandblack,
bag, the flushed, naked tufted lightly with greenish weed. He could see
arm dangling beside no gap in it. He swam down to its base.
her. I want some Again and again he rose, took a big chestful
swimming goggles, of air, and went down. Again and again he
he panted, defiant and groped over the surface of the rock, feeling it,
beseeching. almost hugging it in the desperate need to find
She gave him a the entrance. And then, once, while he was
patient, inquisitive clinging to the black wall, his knees came up
look as she said casu-
ally, Well, of course, be seech ing (bi s7ch>i4) adj., in an earnest manner
darling. myr i ad (mir> 7 @d) n., indefinitely large number
32 UNIT 1 FICTION

Point out the figurative language on these Make sure students recognize the important
pages: sparkled as if sequins were dropping discovery Jerry makes on page 33. Namely,
through it and like swimming in flaked silver. he discovers a tunnel. This explains how the
Bring in sequins and photos of fish or seaweed older boys were able to swim underwater and
to help students understand the descriptions. emerge on the other side of the boulder.
Youll likely need to explain the word flaked
(pieces of), tufted (covered with), and the
phrase gained the surface.
32 UNIT 1 FICTION

Science
Connection Teach the Selection
The Act of Breathing Respiration, or the act of breathing, brings oxygen
into your lungs. From there, the oxygen is transferred to your bloodstream Science Connection
and distributed to the cells of your body. At the same time, carbon dioxide The Act of Breathing Ask students
is released by your cells, transported to your lungs, and expelled when you
breathe out. The urge to breathe is triggered by the pressure of carbon to call out the chemical formulas for
dioxide in your blood. Some divers hyperventilate before they dive, to elimi- carbon dioxide and oxygen. Elicit that
nate most of the carbon dioxide in the blood. This can delay the breathing carbon dioxide (CO2) is produced by
reflex for a minute or more. In the sport of free diving, competitors see how our bodies when we burn energy. Too
deep they can go on a single breath of air. In the year 2000, French diver much CO2 in the blood can cause
Audrey Mestre set a female world record in free diving at 125 meters (about
410 feet). That record has since been broken. Mestre died in a free diving damage to muscles and other body
competition in 2002. B parts; therefore, the body automati-
cally expels it through the breathing
and he shot his feet out forward and they met with another big stone reflex, replacing it with fresh oxygen
ANALYZE LITERATURE (O2). CO2 is also produced by cars
no obstacle. He had found the hole. in his arms, so that he
Conflict What conflict and other energy-burning activities on
He gained the surface, clambered about could lie effortlessly has Jerry encountered? Is
the stones that littered the barrier rock until on the bottom of the earth.
it an internal conflict or
he found a big one, and, with this in his arms, sea. He counted. One, an external conflict? How CO2 should not be confused with car-
let himself down over the side of the rock. He two, three. He counted do you know? C bon monoxide (CO), a poisonous gas
dropped, with the weight, straight to the sandy steadily. He could produced by the incomplete burning
floor. Clinging tight to the anchor of stone, he hear the movement of blood in his chest. Fifty- of coal, oil, and other fuels. If there
lay on his side and looked in under the dark one, fifty-two.His chest was hurting. He let is not enough oxygen available when
shelf at the place where his feet had gone. He go of the rock and went up into the air. He saw something is being burned, CO rather
could see the hole. It was an irregular, dark gap; that the sun was low. He rushed to the villa and than CO2 will be the byproduct. CO is
but he could not see deep into it. He let go of found his mother at her supper. She said only poisonous to humans because it actu-
his anchor, clung with his hands to the edge of Did you enjoy yourself? and he said Yes. ally prevents our bodies from using
the hole, and tried to push himself in. All night the boy dreamed of the water-filled oxygen. Every home should have a
He got his head in, found his shoulders cave in the rock, and as soon as breakfast was CO detector installed, since gas appli-
jammed, moved them in sidewise, and was over he went to the bay. ances and woodburning stoves can
inside as far as his waist. He could see nothing That night, his nose bled badly. For hours sometimes produce CO in dangerous
ahead. Something soft and clammy touched his he had been under water, learning to hold his levels. B
mouth; he saw a dark frond moving against the breath, and now he felt weak and dizzy. His
grayish rock, and panic filled him. He thought mother said, I shouldnt overdo things, darling, Analyze Literature
of octopuses, of clinging weed. He pushed if I were you. Conflict Jerrys conflict at this point
himself out backward and caught a glimpse, as C That day and the next, Jerry exercised his is externalhe is in conflict with
he retreated, of a harmless tentacle of seaweed lungs as if everything, the whole of his life, all nature. He is physically unable to
drifting in the mouth of the tunnel. But it was that he would become, depended upon it. Again hold his breath long enough to get
enough. He reached the sunlight, swam to his nose bled at night, and his mother insisted through the tunnel. C
shore, and lay on the diving rock. He looked on his coming with her the next day. It was a
down into the blue well of water. He knew he torment to him to waste a day of his careful self-
must find his way through that cave, or hole, or training, but he stayed with her on that other
tunnel, and out the other side. beach, which now seemed a place for small chil-
First, he thought, he must learn to control dren, a place where his mother might lie safe in
his breathing. He let himself down into the water the sun. It was not his beach.
/19/07 11:38:27 AM
Health
Tell students that a number of Jerrys actions violate
standards for safe swimming. For example, he swims
alone in a place with which he is not familiar, and
he pushes the limits by diving underwater for longer
and longer periods. Have students research rules
for safe swimming and compile a brief instruction
manual that could be distributed at a vacation spot
such as the one where Jerry and his mother spend
their holiday.

He did ened. Supposing he turned dizzy in the tunnel?
not ask Supposing he died there, trapped? Supposing
Teach the Selection for permis- his head went around, in the hot sun, and he
sion, on the almost gave up. He thought he would return
Use Reading Strategies following day, to the house and lie down, and next summer,
Make Predictions Ask students to go to his beach. perhaps, when he had another years growth in
to share what they have seen or He went, before his himthen he would go through the hole.
experienced about being underwater mother could consider But even after he had made the decision,
too long. Then have them share their the complicated rights or thought he had, he found himself sitting up
predictions of what will happen to and wrongs of the matter. on the rock and looking down into the water;
Jerry. A A days rest, he discovered, and he knew that now, this moment, when his
had improved his count by nose had only just stopped bleeding, when his
Use Reading Strategies ten. The big boys had made head was still sore and throbbingthis was the
Make Connections Interested the passage while he counted moment when he would try. If he did not do it
students might research what causes a hundred and sixty. He had been now, he never would. He was trembling with
Jerrys nose to bleed while diving, and counting fast, in his fright. Probably fear that he would not go; and he was trembling
why the blood comes from his eyes. now, if he tried, he could get through the with horror at that long, long tunnel under the
What could Jerry have done to stop long tunnel, but he was not going to try yet. rock, under the sea. Even in the open sunlight,
this from happening? A curious, most unchildlike persistence, a the barrier rock seemed very wide and very
Answer: Nosebleeds and eye bleeding controlled impatience, made him wait. In the heavy; tons of rock pressed down on where he
are both caused by changes in air meantime, he lay underwater on the white would go. If he died there, he would lie until one
pressure that occur at lower depths sand, littered now by stones he had brought dayperhaps not before next yearthose big
under the sea. Such injuries are down from the upper air, and studied the boys would swim into it and find it blocked.
called barotrauma. The nosebleeds entrance to the tunnel. He knew every jut and He put on his goggles, fitted them tight,
are caused by the imbalance of pres- corner of it, as far as it was possible to see. It tested the vacuum. His hands were shaking.
sure between the sinuses and middle was as if he already felt its sharpness about his Then he chose the biggest stone he could carry
ears. If the sinuses are plugged with shoulders. and slipped over the edge of the rock until half
mucus, air can become trapped there, B
He sat by the clock in the villa, when his of him was in the cool, enclosing water and half
leading to a buildup of pressure that mother was not near, and checked his time. in the hot sun. He looked up once at the empty
can cause veins in the nose to burst. He was incredulous and then proud to find sky, filled his lungs once, twice, and then sank
Divers should clear their sinuses he could hold his breath without strain for fast to the bottom with the stone. He let it go
before diving and descend slowly two minutes. The words two minutes, and began to count.
(with the benefit of oxygen tanks) authorized by the clock, brought close the He took the edges of USE READING
to enable the pressure to equalize adventure that was so necessary to him. the hole in his hands STRATEGIES
between the sinuses and inner ear. In another four days, his mother said casu- and drew himself into Make Predictions
it, wriggling his shoul- Based on what you know
As for the eye bleeding, that may be ally one morning, they must go home. On the
about being under water
caused by negative air pressure from day before they left, he would do it. He would ders in sidewise as he too long and about
inside the goggles. Again, descending do it if it killed him, he said defiantly to remembered he must, Jerrys experience so far,
slowly and allowing time to equalize himself. But two days before they were to kicking himself along do you think Jerry will
get through the tunnel
pressure would prevent this from hap- leavea day of triumph when he increased with his feet.
successfully? What makes
pening. his count by fifteenhis nose bled so badly Soon he was clear you think so? A
that he turned dizzy and had to lie limply inside. He was in a
over the big rock like a bit of seaweed, watching
per sis tence (p@r sis> t@n[t]s) n., stubborn continuance;
the thick red blood flow on to the rock and tenacity
trickle slowly down to the sea. He was fright- in cred u lous (in[<] kre> j@ l@s) adj., showing disbelief
34 UNIT 1 FICTION

Sports quickly to the surface. To complete such a dive,

In this story, Jerry uses a rock to enable him to the divers body must be conditioned to equal-
reach the bottom more quickly. Freediving, the ize pressure very rapidly. As of 2007, the world
sport for which Audrey Mestre became famous record for such a dive is 160 meters (525 feet)
and sadly lost her life (see page 33), also uses for a woman and 214 meters (702 feet) for a
weights. In no limits freediving, divers achieve man. Encourage interested students to research
the greatest depth by descending on a weighted the sport of freediving and outline some of the
sled at a speed of seven feet per second, then different categories and techniques of dives. B
using a lift bag or inflatable vest to return
34 UNIT 1 FICTION

small rockbound hole filled with yellowish-gray blackness ahead, or he would drown. His
water. The water was pushing him up against the head was swelling, his lungs cracking. A
roof. The roof was sharp and pained his back. He hundred and fifteen, a hundred and Teach the Selection
pulled himself along with his handsfast, fast fifteen pounded through his head,
and used his legs as levers. His head knocked and he feebly clutched at rocks in the Use Reading Strategies
against something; a sharp pain dizzied him. dark, pulling himself forward, leaving Visualize Encourage students to
Fifty, fifty-one, fifty-two. He was without light, the brief space of sunlit water behind. sketch Jerrys face as he tries to get
and the water seemed to press upon him with He felt he was dying. He was no longer through the tunnel. If they dont like
the weight of rock. Seventy-one, seventy-two. quite conscious. He struggled on in the to draw, ask students to describe in
There was no strain on his lungs. He felt like an darkness between lapses into uncon- words the emotions Jerry is feeling
inflated balloon, his lungs were so light and easy, sciousness. An immense, swelling pain and how those emotions would show
but his head was pulsing. filled his head, and then the darkness on his face. Students may also sketch
He was being continually pressed against cracked with an explosion of green the rock and the cave tunnel, using
the sharp roof, which light. His hands, groping forward, details from the story. C
USE READING felt slimy as well met nothing; and his feet, kicking
STRATEGIES
as sharp. Again he back, propelled him out into the Use Reading Strategies
Visualize Imagine the thought of octopuses, open sea. Clarify Students should note the
scene described in this
paragraph. If you were to
and wondered if the He drifted to the surface, his sensory details provided in the text
draw Jerry in this scene, tunnel might be filled face turned up to the air. He was that help convey Jerrys experience to
what would the expres- with weed that could gasping like a fish. He felt he would the reader.
sion on his face be? C tangle him. He gave sink now and drown; he could Sight: the water was a clear jewel-
himself a panicky, not swim the few feet back to green; sunlight was falling through
convulsive kick forward, ducked his head, and the rock. Then he was clutching it, showing the clean, dark rock; he
swam. His feet and hands moved freely, as if in it and pulling himself up on to could see nothing but a red-veined,
open water. The hole must have widened out. it. He lay face down, gasping. He clotted dark
He thought he must be swimming fast, and could see nothing but a red-veined, Touch: the roof was sharpslimy as
he was frightened of banging his head if the clotted dark. His eyes must have burst, well as sharp; his head was swelling,
tunnel narrowed. he thought; they were full of blood. He tore his lungs cracking
A hundred, a hundred and one.The off his goggles and a gout of blood went into Taste: he did not know whether it
water paled. Victory filled him. His lungs were the sea. His nose was bleeding, and the blood was blood or salt water he tasted
beginning to hurt. A few more strokes and he had filled the goggles.
would be out. He was counting wildly; he said a He scooped up handfuls of water from TEACHING NOTE
hundred and fifteen, and then, a long time later, the cool, salty sea, to splash on his face,
a hundred and fifteen again. The water was a and did not know whether it was blood Asking Questions Activity
clear jewel-green all around him. Then he saw, or salt water he tasted. After a time, his You will need a ball for this activity.
above his head, a crack running up through the heart quieted, his eyes cleared, and he 1. Have every student create six questions
rock. Sunlight was falling through it, showing the sat up. He could see the local boys diving about Through the Tunnel with notes on
clean, dark rock of the tunnel, a single mussel and playing half a mile away. He did not how to answer each.
shell, and darkness ahead. want them. He wanted nothing but to get 2. A volunteer takes the ball and asks the class
He was at the end of what he could do. He back home and lie down. a question.
looked up at the crack as if it were filled with In a short while, Jerry swam to shore and
3. That volunteer tosses the ball to someone
who signals that he or she knows the answer.
air and not water, as if he could put his mouth climbed slowly up the path to the villa. He
After catching the ball, that person answers
to it to draw in air. A hundred and fifteen, he flung himself on his bed and slept, waking at
the question.
heard himself say inside his headbut he had the sound of feet on the path outside. His
4. If the answer is right, the responder gets a
said that long ago. He must go on into the mother was coming back. He rushed to the
point and asks a new question.
5. If the answer is wrong, a new responder
may get a point by creating a question
for the wrong answer. This responder
asks a new question.
/19/07 11:39:32 AM
Critical Thinking
0012-0041_Lit3eG10_U01_2a_RegSel35 35
Ask students what they think the opening

11/19/07 11:40:06 AM
Discussion Guide paragraphs of the story suggest about

Why is Jerry so determined to undertake such Jerrys relationship with his mother.
a challenging and potentially hazardous task? Ask students to discuss how Jerrys longing
Have students speculate on the psychological to be accepted by the older French boys
factors that contribute to his determination. may signal that he is a lonely boy, eager
to gain the acceptance and approval of
others.

bathroom, thinking she must not see his face And then she said to herself, Oh, dont fuss!
with bloodstains, or tearstains, on it. He came out Nothing can happen. He can swim like a fish.
Teach the Selection of the bathroom and met her as she walked into They sat down to lunch together.
the villa, smiling, her eyes lighting up. Mummy, he said, I can stay under water
Have a nice morning? she asked, laying her for two minutesthree minutes, at least. It
W You may
hand on his warm brown shoulder. came bursting out of him.
IRRORS Oh, yes, thank you, he said. Can you, darling? she said. Well, I
W INDOWS want to
ask stu- You look a bit pale. And then, sharp and shouldnt overdo it. I dont think you ought to
ddents
ents ttoo write a journal entry or anxious, How did you bang your head? swim any more today.
qquick
uicck w rite, oor divide students
write, Oh, just banged it, he told her. She was ready for a battle of wills, but he
into discussion groups or lead a She looked at him closely. He was strained; gave in at once. It was no longer of the least
whole-class discussion about this his eyes were glazed-looking. She was worried. importance to go to the bay.
question. Discuss with students
&
what could have happened to
Jerry because of the risk he took. W
IRRORS Why must we prove things to ourselves? Why take risks when we dont have to?
Refer to Text
W INDOWS Do greater risks have greater meaning?
1a. Jerry practices his breathing

methods and builds up his endur-
ance ffor hholding
ldi hi his bbreath.
th HHe REFER TO TEXT REASON WITH TEXT

investigates the bay and obtains 1a. List things Jerry does to prepare himself 1b. In your own words, explain why Jerry Understand
goggles. for swimming through the tunnel. doesnt tell his mother what he is Find meaning
2a. Jerry says to himself, He would attempting to do.
do it if it killed him. 2a. Quote Jerrys statement that shows how 2b. Why is Jerry so determined? Relate Apply
3a. The bay has sharp, rough rock and determined he is to swim through the Jerrys experience to a time when you Use information
white surf. There is white sand tunnel. or somebody you know has been very
and cold currents. determined.
4a. Jerrys mother stops and looks 3a. Record details about the bay. 3b. What dangers does the bay hold? Infer Analyze
back impatiently. She allows Jerry why the bay is attractive to Jerry. Take things
to go to the bay, trying not to be apart
too possessive or lacking in devo- 4a. Recall how Jerrys mother reacts when 4b. Evaluate whether Jerrys mother has Evaluate
tion, yet she seems unaware of his she realizes he is not with her on the prepared him well for his journey to Make judgments
needs and interests. way to the beach. How does she react young adulthood. Use evidence from
when he wants to go to the bay? the text to support your response.
5a. Jerry successfully swims through
the tunnel. At the end of the story, 5a. How does Jerrys journey end? What 5b. Explain Jerrys disinterest in the bay at Create
does the bay mean to him at the end the end of the story. Is this what you Bring ideas
he has no interest in the bay. of the story? expected of Jerry? Why or why not? together
Reason with Text ANALYZE LITERATURE: Conflict and Symbol

1b. Jerry doesnt want his mother to
What are the main conflicts in Through the Tunnel? How are they resolved?
worry or try to stop him. Scan the story for references to the bay and the beach. What does each
2b. Responses will vary. Jerry feels the represent to Jerry? How is the symbolic use of these locations related to
need to prove something to himself. the plot?
3b. The bay is new to Jerry and unsu-
pervised. It contains an element of
danger. Jerry can test himself there
without anyone bothering him. 36 UNIT 1 FICTION
Analyze Literature
Conflict and Symbol Major conflicts in the

story include those between Jerry and nature
and between Jerry and himself. Jerrys mother
also deals with the internal conflict of letting
her son grow up. When Jerry is able to swim
through the tunnel, the conflict with nature
and within himself is resolved. To Jerry, the bay
is the challenge of growing up. The beach is
symbolic of the safety and innocence of child-
hood. The symbolic nature of the bay and beach
provide a context for Jerrys conflicts, which are
developed as part of the plot.
36 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Connection
ATWOOD At a Glance
Literature Ease Factors: Vocabulary; sentence

structure; style
Connection Difficulty Consideration: Length
Canadian writer Margaret Atwood (b. 1939) published her first poem when she was
just nineteen. Since then, she has won many prizes for her writing. Death of a Young
Summary
Son by Drowning was written in 1970 and published in Selected Poems. In this poem, the speaker describes
the drowning death of her son and
her personal journey in dealing with
his death.
Death of He, who navigated with success

the dangerous river of his own
birth
once more set forth
Use Reading Skills
Authors Approach Margaret
Atwood uses strong verbs to make
the scenes she is describing come to
a Young
life. Point out line 9, in which she
on a voyage of discovery uses the word swirled as a verb. Ask
5 into the land I floated on students to sketch how they envision
but could not touch to claim. the boy swirling with ice and trees in
the water. Point out the verb plunged
Son by
His feet slid on the bank, in line 10. Ask students what connota-
the currents took him; tion this verb brings to mind. Other
he swirled with ice and trees in verbs worth exploring include leapt in
the swollen water line 23 and glistened in line 24.
Atwood also uses punctuation to con-
Drowning
10 and plunged into distant regions,
tribute to the ideas in the poem. Call
his head a bathysphere;1
students attention to line 26 and the
through his eyes thin glass
very short sentence My foot hit rock.
bubbles
Point out that the period adds a hard,
solid end to the description, highlight-
he looked out, reckless ing the idea of hitting rock. Ask stu-
adventurer
A Poem by Margaret Atwood on a landscape stranger than
dents to identify other ways Atwood
uses punctuation in this manner.
Uranus
15 we have all been to and some
remember.
1. bathysphere. Strong steel diving sphere

used for deep-sea observation
DEATH OF A YOUNG SON BY DROWNING 37
/19/07 11:40:39 AM

Slowly read the poem aloud for students, Tell students to keep the title in mind as they
emphasizing the sounds of the words. Then read. It may also help them to write out the
have students read aloud along with you. poem in regular sentences, paying attention to
Emphasize the sounds of the words as you read punctuation. That way they may more easily
slowly. You may wish to do this several times. recognize the subject and verb of each sen-
Then, challenge students to read the poem tence. Have students look up the definitions of
aloud on their own or with a partner alternat- these words: navigated, currents, plunged, reck-
ing lines. less, retrieved, swamped, nudging, and solidity.
DEATH OF A YOUNG SON BY DROWNING 37

There was an accident; the air locked,
Teach the Connection he was hung in the river like a heart.
They retrieved the swamped body,
Refer to Text cairn2 of my plans and future charts,
1a. The son drowns. 20 with poles and hooks
2a. The boy liked to explore. Perhaps from among the nudging logs.
he was trying out his indepen-
dence when he died. It was spring, the sun kept shining,
3a. The boy in the poem, like Jerry, the new grass
was out on his own. The boys leapt to solidity;
mother, like Jerrys mother, wor- my hands glistened with details.
ried about him.
25 After the long trip I was tired of
Reason with Text waves.
1b. He falls into the river, gets swept My foot hit rock. The dreamed sails
away by the currents, and drowns. collapsed, ragged.
2b. Both boys like adventure and try-
ing things out on their own. I planted him in his country like a
3b. Responses will vary. flag.
2. cairn. Heap of stones piled up as a memorial

Text TO
Text Connection or landmark
In Through the Tunnel, Jerrys moth-
er receives very little attention, where-
as the mother in Atwoods poem is
the speaker, and her emotional reac-
tion to her young sons death domi-

nates the poem. Jerry, like the boy in
the poem, is trying out his indepen- 1a. According to the title, what happens to 1b. According to lines 79 and 1617, Understand
the son? what happens to the son? Find meaning
dence. Hes afraid he might drown,
but that doesnt stop him from his
quest to swim through the tunnel. The 2a. What details are given about the boy in 2b. What characteristics do the boy in Apply
the poem? the poem and Jerry in Through the Use information
boy in the poem drowns. Responses to Tunnel share?
the last question will vary.
3a. How does this poem relate to the story 3b. Which do you prefer, Through the Evaluate
Through the Tunnel? Tunnel or Death of a Young Son by Make judgments
Drowning? Why?
TO
TEXT TEXT CONNECTION
Compare the experience of Jerrys mother in Through the Tunnel and the mother
of the son in the poem. Contrast Jerrys experience with the experience of the son
in the poem. What do you think the speaker of Atwoods poem would tell Jerry in
response to his decision to go through the tunnel?
38 UNIT 1 FICTION

History in her book, Roughing it in the bush, I will

This poem was inspired by the life of and do love thee, land of my adoption, and of
British-Canadian author Susanna Moodie my childrens birth; and, oh, dearer still to a
(18031885), who wrote about her experi- mothers heartland of their graves! Atwood
ences as an early settler of the Canadian conveys this idea in a poetic way, borrowing
frontier. Life was tough there, and Moodie lost the language of pioneers and exploration when
two sons, one by drowning in 1844, when he she writes, After the long trip I was tired. My
was only six years old. Burying children in her foot hit rock and I planted him in his country
new homeland, rather than make her reject it, like a flag.
bound Moodie closer to Canada. As she wrote
38 UNIT 1 FICTION

EXTEND THE TEXT
Review the Selection
Writing Options Collaborative Learning
Creative Writing Imagine you plan to make a Conduct an Interview Talk with a family member or
Rubrics for Writing
movie about a journey from childhood to adulthood friend about an experience that marked his or her tran- Options
to a film producer. Brainstorm another actual journey sition from childhood to young adulthood. Before you For writing rubrics and student models
that might show a similar symbolic journey. Create a have this conversation, write a series of questions that of the Writing Options assignments
storyboard that shows the key points of your story. will help you gather details on the time and place as in the Extend the Text section, go to
You may want to begin by creating a Plot Diagram well as the individuals feelings about himself or herself www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
for your story. In it, highlight the inciting incident, and others before, during, and after the experience.
the key points of plot development, and the resolu-
Lifelong Learning Collaborative Learning
tion of the central conflict. Create a Coming-of-Age Presentation Many
cultures have formal coming-of-age ceremonies to
Suggest that students check in
Narrative Writing Write a narrative paragraph,
mark a childs emergence into young adulthood. Use advance whether or not a prospective
or paragraph that tells a story, for classmates about
an experience you had that challenged you, taught the Internet to search for these kinds of ceremonies, interviewee is willing to speak can-
you a lesson, or gave you an opportunity to prove and choose one ceremony that interests you. Research didly about a personal experience.
such things as the steps involved in the ceremony
yourself. In your paragraph, describe the experience
and what the ceremony means to the young adult
and what you learned or gained from it. Consider participating in it. Based on your research, create a Reading Assessment
using an instructive or inspirational tone. Begin by multimedia presentation about the ceremony. Include 1. B
brainstorming a list of possible experiences you could pictures and, if possible, sound and video, to really 2. Model how to think aloud about
write about. Once youve narrowed your list to one make your presentation come alive. this question by saying, What does
experience, jot down a list of details. Then begin W
W Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more. Jerry most admire about the boys?
drafting your paragraph.
I dont think he admires them
READING ASSESSMENT because theyre French or because
theyre friendly, so that eliminates
1. What conflicting feelings does Jerrys mother have 3. Which comparison best describes the experience of
about him? both Jerry and the mother in Death of a Young Son
A, B, and E. He wants to be one of
A. She worries that he spends too much time by Drowning? them, but that fact doesnt answer
alone, but she doesnt like his friends. A. Neither completes their journey successfully. the question of what appeals to
B. She wants him by her, but she doesnt want to B. Both have similar purposes for their journey, him about them, which eliminates
smother him. the move from childhood to adulthood. D. That the boys are older and
C. She hates to see him grow up, but she pushes C. Neither cares about the people who might
him to act less childish. worry about them.
more mature is what Jerry admires
D. She fears he will leave her, but she wants him D. Both wonder about the purpose of their journey. about them; he also wants to be
to meet new people. E. Both are weary yet satisfied at the end of their older and more mature. The correct
E. She loves his independent streak, but she journey. answer is C.
wishes he would conform more. 3. E
4. Which of the following words is a synonym for the
2. Which quotation best explains why Jerry finds the word surge? 4. B
boys appealing? A. plunge 5. Responses will vary.
A. They were of that coast; all of them burned B. swell
smooth dark brown and speaking a language C. attack
he did not understand. D. judge
B. They shouted cheerful greetings at him. E. imply
C. They were big boysmen, to Jerry.
5. Jerry first becomes interested in the tunnel when he
D. To be with them, of them, was a craving that
sees the other boys swimming through it, and he longs
filled his whole body.
to be with them. Yet when he actually swims through
E. Then one smiled and waved. It was enough.
the tunnel, he is alone. What does this suggest about
Jerrys motivations and symbolic journey?
THROUGH THE TUNNEL / DEATH OF A YOUNG SON BY DROWNING 39
/19/07 11:41:20 AM
Enrichment such as Jerrys successful navigation of the tun-

Another option for creative writing may be for nel. Students should use the first person, taking
students to write a poem inspired by a real-life the perspective of an individual who personally
story, modeling it after Atwoods. Ask students experienced the tragedy or triumph, and should
to write their own poem based on a real-life use figurative language such as simile and met-
story found in the newspaper. It could be a aphor to communicate the persons experience.
story about a tragedy or one about a triumph,
THROUGH THE TUNNEL / DEATH OF A YOUNG SON BY DROWNING 39

GRAMMAR & STYLE
Teach the Workshop
Objectives
Participating in this lesson will enable Parallel Structure parallel: A day at the beach usually includes
students to A sentence exhibits parallel structure, or paral- warm sun, splashing waves, and swooping gulls.
understand the concept of parallel lelism, when the same grammatical forms are used nonparallel: Jerry was swimming with grace
structure. to express ideas of equalor parallelimportance. and he swam with speed as he dove below the
Parallelism can add emphasis and rhythm to a deep, dark waves of the blue sea.
review terms relevant to parallel
sentence. Words, phrases, and clauses that have the parallel: Jerry was swimming with grace and
structure. speed as he dove below the deep, dark waves
same form and function in a sentence are called
practice the concept by complet- parallel. Notice how Doris Lessing uses parallelism in of the blue sea.
ing skill exercises. the sentence below from Through the Tunnel.
apply the concept to extension Note that in the first example, swimming and
EXAMPLE playing are in the same form. In the second
activities.
Jerry dived, shot past the school of underwater example, all the items in the list include an adjec-
swimmers, saw a black wall of rock looming at tive followed by a noun. In the third example, youll
Launch the Lesson him, touched it, and bobbed up at once to the notice that the lack of parallel structure makes
Start with books closed, and tell stu- surface, where the wall was a low barrier he the sentence awkward and wordy. In the parallel
dents that todays lesson involves a could see across. sentence, the words grace and speed describe
type of grammar problem that they how Jerry was swimming.
In this example, all the verbs are in the past tense.
need to understand in order to write Study the additional examples below for other ways Parallelism is commonly used as a rhetorical
well, and also to do well on standard- of using parallel structure. device, or a technique used by a speaker or writer to
ized tests. Write the following on the achieve a particular effect, especially to persuade or
EXAMPLE
board or overhead: influence. The use of parallel structure in this way is
He was trembling with fear that he would not most often seen in speeches or essays.
In recent years, more tourists from go; and he was trembling with horror at the
the United States visited museums in long, long tunnel under the rock, under the sea.
Great Britain than
A) Canada In this example, the parallel structure of the phrases What Great Writers Do
trembling with fear and trembling with horror
B) Canada did links together both clauses of the sentence and Aside from making sentences grammatically correct,
C) compared to Canadas reflects the inner debate waging inside of Jerrys parallel structure can add a type of excitement or
D) Canadian ones head. On the one hand, Jerry is scared that he will urgency to writing. Read the sentence below from
E) in Canada not have the courage to attempt the swim through Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing. How does
Students should work in pairs to deter- the tunnel, and, on the other hand, he is scared of she use parallelism? How does it affect the impact
of the sentence?
mine the answer and be prepared to having the courage and actually swimming through
explain their answers. They should the tunnel. He counted faster, faster,
also tell what kind of grammatical EXAMPLES
to hurry them up, to bring
error was made in the original sen- nonparallel: Jerrys mother thought he might them to the surface quickly,
tence. [The correct answer is E.] enjoy swimming or to play on the beach. to drown them quickly
parallel: Jerrys mother thought he might anything rather than the
enjoy swimming or playing on the beach. terror of counting on and
on into the blue emptiness
nonparallel: A day at the beach usually of the morning.
includes warm sun, splashing waves, and gulls
swooping.
40 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
PARALLELISM, 40
Teaching Words RHETORICAL DEVICE, 40
urgency, 40
demonstrate, 41
doggedly, 41
40 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Workshop
Apply the Skill
Identify Parallel Structure manhood. He scoffs at the safe beach Identify Parallel Structure
Copy the following sentences onto your own paper 1. The words getting and swim-
where his mother is lying contentedly
and evaluate them. If a sentence demonstrates paral-
in the sun and instead is pursuing the ming create parallelism.
lelism, circle the words that create parallelism. If the
allure of the more dangerous neighboring 2. The verbs to train and getting
sentence does not demonstrate parallelism, underline
the term or terms you would change to make the
beach. There, sitting aloft on a rock, he are not parallel. Getting should
watches a group of boys dive beneath be changed to get, as in get
sentence parallel.
the surface of the waves and are holding goggles.
1. Getting away from his mother and swimming in
their breaths for a long time. Eager to
the bay were the reasons Jerry did not want to 3. The verbs counting and kicking
prove that he is as good as they are, he
go to the safe beach.
breaches the waves, diving down deep to
are parallel, but the phrase his
2. In order to swim through the tunnel, Jerry thoughts were about is not paral-
the sandy bottom, and swiftly kicks up to
needed to train and getting goggles. lel; it should be counting, kicking,
the surface. He cannot hold his breath for
3. While Jerry was in the tunnel, he was counting, and thinking.
very long so he decided to train himself
kicking, and his thoughts were about whether
to hold his breath longer. Each day as the 4. The verbs sunbathing and walk-
he would make it.
4. Jerrys mother liked sunbathing, walking, and
crying of the gulls echoes over the beach ing are parallel, but reminded
reminded her son not to overdo it.
and the crash of the surf bounces off is not; it should be changed to
the rocks, Jerry is practicing holding his reminding.
5. Jerry wanted to join the older boys and swim
breath for longer periods of time. Finally, 5. The words join and swim create
through the tunnel.
after days of practice, he decides to test
parallelism.
Correct Parallel Structure himself and he swam through the tunnel.
Rewrite the following sentences to correct errors in Correct Parallel Structure
parallelism.
Use Parallel Structure in Your Writing 1. The wild bay represents being
1. The wild bay represents being grown up to Jerry, grown up to Jerry, whereas the safe
Did Jerry do the right thing in risking his own life to
whereas the safe beach is standing for childhood. beach stands for childhood.
try and conquer the tunnel? Write a letter to Jerry that
2. Jerrys feelings are conflicted between longs 2. Jerrys feelings are conflicted
expresses your opinion about his decision. If you agree
to go to the bay and contrition for making his between longing to go to the
that he did the right thing, offer your support. If you
mother anxious.
think he was foolish, tell him why you think so. Once bay and contrition for making his
3. The older boys are jumping, diving, swimming
you have finished a draft, exchange your letter with a mother anxious.
underwater, and speak a foreign language.
classmate and check for correct use of parallelism. 3. The older boys are jumping, diving,
4. Jerry sitting on the rock and cries like a baby
after they leave him. swimming underwater, and speak-
5. Jerrys mother sits on the safe beach unaware EXTEND THE SKILL ing a foreign language.
that her son is doggedly trying a dangerous 4. Jerry sits on the rock and cries like
Many speeches, such as Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg
activity and risks his life. a baby after they leave him.
Address, Martin Luther King Jr.s I Have a Dream
speech, and John F. Kennedys Inaugural Address, use 5. Jerrys mother sits on the safe
Improve a Paragraph
Copy the following paragraph onto your paper and parallelism. Use the library or Internet to find a copy beach, unaware that her son is dog-
correct the sentences so that each demonstrates of one of these speeches, or a different speech that gedly trying a dangerous activity
correct parallelism. interests you, and identify examples of parallelism in and risking his life.
the speech you choose. How might the use of parallel
structure influence the effect of the speech on its Improve a Paragraph
Doris Lessings Through the Tunnel
recounts the experience of Jerry, a young listeners? Responses will vary.
boy who is determined to prove his Use Parallel Structure in Your
Writing
Responses will vary.
GRAMMAR & STYLE 41
TEACHING NOTE
/19/07 11:41:24 AM
Program Resources
0012-0041_Lit3eG10_U01_2a_RegSel41 41
Parallel Structure 11/19/07 11:41:25 AM
Help students understand the concept by draw-

You will find additional lessons on ing on their visual learning and their knowledge
Parallel Structure in the Exceeding of parallel lines in geometry. Draw two parallel
the Standards: Grammar & Style lines on the board and say, These two lines are
resource. parallel; they are both going in the same
direction at the same angle. Provide an
example sentence that allows students
to fill in the blanks.
GRAMMAR & STYLE 41

Teach the Element Understanding Point of View
Launch the Lesson POINT OF VIEW
Introduce the differences between Youre at the bow of a boat on the Rainy
The saying, It all depends on how you look at it, River. Youre twenty-one years old, youre
first-person and third-person points of suggests that the meaning or judgment of a matter scared, and theres a hard squeezing pres-
view by telling a brief story both ways. can vary if you shift your point of view, or vantage sure in your chest. What would you do?
For example, you might tell about a point or perspective. In literature, it is much the same; Would you jump? Would you feel pity for
man walking down the street, first as so much depends on who is telling the storywhose yourself?
he is observed by someone watching point of view is interpreting the action. from On the Rainy River
him through a store window and then by Tim OBrien
as he experiences the walk himself. TYPES OF NARRATION
The first-person point of view, or first-person He, she, and it are the pronouns marking third-
Elements of Point of View narration, tells a story from the I or we perspective person point of view, where the narrator stands
Lead a discussion on whether a com- of someone who participated in or witnessed the outside the action and observes. The third-person
pletely objective (or unbiased) point action. For example, Lather and Nothing Else (page point of view has two variations: limited point of
of view is possible in fiction. Be sure 45) is told from the point of view of the barber, and view and omniscient point of view. Limited point of
to consider all types of point of view. you see events and other characters through his eyes view only gives the reader an insight into the mind
Remind students that part of trying to and through his biases. First-person point of view can of the narrator or of one other character. Like the
make the story seem more emotionally authentic, as in Sun (page 200), for instance, lets us know Sekhars
determine whether a narrators point
Lather and Nothing Else. However, it may also make thoughts but not those of the principal. The omni-
of view is objective is to look for infor- you question the validity of what you are told, as in
mation that is left out of the story. scient point of view reveals the thoughts of all
Two Kinds (page 69) when the narrator suggests characters, such as in Through the Tunnel (page 29)
Direct students to the box labeled that her mothers insistence that Jing-mei become a where the mothers worries are revealed as is Jerrys
prodigy is only to satisfy her pride. longing to explore the neighboring beach.
Famous Narrators. Ask students to
share their immediate impressions
of the narrators. Then have students But Im shaking like a regular murderer. She frowned, conscientiously worrying
look for differences in style among the From his throat a stream of blood would over what amusements he might secretly be
narrators. flow on the sheet, over the chair, down longing for, which she had been too busy
on my hands, onto the floor. I would have or too careless to imagine. He was very
to close the door. But the blood would go familiar with that anxious, apologetic smile.
flowing along the floor, warm, indelible, Contrition sent him running after her. And
not to be staunched, until it reached the yet, as he ran, he looked back over his
street like a small scarlet river. shoulder at the wild bay; and all morning,
from Lather and Nothing Else as he played on the safe beach, he was
by Hernando Tllez thinking of it.
from Through the Tunnel
Second-person point of view uses the word you by Doris Lessing
and is relatively rare. It addresses the reader directly,
positioning the reader within the story. Although
On the Rainy River (page 137) is mostly told from
the first-person point of view, the narrator slips into TYPES OF NARRATORS
second-person narration in order to make you imagine Whether the story is in first- or third-person, the
how you would react in a similar situation. narrator is the storyteller. Sometimes, the narrator
is a character in the story, as is the case with Two
Kinds and Lather and Nothing Else, but other
42 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel42 42 KEY TERMS 11/19/07 11:47:26 AM 0042-0091_Lit3eG
POINT OF VIEW, 42
Teaching Words FIRST-PERSON POINT OF VIEW,42
bias, 42 SECOND-PERSON POINT OF VIEW, 42
authentic, 42 THIRD-PERSON POINT OF VIEW, 42
validity, 42 NARRATOR, 42
taints, 43
42 UNIT 1 FICTION
0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_ATE.indd 42 5/1/08 2:47:12 PM

Teach the Element
times the narrator stands apart from the action. Not Use Reading Skills
all narrators are created equal, however. Some narra- Famous Narrators Reading skills that can help students
tors, whether in a first-person or third-person story, understand point of view include the
When a story is told from a first-person point of
are reliable; you can trust their account of the events. following:
view, readers hear the narrators voice in an up-
Some, however, are unreliable narrators. For instance, Distinguish Fact from Opinion
close and personal way. In the following short
in Two Kinds, Jing-meis conviction that her mother
excerpts, see if you can figure out what distin- Explain to students that narrators
only wants her to succeed so that her mother may
boast about it to others taints most of the interactions
guishes each narrators voice. are not always trustworthy; therefore,
between mother and daughter told by the character. distinguishing objective fact from
I had been to subjective opinion can help readers
The narrator of the third-person story The Moment determine if the narrator of a story
school most all
Before the Gun Went Off (page 51) can also be ques-
the time and is reliable or if the narrator relates
tioned because the events of the story are not merely
described; they are also commented upon. The narra-
could spell and events with a biased point of view.
tors remarks show a particular personality or opinion
read and write Encourage students not to take every-
just a little, and thing a narrator says at face value,
that may not strike you as reliable. In other words, you
could even say but rather to read with a critical eye
may have your own interpretation of character and
the multiplica-
events. Notice how the narrator comments on the situ- and determine whether there is more
tion table up to
ation in the example given below. than one way to interpret the events
six times seven
is thirty-five, and in a story.
I dont reckon I Compare and Contrast Suggest
There will be an inquiry; there had better
could ever get any that while they read a story, students
be, to stop the assumption of yet another
case of brutality against farm workers,
further than that if I was to live forever. pause every so often to compare and
although theres nothing in doubtan
I dont take no stock in mathematics, contrast the narrators point of view
accident, and all the facts fully admitted by
anyway. with their own perspectives on the
Huckleberry Finn, from The Adventures characters and events.
Van der Vyver.
of Huckleberry Finn
from The Moment Before the Gun
Went Off by Nadine Gordimer
In the morning, when I was fighting my More About Point of View
way to school against the wind, I couldnt Direct students to the following titles
see anything but the road in front of me; to see more examples of unique
DETERMINING POINT OF VIEW but in the late afternoon, when I was points of view:
To figure out the point of view of a story, ask your- coming home, the town looked bleak and Two Kinds (first-person point of
self the following questions. Remember that critical desolate to me. view), page 69
readers will examine whether or not the narrator is Jim Burden, from My Antonia On the Rainy River (some use of sec-
reliable before believing everything the narrator says. ond-person point of view), page 137
Who is telling the story? The snow began to drive thickly. I seized
The Happy Man (third-person omni-
Is the narrator a character in the story? the handle to essay another trial; when a
young man without a coat, and shouldering
scient), page 993
Does the narrator simply present the story or offer
commentary on the story? a pitchfork, appeared in the yard behind.
What biases, attitudes, or opinions do you think the Mr. Lockwood, from Wuthering Heights
narrator has? How might these assumptions color
his or her view?
How might the story be different if told from
another characters point of view?
UNDERSTANDING POINT OF VIEW 43
/19/07 11:47:26 AM
Program Resources

UNDERSTANDING POINT OF VIEW 43

Preview the Selection Lather and Nothing Else
At a Glance
Directed Reading
Reading Level: Easy BUILD BACKGROUND USE READING SKILLS
Difficulty Consideration: Historical Context Lather and Nothing Else is set in Colombia, a Classify Information
country that has been in political turmoil for much of the twentieth and Classifying information is a way
Vocabulary
DIRECTED READING
twenty-first centuries. In 1948, disputes between the two major political of organizing the information you
Ease Factors: Limited setting; first- parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, worsened when the leader of the read by putting it into categories.
person narrator Liberal Party, Jorge Eliecer Gaitn, was assassinated in the city of Bogot. Riots The key to classifying is to choose
broke out in the city, and fighting soon spread to the countryside. The period categories that fit the informa-
was called La Violencia (The Violence) because of the high number of fatali- tion. For Lather and Nothing
Objectives ties, about 200,000. Else, useful categories of classifi-
Studying this lesson will enable stu- cation could be the positives and
dents to This story explores the dilemma of a barber and secret revolutionary who
negatives the barber presents
encounters the leader of the enemy party while at work. With the enemy
understand how political conflict captured by the barbers chair, the barbers internal conflict rages: Should he
for killing the captain. Create a
comes about and is presented to graphic organizer like the one
kill the man or do his job?
below to use as you read. In the
the public.
Readers Context If you worked serving the public and discovered you were Pro column, list the positive
read, interpret, analyze, and evalu- serving someone who had harmed people you cared about, how might you arguments the barber presents; in
ate a short story about a man torn behave? the Con column, list the nega-
between his profession and his tive arguments.
political beliefs. ANALYZE LITERATURE: Point of View and Pro Con
define point of view and internal Internal Monologue
monologue and recognize the use The narrator
Point of view is the perspective from which a story is told. is proud of
of these literary elements in the Stories are often written from a first-person point of view, being a good
selection. in which the narrator uses words such as I and we. In this barber.
use the skill of classifying informa- selection, the narrator is the town barber, and the story
tion to understand a short story. is told from his point of view. This story uses internal PREVIEW VOCABULARY
write a dialogue and step-by-step monologue, or the private thoughts and emotions of the Use the context clues in the
narrator, to allow the reader to get inside the head of the sentences below to figure out
instructions. narrator. the meanings of the underlined
analyze point of view in news words from the selection.
reporting and create a graphic 1. The astronauts landed near
novel.
SET PURPOSE
the radio beacon that was
Have you ever struggled with a decision? What kinds of thoughts ran through emitting a faint signal.
your head? As you read, notice how the narrator reveals his private, internal 2. In contrast to her brother
Launch the Lesson thoughts as he struggles with his dual roles of good barber and loyal revolu- Allen, who was utterly irre-
Present this scenario: Your teacher has tionary. Keep a list of reasons the barber has to support each action he might sponsible, Ellen was highly
presented a view you dont agree with take. conscientious.
and has asked you to write a paper 3. Dean was frightened of
supporting that view. You want to get MEET THE AUTHOR heights, but he ventured up
Hernando Tllez (19081966) was born in Bogot, Colombia. Politician, the ladder to rescue his neigh-
a good grade on the paper, but you bors kitten.
also want your teacher to understand reporter, and writer, he served in the Colombian Parliament, and he later
served as Colombias ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, 4. Rejuvenated by the retreat,
you dont agree with his or her view. and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris. Tllez was a journalist as well as Salima felt ten years younger.
What do you do? Divide students into a fiction writer. He worked for many of Colombias newspapers and magazines 5. The markers are supposed to
groups and have them decide what and published many articles about politics. His short story collection Ashes for be washable, but the ink has
the Wind and Other Stories includes Lather and Nothing Else. been indelible to scrubbing.
to do.
44 UNIT 1 FICTION
0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01.indd 44
CONTEXT, 44
Preview Selection Teaching
POINT OF VIEW, 44
Vocabulary Words Words INTERNAL MONOLOGUE, 44
foray, 46 nape, 46 fatalities, 44
CLASSIFY,44
regime, 46 mutilated, 46 perspective, 44
CONTRAST, 49
emit, 46 indifference, 46 dual, 44
revolutionary, 46 whorls, 47 ambassador, 44
conscientious, 46 assassins, 48 compromise, 49
venture, 47 avenger, 48
minutely, 47
rejuvenate, 47
tranquil, 48
indelible, 48
44 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
Summary
In an unnamed Latin American coun-
try torn by civil strife, a government
army captain enters a barbershop and
asks for a shave. The barber, who is
sympathetic to the rebels, believes
that the captain does not know of his
support for the revolution. As the cap-
tain casually suggests that the barber
attend the torture and execution of
some of the captive rebels, the barber
realizes that he has a chance to kill
his foe by slitting his throat with the
razor. In an internal monologue, the
barber ponders the pros and cons of
becoming a murderer, just like the
oppressors he hates.
W The Mirrors
IRRORS
And so, which W INDOWS & Windows
questions
aatt tthe
he end of this selection focus
will it be? oonn th he theme of loyalty to ones
the
Murderer or beliefs and ideas. Ask students
how far they would go to stand
hero? up for something they believe in.
At the Barbers, 1912. Marc Chagall. Muse
National dArt Moderne, Paris, France.
Use Reading Skills
Classify Information Another
approach to classifying information
H e came in without a word. I was strop-
ping1 my best razor. And when I
recognized him, I started to shake. But he did
and hung his cap above it. Then he turned
full around toward me and, loosening his tie,
remarked, Its hot as the devil, I want a shave.
might be to list details and dialogue
that reveal the political sympathies of
the captain and the barber, making it
not notice. To cover my nervousness, I went With that he took his seat.
clear that they are on opposite sides
on honing2 the razor. I tried the edge with the I estimated he had a four-days growth of
of the conflict.
tip of my thumb and took another look at it beard, the four days he had been gone on the
against the light.
Meanwhile he was taking off his cartridge- 1. stropping. Sharpening by rubbing back and forth on a thick
piece of leather, or strop
studded3 belt with the pistol holster suspended 2. honing. Sharpening
from it. He put it on a hook in the wardrobe 3. cartridge-studded. Adorned with bullets
/19/08 10:13:01 AM
Program Resources

Program Planning Guide, Selection Lesson Plan Fiction: Unit 1, Directed Reading
E-Lesson Planner
ExamView
English Language Learners, Classify Information
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows

last foray after our men. His face looked burnt, It was not a disagreeable face, certainly. And
tanned by the sun. the beard, which aged him a bit, was not unbe-
Teach the Selection I started to lay on the first coat of lather. coming. His name was Torres. Captain Torres.
He kept his eyes closed. I started to lay on the first coat of lather.
Analyze Literature I started to work carefully on the shaving He kept his eyes closed.
Internal Monologue The paragraph soap. I scraped some slices from the cake, I would love to catch a nap, he said, but
beginning with the sentence I had dropped them into the mug, then added a little theres a lot to be done this evening.
never seen him so close before. lukewarm water, and stirred with the brush. I lifted the brush and asked, with
contains a brief flashback that inter- The lather soon began to rise. pretended indifference: A firing party?
rupts the barbers internal monologue. The fellows in the troop must have just Something of the sort, he replied, but
Direct students to this flashback. about as much beard as I. I went on stirring slower.
What information about the captain is up lather. But we did very well, you know. All of them?
revealed through the flashback? Why We caught the leaders. Some of them we No, just a few.
had the barber not paid much atten- brought back dead; others are still alive. But I went on lathering his face. My hands began
tion to the captains face? A theyll all be dead soon. to tremble again. The man could not be aware
Answer: The captain was responsible How many did you take? I asked. of this, which was lucky for me. But I wished
for forcing people to look at the bod- Fourteen. We had to go pretty far in to he had not come in. Probably many of our men
ies of dead rebels to discourage them find them. But now theyre paying for it. And had seen him enter the shop. And with the
from resisting. The barbers attention not one will escape; not a single one. enemy in my house I felt a certain responsibility.
had been focused on the horrible He leaned back in the chair when he saw I would have to shave his beard just like any
scene of the execution, so he didnt the brush in my hand, full of lather. I had not other, carefully, neatly, just as though he were
really look at the captain. yet put the sheet on him. I was certainly flus- a good customer, taking heed that not a single
tered. Taking a sheet from the drawer, I tied it B pore should emit a drop of blood. Seeing to it
Use Reading Skills around my customers neck. that the blade did not slip in the small whorls.4
Classify Information Direct stu- He went on talking. He evidently took it for Taking care that the skin was left clean, soft,
dents to the barbers comment I felt granted that I was on the side of the existing shining, so that when I passed the back of my
a certain responsibility. Discuss what regime. hand over it not a single hair should be felt. Yes.
the barber means by this. Then have The people must have gotten a scare with I was secretly a revolutionary, but at the same
students read the following paragraph what happened the other day, he said. time I was a conscientious barber, proud of
and identify arguments the barber Yes, I replied, as I finished tying the knot the way I did my job. And that four-day beard
makes for and against killing the cap- against his nape, which smelt of sweat. presented a challenge.
tain. Students should record these argu- Good show, wasnt it? I took up the razor, opened the handle
ments in their graphic organizers. B Very good, I answered, turning my atten- wide, releasing the blade, and started to work,
tion now to the brush. The man closed his eyes downward from one sideburn. The blade
Critical Thinking wearily and awaited the cool caress of the lather. responded to perfection. The hair was tough
Discussion Guide Lather and I had never had him so close before. The and hard; not very long, but thick. Little by
Nothing Else was translated into day he ordered the people to file through
English by Jennifer Gabrielle Edwards. the schoolyard to look upon the four rebels 4. whorls. Clusters or curls of hair
Another translation, done by Donald hanging there, my path had crossed his briefly.
A. Yates, is entitled Just Lather, A
But the sight of those mutilated bodies kept me for ay (f0r> 6) n., raid; attack
Thats All. Discuss with students how from paying attention to the face of the man re gime (r6 zh7m> or ri j7m>) n., government; administration
in power
different translations of the same who had been directing it all and whom I now e mit (7 mit>) v., discharge; send out
story might be different from one had in my hands. rev o lu tion ar y (re< v@ l2> sh@ ner< 7) n., one who
another. seeks to overthrow a government
con sci en tious (k5n[t]< sh7 en[t]> sh@s) adj., scrupulous;
governed by what one knows is right
46 UNIT 1 FICTION

0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel46 46 11/19/07 11:47:39 AM 0042-0091_Lit3eG
History squads to kill anyone, regardless of political

Violence has played a large part in Colombias affiliation, who stood in their way. In 1991, a
history. In the years following La Violencia, new constitution gave the government greater
political groups and guerilla groups have been power, but drug trafficking and the violence
fighting for control. In the 1980s, powerful that comes with it continues to be a problem.
drug cartels organized paramilitary death
46 UNIT 1 FICTION

little the skin began to show through. The
razor gave its usual sound as it gathered up
layers of soap mixed with bits of hair. I paused Teach the Selection
to wipe it clean, and taking up the strop once
more went about improving its edge, for I am a Art Connection
painstaking barber. Marc Chagall (18871985) painted
The man, who had kept his eyes closed, At the Barbers (on page 45) in Paris,
now opened them, put a hand out from under shortly before returning to his native
the sheet, felt of the part of his face that was Russia. When they finish reading
emerging from the lather, and said to me, the story, have students contrast the
Come at six oclock this evening to the school. mood of At the Barbers with the
Will it be like the other day? I asked, stiff mood of Chagalls painting Soldiers
with horror. on page 47. Have them focus on the
It may be even better, he replied. colors, painting style, and expressions
What are you planning to do? and positions of the figures. Then ask
Im not sure yet. But well have a good students to create their own painting
time. or drawing for the story.
Once more he leaned back and shut his
eyes. I came closer, the razor on high. Use Reading Strategies
Are you going to punish all of them? I Clarify The last paragraph in the
timidly ventured. first column provides information on
Yes, all of them. the barbers role in the revolution.
The lather was drying on his face. I must Soldiers, 191415. Marc Chagall. Coll. M.Z. Gordeyeva, St.
Direct students to this paragraph and
hurry. Through the mirror, I took a look at the Petersburg, Russia. ask the following questions: What do
street. It appeared about as usual; there was we learn from this paragraph about
the grocery shop with two or three customers. his enemy. Neither he nor the others knew it. the barbers role in the revolution?
Then I glanced at the clock, two-thirty. It was a secret shared by very few, just because How does this information contribute
The razor kept descending. Now from the that made it possible for me to inform the revo- to your understanding of the barbers
other sideburn downward. It was a blue beard, lutionaries about Torress activities in the town situation? C
a thick one. He should let it grow like some and what he planned to do every time he went C Answer: We learn from this paragraph
poets, or some priests. It would suit him well. on one of his raids to hunt down rebels. So it that the barber has been serving the
Many people would not recognize him. And was going to be very difficult to explain how it rebels as an informer. The barber is
that would be a good thing for him, I thought, was that I had him in my hands and then let in a very tense situation because the
as I went gently over all the throat line. At this him go in peace, alive, clean-shaven. rebels will expect him to attack and
point you really had to handle your blade skill- His beard had now almost entirely disap- kill Torres.
fully, because the hair, while scantier, tended peared. He looked younger, several years
to fall into small whorls. It was a curly beard. younger than when he had come in. I suppose
The pores might open, minutely, in this area that always happens to men who enter and
and let out a tiny drop of blood. A good barber leave barbershops. Under the strokes of my
like myself stakes his reputation on not permit- razor Torres was rejuvenated; yes, because I am
ting that to happen to any of his customers. a good barber, the best in this town, and I say
And this was indeed a special customer. this in all modesty.
How many of ours had he sent to their death?
ven ture (ven[t]> sh@r) v., do at some risk
How many had he mutilated? It was best not mi nute ly (m8 n2t> l7) adv., to a very small degree
to think about it. Torres did not know I was re ju ve nate (ri j2> v@ n6t<) v., make to feel young again
/19/07 11:47:39 AM
Reading Proficiency quotation marks. Ask students to insert the quo-

Ask students to select portions of the story to tation marks at the correct points. Tell them that
read aloud and record. Encourage them to read reading the sentences aloud may help them.
the chosen portions with the emotional tone
Enrichment
that the words and their connotations suggest.
Have students carry out research on the history
English Language Learning of government in Colombia during the last
Use passages from the story to give students hundred years. Students may create a time line
practice in using quotation marks with dia- of political developments, or compare the politi-
logue. Provide students with a typed copy of cal climate during Tllezs adult lifetime (from
several consecutive paragraphs without the 1930 to 1966) with that in Colombia today.

A little more lather here under the chin, on He was the town barber. No one knew he was
the Adams apple, right near the great vein.5 How fighting for our cause.
Teach the Selection hot it is! Torres must be sweating just as I am. And so, which will it be? Murderer or hero?
But he is not afraid. He is a tranquil man, who My fate hangs on the edge of this razor blade.
Use Reading Skills is not even giving thought to what he will do to I can turn my wrist slightly, put a bit more
Classify Information Direct stu- his prisoners this evening. I, on the other hand, pressure on the blade, let it sink in. The skin
dents to the paragraph beginning polishing his skin with this razor but avoiding the will yield like silk, like rubber, like the strop.
with the sentence Confound the hour drawing of blood, careful with every strokeI There is nothing more tender than a mans
he entered my shop! What argu- cannot keep my thoughts in order. skin, and the blood is always there, ready to
ments does the barber give against Confound the hour he entered my shop! burst forth. A razor like this cannot fail. It is
killing the captain? Remind students I am a revolutionary but not a murderer. And the best one I have.
to record these arguments in their it would be so easy to kill him. He deserves But I dont want to be a murderer. No, sir.
graphic organizers. A it. Or does he? No! No one deserves the sacri- You came in to be shaved. And I do my work
Answer: The barber argues that noth- fice others make in becoming assassins. What honorably. I dont want to stain my hands with
ing will be gained if he murders the is to be gained by it? Nothing. Others and blood. Just with lather, and nothing else. You
captain; there will just be another like A still others keep coming, and the first kill the are an executioner; I am only a barber. Each
him. The barber does not want to be second, and then these kill the next, and so one to his job. Thats it. Each one to his job.
a murderer. on until everything becomes a sea of blood. The chin was now clean, polished, soft.
I could cut his throat, so, swish, swish! He The man got up and looked at himself in the
Use Reading Strategies would not even have time to moan, and with glass. He ran his hand over the skin and felt its
Make Inferences Have students his eyes shut he would not even see the shine freshness, its newness.
read the last paragraph of the story, of the razor or the gleam in my eye. Thanks, he said. He walked to the ward-
and ask the following questions: What But Im shaking like a regular murderer. robe for his belt, his pistol, and his cap. I must
do the captains statements suggest From his throat a stream of blood would flow have been very pale, and I felt my shirt soaked
he knows about the barber? What do on the sheet, over the chair, down on my hands, with sweat. Torres finished adjusting his belt
you think will happen to the barber? onto the floor. I would have to close the door. buckle, straightened his gun in its holster, and
Why? B But the blood would go flowing along the floor, smoothing his hair mechanically, put on his
warm, indelible, not to be staunched,6 until it B cap. From his trousers pocket he took some
reached the street like a small scarlet river. coins to pay for the shave. And he started
W Suggest Im sure that with a good strong blow, a toward the door. On the threshold he stopped
IRRORS
W INDOWS that
students
deep cut, he would feel no pain. He would not
suffer at all. And what would I do then with the
for a moment, and turning toward me, he said,
They told me you would kill me. I came to
m ay eexplain
may xplain and support their body? Where would I hide it? I would have to find out if it was true. But its not easy to kill. I
rresponses
esponses by referring to stories flee, leave all this behind, take shelter far away, know what Im talking about.
about current events in news- very far away. But they would follow until they
papers and magazines and on caught up with me. The murderer of Captain 5. great vein. Carotid arterylarge blood vessel in the neck
6. staunched. Stopped
radio and television broadcasts. Torres. He slit his throat while he was shaving
him. What a cowardly thing to do! tran quil (tra4> kw@l) adj., calm; serene
And others would say, The avenger of our in del i ble (in de> l@ b@l) adj., permanent; incapable of
people. A name to remembermy name here. being erased or removed
&
W Which is more important: loyalty to ones profession or loyalty to ones beliefs
IRRORS
W INDOWS
and ideals? How far is it appropriate to go in order to stand up for what you
believe in?
48 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Kinesthetic Have pairs of students role-play

Auditory Have students suppose that the a sequel to the story in which the barber and
story will be presented as a suspenseful radio Torres meet again. What would the circum-
play. Their job is to select background music stances be? What would the two men say to
and other sound effects that will enhance the each other?
suspense of the barbers internal monologue
and of his dialogue with Captain Torres. What
music and other effects would they choose?
Have them write a sound-effects script for the
story.
48 UNIT 1 FICTION


1a. Describe Torress entrance into the 1b. Draw conclusions about what is Understand Refer to Text
barbershop and the barbers reaction. revealed about each character based Find meaning
on the details in this scene. 1a. Torres comes into the barbershop
and asks for a shave. The barber
2a. Indicate what the narrator ultimately 2b. Given what you know about Torres, Apply
decides to do to Torres. predict how he will treat the barber in Use information begins to shake from nervousness.
the future. Explain your response. He continues to sharpen his razor
3a. Recall when the narrator last crossed 3b. Contrast the narrators experience with Analyze to hide his fear.
paths with Torres. What kept him from Torres in the barbershop with the last Take things 2a. The barber decides to give Torres
looking at Torress face then? time they crossed paths. apart a good, clean shave.
4a. State why Torres came into the barber- 4b. Decide how you would have handled Evaluate 3a. The narrator last crossed paths
shop. the situation if you were the barber. Make judgments with Torres on the day Torres
Explain your response. ordered people to look at rebels
5a. List some of the acts Torres has led or 5b. Develop a statement about the use Create who had been hanged in the
committed against the revolutionaries. of violence to bring about political Bring ideas schoolyard. The sight of the muti-
change. Consider these questions: Is together lated bodies kept the narrator
political violence ever justified? How from looking Torres in the face.
can political change be brought about
4a. Torres had been told the barber
if the party in power will not allow
compromise? would kill him, and he wanted to
know if it was true.
ANALYZE LITERATURE: Point of View and Internal Monologue 5a. Torres recently caught leaders of
Skim the story to find passages that reveal the narrators love of his work and those his opposition and brought some
that reveal his dedication to the revolution. How would this story differ if told from back dead. Others were brought
the point of view of another customer in the barbershop? from Torress point of view? back alive, soon to be killed in
What is compelling about the use of internal monologue? public display.
EXTEND THE TEXT Media Literacy Reason with Text

Analyze Point of View in News Reporting Imagine 1b. Torres appears to be a confident
Writing Options that you are a news reporter preparing a story on polit-
Creative Writing Torres says, They told me you ical unrest. Research an example of political instability man who takes control and makes
would kill me. I came to find out if it was true. But its in the world. What are the basic issues of the conflict? himself at home wherever he
not easy to kill. I know what Im talking about. How What methods are various parties using to support their is. The barber appears cautious,
do you think the barber feels when he hears this? Is he causes? Prepare two different five-minute television reflective, and less self-assured.
worried that Torres knows who he is? Does he wish he news reports on the conflict. In one, report from the 2b. Responses will vary.
had killed Torres when he had the chance? Does Torres point of view of the ruling party. In the other, report
admire the barber or condemn him? Write a dialogue 3b. The meeting in the barbershop is
from the point of view of the resistance.
between Torres and the barber. Alternately, write a more intimate. In the schoolyard,
dialogue between the barber and a fellow revolutionary Collaborative Learning the barber didnt look at Torress
Create a Graphic Novel Sometimes stories take on a
or Torres and one of his colleagues about the meeting face; in the shop, he must look at
in the barbershop. whole new meaning if they are told mostly in pictures
instead of words. With a group, create a short graphic it closely to do his job.
Applied Writing Lather and Nothing Else provides novel, which is similar to a comic book, of the story 4b. Responses will vary.
a detailed description of each step the barber takes in Lather and Nothing Else. If no one in your group 5b. Responses will vary.
shaving Torress beard. Write step-by-step instruc- enjoys drawing, try creating pictures on the computer.
tions for a task you perform so frequently that you
can do it even when you are nervous. Your instructions
W
Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more.
Rubrics for Writing
should be clear enough that someone who has never W Options
performed that task will know how to proceed. For the writing rubrics and student
models of the Writing Options in the
LATHER AND NOTHING ELSE 49 Extend the Text section, go to
www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
/19/07 11:47:43 AM Analyze Literature

0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel49 49 The use of internal monologue builds tension,
11/19/07 11:47:43 AM
Point of View and Internal Monologue The but it also allows the reader to see how Torress
barber speaks with pride of making his custom- presence affects the barber and the back and
ers look younger and of his responsibility to forth as the barber decides what to do. The story
give a shave that sheds no blood. Passages that might be quite interesting from Torress point of
reveal his dedication to the revolution include view as he watched the barber for signs that he
his statement that with the enemy in my house would or would not kill him.
I felt a certain responsibility and his desire to
be seen as an avenger of the people.

The Moment Before the Gun Went Off
A Short Story by Nadine Gordimer
At a Glance
Directed Reading BUILD BACKGROUND USE READING SKILLS
Reading Level: Moderate Historical Context In 1948, an all-white South African government ensured Distinguish Fact from
white political and economic dominance under law through the system of Opinion One way to discuss
Difficulty Considerations: Political apartheid, a policy of racial segregation and political and economic discrimi- fact and opinion as it is related
and historical context nation. The government forced blacks to live in independent homelands or to fiction is to examine how
DIRECTED READING
Ease Factor: Familiar words in separated urban townships. Officials required blacks to carry identification a narrator tells a story. The
papers and revoked their South African citizenship. During the 1950s, as Moment Before the Gun Went
more and more apartheid laws came into being, resistance grew among black Off is a fictional story, but
Objectives communities. Apartheid in South Africa finally came to an end in 1991. The within the story are facts about
Studying this lesson will enable stu- Moment Before the Gun Went Off takes place in South Africa as the the shooting along with the
dents to policy of apartheid was being dismantled. It appeared in the 1991 collection narrators opinions. Looking
understand apartheid in South Jump and Other Stories. closely at the facts and opinions
Africa and its importance as the the narrator chooses to include
Readers Context Write about a time when you became aware of a social
can help you decide how the
context of the story. situation that was unfair or a stereotype that was inaccurate.
narrator feels about the events
read, interpret, analyze, and evalu- and characters of the story.
ate a short story about an acciden- ANALYZE LITERATURE: Point of View and Narrator Make a Fact and Opinion Chart
tal shooting and its consequences. Point of view is the vantage point
like the one below to take notes
define point of view and narrator on the facts and opinions the
from which a story is told. The person
narrator presents.
and recognize the use of these liter- who tells a story is the narrator.
ary elements in the selection. A narrator may be a participant or Fact Opinion
use the skill of distinguishing witness of the action or he or she may
stand outside the action. A narrator may be all knowing or limited in his Van der Vyver
between fact and opinion to under- or her knowledge. He or she may be reliable or unreliable. A Fact and accidentally
stand a short story. Opinion Chart (see Use Reading Skills at right) will help you decide about killed Lucas.
write a news story and a retelling. the credibility of the narrator in The Moment Before the Gun Went Off.
create a Time Line of apartheid in PREVIEW VOCABULARY
South Africa and role-play a conver- Use the context clues in the
SET PURPOSE sentences below to figure out
sation. the meanings of the underlined
Remember that this story takes place as apartheid in South Africa is coming
practice reading assessment by to an end. Consider how people inside and outside of South Africa might have words from the selection.
answering multiple-choice and viewed events that had a racial component. As you read, compare your expec- 1. Instead of going out on
short-answer questions about the tations to the narrators observations. Saturday, Dan spent his time
selection. on domestic activities.
MEET THE AUTHOR 2. An example of divestment for
social good is the withdrawal
Launch the Lesson Nadine Gordimer (b. 1923) was born in a small mining town outside of many American companies
Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1923. She began writing at a young
Johann
Have students journal about whether age, publishing her first short story in a South African magazine
from South Africa during
they have ever been involved in a apartheid.
while still in her teens. In 1949, she published Face to Face, her
whil 3. The photographer planned to
social situation that influenced how first collection of short stories. An English-speaking Jew living in cull her best shots and send
they treated certain people or made South Africa during apartheid, Gordimer, who has been called
Sou them to the gallery owner.
them feel as if they couldnt tell the the conscience of South Africa, has been politically active for 4. Officials ordered an inquiry
most of her life and has written much about race relations in
m
truth about some aspect of their lives. into the matter.
her native land. Gordimer, who has written both fiction and 5. Anton acted callously when
nonfiction, said, Nothing I say in essays and articles will he insulted Lori in front of a
Refer to page 1032 of the be as true as my fiction. In 1991, she won the Nobel Prize group of others.
Language Arts Handbook 1.3, Using for literature.
tion on distinguishing fact from 50 UNIT 1 FICTION
opinion.
0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01.indd 50
CONTEXT, 50
Preview Selection Teaching POINT OF VIEW, 50
Vocabulary Words Words NARRATOR, 50
domestic, 51 aptitude, 53 dominance, 50 FACT, 50
divestment, 51 flank, 53 segregation, 50 OPINION, 50
inquiry, 52 archive, 54 discrimination, 50 CONTEXT CLUES, 50
cull, 53 appease, 54 dismantled, 50 ASSESS, 56
callously, 56 infiltrators, 54 credibility, 50
evicted, 57
50 UNIT 1 FICTION

The Moment Teach the Selection
Before the Summary
Gun Went Off

In turbulent, racially divided South
Africa, Marais Van der Vyver, a
prominent leader of the white party
in power, accidentally shoots young
Lucas, one of his black farm workers,
on a hunting excursion. The shooting,
A Short Story by Nadine Gordimer which might have been ignored by
the public and the press under other
conditions, is big news, given Van
M arais Van der Vyver shot one of his
farm laborers, dead. An accident, there
are accidents with guns every day of the
Theyll be able to use it in their boycott and
divestment campaigns, itll be another piece of
evidence in their truth about the country. The
der Vyvers position. What few people
know, however, is the real relationship
weekchildren playing a fatal game with a papers at home will quote the story as it has of the two men: Lucas was Van der
fathers revolver in the cities where guns are Vyvers illegitimate son.
domestic objects, nowadays, hunting mishaps 1. Afrikaner. A South African of European descent whose native
language is Afrikaans
like this one, in the countrybut these wont 2. National Party. Ruling political party in South Africa from W The Mirrors
be reported all over the world. Van der Vyver 19481994 that initiated the policy of apartheid IRRORS
knows his will be. He knows that the story
of the Afrikaner1 farmerregional leader of
3. commandant. Commanding officer
4. commando. An organized force of Boer troops in South Africa.
Boers are South Africans of Dutch or Huguenot descent.
W INDOWS & Windows
questions
the National Party2 and commandant3 of the aatt tthe
local security commando4shooting a black do mes tic (d@ mes> tik) adj., relating to the household or oonn bbias
ias or ina
inaccuracy in the news.
man who worked for him will fit exactly their A
family Discuss with students whether
di vest ment (d8 ves[t]> m@nt) n., reduction of investments
version of South Africa, its made for them. for social or political reasons; selling of assets
they always trust what they see
on TV or read in newspapers. Ask
students to pay attention to the
trustworthiness of the narrator as
they read.
The moment before the gun went off
was a moment of high excitement. Analyze Literature
Narrator Pause at the end of this
page to have students examine the
narrators point of view. Have them
focus on the phrase fit exactly their
version of South Africa. Which groups
is the narrator contrasting in this pas-
sage? How does the narrator seem to
feel? A
51
/19/08 10:13:39 AM
Program Resources

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Developing Readers, Make Connections
ExamView
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Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows
THE MOMENT BEFORE THE GUN WENT OFF 51

appeared in the overseas press, and in the back with in church, and work with on the Party
and forth he and the black man will become committee. But how can those others know
Teach the Selection those crudely drawn figures on anti-apartheid that? They dont want to know it. They think
banners, units in statistics of white brutality all blacks are like the bigmouth agitators in
Use Reading Skills against blacks quoted at the United Nations town. And Van der Vyvers face in the photo-
Distinguish Fact from Opinion he, whom they will gleefully be able to call a graphs, strangely opened by distresseveryone
Direct students to the paragraph leading member of the ruling Party. in the district remembers Marais Van der Vyver
beginning People in the farming People in the farming community under- as a little boy who would go away and hide
community understand how he must stand how he must feel. Bad enough to have himself if he caught him smiling at him, and
feel. Have students focus on the nar- killed a man, without helping the Partys, the everyone knows him now as a man who hides
rators discussion of friendship and on governments, the countrys enemies as well. any change of expression round his mouth
his portrayal of Van der Vyver in this They see the truth of that. They know, reading behind a thick, soft mustache, and in his eyes
passage. With such phrases as They the Sunday papers, that when Van der Vyver by always looking at some object in hand, a
dont want to know it and everyone is quoted saying he is terribly shocked, he leaf or a crop fingered, pen or stone picked
in the district remembers is the will look after the wife and children, none up, while concentrating on what he is saying,
narrator reporting mostly facts or of those Americans and English, and none of or while listening to you. It just goes to show
opinions? A those people at home who want to destroy the what shock can do; when you look at the
Answer: The narrator is reporting opin- A white mans power will believe him. And how newspaper photographs you feel like apolo-
ions. Remind students to record these they will sneer when he even says of the farm gizing, as if you had stared in on some room
opinions in their graphic organizers. boy (according to one paper, if you can trust where you should not be.
any of those reporters), He was my friend, There will be an inquiry; there had better
Use Reading Strategies I always took him hunting with me. Those be, to stop the assumption of yet another case
Ask Questions There are many ref- city and overseas people dont know its true: of brutality against farm workers, although
erences to unfamiliar places and situa- farmers usually have one particular black boy theres nothing in doubtan accident, and
tions in this story. Encourage students they like to take along with them in the lands; all the facts fully admitted by Van der Vyver.
to write down questions they have you could call it a kind of friend, yes, friends
and to look for the answers as they are not only your own white people, like your- in qui ry (in kwir> 7) n., investigation into a matter of public
interest
continue reading. Model this strategy self, whom you take into your house, pray
by saying, I wonder why the narrator
keeps talking about people overseas
reading about the shooting. Why
would it be in newspapers overseas?
More About the Author

Nadine Gordimer was one of a trio
of South African Nobel Prize winners
who struggled at great personal
risk to bring about the end of apart-
heid. The other two include Nelson
Mandela (born 1918), a political
leader who became president of
South Africa after the first free elec-
tions were held there in 1994, and
Desmond Tutu (born 1931), an
Anglican clergyman who became
Archbishop of Cape Town.
52 UNIT 1 FICTION

To make sure that students understand the Be sure students realize that they should use
political climate in South Africa at the time the the footnotes provided in the text. As needed,
story takes place, review the terms apartheid, discuss differences and similarities between
Afrikaner, National Party, and divestment in the the national policy of legalized discrimination
opening paragraph. Explain that the apartheid in South Africa, called apartheid, and patterns
system had been in place for several decades at of racial segregation and discrimination in the
the time the story takes place. United States between the Civil War and the
1960s.
52 UNIT 1 FICTION

He made a statement when he arrived at the Van der Vyver had a rifle and .30 caliber
police station with the dead man in his bakkie.5 ammunition beside him in the cab. The rifle
Captain Beetge knows him well, of course; he was one of his fathers, because his own was at Teach the Selection
gave him brandy. He was shaking, this big, the gunsmiths in town. Since his father died
calm, clever son of Willem Van der Vyver, who (Beetges sergeant wrote passed on) no one Use Reading Skills
inherited the old mans best farm. The black had used the rifle, and so when he took it from Distinguish Fact from Opinion
was stone dead, nothing to be done for him. a cupboard he was sure it was not loaded. His Direct students to the new section
Beetge will not tell anyone that after the brandyfather had never allowed a loaded gun in the that begins on this page. How does
Van der Vyver wept. He sobbed, snot running house, he himself had been taught since child- the tone change from the paragraphs
onto his hands, like a dirty kid. The captain hood never to ride with a loaded weapon in C before? What facts does the narrator
was ashamed for him, and walked out to give a vehicle. But this gun was loaded. On a dirt present in this section? Why might the
him a chance to recover himself. track, Lucas thumped his fist on the cab roof narrator choose to reveal these facts?
three times to signal: look left. Having seen Remind students to record facts and
opinions in their graphic organizers. B
M arais Van der Vyver left his house at the white-ripple-marked flank of a kudu, and
three in the afternoon to cull a buck from its fine horns raking through disguising bush,
the family of kudu6 he protects in the bush Van der Vyver drove rather fast over a pothole.
Answers: The tone of the paragraphs
before is subjective, the voice of a bit-
areas of his farm. He is interested in wildlife The jolt fired the rifle. Upright, it was pointing ter and opinionated close observer of
and sees it as the farmers sacred duty to raise straight through the cab roof at the head of the situation. Here, the tone changes
game as well as cattle. As usual, he called at Lucas. The bullet pierced the roof and entered to that of an objective-minded reporter
his shed to pick up Lucas, a twenty-year-old Lucass brain by way of his throat. listing the facts. The narrator gives
farmhand who had shown mechanical aptitude B That is the statement of what happened. the details of Van der Vyvers actions
and whom Van der Vyver himself had taught Although a man of such standing in the leading up to and during the shooting.
to maintain tractors and other farm machinery. He seems to want readers to know the
He hooted, and Lucas followed the familiar shooting was an accident.
5. bakkie. Pickup truck
routine, jumping onto the back of the truck. 6. kudu. African antelope
He liked to travel standing up there, spotting Use Reading Strategies
game before his employer did. He would lean cull (k@l) v., control the size of a herd by removal; select from a group
Visualize Students should read
forward, bracing against the cab below him. carefully the factual description Van
der Vyver gave police, trying to visual-
ize what happened to Lucas. Point
out the photo of kudu on these two
pages. You may wish to bring in pho-
tos to show that might help students
visualize: for instance, a South African
farm, a white South African farmer,
a bakkie, or a .30 rifle. Students may
sketch the scene in their notebooks
and then compare with neighbors. C
/19/07 11:47:54 AM 0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel53 53 11/19/07 11:47:54 AM
Enrichment
Ask students to write a paragraph focusing on
the significance of the storys title. Why might
Nadine Gordimer have chosen this title? Is the
title appropriate? Is there a different title that
would fit the story better?

district, Van der Vyver had to go through the to an unmarked grave. The young wife is
ritual of swearing that it was the truth. It has pregnant (of course) and another little one, a
Teach the Selection gone on record, and will be there in the archive boy wearing red shoes several sizes too large,
of the local police station as long as Van der leans under her jutting belly. He is too young
Analyze Literature Vyver lives, and beyond that, through the lives to understand what has happened, what he is
Narrator On this page, the narrator of his children, Magnus, Helena, and Karel witnessing that day, but neither whines nor
reveals many opinions about South unless things in the country get worse, the plays about; he is solemn without knowing
African society. Ask students to iden- example of black mobs in the town spreads to why. Blacks expose small children to every-
tify those opinions. What is the nar- the rural areas and the place is burned down as thing, they dont protect them from the sight of
rators attitude toward South African many urban police stations have been. Because fear and pain the way whites do theirs. It is the
society? nothing the government can do will appease young wife who rolls her head and cries like
Answer: The narrator expresses opin- the agitators and the whites who encourage a child, sobbing on the breast of this relative
ions that put black people in an unfa- them. Nothing satisfies them, in the cities: and that. All present work for Van der Vyver
vorable light. He/she blames black blacks can sit and drink in white hotels now, or are the families of those who work; in the
mobs for destruction and causing the Immorality Act has gone, blacks can sleep weeding and harvest seasons, the women and
trouble for the government. The nar- with whites Its not even a crime anymore. children work for him too, carried at sunrise
rator also makes condescending state- Van der Vyver has a high, barbed security to the fields, wrapped in their blankets, on
ments and assumptions about black fence round his farmhouse and garden which a truck, singing. The dead mans mother is a
people, such as an elaborate funeral his wife, Alida, thinks spoils completely the woman who cant be more than in her late thir-
means a great deal to blacks; look effect of her artificial stream with its tree ferns ties (they start bearing children at puberty), but
how they will deprive themselves beneath the jacarandas.7 There is an aerial she is heavily mature in a black dress, standing
and The young wife is pregnant (of soaring like a flagpole in the backyard. All his between her own parents, who were already
course). The narrators comments vehicles, including the truck in which the black working for old Van der Vyver when Marais,
show this person to be a supporter of man died, have aerials that swing their whips like their daughter, was a child. The parents
apartheid. when the driver hits a pothole: they are part of hold her as if she were a prisoner or a crazy
the security system the farmers in the district woman to be restrained. But she says nothing,
Use Reading Strategies maintain, each farm in touch with every other does nothing. She does not look up; she does
Visualize Ask students to visualize by radio, twenty-four hours out of twenty-four. not look at Van der Vyver, whose gun went off
the scene at Lucass funeral. Is the It has already happened that infiltrators from in the truck, she stares at the grave. Nothing
narrator trying to evoke sympathy in over the border have mined remote farm roads, will make her look up; there need be no fear
readers through this scene? Why or killing white farmers and their families out on that she will look up, at him. His wife, Alida,
why not? their own property for a Sunday picnic. The is beside him. To show the proper respect, as
Answer: The narrator uses words and pothole could have set off a land mine, and for any white funeral, she is wearing the navy
phrases that create negative images, Van der Vyver might have died with his farm blue and cream hat she wears to church this
not images that would evoke sympa- boy. When neighbors use the communications summer. She is always supportive, although
thy. He or she describes Lucass wife system to call up and say they are sorry about he doesnt seem to notice it; this coldness and
as crying like a child and his mother that business with one of Van der Vyvers boys, reservehis mother says he didnt mix well as
as a crazy woman. there goes unsaid: it could have been worse. a childshe accepts for herself but regrets that
It is obvious from the quality and fittings it has prevented him from being nominated,
of the coffin that the farmer has provided as he should be, to stand as the Partys parlia-
money for the funeral. And an elaborate funeral mentary candidate for the district. He does not
means a great deal to blacks; look how they let her clothing, or that of anyone else gathered
will deprive themselves of the little they have,
in their lifetime, keeping up payments to a 7. jacarandas. A type of creeping, flowering tropical tree
burial society so they wont go in boxwood8 8. boxwood. Close-grained, heavy, hard wood
54 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Kinesthetic Have pairs of students role-play

Auditory At several points during the story, an encounter between Van der Vyver and
the narrator changes tone to one that is fac- Lucass mother at Lucass funeral. Students can
tual and objective; at various other points, use the account of this scene in the story as a
though, the narrator sounds disillusioned and springboard.
embittered. Have students experiment with
tone of voice as they read selected passages.
Encourage them to project the narrators tone
or attitude in each passage.
54 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
Critical Viewing
Responses will vary. Have students
discuss how the mass of material in
this image gives a sense of the confu-
sion of life under apartheid. A
Art Connection
Willie Bester (b. 1956) is a South
African who studied art part-time
while working as a dental assistant.
Now a full-time artist, he works mainly
in mixed media on wood, using news-
papers, graffiti, tin cups, wire, ammu-
nition cases, photographs, and found
objects gathered from the very places
he portrays in his art.
Critical Thinking
Discussion Guide This story con-
tains a surprise ending which, like a
gunshot, shocks the reader and pro-
vokes a response.
Ask students to discuss the surprise
Homage to Chris Hani, 1993. Willie Bester. Private collection. Critical Viewing ending. Is it foreshadowed in any
This piece celebrates the life of Chris way during the story? If so, how?
closely, make contact with him. He, too, stares Hani, a political activist who fought Call on volunteers to offer examples
against the South African apartheid of other short stories they have read
at the grave. The dead mans mother and he
and was assassinated in 1993. His
stare at the grave in communication like that death helped stimulate the nation
with surprise endings. How do stu-
between the black man outside and the white toward taking steps to end apart- dents feel about this device in fic-
man inside the cab the moment before the gun heid. What strikes you the most tion? Encourage them to exchange
went off. about this piece of art? If you were and support their opinions.
to create a piece of art celebrating
The moment before the gun went off was Lucass life, what images would you
a moment of high excitement shared through include? A Analyze Literature
the roof of the cab, as the bullet was to pass, Point of View Direct students to the
between the young black man outside and the final paragraph of the story. Ask them
white farmer inside the vehicle. There were Vyver saw was the kudu stumble in fright at what effect the final paragraph has
such moments, without explanation, between the report and gallop away. Then he heard the on their evaluation of the narrators
them, although often around the farm the thud behind him, and past the window saw the point of view in the story.
farmer would pass the young man without young man fall out of the vehicle. He was sure
returning a greeting, as if he did not recognize he had leapt up and toppledin fright, like
him. When the bullet went off what Van der the buck. The farmer was almost laughing with
/19/07 11:47:55 AM
Social Studies What does the landscape look like? What wild
Have students locate South Africa on a map animals are common in South Africa? What
and then work in small groups to list at least crops are raised by farmers? What different eth-
ten facts about the political, physical, and nic groups live in South Africa? Ask students to
human geography of the country. Suggest share their facts in each category with the class.
that students list questions they have first. For
example: What and where are the largest cities?

relief, ready to tease, as he opened his door, they look at the photographs and see his
it did not seem possible that a bullet passing faceguilty! guilty! they are right!how will
Teach the Selection through the roof could have done harm. they know, when the police stations burn with
The young man did not laugh with him all the evidence of what has happened now,
at his own fright. The farmer carried him in and what the law made a crime in the past?
W Suggest
his arms, to the truck. He was sure, sure he How could they know that they do not know.
IRRORS could not be dead. But the young black mans Anything. The young black callously shot
W INDOWS that stu-
dents bring blood was all over the farmers clothes, soaking through the negligence of the white man was
ccurrent
urreent issues of newspapers against his flesh as he drove. not the farmers boy; he was his son.
aand
nd m agazin to class and then
magazines How will they ever know, when they file
discuss a collection of specific newspaper clippings, evidence, proof, when cal lous ly (ka> l@s l7) adv., insensitively; uncaringly
stories.
&
W Given what you know about South Africa at the time the story takes place, how
Refer to Text IRRORS
W INDOWS
would you have reacted to hearing this story in the news? Are there current news
1a. They assume he feels bad stories that make you wonder about bias or accuracy?
about killing a man and unwit-
tingly helping the enemies of the
National Party.
2a. Van der Vyver assumed the gun
was not loaded. It was his fathers

gun, and his father never allowed
a loaded gun in the house.
1a. Identify assumptions the community 1b. Explain whether these assumptions are Understand
makes about Van der Vyvers feelings accurate. Find meaning
3a. At the police station, Van der about the incident.
Vyver was shaking and weeping. 2a. Point out in the text what Van der 2b. Given the setting of the story, what Apply
The funeral was elaborate, with a Vyver assumed about the gun. might the loaded gun symbolize? Use information
fine coffin and fittings.
4a. Lucas, who was riding in the back 3a. What did Van der Vyver do in the 3b. Decide how Van der Vyver felt about Analyze
police station? List signs that show that Lucas. What leads you to this Take things
of the truck, was struck by a bullet he contributed to the funeral. conclusion? apart
when the gun fired accidentally.
5a. They will become crudely drawn 4a. Describe how Lucas died. 4b. Assess whether Van der Vyver should be Evaluate
figures on anti-apartheid banners, found guilty of murder. Judge whether Make judgments
units in statistics of white brutal- he should be convicted in the court of
public opinion. Justify your response.
ity against blacks quoted at the
United Nations. 5a. Name stereotypes Lucas and Van der 5b. How might people revise their percep- Create
Vyver will come to represent in the tions of the story if they knew of the Bring ideas
press. true relationship between Lucas and together
Reason with Text Van der Vyver?
1b. They may be accurate, but what
they dont realize is that he killed
ANALYZE LITERATURE: Point of View and Narrator
his son and probably isnt thinking
Describe the narrator and his or her point of view. Scan the story for
about the Party or government at
comments the narrator makes that show his or her biases or assump-
all. tions. How do you think the narrator feels toward Van der Vyver?
56 UNIT 1 FICTION
Analyze Literature
0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel56 56 against apartheid by people who are enemies 11/19/07 11:47:56 AM 0042-0091_Lit3eG
Point of View and Narrator Students should of the Party, the government, and the country.
recognize that the narrator in this piece is not The narrator speaks disdainfully of foreigners
Gordimer herself, but rather a persona created who sneer at the idea that a white farmer would
by her to make a point. The narrator defends have a black boy who was a friend. The narra-
the whites of South Africa and is a supporter tor is convinced that outsiders wont get the full
of the apartheid regime. This speaker is angry story and that they wont understand.
that the shooting will be used to make a case
56 UNIT 1 FICTION

EXTEND THE TEXT
Writing Options
Creative Writing The narrator talks about how the
apartheid and the restrictions it imposed on nonwhite Review the Selection
members of the South African population. Create a
story will play in the overseas press. Write a brief news Time Line showing events leading up to apartheid in
story that reports on this event. In your story, provide South Africa, when the policy began, major events that
some political background about South Africa and some
Rubrics for Writing
happened under the policy, and how it came to an end.
imagined quotations from relevant figures. Remember Also include events that have occurred since the end of Options
to use the 5 Ws: who, what, when, where, and why. If apartheid. Once your Time Line is in order, find pictures For writing rubrics and student models
possible, answer the question of how. Try to keep your or other visual aids to illustrate the events. Post your of the Writing Options assignments
article free of any bias or opinions and instead report Time Line and pictures on a classroom bulletin board.
the facts objectively. Include a brief, vivid headline for
in the Extend the Text section, go to
your story. Critical Literacy www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
Role-play a Conversation Imagine that Van der
Narrative Writing To further explore point of view, Vyver and Lucass mother have a conversation many
write a retelling of part of the story from the point of years after Lucass death. They have both aged and Lifelong Learning
view of one of the characters. For example, you could changed, and the situation in South Africa has evolved, Suggest that students using the
write from the point of view of Van der Vyver, Lucas, or too. How would such a conversation start? What would Internet begin with these search
Lucass mother. Choose a part of the story that allows they talk about? How do you imagine each feels? With terms: apartheid and Nelson
the characters actions, feelings, and thoughts about a partner, role-play the conversation between Van der
other characters to be clearly expressed. Mandela.
Vyver and Lucass mother.
Lifelong Learning W
Create a Time Line of Apartheid in South Africa W Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more. Critical Literacy
Use the library and Internet to research the history of Students might begin by compiling a
apartheid in South Africa. In your own words, define brief list of personality traits for both
characters as they are portrayed in
the story.
READING ASSESSMENT
1. Which statement best summarizes the narrators feel- A. Van der Vyver sometimes shares excitement
ings about whites in South Africa? with Lucas but other times ignores him.
A. They all treat blacks badly. B. Van der Vyver spends money on Lucass
B. They are misrepresented in the press and funeral but refuses to go to it.
misunderstood by the world. C. Van der Vyver is saddened by Lucass death,
C. They have good relationships with the blacks but more worried about what people will
they know. think.
D. They are under attack and deserve sympathy D. Van der Vyver does not think of Lucas as a
in South Africa. friend and fails to acknowledge him as a son.
E. The black agitators make them look bad, though E. Van der Vyver admits publicly that Lucas is his
the black country folk understand them. son but will not talk to Lucas.
2. Which description best fits the narrator? 4. Choose the word that best completes the following
A. an American reporter stationed in South Africa sentence: Instead of showing sympathy to the
reporting on a racial issue grieving family, the _____ landlord evicted them
B. a black South African commenting on the from their home.
death of a friend A. domestic
C. a white South African who feels Van der Vyver B. inquiring
is a traitor to his race C. callous
D. a white South African who feels white South D. ingenuous
Africans are misunderstood E. ignorant
E. a black South African who is close to both
5. Analyze the character of Van der Vyver. How would
blacks and whites in his community
you describe him to a friend who has never read the
3. Which events show the complicated relationship story? Give examples from the story that illustrate key
between Van der Vyver and Lucas? points of his character.
/19/07 11:47:56 AM Reading Assessment

0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel57 57 answers B and E. The narrator never con-11/19/07 11:47:57 AM
1. B demns Van der Vyver for being friends with

2. Model how to think aloud about this ques- Lucas; he actually thinks the friendship is a
tion by saying, I know the narrator is not an good thing, which means answer C is wrong.
American reporter because he talks about for- The correct answer is D.
eign reporters getting the story wrong. I also 3. A
know the narrator is not a black South African 4. C
because he refers to the blacks in the story 5. Responses will vary.
as them instead of we. This eliminates

GRAMMAR & STYLE
Teach the Workshop
Objectives
Participating in this lesson will enable Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement The word that a pronoun stands for is called its
students to A pronoun is used in place of a noun. Sometimes, a antecedent. The antecedent clarifies the meaning
understand the concept of pronoun pronoun refers to a specific person or thing. The most of the pronoun. The pronoun may appear in the same
and antecedent agreement. common types of pronouns are listed in the chart below. sentence as its antecedent or in a following sentence.
review terms relevant to pronoun Type of Definition Examples EXAMPLES
and antecedent agreement. Pronoun Marais Van der Vyver shot one of his farm
practice the concept by completing personal used in place of I, me, we, us, he,
laborers, dead. (Marais Van der Vyver is the
skill exercises. pronoun the name of a per- she, it, him, her, antecedent of his.)
apply the concept to extension son or thing you, they, them Nadine Gordimer wrote the story The Moment
activities. indefinite points out a one, someone, Before the Gun Went Off. She was born in
pronoun person, place, or anything, other, all, South Africa. (Nadine Gordimer is the ante-
thing, but not a few, nobody
Refer to page 1057 of the cedent of she.)
specific or definite
Language Arts Handbook 3.4, one When you use a pronoun, be sure it refers clearly
Pronouns, for more information on reflexive refers back to a myself, herself, your- to its antecedent. A pronoun should agree in both
pronoun and antecedent agreement. pronoun noun previously self, themselves, number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine,
used; adds self ourselves feminine, or neutral) with its antecedent.
and selves to
Launch the Lesson other pronoun Sometimes, problems in pronoun and antecedent
Illustrate the problems with pronouns forms agreement can arise when indefinite pronouns are
and antecedents by writing the follow- intensive emphasizes a me myself, he him- involved. Most indefinite pronouns are singular, but
ing two sentences on the board. Ask pronoun noun or pronoun self, you yourself, some are plural, and others can be both singular and
they themselves, we plural. Study the list below.
students to identify the problem and ourselves
suggest a way to reword the sentence. singular: another, anybody, anyone, anything, each,
interrogative asks a question who, whose, whom,
pronoun what, which each other, either, everybody, everyone, everything,
Jane brought her dog along to buy much, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, one
a hamburger, and then ate it in the demonstrative points out a spe- this, these, that,
pronoun cific person, place, those
another, other, somebody, someone, something
park. idea, or thing plural: both, few, many, several, others
(Unclear pronoun reference: what did relative pronoun introduces an that, which, who,
she eatthe hamburger or the dog? adjective clause whose, whom singular or plural: all, any, more, most, none, some
The sentence could be reworded to singular used in place of I, me, she, her, he, If the indefinite pronoun is singular, its antecedent
say then ate the hamburger in the pronoun the name of one him, it should be singular. If the indefinite pronoun is plural,
park.) person or thing its antecedent should be plural.
plural pronoun used in place of we, us, you, they,
Everyone should respect their friends. more than one them If the indefinite pronoun can be singular or plural
(Pronoun does not agree with its sub- person or thing and you do not know the gender of the antecedent,
ject: Everyone is singular. The sentence possessive shows ownership mine, yours, his, use both the masculine and feminine pronoun forms,
connected by or.
could be reworded as, People should pronoun or possession hers, ours, theirs, its
respect their friends or Everyone EXAMPLE
should respect his or her friends.) Everyone grieved the loss in his or her own
way.
58 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
PRONOUN, 58
Teaching Words ANTECEDENT, 58
neutral, 58
ironic, 59
brutality, 59
profile, 59
58 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Workshop
Apply the Skill
Identify Pronouns and Antecedents 4. Readers will be surprised at the ending of the Identify Pronouns and
Copy the following passage from The Moment story; _______ will likely find _______ ironic. Antecedents
Before the Gun Went Off into your notebook. Then 5. Van der Vyver claimed _______ and Lucas were
his: 1) possessive 2) Marais Van der
compile a list of all the pronouns in the passage; friends, but some people did not believe _______.
_______ thought Van der Vyver was just trying to
Vyver
next to each pronoun, write two things: 1) the type of
pronoun it is, and 2) its antecedent. defend _______. he: 1) personal 2) Marais Van der
6. When Van der Vyver arrived at the police station, Vyver
_______ told Captain Beetge what had happened he: 1) personal 2) Marais Van der
Marais Van der Vyver left his house at Vyver
and _______ began to cry. Captain Beetge felt
three in the afternoon to cull a buck from
sorry for _______ and left the room so that it: 1) personal 2) wildlife
the family of kudu he protects in the bush
_______ could collect _______. he: 1) personal 2) Marais Van der
areas of his farm. He is interested in wild-
7. Lucass mother stands by _______ grave and Vyver
life and sees it as the farmers sacred duty
remains silent. _______ stares at _______ sons his: 1) possessive 2) Marais Van der
to raise game as well as cattle. As usual,
grave, and _______ does not look at anyone.
he called at his shed to pick up Lucas, a Vyver
Beside _______, _______ daughter-in-law sobs
twenty-year-old farmhand who had shown
loudly.
who: 1) relative 2) farmhand
mechanical aptitude and whom Van der
8. The narrator is upset about how other people will whom: 1) relative2) farmhand
Vyver himself had taught to maintain
view the accident and suggests that _______ will himself: 1) intensive 2) Van der
tractors and other farm machinery. He Vyver
see _______ as just another example of brutality
hooted, and Lucas followed the familiar he: 1) personal 2) Van der Vyver
against the farm workers.
routine, jumping onto the back of the
9. Van der Vyver could understand the pain of the he: 1) personal 2) Lucas
truck. He liked to travel standing up
grieving widow and mother. _______ had just his: 1) possessive 2) Lucas
there, spotting game before his employer
lost a person who was very special to _______. he: 1) personal 2) Lucas
did. He would lean forward, bracing
against the cab below him. Use Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement him: 1) personal 2) Lucas
in Your Writing Understand Pronoun and
Think of a famous historical figure whose life you Antecedent Agreement
Understand Pronoun and Antecedent find interesting. Write a profile of the person you
1. her / she / her
Agreement choose. Once you have finished a draft of your
Complete the following sentences by using the profile, circle each pronoun and underline its ante- 2. their / them / they / They
correct pronoun in each blank. cedent. Then carefully check to make sure the 3. Its / His / He / his
1. Nadine Gordimer began writing at an early age, pronouns and antecedents all agree. If you are 4. they / it
publishing _______ first story in a South African unsure, ask a classmate to check your work. 5. he / him / They / himself
magazine while _______ was still in _______ 6. he / he / him / himself
teens. 7. his / She / her / she / her / her
2. Black South Africans living during apartheid had EXTEND THE SKILL 8. they / it
to carry _______ identification papers with Imagine you are in a book club that is reading The 9. He / him
_______ wherever _______ went. _______ were Moment Before the Gun Went Off. You are respon-
also denied South African citizenship. sible for writing the discussion questions to go with Use Pronoun and Antecedent
3. The Moment Before the Gun Went Off is a story the story. Write five questions that would generate Agreement in Your Reading
that takes place during apartheid. _______ main discussion about the story; each of the five questions Responses will vary.
character is a white farmer. _______ name is should include at least one pronoun and its ante-
Marais Van der Vyver. _______ shot _______ cedent.
farmhand, Lucas.
GRAMMAR & STYLE 59
/19/07 11:47:57 AM
Program Resources
You will find additional lessons on

Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement in
the Exceeding the Standards: Grammar
& Style resource.
GRAMMAR & STYLE 59

Teach the Element Understanding Character
Launch the Lesson CHARACTER events and therefore undergo change. Luis in Catch
Most great books have memorable the Moon is a dynamic character. Over the course
He is such a character! Youve probably heard that of the story, he learns the value of work and gains a
characters. Share with students the remark before. Usually, it means that somebody is
following list of famous literary char- greater respect for his father. His father, Jorge, however,
acting in a certain way that makes him or her identifi- is a static character. His attitude toward work and Luis
acters and ask them to name the able or unique. How people tend to act and think is a changes little by the end of the story.
books they starred in: reflection of their character, or personality. Similarly,
Scarlett OHara and Rhett Butler the people you encounter in the pages of a book are The force that drives a character to think, feel, or behave
(Gone with the Wind) characters with distinctive traits. in a certain way is called motivation. Motivation can
Holden Caulfield (Catcher in the Rye) be relatively simplethe desire to shine in society, for
Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird) TYPES OF CHARACTERS example, or to exact revenge for an insult. It can also be
complex, consisting of more than one need.
Buck the Dog (Call of the Wild) A character is an individual that takes part in a
Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March (Little literary work. All characters have some role to play in
Women)
Hester Prynne (The Scarlet Letter)
bringing a story to life. The characters around whom
a story is centered are the major characters. In Two
Memorable Minor Characters
Pip and Miss Havisham (Great Kinds (page 69) for instance, Jing-mei and her mother Even though minor characters play
Expectations) are major characters. Their conflicted relationship is lesser roles in fiction than major
what creates most of the action in the story. Jing-meis characters, they are often essential
Bigger Thomas (Native Son)
piano teacher, her aunt, and her cousin are minor char- to the development of the story.
acters. Minor characters play lesser roles in the story Look at the list of minor characters
Elements of Character and may give the major characters points of interaction. below and the stories they are in.
Direct students to the Memorable How would the stories be different
Minor Characters box on page 60. Tell Major characters can also be classified as either without these characters?
protagonists or antagonists. The protagonist has the Bertha Rochester in Jane Eyre
students that minor characters are like
central role in a story; the antagonist works against Mr. Peggotty in David Copperfield
supporting actors in moviesthey are the protagonist, and this friction creates conflict.
essential to the storys development The woodsman in Snow White and the Seven
Have you ever noticed how some characters you Dwarfs
but not to the extent that the main
remember long after reading and others you quickly Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice
characters are. Ask students if they
forget? The difference could be attributed to whether
are familiar with any of the minor
the character is a flat character or a round character.
characters in the box. Most will prob- Luis in Catch the Moon (page 63) is a round CHARACTERIZATION
ably be familiar with the woodsman character. He shows emotional complexity and devel-
from Snow White and the Seven The act of creating or describing a character is called
opment such as exhibiting apathy and disgust over
Dwarfs. Discuss the following ques- characterization. There are three main techniques
his work at the junkyard at one moment and then
that an author uses to form a character: showing what
tions: pride and purpose in the same work at the end of the
characters say, do, or think; showing what other charac-
What is the woodsmans role in the story. Many characters that you encounter in fables
ters say or think about them; and describing the physical
story? Answer: He was supposed to and fairy tales, however, are flat, exhibiting only a
features, dress, and personality of the characters. The first
kill Snow White but instead lets her single quality. Some flat characters play into common
two methods are examples of indirect characterization,
live. notions of how certain people think and behave. Such
in which the writer shows what a character is like and
characters are considered stereotypes.
Why is the woodsmans role impor- allows the reader to judge that character.
tant? Answer: If he had killed Snow Another way to consider character is by noting static
In the following passage from On the Rainy River
White, the story would have ended characters and dynamic characters. Static characters
(page 137), OBrien describes the man who helps his
there. remain the same throughout the course of the story;
character, Tim, make his decision whether or not to
the events in the plot do not alter them. Dynamic
go to war. Since this description is Tims impression of
If students are familiar with the nov- characters, on the other hand, are affected by plot
Elroy, it is considered an indirect characterization.
els listed in the box, ask similar ques-
tions about their minor characters. 60 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
CHARACTER, 60
Teaching Words
PROTAGONIST, 60
distinctive, 60
ANTAGONIST, 60
interaction, 60
MOTIVATION, 60
apathy, 60
CHARACTERIZATION, 60
DIALOGUE, 61
DIALECT, 61
60 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Element
group, which can indicate the characters ethnic or Use Reading Strategies
Elroy Berdahl: eighty-one years old, skinny geographical background. For example, when Neffie in Reading strategies that can help stu-
and shrunken and mostly bald. He wore Who Said We All Have to Talk Alike (page 157) uses dents understand character include
a flannel shirt and brown work pants. In the words worman and torelet, she is speaking in the following:
one hand, I remember, he carried a green dialect, which makes her character more distinctive. Make Connections Many charac-
apple, a small paring knife in the other. His
Another example of dialogue revealing character is ters in fiction are attractive to readers
eyes had the bluish gray color of a razor
in Two Kinds in the following conversation between because they remind them of some-
blade, the same polished shine, and as he
Jing-mei and her mother. In this passage, we learn one they know in real life. As students
peered up at me I felt a strange sharpness,
about Jing-meis frustration with her mother and her read, have them relate the characters
almost painful, a cutting sensation, as if his
mothers expectation of her daughter from what they in short stories to people they have
gaze were somehow slicing me open.
say and how they say it.
from On the Rainy River met in real life.
by Tim OBrien Make Predictions Suggest that
Why dont you like me the way I am? Im the better they understand a fictional
not a genius! I cant play the piano. And character, the more accurately stu-
The third technique is considered direct characteriza- even if I could, I wouldnt go on TV if you
dents will be able to predict the reso-
tion, in which the writer tells what the character is like. paid me a million dollars! I cried.
lution of the central conflict and the
For example, in Two Friends (page 95), Maupassant
directly describes Monsieur Morissot: He was a watch- My mother slapped me. Who ask you be outcome of a story. Characters that
maker by trade and a man who liked to make the genius? she shouted. Only ask you be are developed well act within their
most of his leisure. your best. For you sake. You think I want characteristicstheir actions fit their
you be genius? Hnnh! What for! Who ask personalities.
In the following excerpt from The Open Window
you!
(page 6), Sakis comment that Framton believed that
from Two Kinds by Amy Tan
everyone was interested in hearing the details of More About Character
his health is a direct characterization that suggests Direct students to the following
Framton is self-interested. titles to see more examples of differ-
Take a look at the Characterization Chart below. As
you read a story, you can fill in a similar graphic orga- ent types of characters:
nizer to characterize an important figure both directly The Wonderful Hair, page 799
The doctors agree in ordering me
and indirectly. Land Enough for a Man, page 931
complete rest, an absence of mental
excitement, and avoidance of anything in Miriam, page 962
Character: Jing-mei
the nature of violent physical exercise,
announced Framton, who labored under Characterization Clue What It Reveals
the tolerably widespread delusion that total What she says: Why Jing-mei feels that her
strangers and chance acquaintances are dont you like me the mother does not under-
hungry for the least detail of ones ailments way I am? stand her. TEACHING NOTE
and infirmities, their cause and cure. What she does: She She is very frustrated Dialogue
from The Open Window by Saki yells at her mother. with her mother. According to an old saying, Opposites attract.
What others say Jing-mei has a short Have students write a dialogue between two
The dialogue, or conversations among characters, about her: If she had temper. friends at school who have very different per-
is also revealing. The content of the dialogue is a as much talent as sonalities. Students should use the content and
form of indirect characterization. A character may temper she would be style of each speakers lines to characterize him
speak in a dialect, or version of a language spoken famous now. or her.
by the people of a particular place, time, or social
UNDERSTANDING CHARACTER 61
/19/07 11:48:00 AM
Program Resources
See Meeting the Standards, How to Use

an Active Reading Model.
UNDERSTANDING CHARACTER 61

Catch the Moon Two Kinds
A Short Story by Judith Ortiz Cofer A Short Story by Amy Tan
At a Glance
COMPARING LITERATURE
Directed Reading
BUILD BACKGROUND USE READING SKILLS
Catch the Moon
Literary Context Catch the Moon was published in An Island Like You, Compare and Contrast
Reading Level: Moderate Judith Ortiz Cofers first short story collection. Luis Cintrn, the storys protago- Comparing explores the simi-
Difficulty Consideration: Spanish nist, has just spent six months in juvenile hall. Upon his release, he returns to larities between things, whereas
terms work in his fathers junkyard and is bitter and angry about his situation. When contrasting explores their
Ease Factor: Short sentences his father challenges him to search for a specific item in the junkyard, Luis differences.
Two Kinds discovers more than what he set out to find.
As you read Catch the Moon
Reading Level: Moderate Amy Tans Two Kinds is part of a novel titled The Joy Luck Club. The main and Two Kinds, take notes on
Difficulty Considerations: Similes; character Jing-mei, a girl growing up in San Franciscos Chinatown, struggles to the similarities and differences
symbolism define her own future apart from her mothers expectations of her. Fighting her in the characters. In a Venn
mother as well as cultural attitudes, Jing-mei chooses her own path and, years Diagram, like the one shown,
Ease Factors: Dialogue; short para- later, comes to understand her mothers desires and motivations. show similarities inside the
graphs; point of view space that overlaps, and show
As you read these stories, consider the following questions: What kind of rela-
differences in the outer spaces.
tionship between parent and child is described in each story? What different
Objectives ideas about success do the characters in the stories have? How does each Luis Jing-mei
Studying this lesson will enable protagonist grow or change throughout his or her story?
do not
students to Readers Context Think about a conflict you have experienced with an understand
understand different ways parents authority figure. What caused the conflict? How was it resolved? their
parents
and their children relate to each
other and the challenges they
encounter in doing so. COMPARE LITERATURE: Character and Characterization
read, interpret, analyze, evaluate, A character is an individual that takes part in the action of a literary
and compare two short stories work. Authors use techniques of characterization, such as direct
about the relationship between a description, portrayal of behavior, and representation of thoughts and
parent and child. feelings, to create a character. Both Luis in Catch the Moon and Jing-
define character and characteriza- mei in Two Kinds are dynamic characters, or characters who change,
as both characters struggle to find their own way. Static characters do
tion and recognize the use of these not change. As you read, take notes about the characters of Luis and
literary elements in the selections. Jing-mei. Look for similarities and differences between them.
compare and contrast two short
stories. MEET THE AUTHORS
write a dialogue and a compare-
Judith Ortiz Cofer (b. 1952) said, early on I instinctively knew storytelling was a form of
and-contrast essay. empowerment, that the women in my family were passing on power from one generation to
analyze ideas of success and debate another through fables and stories. Like many of the teens in her story, Cofer was born in
ideas about extracurricular activities. Puerto Rico and moved with her parents to the United States as a child.
practice reading assessment by Amy Tan (b. 1952) would have become a doctor and a concert pianist
answering multiple-choice and if she had followed her parents wishes. Instead, she turned to reading
short-answer questions. as a refuge from family pressure and as an adult began writing fiction.
She describes writing her first story about a Chinese-American girls
relationship with her mother as a magic turning point. The story
Launch the Lesson helped her understand her own relationship with her mother. I realized this was the reason
Ask students how they first became for writing fiction. Throughcreating something that never happened, I came closer to the
aware of a desire for independence truth.
from their parents or families. Have
them write a paragraph or two about OMPARING
62 LITERATURE
UNIT 1 FICTION COMPARING LITERATURE COMPARING LITERATURE COM
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the emotions they experienced.
0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel62 62
CONTEXT,62
Catch the Selection Teaching CHARACTER, 62
Moon Words Words CHARACTERIZATION, 62
Preview botched, 64 empowerment, 62 COMPARING, 62
mascot, 64 disruptive, 69 CONTRASTING, 62
Vocabulary
utensils, 67 generalizations, 69 RELATE, 78
vulgar, 64
extracurricular, 79
makeshift, 65
dismantle, 65
mock, 65
relic, 67
62 UNIT 1 FICTION

L uis Cintrn sits on top of a six-foot pile
of hubcaps and watches his father walk
away into the steel jungle of his car junkyard. Teach the Selection
Released into his old mans custody after six
months in juvenile hallfor breaking and Summary
enteringand he didnt even take anything. Luis Cintrn, as part of the condition
He did it on a dare. But the old lady with the of his release from juvenile hall, is
million cats was a light sleeper, and good with grudgingly working in his fathers
her aluminum cane. He has a scar on his head junkyard. Though his mother died
to prove it. three years before, Luis and his father
Now Luis is wondering whether he should are both still mourning her death
have stayed in and done his full time. Jorge Luis by getting into trouble and his
Cintrn of Jorge Cintrn & Son, Auto Parts and father by keeping very busy. When
Salvage, has decided that Luis should wash and Naomi, the daughter of the funeral
polish every hubcap in the yard. The hill he is director who handled Luiss mothers
sitting on is only the latest couple of hundred funeral, stops by the junkyard for a
wheel covers that have come in. Luis grunts and hubcap, she stirs up Luiss grief. That
stands up on top of his silver mountain. He yells night, Luis borrows his fathers car
at no one, Someday, son, all this will be yours, and goes to the funeral home, where
and sweeps his arms like the Pope blessing a he gives into his feelings of loss and
crowd over the piles of car sandwiches and sits in the car and cries. When he
mounds of metal parts that cover this acre of looks up, he sees Naomi watching him
land outside the city. He is the Son of Jorge sympathetically. Luis returns to the
A Short Story junkyard and searches the mountains
Cintrn & Son, and so far his father has had
by Judith Ortiz Cofer more than one reason to wish it was plain Jorge of hubcaps for hours, finally finding
Cintrn on the sign. the one Naomi needs. He brings the
Luis has been getting in trouble since he hubcap back to the funeral home and
started high school two years ago, mainly hangs it on a tree branch for Naomi
because of the social group he organizeda
to see.
bunch of guys who were into harassing the local
authorities. Their thing was taking something to W The Mirrors
the limit on a dare or, better still, doing some- IRRORS
thing dangerous, like breaking into a house, W INDOWS & Windows
question at
Luis has been not to steal, just to prove that they could do it.
That was Luiss specialty, coming up with very tthe
he eend
nd of th
oonn th
he theme of making positive
the
getting in trouble complicated plans, like military strategies, and
assigning the jobs to guys who wanted to join change. As they read, ask stu-
since he started the Tiburones. dents to look for positive choices
Luis makes.
high school two Tiburn means shark, and Luis had gotten
the name from watching an old movie about a
years ago. Puerto Rican gang called the Sharks1 with his
father. Luis thought it was one of the dumbest
films he had ever seen. Everybody sang their
1. Sharks. Fictional Puerto-Rican gang from the movie West Side
Story
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Program Resources

Program Planning Guide, Selection Lesson Plan Fiction: Unit 1, Comparing Literature
E-Lesson Planner
Developing Readers, Character Analysis Activity
ExamView
English Language Learners, Compare and
Technology Tools Contrast
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows
CATCH THE MOON / TWO KINDS 63

Teach the Selection
Analyze Literature
Characterization Direct students
to the anecdote about E.S. and the
talent show and ask the following
questions: How does this anecdote
help develop Luiss character? What
do you learn about Luis through this
anecdote? A
Answer: Luis has a clever, humor-
ous, and imaginative side. He has
a complex personality. In spite of
themselves, Mr. Williams and Mrs.
Laguna seem to take pleasure in the
creativity and exuberance of Luis and lines, and the guys all pointed their toes and talent show. What Mr. Williams didnt know
the Tiburones. leaped in the air when they were supposed to be was that the animal that was being saved with
slaughtering each other. But he liked their name, the ticket sales was Luiss pet boa, which needed
the Sharks, so he made it Spanish and had it air- quite a few live mice to stay healthy and happy.
TEACHING NOTE painted on his black T-shirt with a killer shark They kept E.S. (which stood for Endangered
under it, jaws opened wide and dripping with Species) in Luiss room, but she belonged to
West Side Story blood. It didnt take long for the other guys in the club and it was the members responsibility
The movie about Puerto Rican gangs to which the barrio2 to ask about it. to raise the money to feed their mascot. So last
Luis refers is West Side Story (1961). Consider Man, had they had a good time. The girls A year they had sponsored their first annual Save
showing the opening scenes of the musical to were interested too. Luis outsmarted everybody the Animals talent show, and it had been a
your class and having students describe what
by calling his organization a social club and great success. The Tiburones had come dressed
kinds of conflicts the characters face and how
registering it at Central High. That meant they as Latino Elvises and did a grand finale to All
those conflicts are related to those Luis faces.
were legal, even let out of last-period class on Shook Up that made the audience go wild.
You may want students to analyze the lyr-
Fridays for their club meetings. It was just this Mr. Williams had smiled when Luis talked,
ics to Jet Song and the tension behind
year, after a couple of botched jobs, that the maybe remembering how the math teacher,
the rival gangs the Jets and Sharks.
teachers had started getting suspicious. The first Mrs. Laguna, had dragged him out in the aisle
one to go wrong was when he sent Kenny Matoa to rock-and-roll with her. Luis had gotten out of
to borrow some souvenirs out of Anita Robless that one, but barely.
locker. He got caught. It seems that Matoa had His father was a problem too. He objected to
been reading Anitas diary and didnt hear her the T-shirt logo, calling it disgusting and vulgar.
coming down the hall. Anita was supposed to be Mr. Cintrn prided himself on his own neat,
in the gym at that time but had copped out with elegant style of dressing after work, and on his
the usual female excuse of cramps. You could manners and large vocabulary, which he picked
hear her screams all the way to Market Street. up by taking correspondence courses in just
She told the principal all she knew about the
Tiburones, and Luis had to talk fast to convince 2. barrio (b5> r7 9). Spanish-speaking neighborhood in the
United States
old Mr. Williams that the club did put on
cultural activities such as the Save the Animals vul gar (vul> g@r) adj., lacking in cultivation, perception, or taste
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English Language Learning Enrichment

Catch the Moon contains some cultural refer- Ask students to discuss the narrator in this story.
ences that non-natives may not catch. Using How would they characterize the narrators tone
pictures or film clips, clarify references to and voice in the story? What slang terms and
endangered species, a Mustang car, Elvis and expressions contribute to that voice? Whose point
All Shook Up, and Supermans X-ray eyes. You of view does the narrator seem to be conveying?
might also need to explain how Americans typi- Students should note that the narrators voice
cally hire funeral directors to handle funerals sounds like Luiss own voice or like the voice of
and burials. one of his friends, and seems to reveal Luiss
thoughts and point of view.
64 UNIT 1 FICTION

about everything. Luis thought that it was just there. He pointed to the pile of caps that Luis
his way of staying busy since Luiss mother had was supposed to wash and polish. Yes, Im
died, almost three years ago, of cancer. He had
B
almost certain that there is a match there. Of Teach the Selection
never gotten over it. course, I do not know if its near the top or the
All this was going through Luiss head as bottom. You will give us a few days, yes? Use Reading Skills
he slid down the hill of hubcaps. The tub full Luis just stared at his father like he was Compare and Contrast The last
of soapy water, the can of polish, and the bag crazy. But he didnt say anything because the girl paragraph on page 64 presents sev-
of rags had been neatly placed in front of a was smiling at him with a funny expression on eral differences between Luis and his
makeshift table made from two car seats and a her face. Maybe she thought he had X-ray eyes father. Ask students to create a Venn
piece of plywood. Luis heard a car drive up and like Superman, or maybe she was mocking him. Diagram with circles for Luis and his
someone honk their horn. His father emerged Please call me Naomi, Seor Cintrn. You father and to list the differences in
C the appropriate circles. Then ask how
from inside a new red Mustang that had been know my mother. She is the director of the
totaled. He usually dismantled every small funeral home. Mr. Cintrn seemed surprised those differences might lead to con-
feature by hand before sending the vehicle into at first; he prided himself on having a great flict between the two characters. B
the cementerio,3 as he called the lot. Luis watched memory. Then his friendly expression changed
as the most beautiful girl he had ever seen to one of sadness as he recalled the day of his Analyze Literature
climbed out of a vintage4 white Volkswagen Bug. wifes burial. Naomi did not finish her sentence. Characterization Naomi is intro-
She stood in the sunlight in her white sundress She reached over and placed her hand on Mr. duced on this page. What do Naomis
waiting for his father, while Luis stared. She Cintrns arm for a moment. Then she said words and actions reveal about her
was like a smooth wood carving. Her skin was Adis softly, and got in her shiny white car. character? C
mahogany,5 almost black, and her arms and legs She waved to them as she left, and her gold Answer: Students may say Naomi
were long and thin, but curved in places so that bracelets flashing in the sun nearly blinded Luis. seems polite and compassionate,
she did not look bony and hardmore like a Mr. Cintrn shook his head. How about as shown by the respectful way she
ballerina. And her ebony6 hair was braided close that, he said as if to himself. They are the speaks to Mr. Cintrn and her action
to her head. Luis let his breath out, feeling a Dominican owners of Ramirez Funeral Home. of placing a hand on his arm.
little dizzy. He had forgotten to breathe. Both And, with a sigh, She seems like such a nice
the girl and his father heard him. Mr. Cintrn young woman. Reminds me of your mother
waved him over. when she was her age.
Luis, the seorita here has lost a wheel Hearing the funeral parlors name, Luis
cover. Her car is twenty-five years old, so it will remembered too. The day his mother died,
not be an easy match. Come look on this side. he had been in her room at the hospital while
Luis tossed a wrench hed been holding into his father had gone for coffee. The alarm had
a toolbox like he was annoyed, just to make a gone off on her monitor and nurses had come
point about slave labor. Then he followed his running in, pushing him outside. After that, all
father, who knelt on the gravel and began to he recalled was the anger that had made him
point out every detail of the hubcap. Luis was punch a hole in his bedroom wall. And after-
hardly listening. He watched the girl take a
piece of paper from her handbag.
3. cementerio (s6 m@n t6> r7 9). [Spanish] Cemetery
Seor Cintrn, I have drawn the hubcap for 4. vintage. Dating from the past
you, since I will have to leave soon. My home 5. mahogany (m@ h5> g@ n7). Deep brown color, named after a
address and telephone number are here, and type of wood
6. ebony. Black
also my parents office number. She handed the
paper to Mr. Cintrn, who nodded.
make shift (m6k> shift<) adj., crude and temporary substitute
S, seorita, very good. This will help my dis man tle (dis man> t@l) v., divide into pieces
son look for it. Perhaps there is one in that stack mock (m5k) v., treat with contempt or ridicule
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/19/07 11:48:08 AM
History and Geography Domingo, became the first colonial capital in

While Luis and his father are Puerto Rican, the Americas. The native population of the
Naomis family is Dominican. Ask students Dominican Republic (the Taino) was enslaved
what they know about the Dominican Republic. by the Spanish and soon wiped out by disease
This Spanish-speaking nation is located on and mistreatment. Thereafter, great numbers
the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, an island of Africans were brought to the island to work
that it shares with the country of Haiti. as slaves in the sugar cane fields. Today, most
Hispaniola was the first landing point of Dominicans are of African or mixed African-
Christopher Columbus on his voyage to the Spanish descent.
Americas in 1492, and its capital city, Santo

ward he had refused to talk to anyone at the said six months of free labor for you, not life,
funeral. Strange, he did see a black girl there okay? Mr. Cintrn nodded, looking distracted.
Teach the Selection who didnt try like the others to talk to him, It was then that Luis suddenly noticed how gray
but actually ignored him as she escorted family his hair had turnedit used to be shiny black
Use Reading Strategies members to the viewing room and brought like his ownand that there were deep lines in
Clarify Ask students to clarify what flowers in. Could it be that the skinny girl in a his face. His father had turned into an old man
Luiss situation is. Why is Luis working frilly white dress had been Naomi? She didnt and he hadnt even noticed.
for his father? What did the judge say act like she had recognized him today, though. Son, you must follow the judges instruc-
he must do? They may refer back to Or maybe she thought that he was a jerk. tions. Like she said, next time you get in
the first paragraph of the selection to Luis grabbed the drawing from his father. trouble, shes going to treat you like an adult,
recall more information. A The old man looked like he wanted to walk and I think you know what that means. Hard
down memory lane. But Luis was in no mood time, no breaks.
More by This Author to listen to the old stories about his falling in Yeah, yeah. Thats what Im doing, right?
Students who like Catch the Moon love on a tropical island. The world theyd lived Working my hands to the bone instead of
might enjoy other stories in An in before he was born wasnt his world. No enjoying my summer. But listen, she didnt put
Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio beaches and palm trees here. Only junk as far me under house arrest, right? Im going out
by Judith Ortiz Cofer. These stories as he could see. He climbed back up his hill tonight.
focus on the struggles of Puerto and studied Naomis sketch. It had obviously Home by ten. She did say something
Rican-American teenagers caught been done very carefully. It was signed Naomi about a curfew, Luis. Mr. Cintrn had stopped
between their native culture and Ramirez in the lower right-hand corner. He smiling and was looking upset. It had always
American society. memorized the telephone number. been hard for them to talk more than a minute
Luis washed hubcaps all day until his hands or two before his father got offended at some-
were red and raw, but he did not come across thing Luis said, or at his sarcastic tone. He was
the small silver bowl that would fit the VW. always doing something wrong.
After work he took a few practice Frisbee shots Luis threw the rag down on the table and
across the yard before showing his father what went to sit in his fathers ancient Buick, which
he had accomplished: rows and rows of shiny was in mint8 condition. They drove home in
rings drying in the sun. His father nodded and silence.
showed him the bump on his temple where one After sitting down at the kitchen table with
of Luiss flying saucers had gotten him. his father to eat a pizza they had picked up on
Practice makes perfect, you know. Next the way home, Luis asked to borrow the car. He
time youll probably decapitate7 me. Luis heard didnt get an answer then, just a look that meant
him struggle with the word decapitate, which Mr. Dont bother me right now. Before bringing
Cintrn pronounced in syllables. Showing off his up the subject again, Luis put some ice cubes
big vocabulary again, Luis thought. He looked in a Baggie and handed it to Mr. Cintrn, who
closely at the bump, though. He felt bad about it. had made the little bump on his head worse by
They look good, hijo. Mr. Cintrn made rubbing it. It had GUILTY written on it, Luis
a sweeping gesture with his arms over the yard. thought.
You know, all this will have to be classified. My Gracias, hijo. His father placed the bag on
dream is to have all the parts divided by year, the bump and made a face as the ice touched his
make of car, and condition. Maybe now that you skin.
are here to help me, this will happen.
Pop Luis put his hand on his fathers
7. decapitate. Behead
A shoulder. They were the same height and build,
8. mint. As if newly made, as a coin would be if it came straight
about five foot six and muscular. The judge from the mint (the place where it was made)
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Critical Thinking
0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel66 66
the world theyd lived in before wasnt his

11/19/07 11:48:09 AM 0042-0091_Lit3eG
Discussion Guide world. He seems irritated that his dad likes to

Ask students to analyze and discuss the rela- show off his big vocabulary. Luis doesnt seem
tionship between Luis and his father, which interested in helping fulfill his dads dreams
forms part of the central conflict of the story. for the business. His dad often gets offended
Why is it difficult for them to talk? What does by Luiss sarcastic tone. Students may say that
Luis think of his father, and what does his despite his troubles with the law, Luis doesnt
father think of him? Does Luis seem like a seem like a really bad kid. He works hard at
really bad kid? polishing the hubcaps, and feels bad for his
Answers: Students may note that Luis is bored father after he accidentally hits him with one
by his dads stories about Puerto Rico, because while goofing off.
66 UNIT 1 FICTION

They ate in silence for a few minutes more; He had just meant to ride around his old
then Luis decided to ask about the car again. barrio, see if any of the Tiburones were hanging
I really need some fresh air, Pop. Can I out at El Building, where most of them lived. Teach the Selection
borrow the car for a couple of hours? It wasnt far from the single-family home his
You dont get enough fresh air at the yard? father had bought when the business started Use Reading Strategies
Were lucky that we dont have to sit in a smelly paying off: a house that his mother lived in for Make Predictions Read aloud
old factory all day. You know that? three months before she took up residence at St. the passage beginning with I really
Yeah, Pop. Were real lucky. Luis always Josephs Hospital. She never came home again. need to get some fresh air, Pop and
felt irritated that his father was so grateful to These days Luis wished he still lived in that tiny ending with For a ride. Not going
own a junkyard, but he held his anger back and apartment where there was always something to anywhere. Just out for a while. Is
just waited to see if hed get the keys without do, somebody to talk to. that okay? Ask students where they
having to get in an argument. B Instead Luis found himself parked in think Luis is going and what will hap-
Where are you going? front of the last place his mother had gone to: pen next. They should support their
For a ride. Not going anywhere. Just out for Ramirez Funeral Home. In the front yard was answer with evidence. Give them an
a while. Is that okay? a huge oak tree that Luis remembered having example by saying I think Luis is
His father didnt answer, just handed him climbed during the funeral to get away from going to go visit his friends and get
a set of keys, as shiny as the day they were into trouble somehow. His fathers
manufactured. His father polished everything Doing something that warning about the judge seems to
that could be polished: doorknobs, coins, foreshadow something bad. B
had a beginning,
keys, spoons, knives, and forks, like he was
King Midas9 counting his silver and gold. Luis middle, and an end Use Reading Skills
thought his father must be really lonely to polish did something to Compare and Contrast Point out
utensils only he used anymore. They had been your head. to students how the last page of the
picked out by his wife, though, so they were story (page 68) shows a change in
like relics. Nothing she had ever owned could people. The tree looked different now, not like Luis. Ask students to compare and
be thrown away. Only now the dishes, forks, a skeleton, as it had then, but green with leaves. contrast the Luis presented at the
and spoons were not used to eat the yellow rice The branches reached to the second floor of the beginning of the story with the Luis
and red beans, the fried chicken, or the mouth- house, where the family lived. at the end of the story. How has he
watering sweet plantains10 that his mother For a while Luis sat in the car allowing changed? In what ways is he the
had cooked for them. They were just kept in the memories to flood back into his brain. same? What has brought about this
the cabinets that his father had turned into a He remembered his mother before the illness change?
museum for her. Mr. Cintrn could cook as well changed her. She had not been beautiful, as Answers: Students might say that at
as his wife, but he didnt have the heart to do his father told everyone; she had been a sweet the end of the story, Luis has a pur-
it anymore. Luis thought that maybe if they ate lady, not pretty but not ugly. To him, she had pose. He wants to make his mother
together once in a while things might get better been the person who always told him that she proud and do something nice for
between them, but he always had something was proud of him and loved him. She did that Naomi. At the beginning of the story,
to do around dinnertime and ended up at a every night when she came to his bedroom he was only thinking about himself.
hamburger joint. Tonight was the first time in door to say good-night. As a joke he would
months they had sat down at the table together. sometimes ask her, Proud of what? I havent
Luis took the keys. Thanks, he said, done anything. And shed always say, Im just
walking out to take his shower. His father kept
looking at him with those sad, patient eyes. 9. King Midas. Legendary king who is given the power of turning
everything he touches into gold
Okay. Ill be back by ten, and keep the ice on 10. plantains. Banana-like fruit
that egg, Luis said without looking back.
rel ic (re> lik) n., memento from a past time
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TEACHING NOTE
/19/07 11:48:09 AM Ask the Author
Divide the class into small groups, and have

each group brainstorm questions they would
like to ask Judith Ortiz Cofer about her short
story. Ask each group to pass its questions to
another group that attempts to answer the
questions on the authors behalf. Have students
share some of their questions and answers.

proud that you are my son. She wasnt perfect father kept busy all the time. Doing something
or anything. She had bad days when nothing he that had a beginning, a middle, and an end did
Teach the Selection did could make her smile, especially after she something to your head. It was like the satisfac-
got sick. But he never heard her say anything tion Luis got out of planning adventures for
negative about anyone. She always blamed el his Tiburones, but there was another element
W Students
destino, fate, for what went wrong. He missed involved here that had nothing to do with
IRRORS her. He missed her so much. Suddenly a flood showing off for others. This was a treasure hunt.
W INDOWS may say
that some- of tears that had been building up for almost And he knew what he was looking for.
ttimes
imes bbad
ad thi
things have to happen three years started pouring from his eyes. Luis Finally, when it seemed that it was a hope-
ffor
or a pperson
erson tto want to change sat in his fathers car, with his head on the less search, when it was almost midnight and
his or her ways. Discuss with stu- steering wheel, and cried, Mami,11 I miss you. Luiss hands were cut and bruised from his
dents famous people who have When he finally looked up, he saw that he work, he found it. It was the perfect match for
turned their lives around. was being watched. Sitting at a large window Naomis drawing, the moon-shaped wheel cover
with a pad and a pencil on her lap was Naomi. for her car, Cinderellas shoe. Luis jumped off
At first Luis felt angry and embarrassed, but she the small mound of disks left under him and
Refer to Text wasnt laughing at him. Then she told him with shouted, Yes! He looked around and saw
1a. Luis spends time in juvenile hall her dark eyes that it was okay to come closer. neat stacks of hubcaps that he would wash the
for breaking and entering. He walked to the window, and she held up the next day. He would build a display wall for his
2a
2a. Im just proud that you are my sketch pad on which she had drawn him, not father. People would be able to come into the
son. crying like a baby, but sitting on top of a moun- yard and point to whatever they wanted.
3a. He brings his father ice for his tain of silver disks, holding one up over his Luis washed the VW hubcap and polished
bruised head. He washes and pol- head. He had to smile. it until he could see himself in it. He used it
ishes the hubcaps and decides to The plate-glass window was locked. It had a as a mirror as he washed his face and combed
make a display wall for his father. security bolt on it. An alarm system, he figured, his hair. Then he drove to the Ramirez Funeral
4a. Luis thinks his father hasnt yet so nobody would steal the princess. He asked Home. It was almost pitch-black, since it was
come to terms with his wifes her if he could come in. It was soundproof too. a moonless night. As quietly as possible, Luis
death. He mouthed the words slowly for her to read his put some gravel in his pocket and climbed the
5a. He was sent to juvenile detention lips. She wrote on the pad, I cant let you in. My oak tree to the second floor. He knew he was
for breaking and entering. He has mother is not home tonight. So they looked at in front of Naomis windowhe could see her
been unkind to his father. each other and talked through the window for a shadow through the curtains. She was at a table,
little while. Then Luis got an idea. He signed to apparently writing or drawing, maybe waiting
Reason with Text her that hed be back, and drove to the junkyard. for him. Luis hung the silver disk carefully on a
1b. Responses will vary. Luiss behav- Luis climbed up on his mountain of branch near the window, then threw the gravel
ior may stem from his anger hubcaps. For hours he sorted the wheel covers at the glass. Naomi ran to the window and drew
and sadness over the loss of his by make, size, and condition, stopping only to the curtains aside while Luis held on to the thick
mother. call his father and tell him where he was and branch and waited to give her the first good
2b. Responses will vary. Luiss mother what he was doing. The old man did not ask thing he had given anyone in a long time.
would probably be pleased at the him for explanations, and Luis was grateful
change Luis seems to be making for that. By lamppost light, Luis worked and 11. Mami. [Spanish] Mom
at the end of the story. worked, beginning to understand a little why his
3b. Luis realizes he and his father
&
need each other. W What kinds of challenges does a person who wants to make positive changes
4b. Responses will vary. IRRORS
W INDOWS
in his or her life face? In what ways can that person deal with setbacks and
5b. Responses will vary. Some students obstacles?
really dislike the romantic element;
others find it adds to the story.
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68 LITERATURE
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Learning Styles Kinesthetic Have students act out either the

Visual Have students sketch a picture of Luis scene between Luis and his father at the dinner
and his mother. Ask them to think about the table or the scene between Luis and Naomi at
emotional bond between mother and son as the funeral home window. Ask them to include
they do so. Alternatively, ask them to draw a nonverbal communication, such as gestures
picture of Luis similar to the one Naomi draws. and facial expressions.
68 UNIT 1 FICTION


1a. Recall why Luis spends six months in 1b. What is the underlying reason for Luiss Understand
juvenile hall. disruptive behavior? Conclude whether Find meaning Teach the Selection
he is a typical gang member and
explain your response.
Summary
2a. Repeat what Luiss mother often said to 2b. Make some generalizations about how Apply Jing-meis mother, an immigrant from
him when she was alive. people react to the death of a loved Use information
one. What kind of reaction do you think
China, thinks Jing-mei has the poten-
Luiss mother would have liked? tial to become a prodigy. While Jing-
mei is excited about her mothers ideas
3a. Identify things Luis does to show he is 3b. Infer why Luis wants to create a new Analyze at first, she soon struggles against her
a good son. relationship with his father. Take things
apart mothers efforts to improve her. After
a piano recital in which Jing-mei plays
4a. What does Luis think of his father? 4b. Judge Luiss treatment of his father. Is Evaluate
it justified? Explain. Make judgments
horribly, both she and her mother feel
embarrassed. The two argue, Jing-mei
5a. Luiss act of giving the hubcap to 5b. What do you think about the romantic Create saying hurtful things to her mother;
Naomi represents a turning point in his element in the story as it is related to Bring ideas
life. List two things he has done since Luiss turning point? Write a note to the and her mother gives up on her dreams
together
his mother died that he is probably not author about her inclusion of this bit of for Jing-mei. As an adult, Jing-mei is
proud of. romance. surprised and moved when her mother
TWO Kinds
offers her the piano she played as a
child. After her mothers death, she has
it tuned and reflects on the songs she
played as a child.
W The Mirrors
IRRORS
A Short Story by Amy Tan W INDOWS & Windows
questions
aatt tthe
M y mother believed you could be anything
you wanted to be in America. You could
open a restaurant. You could work for the
oonn th he expec
the expectations parents
have for their children. Before
reading, ask students whether
government and get good retirement. You
parents usually expect too much
could buy a house with almost no money
or too little from their children.
down. You could become rich. You could
As they read, have them com-
become instantly famous.
pare the expectations Jing-meis
Of course you can be prodigy,1 too, my
mother has for Jing-mei with the
In all of my mother told me when I was nine. You can be
expectations their parents have
best anything. What does Auntie Lindo know?
for them.
imaginings, I was Her daughter, she is only best tricky.
America was where all my mothers hopes
filled with a sense lay. She had come here in 1949 after losing
everything in China: her mother and father,
that I would soon her family home, her first husband, and two
become perfect. 1. prodigy. Person who has extraordinary talent, especially a

child
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Words in Use 11/19/07 11:48:09 AM
Two Kinds Selection Words

Preview indignity, 71
Vocabulary frenzied, 72
lament, 70 lamented, 74
reproach, 71 conspired, 74
listlessly, 71 nonchalantly, 76
discordant, 74
fiasco, 76

Teach the Selection
Analyze Literature
Characterization Direct students
to the opening description of the
narrators mother on page 69. Ask
students to discuss their first impres-
sions of the narrators mother. How
does this description suggest that the
narrators mother has been influenced
by the values and ambitions of the
American dream and the United
States as the land of opportunity?

Two Kinds is a chapter from Amy
Tans The Joy Luck Club, a novel that
tells the stories of four Chinese immi-
grant women and their American-born
A street in Chinatown in San Francisco, California.
daughters. Jing-meis mother immi-
grated to California in 1949 when
China was experiencing a civil war. As daughters, twin baby girls. But she never mass of crinkly black fuzz. My mother dragged
she was fleeing impending danger by looked back with regret. There were so many me off to the bathroom and tried to wet down
foot, she was forced to leave her twin ways for things to get better. my hair.
daughters behind. After her mother You look like Negro Chinese, she
dies, Jing-mei realizes there was much
about her mothers life in China she
did not know or understand.
W e didnt immediately pick the right kind
of prodigy. At first my mother thought
I could be a Chinese Shirley Temple.2 Wed
lamented, as if I had done this on purpose.
The instructor of the beauty training school
had to lop off these soggy clumps to make
watch Shirleys old movies on TV as though my hair even again. Peter Pan is very popular
they were training films. My mother would these days, the instructor assured my mother.
poke my arm and say, Ni kanYou watch. I now had hair the length of a boys, with
TEACHING NOTE And I would see Shirley tapping her feet, or straight-across bangs that hung at a slant two
The Joy Luck Club singing a sailor song, or pursing her lips into a inches above my eyebrows. I liked the haircut
Amy Tans novel The Joy Luck Club was made very round O while saying, Oh my goodness. and it made me actually look forward to my
into a movie in 1993. You may want to show Ni kan, said my mother as Shirleys eyes future fame.
your class parts of the movie that deal with flooded with tears. You already know how. In fact, in the beginning, I was just as
Jing-meis relationship with her mother as a Dont need talent for crying! excited as my mother, maybe even more so.
child and as an adult. Ask students how the Soon after my mother got this idea about I pictured this prodigy part of me as many
films portrayal of Jing-mei and her mother Shirley Temple, she took me to a beauty different images, trying each one on for size.
compares with the way they visualized these training school in the Mission district and put
characters. The movie does contain adult me in the hands of a student who could barely 2. Shirley Temple. Well-known child star of the 1930s
situations, so screen scenes carefully hold the scissors without shaking. Instead of
la ment (l@ ment>) v., grieve; express regret
before you show them. getting big fat curls, I emerged with an uneven
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Social Studies
Call on volunteers to explain what they know about
immigration patterns today in the United States.
Explain that, whereas immigration in the late nine-
teenth and early twentieth centuries was primarily
from Europe, immigration today is largely from Latin
America and Asia.
70 UNIT 1 FICTION

I was a dainty ballerina girl standing by the The tests got hardermultiplying numbers
curtains, waiting to hear the right music that in my head, finding the queen of hearts in
would send me floating on my tiptoes. I was a deck of cards, trying to stand on my head Teach the Selection
like the Christ child lifted out of the straw without using my hands, predicting the daily
manger, crying with holy indignity. I was temperatures in Los Angeles, New York, and Use Reading Skills
Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage London. Compare and Contrast Ask stu-
with sparkly cartoon music filling the air. One night I had to look at a page from the dents to create a Venn Diagram for
In all of my imaginings, I was filled with Bible for three minutes and then report every- Jing-mei and her mother. Then lead a
a sense that I would soon become perfect. My thing I could remember. Now Jehosophat3 had discussion on the ways Jing-mei and
mother and father would adore me. I would be riches and honor in abundance andthats all her mother are similar and different
beyond reproach. I would never feel the need I remember, Ma, I said. thus far in the story. Remind students
to sulk for anything. And after seeing my mothers disappointed to write comparisons and contrasts in
But sometimes the prodigy in me became face once again, something inside of me began their graphic organizers.
impatient. If you dont hurry up and get me to die. I hated the tests, the raised hopes and
out of here, Im disappearing for good, it failed expectations. Before going to bed that Analyze Literature
warned. And then youll always be nothing. night, I looked in the mirror above the bath- Tone and Images The emotional
room sink and when I saw only my face staring attitude toward the reader or subject
implied by a literary work is called
E very night after dinner, my mother and
I would sit at the Formica kitchen table.
She would present new tests, taking her
backand that it would always be this ordi-
nary faceI began to cry. Such a sad, ugly
girl! I made high-pitched noises like a crazed
tone. Examples of different tones
include familiar, ironic, playful, sarcas-
examples from stories of amazing children she animal, trying to scratch out the face in the tic, serious, and sincere. Ask students
had read in Ripleys Believe It or Not, or Good mirror. to discuss the narrators tone in this
Housekeeping, Readers Digest, and a dozen And then I saw what seemed to be the selection. What is her attitude toward
other magazines she kept in a pile in our bath- prodigy side of mebecause I had never seen herself as a young girl? Images are
room. My mother got these magazines from that face before. I looked at my reflection, the pictures that writing creates in the
people whose houses she cleaned. And since blinking so I could see more clearly. The girl mind of a reader. What comic images
she cleaned many houses each week, we had staring back at me was angry, powerful. This does Tan create in this part of the
a great assortment. She would look through girl and I were the same. I had new thoughts, story?
them all, searching for stories about remarkable willful thoughts, or rather thoughts filled with Answers: Students may say that the
children. lots of wonts. I wont let her change me, I tone is wryly humorous. The narrator
The first night she brought out a story promised myself. I wont be what Im not. looks back at her old self with affec-
about a three-year-old boy who knew the So now, on nights when my mother tionate humor, as when she recalls
capitals of all the states and even most of the presented her tests, I performed listlessly, my how she looked forward to her future
European countries. A teacher was quoted as head propped on one arm. I pretended to fame. Students may point out comic
saying the little boy could also pronounce the be bored. And I was. I got so bored I started images such as Jing-meis hair after
names of the foreign cities correctly. counting the bellows of the foghorns out on the her disastrous perm and the image
Whats the capital of Finland? my mother bay while my mother drilled me in other areas. of her screeching and clawing at the
asked me, looking at the magazine story. The sound was comforting and reminded me mirror.
All I knew was the capital of California, of the cow jumping over the moon. And the
because Sacramento was the name of the street next day, I played a game with myself, seeing if
we lived on in Chinatown. Nairobi! I guessed,
saying the most foreign word I could think of. 3. Jehosophat (ji h5> s@ fat<). One of the kings of the country of
Judah in the ninth century BCE.
She checked to see if that was possibly one way
to pronounce Helsinki before showing me the re proach (ri pr9ch>) n., blame; disapproval
list less ly (list> l@s l7) adv., without energy or enthusiasm
answer.
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Readers may need special support for under- Assign students a research report on a par-
standing the nonstandard English used by the ticular source country for immigration to the
narrators mother. Write a selection of quota- United States in the early twenty-first century:
tions from the dialogue on the board, and go for example, Korea, Vietnam, the Dominican
through each one with students, making sure Republic, or Mexico. Have students use Internet
that they can interpret the nonstandard gram- or library resources to find out such facts as
mar and vocabulary. numbers of immigrants annually, settlement
patterns, and assimilation factors involved with
each group.

lilting5 ones before it returned to the quick,
playful parts.
Teach the Selection Ni kan, my mother said, calling me over
with hurried hand gestures. Look here.
Use Reading Strategies I could see why my mother was fascinated
Make Connections Ask students by the music. It was being pounded out by a
to think about child prodigies theyve little Chinese girl, about nine years old, with a
heard about or read about, or even Peter Pan haircut. The girl had the sauciness of
met personally. What do child prodi- a Shirley Temple. She was proudly modest like
gies have in common? Would they like a proper Chinese child. And she also did this
to be prodigies? Why might a parent fancy sweep of a curtsy, so that the fluffy skirt
want his or her child to be a prodigy? of her white dress cascaded slowly to the floor
like the petals of a large carnation.
Critical Thinking In spite of these warning signs, I wasnt
Discussion Guide Ask students to worried. Our family had no piano and we
discuss Jing-meis mothers treatment couldnt afford to buy one, let alone reams of
of her. sheet music and piano lessons. So I could be
Are her efforts really in her daugh- generous in my comments when my mother
ters best interest? bad-mouthed the little girl on TV.
Is it healthy for parents to push Play note right, but doesnt sound good!
their child toward greatness, or can No singing sound, complained my mother.
their high expectations be harmful What are you picking on her for? I said
The actress Shirley Temple.
for the child? carelessly. Shes pretty good. Maybe shes not
my mother would give up on me before eight the best, but shes trying hard. I knew almost
bellows. After a while I usually counted only immediately I would be sorry I said that.
one, maybe two bellows at most. At last she Just like you, she said. Not the best.
was beginning to give up hope. Because you not trying. She gave a little huff
as she let go of the sound dial and sat down on
T wo or three months had gone by without

any mention of my being a prodigy again.
And then one day my mother was watching
the sofa.
The little Chinese girl sat down also to
play an encore of Anitras Dance by Grieg. I
The Ed Sullivan Show4 on TV. The TV was old remember the song, because later on I had to
and the sound kept shorting out. Every time learn how to play it.
my mother got halfway up from the sofa to
adjust the set, the sound would go back on and
Ed would be talking. As soon as she sat down,
Ed would go silent again. She got up, the TV
T hree days after watching The Ed Sullivan
Show, my mother told me what my
schedule would be for piano lessons and
broke into loud piano music. She sat down. piano practice. She had talked to Mr. Chong,
Silence. Up and down, back and forth, quiet who lived on the first floor of our apartment
and loud. It was like a stiff embraceless dance building. Mr. Chong was a retired piano
between her and the TV set. Finally she stood teacher, and my mother had traded house-
by the set with her hand on the sound dial.
She seemed entranced by the music, a little
4. The Ed Sullivan Show. Weekly TV variety show popular in the
frenzied piano piece with this mesmerizing 1950s and 1960s
quality, sort of quick passages and then teasing, 5. lilting. Cheerful and lively
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72 LITERATURE
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Social Studies City, or Over the Rhine in Cincinnati. Have

Throughout the long history of immigration to students use Internet or library resources to
the United States, immigrants have settled in research the distinctive features of one such
ethnic neighborhoods such as Little Havana in neighborhood. They can present their results in
Miami, Chinatown in San Francisco, the Lower a brief oral report.
East Side and Spanish Harlem in New York
72 UNIT 1 FICTION

If she had as much talent as she has
temper, she would be famous now.
Teach the Selection
cleaning services for weekly lessons and a No sharps or flats! So this is C major! Listen
piano for me to practice on every day, two now and play after me! Analyze Literature
hours a day, from four until six. And then he would play the C scale a few Characterization Have students
When my mother told me this, I felt as times, a simple chord, and then, as if inspired read the description of Mr. Chong;
though I had been sent to hell. I whined and by an old, unreachable itch, he gradually added then ask the following questions:
then kicked my foot a little when I couldnt more notes and running trills and a pounding What methods of characterization
stand it anymore. bass until the music was really something quite does Amy Tan use to create a vivid
Why dont you like me the way I am? Im grand. picture of Mr. Chong? How would you
not a genius! I cant play the piano. And even if I would play after him, the simple scale, describe Mr. Chong to a friend who
I could, I wouldnt go on TV if you paid me a the simple chord, and then I just played some hasnt read the story? A
million dollars! I cried. nonsense that sounded like a cat running up Answers: Tan uses description and dia-
My mother slapped me. Who ask you be and down on top of garbage cans. Old Chong logue to create Mr. Chong. He could
genius? she shouted. Only ask you be your smiled and applauded and then said, Very be described as eccentric and living in
best. For you sake. You think I want you be good! But now you must learn to keep time! his own world. Hes not a very good
genius? Hnnh! What for! Who ask you! So thats how I discovered that Old piano teacher.
So ungrateful, I heard her mutter in Chongs eyes were too slow to keep up with
Chinese. If she had as much talent as she has the wrong notes I was playing. He went Analyze Literature
temper, she would be famous now. through the motions in half-time. To help me Simile A simile is a comparison
Mr. Chong, whom I secretly nicknamed keep rhythm, he stood behind me, pushing using like or as. Ask students to make
Old Chong, was very strange, always tapping down on my right shoulder for every beat. a list of imaginative similes they find
his fingers to the silent music of an invisible He balanced pennies on top of my wrists so I in this story. How do they add to the
orchestra. He looked ancient in my eyes. He would keep them still as I slowly played scales storys humor?
had lost most of the hair on top of his head and arpeggios.7 He had me curve my hand Answer: Students may note the com-
and he wore thick glasses and had eyes that around an apple and keep that shape when ment that Old Lady Chong had
always looked tired and sleepy. But he must playing chords. He marched stiffly to show me a smell like a baby that had done
have been younger than I thought, since he how to make each finger dance up and down, something in its pants and fingers
lived with his mother and was not yet married. staccato,8 like an obedient little soldier. [that] felt like a dead persons, like an
I met Old Lady Chong once and that was A He taught me all these things, and that old peach I once found in the back of
enough. She had this peculiar smell like a baby was how I also learned I could be lazy and get the refrigerator. Later on that page
that had done something in its pants. And her away with mistakes, lots of mistakes. If I hit the she says that her playing sounded
fingers felt like a dead persons, like an old wrong notes because I hadnt practiced enough, like a cat running up and down on
peach I once found in the back of the refrig- I never corrected myself. I just kept playing in top of garbage cans. The similes cre-
erator; the skin just slid off the meat when I rhythm. And Old Chong kept conducting his ate ridiculous images that add to the
picked it up. own private reverie.9 storys humor.
I soon found out why Old Chong had So maybe I never really gave myself a fair
retired from teaching piano. He was deaf. Like chance. I did pick up the basics pretty quickly,
Beethoven! he shouted to me. Were both
6. sonatas (s@ n5> t@s). Instrumental music, usually written for
listening only in our head! And he would start
the piano
to conduct his frantic silent sonatas.6 7. arpeggios (5r pe> j7 9s). Chords in which the same notes are
Our lessons went like this. He would played rapidly one after another instead of at the same time
8. staccato (st@ k5> t9). With each sound or note played
open the book and point to different things, distinctly
explaining their purpose: Key! Treble! Bass! 9. reverie. Daydream
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and I might have become a good pianist at that Scenes from Childhood. It was a simple, moody
young age. But I was so determined not to try, piece that sounded more difficult than it was.
Teach the Selection not to be anybody different, that I learned to I was supposed to memorize the whole thing,
play only the most earsplitting preludes, the playing the repeat parts twice to make the piece
Analyze Literature most discordant hymns. sound longer. But I dawdled over it, playing a
Characterization Direct students to Over the next year, I practiced like this, few bars and then cheating, looking up to see
the conversation between Jing-meis dutifully in my own way. And then one day I what notes followed. I never really listened to
mother and Auntie Lindo. Ask stu- heard my mother and her friend Lindo Jong what I was playing. I daydreamed about being
dents what they learn about Auntie both talking in a loud bragging tone of voice somewhere else, about being someone else.
Lindos personality from this section. so others could hear. It was after church, and The part I liked to practice best was the
Is Auntie Lindo a likeable character? I was leaning against the brick wall, wearing a fancy curtsy: right foot out, touch the rose on
Why or why not? A dress with stiff white petticoats. Auntie Lindos the carpet with a pointed foot, sweep to the
Answers: Students might say they daughter, Waverly, who was about my age, was side, left leg bends, look up and smile.
learn that Auntie Lindo is a lot like standing farther down the wall, about five feet My parents invited all the couples from the
Jing-meis mother in the expectations away. We had grown up together and shared Joy Luck Club to witness my debut.11 Auntie
she has for her daughter. Auntie Lindo all the closeness of two sisters squabbling Lindo and Uncle Tin were there. Waverly and
is very proud of her daughter, but she over crayons and dolls. In other words, for her two older brothers had also come. The
brags too much, which makes her not the most part, we hated each other. I thought first two rows were filled with children both
very likeable. she was snotty. Waverly Jong had gained a younger and older than I was. The littlest ones
certain amount of fame as Chinatowns Littlest got to go first. They recited simple nursery
Chinese Chess Champion. rhymes, squawked out tunes on miniature
She bring home too many trophy, violins, twirled Hula-Hoops, pranced in pink
lamented Auntie Lindo that Sunday. All day ballet tutus, and when they bowed or curtsied,
she play chess. All day I have no time do the audience would sigh in unison, Awww,
nothing but dust off her winnings. She threw and then clap enthusiastically.
a scolding look at Waverly, who pretended not When my turn came, I was very confident.
to see her. I remember my childish excitement. It was as
A You lucky you dont have this problem, if I knew, without a doubt, that the prodigy
said Auntie Lindo with a sigh to my mother. side of me really did exist. I had no fear what-
And my mother squared her shoulders and soever, no nervousness. I remember thinking
bragged: Our problem worser than yours. If to myself, This is it! This is it! I looked out
we ask Jing-mei wash dish, she hear nothing over the audience, at my mothers blank face,
but music. Its like you cant stop this natural my fathers yawn, Auntie Lindos stiff-lipped
talent. smile, Waverlys sulky expression. I had on
And right then, I was determined to put a a white dress layered with sheets of lace, and
stop to her foolish pride. a pink bow in my Peter Pan haircut. As I sat
A few weeks later, Old Chong and my down I envisioned people jumping to their feet
mother conspired to have me play in a talent and Ed Sullivan rushing up to introduce me to
show which would be held in the church hall. everyone on TV.
By then, my parents had saved up enough to
buy me a secondhand piano, a black Wurlitzer 10. Schumanns. Refers to a musical composition by Robert
spinet with a scarred bench. It was the show- Schumann, a German composer from the first half of the nineteenth
century
piece of our living room. 11. debut. First public appearance of a performer or show
For the talent show, I was to play a piece
called Pleading Child from Schumanns10 dis cord ant (dis> k0rd< n?t) adj., not harmonious
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74 LITERATURE
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Learning Styles Kinesthetic Have students act out the per-

Auditory Find a recording of Schumanns formances of the young children at Jing-meis
Scenes from Childhood to play for students. Ask recital. Then have them act out Jing-meis per-
students to describe the music. Does it sound formance. Set the condition that students may
like it would be difficult to play on the piano? not use any sounds, only body movements, as
Alternatively, ask if someone in class can play they act out the recital.
the piece from sheet music.
74 UNIT 1 FICTION

And I started to play. It was so
beautiful. I was so caught up in how
lovely I looked that at first I didnt Teach the Selection
worry how I would sound. So it was
a surprise to me when I hit the first Analyze Literature
wrong note and I realized something Character Remind students that a
didnt sound quite right. And then protagonist is the main character in a
I hit another, and another followed literary work, whereas the antagonist
that. A chill started at the top of my is the character or force in conflict
head and began to trickle down. Yet with the protagonist. Ask students to
I couldnt stop playing, as though identify the protagonist and antago-
my hands were bewitched. I kept nists in this story and to comment
thinking my fingers would adjust on how the conflicts created by the
themselves back, like a train switching antagonists contribute to the story.
to the right track. I played this strange Answers: Students should note that
jumble through two repeats, the sour both Jing-meis mother and her cousin
notes staying with me all the way to the end. got honorable mention. And the eleven-year- Waverly are antagonists in conflict
When I stood up, I discovered my legs old boy who won first prize playing a tricky with the protagonist, Jing-mei. The
were shaking. Maybe I had just been nervous violin song that sounded like a busy bee. conflicts between Jing-mei and her
and the audience, like Old Chong, had seen After the show, the Hsus, the Jongs, and antagonists make the story interesting
me go through the right motions and had not the St. Clairs from the Joy Luck Club came up and suspenseful.
heard anything wrong at all. I swept my right to my mother and father.
foot out, went down on my knee, looked up Lots of talented kids, Auntie Lindo said
and smiled. The room was quiet, except for vaguely, smiling broadly.
Old Chong, who was beaming and shouting, That was somethin else, said my father,
Bravo! Bravo! Well done! But then I saw my and I wondered if he was referring to me in a
mothers face, her stricken12 face. The audience humorous way, or whether he even remem-
clapped weakly, and as I walked back to my bered what I had done.
chair, with my whole face quivering as I tried Waverly looked at me and shrugged her
not to cry, I heard a little boy whisper loudly to shoulders. You arent a genius like me, she
his mother, That was awful, and the mother said matter-of-factly. And if I hadnt felt so bad,
whispered back, Well, she certainly tried. I would have pulled her braids and punched
And now I realized how many people were her stomach.
in the audience, the whole world it seemed. I But my mothers expression was what
was aware of eyes burning into my back. I felt devastated me: a quiet, blank look that said she
the shame of my mother and father as they sat had lost everything. I felt the same way, and
stiffly throughout the rest of the show. it seemed as if everybody were now coming
We could have escaped during intermis- up, like gawkers at the scene of an accident,
sion. Pride and some strange sense of honor to see what parts were actually missing. When
must have anchored my parents to their chairs. we got on the bus to go home, my father was
And so we watched it all: the eighteen-year- humming the busy-bee tune and my mother
old boy with a fake mustache who did a magic
show and juggled flaming hoops while riding a
12. stricken. Affected or overcome with illness or misfortune
unicycle. The breasted girl with white makeup 13. aria (5r> 7 @). Elaborate vocal solo in an opera
who sang an aria13 from Madame Butterfly14 and 14. Madame Butterfly. Opera by the Italian composer Puccini
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To help students understand characters Use this opportunity to teach the meaning of
motivations, have them imagine how each eyes burning into my back. Ask students what
of the following characters probably feels picture this expression brings to their minds
about the recital: Jing-mei, Jing-meis mother, and what they think the expression means.
Auntie Lindo, and Waverly. Make sure students Then explain that it means Jing-mei felt people
understand that Auntie Lindo and Waverly are staring at her because she had performed so
taunting Jing-mei and her mother with their badly.
comments about Waverlys genius.

was silent. I kept thinking she wanted to
wait until we got home before shouting at
Teach the Selection me. But when my father unlocked the door
to our apartment, my mother walked in and
Analyze Literature then went to the back, into the bedroom. No
Characterization Direct students accusations. No blame. And in a way, I felt
attention to the similes on these two disappointed. I had been waiting for her to
pages: It felt like worms and toads start shouting, so I could shout back and cry
and slimy things crawling out of my and blame her for all my misery.
chest, she backed out of the room,
stunned, as if she were blowing away
like a small brown leaf, thin, brittle,
lifeless, and it made me feel proud,
I assumed my talent-show fiasco meant I never
had to play the piano again. But two days
later, after school, my mother came out of the
as if it were a shiny trophy I had won kitchen and saw me watching TV.
back. Ask students how these com- Four clock, she reminded me as if it were
parisons portray the real feelings and any other day. I was stunned, as though she
actions of the characters. A were asking me to go through the talent-show her bitterly.
torture again. I wedged myself more tightly in Her chest was
Analyze Literature front of the TV. heaving even
Climax Remind students that the Turn off TV, she called from the kitchen more and her
climax of a story is the point of five minutes later. mouth was open,
highest interest or suspense for the I didnt budge. And then I decided. I didnt smiling crazily, as if
reader. It often marks a turning point, have to do what my mother said anymore. she were pleased I was
or dramatic change, in the story. Ask I wasnt her slave. This wasnt China. I had crying.
students to identify the climax of this listened to her before and look what happened. You want me to be
story. In what sense does it mark a She was the stupid one. someone that Im not! I
turning point for the characters? She came out from the kitchen and stood sobbed. Ill never be the
Answer: The turning point comes in the arched entryway of the living room. kind of daughter you want me
when Jing-mei confronts her mother Four clock, she said once again, louder. to be!
and refuses to continue her piano les- Im not going to play anymore, I said Only two kinds of daugh-
sons. After this point, Jing-meis rela- nonchalantly. Why should I? Im not a ters, she shouted in Chinese.
tionship with her mother changes dra- genius. Those who are obedient and those
matically. She no longer participates She walked over and stood in front of the who follow their own mind! Only one
in her mothers schemes to make TV. I saw her chest was heaving up and down kind of daughter can live in this house.
her a child prodigy; meanwhile, her in an angry way. Obedient daughter!
mother seems to have given up trying No! I said, and I now felt stronger, as if Then I wish I wasnt your daughter.
to push or control her daughter. my true self had finally emerged. So this was I wish you werent my mother, I shouted.
what had been inside me all along. As I said these things, I got scared. It felt like
No! I wont! I screamed. A
worms and toads and slimy things crawling
She yanked me by the arm, pulled me off out of my chest, but it also felt good, as if this
the floor, snapped off the TV. She was fright- awful side of me had surfaced, at last.
eningly strong, half pulling, half carrying me Too late change this, said my mother
toward the piano as I kicked the throw rugs shrilly.
under my feet. She lifted me up and onto the
hard bench. I was sobbing by now, looking at fi as co (f7 as> k9[<]) n., total failure
OMPARING
76 LITERATURE
MP
P
76 UNIT 1 FICTION

And I could sense her anger rising to its So she surprised me. A few years ago, she
breaking point. I wanted to see it spill over. offered to give me the piano, for my thirtieth
And thats when I remembered the babies she birthday. I had not played in all those years. I Teach the Selection
had lost in China, the ones we never talked saw the offer as a sign of forgiveness, a tremen-
about. Then I wish Id never been born! I dous burden removed. Use Reading Strategies
shouted. I wish I were dead! Like them. Are you sure? I asked shyly. I mean, Clarify Ask students to identify the
It was as if I had said the magic words. wont you and Dad miss it? point in this story where the conflict
Alakazam!and her face went blank, her No, this is your piano, she said firmly. between Jing-mei and her mother
mouth closed, her arms went slack, and she Always your piano. You only one can play. seems to be resolved. What does Jing-
backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were Well, I probably cant play anymore, I mei realize about her mother at this
blowing away like a small brown leaf, thin, said. Its been years. moment? B
brittle, lifeless. You pick up fast, said my mother, as if B Answer: Years after their explosive
she knew this was certain. You have natural stand-off, when Jing-meis mother
offers her the piano, Jing-mei realizes
I t was not the only disappointment my
mother felt in me. In the years that followed,
I failed her so many times, each time asserting
talent. You could been genius if you want to.
No, I couldnt.
You just not trying, said my mother.
that her mother never truly gave up
on her and always believed in her
daughters potential for greatness.
It was as if I had said the magic words.
Alakazam!and her face went blank, her mouth
closed, her arms went slack, and she backed out TEACHING NOTE
of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away Pair-Share
like a small brown leaf, thin, brittle, lifeless. Have students find partners. Divide Two Kinds
into as many sections as there are pairs. Assign
my own will, my right to fall short of expecta- And she was neither angry nor sad. She said each pair to reread a section of the text. Pairs
tions. I didnt get straight As. I didnt become it as if to announce a fact that could never be should create questions that come out of
class president. I didnt get into Stanford. I disproved. Take it, she said. their section. Go back through the text,
dropped out of college. But I didnt at first. It was enough that she section by section, and have pairs share
For unlike my mother, I did not believe I had offered it to me. And after that, every time the questions they had.
could be anything I wanted to be. I could only I saw it in my parents living room, standing in
be me. front of the bay windows, it made me feel proud,
And for all those years, we never talked as if it were a shiny trophy I had won back.
about the disaster at the recital or my terrible
accusations afterward at the piano bench. All
that remained unchecked, like a betrayal that
was now unspeakable. So I never found a way
L ast week I sent a tuner over to my parents
apartment and had the piano recondi-
tioned, for purely sentimental reasons. My
to ask her why she had hoped for something so mother had died a few months before, and I
large that failure was inevitable. had been getting things in order for my father,
And even worse, I never asked her what a little bit at a time. I put the jewelry in special
frightened me the most: Why had she given up silk pouches. The sweaters she had knitted
hope? in yellow, pink, bright orangeall the colors
For after our struggle at the piano, she I hatedI put those in mothproof boxes. I
never mentioned my playing again. The lessons found some old Chinese silk dresses, the kind
stopped. The lid to the piano was closed, shut- with little slits up the sides. I rubbed the old
ting out the dust, my misery, and her dreams.
COM
MPARING
/19/07 11:48:12 AM
Learning Styles Kinesthetic Ask students to perform their

Auditory This selection is rich in dialogue. own version of an incident such as a piano les-
Have students choose a passage of dialogue son with Old Chong. See how imaginative the
and rehearse it for oral interpretation. Then have performers can be!
students invite feedback from the audience.
Visual Invite students to select a scene
from the story that made an especially strong
impression on them: for example, the piano
recital. Have students sketch or paint the scene.

silk against my skin, then wrapped them in looked more difficult than I remembered. I
tissue and decided to take them home with me. played a few bars, surprised at how easily the
Teach the Selection After I had the piano tuned, I opened the notes came back to me.
lid and touched the keys. It sounded even And for the first time, or so it seemed, I
richer than I remembered. Really, it was a noticed the piece on the right-hand side. It was
W Ask stu-
very good piano. Inside the bench were the called Perfectly Contented. I tried to play this
IRRORS same exercise notes with handwritten scales, one as well. It had a lighter melody but the
W INDOWS dents to
use exam- the same secondhand music books with their same flowing rhythm and turned out to be quite
pples
lees ffrom
room wh
what they have read covers held together with yellow tape. I opened easy. Pleading Child was shorter but slower;
oorr sseen
een on TV to describe what up the Schumann book to the dark little piece Perfectly Contented was longer but faster. And
parents should or should not I had played at the recital. It was on the left- after I played them both a few times, I realized
expect from their children. hand side of the page, Pleading Child. It they were two halves of the same song.
&
Refer to Text
W Why do some children excel quickly and others struggle? Is it wrong for parents to
IRRORS
1a. Jing-meis mother first sees Shirley
W INDOWS
have expectations for their children? When might the expectations parents have
Temple. Later, she sees a Chinese become a negative thing?
girl playing the piano.
2a. She says, I wish I were dead!
Like them.

3a. The two kinds of daughters are
those who are obedient and 1a. Identify what Jing-meis mother sees 1b. Describe how Jing-meis mothers Understand
those who follow their own mind! on TV that influences her first effort to comparisons of Jing-mei with children Find meaning
4a. Her mother slaps her and says, make Jing-mei a prodigy. What does on television eventually make Jing-mei
she see later that gives her the idea for feel.
Who ask you be genius? and piano lessons?
continues Only ask you be your
best. 2a. Quote the magic words Jing-mei says 2b. Relate Jing-meis experience to your Apply
5a. Jing-mei refuses to practice piano, to her mother in an argument. own: Explain how you reacted on one Use information
occasion when you said something you
doesnt get As, and drops out of couldnt take back that hurt somebody.
college.
3a. According to Jing-meis mother, what 3b. Relate the two paired pieces in the Analyze
are the two kinds of Chinese daugh- piano songbook at the end of the story Take things
Reason with Text ters? to Jing-meis life. apart
1b. Jing-mei begins to feel like she
cant measure up or that her 4a. Recall how Jing-meis mother responds 4b. Judge whether Jing-mei or her mother Evaluate
when Jing-mei says, Im not a genius! had Jing-meis best interests in mind. Make judgments
mother does not love her for who
she is. 5a. List ways Jing-mei rebels against her 5b. Summarize when, if ever, is it appro- Create
2b. Responses will vary. mother. priate to rebel against an authority Bring ideas
3b. Jing-mei was the pleading child figure. together
who wanted to be loved for who
she was. Now she is finally content. COMPARE LITERATURE: Character and Characterization
4b. Responses will vary. Jing-meis What traits do the main characters of each story have in common? How are
mother wanted her daughter to be they different?
successful, but she did not try to Compare the relationships between Luis and his father and Jing-mei and her
mother. How do these relationships help characterize Luis and Jing-mei?
help her daughter succeed in her
own interests. Jing-mei wanted to
be herself, but was so determined
to disappoint her mother that she OMPARING
78 LITERATURE
MP
P
didnt even try.
Compare Literature
0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel78 78 have more pressure put on her than Luis does; 11/19/07 11:48:13 AM 0042-0091_Lit3eG
Character and Characterization Both Luiss father asks only that he stay out of trouble.
characters are stubborn and have a hard time
There is tension in both relationships. Luiss
even trying to understand their parents. Both are
father worries about him and is upset by his
rebellious: Luis rebels by getting in trouble with
reckless behavior. Jing-meis mother is disap-
the law. Jing-mei rebels against her mother by
pointed that her daughter will not try to suc-
not even trying to succeed. Both are children of
ceed. Luiss father seems more resigned, perhaps
immigrant parents. The two characters are dif-
because of his own grief. Jing-meis mother
ferent in their situationsJing-mei has both her
pushes Jing-mei and then gives up.
parents, whereas Luis does not. Jing-mei might
78 UNIT 1 FICTION

EXTEND THE TEXT
Writing Options each case. Then consider your own ideas of success.
Creative Writing Imagine that Luis and Jing-mei Create a visual presentation in which you compare the Rubrics for Writing
meet as adults, and they tell each other their stories. different ideas about success and offer your opinions Options
Write a dialogue between them in which they discuss about these ideas. For writing rubrics and student models
what they each learned from their experiences. Collaborative Learning of the Writing Options assignments
Expository Writing In a five-paragraph compare- Debate Ideas About Extracurricular Activities in the Extend the Text section, go to
and-contrast essay, compare and contrast the Some adults push children into activities at a very
relationship between Luis and Jorge Cintrn, with the young age. Others limit activities because of time,
relationship between Jing-mei and her mother. What is cost, or other concerns. Students have varied opinions
the source of conflict in each relationship? How is each on involvement, too. Hold a class debate on whether Media Literacy
relationship shaped by grief and loss? What other simi- extracurricular activities should be limited. Divide into Encourage students to browse a vari-
larities and differences do you see? Use your response two groups, one in favor of extracurricular involvement
ety of media, including radio and TV
to the second Compare Literature: Character and from an early age, and one opposed to it. Work in your
Characterization prompt on page 78 as a starting point. groups to prepare your arguments. Each group will have ads, magazine ads, TV game shows,
three minutes to present its initial arguments. Then and how-to manuals to acquire a
Media Literacy each group will have two minutes to respond to the cross-section of ideas and images
Analyze Ideas of Success Identify the ideas about other groups arguments. Finally, each group will have
success expressed directly or indirectly by Mr. Cintrn relating to success.
two minutes for a concluding statement.
and by Jing-meis mother. Then choose four or five W
television shows, movies, or advertisements that show Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more. Collaborative Learning
images of success. Analyze how success is defined in W
Students may be encouraged to inter-
view peers, teachers, neighbors, and
READING ASSESSMENT relatives to acquire a stock of argu-
1. Which statement best describes Luis at the beginning 4. Which of the following passages from the selections ments and examples for their debate.
of Catch the Moon? is an example of irony?
A. surly and troubled A. The day his mother died, he had been in her
B. repentant and hopeful of a fresh start room at the hospital while his father had gone
C. disgusted with himself for coffee.
D. hateful and afraid B. For a while Luis sat in the car allowing the
E. obedient and eager to please memories to flood back into his brain.
C. I looked at my reflection, blinking so I could
2. Which pair of words best describes Mr. Cintrns and
see more clearly. The girl staring back at me
Luiss attitudes toward owning a junkyard?
was angry, powerful.
A. embarrassment and pride
D. Pleading Child was shorter but slower;
B. pride and anger
Perfectly Contented was longer but faster.
C. gratitude and shame
And after I played them both a few times, I real-
D. relief and annoyance
ized they were two halves of the same song.
E. happiness and sadness
E. Luis has been getting in trouble since he
3. What motivates Jing-meis mother to push Jing-mei to started high school two years ago, mainly
be a prodigy? because of the social group he organizeda
A. fear that her daughter will never make some- bunch of guys who were into harassing the
thing of herself local authorities.
B. love of fame and fortune
5. Compare and contrast the conflicts faced by Luis in
C. certainty in Jing-meis talent and her own lost
Catch the Moon and by Jing-mei in Two Kinds.
dreams
Consider the type of conflict and how each is
D. hope for a better life for her daughter
resolved.
E. desire for her daughter to succeed and pride
COM
MPARING

0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel79 79 11/19/07 2:01:59 PM
1. A Jing-mei when she was young, and Perfectly

2. C Contented describes her as an adult. At the
3. E time Jing-mei was learning Pleading Child,
4. Model how to think aloud about this question she did not know it described her as a child;
by saying, I know that irony is the difference she didnt have this realization until she was
between appearance and reality. The state- much older.
ment that is ironic is answer D. It is ironic 5. Responses will vary.
because Pleading Child describes

Teach the Element Understanding Setting
Launch the Lesson SETTING standing the motivations of the two main characters
Begin the lesson by naming settings that drive them to fish during a battle.
Readers have the opportunity to experience the world
from books or films students are famil- Equally significant is the use of setting in creating
through the pages of novels and short stories. The
iar with, such as Hogwarts from the stories in this unit take you from Europes plague-swept a connection between the characters of a story and
Harry Potter books or the house of the cities in The Masque of the Red Death (page 83) to the context in which they are placed. This connection
dwarfs in the story Snow White and the busy streets of San Franciscos Chinatown in Two helps explain why characters speak or act in a certain
the Seven Dwarfs. For each setting Kinds (page 69). The details of the settings make these way. In The Masque of the Red Death, the readers
you name, ask students to describe are told that the Red Death is ravaging the city
selections colorful and vivid.
the image and feeling that forms in outside the castle. This helps explain why the prince is
The setting of a story is the time and place in which it determined to keep his guests locked up in the castle.
their minds. Explain that the setting
occurs. Setting can include the following: geographical
of a story is often very memorable location, time period, socio-economic conditions, and
Setting also helps establish mood. Mood, or atmo-
because it is something readers can sphere, is the emotion created in the reader by part or
a specific room or building. In the story Two Friends
see and, because it helps create all of a story. The mood of a story, for example, might
(page 95), the geographical setting is Paris, and the
mood, feel. be mysterious, happy, frightening, peaceful, serious, or
time period is the late nineteenth century. These details
tense. Details in the setting contribute to mood.
are very important to the way readers understand Two
Elements of Setting Friends. The story would make little sense to readers In The Masque of the Red Death, the description of
Direct students to the Critical Viewing if they did not know it takes place in the middle of a the setting frequently shifts from the flamboyant revel-
war. Details, like the names of the nearby villages, help ries of the guests to the solemn tolling of the clock,
box and ask them to study the pic-
locate the story in a specific place and create a lifelike which creates a mood of discomfort. If you feel appre-
ture. Ask students to list words that impression. hensive about looming death as you read this story,
describe the picture. Students might you are responding sensitively to the text.
say its a picture of a desert and that Notice how the details in the following excerpt create
its beautiful, lonely, or dusty. Record a backdrop for character and action:
the words students give on the board. the night is waning away; and there
Then ask students which of the words On the opposite bank they could see
flows a ruddier light through the blood-
describe mood. Have students work in the village of Argenteuil, which looked
colored panes; and the blackness of the
pairs to create an outline of the story sable drapery appals; and to him whose
deserted and dead. The hills of Orgemont
using the picture as the setting. foot falls upon the sable carpet, there
and Sannois dominated the horizon, and
comes from the near clock of ebony a
the great plain which stretches as far as
muffled peal more solemnly emphatic than
Nanterre was empty, completely empty,
any which reaches their ears who indulge in
with nothing to be seen but its leafless
the more remote gaieties of the other apart-
cherry trees and gray earth.
ments.
from Two Friends
from The Masque of the Red Death
by Guy de Maupassant
by Edgar Allan Poe
ELEMENTS OF SETTING Sensory Details

Authors carefully select and arrange details to achieve
Mood a particular effect. The outdoor setting of Two
One reason why setting is important is that it provides Friends has an abundance of details that readers
background for the story. In Two Friends, readers can hear, see, and smell. These are called sensory
are told that Paris is under siege and the people details because they appeal to several or all of the
are starving. This information is important in under- five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell).
80 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
SETTING,
80
Teaching Words MOOD, 80
socio-economic, 80 SENSORY DETAILS, 80
siege, 80
ravaging, 80
flamboyant, 80
revelries, 80
acrid, 81
80 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Element
Use Reading Strategies
But suddenly, the bank beneath them
shook with a dull rumble which seemed to
Critical Viewing Reading strategies that can help stu-
dents understand setting include the
come from underground. Setting can play a large part in establishing the
following:
The distant cannon were starting to fire mood of the story. Look at the picture below. If this
picture were the setting of a story, what kind of
Visualize Encourage students to
again.
Morissot turned his head, and above the mood might the story have? Why do you think so? sketch how they imagine a storys set-
bank, over to the left, he saw the great bulk Write the outline of a story with the place in the ting would look or to compare their
of Mont Valrien. On the mountainside was picture as the setting. ideas of how the setting should look
a white plume of smoke, showing where with the art included with the stories.
the gunpowder had just bellowed out. Make Predictions Setting can often
Almost immediately another jet of give readers clues as to what the story
smoke spurted from the fort on the will be about, especially in the way it
summit, and a few seconds later the rumble creates mood. As they read the stories,
of another detonation reached their ears. ask students to look for clues in the
Other cannon shots followed, and every
setting and use those clues to predict
now and then the mountain spat out its
deadly breath, exhaled its clouds of milky what will happen next.
vapor, which rose slowly into the calm sky
above.
from Two Friends More About Setting
by Guy de Maupassant Direct students to the following
titles to see more examples of how
setting helps create mood:
One way to keep track of the details in a story is to
Trifles, page 708
use a Sensory Details Chart, like the one created for
Two Friends. If there are no specific details related from In A Sunburned Country,
to one of the senses, you can use other details to ask page 918
questions or make inferences about those senses. By the Waters of Babylon,
page 944
Two Friends
Sound
Smell
rumble of cannon
fire smoky smell of
the gunpowder
Sight
white plume of
Taste Touch smoke, clouds of
possibly the shaking ground milky vapor, great
taste of acrid from each cannon bulk of Mont
smoke drifting off blast Valrien
the mountain
UNDERSTANDING SETTING 81
/19/07 11:48:15 AM
Program Resources

UNDERSTANDING SETTING 81

The Masque of the Red Death
Preview the Selection A Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe
At a Glance BUILD BACKGROUND USE READING SKILLS

Directed Reading Historical Context Although the Red Death is a fictional disease, the Black Meaning of Words When you
Reading Level: Challenging Death was a deadly epidemic of bubonic plague that spread over Asia and come across an unfamiliar word,
Difficulty Considerations: Difficult Europe in the fourteenth century. The name Black Death comes from the black the text around it may provide
vocabulary; long sentences and sores the plague causes on its victims skin. In just five years, the bubonic clues to its meaning. A common
DIRECTED READING
paragraphs plague wiped out a third of the population of Europe. type of context clues is compar-
ison clues.
Ease Factors: Vivid descriptions; Like many of Edgar Allan Poes short stories, The Masque of the Red
suspense Death is a horror story. To avoid the terrifying, fatal disease spreading across Words and phrases including
the land, Prince Prospero takes a thousand friends to a remote fortress. Poe such as, like, also, similarly,
uses detailed description to set a vivid scene. As the Red Death causes turmoil just as, and in the same way
Objectives outside, the protected crowd celebrates until a mysterious stranger appears at signal comparisons and indicate
Studying this lesson will enable stu- midnight in the midst of a masquerade party. that the unfamiliar word is like
dents to something that might be more
Readers Context When have you tried to avoid someone or something? Were
familiar to you.
understand the importance of con- you successful, or did you eventually have to face what you were avoiding?
text to the story. EXAMPLE: The sagacious advice
read, interpret, analyze, and evalu- my grandfather offered me was
ANALYZE LITERATURE: Setting and Symbol similar to the wise advice he
ate a short story about nobles who The setting of a literary work is the time and place gave my father at my age.
try to escape a terrible plague. in which it occurs, together with all the details used
define setting and symbol and rec- This selection has many diffi-
to create a sense of that particular time and place.
cult vocabulary words. Look for
ognize their use in the selection. In fiction, the setting is usually revealed through
comparison clues as you read.
use comparison clues to under- description. In some cases, part of the setting acts as
a symbol, a thing that stands for or represents both
stand difficult vocabulary words. itself and something else. In this story, Poe uses vivid PREVIEW VOCABULARY
write an invitation and a descrip- details to create a dramatic and symbolic setting. Use the comparison clues in the
tive paragraph. sentences below to figure out
make a map and research an epi- the meanings of the underlined
SET PURPOSE words from the selection.
demic.
Think about what you usually expect from a good horror story. As you read 1. The nervous speakers perspi-
practice reading assessment by
The Masque of the Red Death, look for elements of a good horror story and ration was as profuse as
answering multiple-choice and find out if Poes creation meets your expectations of what a horror story should someone who had just run
short-answer questions about the be. Consider especially the setting of the story and how it compares with the several miles.
selection. settings of other horror stories youve read. 2. The rock climber taking the
most dangerous route up the
MEET THE AUTHOR mountain was as dauntless as
Launch the Lesson if he were hiking a small hill.
Why do lots of people enjoy a good Edgar Allan Poe (18
(18091849) wrote, Those who dream by day are cogni- 3. A person who wears only
zant of m
many things which escape those who only dream at night.
horror story or an exciting horror film? may have dreamed by day to escape his tragic life. After
Poe m
purple and listens to
Ask students to write down a short marching band music early
losin
losing both parents before he was three, Poe was raised by in the morning could be
list of their favorite horror stories and John Allan, a Virginia merchant. The two quarreled and, to described as eccentric; a
films. They can then share their lists in spite his guardian, Poe had himself expelled from West Point. person who refuses to eat
small groups. Allan then cut off his financial support, and Poe spent the rest food that is green could be
of his life near poverty. Tragedy struck again when Poes young described in the same way.
wife
wife, Virginia, died early in their marriage. Perhaps as a result
of Poes suffering, his writing often deals with characters
Refer to page 1040 of the wobbling on the edge of insanity.
Language Arts Handbook 2.1,
Using Context Clues, for additional
instruction on different types of 82 UNIT 1 FICTION
context clues.
0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01.indd 82
CONTEXT, 82
Preview Selection Teaching SETTING, 82
Vocabulary Words Words SYMBOL, 82
profuse, 83 dominions, 83 epidemic, 82 COMPARISON CLUES, 82
dauntless, 83 lofty, 84 masquerade, 82 EVALUATE, 88
sagacious, 83 girdled, 84 cognizant, 82 EPILOGUE, 88
eccentric, 84 prevailing, 85 rampant, 89
countenance, 85 emanating, 85 prevalent, 91
disconcert, 85 arabesque, 86
wanton, 86 ruddier, 86
spectral, 87 cessation, 86
blasphemous, 87 impetuosity, 87
82 UNIT 1 FICTION

The Masque Teach the Selection
of the Red Death

Summary
Medieval Europe is suffering under
the scourge of the Red Death, a
plague that is devastating the popula-
tion. Prince Prospero, however, seals
A Short Story by Edgar Allan Poe himself and his courtiers off in an
abbey. One evening, Prospero hosts
an especially lavish masquerade ball.
All these and Just as the revelry reaches its peak,
however, a strange, masked figure
security were enters the scene. Enraged by the visi-
tors presumption, Prospero attacks
within. Without him, with dagger drawn. One by one,
however, the revelers, beginning with
was the Red Prospero, drop lifeless to the ground.
Despite all their efforts to ignore the
Death. plague, they have succumbed at last
to the Red Death.
T he Red Death had long devastated

the country. No pestilence had ever
W
IRRORS The Mirrors
been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was
its Avatar1 and its sealthe redness and
W INDOWS & Windows
question at
the horror of blood. There were sharp tthe
he eend
nd of th
pains, and sudden dizziness, and then oonn th
he theme of responsibility
the
profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolu- to society. Have students name
tion.2 The scarlet stains upon the body and examples of people of wealth
especially upon the face of the victim, were the and status who do good for
pest ban3 which shut him out from the aid and society, as well as of people of
from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the wealth and status who dont
whole seizure, progress, and termination of the care about society. As they read,
disease, were the incidents of half an hour. ask students to think about how
But the Prince Prospero was happy and Prince Prospero views his respon-
dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions sibility to society.
1. Avatar. God in human form. In this case, the term refers to the
diseases form.
2. dissolution. Death
3. pest ban. Official declaration that an individual has the plague
pro fuse (pr@ fy2s>) adj., plentiful; available in great amounts

daunt less (d0nt> l@s) adj., fearless; daring
sa ga cious (s@ g6> sh@s) adj., wise
/19/08 10:14:21 AM
Program Resources

E-Lesson Planner
Developing Readers, Informational Text Activity
ExamView
English Language Learners, Meaning of Words
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows

Teach the Selection
Use Reading Skills
Meaning of Words Direct students
to the words ingress and egress in
the middle of the first column of this
page. Model how to figure out the
meanings of these words from the
context by saying, I see that the
context says courtiers are welding
the doors shut. I also know the prefix
in in ingress means within. The fact
that the doors are welded shut means
no one can come or go. Since ingress
has in as a prefix, I think ingress were half depopulated, he summoned to his It was a voluptuous scene, that
means coming in, and egress must presence a thousand hale and light-hearted masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms
mean going out. A friends from among the knights and dames of in which it was held. There were sevenan
his court, and with these retired to the deep imperial suite. In many palaces, however, such
seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys.4 This suites form a long and straight vista, while the
TEACHING NOTE was an extensive and magnificent structure, folding doors slide back nearly to the walls
Gothic Fiction the creation of the princes own eccentric yet on either hand, so that the view of the whole
This story, like much of Poes writing, is an august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it extent is scarcely impeded. Here the case was
example of gothic fiction, a genre of literature in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, very different; as might have been expected
that combines elements of horror and romance. having entered, brought furnaces and massy from the dukes love of the bizarre. The apart-
Gothic fiction often is set in a medieval setting hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved ments were so irregularly disposed7 that the
such as a castle and involves terror, mystery, A
to leave means neither of ingress nor egress to vision embraced but little more than one at a
and the supernatural. As they read, ask students the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty
B
to identify details and imagery in the story from within. The abbey was amply provi- or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect.
that fit within the genre of gothic fiction. sioned. With such precautions the courtiers To the right and left, in the middle of each
might bid defiance to contagion. The external wall, a tall and narrow Gothic8 window looked
world could take care of itself. In the meantime out upon a closed corridor which pursued the
it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince windings of the suite. These windows were of
had provided all the appliances of pleasure. stained glass whose color varied in accordance
There were buffoons,5 there were improvi-
satori,6 there were ballet-dancers, there were
4. castellated abbeys. Fortified structures built to use as or
musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. resemble monasteries
All these and security were within. Without 5. buffoons. Clowns
6. improvisatori. Poets who make up, or improvise, their poems
was the Red Death. as they perform
It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth 7. disposed. Arranged
8. Gothic. In the style of architecture prevalent in Western
month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence
Europe in the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries
raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince
Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a ec cen tric (ik sen> trik) adj., odd or unusual in behavior or
masked ball of the most unusual magnificence. appearance
84 UNIT 1 FICTION
English Language Learning Enrichment

Discuss the following additional vocabulary: Some advanced readers will enjoy the vivid and
pestilenceplague, 83 sophisticated vocabulary in this selection. Pair
halehealthy, 84 those readers with less able readers and ask
voluptuousfull of pleasure, 84 them to help their partners work through the
gaudybrightly colored or garish, 85 difficult vocabulary. They can work with their
gigantichuge, 85 partners to summarize each paragraph, as well.
reverydreamlike state, 85 The students should guide their partners by ask-
embellishmentsdecorations, 85 ing, What seems important in this paragraph?
decorumpolite, appropriate behavior, 87
robusthealthy and physically strong, 87
84 UNIT 1 FICTION

with the prevailing hue of the decorations of a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of
the chamber into which it opened. That at the an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were
eastern extremity was hung, for example, in constrained13 to pause, momentarily, in their Teach the Selection
blueand vividly blue were its windows. The performance, to hearken14 to the sound; and
second chamber was purple in its ornaments thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolu- Use Reading Strategies
and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. tions; and there was a brief disconcert of the Visualize Read aloud a portion of
The third was green throughout, and so were whole gay company; and, while the chimes the description of the rooms and ask
the casements.9 The fourth was furnished and of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the students to close their eyes and visual-
lighted with orangethe fifth with whitethe giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and ize. Discuss what images students saw
sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in their minds. Then have students
closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that in confused revery or meditation. But when the read the description on their own.
hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once Encourage them to sketch or create
falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked a rough diagram of the layout of the
material and hue. But in this chamber only, the at each other and smiled as if at their own castle. B
color of the windows failed to correspond with nervousness and folly, and made whispering
the decorations. The panes here were scarleta vows, each to the other, that the next chiming Analyze Literature
deep blood color. Now in no one of the seven of the clock should produce in them no similar Setting Remind students that set-
apartments was there any lamp or candela- emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty ting is often used to create mood, or
brum, amid the profusion of golden ornaments minutes (which embrace three thousand and atmosphere, in a story. Ask them what
that lay scattered to and fro or depended six hundred seconds of the Time that flies), kind of mood Poes elaborate descrip-
from the roof. There was no light of any kind there came yet another chiming of the clock, tion of the setting creates.
emanating from lamp or candle within the suite and then were the same disconcert and tremu- Answer: Possible answers might
of chambers. But in the corridors that followed lousness and meditation as before. include awesome, bizarre, eccentric,
the suite, there stood, opposite to each But, in spite of these things, it was a gay mysterious.
window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier10 of and magnificent revel. The tastes of the duke
fire, that projected its rays through the tinted were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and Analyze Literature
glass and so glaringly illumined the room. And effects. He disregarded the decora15 of mere Symbol Direct students to the
thus were produced a multitude of gaudy and fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his description of the clock, beginning
fantastic appearances. But in the western or conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. at the bottom of the first column
black chamber the effect of the fire-light that There are some who would have thought of this page. Ask students what
streamed upon the dark hangings through the him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It the clock might symbolize, given its
blood-tinted panes was ghastly in the extreme, was necessary to hear and see and touch him to prominence, its color, and the details
and produced so wild a look upon the coun- be sure that he was not. involved in its description. C
tenances of those who entered, that there were He had directed, in great part, the movable Answer: The clock could symbolize the
few of the company bold enough to set foot embellishments of the seven chambers, upon inevitability of death or the passing of
within its precincts at all. time that leads to death.
It was in this apartment, also, that there 9. casements. Windows
10. brazier. Metal pan designed to hold charcoal or coal used for
stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock light and heat
of ebony.11 Its pendulum swung to and fro 11. ebony. Black or dark-colored wood
12. brazen. Brass
with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and
13. constrained. Forced
when the minute-hand made the circuit of the 14. hearken. Listen
face, and the hour was to be stricken, there 15. decora. What is considered suitable or proper
C
came from the brazen12 lungs of the clock a
coun te nance (kaun> t?n @n[t]s or ka1nt> n@n[t]s) n.,
sound which was clear and loud and deep face
and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar dis con cert (dis< k@n s3rt>) v., agitate; fluster

For a firsthand account of life in England during the spread of the plague, you may want to refer
to the Diary of Samuel Pepys. For a fictionalized account of a town that chooses to isolate itself to
stop the spread of the plague, take a look at Geraldine Brooks book Year of Wonders, published in
2002. You might want to choose excerpts from these two accounts to provide students with addi-
tional background on the hysteria that surrounds an epidemic.
The purpose of exploring these epidemics is to get students to think about what would motivate a
person to take extreme measures to avoid catching a fatal and contagious disease.

occasion of this light through the blood-colored panes; and the
great fte;16 and blackness of the sable20 drapery appals; and
Teach the Selection it was his own to him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet,
guiding taste there comes from the near clock of ebony a
Use Reading Skills which had given muffled peal more solemnly emphatic than any
Meaning of Words Point out that character to the which reaches their ears who indulge in the
sometimes Poe uses a familiar word masqueraders. Be more remote gaieties of the other apartments.
in an unusual way. Ask students what sure they were But these other apartments were densely
the word dreams refers to when the grotesque. There crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart
narrator says, To and fro in the seven were much glare of life. And the revel went whirlingly on, until
chambers there stalked, in fact, a mul- and glitter and at length there commenced the sounding of
titude of dreams. Encourage students piquancy17 and midnight upon the clock. And then the music
to use context clues to determine the phantasm18 ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the
meaning. A much of what has waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy
Answer: Poe uses the word dreams to been since seen cessation of all things as before. But now there
refer to the partygoers. Students can in Hernani.19 were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell
come to this conclusion by noticing There were of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps
that the dreams walked around in arabesque figures that more of thought crept, with more of time,
the roomsTo and fro in the seven with unsuited into the meditations of the thoughtful among
chambers. limbs and appointments. There were delirious those who revelled. And thus too, it happened,
fancies such as the madman fashions. There perhaps, that before the last echoes of the last
Use Reading Strategies were much of the beautiful, much of the chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were
Make Inferences Direct students wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the many individuals in the crowd who had found
to the section of the first column on terrible, and not a little of that which might leisure to become aware of the presence of a
this page that describes what people have excited disgust. To and fro in the seven masked figure which had arrested the attention
do when the clock strikes. Ask them to chambers there stalked, in fact, a multitude of no single individual before. And the rumor
infer why everyone is so disturbed by of dreams. And thesethe dreamswrithed of this new presence having spread itself whis-
A
the chiming of the clock. B in and about, taking hue from the rooms, peringly around, there arose at length from the
Answer: The clock might make people and causing the wild music of the orchestra whole company a buzz, or murmur, expressive
nervous because it is loud and a little to seem as the echo of their steps. And, anon, of disapprobation21 and surprisethen, finally,
frightening. People might also be there strikes the ebony clock which stands in of terror, or horror, and of disgust.
aware of something sinister about the hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, In an assembly of phantasms such as I
the clock. Remind students about the B all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the have painted, it may well be supposed that no
symbolic value of the clockthat it clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand. ordinary appearance could have excited such
might symbolize the idea that our But the echoes of the chime die awaythey sensation. In truth the masquerade license of
time on Earth is limited. You may have endured but an instantand a light, the night was nearly unlimited; but the figure in
ask interested students to read John half-subdued laughter floats after them as they
Donnes famous Meditation 17, which depart. And now again the music swells, and
references a bell tolling for a person the dreams live, and writhe to and fro more
16. fte (fet). A large, carefully planned party
who is about to die (Never send to 17. piquancy. In this case, state of being charming
merrily than ever, taking hue from the many- 18. phantasm. In this case, a product of fantasy
know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls 19. Hernani. A drama of 1830 on which an opera known for its
tinted windows through which stream the rays
for thee.) use of color and imagination was based
from the tripods. But to the chamber which 20. sable. Of the color black
lies most westwardly of the seven there are 21. disapprobation. Disapproval
now none of the maskers who venture; for the
wan ton (w0n> t?n) adj., without appropriate restraint or
night is waning away; and there flows a ruddier shame; immoral
86 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Kinesthetic Have students use facial expres-

Auditory Find recordings of waltzes and play sions and body language to act out how the
them for the class. Inform students that the guests reacted when they heard the clock
music could be similar to that played at the chime. Then have them role-play what the
masquerade ball in the story. guests might have said to each other when
Visual Have students sketch how they imag- they heard the clock.
ine the guests of the party reacted to the sound
of the clock chiming. Or, have them sketch how
they visualize the guests in their costumes and
masks.
86 UNIT 1 FICTION

question had out-Heroded Herod,22 and gone also near at hand, and There are chords
beyond the bounds of even the princes indefi- now, with deliberate and in the hearts
nite decorum. There are chords in the hearts stately step, made closer Teach the Selection
of the most reckless which cannot be touched approach to the speaker.
of the most
without emotion. Even with the utterly lost, But from a certain name- reckless which Use Reading Strategies
to whom life and death are equally jests, there less awe with which the cannot be Make Predictions Ask students
are matters of which no jest can be made. The mad assumptions of the touched without what they think will happen to the
whole company, indeed, seemed now deeply mummer had inspired stranger. Model how to make a
to feel that in the costume and bearing of the the whole party,
emotion. prediction by saying, I think Prince
stranger neither wit nor propriety existed. The there were found Prospero wants to kill the stranger, as
figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from none who put forth he draws a dagger. However, given
head to foot in the habiliments23 of the grave. hand to seize him; that the stranger is described as spec-
The mask which concealed the visage was made so that, unimpeded, tral, or ghostlike, I think he will be
so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiff- he passed within a yard able to escape from the prince if he
ened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have of the princes person; wants to.
had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all and, while the vast assembly, as if with
this might have been endured, if not approved, one impulse, shrank from the centres
by the mad revellers around. But the mummer of the rooms to the walls, he made his TEACHING NOTE
had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red way uninterruptedly, but with the same The Writing Is On the Wall
Death. His vesture was dabbled in bloodand solemn and measured step which had distin- Fasten four or five large pieces of paper to walls
his broad brow, with all the features of the face, guished him from the first, through the around the room. Divide students into small
was besprinkled with the scarlet horror. blue chamber to the purplethrough the groups, and assign each group to a piece of
When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon purple to the greenthrough the green to the paper. Ask each group to write on its sheet of
this spectral image (which, with a slow and orangethrough this again to the whiteand paper as many questions about The Masque
solemn movement, as if more fully to sustain its even thence to the violet, ere a decided move- of the Red Death as possible. As a class, deter-
rle, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he ment had been made to arrest him. It was then, mine which questions are recall and which are
was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening higher level. Score one point for each recall
with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; with rage and the shame of his own momentary question and two points for each higher-
but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage. cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six level question. Discuss the higher-level
Who dareshe demanded hoarsely of the chambers, while none followed him on account questions as time allows.
courtiers who stood near himwho dares insult of a deadly terror that had seized upon all. He
us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached,
and unmask himthat we may know whom we in rapid impetuosity, to within three or four feet
have to hang, at sunrise, from the battlements!24 of the retreating figure, when the latter, having
It was in the eastern or blue chamber in attained the extremity of the velvet apartment,
which stood the Prince Prospero as he uttered
these words. They rang throughout the seven 22. out-Heroded Herod. Herod the Great was a ruler who ordered
the death of all boys under two years of age in Bethlehem, hoping
rooms loudly and clearly, for the prince was to kill the baby Jesus. This reference suggests that the stranger has
a bold and robust man, and the music had done something even worse.
become hushed at the waving of his hand. 23. habiliments. Clothes
24. battlements. Elevated platforms of earth or stone with an open
It was in the blue room where stood the space used to protect soldiers
prince, with a group of pale courtiers by his
side. At first, as he spoke, there was a slight spec tral (spek> tr@l) adj., ghostlike
rushing movement of this group in the direc- blas phe mous (blas> f@ m@s) adj., insulting or showing disre-
spect or scorn for God or anything sacred
tion of the intruder, who, at the moment was
/19/07 11:48:25 AM
Critical Thinking
Discussion Guide Ask students to consider Poes theory in

Poe has argued that all the language and broader perspective. Do they agree with
details in a short story should contribute to a the theory? If so, why? If not, why not? Can
unified single effect. students point to any short stories they like
Ask students to test this theory on The that do not conform to Poes requirement?
Masque of the Red Death. Do they agree
that Poes choice of words, the details of
setting, and the sequence of events in the
plot all contribute to a single effect? If so,
how would they describe that effect?

turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. And now was acknowledged the presence of
There was a sharp cryand the dagger dropped the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the
Teach the Selection gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, night. And one by one dropped the revellers in
instantly afterward, fell prostrate in death the the blood-bedewed26 halls of their revel, and died
Some stu- Prince Prospero. Then, summoning the wild each in the despairing posture of his fall. And
W dents may courage of despair, a throng of the revellers at the life of the ebony clock went out with that of
IRRORS argue that once threw themselves into the black apartment, the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods
W INDOWS the wealthy and, seizing the mummer, whose tall figure expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red
and privi- stood erect and motionless within the shadow Death held illimitable dominion27 over all.
eged, jjust
leged, ust like everyone else, have of the ebony clock, gasped in unutterable horror
25. cerements. Strips of cloth used to wrap a dead body and pre-
the right to live their lives as they at finding the grave cerements25 and corpse-like pare it for burial
please. Others may argue that the mask, which they handled with so violent a 26. blood-bedewed. Bedew means to moisten as with dew. In
wealthy and privileged have an rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form. this case, the halls are moistened with blood.
27. dominion. Control
obligation to use their special sta-
&
tus in society to help others.
W
IRRORS Do people of wealth and privilege have a certain responsibility to society, or
Refer to Text
1a. Prince Prosperos friends retreat to W INDOWS should they be free to live as they please?
an abbey and close themselves in

so nobody else can enter.
2a. The seventh room is black in color REFER TO TEXT REASON WITH TEXT

with blood-red stained glass win- 1a. List steps the princes friends take to 1b. Determine why the appearance of a Understand
dows. make themselves safe from the Red stranger under these circumstances Find meaning
3a. Life inside the fortress seems quite Death. would be so alarming.
comfortable and lively. There is 2a. Describe or sketch the seventh room. 2b. Consider what aspects of this story Apply
plenty of food and drink, and the would make it a good chioce for filming. Use information
people celebrate with a party. Use the text to support your opinions.
4a. The narrator comments darkly that 3a. What do you think life is like inside the 3b. Contrast life inside the fortress with Analyze
in Prince Prosperos opinion, The fortress? what is going on outside the fortress. Take things
external world could take care of How else could the prince have dealt apart
itself, adding that security could with the problem of the plague?
be found only inside the abbey, 4a. Quote the narrators comments in the 4b. Evaluate whether the princes plan to Evaluate
since Without [the walls] was the second paragraph of the story about withdraw from the suffering world was Make judgments
life outside the abbey. ethical. Explain your answer.
Red Death.
5a. The prince and all his friends die. 5a. State what happened to the prince and 5b. Write an epilogue, or a conclusion, Create
his friends. to the story from the point of view of Bring ideas
someone who was invited but chose together
Reason with Text not to enter the abbey. In the epilogue,
1b. The appearance of a stranger explain what happened to this person
would be completely unexpected. and why he or she chose not to enter
People would wonder how some- the abbey.
body came in.
2b. The setting is limited, yet vibrant ANALYZE LITERATURE: Setting and Symbol
and dramatic. The many colored In your own words, describe the setting of this story. In what ways is the setting
rooms and costumes would be important to this story? Which elements of the setting of this story are symbols?
visually intriguing. What do they represent?
Analyze Literature
0042-0091_Lit3eG10_U01_2b_RegSel88 88 that was startling in its chime. All the people 11/19/07 11:48:25 AM 0042-0091_Lit3eG
Setting and Symbol The story is set during a are costumed. The setting is important because
plague outbreak in a fortified abbey. The abbey it lends an eerie air to the story and helps build
is vividly decorated in a variety of colors, with suspense. Elements of the setting that serve as
furnishings matching the stained glass window symbols include the clock, which can represent
of each room, except one room that is black death, and the red and black room, which can
with blood-red windows. There is also a clock represent the presence of the Red Death.
88 UNIT 1 FICTION

Informational Text
Connection Teach the Connection
Like the Red Death in Poes story, the Black Death, or bubonic plague, was a rampant killer. Though
many people associate plague with the distant past, it is still a dangerous disease that kills thou- At a Glance
sands of people every year. Luckily, we now have a solid understanding of how this deadly disease Reading Level: Easy
is transmitted and treatments for it. The following Fact Sheet from the Centers for Disease Control Difficulty Consideration: Unfamiliar
and Prevention (CDC) was written to answer common questions about plague. terms
To read the map on page 90, look for a legend, or key. This part of the map will tell you what Ease Factors: Clearly written; visual
the various colors, shadings, styles of lines, and symbols mean. If you are unable to identify the element
states, refer to another map.
Summary
In this fact sheet, the Centers for
Questions and Answers About Plague Disease Control answers questions
A Fact Sheet and Map by the Centers for Disease Control about plague and how it is spread.
The map provides data on where
Q. How is plague transmitted? chills, headache, and extreme exhaustion, and has plague has been reported in the
A. By fleas that become infected with bacteria a history of possible exposure to infected rodents, United States.
Yersinia pestis that cause plague. rabbits, or fleas.
Q. How do people get plague? Q. What is the incubation period for Use Reading Skills
A. By the bite of fleas infected with the plague? Analyze Text Organization To
plague bacteria. A. A person usually becomes ill with bubonic model how to find information in a
Q. What is the basic transmission cycle? plague 2 to 6 days after being infected. When FAQ document, you might say, I see
A. Fleas become infected by feeding on bubonic plague is left untreated, plague bacteria the Qmeans questionand the A
rodents, such as chipmunks, prairie dogs, ground invade the bloodstream. When plague bacteria means answer. All the questions are
squirrels, mice, and other mammals that are multiply in the bloodstream, they spread rapidly in bold print. If I have a specific ques-
infected with the bacteria Yersinia pestis. Fleas throughout the body and cause a severe and often tion about plague, I can skim through
transmit the plague bacteria to humans and other fatal condition. Infection of the lungs with the the questions quickly and then read
mammals during the feeding process. The plague plague bacterium causes the pneumonic form of the answer Im looking for.
bacteria are maintained in the blood systems of plague, a severe respiratory illness. The infected
rodents. person may experience high fever, chills, cough, Use Reading Skills
Q. Could you get plague from another and breathing difficulty, and expel bloody sputum. Interpret Visual Aids Instruct
person? If plague patients are not given specific antibiotic students that to interpret a map,
A. Yes, when the other person has plague therapy, the disease can progress rapidly to death. they first must preview the title and
pneumonia and coughs droplets containing the Q. What is the mortality rate of plague? headings to determine what the map
plague bacteria into air that is breathed by a A. About 14% (1 in 7) of all plague cases in is designed to communicate. They
noninfected person. the United States are fatal. should be sure to notice the year the
Q. What are the signs and symptoms of Q. How many cases of plague occur in map was made or the years from
plague? the U.S.? which the data were drawn to create
A. The typical sign of the most common A. Human plague in the United States the map. Information from ten years
form of human plague is a swollen and very tender has occurred as mostly scattered cases in rural ago may not apply to current condi-
lymph gland, accompanied by pain. The swollen areas (an average of 10 to 20 persons each year). tions.
gland is called a bubo (hence the term bubonic Globally, the World Health Organization reports
plague). Bubonic plague should be suspected 1,000 to 3,000 cases of plague every year.
when a person develops a swollen gland, fever,
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT PLAGUE 89
/19/07 11:48:25 AM

Divide struggling readers into pairs, and Allow students to use a bilingual dictionary to
encourage them to read one question-and- find translations for the following useful medi-
answer grouping at a time. After completing cal terms that appear in this article: bacteria,
one section, pairs should stop and summarize symptoms, incubation period, mortality rate,
what they have read before going on to the diagnose, blood culture, and infection. Students
next question and answer. might benefit from seeing pictures of animals
mentioned in the article, including chipmunks,
squirrels, mice, and rats.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT PLAGUE 89

Reported Human Plague Cases by County: Gentamicin is used when streptomycin is not avail-
U.S., 19701997 able. Tetracyclines and chloramphenicol are also
Teach the Connection effective. Persons who have been in close contact
with a plague patient, particularly a patient with
Refer to Text plague pneumonia, should be identified and evalu-
1a. Plague outbreaks tend to occur in ated. The U.S. Public Health Service requires that
places where housing and sanita- all cases of suspected plague be reported imme-
tion conditions are poor. diately to local and state health departments and
2a. Yes. If the other person has that the diagnosis be confirmed by the CDC. As
plague pneumonia, cough drop- required by the International Health Regulations,
lets containing bacteria can the CDC reports all U.S. plague cases to the World
spread through the air. Health Organization.
3a. Responses will vary. Q. Is the disease seasonal in its
occurrence?
Reason with Text A. No, plague can be acquired at any time
1b. These areas are more likely to during the year.
have rats, and rats and rat fleas Q. Where is plague most common?
carry the disease. A. Look at the map that shows reported cases
2b. Responses will vary. It probably of human plague between 19701997 by patients
makes sense to avoid people who Q. How is plague treated? county of residence. Generally, plague is most
are known to have, or are likely A. According to treatment experts, a patient common in the southwestern states, particularly
to have, the plague until they are diagnosed with suspected plague should be New Mexico and Arizona.
deemed safe. It definitely makes hospitalized and medically isolated. Laboratory Q. Who is at risk for getting plague?
sense to take recommended safety tests should be done, including blood cultures A. Outbreaks in people occur in areas where
precautions. for plague bacteria and microscopic exami- housing and sanitation conditions are poor. These
3b. Responses will vary. nation of lymph gland, blood, and sputum outbreaks can occur in rural communities or in
samples. Antibiotic treatment should begin as cities. They are usually associated with infected
Text TO
Text Connection soon as possible after laboratory specimens are rats and rat fleas that live in the home.
Responses will vary. If the people taken. Streptomycin is the antibiotic of choice.
in the story knew how plague was
spread, they probably wouldnt have

been as afraid, but they still might
have barricaded themselves off from 1a. In what kinds of places in the United 1b. Why are outbreaks probably more Understand
others, since the disease can be States do plague outbreaks occur? common in these areas? Find meaning
spread by coughing. The story sug- 2a. Can you get plague from another 2b. Would it be reasonable to avoid people Apply
gests that people fear the unknown person? Why or why not? you thought might have the plague? Use information
and try to hide from it. Explain.
3a. What additional questions do you have 3b. How would you evaluate the infor- Evaluate
about plague? mation provided about plague by Make judgments
the CDC? Support your answer with
evidence from the text.
TO
How might the information in this selection have helped the people in The
Masque of the Red Death? What does The Masque of the Red Death tell
us about how people deal with the unknown?
90 UNIT 1 FICTION
90 UNIT 1 FICTION

EXTEND THE TEXT
Writing Options on pages 8485 is quite complex and can be difficult
Creative Writing Write the invitation Prince Prospero to visualize. With a partner, read the description again Rubrics for Writing
might have used to ask his thousand friends to the and create a map of the fortress. Use an overhead Options
fortress. Think about the mood that Prince Prospero perspective. Once you have established the layout of
the rooms, color and furnish them as they are described
For writing rubrics and student models
wanted to create at his fortress and consider his sense
of style. Keep these in mind as you choose your wording. in the story. When you are finished, compare your map of the Writing Options assignments in
Once you have finished the writing, choose appropriate with the maps of other pairs to see if you depicted the the Extend the Text section, go to
paper, fonts, and art to complete the invitation. fortress in the same way. www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
Descriptive Writing For an audience of interested Lifelong Learning
classmates, write a descriptive paragraph about a Research an Epidemic Use the Internet, books, news- Collaborative Learning
setting of your choice. Think of a fascinating place that papers, and magazines to research a current epidemic.
Find out where the disease is most prevalent, how it
You might suggest that before stu-
is relatively smallfor example, a building, house, park,
farm, or museum rather than a country or planet. Try to spreads, what the symptoms are, and who is most at dents begin to create their maps, they
include significant details that reveal something about risk. Using the information you have gathered, create a revisit the story and make notes about
the individuals that inhabit the setting. Freewriting about Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document about the the paragraphs containing specific,
the place or creating a Sensory Details Chart can help you disease. Use the CDCs document about plague as a descriptive details about the seven
gather ideas. Try to create a specific mood through your model. Use language that is easy for a general audience
to understand, and include maps and other graphics as
chambers.
description.
necessary.
Collaborative Learning W
Make a Map The detailed description of the fortress W Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more.
READING ASSESSMENT
1. At the beginning of the party, how did the scene inside A. The severity of plague outbreaks in the
the abbey contrast with the scene outside the abbey? contemporary United States is similar to the
A. Inside was lavish entertainment, while outside severity of the Red Death outbreak.
death ran rampant. B. The severity of plague outbreaks in the
B. Inside was beautifully decorated, while outside contemporary United States far exceeds the
was filled with simple dwellings. severity of the Red Death outbreak.
C. Inside people worried about the plague, while C. Plague outbreaks in the contemporary United
outside they were beyond concern. States are rare and scattered, whereas plague
D. Inside people worked for a cure, while outside ran rampant in Poes story.
people died like flies. D. Plague is fairly common in the contemporary
E. Inside people fearlessly enjoyed each United States, but not nearly as severe as in
others company, while outside, people were Poes story.
constantly shunned for fear of plague. E. In neither case is the disease common.
2. How were Prince Prospero and his friends different 4. Which of the following words best describes the
from other people? prince in Poes story?
A. They escaped the Red Death by carefully A. sagacious
putting themselves out of its reach. B. blasphemous
B. They were immune to the Red Death. C. dauntless
C. They survived the Red Death. D. spectral
D. They faced the Red Death fearlessly. E. eccentric
E. None of the above
5. Describe the setting of The Masque of the Red
3. Which statement most accurately compares severity Death. Explain how the setting contributed to the
of plague outbreaks in the contemporary United mood of the story.
States to the spread of the Red Death in Poes story?
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH / QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT PLAGUE 91

1. A
2. Model for students how to think aloud by say-
ing, Prince Prospero and his friends did not
escape the Red Death, nor were they immune
to it. This rules out answers A, B, and C. The
fact that they locked themselves away proves
that that were afraid, which means answer D
is incorrect. The only correct answer is E.
3. C
4. E
5. Responses will vary.
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH / QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT PLAGUE 91

VOCABULARY & SPELLING
Teach the Workshop
Objectives
Participating in this lesson will enable Idioms, Metaphors, and Similes actual subject, or the tenor of the metaphor, and the
students to thing to which the subject is likened, or the vehicle of
An idiom is an expression that cant be understood
understand the concept of how the metaphor. To interpret a metaphor, identify the
from the meanings of its separate words but must
idioms, metaphors, and similes con- tenor and vehicle and determine what the two have
be learned as a whole. Idioms are often confusing to
in common.
tribute to vocabulary development. people who are learning a new language or even to
review terms relevant to idioms, people who stumble across an unfamiliar idiom. EXAMPLE
metaphors, and similes. Prince Prospero bent over backwards to make
EXAMPLE
practice the concept by completing sure his guests were comfortable.
Prince Prospero was tickled pink by the idea of
skill exercises. a costume party. In this example, the idiom bent over backwards
apply the concept to extension means was extremely helpful. This idiom is also a
The phrase tickled pink is an idiom. Nobody actu-
activities. metaphor, where a person being helpful is compared
ally tickled Prince Prospero, nor did he turn pink.
to a very flexible person doing a backbend. Review
Do you see how idioms can be confusing? What
the list of idioms listed in the first column. Which
Launch the Lesson this idiom actually means is Prince Prospero was
are based on metaphors? What two things are being
At the start of the lesson, write the delighted by the idea of a costume party.
compared in each?
following sentence on the board: Look at the list of idioms below. How many do you
Prince Prospero was tickled pink by A simile uses like or as to make a comparison. Like a
understand?
the idea of a costume party. metaphor, it can be broken into a tenor and vehicle.
all thumbs cost an arm and
Ask students if they know what this EXAMPLE
asleep at the a leg
expression means, or can guess it People were dropping like flies.
wheel down the line
from the context. Then explain that back out fill someone in The sentence above contains the simile dropping like
this expression is an idiom, an expres- bank on some- from the get-go flies. The tenor is people, and the vehicle is flies.
sion that cannot be understood from thing/someone heavy-handed The simile means that people were dying quickly.
the meanings of its separate words. beat someone to in the red Figurative language, including idioms, similes, and
Have students open their books and the punch jump at the metaphors, is meant to be understood imaginatively.
look at the list of idioms on page 92. bee in your bonnet chance To understand idioms, similes, or metaphors, you may
How many can they understand? How bend over back- know the ropes need to use context clues.
might the expressions be misunder- wards let sleeping dogs
beside ones self lie
stood? REVIEW TERMS
beyond the pale like nobodys
bite the bullet business idiom: an expression that cant be understood
bring the house off the wall from the meanings of its separate words but
down on your own must be learned as a whole
bury the hatchet pig in a poke metaphor: a figure of speech in which one
caught dead thing is spoken or written of as if it were
another
Often, idioms are based on metaphors. A metaphor simile: a figure of speech that uses like or as
is a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken or to make a comparison
written of as if it were another. This figure of speech
invites the reader to make a comparison between the
two things involved. The two things are the writers
92 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
0092-0129_Lit3eG10_U01_2c_RegSel92 92 KEY TERMS 11/19/07 11:56:52 AM 0092-0129_Lit3eG
IDIOM, 92
Teaching Words METAPHOR, 92
profuse, 93
SIMILE, 92
ruddy, 93
disconcerting, 93
affixes, 93
92 UNIT 1 FICTION
0092-0129_Lit3eG10_U01_2c_ATE.indd 92 5/1/08 3:00:15 PM

Teach the Workshop
Apply the Skill
Exercise A 1. Although the idea was quite disconcerting, the Exercise A
Copy the following sentences onto your own paper. prince had to bite the bullet and realize that he 1. Profuse as water during the spring
Underline any idioms, similes, or metaphors. Write I, could not hide from the Red Death.
thaw, blood poured from the vic-
S, or M to identify each phrase or clause. A. Although the idea was quite appealing, the
prince had to accept the truth that he could tims. S
1. Profuse as water during the spring thaw, blood 2. They had no fool for a leader, but
not hide from the Red Death.
poured from the victims. rather one sagacious as an owl. S
B. Although the idea was quite upsetting to him,
2. They had no fool for a leader, but rather one 3. The Prince had some eccentric, off-
the prince had to accept the truth that he
sagacious as an owl.
could not hide from the Red Death. the-wall ideas about decorating. I
3. The prince had some eccentric, off-the-wall ideas
C. Although the idea was quite disturbing to 4. Upon seeing the newcomer, the
about decorating.
him, the prince ignored the fact that he could princes usually ruddy countenance
4. Upon seeing the newcomer, the princes usually
not hide from the Red Death. turned to snow. M
ruddy countenance turned to snow.
5. Death is a powerful king whose dominion 2. The spectral hand gently brushed his cheek and 5. Death is a powerful king whose
extends to all who walk the earth. felt like a cool breeze drifting across his face. dominion extends to all who walk
A. The ghostly hand gently brushed his cheek the earth. M
Exercise B and felt like a gentle breeze blowing across
Since idioms are often confusing for people who are his face. Exercise B
new to the English language to learn, something B. The gnarled hand gently brushed his cheek and Responses will vary.
that might be helpful is an illustration. Using the felt like a gentle breeze blowing across his face.
list of idioms on page 92, choose five and create C. The soft hand gently brushed his cheek and felt Exercise C
illustrations for them. The illustrations should get at like a gentle breeze blowing across his face. Responses will vary.
what the idiom means figuratively instead of literally.
Below each illustration, write a brief explanation of Exercise D
the idiom. For example, if you were going to illustrate 1. B
SPELLING PRACTICE 2. B
the idiom tickled pink, you would draw a picture of
someone looking very happy and pleased. Below the Words with Double Letters
picture, you would write, To be tickled pink is to be Words with double letters can pose a spelling chal-
happy or pleased. lenge because you may hear only one occurrence of the
letters sound. To prevent spelling mistakes for these Language Arts Handbook 2.7,
Exercise C words, you will need to memorize how the words look. Spelling, for additional instruction
Choose one of the stories in this unit to either reread For some words, the doubling is caused by a prefix or on spelling patterns and commonly
or read for the first time. As you read, keep a list of suffix being added, such as in the word misspell. Try to misspelled words.
all the similes, metaphors, and idioms that you find. figure out which words have doubling caused by affixes.
Then, choose any five of the similes, metaphors, or This list of words from Masque of the Red Death gives
idioms and use them in a poem. The poem can be examples of words with double letters.
about any subject matter, but it should create a mood
accordance commenced exceedingly
similar to that of The Masque of the Red Death.
appearance correspond necessary
Exercise D appliance corridors revellers
Following are sentences that use vocabulary words approached disapprobation summoned
and idioms, metaphors, and similes. Choose the letter assumptions dizziness uninterruptedly
of the sentence that most nearly means the same as bizarre eccentric
the original sentence. cessation embellishments
VOCABULARY & SPELLING 93
/19/07 11:56:52 AM
Program Resources

Idioms, Metaphors, and Similes in the
Exceeding the Standards: Vocabulary &
Spelling resource.
VOCABULARY & SPELLING 93

Two Friends
A Short Story by Guy de Maupassant
At a Glance
Directed Reading BUILD BACKGROUND USE READING SKILLS
Reading Level: Moderate Literary Context Two Friends is the story of two men trying to lead Sequence of Events Sequence
Difficulty Considerations: normal lives in Paris while their country is at war and their city is under siege. refers to the order in which
The selection is an example of a literary style called Naturalism, which was things happen. As you read Two
Vocabulary; French names; irony;
DIRECTED READING
popular in the early twentieth century. Naturalists saw actions and events as Friends, take notes on the key
historical elements resulting inevitably from biological or environmental forces rather than from events in the story. An effective
Ease Factors: Dialogue; subject free will. Closely observed details, a lack of emotion, and accurate historical way to organize this information
background are three characteristics that mark the work of Maupassant and is by creating a Sequence Map.
other Naturalist writers. Watch for these characteristics as you read. A Sequence Map uses pictures
Objectives and captions to record key events.
Studying this lesson will enable stu- Readers Context When have you taken a risk to do something that you
Each picture is in a box connected
dents to truly wanted to do? Was the risk worth it?
by arrows to show sequence.
understand how the selection is an
example of Naturalism. ANALYZE LITERATURE: Mood and Irony
read, interpret, analyze, and evalu- Mood, or the emotion created in the reader by part or
ate a short story about two friends all of a literary work, is often closely tied to a storys
who risk going fishing in a war zone. setting. In Two Friends, details of the setting, such as
the time of year, the conditions under which the charac-
define mood and irony and recog- ters live, and the landscape affect the mood. Two friends
nize the use of these literary ele- go fishing in a
ments in the selection. Maupassant was known for his use of irony, or the
difference between appearance and reality. Dramatic war zone.
use the skill of identifying the irony occurs when something is known by the reader or audience but
sequence of events to understand a unknown to the characters; verbal irony occurs when a character says one PREVIEW VOCABULARY
short story. thing but means another; and irony of situation occurs when an event
write a screenplay and a persuasive violates the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience. Use the context clues in the
sentences below to figure out
essay. the meanings of the underlined
present on Naturalism and create a SET PURPOSE words from the selection.
flier. Read the Build Background section above. As you read Two Friends, 1. Carla was fanatical about the
practice reading assessment by determine why the story is a good example of Naturalism. Consider how roller coaster; she rode it at
answering multiple-choice and Maupassants use of mood and irony are related to the Naturalist style. least twenty times.
2. After he returned from the
short-answer questions about the war, Byron became pensive
selection. MEET THE AUTHOR
and lost in thought.
Guy de Maupassant (18501893) was born in 3. Jamal was about to indulge in
Normandy, France. After joining the French army a pint of ice cream when he
Launch the Lesson and fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, Maupassant remembered that he was trying
Have student work in small groups to moved to Paris, where he met many writers and to lose weight for wrestling.
discuss friendship. Ask them first to began to write himself. Maupassant was greatly 4. After a five-mile hike in the
create a top-ten list of the things they influenced by Naturalism. Rejecting Romanticism, scorching sun, the hikers found
value most in their friendships. Follow which valued emotion and the imagination over reason, respite in the cool lake.
Naturalist writers sought to portray human beings 5. Gina was unperturbed by
up by asking why some friendships and the society in which they lived as truth- her friends teasing; she liked
last while others dont. fully as possible. Maupassant wrote six novels Tony so much that her friends
and more than three hundred short stories. He opinions didnt matter.
is widely considered to be the greatest French
Refer to page 1032 of the writer of short stories.
tion on recognizing sequence of 94 UNIT 1 FICTION
events.
0092-0129_Lit3eG10_U01.indd 94
CONTEXT, 94
Preview Selection Teaching MOOD, 94
Vocabulary Words Words IRONY, 94
fanatical, 96 dejectedly, 95 siege, 94 SEQUENCE, 94
rejuvenated, 97 eccentric, 98 inevitably, 94 CONTEXT CLUES, 94
pensive, 97 looting, 98 refute, 103 GENERALIZE, 102
atrocity, 98
indulge, 99
respite, 100
unperturbed, 102
94 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
Two
Friends
Summary
In this story, two old fishing buddies
meet on the streets of Paris during
the siege that occurred in the Franco-
Prussian War. The men get permis-
A Short Story by sion to go fishing at their favorite
Guy de Maupassant spot outside the city, despite the fact
that the city is surrounded by enemy
troops. Because they are uneasy about
going into enemy territory, the men
joke about how, if they are caught,
they will give the Prussians some fish
to fry. Ironically, they are captured
by the Prussians and executed. The
Prussians then fry and eat the fish the
two friends caught.
W The Mirrors
IRRORS & Windows
The Marshes of Arleux, 1871. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.
W INDOWS questions
aatt tthe
oonn th he theme of taking risks in a
the
Its too bad for you that youve dangerous time. Ask students to
imagine what it would be like if
fallen into my hands. But war is war. they had to risk their lives every
time they stepped out the door.
P aris was under siege,1 in the grip of famine,

at its last gasp. There were few sparrows
on the rooftops now, and even the sewers were A
Sauvage, whom he had got to know on fishing
expeditions.
Every Sunday before the war it was Analyze Literature
losing some of their inhabitants. The fact is Morissots custom to set off at the crack of Mood The first paragraph of the
that people were eating anything they could get dawn with his bamboo rod in his hand and a selection introduces war-torn Paris as
their hands on. tin box slung over his back. He would catch the setting. Ask students to identify
One bright January morning Monsieur the Argenteuil train and get off at Colombes, the images created by the first para-
Morissot was strolling dejectedly along one of from where he would walk to the island of graph. Then ask students to describe
the outer boulevards, with an empty stomach Marante. The minute he reached this land of the mood created by the images. A
and his hands in the pockets of his old army his dreams he would start to fishand he
trousers. He was a watchmaker by trade and a would go on fishing till it got dark.
man who liked to make the most of his leisure.
Suddenly, he came upon one of his close
friends, and he stopped short. It was Monsieur 1. siege. Cutoff of supplies by an enemy military force
TWO FRIENDS 95
/19/08 10:21:56 AM
Program Resources

E-Lesson Planner
Developing Readers, Historical Context Project
ExamView
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows
TWO FRIENDS 95

Teach the Selection
Use Reading Skills
Sequence of Events Point out
to students that Maupassant uses
a flashback on page 95 to lay the
groundwork for the strong friendship
between Morissot and Sauvage. Direct
students attention to the paragraph
on the first page of the story begin-
ning, Every Sunday before the war.
The flashback continues until the
paragraph beginning, As soon as
the two friends had recognized each
other. Remind students that flash-
backs interrupt sequence to provide
information.
Critical Viewing
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
(17961875) painted The Marshes
of Arleux (page 95) during the
time of the Franco-Prussian War
(18701871), the same time depict-
ed in Two Friends. Corot painted the
picture when he, like the characters
in the story, went to the country to
escape war-torn Paris. Corot was the
most popular landscape painter of his
time, and many of the next genera-
tion of French artists, especially the
Impressionists, were influenced by his
approach. From Corots example they
learned to get out of the studio and
paint directly from nature. His paint- Parisians waiting in line for food during the siege.
ings are simple, uncluttered composi- And it was here, every Sunday, that he There were some days when they hardly
tions full of natural light, with thin, met a tubby, jolly little man by the name of spoke to each other. On other occasions they
gauzy applications of paint.
Sauvage. He was a haberdasher2 from the Rue would chat all the time. But they understood
Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, and as fanatical an
angler3 as Morissot himself. They often spent 2. haberdasher. Seller of clothing, usually mens
3. angler. Person who fishes
half the day sitting side by side, rod in hand,
with their feet dangling over the water. And fa nat ic al (f@ na> ti k@l) adj., interested to the point of
they had become firm friends. obsession
96 UNIT 1 FICTION

0092-0129_Lit3eG10_U01_2c_RegSel96 96 11/19/07 11:57:09 AM 0092-0129_Lit3eG
History billion dollars in three years time. The French

When Paris was under siege during the Franco- refused to disarm, resulting in the second siege
Prussian War (18701871), French leader of Paris. Paris fell once again. Although they
Lon Gambetta escaped from Paris in a hot- were never forced to pay the enormous sum
air balloon to organize the French people in of money, the French remained hostile toward
outlying provinces to drive the Germans out of Germany for years to come. The Franco-Prussian
France. After the French government regrouped, War allowed for further German imperialism
however, it was forced to cede the territories in the next century, contributing to the events
of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany, and the that fueled the beginning of World War I.
French were told they had to pay Germany one
96 UNIT 1 FICTION

each other perfectly without Its better than walking down the boule-
needing to exchange any vards, eh?
words, because their tastes As soon as the two friends had recog- Teach the Selection
were so alike and their feel- nized each other, they shook hands warmly,
ings identical. feeling quite emotional over the fact that they Literary Analysis
On spring mornings had come across each other in such different Irony Give the following examples
at about ten oclock, when circumstances. Monsieur Sauvage gave a sigh of the types of irony. Dramatic irony:
the rejuvenated sun sent and remarked: A character on a sitcom is saying
floating over the river that What a lot has happened since we last something unkind about another char-
light mist which moves met! acter. The audience knows, though
along with the current, Morissot, in mournful tones, lamented: the speaker does not, that this other
warming the backs of the And what awful weather weve been character is in the next room listen-
two enthusiastic fishermen having! This is the first fine day of the year. ing. Verbal irony: Someone says, Oh,
with the welcome glow of a And, indeed, the sky was a cloudless blue, great! to mean that something is
new season, Morissot would brilliant with light. terrible. Irony of situation: A man
say to his neighbor: They started to walk on together side by avoids going to a particular restaurant
Ah! Its grand here, side, pensive and melancholy. Then Morissot to avoid seeing someone who nearly
isnt it? said: always eats there; he walks into a new
And Monsieur Sauvage And what about those fishing trips, eh? restaurant and sees the same person
would reply: Theres something worth remembering! he was trying to avoid.
Theres nothing I like When shall we be able to get back to it?
better. mused Monsieur Sauvage. Use Reading Strategies
This simple exchange They went into a little caf and drank a Visualize Have students compare
of words was all that was glass of absinthe.4 Then they resumed their and contrast images of the fishing
needed for them to under- stroll along the boulevards. hole in spring and autumn. Then,
stand each other and Morissot suddenly stopped and said: have students sketch a picture of the
confirm their mutual appre- What about another glass of the green mens fishing spot.
ciation. stuff, eh?
In the autumn towards Just as you wish, consented Monsieur
the close of day, when the Sauvage, and they went into a second bar. TEACHING NOTE
sky was blood-red and When they came out they both felt very French Pronunciations
the water reflected strange fuzzy, as people do when they drink alcohol on Provide students with the correct pronunciations
shapes of scarlet clouds an empty stomach. The weather was very mild. of the French words and names:
which reddened the whole A gentle breeze caressed their faces. Monsieur Morissot (m@s y3[r]> m9 r7 s9>)
river, and the glowing sun Monsieur Sauvage, who felt even more Argenteuil (5r< zhe[n] t6> y@)
set the distant horizon fuddled5 in this warm air, stopped and said: Colombes (k@ l9[m]b>)
ablaze, making the two friends look as though What about it, then? Shall we go? Monsieur Sauvage (m@s y3[r]> s9 v5zh>)
they were on fire, and touching with gold the Go where? Rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette (r2 n0> tr@ d5m d@
russet leaves which were already trembling Fishing! l0 ret>)
with a wintry shudder, Monsieur Sauvage
would turn to Morissot with a smile and say: 4. absinthe. Green, licorice-flavored alcoholic beverage
What a marvelous sight! 5. fuddled. Confused
And Morissot, equally taken up with the
re ju ve nat ed (ri j2> v@ n6t< @d) adj., renewed; made
wonder of it all, but not taking his eyes off his young again
float, would answer: pen sive (pen[t]> siv) adj., thoughtful
TWO FRIENDS 97
/19/07 11:57:09 AM

Have students stop at the end of each page The village of Argenteuil on the River Seine is
and jot down a few sentences describing what closely connected to the Impressionist paintings
happened on that page. The final result should of Claude Monet (18401926). Encourage
be a summary of the story. If any part of the students to use Internet or library resources to
story remains unclear, have students go back locate some of these pictures. Have students
and reread the problem passages with assis- bring reproductions to class and organize a dis-
tance from a peer or you. cussion of the mood created by each work.
TWO FRIENDS 97

History and dead. The hills of
Orgemont and Sannois domi-
Teach the Selection Connection nated the horizon, and the
great plain which stretches as
Analyze Literature far as Nanterre was empty,
Mood Have students read the completely empty, with
description of the Prussians in the nothing to be seen but its
paragraph beginning with The leafless cherry trees and gray
Prussians! Ask students how the fact earth.
that the Prussians are invisible con- Pointing towards the high
tributes to the mood of the story. A ground Monsieur Sauvage
Answer: Students may say that the muttered:
Prussians being invisible adds a feel- The Prussians are up
ing of nervousness or apprehension there.
The Franco-Prussian War In the mid-1800s, many small countries
to the story because one never knows And as the two friends
united into an increasingly large Prussia, which would eventually become
when or where the Prussians will Germany. As Prussia grew in power and influence, Napoleon, the emperor gazed at the deserted country-
surface. of neighboring France, grew nervous. In July 1870, Napoleon declared side, they felt almost paralyzed
war on Prussia, and the Franco-Prussian War began. By September, the by the sense of uneasiness
German troops had captured Napoleon and won several crucial victories.
Use Reading Strategies They then surrounded the French capital, Paris, hoping to starve and
which was creeping through
Make Inferences Direct students to frighten the citizens into surrender. Two Friends is set in the period them.
Sauvages response to Morrisots con- during which Paris was under siege. The Prussians! They had
cern about running into the Prussians: never so much as set eyes
Oh, well just offer them some nice But where can we go? on them, but for four months now they had
fish to fry! Then ask the following: To our island, of course. The French front- been aware of their presence on the outskirts
What can you infer about Sauvages line is near Colombes. I know the colonel in of Paris, occupying part of France, looting,
character from his response? B A
commandfellow called Dumoulin. Im sure committing atrocities, reducing people to star-
Answer: Students may suggest that wed have no trouble in getting through. vationthe invisible yet all-powerful Prussians.
Sauvage is someone who makes jokes Morrisot began to quiver with excitement. As they thought of them, a kind of supersti-
to lighten the mood. Right! he said. Im your man! tious dread was added to their natural hatred
And the two friends separated and went off for this unknown, victorious race.
to get their fishing tackle. What if we should happen to run into
An hour later they were striding down the some of them? said Morissot nervously.
main road together. They reached the villa in Monsieur Sauvage gave the sort of reply
which the colonel had set up his headquarters. which showed that cheerful Parisian banter
When he heard their request, he smiled at their survived in spite of everything.
eccentric enthusiasm but gave them permis- Oh, well just offer them some nice fish to
B
sion. They set off once again, armed with an fry!
official pass. Even so, they were so worried by the
They soon crossed the frontline, then went silence of the surrounding countryside that
through Colombes, which had been evacuated, they hesitated about going any further.
and now found themselves on the fringe of the
area of vineyards which rise in terraces6 above
the Seine. It was about eleven oclock. 6. terraces. Flat areas formed on a slope and used to grow plants
On the opposite bank they could see the
village of Argenteuil, which looked deserted a troc i ty (@ tr5> s@ t7) n., cruel, horrible act
98 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Visual Share some pictures of the French

Auditory In order to help audio learners stay countryside with students to give them an idea
interested in the story, read the story aloud of the scene the two friends saw. In addition,
as a class, allowing each student to read one you may locate more visual images depicting
paragraph in turn. Encourage students to read the Franco-Prussian War to share with students
slowly and with expression. All others should to help them connect with the story.
read along as they listen.
98 UNIT 1 FICTION

hook. This really was a miraculous draft of
And as the two friends fishes.
gazed at the deserted
They carefully placed each fish into a fine- Teach the Selection
meshed net which was suspended in the water
countryside, they felt at their feet. And as they did so they were Analyze Literature
overcome by a delightful sense of joy, the kind Mood The rumbling from Mont
almost paralyzed of joy you only experience when you resume Valrien makes a definite impression
something you really love after being deprived on the mood of the two friends.
by the sense of of it for a long time. How might this use of sound effects
A kindly sun was shedding its warmth by Maupassant function as foreshad-
uneasiness which was across their backs. They were so absorbed that owing?
they no longer heard, or thought, or paid the Answer: It may indicate coming evil.
creeping through them. least attention to the outside world. What did
anything matter now? They were fishing!
But suddenly, the bank beneath them
It was Monsieur Sauvage who finally made shook with a dull rumble which seemed to TEACHING NOTE
up his mind. come from underground.
Come on! he said. Well go onbut we The distant cannons were starting to fire Fishing
must keep a sharp lookout! again. Ask students who know something about river
And they scrambled down the slope of one Morissot turned his head, and above the fishing to describe the type of tackle and
of the vineyards, bent double, crawling on their bank, over to the left, he saw the great bulk equipment that is typically used. Students who
hands and knees, taking advantage of the cover of Mont Valrien. On the mountainside was fish may explain why they enjoy the sport.
afforded by the vines, keeping their eyes wide a white plume of smoke, showing where the
open and their ears on the alert. gunpowder had just bellowed out.
All that now separated them from the river- Almost immediately another jet of smoke
bank was a strip of open ground. They ran spurted from the fort on the summit, and a few
across it, and as soon as they reached the river, seconds later the rumble of another detonation
they crouched amongst the dry rushes. reached their ears.
Morissot pressed his ear to the ground to Other cannon shots followed, and every
see if he could detect the sound of marching now and then the mountain spat out its deadly
feet. He could hear nothing. They were alone, breath, exhaled its clouds of milky vapor,
completely alone. which rose slowly into the calm sky above.
They told each other there was nothing to There they go again! said Monsieur
worry about, and started to fish. Sauvage with a shrug of his shoulders.
Opposite them the deserted island of Morissot, who was anxiously watching the
Marante concealed them from the other bank. feather on his float as it bobbed up and down,
The little building which once housed the was suddenly filled with the anger of a peace-
restaurant was closed and shuttered, and loving man for these maniacs who indulge in
looked as though it had been abandoned for fighting.
years. Theyve got to be really stupid, he
It was Monsieur Sauvage who caught the growled, to go on killing each other like that!
first fisha gudgeon. Morissot caught the Theyre worse than animals, said
second, and then, almost without a pause, they Monsieur Sauvage.
jerked up their rods time after time to find a
little silvery creature wriggling away on the in dulge (in dulj>) v., take pleasure freely
TWO FRIENDS 99
/19/07 11:57:10 AM
Science
Valerian is an herb used to treat anxiety and insom-
nia. It is supposed to have a relaxing effect on the
body. Assuming Maupassant was aware of this, why
might he have set his story in the very shadow of
Mont Valrien? What paradox is created by the name
of the mountain and the events in the story? How
does this paradox of setting affect the storys theme?
TWO FRIENDS 99

But at that moment they
both gave a start, scared
Teach the Selection by the feeling that some-
body had been walking just
Use Reading Strategies behind them. They looked
Make Predictions Ask students round and saw standing
what they predict will happen next above them four men, four
in the story now that the Prussians tall, bearded men, armed
have caught the men. What does the to the teeth, dressed like
Prussian officer say he has every right liveried9 footmen, with
to do to the men, and why? What flat military caps on their
does he demand from them? headsand rifles which they
were pointing straight at the
Critical Thinking two friends.
Discussion Guide Direct students The fishing rods dropped
to the dialogue beginning at the bot- from their hands and went
tom of page 99 and continuing on floating down the river.
page 100. In this dialogue, the two Morissot, who had just caught another fish, In a matter of seconds they were seized,
friends are arguing about politics. One called out: tied up, hustled along, thrown into a boat and
thing they agree on is that mankind And itll never be any different so long as carried across to the island.
will never be free. Divide students we have governments! Behind the building which they had
into groups and ask each group to Oh, no, disagreed Monsieur Sauvage. thought deserted they saw a group of about
decide if it agrees or disagrees with The Republic7 would never have declared twenty German soldiers.
this opinion and why. war A sort of hairy giant who was sitting astride
Look! interrupted Morissot. Under kings a chair and smoking a large clay pipe asked
you have war against other countries. Under them in excellent French:
TEACHING NOTE republican governments you have civil war. Well, messieurs, did the fishing go well?
Student-Generated Questions And they began to argue, in a calm and One of the soldiers placed at the officers
Divide the class into pairs, and have each pair friendly way, sorting out all the worlds great feet the net full of fish which he had been
reread Two Friends together. Tell the pairs to political problems with the commonsense careful to bring along. The Prussian smiled and
stop at the end of every section or page and approach of mild and reasonable men. On said:
write down questions they have about the text. one point they were in absolute agreement: Well, well! I can see you didnt do badly
Ask the pairs to share some of their questions mankind would never be free. And as they at all! But I have to deal with a very different
with the class. Discuss possible answers as a talked, Mont Valrien went thundering on matter. Now, listen to me carefully, and dont
class. without respite, demolishing French homes get alarmed As far as I am concerned you are
with its cannonades,8 pounding lives to dust, a couple of spies sent out here to keep an eye
crushing human beings to pulp, putting an end on me. Ive caught you and Ive every right to
to so many dreams, to so many long-awaited shoot you. You were obviously pretending to
joys, so much long-expected happiness, tearing
into the hearts of all those wives and daugh-
ters and mothers with pain and suffering that 7. The Republic. Representative government that ruled France
from 1848 to 1852, before Napoleons rise to power
would never be eased. 8. cannonades. Constant shooting of cannons
Such is life, said Monsieur Sauvage. 9. liveried. In uniform
Better to call it death, laughed Morissot.
res pite (res> p@t) n., rest or temporary relief
100 UNIT 1 FICTION
Reading Proficiency phrases, such as gunpowder (page 99), fort on

Stop students at the end of the page to discuss the summit (page 99), detonation (page 99),
what has just happened. Ask them to make pre- footmen (page 100), and rifles (page 100).
dictions about the outcome of the encounter Additionally, have the students compare the
with the Prussians. actions of the men to the warfare going on
around them. Ask them why they think the men
English Language Learning continue fishing.
Stop students and discuss with them the termi-
nology used to describe war. Make sure they
understand less commonly used words and
100 UNIT 1 FICTION

fish as a cover for your real purposes. Its too Monsieur Sauvage said nothing.
bad for you that youve fallen into my hands. So they were pushed together again, side
But war is warNow, since youve come out by side. Teach the Selection
here past your own lines, youre bound to have It was then that Morissot happened to
a password so you can get back. Just give me glance down at the net full of gudgeon which Use Reading Strategies
that password and Ill spare your lives. was lying in the grass a few yards away. Ask Questions Encourage students
The two friends, ghastly pale, stood there A ray of sunlight fell on the heap of glit- to use sticky notes to write down
side by side with their hands trembling. They tering fish, which were still quivering with questions they have as they read.
said nothing. life. As he looked at them he felt a momentary You can model how to ask ques-
Nobody will ever get to know about weakness. In spite of his efforts to hold them tions by saying, As I read about the
it, continued the officer. You will go back back, tears filled his eyes. capture of the two friends, I wonder
without any trouble, and the secret will go with Farewell, Monsieur Sauvage, he why neither of them says anything to
youIf you refuse to cooperate, youll die mumbled. defend themselves. Why dont they
straight away. So take your choice! And Monsieur Sauvage replied: tell the Prussians they dont have a
They stood there motionless, keeping their Farewell, Monsieur Morissot. password?
mouths firmly shut. They shook hands, trembling uncontrol-
The Prussian, who was still quite calm, lably from head to foot. Critical Thinking
pointed in the direction of the river and said: Fire! shouted the officer. Discussion Guide Communing with
Just think! In five minutes youll be at the Twelve shots rang out simultaneously. nature is an important feature of the
bottom of that river. In five minutes! You must Monsieur Sauvage fell like a log onto his pleasure that Morissot and Sauvage
have families. Think of them! face. Morissot, who was taller, swayed, spun take in their fishing excursions.
The rumbling of the cannon was still round, then collapsed on top of his friend, with Discuss the following with students:
coming from Mont Valrien. his face staring up at the sky and the blood Ask students to identify details in
The two fishermen simply stood there, welling from where his coat had been burst the story that signal the satisfac-
refusing to speak. The German now gave some open across his chest. tion the two friends take in nature:
orders in his own language. Then he moved The German shouted out more orders. His for example, details about the river,
his chair some distance away from the pris- men went off and came back with some lengths the sky, the suns warmth, and the
oners. Twelve men marched up and formed a of rope and a few heavy stones which they weather.
line twenty yards from them with their rifles at fastened to the feet of the two bodies. Then What details suggest that the
their sides. they carried them to the riverbank. Prussian officer has a warped view
Ill give you one minute to make up All the time Mont Valrien continued to of nature or actually violates the
your minds, called the officer. And not two rumble, and now it was capped by a great natural order? Consider his com-
seconds more. mountain of smoke. ments about the two friends, the
Then he jumped to his feet, went up to the Two soldiers got hold of Morissot by the burial of Morissot and Sauvage
two Frenchmen, took Morissot by the arm, and head and feet. Two others lifted up Monsieur in the river, and the officers com-
led him to one side. Then he said to him in a Sauvage in the same way. The two bodies were ments about the fishes the friends
very low voice: swung violently backwards and forwards, then have caught.
Quick! Just let me have that password! thrown with great force. They curved through
Your friend wont know youve told me. Ill the air, then plunged upright into the river,
make it look as though Ive taken pity on you with the stones dragging them down, feet first.
both. The water spurted up, bubbled, swirled
Morissot said nothing. round, then grew calm again, with little waves
The Prussian then dragged Monsieur rippling across to break against the bank. There
Sauvage to one side and made the same propo- was just a small amount of blood discoloring
sition to him. the surface.
TWO FRIENDS 101
/19/07 11:57:13 AM
Learning Styles Visual Have students use details in the story

Auditory Have students mark the passages to draw or paint the scene on the river with the
in the story that refer to the rumbling can- two friends fishing.
non on Mont Valrienan important sound Kinesthetic In Two Friends, Morissot and
effect that serves as background for the Sauvage seek relief from the stress of wartime.
storys grim action. Ask students to discuss why How does intense stress affect mental and
Maupassant may have included the details physical functions? Have students discuss how
about Mont Valrien. What comparison(s) or wartime might affect the human body, even of
contrast(s) do the details set up? noncombatants.
TWO FRIENDS 101

The officer, still quite unperturbed, said, threw across to him the catch made by the two
half aloud: executed fishermen, and gave another order:
Teach the Selection Well, now its the fishes turn. Fry me these little creaturesstraight
As he was going back towards the building, away, while theyre still alive. Theyll be deli-
he noticed the net full of gudgeon lying in the cious!
W grass. He picked it up, looked at the fish, then Then he lit his pipe again.
Students
IRRORS may say
smiled, and called out:
W INDOWS that not
Wilhelm!
A soldier came running up. He was
kknowing
nowinng how long a conflict un per turbed (un p@r t3rb?d>) adj., not bothered
m ay ccontinue,
may ontinue people have no wearing a white apron. The Prussian officer
choice but to continue their
&
everyday lives as best they can, W
despite the dangers. Examples If you had been living in Paris during the siege, as Morissot and Sauvage were,
may be seen in photos of people IRRORS what would you have done? Why do you think people would be willing to risk
in war-torn areas. W INDOWS their lives for a simple activity, like fishing?
Refer to Text
1a. He says, Oh, well just offer them
some nice fish to fry!
2a
2a. They were filled with joy
joy.

3a. Responses will vary. Key passages
include those on pages 96, 97, 1a. Recall what Monsieur Sauvage says he 1b. Explain why the officers last line is Understand
and Morissot will do if they meet some ironic. Find meaning
and 99. Prussians.
4a. The officer says he will kill the
men if they do not give him the 2a. Describe how the two men felt once 2b. Generalize about appreciating what Apply
they finally started fishing again. you have based on the experience of Use information
password.
these two men.
5a. Paris was under the grip of siege,
at its last gasp. 3a. Locate three passages in the story that 3b. Analyze why these two men were such Analyze
show what kind of friendship Morissot good friends. Take things
and Sauvage have. apart
Reason with Text
1b. Monsieur Sauvage never intended 4a. State the consequences the officer gives 4b. Consider what you would have done Evaluate
for giving and not giving the password. had you been captured and questioned Make judgments
to meet any Prussians. When the about the password. Defend your
Prussian officer sees the net of fish response.
and decides to have them fried up 5a. According to the first paragraph, what 5b. How does the friendship of the two Create
after he has the two men killed, is Paris like? men contrast with the setting and Bring ideas
what Sauvage said in jest became action of the story? Explain what point together
reality. This is irony of situation. Maupassant might have been trying
2b. Responses will vary. to make about individual lives versus
external forces.
5b. The story suggests that individuals ANALYZE LITERATURE: Mood and Irony
and relationships can continue to The story contains several images of beauty. What mood is created by these
images? How does this mood contrast with the one created by the conditions
thrive in some ways despite their under which the characters live? What is happening on Mont Valrien as the
circumstances. characters seek relief from stress in its shadow? Why is this ironic?
102 UNIT 1 FICTION
Analyze Literature
Mood and Irony The images of beauty create

a peaceful mood that contrasts dramatically
with the ugliness and destruction of war. There
is cannon fire from Mont Valrien as the men
fish in its shadows. This is ironic because the
men are trying to find refuge in nature while
nature is in the process of being destroyed by
war.
102 UNIT 1 FICTION

EXTEND THE TEXT
Writing Options might take against your position. In the fifth paragraph, Review the Selection
Creative Writing Imagine an additional scene at the restate your position as part of your conclusion.
end of the story, in which the officer is enjoying his fish Lifelong Learning
dinner with a few of his men. What do they discuss?
What is their reaction to what just happened? Write
Present on Naturalism Naturalists believe that Rubrics for Writing
events result inevitably from biological or environmental
a screenplay that continues the story. A screenplay forces rather than from free will. Research Naturalism Options
consists of dialogue; for ideas on how to write dialogue, to learn more about this literary movement. Then For writing rubrics and student models
see how Guy de Maupassant does it in the story. A analyze Two Friends as an example of Naturalism. For of the Writing Options assignments
screenplay also contains stage directions, or directions example, consider whether Morissot and Sauvage were in the Extend the Text section, go to
on the actions characters should take (for example, victims of uncontrollable forces, or whether they exer-
Officer sits down.) and the way the characters should www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
cised bad judgment in crossing the front line. Prepare a
say their lines. Try to include all these elements in your brief presentation that explains what Naturalism is and
screenplay. how Two Friends fits or does not fit the mold. Lifelong Learning
Persuasive Writing Was it wise for the two friends in Media Literacy You might suggest that students
the story to go fishing during a war? Should they have Create a Flier Imagine you are a friend of Morissot acquire an overview of Naturalism by
just stayed home? Write a five-paragraph persuasive or Sauvage. Create a flier to advertise that your friend
essay in which you take a position on whether or not
reading an article in an encyclopedia
is missing. Review the story for details about the char-
the two friends were foolish to go fishing. In your first acter and use your imagination to draw the characters or a reference work such as the Oxford
paragraph, introduce the title and author of the story face and provide a written description of his physical Companion to French Literature
and state your position. Use the next three paragraphs appearance and habits, the date and time of his disap- (see the entry on Emile Zola) and
to argue three points in support of your position. Use pearance, and information for contacting authorities. the Oxford Companion to American
evidence from the story to support your ideas. Also use W Literature (see the entries on Stephen
these paragraphs to refute any arguments someone Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more.
W Crane and Theodore Dreiser).
READING ASSESSMENT Media Literacy

You may wish to have students work
1. Why is the location of Monsieur Morissot and 3. Why is the officers last statement ironic?
Monsieur Sauvages latest meeting ironic? A. He caught the two friends like they caught the
in pairs or small groups for this
A. They had never run into each other while fish. assignment.
walking along the boulevard before the war. B. The officer doesnt even like fish.
B. Monsieur Morissot used to say Its better than C. Monsieur Sauvage had said that if they met
walking down the boulevards, eh? when they any Prussians theyd just offer them some fish
were fishing. to fry.
C. Monsieur Sauvage had been trying to avoid D. The last thing Monsieur Morissot noticed
Monsieur Morissot. before he died was the net of fish they had
D. Monsieur Morissot had been looking for caught.
Monsieur Sauvage at their usual fishing spot E. The two friends had purposefully kept the fish
but ran into him on the way home. alive in a net.
E. Monsieur Sauvage didnt recognize his friend
4. Which of the following is a synonym of the word
in the unusual location.
unperturbed?
2. How do the characters react when they start fishing? A. pensive
A. They get frustrated that there are as few fish B. rejuvenated
in the river as there are sparrows in Paris. C. fanatical
B. They have the same old conversation they D. indulgent
always have while fishing. E. None of the above
C. They start fighting because one is worried and
5. Describe the setting of the story and explain how it
the other relaxes.
contributes to the mood.
D. They continue to worry.
E. They stop worrying and start enjoying
themselves.
TWO FRIENDS 103

1. Model how to think aloud by saying, For

me to answer this question, I need to look in
the text and find out the destination of the
meeting. It was in the boulevard. That Mr.
Morissot used to say fishing was better than
walking in the boulevard is ironic because in
the story he meets his friend in the boulevard,
and this meeting makes him very happy. The
correct answer is B.
2. E
3. C
4. E
TWO FRIENDS 103

GRAMMAR & STYLE
Teach the Workshop
Objectives
Participating in this lesson will enable Another way to vary your sentences is to vary the
Sentence Variety
students to way you begin them. For example, instead of starting
By varying the type of sentence you use in your
a sentence with a subject, start with a modifier, a
understand the concept of sentence writing, you can make it more interesting. Combining
phrase, or a clause.
variety. and expanding sentences can connect related ideas,
subject: They fish and talk.
review terms relevant to sentence make sentences longer and smoother, and make a
one-word modifier: Frequently, they fish and
variety. paragraph more interesting to read.
talk.
practice the concept by completing A simple sentence consists of one independent prepositional phrase: During the siege, they
skill exercises. clause and no subordinate clauses. A simple sentence is could not fish and talk often.
apply the concept to extension called an independent clause because it has a subject participial phrase: Thinking about fishing,
activities. and a predicate. It may have a compound subject, a they devised a daring plan.
compound predicate, and any number of phrases. subordinate clause: Since they had come so
far, they decided to fish despite their fears.
Launch the Lesson EXAMPLE
Before you begin the lesson, you may Monsieur Morissot [subject] loves to fish
use the overhead projector to show [predicate].
students the paragraph on page A compound sentence consists of two independent
What Great Writers Do
105. Ask if anyone can identify the clauses joined by a semicolon or by a comma and a Notice the sentence variety that Guy
coordinating conjunction. The most common coordi- de Maupassant uses in this passage
problem with this paragraph. They
nating conjunctions are and, or, nor, for, but, so, and from Two Friends.
should be able to tell you that all the
sentences are very similar in structure. yet. Each part of the compound sentence has its own An hour later they were striding down
subject and verb. the main road together. They reached the villa
Tell them that these sentences consist-
ing of subject and predicate are called EXAMPLE in which the colonel had set up his headquarters.
Monsieur Morissot cant fish during the war When he heard their request, he smiled at their
simple sentences. Then proceed
[independent clause]; [semicolon] he takes eccentric enthusiasm but gave them permission. They
to the lesson on page 104. Later, set off once again, armed with an official pass.
walks instead [independent clause].
students will have an opportunity to
revise the paragraph to make it more A complex sentence consists of one independent
interesting to read. clause and one or more subordinate clauses. A subor-
dinate clause has a subject and a verb, but it doesnt REVIEW TERMS
express a complete thought. subject: the doer of the action
Refer to page 1084 of the predicate: the part of the sentence that
EXAMPLE
Language Arts Handbook 3.17, While he was walking [subordinate clause], contains the verb phrase, including the
Writiing Effective Sentences, for he ran into Monsieur Sauvage [independent objects, or recipients, of the action
additional instruction on sentence clause]. clause: a group of words that functions as
variety. one part of speech and that contains both a
A compound-complex sentence has two or more subject and a verb
independent clauses and one or more subordinate phrase: a group of words that functions as
clauses. one part of speech but does not have both a
EXAMPLE subject and a verb
While the men were fishing [subordinate independent clause: a complete sentence
clause], the Prussians found them [independent with a subject and a verb
clause], and [coordinating conjunction] they subordinate clause: a clause that contains
were taken prisoner [independent clause]. a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone
because it does not express a complete thought
104 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
SIMPLE SENTENCE,
104 PARTICIPIAL PHRASE, 105
Teaching Words COMPOUND SENTENCE, 104 SUBJECT,105
expanding, 104 COMPLEX SENTENCE, 104 PREDICATE,104
striding, 104 COMPOUND-COMPLEX CLAUSE, 104
eccentric, 104 SENTENCE, 104 PHRASE, 104
summit, 105 MODIFIER, 105 INDEPENDENT CLAUSE, 104
detonation, 105 PREPOSITIONAL SUBORDINATE CLAUSE, 104
PHRASE, 105
104 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Workshop
Apply the Skill
Identify Sentence Structure Identify Sentence Structure
For each sentence, identify whether it is simple, Guy de Maupassants short story, Two 1. compound
compound, complex, or compound-complex. Some of Friends, follows the ill-conceived fishing
2. complex
the sentences are from Two Friends. trip of Monsieur Morissot and Monsieur
3. compound-complex
1. The men may have been drawn to fish because Sauvage as they decide to go fishing in
they enjoyed the activity, but they may also the middle of a battle because the men 4. simple
have been motivated by hunger. are hungry because there is no food to 5. compound
2. Knowing the officer in command, Monsieur eat in the city because of the Prussian 6. compound
Sauvage was able to get a pass. soldiers who have laid siege to Paris.
Improve Sentence Variety
3. Fearful of the Prussians, the men were unable As the battle rages just out of sight, the
to enjoy themselves at first, but once they got men contentedly fish in the river and Responses will vary.
into the water, they were quite happy. remember happier times and discuss Improve a Paragraph
4. The weather was very mild. philosophical questions about life and
Responses will vary, but students
5. There were few sparrows on the rooftops now, death and the current situation involving
should have a variety of sentences in
and even the sewers were losing some of their the Prussian siege and talk about days
inhabitants. gone by. Unfortunately, they are caught their revised version of the paragraph.
6. Almost immediately another jet of smoke by the Prussians, who are convinced that You may ask students to work in pairs
spurted from the fort on the summit, and a few Monsieur Morissot and Monsieur Sauvage to complete this activity.
seconds later the rumble of another detonation are French spies, and the Prussian captain
Use Varied Sentence Structures
reached their ears. questions the two men and he decides to
execute them right there on the riverbank in Your Writing
Improve Sentence Variety and then he takes their fish and has his Responses will vary.
Rewrite the following paragraph using a variety of cook fry up the fish for his dinner.
sentence structures and beginnings. Choose struc-
tures and beginnings that will help the paragraph
flow more smoothly and clearly for the reader. Use Varied Sentence Structures in Your
Writing
Two friends decide to go fishing. Their Write a paragraph about friendship for a teen maga-
names are Monsieur Morissot and zine. After drafting your paragraph, check for variety in
Monsieur Sauvage. There is a war going your sentence structure. Which type of sentence struc-
on. Monsieur Morissot asks what they will ture did you use most often? Do you think that type
do if they meet any Prussians. Monsieur is appropriate for your audience? As you prepare your
Sauvage says, Oh, well just offer them final draft, alter your sentence structure as needed for
some nice fish to fry! They do meet some variety and appropriateness for your audience.
Prussians. A Prussian officer notices their
net of fish. He has the two men killed. He
asks the cook to fry up the fish for him. EXTEND THE SKILL
Choose a paragraph from the story Two Friends.
Improve a Paragraph Rewrite the paragraph using only one type of sentence.
The following paragraph is full of run-on sentences. Then do the same thing again using another type of
Break up the sentences to form simple, compound, sentence. What happens when you do this? Based on
complex, and compound-complex sentences so that this experiment, write a paragraph that explains why
the paragraph is easier to understand. sentence variety is necessary to quality writing.
GRAMMAR & STYLE 105
/19/07 11:57:14 AM
Program Resources

Sentence Variety in the Exceeding the
GRAMMAR & STYLE 105

Teach the Element Understanding Theme
Launch the Lesson THEME Modern literature, however, tends to be more sophis-
Ask students if they recall Aesops ticated. That is partly because our worldview has
Theme is a central idea in a literary work. You can shifted, and partly because the aim of the modern
fable The Fox and the Crow. Briefly also think of theme as the authors message. Some
summarize the tale for them, or have storyteller is somewhat different. There may be a
literary works have more than one theme, with one moral in a modern tale, and in some stories, there are
a volunteer tell it to the class. Then, theme being more dominant than others. Do not certainly clear consequences to human action. But
ask students to tell you the moral confuse theme with plot. Plot outlines the events most of todays authors would be embarrassed if a
of the story. (Never trust flatterers.) of the story; it is the answer to the question, What reader could so easily locate meaning that the story is
Explain to students that most works happens? The theme, however, answers the question, reduced to a one-sentence moral.
of fiction, like this simple fable, have What is the point?
a central message, although its rarely In traditional literature, such as fables or fairy tales, ELEMENTS OF THEME
stated in so many words. In fiction, the theme is the moral of the story. The greedy dog
the moral or message is referred to of Aesops fable snaps at his reflection in a river, and Symbol
as the storys theme. (You may add the bone he was enjoying falls from his jaws and is Sometimes, the theme can be found in the symbolism
that in fiction, a story may have more swept away by the current. The theme is obvious: The of a work of literature. A symbol is anything that
than one theme.) greedy lose what they have in trying to get more than stands for or represents both itself and something else.
their fair share. The moral of Cinderella, featuring This might be a conventional symbol, or an object with
literatures most neglected stepdaughter, is also clear: which many people have associations. For instance, in
Elements of Theme Goodness triumphs over wickedness. In case we miss The Masque of the Red Death (page 83), the ornate
Direct students to the Common the point, Cinderella is industrious and beautiful, clock represents time, and the clocks solemn chiming
Symbols box and have them list whereas her stepsisters are lazy and rather funny is a reminder that life is limited.
other symbols they encounter often looking. The reader does not have to dig deep to find The symbol may also be personal or idiosyncratic,
in literature. Then direct students to the theme. one that assumes its secondary meaning because of
the Popular Themes in Literature box. the way the writer uses it. In that case, your job as a
Point out that the story Two Kinds reader is to look for all the possible associations that
in this unit (page 69) touches on the could be attached to the symbolic object. In A White
theme of the American dream. Ask Heron (page 185), the heron is a personal symbol; it
students for other examples of books represents the innocence and freedom of nature being
or movies that examine this theme. hunted and contained by a materialistic modern society.
Remind students that a theme is not

the same thing as a topic. A theme Common Symbols
must say something about a topic. For Symbols exist not only in litera-
example, love is a topic, but the idea ture but also in folklore, art, music,
that people should love one another and other areas of life. Every day,
is a theme. A theme requires a sen- you likely encounter symbols that automatically
tence, but a topic can be one word. mean something to you. Some of the most common
symbols are listed below.
dove = peace
green = envy
night = darkness; things hidden; evil
rose = beauty
shamrock = luck; Ireland
owl = wisdom
106 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
THEME,106
Teaching Words SYMBOL, 106
dominant, 106 STATED THEME, 107
industrious, 106
worldview, 106
adversity, 107
106 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Element
Plot and Characterization Everyday Use (page 109). Works with implied theme Use Reading Strategies and
Consider plot and characterization when you are require the reader to make inferences, or guesses, Skills
analyzing a works theme. The writers attitude about the authors message and perception of the Reading strategies and skills that
toward events and characters can point to a theme, events in the story. can help students understand theme
as can a pattern of events. For instance, in The Leap
include the following:
(page 119), the narrators mother is constantly over- DISCOVERING THEMES
coming adversity despite incredible odds. Her attitude Make Inferences Since most
to make the best of a situation and not allow tragedy To discover the theme or themes in a literary work, often the themes of a story are left
to stop her allows the reader to understand her moti- you can ask yourself questions about the work and unstated, students will have to read
vations at the end of the story. What theme might the make inferences based on your reading. You may find between the lines to determine
author be suggesting here? At this point, youll need yourself asking the following questions as you explore themes. To infer themes, have stu-
to think about the authors attitude toward the events. the authors intentions in the story: dents pay special attention to a sto-
Does she find them comical, tragic, or ironic? Once What is the message?
rys title, the tone or attitude the nar-
you figure out the authors viewpoint, in combination What does the author want me to think about?
What seems to motivate the characters?
rator has toward the characters and
with the patterns in plot and character, you can start events, the way the central conflict is
to think about theme. What causes situations to change or events to
happen? resolved, and the storys ending.
Identify the Authors Purpose
TYPES OF THEME After you find a general theme, consider refining it.
Point out that some stories exist
For example, truth is a dominant theme in Like the
As you know by now, most works of fiction do not
Sun (page 200), in which the author examines the purely for escapism or entertainment.
directly state the theme. When the theme is presented In most cases, however, writers want
effects of complete honesty on people. However, it
directly, it is called a stated theme. For example, at to convey underlying messages about
is not enough to say that Like the Sun is a story
the end of On the Rainy River (page 137), OBrien human nature or behavior. Students
about truth. You must examine what Narayan is
tells his readers why he went to war and what that
saying about truththat it is difficult to always be can look for clues about the authors
decision meant about the nature of courage. The story
completely truthful. purpose in the Build Background and
itself is centered on how he reached this decision.
Meet the Author sections of Before
Reading.
The day was cloudy. I passed through Popular Themes
towns with familiar names, through the in Literature More About Theme
pine forests and down to the prairie, and
One of the common themes Direct students to the following
then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and
then home again. I survived, but its not a in literature is that of the titles to see examples of strong
happy ending. I was a coward. I went to American dreamthe idea that themes:
the war. in America anyone can succeed On the Rainy River, page 137
from On the Rainy River and find greatness. Literary Who Said We All Have to Talk
by Tim OBrien works that convey or refute this Alike, page 157
theme include the following:
miss rosie, page 473
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Sometimes, a storys character voices a theme, as The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Neffie does in Who Said We All Have to Talk Alike? Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
(page 157) when she comments on her employers The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark
insistence that Neffie speak like her. The events of the Twain
story lead Neffie to this comment. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
In contrast, Alice Walker presents her story but leaves

the reader to draw conclusions about the theme of
UNDERSTANDING THEME 107
/19/07 11:57:18 AM
Program Resources

UNDERSTANDING THEME 107

Preview the Selection Everyday Use
A Short Story by Alice Walker
At a Glance
Directed Reading
Reading Level: Moderate BUILD BACKGROUND USE READING SKILLS
Difficulty Considerations: Dialect; Social Context Everyday Use, like many of Alice Walkers writings, Compare and Contrast
explores the idea of African-American heritage. Walker examines the role When you compare one thing
style
DIRECTED READING
heritage and culture play in an individuals understanding of his or her life to another, you describe the
Ease Factor: Dialogue and identity. In a conflict between a sophisticated young woman and her similarities. Contrasting
less worldly sister and mother, two different interpretations of heritage are describes the differences.
Objectives presented. Everyday Use is enriched by Walkers use of symbols. In particular,
As you read Everyday Use,
the contested quilts become the central metaphor of the story. Everyday Use
Studying this lesson will enable was published in the collection In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women.
take notes on how the narrator,
students to Maggie, and Dee view their heri-
understand the contributions of the Readers Context Do you think family heirlooms are important? Why? If you tage. Pay attention, too, to how
have a family heirloom you cherish, what makes it important to you? What Dees ideas have changed.
past to the present. would you like to pass on to future generations?
read, interpret, analyze, and evalu- One way to organize this infor-
mation is by creating a chart like
ate a short story about family and
heritage. ANALYZE LITERATURE: Theme and Symbol the one below. As you encounter
an object, an activity, or another
define theme and metaphor and A theme is a central message or perception about life that is conveyed
aspect that shows how the char-
through a literary work. A theme is not the same as a topic, or subject.
recognize the use of these literary Rather, it is a broad statement about a topic. African-American heritage is
acters react to their heritage,
elements in the selection. make a note in the chart.
the subject of Everyday Use, but it is not the theme.
use the skill of comparing and con-
A symbol is anything that stands for or represents both itself and some- Maggie Dee Mother
trasting to understand a short story. thing else. In Everyday Use, Walker uses quilts symbolically. knows
write two journal entries and a criti-
her
cal introduction.
create a museum exhibit and stage SET PURPOSE familys
history
a talk show. As you read, try to determine what the author is saying about heritage. In
other words, what is the theme of the story? Also consider how the symbolic
practice reading assessment by use of quilts helps to advance the theme of the story.
answering multiple-choice and PREVIEW VOCABULARY
Use the context clues in the
short-answer questions about the MEET THE AUTHOR sentences below to figure out
selection. Alice Walker (b. 1944), the daughter of Georgia sharecroppers, gained the meanings of the underlined
national recognition with the publication of her novel The Color Purple, which words from the selection.
Launch the Lesson earned a Pulitzer Prize and was made into a movie 1. The homely afghan has a
starring Oprah Winfrey. Of particular interest to Walker simple pattern.
Have students work in small groups to 2. Before throwing the ball, the
is her inheritance from the African-American women
discuss the older and the younger who came before her. In her book In Search of Our pitcher sneaked a furtive look
generations. Ask them to create the Mothers Gardens, she says, And so our mothers at the man on first base.
following: a list of characteristics they and grandmothers have, more often than not 3. Andrew recomposed himself
believe to be generally true about their anonymously, handed on the creative spark, after the heated tennis match.
the seed of the flower they themselves never 4. Rifling through the desk
parents generation and a list of char- drawer, I found a wedding
hoped to see. Walker often focuses on African-
acteristics they believe their parents American women, and a central theme of her picture of my parents.
generation hold as true about them. writing is that not enough credit has been given 5. After receiving several warn-
Where do these ideas come from? to the black woman who has been oppressed ings, the children talking
beyond recognition. loudly in the movie theater
were ushered out.
Reading Skills, for additional instruc- 108 UNIT 1 FICTION
tion on comparing and contrasting.
0092-0129_Lit3eG10_U01.indd 108
CONTEXT, 108
Preview Selection Teaching THEME, 108
Vocabulary Words Words METAPHOR, 108
homely, 109 confronted, 109 heritage, 108 COMPARE, 108
usher, 110 rawhide, 111 contested, 108 CONTRAST, 108
furtive, 111 stout, 112 heirlooms, 108 CONTEXT CLUES, 108
scalding, 111 cowering, 112 sharecroppers, SYMBOL, 108
recompose, 111 108 ASSESS, 116
doctrine, 113
alcove, 114
rifle, 114
108 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
Summary
In this story, Maggie, a scarred and
shy country girl, nervously awaits the
veryday
arrival from the city of her educated
E
and sophisticated sister, Dee. Dee acts
more like a tourist around her family
than a daughter and sister: she takes
pictures and wants to appropriate
everyday items from her mothers
USE house, including a quilt made by her

grandmother. When Dees mother
tells her the quilt is for Maggie, Dee is
appalled because she doesnt believe
A Short Story by Alice Walker Maggie will value the quilt. In reality,
for your grandmama Maggie understands and values her
family history more than Dee does.
Maggie cant appreciate these
W The Mirrors
quilts!...Shed probably be backward IRRORS & Windows
W INDOWS questions
enough to put them to everyday use. aask
sk sstudents
tudents to discuss the
ttheme
heme of her
heritage and how it
shapes who they are. Discuss
with students what the word
I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie
and I made so clean and wavy yesterday
afternoon. A yard like this is more comfortable
Youve no doubt seen those TV shows
where the child who has made it is
confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother
heritage means to them.
than most people know. It is not just a yard. and father, tottering in weakly from backstage.1
It is like an extended living room. When the (A pleasant surprise, of course: What would Use Reading Skills
hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine they do if parent and child came on the show Compare and Contrast Point
sand around the edges lined with tiny, irregular only to curse out and insult each other?) On out that from the very beginning of
grooves, anyone can come and sit and look TV mother and child embrace and smile into the story, a strong contrast is set up
up into the elm tree and wait for the breezes each others faces. among Maggie, Dee, and the narra-
that never come inside the house. Maggie A Sometimes the mother and father weep, the tor. Direct students to the description
will be nervous until after her sister goes: she child wraps them in her arms and leans across of Maggie in the opening paragraph
will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and the table to tell how she would not have made of the story and have them note how
ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and Maggie views herself and how she
legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy 1. TV showsbackstage. Refers to This Is Your Life, a 1950s views her sister. A
television show in which celebrities were surprised by family and
and awe. She thinks her sister has held life
friends from their past
always in the palm of one hand, that no is a
word the world never learned to say to her. home ly (h9m> l7) adj., simple; plain
EVERYDAY USE 109
/19/08 10:22:41 AM
Program Resources

E-Lesson Planner
Developing Readers, Take Notes
ExamView
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows
EVERYDAY USE 109

it without their help. though. She would always look anyone in the
I have seen these eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature.
Teach the Selection programs.
Sometimes I How do I look, Mama? Maggie says,
Use Reading Strategies dream a dream in showing just enough of her thin body envel-
Make Inferences The narra- which Dee and I are oped in pink skirt and red blouse for me to
tor describes herself in the second suddenly brought know shes there, almost hidden by the door.
paragraph of the first column. Have together on a TV Come out into the yard, I say.
students read this paragraph. Then program of this sort. Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps
ask students to use the description to Out of a dark and a dog run over by some careless person rich
make inferences about what kind of soft-seated limousine enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who
personality and character traits the I am ushered into a bright room filled with is ignorant enough to be kind to him? That is
narrator has. Have students come up many people. There I meet a smiling, gray, the way my Maggie walks. She has been like
with a list of adjectives that describes sporty man like Johnny Carson2 who shakes this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in
the narrators character. A my hand and tells me what a fine girl I have. shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other
Then we are on the stage and Dee is embracing house to the ground.
More by this Author me with tears in her eyes. She pins on my dress Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair
Students who enjoy the story a large orchid, even though she has told me and a fuller figure. Shes a woman now, though
Everyday Use might be interested once that she thinks orchids are tacky flowers. sometimes I forget. How long ago was it that
in reading some of Alice Walkers In real life I am a large, big-boned woman the other house burned? Ten, twelve years?
other works, including her Pulitzer with rough, man-working hands. In the winter Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel
Prizewinning novel The Color Purple I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and over- Maggies arms sticking to me, her hair smoking
or the essays included in her book alls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog and her dress falling off her in little black
In Search of Our Mothers Gardens. as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot papery flakes. Her eyes seemed stretched open,
Be aware, however, that The Color in zero weather. I can work outside all day, blazed open by the flames reflected in them.
Purple does contain some violent breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat And Dee. I see her standing off under the sweet
and sexually suggestive scenes, so pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes gum tree she used to dig gum out of; a look
it may not be appropriate for all after it comes steaming from the hog. One of concentration on her face as she watched
students. A winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the the last dingy gray board of the house fall in
brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer toward the red-hot brick chimney. Why dont
and had the meat hung up to chill before you do a dance around the ashes? Id wanted to
nightfall. But of course all this does not show ask her. She had hated the house that much.
on television. I am the way my daughter would I used to think she hated Maggie, too.
want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my But that was before we raised the money, the
skin like an uncooked barley pancake. My hair church and me, to send her to Augusta3 to
glistens in the hot bright lights. Johnny Carson school. She used to read to us without pity;
has much to do to keep up with my quick and forcing words, lies, other folks habits, whole
witty tongue. lives upon us two, sitting trapped and igno-
But that is a mistake. I know even before rant underneath her voice. She washed us in a
I wake up. Who ever knew a Johnson with river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of
a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me knowledge we didnt necessarily need to know.
looking a strange white man in the eye? It
seems to me I have talked to them always with 2. Johnny Carson. Former host of The Tonight Show
3. Augusta. City in Georgia where Paine College is located
one foot raised in flight, with my head turned
in whichever way is farthest from them. Dee, ush er (u> sh@r) v., escort; conduct
110 UNIT 1 FICTION
Reading Proficiency metaphors (she washed us in a river of make-

Point out that this story has a narrator who believe), and nonstandard English grammar
uses the first-person point of view. Mama has (the church and me). You might read a few
a distinctive style of speaking, as if she is chat- paragraphs from the story aloud to illustrate
ting informally with the reader. Students will these features. Then discuss with students how
thus encounter text structures such as rhetorical the choice of point of view affects the theme of
questions, direct address of the reader, colorful the story.
110 UNIT 1 FICTION

side5 in 49. Cows are
soothing and slow and
dont bother you, unless Teach the Selection
you try to milk them the
wrong way. Use Reading Skills
I have deliberately Compare and Contrast Direct
turned my back on students to the narrators description
the house. It is three of Dee. Ask students to compare and
rooms, just like the one contrast Maggie and Dee in terms of
that burned, except the appearance and personality. B
roof is tin; they dont
make shingle roofs any Use Reading Strategies
more. There are no real Clarify Point out that Maggies com-
windows, just some ment about Dees lack of friends is
holes cut in the sides, not only thematically significant; it
like the portholes in a also shows unexpected wit and humor
ship, but not round and on Maggies part. What might be
not square, with rawhide Alice Walkers purpose by including
Pressed us to her with the serious way she holding the shutters up on the outside. This this bit of wit? C
read, to shove us away at just the moment, like house is in a pasture, too, like the other one. Answer: She may want the reader to
dimwits, we seemed about to understand. No doubt when Dee sees it she will want to guard against the temptation of dis-
Dee wanted nice things. A yellow organdy4 tear it down. She wrote me once that no matter missing Maggie too easily or becom-
dress to wear to her graduation from high where we choose to live, she will manage ing condescending toward her.
school; black pumps to match a green suit to come see us. But she will never bring her
shed made from an old suit somebody gave friends. Maggie and I thought about this and
me. She was determined to stare down any Maggie asked me, Mama, when did Dee ever
C
disaster in her efforts. Her eyelids would not have any friends?
flicker for minutes at a time. Often I fought off B She had a few. Furtive boys in pink shirts
the temptation to shake her. At sixteen she had hanging about on washday after school.
a style of her own: and knew what style was. Nervous girls who never laughed. Impressed
with her they worshiped the well-turned
I never had an education myself. After phrase, the cute shape, the scalding humor that
second grade the school was closed down. erupted like bubbles in lye.6 She read to them.
Dont ask me why: in 1927 colored asked When she was courting Jimmy T she didnt
fewer questions than they do now. Sometimes have much time to pay to us, but turned all her
Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along good- faultfinding power on him. He flew to marry a
naturedly but cant see well. She knows she cheap city girl from a family of ignorant flashy
is not bright. Like good looks and money, people. She hardly had time to recompose
quickness passed her by. She will marry John herself.
Thomas (who has mossy teeth in an earnest
face) and then Ill be free to sit here and I guess 4. organdy. Sheer cotton fabric
5. hooked in the side. Kicked by a cow
just sing church songs to myself. Although I 6. lye. Substance used to make soap
never was a good singer. Never could carry
a tune. I was always better at a mans job. I fur tive (f3r> tiv) adj., sneaky; stealthy
scald ing (sk0l> di4) adj., unpleasantly severe
used to love to milk till I was hooked in the re com pose (r7< k@m p9z>) v., restore calmness of mind
EVERYDAY USE 111
/19/07 11:57:26 AM 0092-0129_Lit3eG10_U01_2c_RegSel111 111 11/19/07 11:57:26 AM
EVERYDAY USE 111

When she comes I will meetbut there it. She turns, showing white heels through
they are! her sandals, and goes back to the car. Out she
Teach the Selection Maggie attempts to make a dash for the peeks next with a Polaroid. She stoops down
house, in her shuffling way, but I stay her with quickly and lines up picture after picture of me
Analyze Literature my hand. Come back here, I say. And she stops sitting there in front of the house with Maggie
Theme Dee/Wangeros name and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe. cowering behind me. She never takes a shot
change, and her discussion about it It is hard to see them clearly through the without making sure the house is included.
with her mother, develop the main strong sun. But even the first glimpse of leg When a cow comes nibbling around the edge
theme of the story: the importance of out of the car tells me it is Dee. Her feet were of the yard she snaps it and me and Maggie and
honoring heritage. Did Dees name always neat-looking, as if God himself had the house. Then she puts the Polaroid in the
really come from her oppressors? shaped them with a certain style. From the back seat of the car, and comes up and kisses
Which name, Dee or Wangero, reflects other side of the car comes a short, stocky me on the forehead.
her heritage more, in students opin- man. Hair is all over his head a foot long and Meanwhile Asalamalakim is going through
ions? hanging from his chin like a kinky mule tail. motions with Maggies hand. Maggies hand is
Answer: Students may say that the I hear Maggie suck in her breath. Uhnnnh, as limp as a fish, and probably as cold, despite
name Dee reflects her heritage more. is what it sounds like. Like when you see the the sweat, and she keeps trying to pull it back.
It came from generations of her wriggling end of a snake just in front of your It looks like Asalamalakim wants to shake
female ancestors, whereas the name foot on the road. Uhnnnh. hands but wants to do it fancy. Or maybe he
Wangero is a generic African name Dee next. A dress down to the ground, in dont know how people shake hands. Anyhow,
that may have nothing to do with her this hot weather. A dress so loud it hurts my he soon gives up on Maggie.
family. Dee seems confused and has eyes. There are yellows and oranges enough to Well, I say. Dee.
only superficial knowledge of Africa throw back the light of the sun. I feel my whole No, Mama, she says. Not Dee, Wangero
and all it stands for. face warming from the heat waves it throws out. Leewanika Kemanjo!
Earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her What happened to Dee? I wanted to
More About the Author shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noises know.
The character of Dee/Wangero has when she moves her arm up to shake the folds Shes dead, Wangero said. I couldnt bear
much in common with the young of the dress out of her armpits. The dress is it any longer, being named after the people
Alice Walker. Walker as a young loose and flows, and as she walks closer, I like who oppress me.
woman was also very academically it. I hear Maggie go Uhnnnh again. It is her You know as well as me you was named
motivated and read widely. She also sisters hair. It stands straight up like the wool after your aunt Dicie, I said. Dicie is my sister.
adopted an African name in her on a sheep. It is black as night and around the She named Dee. We called her Big Dee after
youth. Having gone to Uganda on edges are two long pigtails that rope about like Dee was born.
a scholarship as a junior in college, small lizards disappearing behind her ears. But who was she named after? asked
she felt a connection to her African Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!7 she says, coming on Wangero.
roots, and in a poem written at that in that gliding way the dress makes her move. I guess after Grandma Dee, I said.
time, referred to the Kikuyu clan The short stocky fellow with the hair to his And who was she named after? asked
name Wangari as her new name. navel is all grinning and he follows up with Wangero.
Asalamalakim,8 my mother and sister! He Her mother, I said, and saw Wangero
moves to hug Maggie but she falls back, right was getting tired. Thats about as far back as I
up against the back of my chair. I feel her can trace it, I said. Though, in fact, I probably
trembling there and when I look up I see the could have carried it back beyond the Civil
perspiration falling off her chin. War through the branches.
Dont get up, says Dee. Since I am stout
it takes something of a push. You can see me 7. Wa-su-zo-Tean-o. Greeting in an African dialect
trying to move a second or two before I make 8. Asalamalakim. Muslim greeting
112 UNIT 1 FICTION
Critical Thinking
Discussion Guide Why are names important? What is signifi-

In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, a famous cant about Dee choosing a new name for
line of Shakespeare reads Whats in a name? herself? What is Dee trying to accomplish
That which we call a rose / By any other by choosing a new name? Evaluate her rea-
name would smell as sweet. Put this quota- sons for choosing a new name.
tion on the board or read it to students. Then
discuss the following questions:
What point is Romeo making in this quota-
tion? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
112 UNIT 1 FICTION

Well, said Asalamalakim, there you are. men stayed up all night with rifles in their
Uhnnnh, I heard Maggie say. hands. I walked a mile and a half just to see
There I was not, I said, before Dicie the sight. Teach the Selection
cropped up in our family, so why should I try Hakim-a-barber said, I accept some of their
to trace it that far back? doctrines, but farming and raising cattle is not
He just stood there grinning, looking down my style. (They didnt tell me, and I didnt More About the Context
on me like some- ask, whether Provide students with some of the
body inspecting Wangero (Dee) historical context to help them
a Model A car.9 had really gone appreciate the story. During the
Every once in and married 1960s, many African Americans
a while he and him.) began to take pride in their African
Wangero sent eye We sat
roots and to explore them. A great
number of African Americans
signals over my down to eat and
converted to Islam as well, believ-
head. right away he
ing that the Muslim religion more
How do you said he didnt
accurately reflected their heritage.
pronounce this eat collards11
These converts were known as Black
name? I asked. and pork
Muslims. The first organization to
You dont was unclean.
support this movement was known
have to call me by Wangero,
as the Nation of Islam, founded in
it if you dont want though, went
1930. The Nation of Islam became a
to, said Wangero. on through the powerful voice for change in the tur-
Why chitlins and corn bulent 1960s, with Malcolm X being
shouldnt I? I bread, the greens one of the most famous members.
asked. If thats and everything
what you want us else. She talked The name chosen by Wangeros boy-
to call you, well a blue streak friend (probably correctly spelled as
call you. over the sweet Hakim al-Baba) is clearly a Muslim
I know it might sound awkward at first, potatoes. Everything delighted her. Even the name, suggesting that he is a Black
said Wangero. fact that we still used the benches her daddy Muslim. Muslims do not eat pork,
Ill get used to it, I said. Ream it out made for the table when we couldnt afford to thus the reference made by the nar-
again. buy chairs. rator to the beef cattlefarming peo-
Well, soon we got the name out of the Oh, Mama! she cried. Then turned to ple (a Muslim community). Students
way. Asalamalakim had a name twice as long Hakim-a-barber. I never knew how lovely may be interested in researching the
and three times as hard. After I tripped over it these benches are. You can feel the rump Nation of Islam and/or the Black
two or three times he told me to just call him prints, she said, running her hands under- Power movement and sharing their
Hakim-a-barber. I wanted to ask him was he neath her and along the bench. Then she gave findings with the class.
a barber, but I didnt really think he was so I a sigh and her hand closed over Grandma Dees
didnt ask. butter dish. Thats it! she said. I knew there
You must belong to those beef-cattle was something I wanted to ask you if I could
peoples down the road, I said. They said
Asalamalakim when they met you, too, but 9. Model A car. One of the first American cars
they didnt shake hands. Always too busy: 10. salt-lick shelters. Structures that protect cows from the heat
feeding the cattle, fixing the fences, putting up of the sun and contain blocks of salt for them to lick
11. collards. Leafy green vegetables
salt-lick shelters,10 throwing down hay. When
the white folks poisoned some of the herd the doc trine (d5k> tr@n) n., teaching; belief
EVERYDAY USE 113
EVERYDAY USE 113

Teach the Selection
Use Reading Skills
Compare and Contrast Direct
students to the conversation the char-
acters have about the dasher from
the butter churn. What does the fact
that Maggie remembers who made
the churn indicate about her under-
standing of her heritage? How does
Maggies understanding of her heri-
tage contrast with Dees, who wants
to use the churn top and dasher as
decorations? What does the narrator
notice about the dasher? Contrast the
narrators observations with Dees.
Remind students to make notes in
their graphic organizers. A
Answers: Maggie remembers details
about her family history; it is impor- Lone Star Quilt, 1930.
tant to her, as she associates the Private collection.
dasher with the person who made it.
Dee sees the churn top and dasher as have. She jumped up from the table and went think of something artistic to do with the
decorations for her home. Shes inter- over in the corner where the churn stood, the dasher.
ested in who made the dasher, but milk in it clabber12 by now. She looked at the When she finished wrapping the dasher
shes more interested in the dasher churn and looked at it. the handle stuck out. I took it for a moment in
itself than its history. The narrator This churn top is what I need, she said. my hands. You didnt even have to look close
remembers the hours she and others
Didnt Uncle Buddy whittle it out of a tree you to see where hands pushing the dasher up and
spent using the dasher.
all used to have? down to make butter had left a kind of sink
Yes, I said. in the wood. In fact, there were a lot of small
Uh huh, she said happily. And I want sinks; you could see where thumbs and fingers
the dasher, too. had sunk into the wood. It was beautiful light
Uncle Buddy whittle that, too? asked the yellow wood, from a tree that grew in the yard
barber. where Big Dee and Stash had lived.
A Dee (Wangero) looked up at me. After dinner Dee (Wangero) went to the
Aunt Dees first husband whittled the trunk at the foot of my bed and started rifling
dash, said Maggie so low you almost couldnt through it. Maggie hung back in the kitchen
hear her. His name was Henry, but they called over the dishpan. Out came Wangero with two
him Stash.
Maggies brain is like an elephants, 12. clabber. Sour milk
Wangero said, laughing. I can use the churn
al cove (al> k9v<) n., relating to a section or an area of a room
top as a centerpiece for the alcove table, she that is recessed or set back
said, sliding a plate over the churn, and Ill ri fle (r8> f@l) v., shuffle; move quickly through
114 UNIT 1 FICTION
114 UNIT 1 FICTION

quilts. They had been pieced by Grandma Dee using em. I hope she will! I didnt want to
and then Big Dee and me had hung them on bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a
the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted quilt when she went away to college. Then she Teach the Selection
them. One was in the Lone Star pattern. The had told me they were old-fashioned, out of
other was Walk Around the Mountain. In both style. Critical Thinking
of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee But theyre priceless! she was saying now, Discussion Guide Lead students
had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and furiously; for she has a temper. Maggie would in a discussion using the following
pieces of Grandpa Jarrells Paisley shirts. And put them on the bed and in five years theyd be questions.
one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a in rags. Less than that! Who values the quilts more:
penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa She can always make some more, I said. Maggie or Dee? Why do you think
Ezras uniform that he wore in the Civil War. Maggie knows how to quilt. so?
Mama, Wangero said sweet as a bird. Dee (Wangero) looked at me with hatred. Are heirlooms like the quilts to
Can I have these old quilts? You just will not understand. The point is be used or preserved? Why would
I heard something fall in the kitchen, and a these quilts, these quilts! someone want to put an heirloom
minute later the kitchen door slammed. Well, I said, stumped. What would you to everyday use? Why would some-
Why dont you take one or two of the do with them? one want to preserve an heirloom?
others? I asked. These old things was just Hang them, she said. As if that was the What gives an heirloom its value?
done by me and Big Dee from some tops your only thing you could do with quilts. Is something valuable just because
grandma pieced before she died. Maggie by now was standing in the door. I its old?
No, said Wangero. I dont want those. could almost hear the sound her feet made as
They are stitched around the borders by they scraped over each other. Analyze Literature
machine. She can have them, Mama, she said, like Symbol A symbol is anything that
Thatll make them last better, I said. somebody used to never winning anything, stands for or represents both itself
Thats not the point, said Wangero. or having anything reserved for her. I can and something else. Ask students the
These are all pieces of dresses Grandma used member Grandma Dee without the quilts. following questions about the quilts:
to wear. She did all this stitching by hand. I looked at her hard. She had filled her Who made them? What are they
Imagine! She held the quilts securely in her bottom lip with checkerberry snuff and it made of? Why does Dee want them,
arms, stroking them. gave her face a kind of dopey, hangdog look. and why does Maggie want them? For
Some of the pieces, like those lavender It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught what do the quilts serve as a symbol?
ones, come from old clothes her mother her how to quilt herself. She stood there with Answers: The quilts were made by
handed down to her, I said, moving up to her scarred hands hidden in the folds of her Mama and her sister, Big Dee, from
touch the quilts. Dee (Wangero) moved back skirt. She looked at her sister with something all the clothing Grandma used to
just enough so that I couldnt reach the quilts. like fear but she wasnt mad at her. This was wear. Dee wants to display the quilts
They already belonged to her. Maggies portion. This was the way she knew in her house. Maggie probably wants
Imagine! she breathed again, clutching God to work. to use them on her bed. She probably
them closely to her bosom. When I looked at her like that something would use the quilts to remember her
The truth is, I said, I promised to give hit me in the top of my head and ran down grandma, although she denies this,
them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries to the soles of my feet. Just like when Im saying, I can member Grandma Dee
John Thomas. in church and the spirit of God touches me without the quilts. The quilts are a
and I get happy and shout. I did something I
symbol for the womens heritage, the
She gasped like a bee had stung her.
generations of women before.
Maggie cant appreciate these quilts! she never had done before: hugged Maggie to me,
said. Shed probably be backward enough to then dragged her on into the room, snatched
put them to everyday use. the quilts out of Miss Wangeros hands and
I reckon she would, I said. God knows I dumped them into Maggies lap. Maggie just sat
been saving em for long enough with nobody there on my bed with her mouth open.
EVERYDAY USE 115
/19/07 11:57:27 AM
Learning Styles use clues from the text as they design their
Auditory The narrator in Everyday Use has representations.
a distinctive voice as she tells us first about Kinesthetic Walker includes many details
herself, and then about Dee and Maggie. Have relating to how Dee and Maggie look and
students rehearse oral interpretations of their move. Have students role-play a scene between
favorite passages in the story and then present Dee and Maggie, using clues from the text for
them to the class. facial expressions, gestures, posture, and move-
Visual Invite students to create their own ments.
drawings or paintings of the two quilts that
Dee wants Mama to give her. Students should
EVERYDAY USE 115

Take one or two of the others, I said to from the way you and Mama still live youd
Dee. never know it.
Teach the Selection But she turned without a word and went
W
out to Hakim-a-barber.
You just dont understand, she said, as
Maggie and I came out to the car.
S he put on some sunglasses that hid every-
thing above the tip of her nose and her
chin. Maggie smiled; maybe at the sunglasses.
Point out
IRRORS to students What dont I understand? I wanted to But a real smile, not scared. After we watched
W INDOWS that heri- know. the car dust settle I asked Maggie to bring me
ttage
age ddoesnt
oesnt have to refer to Your heritage, she said. And then she a dip of snuff. And then the two of us sat there
tthe
he ccultural
ultural bbackground of their turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, You just enjoying, until it was time to go in the
ancestors two centuries ago, but ought to try to make something of yourself, house and go to bed.
rather to something as recent as too, Maggie. Its really a new day for us. But
the traditions created by their
&
grandparents and parents. W What role does your family, culture, and geographical location play in shaping
IRRORS who you are? Why do people sometimes want to change or avoid being influ-
Refer to Text
W INDOWS enced by these things?
1a. The narrator compares Maggie to

a lame animal.
2a. Dees new name is Wangero. She
changed her name because she
did not want to be named after REFER TO TEXT REASON WITH TEXT

the people who oppressed her 1a. Recall the comparison the narrator 1b. Contrast Maggie and Dee in person- Understand
ancestors. makes when Maggie first comes out ality and appearance. Find meaning
3a. She appreciates the benches, the into the yard.
churn, and the quilts. She had 2a. Write Dees new name. Why did she 2b. List other reasons somebody might Apply
looked down on them before. change her name? have for changing his or her name. Use information
4a. Wangero says Maggie would put Predict how other people would react
them to everyday use, while she to a name change like Dees.
would hang them on her wall. 3a. List things Wangero appreciates in the 3b. Contrast Wangeros ideas about her Analyze
5a. The pieces in the quilts are made house. How had she felt about these heritage to those of Maggie and her Take things
from Dee and Maggies grandmas things before? mother. apart
dresses. 4a. Quote what Wangero says Maggie 4b. Assess who values the quilts more, Evaluate
would do with the quilts and what she Wangero or Maggie. Explain your Make judgments
Reason with Text would do with the quilts. response.
1b. Dee is stylish, confident, and out- 5a. What is significant about the pieces of 5b. Discuss what pieces of fabric or what Create
spoken. Shes also used to getting the quilts Wangero wants? scenes and symbols a quilt significant Bring ideas
her own way. Maggie is homely to your life might contain. together
and scarred, timid, and humble.
2b. Responses will vary. ANALYZE LITERATURE: Theme and Symbol
3b. Responses will vary. What is the theme of Everyday Use? How do the quilts serve as
4b. Responses will vary. a symbol that helps illustrate that theme? What other symbols are
5b. Responses will vary. present in the story?
116 UNIT 1 FICTION
Analyze Literature
Theme and Symbol Students may have dif-

ferent interpretations of the theme of this story.
Some may say that the theme of Everyday Use
is that we should value our heritage and keep it
alive. Others may say that the theme is: There
are different ways to honor heritage. In the
story, quilts are used as a symbol for heritage.
116 UNIT 1 FICTION

EXTEND THE TEXT
Writing Options
Creative Writing Consider the characters of Dee and
choose to research how women were involved in the
Civil War or how people in the Midwest survived the
Maggie. How are they alike? How are they different? Great Depression. As part of your research, see if you
How does each of them understand her heritage? Write can find historical documents such as letters, diaries,
two separate journal entriesone from Dees point or old newspaper articles. A good place to look for Rubrics for Writing
of view and one from Maggies point of viewgiving these documents is the Library of Congress website. Use Options
each characters reaction to the events of the day. In your research to create a display of pictures or descrip- For writing rubrics and student models
your journal entries, try to accurately represent the tions of artifacts and other items you would include
in a museum exhibit. Create captions for the artifacts of the Writing Options assignments
personalities and ideas of the characters. Share your
journal entries with the class to get an idea of the describing what they are and their significance to the in the Extend the Text section, go to
different ways people understand Dee and Maggie. time period. Share your exhibit with your class. www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
Expository Writing Imagine that a magazine that Media Literacy
focuses on celebrating heritage is going to republish Stage a Talk Show The mother in Everyday Use
Everyday Use. Write a three-paragraph introduction dreams about appearing on a television talk show. As Lifelong Learning
that focuses on the theme of the story. In your introduc- a class, stage a talk show in which Dee, Maggie, and Suggest that students browse through
tion, examine how Walker develops the theme. Use the mother discuss the problem of who should get the the illustrations in American history or
evidence from the text, including quotations, to support quilts. Have one student play the host and moderate world history textbooks to get ideas
your ideas. You can use your graphic organizer from the discussion, and other students play Dee, Maggie,
and the mother. By the end of your show, the position
for this project.
prereading and your response to the Analyze Literature
questions as a starting points. of each family member should be clear, whether or not
the problem is actually resolved. Consider allowing the Media Literacy
Lifelong Learning rest of the class, as the audience, to vote on who gets Students may want to expand the
Create a Museum Exhibit Many people today learn the quilts.
about the past by visiting museums. Choose a time talk-show cast to include a moderator,
W
period of American history in which you are interested. Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more. or host.
Within that time period, choose one specific aspect of W
life and do research about it. For example, you might
Reading Assessment
1. You can model for your students
READING ASSESSMENT how to think aloud about this ques-
tion by saying, Dee has changed
1. Which is not a way that Dee shows her new sense of 3. Why does Maggie cherish the quilts?
heritage? A. She sees them as works of art.
her name, uses new greetings,
A. in her newfound diet B. They have kept her warm. shows a new appreciation for the
B. by changing her name C. They remind her of her grandmother. quilts and hand-carved butter churn
C. in using new greetings D. She knows they are part of her heritage. in the house, and dresses in a new
D. in her new appreciation for handcrafted items E. She thinks they will be worth a lot of money. African style. However, she still
E. by changing the way she dresses
4. Which of the following words means to escort or appreciates her mothers cooking
2. How does the name Dee differ for the narrator and conduct? as much as she ever did, and unlike
for Dee (Wangero)? A. scald her boyfriend, still eats pork, so
A. To the narrator, it is just a name; to Wangero, B. recompose
it is a reminder of her past. C. rifle answer A is not one of the ways
B. It reminds the narrator of the kind of child Dee D. usher she has changed. A is the correct
was; it reminds Wangero of a life of poverty. E. All of the above answer.
C. It makes the narrator think back to the time of 2. E
5. Wangero says to her mother, You just dont under-
slavery, but it makes Wangero think of a new 3. C
stand. When her mother asks what she doesnt
day.
D. The narrator thinks of her mother, whereas
understand, Wangero says, Your heritage. Do you 4. D
think Wangero is correct in her assessment of her 5. Responses will vary.
Wangero thinks it sounds old-fashioned.
mothers understanding? Explain your answer with
E. To the narrator, it is a family name, whereas
evidence from the story.
Wangero associates it with oppression.
EVERYDAY USE 117
TEACHING NOTE
/19/07 11:57:28 AM The Writing Is On the Wall
Fasten four or five pieces of paper to walls

around the room. Divide students into small
groups, and assign each group to a piece of
paper. Ask each group to write on its sheet of
paper as many questions about Everyday Use
as possible. As a class, determine which ques-
tions are recall and which are higher-level. Score
one point for each recall question and
one point for each higher-level question.
Discuss the higher-level questions as
time allows.
EVERYDAY USE 117

Preview the Selection THE LEAP A Short Story by Louise Erdrich
At a Glance
Directed Reading
Reading Level: Moderate BUILD BACKGROUND USE READING SKILLS
Difficulty Considerations: Time Literary Context Anna Avalon is a former trapeze artist. Her daughter is Cause and Effect When you
the narrator of The Leap. The story portrays a complex mother/daughter evaluate cause and effect, you
shifts; style; vocabulary
DIRECTED READING
relationship and how it changes over the years. The story reminds us that love look for a logical relationship
Ease Factors: Short sentences; anec- never lessens with age and that memories of events often remain as vivid as between a cause or causes and
dotes the day on which they happened. one or more effects. Its like a
train of dominoes: When the first
The Leap has appeared in various publications: first in Harpers Magazine;
domino falls, it sets in motion all
Objectives later in a 1994 anthology, In Praise of Mothers; and finally, in a significantly
the other dominoes.
Studying this lesson will enable stu- altered form, in Louise Erdrichs novel Tales of Burning Love.
dents to In The Leap, the narrator points
Readers Context When has somebody protected you or saved you from
out several times how one deci-
understand how the relationship getting hurt? If somebody in your family were in danger, what would you do to
sion or action leads to another. As
between a mother and daughter help the person? What kinds of risks would you take?
you read the story, use a graphic
is created and how it changes organizer like the one below.
through time. ANALYZE LITERATURE: Theme and Anecdote Write down different decisions or
read, interpret, analyze, and evalu- actions made by the narrators
A theme is a central message or percep-
mother and the effect they have
ate a short story about a mother- tion about life that is conveyed through
on the narrator and other people.
daughter relationship. a literary work. An anecdote is a short
account of an interesting, amusing, or Decision or
define theme and anecdote and Action Effect
biographical incident. In The Leap, Erdrich
recognize the use of these literary presents several anecdotes that work Anna saves
elements in the selection. together to develop a theme. herself.
use the skill of evaluating cause The
narrator
and effect to understand a short SET PURPOSE is born.
story.
Consider the title and the art throughout the story and how a leap might be
write an interview transcript and an related to the theme of the story. Predict who makes a leap, why, and what the
essay about courage. consequences are. Then, as you read, adjust your prediction as you learn more. PREVIEW VOCABULARY
promote a circus and create a bibli- Use the context clues in the
ography. MEET THE AUTHOR sentences below to figure out
practice reading assessment by the meanings of the underlined
Louise Erdrich (b. 1954) is the mother of six children. Being a mother has words from the selection.
answering multiple-choice and deepened her art, she says. I find myself emotionally engaged in ways I 1. Many artists make replicas of
short-answer questions about the wouldnt have been otherwise. I wouldnt understand certain things that Im their works so that more than
selection. starting to get now. one copy exists.
Erdrichs unique heritage has shaped her writing, too. 2. The opening vignette of the
Like many of the characters in her books, she is of movie was a shot of a couple
Launch the Lesson mixed Native American descent: Her mother is seated in a park.
Ask students if they have ever been French Chippewa (Ojibwa) and her father is German 3. The marble edifice with the
in a dangerous situation and needed American. While Erdrich was growing up in North majestic dome is the state
to be rescued. Alternatively, students Dakota, her parents worked as teachers on a capitol building.
may share anecdotes they have heard reservation. Today, she is a member of the Turtle 4. Mike struggled to extricate
Mountain Band of Chippewa. Some of Erdrichs himself from the ties of the
about in which a person exercised neighborhood gang.
novels include The Beet Queen, Love Medicine,
superhuman strength or bravery in the Tracks, Four Souls, and The Painted Drum. 5. Kims shoes were a size too
face of great dangerfor example, small and painfully constricting.
lifted up a car to save someone
trapped underneath, or rushed into a 118 UNIT 1 FICTION
blazing building.
0092-0129_Lit3eG10_U01.indd 118
CONTEXT, 118
Preview tentative, 123 Teaching
THEME, 118
Vocabulary looming, 124 Words ANECDOTE, 118
replica, 119 Selection anthology, 118
CAUSE, 118
vignette, 120 Words altered, 118
EFFECT, 118
edifice, 121 encroaching, 119 prominence, 125
CONTEXT CLUES, 118
extricate, 121 commemorates, guru, 125
TRANSCRIPT, 127
egocentrism, 121 119
porous, 122 anticipation, 120
constricting, 122 confinement, 122
culprit, 123 perpetually, 122
118 UNIT 1 FICTION

M y mother is the surviving half of a blind-
fold trapeze act, not a fact I think about
much even now that she is sightless, the result Teach the Selection
of encroaching and stubborn cataracts.1 She
walks slowly through her house here in New Summary
Hampshire, lightly touching her way along On a visit to her mother, the narrator
walls and running her hands over knickknacks, ponders how much she owes her. As a
books, the drift of a grown childs belongings young woman, the narrators mother
and castoffs. She has never upset an object or was part of an acrobatic act called
as much as brushed a magazine onto the floor. the Flying Avalons. In a freak circus
She has never lost her balance or bumped into tent accident, she was lucky to survive
a closet door left carelessly open. with her life, although the accident
It has occurred to me that the catlike preci- killed her husband. Recuperating in
sion of her movements in old age might be the hospital, she met the narrators
the result of her early training, but she shows father, who taught her to read. When
so little of the drama or flair one might expect the narrator was a small child, her
from a performer that I tend to forget the Flying mother used her acrobatic skills to
Avalons. She has kept no sequined costume, save her daughter from a burning
no photographs, no fliers or posters from that house.
part of her youth. I would, in fact, tend to think
that all memory of double somersaults and W
heart-stopping catches had left her arms and IRRORS The Mirrors
legs were it not for the fact that sometimes, as
I sit sewing in the room of the rebuilt house in
W INDOWS & Windows
questions
which I slept as a child, I hear the crackle, catch aatt tthe
a whiff of smoke from the stove downstairs, sstudents
tudeents to ddiscuss the theme of
The Acrobat, c. 1900s. and suddenly the room goes dark, the stitches what daughters can learn from
THE Marc Chagall. Muse dArt burn beneath my fingers, and I am sewing with their mothers, and why they
Moderne de la Ville de Paris, sometimes clash. To prepare
Paris, France. A
a needle of hot silver, a thread of fire.
L I owe her my existence three times. students to discuss this idea, you
The first was when she saved herself. In the may ask them to think about
A Short Story by their relationships with their
town square a replica tent pole, cracked
Louise Erdrich and splintered, now stands cast in concrete. parent(s) or guardian(s).
E My mother once
said that Id be
It commemorates the disaster that put our
town smack on the front page of the Boston
and New York tabloids.2 It is from those old
newspapers, now historical records, that I get
Critical Viewing
The Russian-born artist Marc Chagall
(18871985) was especially well
A amazed at how
many things
a person can
my information. Not from my mother, Anna
of the Flying Avalons, nor from any of her
known for his expressive use of color,
evocative symbolism, and anticipation
of Surrealist elements. Chagall often
focused on the performing arts, creat-
P
1. cataracts. Clouding of the lenses of the eyes or their mem-
branes that prevents the passage of light
do within the 2. tabloids. Small newspapers often containing sensationalized
ing sets for many plays, ballets, and
material and many photographs operas. A
act of falling.
rep li ca (re> pli k@) n., an exact copy
THE LEAP 119
/19/08 10:23:25 AM
Program Resources

E-Lesson Planner
ExamView
Technology Tools
Quiz
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Mirrors
&
Windows
THE LEAP 119

in-laws, nor certainly from the other half of That afternoon, as the anticipation
her particular act, Harold Avalon, her first increased, as Mr. and Mrs. Avalon tied spar-
Teach the Selection husband. In one news account it says, The day kling strips of cloth onto each others face and
was mildly overcast, but nothing in the air or as they puckered their lips in mock kisses,
Use Reading Strategies temperature gave any hint of the sudden force lips destined never again to meet, as one
Make Predictions Direct students with which the deadly gale3 would strike. long breathless article put it, the wind rose,
to the first full paragraph on the I have lived in the West, where you can miles off, wrapped itself into a cone, and
page. Then ask them to predict how see the weather coming for miles, and it is true howled. There came a rumble of electrical
the setting of the story might affect that out here we are at something of a disad- energy, drowned out by the sudden roll of
the plot. A vantage. When extremes of temperature collide, drums. One detail not mentioned by the press,
Answer: Students should notice that a hot and cold front, winds generate instan- B perhaps unknownAnna was pregnant at the
the weather is ominous and be able taneously behind a hill and crash upon you time, seven months and hardly showing, her
to predict that something bad is prob- without warning. That, I think, was the likely stomach muscles were that strong. It seems
ably going to happen in the story. situation on that day in June. People prob- incredible that she would work high above the
ably commented on the pleasant air, grateful ground when any fall could be so dangerous,
Analyze Literature that no hot sun beat upon the striped tent that but the explanationI know from watching
Theme Have students read the stretched over the entire center green. They her go blindis that my mother lives comfort-
description of Anna in the first para- bought their tickets and surrendered them in ably in extreme elements. She is one with the
A
graph of the second column. Ask what anticipation. They sat. They ate carmelized constant dark now, just as the air was her
the narrator means by saying her popcorn and roasted peanuts. There was time, home, familiar to her, safe, before the storm
mother lives comfortably in extreme before the storm, for three acts. The White that afternoon.
elements. Have students share stories Arabians of Ali-Khazar rose on their hind legs From opposite ends of the tent they waved,
about people they know who fit this and waltzed. The Mysterious Bernie folded blind and smiling, to the crowd below. The
description. Then ask how this descrip- himself into a painted cracker tin,4 and the ringmaster removed his hat and called for
tion of Anna might contribute to one Lady of the Mists made herself appear and silence, so that the two above could concen-
of the storys themes. B disappear in surprising places. As the clouds trate. They rubbed their hands in chalky
Answer: That Anna lives comfortably gathered outside, unnoticed, the ringmaster powder, then Harry launched himself and
in extreme elements suggests she is cracked his whip, shouted his introduction, swung, once, twice, in huge calibrated5 beats
not affected by situations that most and pointed to the ceiling of the tent, where across space. He hung from his knees and on
people find frightening or dangerous. the Flying Avalons were perched. the third swing stretched wide his arms, held
This information about Anna helps They loved to drop gracefully from his hands out to receive his pregnant wife as
develop the theme of being coura- nowhere, like two sparkling birds, and blow she dove from her shining bar.
geous under pressure. When students kisses as they threw off their plumed helmets It was while the two were in midair, their
finish reading, ask them to identify and high-collared capes. They laughed and hands about to meet, that lightning struck the
other scenes in the story that contrib- flirted openly as they beat their way up again main pole and sizzled down the guy wires,6
ute to this theme. on the trapeze bars. In the final vignette of filling the air with a blue radiance that Harry
their act, they actually would kiss in midair, Avalon must certainly have seen through the
pausing, almost hovering as they swooped past cloth of his blindfold as the tent buckled and
one another. On the ground, between bows,
Harry Avalon would skip quickly to the front 3. gale. A strong wind that ranges from thirty-two to sixty-three
miles per hour
rows and point out the smear of my mothers 4. cracker tin. Cracker box
lipstick, just off the edge of his mouth. They 5. calibrated. Precisely adjusted or measured
made a romantic pair all right, especially in the 6. guy wires. Wires attached to the tent pole and used as rein-
forcement or guides for the performers
blindfold sequence.
vig nette (vin yet>) n., a brief scene
120 UNIT 1 FICTION
Reading Proficiency knickknackssmall, decorative items, 119

Before they begin reading, encourage students castoffsitems thrown away or aside, 119
to create a chart with the headings Past and whiffa quick puff or gust, 119
Present. Ask them to use this chart to help illiterateunable to read or write, 122
them keep track of the time frame and the boughbranch of a tree, 123
sequence of events described in the story. gestureuse of the body to express an idea,
123
English Language Learning
You may wish to give students the following
additional vocabulary:
120 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
Visualize Direct students to the
scene about the accident. Encourage
students to visualize what is hap-
pening in this scene by creating a
storyboard. A storyboard is essentially
a row of boxes in which pictures are
drawn depicting action. If students
are unfamiliar with storyboards, draw
the edifice toppled him forward, the swing an overeager rescuer broke her arm in extri- a row of boxes on the board and
continuing and not returning in its sweep, cating her and also, in the process, collapsed a model how to draw pictures in them.
and Harry going down, down into the crowd portion of the tent bearing a huge buckle that Remind students that they may use
with his last thought, perhaps, just a prickle of knocked her unconscious. She was taken to the simple stick figures in their story-
surprise at his empty hands. town hospital, and there she must have hemor- boards if they dont care to draw. C
My mother once said that Id be amazed rhaged,7 for they kept her, confined to her
at how many things a person can do within bed, a month and a half before her baby was More About the Author
the act of falling. Perhaps, at the time, she born without life. Harry Avalon had wanted Louise Erdrichs father used to recite
was teaching me to dive off a board at the to be buried in the circus cemetery next to the memorized poems to her and her six
town pool, for I associate the idea with midair original Avalon, his uncle, so she sent him back siblings, and encouraged her writ-
somersaults. But I also think she meant that with his brothers. The child, however, is buried ing by giving her a nickel for every
even in that awful doomed second one could around the corner, beyond this house and just story she wrote. To support herself
think, for she certainly did. When her hands down the highway. Sometimes I used to walk while beginning her writing career,
did not meet her husbands, my mother tore there just to sit. She was a girl, but I rarely Erdrich worked as a beet weeder, at
her blindfold away. As he swept past her on thought of her as a sister or even as a separate Kentucky Fried Chicken, and on road
the wrong side, she could have grasped his person really. I suppose you could call it the construction crews.
ankle, the toe-end of his tights, and gone down egocentrism of a child, of all young children,
clutching him. Instead, she changed direction. but I considered her a less finished version of
Her body twisted toward a heavy wire and myself.
she managed to hang on to the braided metal, C When the snow falls, throwing shadows
still hot from the lightning strike. Her palms among the stones, I can easily pick hers out
were burned so terribly that once healed they from the road, for it is bigger than the others
bore no lines, only the blank scar tissue of a and in the shape of a lamb at rest, its legs
quieter future. She was lowered, gently, to the curled beneath. The carved lamb looms larger
sawdust ring just underneath the dome of the as the years pass, though it is probably only my
canvas roof, which did not entirely settle but eyes, the vision shifting, as what is close to me
was held up on one end and jabbed through,
torn, and still on fire in places from the giant 7. hemorrhaged. Suffered internal bleeding
spark, though rain and mens jackets soon put
that out. ed i fice (e> d@ f@s) n., massive building or structure
ex tri cate (ek> str@ k6t<) v., free from entanglement or
Three people died, but except for her hands difficulty
my mother was not seriously harmed until e go cen trism (7< g9 sen> tri< z@m) n., self-centeredness
THE LEAP 121
THE LEAP 121

blurs and distances sharpen. In odd moments,
I think it is the edge drawing near, the edge
Teach the Selection of everything, the unseen horizon we do not
really speak of in the eastern woods. And it
Use Reading Skills also seems to me, although this is probably an
Cause and Effect Several things idle fantasy, that the statue is growing more
happen as a result of Annas acci- sharply etched, as if, instead of weathering
dent. Draw a graphic organizer like itself into a porous mass, it is hardening on the
the one on page 118 on the board, hillside with each snowfall, perfecting itself.
and model how to fill it out. In the It was during her confinement in the
Decision or Action box, write Anna hospital that my mother met my father. He was
survives the accident. Ask students called in to look at the set of her arm, which Once my father and mother married, they
to list the effects of Anna surviving was complicated. He stayed, sitting at her moved onto the old farm he had inherited
the accident, and write them in the bedside, for he was something of an armchair but didnt care much for. Though hed been
Effect boxes. Effects include the fol- traveler and had spent his war quietly, at an thinking of moving to a larger city, he settled
lowing: Anna has to be in the hospi- air force training grounds, where he became down and broadened his practice in this valley.
tal, so she meets the narrators father. a specialist in arms and legs broken during It still seems odd to me, when they could have
Anna loses her baby, and because parachute training exercises. Anna Avalon had gone anywhere else, that they chose to stay in
she buries the baby in the town, she been to many of the places he longed to visit the town where the disaster had occurred, and
stays there and marries the narrators Venice, Rome, Mexico, all through France and which my father in the first place had found
father. The narrator is born. Spain. She had no family of her own and was so constricting. It was my mother who insisted
taken in by the Avalons, trained to perform upon it, after her child did not survive. And
Analyze Literature from a very young age. They toured Europe then, too, she loved the sagging farmhouse
Anecdote Direct students to the before the war, then based themselves in New with its scrap of what was left of a vast acreage
paragraph beginning I was seven the York. She was illiterate. of woods and hidden hay fields that stretched
year the house caught fire Point out It was in the hospital that she finally learned to the game park.
that an anecdote begins here. When to read and write, as a way of overcoming the I owe my existence, the second time
students have read the anecdote, boredom and depression of those weeks, and it then, to the two of them and the hospital that
discuss the narrators purpose for her was my father who insisted on teaching her. In brought them together. That is the debt we
story. A return for stories of her adventures, he graded take for granted since none of us asks for life.
her first exercises. He bought her her first book, It is only once we have it that we hang on so
and over her bold letters, which the pale guides dearly.
TEACHING NOTE of the penmanship pads could not contain, they I was seven the year the house caught fire,
Research Illiteracy fell in love. probably from standing ash. It can rekindle,8
Have students research illiteracy in their city I wonder if my father calculated the and my father, forgetful around the house
or state and ask them to compile a fact sheet exchange he offered: one form of flight for A and perpetually exhausted from night hours
about illiteracy that states statistics about illit- another. For after that, and for as long as I can on call, often emptied what he thought were
eracy and what programs are available to help remember, my mother has never been without ashes from cold stoves into wooden or card-
people gain literacy. a book. Until now, that is, and it remains the board containers. The fire could have started
greatest difficulty of her blindness. Since my from a flaming box, or perhaps a buildup of
fathers recent death, there is no one to read to
her, which is why I returned, in fact, from my 8. rekindle. To catch fire again
failed life where the land is flat. I came home
por ous (p0r> @s) adj., having pores; allowing liquids to absorb
to read to my mother, to read out loud, to read or pass through itself
long into the dark if I must, to read all night. con strict ing (k@n strict> i4) adj., limiting; compressing
122 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Visual Show students pictures or a video

Auditory Trapeze performances often involve recording of a trapeze act, or direct students to
music. Have students choose appropriate music the picture on page 121. Ask students why this
for a performance of the Flying Avalons. They kind of performance is dangerous and why the
can play the music as classmates reread the people would want to do it.
portion of the story that describes the Avalons Kinesthetic Because this story could be dif-
act. Then students can critique the background ficult for people to act out, invite students to
music. perform the story with puppets.
122 UNIT 1 FICTION

creosote9 inside the chimney was the culprit. made him understand. He couldnt make his
It started right around the stove, and the heart hands work, so she finally tore it off and stood
of the house was gutted. The babysitter, fallen there in her pearls and stockings. She directed Teach the Selection
asleep in my fathers den on the first floor, one of the men to lean the broken half of the
woke to find the stairway to my upstairs room extension ladder up against the trunk of the Use Reading Strategies
cut off by flames. She used the phone, then ran tree. In surprise, he complied. She ascended. Make Connections Have students
outside to stand beneath my window. She vanished. Then she could be seen among read the paragraph beginning with
When my parents arrived, the two volun- the leafless branches of late November as she Standing there, beside Father Ask
teers had drawn water from the fire pond made her way up and, along her stomach, students to give explanations for
and were spraying the outside of the house, inched the length of a bough that curved above why Annas husband couldnt make
preparing to go inside after me, not knowing at the branch that brushed the roof. his hands work. Then ask students to
the time that there was only one staircase and Once there, swaying, she stood and share stories of times they couldnt
that it was lost. balanced. There were plenty of people in the get their hands to work. B
On the other side of the house, the super- crowd and many who still remember, or think
annuated10 extension ladder broke in half. they do, my mothers leap through the ice-dark Analyze Literature
Perhaps the clatter of it falling against the walls air toward that thinnest extension, and how Theme Direct students to the last
woke me, for Id been asleep up to that point. she broke the branch falling so that it cracked paragraph of the story on page 124.
As soon as I awakened, in the small room in her hands, cracked louder than the flames as What details in this paragraph con-
that I now use for sewing, I smelled the smoke. she vaulted with it toward the edge of the roof, tribute to a theme of the story?
I followed things by the letter then, was good and how it hurtled down end over end without Answer: The description of her moth-
at memorizing instructions, and so I did exactly her, and their eyes went up, again, to see where ers heart strongly suggests that the
what was taught in the second-grade home fire she had flown. storys theme is the strength of Annas
drill. I got up, I touched the back of my door I didnt see her leap through air, only heard love for her daughter and the cour-
before opening it. Finding it hot, I left it closed the sudden thump and looked out my window. age with which she encounters lifes
and stuffed my rolled-up rug beneath the She was hanging by the backs of her heels obstacles.
crack. I did not hide under my bed or crawl from the new gutter we had put in that year,
into my closet. I put on my flannel robe, and and she was smiling. I was not surprised to see
then I sat down to wait. her, she was so matter-of-fact. She tapped on
Outside, my mother stood below my dark the window. I remember how she did it, too.
window and saw clearly that there was no It was the friendliest tap, a bit tentative, as if
rescue. Flames had pierced one side wall, and she was afraid she had arrived too early at a
the glare of the fire lighted the massive limbs friends house. Then she gestured at the latch,
and trunk of the vigorous old elm that had and when I opened the window she told me to
probably been planted the year the house was raise it wide and prop it up with the stick so it
built, a hundred years ago at least. No leaf wouldnt crush her fingers. She swung down,
touched the wall, and just one thin branch caught the ledge, and crawled through the
scraped the roof. From below, it looked as opening. Once she was in my room, I realized
though even a squirrel would have had trouble she had on only underclothing, a bra of the
jumping from the tree onto the house, for the heavy stitched cotton women used to wear and
breadth of that small branch was no bigger
9. creosote. Flammable tar deposited from wood smoke on
than my mothers wrist. chimney walls
Standing there, beside Father, who was 10. superannuated. Very old; ready for retirement
preparing to rush back around to the front B cul prit (kul> pr@t) n., one guilty of a crime; the cause of a
of the house, my mother asked him to unzip problem
her dress. When he wouldnt be bothered, she ten ta tive (ten> t@ tiv) adj., hesitant; uncertain
THE LEAP 123
TEACHING NOTE
/19/07 11:57:35 AM Student-Generated Questions
Instruct students to write down questions and answers about The Leap.
Gather the questions into a container. Divide the class into four or five groups,
and direct all of the groups to move to one side of the room. Designate one
person in each group to be the Mover and another person to be the Recorder.
Give each Recorder a marker and a large notepad. Ask one of the questions
in the container, and instruct the Recorder to write down the groups answer.
Then read the answer to the question. If a groups answer is correct, its Mover
may move forward one step. (You may want to designate a line judge to
make sure that all the Movers move forward the same distance each
time.) Keep asking questions until one group has made it back and
forth across the room once.
THE LEAP 123

step-in, lace-trimmed drawers. I remember by the cries of the crowd or the looming faces.
feeling light-headed, of course, terribly The wind roared and beat its hot breath at our
Teach the Selection relieved, and then embarrassed for her to be back, the flames whistled. I slowly wondered
seen by the crowd undressed. what would happen if we missed the circle or
I was still embarrassed as we flew out the bounced out of it. Then I wrapped my hands
W Students
window, toward earth, me in her lap, her toes around my mothers hands. I felt the brush
IRRORS may point pointed as we skimmed toward the painted of her lips and heard the beat of her heart in
W INDOWS out that target of the fire fighters net. my ears, loud as thunder, long as the roll of
cconflict
onflicct betw
between a mother and drums.
ddaughter
aughter ofte
often arises when
the mother tries to control or I know that shes right. I knew it even then.
As you fall there is time to think. Curled as
I was, against her stomach, I was not startled
loom ing (l2m> i4) adj., appearing exaggeratedly large or
distorted
correct her daughter and when
the daughter rebels against her
&
mothers restrictions and chal-
lenges her values.
W
IRRORS What lessons can daughters learn from their mothers? What causes conflict
Refer to Text
W INDOWS between mothers and daughters?
1a. The first time, Anna saves herself

from falling to her death. The

second time
time, she met and married
the narrators father. The third 1a. The narrator says of her mother, I owe 1b. Compare the first incident and the third Understand
time, she saved her daughter from her my existence three times. List how incident. Find meaning
the mother saved her daughter three
their burning house. times.
2a. Anna is comfortable being a
trapeze artist and working in dan- 2a. The narrator says that her mother lives 2b. Apply the skill of living comfortably in Apply
comfortably in extreme elements. Cite extreme elements to other situations. Use information
gerous conditions even when preg- evidence to support this statement. In what situations might this skill be
nant. She adapts to the extreme useful?
darkness of blindness.
3a. The narrator has returned from her 3a. Quote what the narrator says she has 3b. Compare the narrator to Anna Avalon. Analyze
returned from to help her mother. How does the narrator think she Take things
failed life where the land is flat. measures up? apart
4a. The second act took the least
physical risk. 4a. Indicate how risky each of the three 4b. Judge whether Anna is courageous. Evaluate
acts of saving is. Explain your response. Make judgments
5a. She describes the woman as alone
and unconventional. 5a. Read the Literature Connection Her 5b. Combine what you know about being Create
Flying Trapeze. What words does Nikki a trapeze artist from The Leap and Bring ideas
Giovanni use to describe the woman on from Her Flying Trapeze. What do you together
Reason with Text her flying trapeze? imagine it would be like to be a trapeze
1b. In both the first and third inci- artist? Is it appealing to you? Why?
dents, Anna must use her physical
agility and quick thinking to pre- ANALYZE LITERATURE: Theme and Anecdote
vent disaster and tragedy. Describe each of the anecdotes that appear in the story. What has Anna
2b. Responses will vary. done for her daughter? What has the narrator done for her mother? What
3b. The narrator does thinks her moth- has each learned from the other? How do these things help you under-
er has succeeded in many things stand the theme of the story?
but sees her own life as a relative
failure.
Analyze Literature
Theme and Anecdote There are three main

anecdotes in the story. They appear on pages
119, 122, and 123. These anecdotes explain
how Anna saved her daughters life. The daugh-
ter has come home to help care for and read to
her mother, who has gone blind in her old age.
The daughter has learned from her mother that
you can do a lot in the act of fallingin other
words, in a time of great crisis, we are capable
of miraculous and heroic things. The acts of the
mother and daughter suggest that sacrifice and
risk are part of love.
124 UNIT 1 FICTION

At a Glance
Literature Difficulty Considerations:

References to proverbs
Connection Ease Factors: Repetition; length
Nikki Giovanni (b. 1943) is the pen name of Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, a poet, publisher,
and educator who gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s for her poetry and essays on Summary
racial issues and the African-American experience. Of her life and her writing, she says, Im not Using proverbs and conventional
a leader. Im not a guru. Im just a poet looking at the world. wisdom, the speaker of this poem
Her Flying Trapeze describes a woman who lives life her own way. Consider how this describes a woman who is anything
poem relates to the theme of The Leap. GIOVANNI but conventionala woman who
lives her life in her own way.
Her Flying Analyze Literature

Rhyme Use this selection to teach
different types of rhyme. Explain to
TRAPEZE students that internal rhyme is the

use of rhyming words within lines of
poetry. Exact rhyme occurs when
rhyming words end with the same
A Poem by Nikki Giovanni sound or sounds. Slant rhyme occurs
when rhyming sounds are similar but
not identical. Point out to students
the internal rhyme in line 9 (sky /
Some see the world through rose colored glasses thigh). Ask students to find other
Some cant see the forest for the trees examples of rhyme in the poem.
A stitch in time will always save nine Answers: Examples of exact internal
She rides through the trees with the greatest of ease rhyme include line 4 (trees / ease),
5 Alone on her flying trapeze line 13 (fools / mules), and line 14
(breeze / ease). Examples of internal
Some will tell you the glass is half full slant rhyme include line 2 (see /
Others see it as mostly empty trees), line 3 (time / nine), and line 9
An ounce of prevention is one pound of cure (flies / sky / thigh).
She flies through the sky two tattoos on her thigh
10 Alone on her flying trapeze
Some ride the Steinways 88

Some drive an 18 wheeler
Some feel like fools in their gasoline mules
She glides through the breeze with an absolute ease
15 Alone on her flying trapeze
HER FLYING TRAPEZE 125
/19/07 11:57:37 AM
English Language Learning expressions on the Internet together.

This selection might prove difficult for English You might also explain to students that
Language Learners because of its proverbs and Steinways 88 refers to the 88 keys on a
clichs. Pair students with those proficient in Steinway piano (riding the keys of a piano is
English to work through what the proverbs and playing the piano) and that an 18 wheeler
clichs mean. If the pairs are unable to figure refers to a semitruck.
out the meanings, have them research the

Critical Viewing
This poster was created around 1938.
Students might guess it was created
in this time period because of the Critical Viewing
womans hair and the posters color- Into which time period would
ing. Ask students to consider what you place this advertising poster?
the advertisers might have hoped Why? Evaluate the effectiveness
to accomplish with the poster, and of the advertisement. Would you
go to the circus after seeing this
discuss the techniques the advertisers poster? Why or why not? A
used. For example, perhaps the adver-
tisers wanted to get across the excite-
ment of the circus by featuring a dar-
ing act on the poster. A poster with
clowns or elephants on it wouldnt
seem quite so exciting and daring.
Also point out to students how the
advertisers used the word thrilling
to describe the act. What connotation
does this word carry? A
Refer to Text
1a. Lines 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 contain
proverbs, clichs, and conventional
wisdom.
2a. Alone on her flying trapeze is REFER TO TEXT REASON WITH TEXT

repeated three times. 1a. Identify the proverbs, clichs, and 1b. Compare and contrast the way the Understand
3a. Responses will vary. conventional wisdom in this poem. woman on the trapeze lives with the Find meaning
conventional wisdom of the poem.
Reason with Text 2a. Quote the line that is repeated several 2b. Why do you think the poet repeats Apply
1b. The woman does not seem to fol- times throughout the poem. this line? What ideas is she trying to Use information
low conventional wisdom. Instead, convey?
the poem states three times, shes 3a. What are the advantages and disad- 3b. How does the way you live your life Create
alone on her trapeze. vantages of living life by conventional compare with the way the woman in Bring ideas
2b. Responses will vary. Perhaps the wisdom? the poem lives hers? together
poet wants to reiterate the idea
TO
that the woman is alonethat TEXT TEXT CONNECTION
living unconventionally can some- How is Anna Avalon courageous? How is the woman in Her
times be lonely. Flying Trapeze courageous? Compare the themes of the two
3b. Responses will vary. selections.
126 UNIT 1 FICTION
Text TO
Text Connection
Anna defies obstacles and faces up to challeng-

es, while the woman in the poem chooses to
disregard social conventions to live life her own
way. The themes of the two selections are simi-
lar: both celebrate courage and individuality.
126 UNIT 1 FICTION

EXTEND THE TEXT
Writing Options Media Literacy
Creative Writing Imagine you are a historian and are Promote a Circus Imagine you and your group have Rubrics for Writing
interviewing Anna (as an old woman). You plan to write been asked to promote a circus that is coming to town. Options
an article about her experiences as part of the towns First, identify your target audience. Then brainstorm a For writing rubrics and student models
history. What kinds of questions would be appropriate list of features that might appeal to that audience. Use
for this purpose? Write down questions you would ask this information to write a radio script, design flyers and
of the Writing Options assignments
Anna. Then, using what you know about the character, signs, or come up with other ways to promote the event. in the Extend the Text section, go to
write responses to your questions. Compile a tran- Present your promotional materials to the class. www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
script, or written-down version, of the interview. Lifelong Learning
Expository Writing What is courage? For a maga- Create a Bibliography The topic of mother-daughter Media Literacy
zine for teenagers, write a one-page essay about what relationships is common in literature. Using the Internet, Some people are opposed to the
courage is, based on the lives of Anna Avalon and the locate ten works that focus on this topic and create
idea of circuses since they often
woman in Nikki Giovannis poem Her Flying Trapeze. a bibliography to serve as a summer reading list for
teenagers. Include a variety of genres on your list, such use trained animals. If any of your
Before you begin writing, think about the ways Anna
Avalon and the woman in the poem exhibit courage. as fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. For each piece of students object to the idea of cir-
Consider how they deal with challenging situations and literature you list, include a brief description, or annota- cuses, explain that they can promote
how they define themselves. Include quotes and para- tion, that tells a little bit of what the work is about and another type of event or a circus such
phrases from the two texts as support for your ideas. catches readers interest.
as Cirque du Soleil that does not use
animals.
W
W Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more.
Lifelong Learning
Alternatively, students may choose to
READING ASSESSMENT generate a list of works about father
1. What most likely motivated Anna Avalon to save her A. Both are always alone: the woman on her and son relationships.
daughter from their burning house? trapeze and Anna in her blindness.
A. the desire to show her trapeze skills again B. Both are daring: the woman avoiding the
B. her love for her daughter and need to rescue clichs of life and Anna unafraid to save her
her daughters life.
C. fear of heights C. Both demonstrate fearlessness by flying on the
D. the wish to perform for an audience trapeze, an act that would terrify many.
E. a sense of destiny since she had saved her D. Both are misunderstood and use the trapeze
daughter twice before as a way to escape from the world.
E. Both find solace in swinging up high, but both
2. What did the narrator learn from watching her
give up the ease of flight to raise their children.
mother go blind?
A. that her mother was not as courageous as she 4. Which of the following is a synonym for the word
thought extricate?
B. that her mother had saved her life and prob- A. buy
ably would again B. replicate
C. that her mother lived comfortably in extreme C. find
elements D. free
D. that her mother was more courageous than E. apply
she realized
5. How does the narrator feel about her mother? Write
E. that her mother had been flying in her own
a note to the mother from the narrator explaining
way through reading
how she feels about her and why.
3. In what way are the woman in Her Flying Trapeze
and Anna Avalon similar?
THE LEAP / HER FLYING TRAPEZE 127

1. B seems particularly misunderstood by others,

2. C so answer D is probably not true, and finally,
3. Model how to think aloud about this ques- E cannot be true, because there is no mention
tion by saying, Annas mother is not alone in of the woman in the poem having children.
her blindness, because she has her daughter Both women are daring in their approach to
there with her, so answer A doesnt seem life, so B is the best answer.
correct. The trapeze in the poem seems like 4. D
more of a metaphor than an actual trapeze, 5. Responses will vary.
so answer C rings false. Neither woman

GRAMMAR & STYLE
Teach the Workshop
Objectives
Participating in this lesson will enable Comma Usage Use a comma to set off words or phrases that inter-
students to A comma separates words or groups of words within rupt sentences. Use two commas if the word or
understand the concept of comma a sentence. Commas tell the reader to pause at phrase occurs in the middle of the sentence. Use one
usage. certain spots in the sentence. These pauses help keep comma if the word or phrase comes at the beginning
review terms relevant to comma the reader from running together certain words and or at the end of a sentence.
usage. phrases when they should be kept apart. EXAMPLE
practice the concept by completing Use a comma to separate items in a series. The items From the opposite ends of the tent they waved,
skill exercises. in a series may be words, phrases, or clauses. blind and smiling, to the crowd below.
apply the concept to extension EXAMPLES Use a comma between two or more adjectives that
activities. words in a series: The people at the circus modify the same noun.
ate caramel corn, peanuts, and cotton candy. EXAMPLE
Launch the Lesson phrases in a series: The narrators mother The hot, bright, shooting flames consumed the
Tell students that the lesson for today saved her by saving herself, by marrying her house.
will discuss the most frequently used father, and by rescuing her from a fire.
clauses in a series: No one knew when the Use a comma to set off names used in direct address.
and the most confusing punctua-
storm came, why it was so severe, or what
tion mark: the comma. The comma destruction occurred.
EXAMPLE
is also probably the most important The narrators mother, Anna Avalon, was a
Use a comma when you combine sentences using trapeze artist.
punctuation mark. Ask students why
and, but, or, nor, yet, so, or for. Place the comma
they think the comma is so important. Use a comma to separate parts of a date. Do not use
before these words. Remember to use a comma only a comma between the month and the year.
Next, ask them to call out the rules when you are joining complete sentences.
they already know about when to EXAMPLES
use a comma. Do they find commas EXAMPLES
The party was held on August 2, 1902.
confusing? If so, what confuses them incorrect: The glare of the fire, and the heat
of the flames frightened her. (The glare of the Use a comma to separate items in addresses. Do not
about comma usage? use a comma between the state and the ZIP code.
fire is not a complete sentence, so you would
not use a comma before the and.) EXAMPLE
Refer to page 1077 of the correct: Flames had pierced one side wall, and Her favorite place to travel was Venice, Italy.
Language Arts Handbook 3.15, the glare of the fire lit the massive limbs and
Punctuation, for additional instruc- trunk of the vigorous old elm. REVIEW TERMS
tion on comma usage. Use a comma after an introductory word or phrase. comma: a punctuation mark used to separate
words or groups of words within a sentence
EXAMPLE
clause: a group of words that contains a
Once my father and mother married, they subject and verb and that functions as one
moved onto the old farm he had inherited but part of speech
didnt care much for. phrase: a group of words that is used as a
single part of speech but that lacks a subject,
verb, or both
128 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
COMMA, 128
Teaching Words CLAUSE, 128
consumed, 128 PHRASE, 128
interrupter, 129
vaulted, 129
128 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Workshop
Apply the Skill
Identify Commas 7. The narrators father taught Anna Avalon to Identify Commas
Identify the use of each comma in the following read and this is how they fell in love. Perhaps, (interrupter) at the time,
passage from The Leap as one of the following: 8. Anna Avalons first husband Harold Avalon
(interrupter) she was teaching me to
combining sentences, interrupter, introductory word died in the trapeze accident.
9. Anna Avalon climbed the tree leaped through
dive off a board at the town pool,
or phrase, or direct address.
the air and landed on the windowsill while the (combining sentences) for I associate
fire blazed around her. the idea with midair sometimes. But
My mother once said that Id be amazed at I also think she meant that even in
10. The crowd silent and awestruck watched as
how many things a person can do within that awful doomed second one could
Anna Avalon vaulted through the air toward
the act of falling. Perhaps, at the time,
the flaming house. think, (combining sentences) for she
she was teaching me to dive off a board
11. The narrator reflects on her mothers experi- certainly did. When her hands did
at the town pool, for I associate the idea
ences often using anecdotes to tell the story. not meet her husbands, (introductory
with midair somersaults. But I also think
12. Falling through the air the narrator says gives a phrase) my mother tore her blindfold
she meant that even in that awful doomed
person time to think.
second one could think, for she certainly away. As he swept past her on the
13. Nikki Giovanni who was born in 1943 wrote
did. When her hands did not meet her
Her Flying Trapeze.
wrong side, (introductory phrase) she
husbands, my mother tore her blindfold
14. Alone the woman on the trapeze flies through could have grasped his ankle, (inter-
away. As he swept past her on the wrong
the air. rupter) the toe-end of this tights,
side, she could have grasped his ankle, {interrupter) and gone down clutching
15. The poem and the story have several things in
the toe-end of his tights, and gone down him. Instead, (introductory word) she
common including performing a trapeze act.
clutching him. Instead, she changed direc-
changed direction. His body twisted
tion. Her body twisted toward a heavy Use Commas in Your Writing toward a heavy metal wire and she
wire and she managed to hang on to the For a teen magazine featuring stories about parent-
braided metal, still hot from the lightning managed to hang on to the braided
child relationships, write a personal account about a
strike. time you learned something valuable from a parent, metal, (interrupter) still hot from the
guardian, or other adult figure. Also include in your lightning strike.
account a description of how that lesson has affected Correct Comma Use
Correct Comma Use your way of looking at things. Be sure to use commas
1. The Leap, Louise Erdrich, grew up
Rewrite the following sentences so that they are correctly in your account.
correctly punctuated with commas.
2. Today, she is
1. The author of The Leap Louise Erdrich grew 3. to being a writer, she is also
up in North Dakota.
EXTEND THE SKILL 4. Harpers Magazine, then in In
2. Today she is a member of the Turtle Mountain Imagine you have been asked to create a workbook Praise of Mothers, and finally
Band of Chippewa. that teaches fifth-grade students how to use commas 5. mother, Anna Avalon, have
3. In addition to being a writer she is also a correctly. Working in a small group, write a lesson on 6. the trapeze, she spent
mother and she has six children. commas for this age level. Also write exercises that 7. to read, and this
4. The Leap appeared first in Harpers Magazine reinforce how to use commas but are also fun and 8. husband, Harold Avalon, died
then in In Praise of Mothers and finally in the interesting for preteens. If possible, try out your work- 9. tree, leaped through the window,
novel Tales of Burning Love. book on a group of fifth-graders and get their feedback
and landed
5. The narrator of The Leap and her mother on it.
Anna Avalon have a special relationship.
10. crowd, silent and awestruck,
6. After Anna Avalon fell from the trapeze she watched
spent more than a month recovering in the 11. experiences, often using
hospital. 12. air, the narrator says, gives
13. Giovanni, who was born in 1943,
wrote
GRAMMAR & STYLE 129 14. Alone, the woman
15. common, including
/19/07 11:57:56 AM
Program Resources

Comma Usage in the Exceeding the
GRAMMAR & STYLE 129

Teach the Skill
Read Independently
The independent reading selections
provide opportunities for students to
use reading and literary analysis strat-
egies and skills independently, build
reading stamina, and gain experience
with texts like those they will encoun-
ter outside the classroom. Minimal
support has been provided in the mar-
gins of this teachers edition, should USING READING SKILLS WITH FICTION
you choose to cover these selections
in more depth in class.
READING FICTION Identify the Main Idea
The main idea is a brief statement of what you think
Use Independent Reading selections as
additional thematic readings
INDEPENDENTLY the author wants you to know, think, or feel after
reading the text. In some cases, the main idea will
common assessments Theme: Choices actually be stated. Usually in fiction, the author will
not tell you what the main idea is, and you will have
texts for literature circles to infer it.
test practice passages The headmaster looked stunned. His
homework In general, nonfiction texts have main ideas; literary
extra credit
face was beaded with perspiration. texts, like the fictional stories in this unit, have
Sekhar felt the greatest pity for him. But themes. Sometimes, the term main idea is used to
refer to the theme of a literary work. Both deal with
Refer to page 1032 of the he felt he could not help it. No judge the central idea in a written work.
Language Arts Handbook 1.3, Using delivering a sentence felt more pained Do not confuse the main idea of a story with the plot;
Reading Skills, for additional instruc- the plot signifies the actions or events that happen to
tion on identifying the main idea,
and helpless.
the characters of the story. The main idea is the point
understanding authors purpose and R. K. Narayan, from Like the Sun or purpose of those actions.
approach, and summarizing.
Related to the main idea is the authors purpose. The
Every day, you are faced with choices to make. Most authors purpose is the reason the author wrote
of these choices are small, such as what to eat for that story or what he or she hoped to achieve by
breakfast or wear to school. Other decisions you make, doing so. Sometimes, there is a message or a point
however, may alter the course of your life. These to the story; the author hopes you will think or feel
choices often put to the test who you are as a person a certain way about a subject after reading it. The
and what you stand for. As you read the selections in purpose of other stories might be simply to entertain,
this section, determine what choices are made and how whether to make you laugh or to scare you. If you
those choices reveal the characters true selves. can determine the authors purpose, you will be better
able to critique or analyze the story for how effective
the author was in achieving that purpose.
A good way to find the main or overall idea of a
whole selection (or part of a selection) is to gather
important details into a Main Idea Map like the one
following, which is partially completed for Cranes by
Hwang Sun-wn (page 132). Use the details to deter-
130 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.130 130 KEY TERMS 11/19/07 12:23:35 PM 0130-0203_Lit3eG
MAIN IDEA, 130

Teaching Words AUTHORS PURPOSE, 130
signifies, 130 POINT OF VIEW,131
critique, 130 CHARACTERIZATION, 131
longing, 131 MOOD, 131
SUMMARIZE, 131
PLOT, 131
CENTRAL CONFLICT, 131
130 UNIT 1 FICTION

mine the main or overall thought or message. This story about? A basic summary explains who the main
will help you to draw conclusions about the main idea characters are, how they relate to one another, what
when you finish reading. the central conflict is, and what actions the characters Teach the Skill
take with regard to that conflict.
Main Idea Homework Suggestions
Detail Sngsam and Tkchae Framework for Fiction 1. For each of the independent read-
Sngsam were childhood friends who ings that they complete, have
have taken different students write a brief description
escorts him to When reading fiction, you need to be aware of the
paths in life.
the prison for plot, the characters, and the setting. The following of the work that includes informa-
execution. checklist of questions offers a framework for tion about its plot, point of view,
Detail approaching fiction reading. characters, setting, and theme (the
Detail Tkchae is As you start to read five elements of fiction defined on
the vice-president From whose perspective is this story told? these pages). They could create a
of the Farmers Who are the characters? What do I know chart to display this information.
Detail Communist about them? 2. After students finish reading, they
League. Where is the story set? should come up with a list of dis-
As you continue reading cussion questions about the read-
Understand the Authors Approach What is the mood of the story? ing to share with other students.
The literary elements, the terms and techniques What do the characters or the setting look They may also note things that con-
used in literature, make up the authors approach like? fused them in their reading. Break
to conveying his or her main idea or theme. What do I predict will happen to the
Understanding the authors approach in fiction the class into groups so they can
characters at the end? discuss the selections in a Literary
involves recognizing these literary elements: What is the central conflict?
Point of View This is the vantage point, or Discussion Group.
perspective, from which a story or narrative is told. After youve finished reading 3. Divide students into groups of four
(See page 42 for more information on point of What happens in the story? or five and assign each group a
view.) What message or point is the author trying to different story. Have students work
Characterization This is the literary technique make? together to read the story, discuss
writers use to create characters and make them What am I supposed to understand after it, and then create a short answer
come alive. (See page 60 for more information on reading this?
quiz for the story. Next, they should
characterization.)
assign their story to another group
Mood This is the atmosphere conveyed by a
literary work. Writers create mood by using concrete to read, administering the quiz
details to describe the setting, characters, or events. What Good Readers Do afterward to test that groups
Writers can evoke in the reader an emotional understanding.
responsesuch as fear, discomfort, or longingby Use Fix-Up Ideas
working with descriptive language and sensory If you experience difficulty in comprehending what
details. (See page 80 for more information on youre reading, use one of the following Fix-Up Ideas:
mood.) Reread
Summarize Basic Events and Ideas
Ask a question
When you summarize a story, you recall the main
Read in shorter chunks
events and points that outline the plot. A plot is a
Read aloud
series of events related to a central conflict, or
Retell
struggle. A typical plot involves the introduction of a
Work with a partner
conflict, its development, and its eventual resolution.
Unlock difficult words
(See page 12 for more information on plot.) You do
Vary your reading rate
not need to restate all minor happenings or details,
Choose a new reading strategy
only the ones that answer the question, What is this
READING FICTION INDEPENDENTLY 131
/19/07 12:23:35 PM 0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.131 131 11/19/07 12:23:40 PM

Independent Reading
If youd like your students to read more about the different choices people
have to make, direct them to the following short stories. After they have
read the stories, ask them how each author develops the idea of choices.
I Stand Here Ironing by Tilly Olson
With All Flags Flying, by Anne Tyler
And of Clay We Are Created, by Isabel Allende
READING FICTION INDEPENDENTLY 131

INDEPENDENT READING
At a Glance
Independent Reading
Difficulty Considerations: Korean
names; symbolism; historical ele-
ments
Ease Factors: Dialogue; reader
A Short Story by Hwang Sun-wn
empathy
Translated by Peter H. Lee
Objectives
Reading this selection will enable
students to Theres no need to make excuses.
analyze literary elements. Youre going to be shot anyway.
use context clues to understand
unfamiliar vocabulary words. Why dont you tell the truth here
address critical thinking questions.
use writing options to assess under-
and now?
standing of the text.
Launch the Lesson

Invite students to share stories about
T he northern village lay snug beneath the
high, bright autumn sky, near the border at
the Thirty-eighth Parallel.
ways that warfareespecially civil White gourds lay one against the other on
warcan divide friends and even the dirt floor of an empty farmhouse. Any village
family members. elders who passed by extinguished their bamboo
pipes first, and the children,
Hwang Sun-wn (19152000) faced many difficulties as a Korean writer. too, turned back some
W From 1910 to 1945, Japan forcibly occupied his country. In an effort to end distance off. Their faces
The Mirrors
IRRORS Korean nationalism during their occupation, the Japanese jailed those who
were marked with fear.
W INDOWS & Windows
questions
wrote books in Korean. Promising Korean students, such as Hwang, had to
go to Japan for college. Despite these obstacles, Hwang wrote extensively,
and many consider him the greatest Korean writer of his generation.
As a whole, the village
showed little damage from
aatt tthe
he end of the story focus
Cranes is set in a village near the thirty-eighth parallel, the line at which the war, but it still did not
oonn th he theme of friendship and
the
Korea was divided into North and South. The communist Soviet Union occu- seem like the same village
making decisions. Ask students
pied North Korea, and South Korea became a democracy supported by the Sngsam had known as a
to think about to what extremes United Nations. In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, beginning the boy.
they would go to help a friend. Korean War. Soon other countries became involved. Much of the war was
At the foot of a chestnut
fought around the thirty-eighth parallel. When two childhood friends on
opposite sides of the war meet, one of them has a difficult decision to make. grove on the hill behind
the village he stopped and
When have you had to make a difficult decision? What was the situation,
and how did you decide what to do? climbed a chestnut tree.
Somewhere far back in his
mind he heard the old man
132 UNIT 1 FICTION
Program Resources
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.132 132 11/19/07 12:23:41 PM 0130-0203_Lit3eG

Program Planning Guide, Selection Lesson Plan Fiction: Unit 1, Independent Reading
E-Lesson Planner
ExamView
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows
132 UNIT 1 FICTION

with a wen1 shout, You bad boy, climbing up
my chestnut tree again!
The old man must have passed away, for he Teach the Selection
was not among the few village elders Sngsam
had met. Holding on to the trunk of the tree, Summary
Sngsam gazed up at the blue sky for a time. The story is set in Korea during the
Some chestnuts fell to the ground as the dry Korean War. After a long separation,
clusters opened of their own accord. two boyhood friends, Sngsam and
A young man stood, his hands bound, Tkchae, are reunited under strained
before a farmhouse that had been converted into circumstances. They are on opposite
a Public Peace Police office. He seemed to be a sides of the war, and their lives have
stranger, so Sngsam went up for a closer look. followed very different paths. Tkchae
He was stunned: this young man was none other has been captured by South Korean
than his boyhood playmate, Tkchae. troops, and it is now Sngsams duty
Sngsam asked the police officer who had to escort him in custody to the author-
come with him from Chntae for an explana- ities. As the men talk, Sngsam recalls
tion. The prisoner was the vice-chairman of some of their childhood exploitsin
the Farmers Communist League and had just particular, an incident in which they
been flushed2 out of hiding in his own house, rescued a crane. Suddenly, Sngsam
Sngsam learned. proposes that they stop and go on
Sngsam sat down on the dirt floor and lit a crane hunt. After a few moments,
a cigarette. Tkchae realizes that Sngsam is
Tkchae was to be escorted to Chngdan indirectly giving him the opportunity
by one of the peace police. After a time, to escape.
Sngsam lit a new cigarette from the first and two had reached a safe place where the old man
stood up. could not overtake them did Sngsam turn his Analyze Literature
Ill take him with me. bottom to Tkchae. The burrs hurt so much as Flashback A flashback is a sec-
Tkchae averted his face and refused to they were plucked out that Sngsam could not tion in a literary work that presents
look at Sngsam. The two left the village. keep tears from welling up in his eyes. Tkchae an event or a series of events that
Sngsam went on smoking, but the tobacco produced a fistful of chestnuts from his pocket occurred earlier than the current time
had no flavor. He just kept drawing the smoke and thrust them into SngsamsSngsam in the work. Be sure that students
in and blowing it out. Then suddenly he threw away the cigarette he had just lit, and realize that a flashback begins at the
thought that Tkchae, too, must want a puff. then made up his mind not to light another section break at the bottom of the
He thought of the days when they had shared while he was escorting Tkchae. first column. Have students identify
dried gourd leaves behind sheltering walls, They reached the pass at the hill where he the words that signal the start of the
hidden from the adults view. But today, how and Tkchae had cut fodder for the cows until flashback. A
could he offer a cigarette to a fellow like this? Sngsam had to move to a spot near Chntae, Answer: Once, when they were
south of the Thirty-eighth Parallel, two years small.
O nce, when they were small, he went with

Tkchae to steal some chestnuts from
the old man with the wen. It was Sngsams
A
before the liberation.
Sngsam felt a sudden surge of anger in
spite of himself and shouted, So how many
turn to climb the tree. Suddenly the old man have you killed?
began shouting. Sngsam slipped and fell to
the ground. He got chestnut burrs all over his 1. wen. Harmless growth on the skin
bottom, but he kept on running. Only when the 2. flushed. Exposed or chased from a hiding place
CRANES 133
/19/07 12:23:41 PM 0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.133 133

Words in Use 11/19/07 12:23:56 PM
Selection Words Teaching Words

obstruction, 134 forcibly, 132
averted, 134 nationalism, 132
tilling, 134 extensively, 132
evacuating, 134
CRANES 133

For the first time, Tkchae cast a quick The first is arriving this fall, she says.
glance at him and then looked away. Sngsam had difficulty swallowing a laugh
Teach the Selection You! How many have you killed? he that he was about to let burst forth in spite
asked again. of himself. Although he had asked how many
Analyze Literature Tkchae looked at him again and glared. children Tkchae had, he could not help
Setting The setting of a literary The glare grew intense, and his mouth wanting to break out laughing at the thought
work is the time and place in which twitched. of the wife sitting there with her huge stomach,
it occurs, together with all the details So you managed to kill quite a few, eh? one span around. But he realized that this was
used to create a sense of a particular Sngsam felt his mind becoming clear of itself, no time for joking.
time and place. Ask students the fol- as if some obstruction had been removed. If Anyway, its strange you didnt run away.
lowing questions: Which details of the you were vice-chairman of the Communist I tried to escape. They said that once the
setting are important? How does the League, why didnt you run? You must have South invaded, not a man would be spared. So all
setting contribute to the story? been lying low with a secret mission. of us between seventeen and forty were taken to
Answers: It is important to know that Tkchae did not reply. the North. I thought of evacuating, even if I had
the story takes place during a war Speak up. What was your mission? to carry my father on my back. But Father said
because its the war that has come Tkchae kept walking. Tkchae was hiding no. How could we farmers leave the land behind
between these two friends. The detail something, Sngsam thought. He wanted to when the crops were ready for harvesting? He
of the demilitarized zone is important, take a good look at him, but Tkchae kept his grew old on that farm depending on me as the
too, as this is the same area where face averted. prop and the mainstay of the family. I wanted to
the friends had had an experience Fingering the revolver at his side, Sngsam be with him in his last moments so I could close
years earlier. The setting is important went on: Theres no need to make excuses. his eyes with my own hand. Besides, where can
because it contributes to the mens Youre going to be shot anyway. Why dont you farmers like us go, when all we know how to do
memories about the past, and these tell the truth here and now? is live on the land?
memories lead them to make deci- Im not going to make any excuses. They Sngsam had had to flee the previous June.
sions in the present. made me vice-chairman of the League because At night he had broken the news privately to
I was a hardworking farmer and one of the his father. But his father had said the same
Homework Suggestions poorest. If thats a capital offense,3 so be it. thing: Where could a farmer go, leaving all
1. Have students read the story as Im still what I used to bethe only thing Im the chores behind? So Sngsam had left alone.
homework. good at is tilling the soil. After a short pause, Roaming about the strange streets and villages
2. Ask each student to record an he added, My old man is bedridden at home. in the South, Sngsam had been haunted by
image, a line, or an idea from the Hes been ill almost half a year. Tkchaes thoughts of his old parents and the young chil-
story that strikes them as impor- father was a widower, a poor, hardworking dren, who had been left with all the chores.
tant. In class the next day, ask stu- farmer who lived only for his son. Seven years Fortunately, his family had been safe then, as it
dents to share what they recorded. before his back had given out, and he had was now.
Have other students try to explain contracted a skin disease. They had crossed over a hill. This time
why that image, line, or idea might Are you married? Sngsam walked with his face averted. The
be significant. Yes, Tkchae replied after a time. autumn sun was hot on his forehead. This was
3. Assign one of the writing prompts To whom? an ideal day for the harvest, he thought.
in the Writing Options section. Shorty. When they reached the foot of the hill,
To Shorty? How interesting! A woman Sngsam gradually came to a halt. In the middle
so small and plump that she knew the earths of a field he espied a group of cranes that resem-
vastness, but not the skys height. Such a cold bled men in white, all bent over. This had been
fish! He and Tkchae had teased her and made
her cry. And Tkchae had married her!
How many kids? 3. capital offense. Crime for which punishment is death
134 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles in a discussion of the ways cranes can be sym-

Auditory Have students role-play the dia- bolic in these cultures. You may want to refer
logue between the storys two main characters, to the book Birds of Heaven by the renowned
using appropriate pitch, volume, and intona- environmental writer Peter Matthiessen as a
tion. resource.
Visual Cranes are a major element in Korean, Kinesthetic Have students act out the con-
Japanese, and Chinese art. Provide prints or cluding scene of the story, using appropriate
photos of cranes used as art, and lead students postures, gestures, and tones of voice.
134 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
Use Reading Skills
Authors Approach Ask students
to think about the perspective from
which the story is told. What point
of view is used? What kind of mood
exists in the story?
Answers: The story is told from third-
person limited omniscient point of
view. The reader knows Sngsams
inner thoughts but not Tkchaes. The
mood of the story is tense and a little
sad. Readers dont know until the end
what Sngsam will choose to do or
what kind of person he will turn out
to be.
Analyze Literature
Characterization The act of
the demilitarized zone4 along the Thirty-eighth tered its wings once or twice and then sank creating or describing a character
Parallel. The cranes were still living here, as back to the ground. is called characterization. See
before, though the people were all gone. The boys thought their crane had been Understanding Character (page 60)
Once, when Sngsam and Tkchae were shot. But the next moment, as another crane for more information. Ask students to
about twelve, they had set a trap here, unbe- from a nearby bush fluttered its wings, the identify different ways Sngsam and
known to the adults, and caught a crane, a boys crane stretched its long neck, gave out Tkchae are characterized.
Tanjng crane. They had tied the crane up, a whoop, and disappeared into the sky. For a Answer: Readers learn about Tkchae
even binding its wings, and paid it daily visits, long while the two boys could not tear their mostly through the way he is
patting its neck and riding on its back. Then eyes away from the blue sky up into which described by Sngsam and through
one day they overheard the neighbors whis- their crane had soared. dialogue. Readers learn about
pering: someone had come from Seoul with Hey, why dont we stop here for a crane Sngsam through his private thoughts
a permit from the governor-generals office hunt? Sngsam said suddenly. and through dialogue.
to catch cranes as some kind of specimens. Tkchae was dumbfounded.
Then and there the two boys had dashed off Ill make a trap with this rope; you flush a
to the field. That they would be found out crane over here.
and punished had no longer mattered; all Sngsam had untied Tkchaes hands and
they cared about was the fate of their crane. was already crawling through the weeds.
Without a moments delay, still out of breath Tkchaes face whitened. Youre sure to be
from running, they untied the cranes feet and shot anywaythese words flashed through his
wings, but the bird could hardly walk. It must
have been weak from having been bound.
4. demilitarized zone. Area that is not allowed to be used for
The two held the crane up. Then, military purposes. In this case, that area runs along the border sepa-
suddenly, they heard a gunshot. The crane flut- rating North and South Korea.
CRANES 135
TEACHING NOTE
Compare and Contrast
/19/07 12:24:09 PM Another story about friendship in time of war is
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.135 135 11/19/07 12:24:21 PM
Two Friends by Guy de Maupassant (page 94).

If students have read this selection, ask them to
compare and contrast the two stories in terms
of theme, plot, symbols, and the motivations of
the characters.
CRANES 135

W Encourage
IRRORS
W INDOWS students
to think of
oother
ther ttimes
imes ttheyve encountered
a ssimilar
imillar situ
situation of someone
breaking the rules to help a
friend and compare it and their
judgment of it to the situation
in the story.
Refer and Reason

1. Tkchae and Sngsam were child-
hood friends. The two friends
are on opposite sides of the war. mind. Any instant a bullet would come flying Only then did Tkchae understand. He
Readers infer that Sngsam is from Sngsams direction, Tkchae thought. began crawling through the weeds.
a police officer for the South. Some paces away, Sngsam quickly turned A pair of Tanjng cranes soared high into
Tkchae is a farmer who was elect- toward him. the clear blue autumn sky, flapping their huge
ed vice-chairman of the Farmers Hey, how come youre standing there like wings.
Communist League. He has married a dummy? Go flush a crane!
Shorty, and they are expecting a
&
child. Both men wanted to flee
from their homes; Tkchae, how- W
ever, did not because he couldnt IRRORS Is it wrong to break the rules in order to help a friend? What might be the results,
leave his father.
2. The story mentions the cranes
W INDOWS both good and bad, of doing so?
Sngsam sees as he leads Tkchae

to the South. The story also men-
tions the crane the boys caught as Refer and Reason Write an ode to friendship. In your poem, you may
1. Recall how Sngsam and Tkchae know each other. choose to identify the important elements of friend-
a child. The cranes Sngsam sees ship, explain how friendship affects lives, or praise
Compare and contrast the paths the two friends
symbolize freedom and escape. The have taken in their lives since they were boys. a particular friend. Use examples from your own
crane the boys caught as a child 2. List mentions of cranes in the story. Interpret what experience or from the story to illustrate your ideas
symbolizes friendship and beauty. the cranes symbolize or represent in each case. in your ode.
3. Responses will vary. 3. Sngsam and Tkchae find themselves on opposite 2. Suppose your older sister is struggling to understand
sides in the war. Generate a list of the kinds of the symbolism in Cranes. Write a literary analysis
disagreements that could create this same kind of for her, in which you explain the symbolism of cranes
Rubrics for Writing tension between two American friends today. in the story. Use your response to the Refer and
Options Reason question 2 to gather ideas for your analysis.
Writing Options W
For writing rubrics and student models 1. Consider the friendship between Sngsam and Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more.
of the Writing Options assignments, go Tkchae and friendships you have experienced. W
to www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
136 UNIT 1 FICTION
Assessment Project
Ask students to write a paragraph explaining the conflicts in the story and identifying them as either
external or internal. Assign points for the Assessment Project according to the following scale.
Points Characteristics
3 Student correctly identifies the external conflict between the two sides in the civil war
and the external conflict between Sngsam and Tkchae. Student also identifies the
internal conflict in Sngsam, who struggles to reconcile his feelings of resentment with
the warm memories of his friendship.
2 Student correctly identifies and labels one of the above conflicts but fails to support it
with details from the story.
1 Student does not identify one of the above conflicts, or identifies one of the conflicts but
mislabels it as internal or external.
136 UNIT 1 FICTION

INDEPENDENT READING
At a Glance
Independent Reading
Reading Level: Moderate to chal-
lenging
Difficulty Considerations:
Vocabulary; stream of conscious-
ness; historical elements; length
Ease Factor: Engaging narration
Objectives
students to
analyze literary elements.
unfamiliar vocabulary words.
A Short Story by Tim OBrien use writing options to assess under-
Launch the Lesson

I REMEMBER OPENING UP THE LETTER, SCANNING THE FIRST FEW Play part of a documentary about
the Vietnam War for students. If pos-
LINES, FEELING THE BLOOD GO THICK BEHIND MY EYES. I REMEMBER A sible, show parts that have to do with
SOUND IN MY HEAD. IT WASNT THINKING, IT WAS JUST A SILENT HOWL. the draft in the United States. Tell
students that in the story they are
going to read, a young man has been
Tim OBrien (b. 1946) grew up in a small town in
Minnesota. In 1968, he was drafted for the Vietnam War.
He served in Vietnam and earned a Purple Heart. Much
T his is one story Ive
never told before.
Not to anyone. Not to my
drafted to go to war and is struggling
with what to do.
of his writing draws upon his experience in Vietnam. He
won the National Book Award for fiction in 1979 for his parents, not to my brother
novel Going After Cacciato, which tells the story of a or sister, not even to my
W The Mirrors
IRRORS
W INDOWS
soldier going AWOL and walking to Paris. wife. To go into it, Ive & Windows
OBrien struggled with the idea of going to war. He explores always thought, would questions
the role shame and embarrassment played in his decision in the short story only cause embarrassment aatt tthe
he end of the unit ask stu-
On the Rainy River. The story is one of many found in OBriens 1990 for all of us, a sudden need ddents
ents ttoo disc
discuss whether it is
collection entitled The Things They Carried. A review of the book says he
moved beyond the horror of the fighting to examine with sensitivity and
to be elsewhere, which is wrong to break the law when
insight the nature of courage and fear. the natural response to a one disagrees in principle with
confession. Even now, Ill that law. To prepare them for
How would you define courage? Have you met any courageous people?
What made them so? admit, the story makes me this topic, discuss the term civil
squirm. For more than disobedience.
Program Resources

E-Lesson Planner
Advanced Students, Literary Analysis Activity
ExamView
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows

twenty years Ive had to live with it, feeling the divided on these and a thousand other issues,
shame, trying to push it away, and so by this and the debate had spilled out across the floor
Teach the Selection act of remembrance, by putting the facts down of the United States Senate and into the streets,
on paper, Im hoping to relieve at least some of and smart men in pinstripes could not agree on
Summary the pressure on my dreams. even the most fundamental matters of public
As the story opens, twenty-one-year- Still, its a hard story to tell. All of us, policy. The only certainty that summer was
old Tim OBrien has received his draft I suppose, like to believe that in a moral moral confusion. It was my view then, and still
notice to serve in the Vietnam War. emergency we will behave like the heroes of is, that you dont make war without knowing
Torn by internal conflicts, he seri- our youth, bravely and forthrightly, without why. Knowledge, of course, is always imper-
ously considers leaving the United thought of personal loss or discredit. Certainly fect, but it seemed to me that when a nation
States for Canada to avoid military that was my conviction back in the summer goes to war it must have reasonable confidence
service. He cannot reconcile the war of 1968. Tim OBrien: a secret hero. The in the justice and imperative of its cause. You
with his moral and ethical beliefs. He Lone Ranger. If the stakes ever became high cant fix your mistakes. Once people are dead,
drives to northern Minnesota near the enoughif the evil were evil enough, if the you cant make them undead.
Canadian border. There, he stays for good were good enoughI would simply tap a In any case those were my convictions,
six days with Elroy Berdahl, the elderly secret reservoir of courage that had been accu- and back in college I had taken a modest stand
proprietor of the Tip Top Lodge. mulating inside me over the years. Courage, I against the war. Nothing radical, no hothead
During this period, with Elroys quiet seemed to think, comes to us in finite quanti- stuff, just ringing a few doorbells for Gene
and sympathetic support, OBrien ties, like an inheritance, and by being frugal McCarthy,2 composing a few tedious, unin-
wrestles with his decision. Ultimately, and stashing it away, and letting it earn spired editorials for the campus newspaper.
he admits to cowardice: fearing interest, we steadily increase our moral capital Oddly, though, it was almost entirely an intel-
embarrassment and disgrace, he in preparation for that day when the account lectual activity. I brought some energy to it, of
decides he will serve in Vietnam. must be drawn down. It was a comforting course, but it was the energy that accompanies
theory. It dispensed with all those bothersome almost any abstract endeavor; I felt no personal
Analyze Literature little acts of daily courage; it offered hope and danger; I felt no sense of an impending crisis in
Conflict Remind students that con- grace to the repetitive coward; it justified the my life. Stupidly, with a kind of smug removal
flict is a struggle between opposing past while amortizing the future. that I cant begin to fathom, I assumed that
forces. Show students how OBrien In June of 1968, a month after graduating the problems of killing and dying did not fall
uses a long series of rhetorical ques- from Macalester College, I was drafted to fight within my special province.
tions to emphasize the numerous a war I hated. I was twenty-one years old. The draft notice arrived on June 17, 1968.
conflicts that the Vietnam War posed. Young, yes, and politically naive, but even It was a humid afternoon, I remember, cloudy
What do all these questions have in so the American war in Vietnam seemed to and very quiet, and Id just come in from a
common? A me wrong. Certain blood was being shed for round of golf. My mother and father were
Answer: There are no clear answers to uncertain reasons. I saw no unity of purpose, having lunch out in the kitchen. I remember
any of them. no consensus on matters of philosophy or opening up the letter, scanning the first few
history or law. The very facts were shrouded
in uncertainty: Was it a civil war? A war of 1. Gulf of Tonkindominoes. The narrator refers to many
national liberation or simple aggression? Who events or issues related to the Vietnam War. Claims that American
ships had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin led to increased U.S.
started it, and when, and why? What really involvement in the war. Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese national-
happened to the U.S.S. Maddox on that dark ist and Communist leader. SEATO, or the Southeast Asia Treaty
A night in the Gulf of Tonkin? Was Ho Chi Minh Organization, was formed to help protect Southeast Asia from com-
munist expansion. Dominoes refers to the domino theory, or the
a Communist stooge, or a nationalist savior, idea that if one country fell to communism, other neighboring coun-
or both, or neither? What about the Geneva tries would also fall.
2. Gene McCarthy. Senator Eugene McCarthy was an antiwar
Accords? What about SEATO and the Cold candidate who hoped to receive the Democratic nomination to run
War? What about dominoes?1 America was for president.
138 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use

forthrightly, 138 drafted, 137
finite, 138 AWOL, 137
deferments, 140 syllabus, 149
censure, 141
acquiescence, 141
treasonous, 141
tangible, 146
hallucination, 147
138 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
Homework Suggestions
1. Have students read the story as
homework.
2. Ask each student to record an
image, a line, or an idea from the
story that strikes them as impor-
tant. In class the next day, ask stu-
dents to share what they recorded.
Have other students try to explain
why that image, line, or idea might
be significant.
3. Assign one of the Writing Options
on page 149.
A Vietnam War protestor burns a draft card at the 1968 Democratic Party Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
lines, feeling the blood go thick behind my should be a law, I thought. If you support a
eyes. I remember a sound in my head. It war, if you think its worth the price, thats
wasnt thinking, it was just a silent howl. A fine, but you have to put your own life on the
million things all at onceI was too good for line. You have to head for the front and hook
this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too up with an infantry unit and help spill the
everything. It couldnt happen. I was above it. blood. And you have to bring along your wife,
I had the worldPhi Beta Kappa and summa or your kids, or your lover. A law, I thought.
cum laude and president of the student body I remember the rage in my stomach. Later
and a full-ride scholarship for grad studies it burned down to a smoldering self-pity, then
at Harvard. A mistake, maybea foul-up in to numbness. At dinner that night my father
the paperwork. I was no soldier. I hated Boy asked what my plans were.
Scouts. I hated camping out. I hated dirt and Nothing, I said. Wait.
tents and mosquitoes. The sight of blood made
me queasy, and I couldnt tolerate authority,
and I didnt know a rifle from a slingshot. I
was a liberal: If they needed fresh bodies, why
I spent the summer of 1968 working in an
Armour meat-packing plant in my home-
town of Worthington, Minnesota. The plant
not draft some back-to-the-stone-age hawk? specialized in pork products, and for eight
Or some dumb jingo in his hardhat and hours a day I stood on a quarter-mile assembly
Bomb Hanoi button? Or one of LBJs pretty linemore properly, a disassembly line
daughters? Or Westmorelands whole family removing blood clots from the necks of dead
nephews and nieces and baby grandson? There pigs. My job title, I believe, was Declotter.

After slaughter, the hogs were decapitated, split into my skin and hair. Among other things,
down the length of the belly, pried open, evis- I remember, it was tough getting dates that
Teach the Selection cerated, and strung up by the hind hocks on a summer. I felt isolated; I spent a lot of time
high conveyer belt. Then gravity took over. By alone. And there was also that draft notice
Analyze Literature the time a carcass reached my spot on the line, tucked away in my wallet.
Mood The emotion created in the the fluids had mostly drained out, everything In the evenings Id sometimes borrow my
reader by part or all of a story is except for thick clots of blood in the neck and fathers car and drive aimlessly around town,
mood, or atmosphere. Ask students to upper chest cavity. To remove the stuff, I used feeling sorry for myself, thinking about the war
describe the overall mood created by a kind of water gun. The machine was heavy, and the pig factory and how my life seemed
the details in a descriptive paragraph maybe eighty pounds, and was suspended from to be collapsing toward slaughter. I felt para-
about the meat-packing plant. the ceiling by a heavy rubber cord. There was lyzed. All around me the options seemed to
Sample answers: violent, ominous, some bounce to it, an elastic up-and-down be narrowing, as if I were hurtling down a
destructive, full of disgust. give, and the trick was to maneuver the gun A huge black funnel, the whole world squeezing
with your whole body, not lifting with the in tight. There was no happy way out. The
Analyze Literature arms, just letting the rubber cord do the work government had ended most graduate school
Theme A theme in a literary work is for you. At one end was a trigger; at the muzzle deferments; the waiting lists for the National
a central idea or underlying message. end was a small nozzle and a steel roller brush. Guard and Reserves were impossibly long;
One of the main themes in On the As a carcass passed by, youd lean forward and my health was solid; I didnt qualify for CO
Rainy River is the nature of courage. statusno religious grounds, no history as
Direct students to the paragraph a pacifist. Moreover, I could not claim to be
beginning with In the evenings Id opposed to war as a matter of general prin-
sometimes borrow my fathers car ciple. There were occasions, I believed, when
Ask students how OBrien regards a nation was justified in using military force
courage in this passage. A to achieve its ends, to stop a Hitler or some
Answer: OBrien is trying to figure out comparable evil, and I told myself that in such
a way to avoid being sent to Vietnam, circumstances I wouldve willingly marched off
not because he is afraidhe says he to the battle. The problem, though, was that a
would have fought against Hitler or draft board did not let you choose your war.
someone just as evilbut because Beyond all this, or at the very center, was
he doesnt believe the war is right. the raw fact of terror. I did not want to die.
Courage, to OBrien, seems to be Not ever. But certainly not then, not there, not
standing up for ones beliefs. He feels in a wrong war. Driving up Main Street, past
he has no choice but to go against his swing the gun up against the clots and squeeze the courthouse and the Ben Franklin store, I
beliefs at this time. the trigger, all in one motion, and the brush sometimes felt the fear spreading inside me
would whirl and water would come shooting like weeds. I imagined myself dead. I imagined
out and youd hear a quick splattering sound myself doing things I could not docharging
as the clots dissolved into a fine red mist. It an enemy position, taking aim at another
was not pleasant work. Goggles were a neces- human being.
sity, and a rubber apron, but even so it was At some point in mid-July I began thinking
like standing for eight hours a day under a seriously about Canada. The border lay a few
lukewarm blood-shower. At night Id go home hundred miles north, an eight-hour drive. Both
smelling of pig. I couldnt wash it out. Even my conscience and my instincts were telling
after a hot bath, scrubbing hard, the stink me to make a break for it, just take off and run
was always therelike old bacon, or sausage, like hell and never stop. In the beginning the
a dense greasy pig-stink that soaked deep idea seemed purely abstract, the word Canada
140 UNIT 1 FICTION
140 UNIT 1 FICTION

printing itself out in my head; but after
a time I could see particular shapes
and images, the sorry details of my own Teach the Selection
futurea hotel room in Winnipeg, a
battered old suitcase, my fathers eyes as Use Reading Strategies
I tried to explain myself over the tele- Make Connections Ask students to
phone. I could almost hear his voice, list the things the narrator is afraid
and my mothers. Run, Id think. Then of. The list should include war, exile,
Id think, Impossible. Then a second later leaving behind his friends and family
Id think, Run. and other things that matter, the law,
It was a kind of schizophrenia. A ridicule, and censure. Then ask stu-
moral split. I couldnt make up my mind. dents to journal about when theyve
I feared the war, yes, but I also feared been afraid of any of these things. For
exile. I was afraid of walking away from my example, have students recall a time
own life, my friends and my family, my whole they were worried about what other
history, everything that mattered to me. I people would think. Allow students
feared losing the respect of my parents. I feared to discuss their journal entries if they
the law. I feared ridicule and censure. My choose.
hometown was a conservative little spot on the
prairie, a place where tradition counted, and long colo-
it was easy to imagine people sitting around a nialism of the
table at the old Gobbler Caf on Main Street, French3this
coffee cups poised, the conversation slowly was all too damned
zeroing in on the young OBrien kid, how the complicated, it
damned sissy had taken off for Canada. At required some reading
night, when I couldnt sleep, Id sometimes but no matter, it was a war to stop the
carry on fierce arguments with those people. Communists, plain and simple, which was how
Id be screaming at them, telling them how they liked things, and you were treasonous if
much I detested their blind, thoughtless, you had second thoughts about killing or dying
automatic acquiescence to it all, their simple- for plain and simple reasons.
minded patriotism, their prideful ignorance, I was bitter, sure. But it was so much more
their love-it-or-leave-it platitudes, how they than that. The emotions went from outrage to
were sending me off to fight a war they didnt terror to bewilderment to guilt to sorrow and
understand and didnt want to understand. I then back again to outrage. I felt a sickness
held them responsible. By God, yes I did. All of inside me. Real disease.
themI held them personally and individually Most of this Ive told before, or at least
responsiblethe polyestered Kiwanis boys, the hinted at, but what I have never told is the
merchants and farmers, the pious churchgoers, full truth. How I cracked. How at work one
the chatty housewives, the PTA and the Lions morning, standing on the pig line, I felt some-
club and the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the thing break open in my chest. I dont know
fine upstanding gentry out at the country club. what it was. Ill never know. But it was real. I
They didnt know Bao Dai from the man in the know that much, it was a physical rupturea
moon. They didnt know history. They didnt cracking-leaking-popping feeling. I remember
know the first thing about Diems tyranny, or 3. Bao DaiFrench. The narrator refers to several people and
the nature of Vietnamese nationalism, or the incidents from Vietnams history.
/19/07 12:24:51 PM
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.141 141 11/19/07 12:24:53 PM
Reading Proficiency consensusgeneral agreement, 138

Have students read the story aloud with a imperativenecessity, 138
partner or small group. Encourage them to stop tedioustiresome; boring, 138
and summarize long paragraphs.
Enrichment
English Language Learning Have students prepare discussion questions
Share with students the following vocabulary on the story to be used in a book-club format.
items from the storys opening section. Allow these students to lead a book-club discus-
forthrightlyhonestly; candidly, 138 sion with the rest of the class.
finitelimited; able to be counted, 138

dropping my water gun. Quickly, almost but otherwise the country unfolded in great
without thought, I took off my apron and sweeps of pine and birch and sumac. Though
Teach the Selection walked out of the plant and drove home. It was it was still August, the air already had the smell
midmorning, I remember, and the house was of October, football season, piles of yellow-red
Analyze Literature empty. Down in my chest there was still that leaves, everything crisp and clean. I remember
Characterization Remind students leaking sensation, something very warm and a huge blue sky. Off to my right was the Rainy
that characterization is the act of precious spilling out, and I was covered with River, wide as a lake in places, and beyond the
creating or describing a character. In blood and hog-stink, and for a long while I Rainy River was Canada.
the paragraph beginning, The man just concentrated on holding myself together. For a while I just drove, not aiming at
who opened the door that day I remember taking a hot shower. I remember anything, then in the late morning I began
OBrien calls Elroy Berdahl the hero packing a suitcase and carrying it out to the looking for a place to lie low for a day or two.
of my life. From the description of kitchen, standing very still for a few minutes, I was exhausted, and scared sick, and around
Elroy in the following paragraph, does looking carefully at the familiar objects all noon I pulled into an old fishing resort called
he seem like a likely hero? Why or around me. The old chrome toaster, the tele- the Tip Top Lodge. Actually, it was not a lodge
why not? A phone, the pink and white Formica on the at all, just eight or nine tiny yellow cabins
Answer: He does not seem like a likely kitchen counters. The room was full of bright clustered on a peninsula that jutted northward
hero: he is elderly and looks ordinary sunshine. Everything sparkled. My house, I into the Rainy River. The place was in sorry
and plain. Note, however, that he has thought. My life. Im not sure how long I stood shape. There was a dangerous wooden dock,
piercing eyes, which make a strong there, but later I scribbled out a short note to an old minnow tank, a flimsy tar paper boat-
impression on OBrien. my parents. house along the shore. The main building,
What it said exactly, I dont recall now. which stood in a cluster of pines on high
Analyze Literature Something vague. Taking off, will call, love Tim. ground, seemed to lean heavily to one side,
Simile A simile is a comparison like a cripple, the roof sagging toward Canada.
using like or as. Similes invite readers
to make imaginative comparisons.
Ask students what simile is used to
I drove north.
Its a blur now, as it was then, and all I
remember is a sense of high velocity and the
Briefly, I thought about turning around, just
giving up, but then I got out of the car and
walked up to the front porch.
describe the effect of Elroy Berdahls feel of the steering wheel in my hands. I was The man who opened the door that day is
gaze on the narrator. What does the riding on adrenaline. A giddy feeling, in a way, the hero of my life. How do I say this without
simile reveal about Elroy Berdahl? B except there was the dreamy edge of impossi- sounding sappy? Blurt it outthe man saved
Answers: Elroys gaze is described as bility to itlike running a dead-end mazeno me. He offered exactly what I needed, without
having the effect of slicing the nar- way outit couldnt come to a happy conclu- questions, without any words at all. He took
rator open. The simile reveals that sion and yet I was doing it anyway because it me in. He was there at the critical timea
Elroy Berdahl is sharp: he doesnt miss was all I could think to do. It was pure flight, silent, watchful presence. Six days later, when
much. You may point out to students fast and mindless. I had no plan. Just hit it ended, I was unable to find a proper way to
that Elroy is also holding a paring the border at high speed and crash through thank him, and I never have, and so, if nothing
knife when Tim first sees him. This and keep on running. Near dusk I passed else, this story represents a small gesture of
adds to his image as a sharp, incisive through Bemidji, then turned northeast toward gratitude twenty years overdue.
person. International Falls. I spent the night in the Even after two decades I can close my
car behind a closed-down gas station a half eyes and return to that porch at the Tip Top
mile from the border. In the morning, after Lodge. I can see the old guy staring at me.
gassing up, I headed straight west along the A
Elroy Berdahl: eighty-one years old, skinny
Rainy River, which separates Minnesota from and shrunken and mostly bald. He wore a
Canada, and which for me separated one life flannel shirt and brown work pants. In one
from another. The land was mostly wilderness. hand, I remember, he carried a green apple,
Here and there I passed a motel or bait shop, a small paring knife in the other. His eyes
142 UNIT 1 FICTION
English Language Learning Share with students the following vocabulary

Be sure that students understand the reason words:
why, for the narrator, the Minnesota/Canada vaguewithout details, 142
border separated one life from another. The blurunclear, 142
draft made it mandatory by law for men who giddydizzy, 142
were chosen to serve in the war. Many men pinebirchsumactypes of trees or bushes,
escaped the draft by leaving the country for 142
Canada, where they were less likely to be found peninsulaarea of land that is surrounded by
and prosecuted for their crime. Tim hopes to water on three sides, 142
escape to Canada.
142 UNIT 1 FICTION

had the bluish gray color of a razor blade, the hours, he never asked the obvious questions:
same polished shine, and as he peered up at Why was I there? Why alone? Why so preoccu-
me I felt a strange sharpness, almost painful, a B pied? If Elroy was curious about any of this, he Teach the Selection
cutting sensation, as if his gaze were somehow was careful never to put it into words.
slicing me open. In part, no doubt, it was my My hunch, though, is that he already knew.
own sense of guilt, but even so Im absolutely At least the basics. After all, it was 1968, and More About the Author
certain that the old man took one look and guys were burning draft cards, and Canada was On the Rainy River may be classi-
went right to the heart of thingsa kid in just a boat ride away. Elroy Berdahl was no fied as semiautobiographical. The
trouble. When I asked for a room, Elroy made hick. His bedroom, I remember, was cluttered character in the story is very similar
a little clicking sound with his tongue. He with books and newspapers. He killed me at the to the real Tim OBrien, but he is
nodded, led me out to one of the cabins, and Scrabble board, barely concentrating, and on not the same. Both have the same
dropped a key in my hand. I remember smiling those occasions when speech was necessary, he
name and grew up in small-town
Minnesota. Both went to Macalester
at him. I also remember
College, were accepted into gradu-
wishing I hadnt. The old
ate school at Harvard, worked in
man shook his head as if to
a meat processing plant, and were
tell me it wasnt worth the
drafted into the war in Vietnam.
bother.
However, other details may not be
Dinner at five-thirty, he
true. Most important, the real Tim
said. You eat fish?
OBrien never took a journey north
Anything, I said.
as the character does in this story.
Elroy grunted and said,
Ill bet.
W e spent six days

together at the Tip
Top Lodge. Just the two of
TEACHING NOTE
us. Tourist season was over, Journal Writing
and there were no boats on To help students keep track of the events on
the river, and the wilder- Tims journey, ask them to create a mini-journal
ness seemed to withdraw
from Tims point of view listing what happened
on each day, beginning on the day he left home
into a great permanent stillness. Over those had a way of compressing large thoughts into
and ending with the end of the story. They may
six days Elroy Berdahl and I took most of our small, cryptic packets of language. One evening,
use their imaginations in assigning activities to
meals together. In the mornings we some- just at sunset, he pointed up at an owl circling
different days, as Tim is not specific as to when
times went out on long hikes into the woods, over the violet-lighted forest to the west.
each activity took place.
and at night we played Scrabble or listened to Hey, OBrien, he said. Theres Jesus.
records or sat reading in front of his big stone The man was sharphe didnt miss much.
fireplace. At times I felt the awkwardness of Those razor eyes. Now and then hed catch me
an intruder, but Elroy accepted me into his staring out at the river, at the far shore, and I
quiet routine without fuss or ceremony. He could almost hear the tumblers clicking in his
took my presence for granted, the same way he head. Maybe Im wrong, but I doubt it.
mightve sheltered a stray catno wasted sighs One thing for certain, he knew I was in
or pityand there was never any talk about desperate trouble. And he knew I couldnt
it. Just the opposite. What I remember more talk about it. The wrong wordor even the
than anything is the mans willful, almost fero- right wordand I wouldve disappeared. I was
cious silence. In all that time together, all those wired and jittery. My skin felt too tight. After
sappyoverly sentimental, 142

paring knifea small knife used to peel and
trim fruits and vegetables, 142
hickuneducated or unsophisticated country-
dweller, 143
cryptichard to understand, 143
wired and jitteryfilled with nervous energy,
143

Cokesand now I was
off on the margins of
Teach the Selection exile, leaving my country
forever, and it seemed so
Analyze Literature impossible and terrible
Conflict A conflict is a struggle and sad.
between two forces in a literary work. Im not sure how I
All stories are built around conflict. A made it through those
plot introduces a conflict, develops it, six days. Most of it I
and eventually resolves it. There are cant remember. On two
two main types of conflict, internal or three afternoons, to
conflict and external conflict. Internal pass some time, I helped
conflict is conflict within the mind of Elroy get the place ready
a character, while external conflict for winter, sweeping
is conflict between two characters down the cabins and
or between one character and some hauling in the boats,
other force. Ask students the fol- little chores that kept
lowing: What type of conflict is Tim my body moving. The
experiencing in the story? Describe supper one evening I vomited and went back days were cool and bright. The nights were
the conflict. to my cabin and lay down for a few moments very dark. One morning the old man showed
and then vomited again; another time, in the me how to split and stack firewood, and for
Use Reading Strategies middle of the afternoon, I began sweating and several hours we just worked in silence out
Clarify The narrator says, Id been couldnt shut it off. I went through whole days behind his house. At one point, I remember,
over and over the various arguments, feeling dizzy with sorrow. I couldnt sleep; I Elroy put down his maul and looked at me
all the pros and cons. Ask students couldnt lie still. At night Id toss around in for a long time, his lips drawn as if framing a
to work in groups to make a Pro and bed, half awake, half dreaming, imagining how difficult question, but then he shook his head
Con list about accepting the draft, Id sneak down to the beach and quietly push and went back to work. The mans self-control
expressing Tims conflicted feelings one of the old mans boats out into the river was amazing. He never pried. He never put me
about this dilemma. They may use and start paddling my way toward Canada. in a position that required lies or denials. To
their imaginations to come up with There were times when I thought Id gone off an extent, I supposed, his reticence was typical
some pros and cons not mentioned in the psychic edge. I couldnt tell up from down, of that part of Minnesota, where privacy still
the story. A I was just falling, and late in the night Id lie held value, and even if Id been walking around
there watching weird pictures spin through my with some horrible deformityfour arms and
head. Getting chased by the Border Patrol three headsIm sure the old man wouldve
helicopters and searchlights and barking talked about everything except those extra
dogsId be crashing through the woods, Id arms and heads. Simple politeness was part of
be down on my hands and kneespeople it. But even more than that, I think, the man
shouting out my namethe law closing in on understood that words were insufficient. The
all sidesmy hometown draft board and the problem had gone beyond discussion. During
FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It that long summer Id been over and over the
all seemed crazy and impossible. Twenty-one A various arguments, all the pros and cons, and it
years old, an ordinary kid with all the ordinary was no longer a question that could be decided
dreams and ambitions, and all I wanted was to by an act of pure reason. Intellect had come
live the life I was born toa mainstream life up against emotion. My conscience told me to
I loved baseball and hamburgers and cherry run, but some irrational and powerful force
144 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Visual Have students create a graphic novel

Auditory Have students imagine that the version of the story, or of a selected sequence
story has been adapted to the format of a brief of scenes.
documentary film. Students should choose a Kinesthetic Have students choose a scene
variety of musical pieces to serve as the movies from the story to act out for the class.
soundtrack.
144 UNIT 1 FICTION

was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward times worth. Your last jobhow much did
the war. What it came down to, stupidly, was you pull in an hour?
a sense of shame. Hot, stupid shame. I did Not enough, I said. Teach the Selection
not want people to think badly of me. Not my A bad one?
parents, not my brother and sister, not even Yes. Pretty bad. Analyze Literature
the folks down at the Gobbler Caf. I was Slowly then, without intending any long Dialogue A conversation between
ashamed to be there at the Tip Top Lodge. I sermon, I told him about my days at the pig two or more characters is dialogue.
was ashamed of my conscience, ashamed to be plant. It began as a straight recitation of the Direct students to the conversation
doing the right thing. facts, but before I could stop myself I was between Elroy and the narrator about
Some of this Elroy mustve understood. Not talking about the blood clots and the water how much the narrator should pay
the details, of course, but the plain fact of crisis. gun and how the smell had soaked into my for his lodging. Ask students to make
Although the old man never confronted skin and how I couldnt wash it away. I went inferences about the type of person
me about it, there was one occasion when he on for a long time. I told him about wild Elroy is from this piece of dialogue. B
came close to forcing the whole thing out into hogs squealing in my dreams, the sounds of Answer: He is generous, sympathetic,
the open. It was early evening, and wed just butchery, slaughterhouse sounds, and how Id and kind.
finished supper, and over coffee and dessert sometimes wake up with that greasy pig-stink
I asked him about my bill, how much I owed in my throat.
so far. For a long while the old man squinted When I was finished, Elroy nodded at me.
down at the tablecloth. Well, to be honest, he said, when you
Well, the basic rate, he said, is fifty first showed up here, I wondered about that.
bucks a night. Not counting meals. This makes The aroma, I mean. Smelled like you was awful
four nights, right? damned fond of pork chops. The old man
I nodded. I had three hundred and twelve almost smiled. He made a snuffling sound,
dollars in my wallet. then sat down with a pencil and a piece of
Elroy kept his eyes on the tablecloth. Now paper. So whatd this crud job pay? Ten bucks
thats an on-season price. To be fair, I suppose an hour? Fifteen?
we should knock it down a peg or two. He B Less.
leaned back in his chair. Whats a reasonable Elroy shook his head. Lets make it fifteen.
number, you figure? You put in twenty-five hours here, easy. Thats
I dont know, I said. Forty? three hundred seventy-five bucks total wages.
Fortys good. Forty a night. Then we tack We subtract the two hundred sixty for food
on foodsay another hundred? Two hundred and lodging. I still owe you a hundred and
sixty total? fifteen.
I guess. He took four fifties out of his shirt pocket
He raised his eyebrows. Too much? and laid them on the table.
No, thats fair. Its fine. Tomorrow, Call it even, he said.
thoughI think Id better take off tomorrow. No.
Elroy shrugged and began clearing the Pick it up. Get yourself a haircut.
table. For a time he fussed with the dishes, The money lay on the table for the rest of
whistling to himself as if the subject had been the evening. It was still there when I went back
settled. After a second he slapped his hands to my cabin. In the morning though, I found
together. an envelope tacked to my door. Inside were the
You know what we forgot? he said. We four fifties and a two-word note that said EMER-
forgot wages. Those odd jobs you done. What GENCY FUND.
we have to do, we have to figure out what your The man knew.

Teach the Selection
L ooking back after twenty years, I sometimes
wonder if the events of that summer didnt
happen in some other dimension, a place
A stiff breeze came in from the north, and I
remember how the little fourteen-foot boat
made sharp rocking motions as we pushed
where your life exists before youve lived it, and off from the dock. The current was fast. All
where it goes afterward. None of it ever seemed around us, I remember, there was a vastness
TEACHING NOTE real. During my time at the Tip Top Lodge I to the world, an unpeopled rawness, just the
had the feeling that Id slipped out of my own trees and the sky and the water reaching out
Write a Letter Home skin, hovering a few feet away while some poor toward nowhere. The air had the brittle scent
Students may write a letter from the perspective yo-yo with my name and face tried to make his of October.
of Tim to his parents, explaining why he left for way toward a future he didnt understand and For ten or fifteen minutes Elroy held a
Canada. They should base their letters on infor- didnt want. Even now I can see myself as I was course upstream, the river choppy and silver-
mation given in the text. then. Its like watching an old home movie: Im gray, then he turned straight north and put
young and tan the engine on full
and fit. Ive got throttle. I felt the
hairlots of it. bow lift beneath
I dont smoke me. I remember
or drink. Im the wind in my
wearing faded ears, the sound of
blue jeans and a the old outboard
white polo shirt. Evinrude. For
I can see myself a time I didnt
sitting on Elroy pay attention to
Berdahls dock anything, just
near dusk one feeling the cold
evening, the sky spray against
a bright shim- my face, but
mering pink, and then it occurred
Im finishing up to me that at
a letter to my parents that tells what Im about some point we mustve passed into Canadian
to do and why Im doing it and how sorry I waters, across that dotted line between two
am that Ive never found the courage to talk to different worlds, and I remember a sudden
them about it. I ask them not to be angry. I try tightness in my chest as I looked up and
to explain some of my feelings, but there arent watched the far shore come at me. This wasnt
enough words, and so I just say that its a thing a daydream. It was tangible and real. As we
that has to be done. At the end of the letter I came in toward land, Elroy cut the engine,
talk about the vacations we used to take up in letting the boat fishtail lightly about twenty
this north country, at a place called Whitefish yards off shore. The old man didnt look at
Lake, and how the scenery here reminds me me or speak. Bending down, he opened up
of those good times. I tell them Im fine. I his tackle box and busied himself with a
tell them Ill write again from Winnipeg or bobber and a piece of wire leader, humming
Montreal or wherever I end up. to himself, his eyes down.
It struck me then that he mustve planned
O n my last full day, the sixth day, the old

man took me out fishing on the Rainy
River. The afternoon was sunny and cold.
it. Ill never be certain, of course, but I think he
meant to bring me up against the realities, to
guide me across the river and to take me to the
146 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Kinesthetic For kinesthetic learners, modify the

Auditory These two pages contain several long Audio Learning tip by making the activity into a
passages of Tims thinking that serve almost as dramatization. Ask students to perform the pas-
monologues directed to the reader. Have stu- sage as a monologue before the class. Again, they
dents rehearse one of the passages and record it should use appropriate pacing, volume, tone, and
on tape for review. This may be especially help- expression, but also work on body language and
ful for your English language learners. Students gestures that dramatize Tims plight for listeners.
should work on creating the appropriate pacing, They should memorize the passage as much as
volume, tone, and expression. possible and establish eye contact with their lis-
teners as they deliver their monologues.
146 UNIT 1 FICTION

edge and to stand a kind of vigil as I chose a and water and sky, a great worldwide sadness
life for myself. came pressing down on me, a crushing sorrow,
I remember staring at the old man, then sorrow like I had never known before. And Teach the Selection
at my hands, then at Canada. The shoreline what was so sad, I realized, was that Canada
was dense with brush and timber. I could see had become a pitiful fantasy. Silly and hope- Use Reading Skills
tiny red berries on the bushes. I could see a less. It was no longer a possibility. Right then, Authors Approach Have students
squirrel up in one of the birch trees, a big crow with the shore so close, I understood that read the text beginning with the line
looking at me from a boulder along the river. I would not do what I should do. I would Chunks of my own history flashed
That closetwenty yardsand I could see the not swim away from my hometown and my by. OBrien calls these images hallu-
delicate latticework of the leaves, the texture country and my life. I would not be brave. cinations. Discuss with students what
of the soil, the browned needles beneath the That old image of myself as a hero, as a man OBriens purpose might be in includ-
pines, the configurations of geology and human ing this passage. A
history. Twenty yards. I couldve done it. I Answer: Reactions will vary. OBriens
couldve jumped and started swimming for purpose may be to signal the pressure
my life. Inside me, in my chest, I felt a terrible and tension he experienced as his
squeezing pressure. Even now, as I write this, moment of decision approached.
I can still feel that tightness. And I want you
to feel itthe wind coming off the river, the
waves, the silence, the wooded frontier. Youre
at the bow of a boat on the Rainy River. Youre
twenty-one years old, youre scared, and theres
a hard squeezing pressure in your chest.
What would you do?
Would you jump? Would you feel pity for
yourself? Would you think about the family
and your childhood and your dreams and all of conscience and courage, all that was just a
youre leaving behind? Would it hurt? Would it threadbare pipe dream. Bobbing there on the
feel like dying? Would you cry, as I did? Rainy River, looking back at the Minnesota
I tried to swallow it back. I tried to smile, shore, I felt a sudden swell of helplessness
except I was crying. come over me, a drowning sensation, as if I
Now, perhaps, you can understand why had toppled overboard and was being swept
Ive never told this story before. Its not just away by the silver waves. Chunks of my own
the embarrassment of tears. Thats part of it, history flashed by. I saw a seven-year-old boy
no doubt, but what embarrasses me much in a white cowboy hat and a Lone Ranger mask
more, and always will, is the paralysis that took and a pair of holstered six-shooters; I saw a
my heart. A moral freeze: I couldnt decide, I twelve-year-old Little League shortstop pivoting
couldnt act, I couldnt comport myself with to turn a double play; I saw a sixteen-year-old
even a pretense of modest human dignity. kid decked out for his first prom, looking spiffy
A
All I could do was cry. Quietly, not in a white tux and a black bow tie, his hair cut
bawling, just the chest-chokes. short and flat, his shoes freshly polished. My
At the rear of the boat Elroy Berdahl whole life seemed to spill out into the river,
pretended not to notice. He held a fishing swirling away from me, everything I had ever
rod in his hands, his head bowed to hide his been or ever wanted to be. I couldnt get my
eyes. He kept humming a soft, monotonous breath; I couldnt stay afloat; I couldnt tell
little tune. Everywhere, it seemed, in the trees which way to swim. A hallucination, I suppose,

and Jane Fonda dressed
up as Barbarella, and an
Teach the Selection old man sprawled beside
a pigpen, and my grand-
Analyze Literature father, and Gary Cooper,
Allusion An allusion is a reference and a kind-faced woman
to a well-known person, event, object, carrying an umbrella and
or work from history or literature. a copy of Platos Republic,
OBrien alludes to many different peo- and a million ferocious
ple on this page, including Abraham citizens waving flags of all
Lincoln, LBJ (Lyndon B. Johnson), Jane shapes and colorspeople
Fonda, Barbarella, Gary Cooper, and in hardhats, people in
Plato. Divide students into groups, headbandsthey were all
and assign each group an allusion to whooping and chanting and
research. Have students share their urging me toward one shore
findings with the class. Discuss why or the other. I saw faces from
OBrien might have included these my distant past and distant
allusions in his story. A but it was as real as anything I would ever feel. future. My wife was there. My unborn daughter
I saw my parents calling to me from the far waved at me, and my two sons hopped up
shoreline. I saw my brother and sister, all the and down, and a drill sergeant named Blyton
townsfolk, the mayor and the entire Chamber sneered and shot up a finger and shook his
of Commerce and all my old teachers and girl- head. There was a choir in bright purple robes.
friends and high school buddies. Like some There was a cabbie from the Bronx. There was
weird sporting event: everybody screaming a slim young man I would one day kill with a
from the sidelines, rooting me ona loud hand grenade along a red clay trail outside the
stadium roar. Hotdogs and popcornstadium village of My Khe.
smells, stadium heat. A squad of cheerleaders The little aluminum boat rocked softly
did cartwheels along the banks of the Rainy beneath me. There was the wind and the sky.
River; they had megaphones and pompoms I tried to will myself overboard.
and smooth brown thighs. The crowd swayed I gripped the edge of the boat and leaned
left and right. A marching band played fight forward and thought, Now.
songs. All my aunts and uncles were there, I did try. It just wasnt possible.
and Abraham Lincoln and Saint George, and All those eyes on methe town, the whole
a nine-year-old girl named Linda who had universeand I couldnt risk the embarrass-
died of a brain tumor back in fifth grade, and ment. It was as if there were an audience to
several members of the United States Senate, my life, that swirl of faces along the river, and
and a blind poet scribbling notes, and LBJ, in my head I could hear people screaming at
A
and Huck Finn, and Abbie Hoffman, and all me. Traitor! they yelled. Turncoat! I felt myself
the dead soldiers back from the grave, and blush. I couldnt tolerate it. I couldnt endure
the many thousands who were later to die the mockery, or the disgrace, or the patriotic
villagers with terrible burns, little kids without ridicule. Even in my imagination, the shore
arms or legsyes, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff just twenty yards away, I couldnt make myself
were there, and a couple of popes, and a first be brave. It had nothing to do with morality.
lieutenant named Jimmy Cross, and the last Embarrassment, thats all it was.
surviving veteran of the American Civil War, And right then I submitted.
148 UNIT 1 FICTION
148 UNIT 1 FICTION

I would go to the warI would kill and to bed early, and in the morning Elroy fixed
maybe diebecause I was embarrassed not to. breakfast for me. When I told him Id be
That was the sad thing. And so I sat in the leaving, the old man nodded as if he already Review the Selection
bow of the boat and cried. It was loud now. knew. He looked down at the table and smiled.
Loud, hard crying. At some point later in the morning its
Elroy Berdahl remained quiet. He kept possible that we shook handsI just dont W Review
fishing. He worked his line with the tips of rememberbut I do know that by the time Id IRRORS
his fingers, patiently, squinting out at his red finished packing the old man had disappeared. W INDOWS with stu-
dents the
and white bobber on the Rainy River. His eyes Around noon, when I took my suitcase out
erm ccivil
term ivvil diso
disobedience. Students
were flat and impassive. He didnt speak. He to the car, I noticed that his old black pickup
m ay ssay
may ay that it is acceptable to
was simply there, like the river and the late- truck was no longer parked in front of the
break the law if one genuinely
summer sun. And yet by his presence, his mute house. I went inside and waited for a while,
finds that to follow that law will
watchfulness, he made it real. He was the true but I felt a bone certainty that he wouldnt be go against what he or she
audience. He was a witness, like God, or like back. In a way, I thought, it was appropriate. believes to be right.
the gods, who look on in absolute silence as we I washed up the breakfast dishes, left his two
live our lives, as we make our choices or fail to hundred dollars on the kitchen counter, got
make them. into the car, and drove south toward home. Refer and Reason
Aint biting, he said. The day was cloudy. I passed through 1. Responses will vary. The narrator
Then after a time the old man pulled in towns with familiar names, through the pine used to think of courage as being
his line and turned the boat back toward forests and down to the prairie, and then to like money, like an inheritance that
Minnesota. Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home he could save up for the right time.
again. I survived, but its not a happy ending. I Later, when the time came to be
was a coward. I went to the war. brave, he realized that he could
I dont remember saying goodbye. That last
night we had dinner together, and I went not be brave, and that the image
of [himself] as a hero, as a man of
conscience and courage, all that was
&
just a threadbare pipe dream.
W Is it acceptable to break the law if the law contradicts ones personal beliefs? 2. The narrator decides he will go
IRRORS
W INDOWS
What options might a person have who does not want to break the law and yet to war because he is not brave
wants to show that he or she disagrees with the law? enough to run away from it.
Responses evaluating this decision
will vary.
Refer and Reason Writing Options
1. The narrator says, I was a coward. I went to 1. Write a very brief story or anecdote about a diffi-
war. Quote other statements about courage and cult decision you have had to make. In your story, Rubrics for Writing
cowardice in the story. Analyze the narrators view describe how you decided what to do and how you Options
of courage. If he were to write a dictionary defini- felt about your decision afterward.
tion of the word courage, what would it say? 2. Write a brief analysis of On the Rainy River to
For writing rubrics and student
2. What decision did the narrator make about the be used by social studies teachers to determine if models of the Writing Options
Vietnam War? Evaluate his decision. On what was it the story would be good reading for their class on assignments, go to
based? Do you think it was a good decision? Why? the United States and the Vietnam War. Make and www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
3. Identify the main internal conflicts in this story. support a suggestion for or against including the
Explain how the narrator deals with these conflicts. story in the class syllabus.
How does the narrators way of dealing with W
conflicts compare with the way you deal with your Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more.
own internal conflicts?
W
/19/07 12:25:04 PM Assessment Project

0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.149 149 11/19/07 12:25:06 PM
Ask students to write a paragraph discussing the authors use of the first-person point of view in the
story. In their paragraphs, students should discuss the relationship of the point of view with story
elements such as characterization, plot, setting, mood, or theme. Remind students to cite specific
details from the story in their paragraphs. Assign points for the Assessment Project according to the
following scale.
3 Student includes discussion of at least three ways in which the first-person point of view
contributes to story elements such as characterization, plot, setting, mood, or theme.
2 Student includes discussion of two ways in which the first-person point of view contrib-
utes to story elements.
1 Student identifies the first-person point of view but discussion of ways it contributes to
story elements is minimal or absent.

INDEPENDENT READING
At a Glance
Independent Reading
Reading Level: Easy
Difficulty Considerations: Cultural
references; vocabulary
Ease Factors: Dialogue; engaging
plot
Objectives
students to
Launch the Lesson A Novel Excerpt by

Have students discuss in small groups
their impressions of what life in
Khaled Hosseini
Afghanistan might be like. Ask students
to draw on what they know about
Afghanistan from television or books,
and take notes on their discussion. Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in
1965 and spent his early life there. When Hosseini
was eleven years old, his family moved to Paris, where
his father was assigned to a diplomatic post with the
W The Mirrors Afghan Embassy. In 1980, after the Soviet invasion
IRRORS of Afghanistan, his family immigrated to the United
W INDOWS & Windows
questions
States for political protection and settled in California.
The Kite Runner is Hosseinis first novel.
tthat
hat ffollow
ollow th
the selection ask stu- The novel describes the experiences of Amir, a young Afghan boy, as his
ddents
ents ttoo cons
consider the difference country undergoes dramatic changes. This excerpt is set in winter, when
between teasing in a friendly Kabul hosted a kite-fighting tournament in which boys try to cut down
way and teasing in a cruel way. their opponents kites while protecting their own. Kite runners would run to
To prepare students to discuss collect the fallen kites. As you read, notice how the kite-fighting tournament
provides a chance for the narrator to develop and analyze his relationships
this question, ask them to write with his father and his best friend and servant, Hassan.
in their journals about a time
when they teased someone or What connotations, or emotional associations, does the word kite have for
you? What images come to your mind when you think of kites? What time of
were teased by someone. How year do you picture? How do these images make you feel?
did they feel? How did the other
person feel? 150 UNIT 1 FICTION
Program Resources

E-Lesson Planner
Advanced Students, Cultural Context Project
ExamView
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows
150 UNIT 1 FICTION

his schoolbag filled with books and pencils.
Winter. I waited until they pulled away, turned the
Here is what I do on the first day of corner, then I slipped back into bed in my Teach the Selection
snowfall every year: I step out of the house flannel pajamas. I pulled the blanket to my
early in the morning, still in my pajamas, chin and watched the snowcapped hills in the Summary
hugging my arms against the chill. I find north through the window. Watched them Amir and his servant and friend,
the driveway, my fathers car, the walls, the until I drifted back to sleep. Hassan, compete together in a kite-
trees, the rooftops, and the hills buried under I loved wintertime in Kabul. I loved it for fighting tournament, an annual event
a foot of snow. I smile. The sky is seamless the soft pattering of snow against my window in which competitors coat their kite
and blue, the snow so white my eyes burn. at night, for the way fresh snow crunched strings with glass and try to cut the
I shovel a handful of the fresh snow into my under my black rubber boots, for the warmth strings of other kites. Hassan is a kite
mouth, listen to the muffled stillness broken of the cast-iron stove as the wind screeched runner, meaning that he chases the
only by the cawing of crows. I walk down the through the yards, the streets. But mostly kites after they have been cut. Hassan
front steps, barefoot, and call for Hassan1 to because, as the trees froze and ice sheathed the is the best kite runner in the neighbor-
A hood, always knowing innately where
come out and see. roads, the chill between Baba and me thawed
Winter was every kids favorite season a little. And the reason for that was the kites. a drifting kite will land. Amir both
in Kabul, at least those whose fathers could Baba and I lived in the same house, but in admires and envies this talent. In this
afford to buy a good iron stove. The reason different spheres of existence. Kites were the excerpt, Amir reflects on Hassans tal-
was simple: They shut down school for the one paper-thin slice of intersection between ent as a kite runner and as a friend.
icy season. Winter to me was the end of long those spheres.
division and naming the capital of Bulgaria, More About the Context
and the start of three months of playing
cards by the stove with Hassan, free Russian
movies on Tuesday mornings at Cinema Park,
E very winter, districts in Kabul held a kite-
fighting tournament. And if you were a
boy living in Kabul, the day of the tourna-
Besides being Amirs best friend,
Hassan is Amirs servant. Amir is of
the Pashtun tribe, the most power-
sweet turnip qurma over rice for lunch after a ment was undeniably the highlight of the ful ethnic group in Afghanistan,
morning of building snowmen. cold season. I never slept the night before the whose members generally are Sunni
And kites, of course. Flying kites. And tournament. Id roll from side to side, make Muslims. Hassan is Hazara, a tribe
running them. shadow animals on the wall, even sit on the whose members are generally Shiite
For a few unfortunate kids, winter did not balcony in the dark, a blanket wrapped around Muslims. Historically, the Hazara
spell the end of the school year. There were me. I felt like a soldier trying to sleep in the tribe was oppressed by the Pashtun
the so-called voluntary winter courses. No kid trenches the night before a major battle. And tribe, and part of the tension in
I knew ever volunteered to go to these classes; that wasnt so far off. In Kabul, fighting kites Amirs friendship with Hassan is that
parents, of course, did the volunteering for was a little like going to war. Amir is teased for spending time
them. Fortunately for me, Baba2 was not one of As with any war, you had to ready your- with someone of an ethnic group
them. I remember one kid, Ahmad, who lived self for battle. For a while, Hassan and I used that is deemed by most of Amirs
across the street from us. His father was some to build our own kites. We saved our weekly classmates to be inferior.
kind of doctor, I think. Ahmad had epilepsy allowances in the fall, dropped the money in
and always wore a wool vest and thick black- a little porcelain horse Baba had brought one Analyze Literature
rimmed glasseshe was one of Assefs regular time from Herat. When the winds of winter Conflict A conflict is a struggle
victims. Every morning, I watched from my began to blow and snow fell in chunks, we between two forces in a literary work.
bedroom window as their Hazara3 servant Have students read the paragraph
shoveled snow from the driveway, cleared 1. Hassan. Amirs servant. Earlier in the novel, readers learn that beginning with I loved wintertime in
the way for the black Opel. I made a point of Hassan is a member of an ethnic minority group and that he and Kabul. What conflict does the narra-
Amir have an uneasy friendship because of the ethnic difference.
watching Ahmad and his father get into the 2. Baba. Father (Arabic) tor reveal in this paragraph? A
car, Ahmad in his wool vest and winter coat, 3. Hazara. Member of a minority ethnic group in Afghanistan Answer: The word chill signals that
Amir often does not get along with
THE KITE RUNNER 151 his father.
/19/07 12:25:06 PM 0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.151 151

Words in Use KEY TERMS 11/19/07 12:25:08 PM
CONNOTATIONS, 150
from The Kite Teaching Words INFERENCES, 156
Runner diplomatic, 150
Selection Words immigrated, 150
hordes, 153 fundamentalist, 155
coveted, 153
THE KITE RUNNER 151

undid the snap under the horses belly. We taking us to Saifos to buy our kites. Saifo was
went to the bazaar4 and bought bamboo, a nearly blind old man who was a moochi by
Teach the Selection glue, string, and paper. We spent hours every professiona shoe repairman. But he was also
day shaving bamboo for the center and cross the citys most famous kite maker, working
Analyze Literature spars, cutting the thin tissue paper which out of a tiny hovel on Jadeh Maywand, the
Narrator As students read the made for easy dipping and recovery. And crowded street south of the muddy banks of
selection, they should understand then, of course, we had to make our own the Kabul River. I remember you had to crouch
that the story presented by Amir, the string, or tar. If the kite was the gun, then tar, to enter the prison cell-sized store, and then
narrator, is limited to his point of the glass-coated cutting line, was the bullet had to lift a trapdoor to creep down a set of
view. In this case, Amir, now an adult in the chamber. Wed go out in the yard and wooden steps to the dank basement where
telling the story, has strong feelings of feed up to five hundred feet of Saifo stored his coveted kites. Baba would
nostalgia and joy about growing up string through a mixture buy us each three identical kites and spools of
in Afghanistan, as well as guilt and of ground glass and glass string. If I changed my mind and asked
regret about his treatment of Hassan. glue. Wed then for a bigger and fancier kite, Baba would buy
This influences the way he tells his hang the line it for mebut then hed buy it for Hassan
story. Ask students to consider the between the too. Sometimes I wished he wouldnt do that.
following: How different would this trees, leave it Wished hed let me be the favorite.
story be if Hassan were the narrator? to dry. The next The kite-fighting tournament was an old
What would it be like if the narrator day, wed wind winter tradition in Afghanistan. It started early
were someone who could get into the the battle-ready in the morning on the day of the contest and
minds of both characters? line around a wooden didnt end until only the winning kite flew in
spool. By the time the the skyI remember one year the tournament
snow melted and the rains outlasted daylight. People gathered on sidewalks
TEACHING NOTE of spring swept in, every boy and roofs to cheer for their kids. The streets
The Kite Runner in Kabul bore telltale horizontal filled with kite fighters, jerking and tugging
Some students may express interest in reading gashes on his fingers from a whole on their lines, squinting up to the sky, trying
the rest of The Kite Runner. Before recommend- winter of fighting kites. I remember to gain position to cut the opponents line.
ing it to students, make sure they are mature how my classmates and I used to Every kite fighter had an assistantin my case,
enough to deal with the content, which includes huddle, compare our battle scars Hassanwho held the spool and fed the line.
a brutal sexual assault of Hassan by neighbor- on the first day of school. The cuts One time, a bratty Hindi kid whose family
hood boys and other instances of violence. stung and didnt heal for a couple had recently moved into the neighborhood
of weeks, but I didnt mind. They told us that in his hometown, kite fighting had
were reminders of a beloved season strict rules and regulations. You have to play
that had once again passed too in a boxed area and you have to stand at a right
quickly. Then the class captain angle to the wind, he said proudly. And you
would blow his whistle and wed cant use aluminum to make your glass string.
Homework Suggestions march in a single file to our class- Hassan and I looked at each other. Cracked
1. Have students read the story as rooms, longing for winter already, up. The Hindi kid would soon learn what the
homework. greeted instead by the specter of British learned earlier in the century, and what
2. Have students write five original yet another long school year. the Russians would eventually learn by the
recall questions about the selection But it quickly became apparent late 1980s: that Afghans are an independent
to share with the rest of the class.
that Hassan and I were better kite people. Afghans cherish custom but abhor
fighters than kite makers. Some rules. And so it was with kite fighting. The
on page 156.
flaw or other in our design always
spelled its doom. So Baba started 4. bazaar. Rows of stalls or shops selling a variety of goods
152 UNIT 1 FICTION

Share with students that idioms are accepted To help students better understand the kite-
phrases or expressions having a meaning other making process, find instructions for making a
than the literal one. Identify and discuss some simple kite out of basic materials. Give students
of these idioms from the opening section of the the materials and instructions, helping them
story: with these kite terms: cross spars, line, spool,
hugging my arms against the chill tail. Make sure students use string specifically
my eyes burn made for kite-flying that wont cut hands. If
drifted back to sleep possible, have a kite-flying contest.
sheathed the roads
152 UNIT 1 FICTION

rules were simple: No rules. Fly your kite. Cut He whirled around, motioned with his
the opponents. Good luck. hand. This way! he called before dashing
Except that wasnt all. The real fun began around another corner. I looked up, saw that Teach the Selection
when a kite was cut. That was where the kite the direction we were running was opposite to
runners came in, those kids who chased the the one the kite was drifting. Use Reading Skills
windblown kite drifting through the neighbor- Were losing it! Were going the wrong Main Idea Suggest that students
hoods until it came spiraling down in a field, way! I cried out. use a Main Idea Map like the one
dropping in someones yard, on a tree, or a Trust me! I heard him call up ahead. I on page 131 to determine the most
rooftop. The chase got pretty fierce; hordes of reached the corner and saw Hassan bolting important ideas and supporting
kite runners swarmed the streets, shoved past along, his head down, not even looking at the details in the story. Ask them to think
each other like those people from Spain Id read sky, sweat soaking through the back of his about what ideas the author express-
about once, the ones who ran from the bulls. es through the actions or thoughts of
the characters.
One year a neighborhood kid climbed a pine
tree for a kite. A branch snapped under his
No rules. Fly your kite. Cut the
weight and he fell thirty feet. Broke his back Use Reading Skills
and never walked again. But he fell with the opponents. Good luck. Summarize Ask students to summa-
kite still in his hands. And when a kite runner rize what they have learned about the
had his hands on a kite, no one could take it shirt. I tripped over a rock and fellI wasnt sport of kite-fighting.
from him. That wasnt a rule. That was custom. just slower than Hassan but clumsier too; Id
For kite runners, the most coveted prize always envied his natural athleticism. When Connecting with Literature
was the last fallen kite of a winter tourna- I staggered to my feet, I caught a glimpse of Geography
ment. It was a trophy of honor, something to Hassan disappearing around another street Students in Afghanistan get a win-
be displayed on a mantle for guests to admire. corner. I hobbled after him, spikes of pain ter break because the weather is
When the sky cleared of kites and only the battering my scraped knees. so severe that roads often become
final two remained, every kite runner readied I saw we had ended up on a rutted dirt road impassable, making it difficult to
himself for the chance to land this prize. He near Isteqlal Middle School. There was a field on get to school. The winter weather in
positioned himself at a spot that he thought one side where lettuce grew in the summer, and Kabul, Afghanistan, where this story
would give him a head start. Tense muscles a row of sour cherry trees on the other. I found is set, is better than in outlying rural
readied themselves to uncoil. Necks craned. Hassan sitting cross-legged at the foot of one of areas of the country, where storms
Eyes crinkled. Fights broke out. And when the the trees, eating from a fistful of dried mulberries. are brutal and fewer people have ade-
last kite was cut, all hell broke loose. What are we doing here? I panted, my quate shelter and heat. The climate
Over the years, I had seen a lot of guys run stomach roiling with nausea. in Kabul is similar to that of Denver,
kites. But Hassan was by far the greatest kite He smiled. Sit with me, Amir agha. Colorado. The two cities are in moun-
runner Id ever seen. It was downright eerie the I dropped next to him, lay on a thin patch tainous regions of about the same
way he always got to the spot the kite would of snow, wheezing. Youre wasting our time. It altitude and at similar latitudes.
land before the kite did, as if he had some sort was going the other way, didnt you see?
of inner compass. Hassan popped a mulberry in his mouth.
I remember one overcast winter day, Its coming, he said. I could hardly breathe TEACHING NOTE
Hassan and I were running a kite. I was and he didnt even sound tired. Research Afghanistan
chasing him through neighborhoods, hopping How do you know? I said. Afghanistan has been much in the news lately.
gutters, weaving through narrow streets. I was I know. Have students use encyclopedias, Internet
a year older than him, but Hassan ran faster How can you know? resources, almanacs, and atlases to compile
than I did, and I was falling behind. He turned to me. A few sweat beads rolled a country profile of Afghanistan.
Hassan! Wait! I yelled, my breathing hot from his bald scalp. Would I ever lie to you,
and ragged. Amir agha?
THE KITE RUNNER 153
Enrichment
Direct advanced learners to locate and read
an article related to The Kite Runnera criti-
cal analysis of the book, an interview with the
author, or something else of interest. Students
should write a response that explains to their
classmates why they chose the article and how
it contributes to their understanding of the
selection they are reading in class.
THE KITE RUNNER 153

fraction of a moment, Cas
Se
long enough to leave
Teach the Selection me with the unset-
tling feeling that maybe
Analyze Literature Id seen it someplace
Motivation Remind students that before. Then Hassan Per
G
motivation is the force that moti- blinked and it was just
vates a character to think or behave him again. Just Hassan.
in a certain way. Ask students what If you asked, I
motivates Amir to taunt Hassan. would, he finally said,
Answer: Responses will vary, but stu- looking right at me.
dents might guess that Amir is jealous I dropped my eyes.
and insecure (he notes that he envies To this day, I find it
Hassans natural athleticism), or that hard to gaze directly
he is too proud of his social position. at people like Hassan,
people who mean every
Suddenly I decided to toy with him a little. word they say.
W
IRRORS Students I dont know. Would you? But I wonder, he added. Would you ever
W INDOWS might say

that teas-
Id sooner eat dirt, he said with a look of
indignation.
ask me to do such a thing, Amir agha? And,
just like that, he had thrown at me his own
ing
ng iinn a frien
friendly way is not done Really? Youd do that? little test. If I was going to toy with him and
w
with
ith aann inten
intent to hurt the other He threw me a puzzled look. Do what? challenge his loyalty, then hed toy with me, test
person. It is light and playful, Eat dirt if I told you to, I said. I knew my integrity.
and done with a genuine smile I was being cruel, like when Id taunt him if I wished I hadnt started this conversation.
on ones face. Teasing in a cruel he didnt know some big word. But there was I forced a smile. Dont be stupid, Hassan. You
way victimizes the other person something fascinatingalbeit in a sick way know I wouldnt.
by making him or her feel infe- about teasing Hassan. Kind of like when we Hassan returned the smile. Except his
rior. Friends sometimes taunt used to play insect torture. Except now, he was didnt look forced. I know, he said. And thats
and tease each other out of a the ant and I was holding the magnifying glass. the thing about people who mean everything
sense of insecurity. They like to His eyes searched my face for a long time. they say. They think everyone else does too.
put others down so they can feel We sat there, two boys under a sour cherry Here it comes, Hassan said, pointing
better about themselves. Teasing tree, suddenly looking, really looking, at each to the sky. He rose to his feet and walked
can harm a friendship when the other. Thats when it happened again: Hassans a few paces to his left. I looked up, saw the
teaser thinks he or she is just face changed. Maybe not changed, not really, kite plummeting toward us. I heard foot-
being funny and the other per- but suddenly I had the feeling I was looking falls, shouts, an approaching melee of kite
son feels victimized. at two faces, the one I knew, the one that was runners. But they were wasting their time.
my first memory, and another, a second face, Because Hassan stood with his arms wide open,
this one lurking just beneath the surface. Id smiling, waiting for the kite. And may Godif
seen it happen beforeit always shook me up He exists, that isstrike me blind if the kite
a little. It just appeared, this other face, for a didnt just drop into his outstretched arms.
&
W Whats the difference between teasing in a friendly way and teasing in a cruel
IRRORS
W INDOWS
way? Why do friends sometimes taunt and tease each other? How can doing so
harm a friendship?
154 UNIT 1 FICTION
Assessment Project
Ask students to write a brief compare-and-contrast essay in which they identify and discuss similari-
ties and differences between Amir and Hassan. Remind students to cite specific details from the
story in their paragraphs. Assign points for the Assessment Project according to the following scale.
3 Student includes discussion of at least two ways in which the boys are alike and two
ways in which they are different.
2 Student includes discussion of one similarity and one difference between the boys.
1 Student notes one way in which the boys are alike or one way in which they are
different.
154 UNIT 1 FICTION

Kasakhstan
Caspian
Sea Uzbekistan Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
China Teach the Connection
Afghanistan
Iran
At a Glance
Persian Pakistan Reading Level: Moderate
Gulf
Arabian
India Difficulty Considerations: Formal
Sea language; vocabulary
Ease Factor: Length
Informational Text
Connection Summary
Author Edward Hower calls The Kite
The Kite Runner was reviewed in many newspapers and magazines shortly after its release in Runner a story of fierce cruelty and
spring 2003. Americans were newly interested in Afghanistan, where the novel is set, because fierce yet redeeming love. While
of U.S. military involvement in the country following the terrorist attacks of September 11, Hower finds some of the plot twists in
2001. During this military campaign, the United States drove out the fundamentalist Islamic the second half of the book less than
government called the Taliban, which novelist Edward Hower mentions in his New York Times
book review, The Kite Runner: A Servants Son. believable, he generally applauds
the novels focus on the far-reaching
effects of the friendship between Amir
and Hassan and the insight it pro-
The Kite Runner: The New York Times vides into historical and contemporary
Afghanistan.
A Servants Son gleaming family Mustang while his friend stays
A Review by Edward Hower home to clean the house. Yet Hassan bears Use Reading Skills
Amir no resentment and is, in fact, a loyal Distinguish Fact from Opinion
companion to the lonely boy, whose mother is Use this selection to teach students
how to distinguish fact from opinion.
T his powerful first novel, by an Afghan
physician now living in California, tells a
story of fierce cruelty and fierce yet redeeming
dead and whose father, a rich businessman, is
often preoccupied. Hassan protects the sensi-
tive Amir from sadistic neighborhood bullies;
Tell students that a fact is a state-
ment that can be proved by direct
love. Both transform the life of Amir, Khaled in turn, Amir fascinates Hassan by reading him observation or by consulting a refer-
Hosseinis privileged young narrator, who heroic Afghan folk tales. Then, during a kite- ence work. For example, the statement
comes of age during the last peaceful days of flying tournament that should be the triumph of Afghanistan has been the site of
the monarchy, just before his countrys revolu- Amirs young life, Hassan is brutalized by some numerous armed conflicts over the
tion and its invasion by Russian forces. upper-class teenagers. Amirs failure to defend centuries is a fact.
But political events, even as dramatic as his friend will haunt him for the rest of his life. An opinion is a statement that
the ones that are presented in The Kite Runner, Hosseinis depiction of pre-revolutionary expresses an attitude or desire, not
are only a part of this story. A more personal Afghanistan is rich in warmth and humor but a fact. For example, the statement
plot, arising from Amirs close friendship with also tense with the friction between the nations Afghanistan has given rise to many
Hassan, the son of his fathers servant, turns different ethnic groups. Amirs father, or Baba, fascinating folk tales is an opinion.
out to be the thread that ties the book together. personifies all that is reckless, courageous Opinions cannot be proved, but
The fragility of this relationship, symbolized by and arrogant in his dominant Pashtun tribe. they can and should be supported
the kites the boys fly together, is tested as they He loves nothing better than watching the by facts. Encourage students to be
watch their old way of life disappear. Afghan national pastime, buzkashi, in which critical about the statements they will
Amir is served breakfast every morning galloping horsemen bloody one another as they encounter as they read the review.
by Hassan; then he is driven to school in the compete to spear the carcass of a goat. Yet he Are they facts, or are they opinions? If
they are opinions, are they well sup-
THE KITE RUNNER: A SERVANTS SON 155 ported?
Words in Use
/19/07 12:25:09 PM 0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.155 155
Di 11/19/07 12:25:10 PM
The Kite Runner:

Eng
A Servants Son
The vocabulary in this selection might be challeng-
Selection Words ing for English language learners. Encourage them
sadistic, 155 to use
u word parts and context clues to unlock mean-
haggle, 156 ingg from unfamiliar words. Point out that the word
in
tyranny, 156 bloo
bl
bloody in paragraph 4 is used as a verb, though the
nemesis, 156 wor
word is more commonly used as an adjective.
THE KITE RUNNER: A SERVANTS SON 155

is generous and tolerant enough to respect his under the tyranny of the Taliban, whom Amir
sons artistic yearnings and to treat the lowly encounters when he finally returns home,
Review the Connection Hassan with great kindness, even arranging for hoping to help Hassan and his family. The final
an operation to mend the childs harelip. third of the book is full of haunting images:
Connecting with Literature As civil war begins to ravage the country, a man, desperate to feed his children, trying
History the teenage Amir and his father must flee for to sell his artificial leg in the market; an adul-
Have students work in groups to their lives. In California, Baba works at a gas terous couple stoned to death in a stadium
research life in Afghanistan under station to put his son through school; on week- during the halftime of a football match; a
the Taliban, which was ousted by ends he sells secondhand goods at swap meets. rouged young boy forced into prostitution,
American forces in 2001. Students Here too Hosseini provides lively descriptions, dancing the sort of steps once performed by an
should focus on determining how showing former professors and doctors social- organ grinders monkey.
realistic Khaled Hosseinis images of izing as they haggle with their customers over When Amir meets his old nemesis, now a
that life are. black velvet portraits of Elvis. powerful Taliban official, the book descends
Despite their poverty, these exiled Afghans into some plot twists better suited to a folk tale
Refer and Reason manage to keep alive their ancient stan- than a modern novel. But in the end were won
1. Characteristics include athletic skill, dards of honor and pride. And even as Amir over by Amirs compassion and his determina-
humor, and loyalty. The description grows to manhood, settling comfortably into tion to atone for his youthful cowardice.
tells us that Amir lacks self-confi- America and a happy marriage, his past shame In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini gives
dence and feels jealous of Hassan, continues to haunt him. He worries about us a vivid and engaging story that reminds us
even though Hassan comes from Hassan and wonders what has happened to how long his people have been struggling to
the servant class and Amir comes him back in Afghanistan. triumph over the forces of violenceforces
from a wealthy family. The novels canvas turns dark when that continue to threaten them even today.
2. Hassan is more honest than Amir, Hosseini describes the suffering of his country
according to Amirs own admis-
sion. He, Amir, toys with Hassans Refer and Reason Writing Options
feelings by asking if hed eat dirt 1. List some of Hassans characteristics and abilities. 1. Write a retelling of the incident described by Amir
at Amirs request, but Hassans Make inferences about the narrator and his feelings from Hassans point of view. Keep in mind what you
response is honest and sincere. toward Hassan based on his description of Hassan. know about Hassan and his relationship with Amir.
When he tells Hassan, Dont 2. Determine who is more honest, Amir or Hassan. 2. For a magazine feature on customs and tradi-
How do you know? tions, write a narrative paragraph describing your
be stupid, Hassan. You know I
3. Quote what the narrator says at the end of the participation in a tradition or custom shared by your
wouldnt, he notes that his smile selection about people who say what they mean. family, culture, or religion. In your narrative, talk
is forced, and implies that his Write a continuation of the story that shows how about how the tradition is practiced and what your
words are untrue. Hassan, however, this assumption might be a problem for Hassan in feeling is toward sharing in the tradition.
believes him. Amir says of Hassan, the future. W
thats the thing about people who W Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more.
mean everything they say. They
think everyone else does too.
3. Responses will vary. Students TEXT TO
TEXT CONNECTION
should share their story continua-
According to Hower, what is The Kite Runner really about?
tions with the class. How does the excerpt from The Kite Runner youve just read
reflect this idea?
Does the review make you want to read more of the novel?
Rubrics for Writing Why?
Options
For writing rubrics and student
models of the Writing Options
assignments, go to
www.mirrorsandwindows.com. 156 UNIT 1 FICTION
TEACHING NOTE
Word Parts
Text TO
Text Connection
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.156 156 Encourage students to use familiar word parts to 11/19/07 12:25:11 PM 0130-0203_Lit3eG
Responses will vary. According to Edward unlock the meanings of unfamiliar words, which
Hower, Khaled Hosseinis The Kite Runner might include privileged, monarchy, preoccupied,
is really about the struggle of the Afghan and brutalized. Remind students that they dont
people to triumph over the forces of always need to know the precise meaning of
violence. It is also about the different every word to understand a selection.
nuances and unpredictable trajectory of
friendship.
156 UNIT 1 FICTION

INDEPENDENT READING
At a Glance
Independent Reading
Reading Level: Easy
Difficulty Consideration: Dialect
Ease Factors: Dialogue; reader
empathy
Objectives
students to
In fact, Neffie never really unfamiliar vocabulary words.
knew that she talked different A Short Story by
from most other people. Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel
Launch the Lesson
Have students discuss the topic of
what the ways people speak tells us
about them, and also how people are
Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel (19182007) was born
in Oklahoma. Like many people from Oklahoma, Texas,
Arkansas, and other Great Plains states, McDaniel moved
W ho knows how
Neffie Pikes speech
pattern was formed? Her
judged by the way they speak. Do
judgments based on the way a person
speaks tend to be fair, or do they tend
to California to escape the Dust Bowl in 1936. McDaniel
writes poetry, fiction, and drama. McDaniel said of her Ozark1 family had talked to be biased?
experience during the Dust Bowl, You had to have the same way for genera-
magic and art to survive those Dust Bowl days. We tions. They added an r to
need our art to get through the toughest times. W
many words that did not The Mirrors
McDaniel draws upon her life in Oklahoma and her knowledge of not quite IRRORS
W INDOWS
contain that letter. In spite & Windows
fitting in to a new place in Who Said We All Have to Talk Alike. In
of this, or because of it, questions
the story, the Okie accent of Neffie, the protagonist, causes problems for
her when she moves to California for a job. As you read, notice how Neffie their speech was clear and aatt tthe
he end of this selection ask
speaks in dialect, or a version of a language spoken by the people of a colorful and to the point. sstudents
tudeents to ddiscuss the divisive-
particular time, place, or social group. Also notice how McDaniel re-spells Most people understood ness of speech patterns. To intro-
words to show nonstandard pronunciations. If you have trouble figuring out what they were talking
the meaning of a word that is re-spelled, try saying it aloud. duce this idea to students, ask
about, exactly. them if they think they have an
Describe a situation when you felt out of place. What did you do to deal Neffie was her parents accent. Do they think that their
with the situation?
daughter. She called a own particular regional accent is
better or more interesting than
1. Ozark. Mountainous area between the Arkansas and Missouri other accents in English?
Rivers that lies in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas
/19/07 12:25:11 PM
Program Resources
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.157 157 11/19/07 12:25:15 PM

E-Lesson Planner
ExamView
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows

A widder worman is a free worman, especially if she dont have no
Teach the Selection
children. She ought to be free to come and go like she pleases.
Summary
Widowed at fifty-one, Neffie Pike toilet, torelet, and a woman, worman, very nobody could foretell the Lord would call him
decides to leave her native Arkansas comfortably. The teacher at the country school so young.
and start a new life by seeking a never attempted to change Neffies manner Neffie looked stonily at her and said with
job as a nanny in California. As she of speaking. She said that Neffie had a fine her usual clarity, A widder worman is a free
bids Grandma Meade farewell, she imagination and should never allow anyone to worman, especially if she dont have no chil-
promises to write a letter with news. squelch it. In fact, Neffie never really knew that dren. She ought to be free to come and go like
Soon afterward, however, Neffie she talked different from most other people. she pleases. After all, I am only fifty-one years
returns home. Her employer, a young People in the tiny community of Snowball old. I can do as much work as I ever did. This
woman named Beryl with two small really loved Neffie. She was a good neighbor, job is taking care of two little girls while their
daughters, has fired Neffie because unfailingly cheerful and helpful. The appear- mother works at some high paying job. She
she believes the nanny, with her A
ance of her tall and bony figure at the door of has already sent me a bus ticket. I would be a
Ozarks dialect, will set her children a sickroom or a bereaved family meant comfort fool not to go. Everyone has been to California
a bad example. Neffie concludes the and succor. A great woman, everyone in except me. I always hankered to see the state
amusing tale of her experiences with Snowball agreed. for myself. Now is my chance to see some of
the rhetorical question posed in the She would have probably lived her life the rest of the world. It may sound foolish, but
storys title. out in the same lumber house if her husband it will sort of be like having a dorter of my own
had not died. In the months that followed his and grandchildren. I aim to write you a long
Analyze Literature death she developed a restless feeling. Home letter when I get settled down out there.
Dialect A dialect is a version of a chores, church and charity work did not seem Neffie left for California on schedule. After
language spoken by the people of a to be enough to occupy her mind. She started two weeks Grandma Meade began to worry
particular place, time period, or social to read big town newspapers at the library a bit. She said, I thought that Neffie surely
group. Have students read the para- in nearby Marshall, something new for her. would have dropped us a line by now. The last
graph beginning with Neffie looked She became especially interested in the out of thing she told me was that she would write me
stonily at her and said Then ask stu- state employment want ads. She mentioned a long letter. Well, maybe she hasnt got settled
dents to point out at least two distinct to neighbors, They are a lot of good jobs out down yet.
features of Neffies dialect. A there in the world. A month passed without any word from
Answer: Dialect features include the One day she came home from Marshall and Neffie.
pronunciation of widder and dorter, stopped at old Grandma Meades house. She sat Bug Harrison was at Grandma Meades
the use of dont for doesnt, the dou- down in a canebottom chair and announced, house when Neffie returned the day after
ble negative in no children, and the I have got me a job in California. I am selling Snowballs big Fourth of July celebration.
use of like for as. my house and lot to a couple of retired people Neffie put her suitcases down and began
from Little Rock. They will be moving in the at the beginning. Grandma, you was so
Analyze Literature first of June. right about so many things. I knowed I was
Point of View and Narrator The Grandma Meade sat in shocked silence in trouble hock-deep, only one minute after
vantage point from which a story is for several seconds, then said, Honey, I I stepped off that bus in California. A purty
told is point of view. A narrator is do not believe it. I mean that I never in the young worman come forward to meet me and
one who tells a story. Ask students to world imagined that you would consider said she was Beryl. I busted out and told her,
discuss the point of view and narrator leaving Snowball. You and Lollis was so happy My, you are a purty worman, even purtier
in this story. How does the point of together here. Her voice trailed off, Of course than your pitcher. She kinda shrunk back and
view shift on this page? looked at me like I had used a cussword. She
158 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.158 158 KEY TERMS 11/19/07 12:25:22 PM 0130-0203_Lit3eG
PROTAGONIST, 157
DIALECT, 157
bereaved, 158 nonstandard, 157
foundered, 160 termination, 163
snide, 160 grievances, 163
flintrock, 161
eradicated, 161
158 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
Analyze Literature
Conflict A struggle between two
forces in a literary work is a conflict.
A plot introduces a conflict, develops
it, and eventually resolves it. What
conflict begins to be established at
this point in the story?
Answer: Beryl disapproves of Neffies
speech patterns and colloquialisms
(coll-oke-isms).

Make Inferences Ask students
to reread Neffies account of her
conversation with Beryl. What makes
Beryl so upset? What can they infer
about the character of Beryl from this
exchange?
stood there holding her little girls hands and her a few months service, if I could stand the Answers: Beryl is upset because she
asked me, where on earth did you hear a word punishment at all. thinks that Neffies strong Ozark
like worman, was it a female worm of some On our way to Beryls house, she stopped accent and her use of colloquialisms
kind? She said, Worman is woe-man, like you at a drive-in restaurant and ordered cheese- will negatively influence her chil-
say woh to a horse. burgers and milkshakes for all of us. I decided dren. Beryl seems to be a proper and
Her remark nearly knocked me off my to just eat and listen. uptight woman without much of a
feet. I felt like a fool, and I didnt even know It was sure a pleasurable drive on to sense of humor. She also appears to
why. My stomach started churning. I durst not Beryls home. We followed the same county be less than tactful, given her sharp
say anything to defend myself, because I hadnt highway for the entire seven miles. The road tone to a woman she just met.
done anything wrong. was lined on both sides with pams, tall with
We started walking to Beryls station them fronds waving in the breeze. It reminded Homework Suggestions
wagon in the parking lot. I told her that I never me of pitchers I have seen of The Holy Land, 1. Have students read the story as
was blessed with a dorter or son, either. That really touched my heart. I forgot myself again homework.
set her off again. She said that her children and said that I never had seen pams before 2. Ask each student to come to class
were at a very impressionable age, that I would except in pitchers. Quick as a flash Beryl told prepared to state what they think
have to watch my speech and learn the correct me, They are pall-ms, not pams. There is an I the main theme, or message, of the
pronunciation of words. She did not want in the word. After that, I sure buttoned up my story is, and whether they agree
them picking up incorrect speech patterns and mouth. I just said yes or no to anything she with this point.
something she called coll-oke-ism,2 something asked me. 3. Assign one of the writing prompts
I had, and didnt even realize. I decided to shut Her house turned out to be a real nice in the Writing Options section on
up and get in the car. The worman had already place, bright and modern with every type of page 166.
paid for my fare. I felt that I had to at least give 4. Assign students to read the
2. coll-oke-ism. Colloquialism, or informal speech
Informational Text Connection,
Employment Contract for a
WHO SAID WE ALL HAVE TO TALK ALIKE 159 Nanny, on page 163.
/19/07 12:25:22 PM
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.159 159 11/19/07 12:25:27 PM
Reading Proficiency the Lord would call himhe would die, 158
Because so much of the humor in this story hankeredwanted, 158
depends on dialect, urge students to read their aim towill, 158
favorite passages aloud. hock-deepup to the knees, 158
Explain that colloquialisms are informal rather
than formal speech. Choose some colloquial-
isms from the story to discuss with students.
HoneyMy dear, 158

popovers, french toast, corn dodgers, fried
mush. You name it, worman, I cooked it for
Teach the Selection those dolls. It wouldnt be no big deal for the
kids here in Snowball, they was raised to eat
Analyze Literature like that, but it was hog heaven to Pat
Characterization The act of creat- and Penny.
ing or describing a character is char- Grandma Meade had been
acterization. Writers create char- listening intently, her eyes pinned
acters using three major techniques: on Neffies face. Now she asked, How
showing what characters say, do, or did Beryl like your cooking?
think; showing what other characters Neffie laughed heartily. She
say or think about them; and describ- said, To put it plain, she LOVED
ing what physical features, dress, and it. I can say that she never found
personalities the characters display. any flaw in my cooking, only made one
Direct students to Neffies account complaint connected with it. I boirled her a
of events on this page. Discuss what fine big cabbage and hamhock dinner and
students learn about Neffies charac- made cornbread for our supper one evening.
ter from the way she describes Beryl electrical gadget you could When we started to sit down at the table, I
and the two girls, as well as from the think of. There were four said that is was a nice change to have a boirled
way she handles herself while she is bedrooms, each with a bath. I was so tired and dinner now and then. That set her off like
in California. upset over Beryls attitude that I begged off a firecracker. She said, That is boil-ed, not
sitting up to visit with her and the little girls. I boirled. I decided to let that snide remark pass.
Analyze Literature ran me a full tub of warm water and took me I saw she started dishing up the food she lit
Dialogue A conversation between a long soaking bath. I fell into bed and went in on it like a starving hounddog. That showed
one or more characters in a story is sound asleep. Worman, I plumb died away, what she thought of my cooking, didnt it?
called dialogue. Ask students to slept all night without waking up. To show My cooking sure helped me get through them
notice that Neffie does most of the you how hard I slept, there was a fairly severe weeks as good as I did.
talking in this story. What other char- earthquake in the central part of California Bug Harrison broke in, What were your
acters have dialogue that breaks into where Beryl lived. It even shook a few things duties during the day?
her narrative? What purpose do their off a living room shelf. I tell you, I wouldnt Neffie said, I was hired to take care of the
interruptions serve? Do students find have heard Gabriel blow his horn that night. two little girls. That is what I done. I cooked
this technique effective? I woke up feeling relieved that it was because people have to eat. I always have,
Answers: Grandma Meade and Bug Monday. Beryl left for work promptly at seven- always will. That didnt put no extra strain
Harrison, the listeners to Neffies story, thirty. That meant the girls and I had the house on me. The girls and I played the most of the
break in to ask questions. Their inter- to ourselves. Worman, I am a telling you, they day. They would sit on each arm of my chair
ruptions serve to prompt Neffie and was two living dolls, Pat and Penny. I made and listen to me tell them about my life back
spur her story onward. Some students them bran muffins for breakfast and scrambled in Arkansas. I didnt hold back nothing. I told
may say that the interruptions are some eggs. They ate until they nearly foun- them about haunted houses, ghosts, robbers,
effective, as they remind readers of dered. It seemed like they had never seen a bank holdups, tornadoes, snakes, tarantulas,
who Neffie is speaking to; others may times when the river flooded and we had to
bran muffin before, asked me if I would cook
find these interruptions distracting
them the same thing each day. float on a rooftop to save our lives. Lordy,
and artificial, a sort of obvious narra-
I told them I knew how to cook other worman, they just ate it up. They would listen
tive device.
good old homely dishes, too. Every day, I tried to me with their eyes as big as saucers. I dont
something new on them, biscuits and sausage quite know why I done it, but I asked the girls
and milk gravy, buttermilk pancakes, waffles, not to tell their mother about my stories. They
160 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Kinesthetic Encourage students to act out

Auditory and Visual You may wish to play the scene of Neffie and Beryls first meeting.
for students a selected scene from the movie Challenge them to reproduce Neffies accent
Sling Blade (1996), starring Billy Bob Thornton. without laughing!
The Ozark dialect used in this film is the same
as that used in McDaniels story. Preview the
material carefully, as the film contains some
explicit language and violence.
160 UNIT 1 FICTION

I figured I was in bad trouble, but I kept on dropping the noodles
Teach the Selection
into the broth. I was a hundred percent right about the trouble.
Analyze Literature
were as secretive as little private detectives until She drawed in her breath and said, Neffie, Tone The emotional attitude toward
a week ago. They got so excited over one of you are as good and kind and honest as you the reader or toward the subject
my stories that they forgot theirselves. I was can be, exceptional, but your speech is totally implied by a literary work is tone.
busy in the kitchen putting some homemade unacceptable. My children are at a very impres- Examples of the different tones that a
noodles into a pot of chicken broth. I heard Pat sionable age. I have tried to overlook it, but work may have include familiar, ironic,
tell her mother, Mom, back in Arkansas where they are definitely being influenced in the playful, sarcastic, serious, and sincere.
Neffie used to live, they are wormans that can wrong direction. They say dorter and orter Ask students to describe Neffies tone
tell fortunes for people. They can look right with regularity. The pattern must be eradicated as she talks about her experiences.
through your face and tell if you are telling immediately. I shall be happy to pay your
the truth or a lie. They can rub your warts traveling expenses home. You can look on this Use Reading Skills
with skunk oirl and say some words and all trip out West as my vacation gift to you. I Summarize Ask students to read
the warts will fall off, never ever come back. could see that her mind was made up and she over the last few pages and sum-
I figured I was in bad trouble, but I kept on wasnt going to change it. marize what happened to result in
dropping the noodles into the broth. I was a I did think to ask her if she had some Neffies losing her job.
hundred percent right about the trouble. other baby-sitter in mind. I didnt want to run
Beryl blowed her stack. She marched right out and leave her in a bind without one. She Critical Thinking
back to the kitchen with the girls at her heels. said there was a young girl from the college Discussion Guide Ask students
She stood in the door whether they think Beryl was right to
and said, I have been fire Neffie, or not. Students may divide
afraid of this very thing. into two groupsthose who defend
Neffie, I just cant keep Beryl and those who take Neffies
you on any longer. sideand debate the question.
At that point Pat
and Penny throwed
themselves down on
the floor and started
bawling like two young
calves. Pat sobbed out
real angry-like, Yes, you
CAN keep Neffie! She
is the best storyteller in
the whole world and the
best cooker. If she goes
home to Arkansas, we
wont never have no more biscuits and sausage who wanted day work, so she could attend
and gravy. The tears began to run down her night classes. She thought that would work out
little face. great. I got her point. The college girl would be
Beryl stood there with her face like a different from me, more to suit Beryl.
flintrock. It looked like she wanted to be nice Well, to shorten my story, she bought me
to me, but that her duty come first with her. a big box of real expensive chocolates and put
/19/07 12:25:32 PM
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.161 161 11/19/07 12:25:37 PM
Geography geography of Arkansas and its flora and fauna.

Ask students to explain why Neffie is so Answers: Neffie comes from the Ozark
impressed by the palm trees she sees in Mountains, where it is too cold for palm trees
California. What do they remind her of? Why to thrive. She has never seen palm trees before,
dont palm trees grow where she is from? and they remind her of pictures she has seen of
Encourage students to learn more about the the Holy Land, possibly from her Bible.

eat a chocolate and think
over my experience with
Teach the Selection Beryl. Things kind of
cleared up in my mind,
Analyze Literature like having blinders taken
Theme The underlying message or off of my eyes. I saw I
main idea of a story is its theme. had really been ignorant
Discuss with students possible themes of some things that other
for this entertaining story. folks knowed. I didnt
Answer: Possible themes include the talk right to suit some
idea that difference is goodall peo- of them, but that wasnt
ple do not have to talk alike; people my fault. I didnt know we
who judge others by the way they was all supposed to talk
speak may be biased and unfair. the same way. I thought
people hadnt all talked
W the same since before God
Students tore down their tower
IRRORS
W INDOWS may
discuss
at Babel and confused
all their tongues.3 Folks
w hether they judge others based
whether all over the world have
oonn sp
peech pa
speech patterns. Speech pat- talked different ever
terns, like differences in skin since then. I guess some
color, manner of dress, and of them like Beryl want
likes and dislikes make a person to go back to pre-Babel
unique, but by the same token, days. Anyway, it was sure
they expose that person to ridi- an eye-opener to me, hurt
cule by others who look down me, too. Beryl just plain
on these differences. separated herself from
me. It was like she took
a sharp knife and cut a
me on the bus with my paid ticket, just like melon in half, and throwed away the half
she had promised. She and the girls stood there that was me. You know what you do with a
beside the bus waiting for it to pull out. Penny piece of melon you dont want. You throw it
looked up at me and blew me a kiss. I heard with the rinds into the garbage can. Worman,
her say as plain as plain could be, Neffie, you who said that we all have to talk alike? Can
are a sweet worman. Then I saw Beryl put her anyone tell me that?
hand over Pennys mouth. Right then, the bus
pulled out of the depot and I lost sight of them.
3. tower at Babeltongues. Reference to a biblical story in
Worman, I done a lot of thinking as which God makes people speak in different languages to cause con-
that bus rolled along the highway. I would fusion
&
W How divisive do you think things like speech patterns really are? What other differ-
IRRORS
W INDOWS
ences can be divisive? Have you ever judged somebody or been judged yourself
because of a trait like a speech pattern? How did you react?
162 UNIT 1 FICTION
Assessment Project
Ask students to write a paragraph discussing ways in which Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel uses humor
in the story. Remind students to cite specific details from the story in their paragraphs, Assign points
for the Assessment Project according to the following scale.
3 Student includes discussion of three examples of humor in the story.
2 Student includes discussion of two examples of humor in the story.
1 Student includes discussion of only one example of humor.
162 UNIT 1 FICTION

At a Glance
Reading Level: Easy
Difficulty Consideration: Legal lan-
guage
Ease Factor: Organization
Informational Text
Connection Summary
Contracts are legal documents that describe an agreement between two parties. Both parties This selection is an example of a
sign the contract and agree to abide by its rules. An employment contract outlines the terms contract between an employer and
of employment, the salary, time off, rules of termination, and the process for grievances. Think employee; the employee is the nanny,
about what benefits a contract might have for both an employer and an employee. As you and the employers are the people who
read the contract, consider how a similar contract would have affected Neffie in Who Said We
All Have to Talk Alike. are hiring the nanny. The selection is
divided into sections that detail the
terms of the nannys employment.
EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT FOR A NANNY TEACHING NOTE

BETWEEN Evaluate Employee Documents
Explain that an employment contract is an impor-
1. Ronald and Philipa MacKubin (the Employer) tant workplace document because its purpose is
2. Sophie Arnout (the Nanny) to protect the employer and the employee.
Reading an employment contract can be chal-
It is agreed that the Employer will employ the Nanny on the following terms and conditions: lenging, as the language is often formal and the
text is not very interesting. Offer students these
1. Terms of Employment suggestions to help them as they read:
1.a. The Nanny is employed to work at the Employers home at 1265 Fern Glen Drive, 1. Read with a purpose. Decide what you
Abbisdale, PA, or any other locations that the Employer may require within reason. want to find out before you begin reading.
2. Use section headings to find informa-
1.b. The Nanny will start employment on June 15, 2008, and finish employment at a future tion. Once you know your purpose, scan the
time to be determined by both parties. headings to see if they give clues about the
information covered.
1.c. The Nannys duties shall be: 3. Skim for information. Once you
A. Caring for these children: locate the appropriate heading, skim
Name: Hugh MacKubin Age: 7 the text under it to find the informa-
Name: Linda MacKubin Age: 4 tion you are looking for.
Name: Jackson MacKubin Age: 2
B. Babysitting at times agreed in advance
C. Other duties as specified here: Preparing breakfast and lunch for the children, bathing
the children, tidying the childrens rooms.
EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT FOR A NANNY 163
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0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.163 163 11/19/07 12:25:45 PM
English Language Learning probationtime of testing under supervision,

Provide students with definitions of the follow- 166
ing words:
Reading Proficiency
salarymoney paid regularly for work or ser-
Encourage students to skim through the
vices, 164
document once, looking only at the section
pensionsum of money paid to a person fol-
headings to learn what information they will
lowing retirement from work, 164
encounter in the text. Then, they should take
terminationending, 165
notes in their notebooks, summarizing the infor-
grievancecomplaint, 165
mation in each area.
punctualityact of being on time, 165

Teach the Selection
1.d. The Nanny shall normally work the following: MondaySaturday.
1.e. The Employer and the Nanny shall agree in advance upon the hours to be worked, but
TEACHING NOTE
the usual hours shall fall between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm. The Nanny is entitled to a break of
Contracts A one half-hour to be taken at an appropriate time when the safety and security of the children
An employment contract is a legal document. are guaranteed.
This means that if one of the parties involved
breaks the contract in some way, and the issue 1.f. The Nanny is entitled to a rest period of no less than 12 hours between the end of
is taken to court, the contract will show who working hours on one day and the start of working hours on the next.
is at fault. Contracts are drawn up in many
employment situations; they can be used any- 1.g. The Nanny shall not engage in any work from a third party, whether paid or unpaid,
time a person is paid to perform a service. For during the working hours set by the Employer. The Nannys full attention shall be devoted to
example, people who are hired to put a the care and attendance of the children in the Nannys charge.
roof on a house, take photographs of a
wedding, or write a book will often sign 2. Salary
contracts with the person hiring them. 2.a. The Nannys salary shall be $800 per week. The salary shall be reviewed once a year after
three months of employment. A raise in salary is at the discretion of the Employer.
Use Reading Skills 2.b. The Nanny shall be paid bi-weekly either by check or direct deposit. The Employer shall
Text Organization Direct students give the Nanny a pay stub with each payment that details gross pay, deductions, and net pay.
to sections 1.d through 1.f, and dis-
cuss the following questions: Why are 2.c. The Nanny shall receive the following benefits:
the nannys working hours included
in the contract? What problems could A. Accommodation: The Employer shall provide a private room with a single bed and
arise if such information were not private bath.
included? A B. Meals: The Employer shall provide appropriate ingredients for the Nannys breakfasts
and lunches, though the Nanny is responsible for preparing those meals for herself. The
Employer will also provide dinner.
C. Transportation: The Employer shall provide the use of a car during the hours of
employment if given two days advance notice.
D. Pension: The Employer does not provide a pension or other retirement benefits.
E. Health Insurance: The Employer does not provide private health insurance.
2.d. The Nanny shall be reimbursed by the Employer for all reasonable expenses incurred for
the purpose of performing her duties. These expenses should be cleared with the Employer in
advance when possible. All requests for reimbursements should be accompanied by a receipt
or other form of documentation of the expenditure.
2.e. The Employer shall be responsible for reporting to the Internal Revenue Service for
income tax and Social Security taxes.
164 UNIT 1 FICTION
English Language Learning income tax is taken out, 164

Provide students with the following additional deductionsthe amount of a persons salary
vocabulary to help them as they read the sec- that is taken away for income taxes or given
tion on salary. You may wish to provide a fake to other funds, 164
pay stub to show as a visual example. net paythe total amount actually paid out
at the discretion ofto be decided by, 164 to a person as income (after the taxes and
pay stuba piece of paper given along with a other deductions), 164
persons income check, noting the amount reimbursedpaid back, 164
paid and other information, 164 expensescosts, 164
gross paythe pay owed a person before expenditureamount of money spent, 164
164 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
3. Time Off
3.a. In each year, the Nanny is entitled to 10 vacation days with pay. Vacation days must be Critical Thinking
cleared with the Employer at least two weeks in advance of the first proposed day of vacation. Discussion Guide Ask students
If the proposed time off is not convenient to the Employer, an alternative time must be to discuss the terms for the nanny,
decided upon. including salary, benefits, hours,
and time off. Does the salary seem
3.b. The Nanny is entitled to time off with pay for these holidays: Memorial Day, adequate? Are the hours, benefits,
Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the following day, Christmas Eve, Christmas and time off standard for workers in
Day, and New Years Day. their area, based on what they know?
English language learners may offer
3.c. At the termination of her employment, the Nanny will be paid any vacation days accrued another perspective on this subject, as
but not taken. terms and working hours may be dif-
ferent in their home countries.
3.d. If the Nanny is unable to work due to sickness or injury, she shall promptly notify the
Employer before the start of her working hours. For any absences due to illness or injury
More About the
lasting more than three days, the Nanny is required to provide the Employer with evidence of
her sickness, such as a note of explanation from a doctor. Connection
Suggest that students read the
3.e. The Nanny is entitled to receive full pay for up to five days of sick leave. best-selling book The Nanny Diaries
by Emma MacLaughlin and Nicola
4. Termination
Kraus for a humorous story about
nannying to the rich and privileged.
4.a. If either party wishes to terminate this contract within the first month of employment, one
The book was made into a movie
weeks notice must be given. Thereafter, three weeks notice shall be required.
starring Scarlett Johansson.
4.b. The Nannys employment may be terminated by the Employer at any time for the
following:
A. serious misconduct that either violates this contract or in any way threatens the safety
or well-being of the children or property of the Employer, including drunkenness and
drug-taking
B. criminal offenses involving stealing, fraud, violence, or abuse
5. Grievances
5.a. The Employer shall issue a warning to the Nanny about the following:
A. job incompetence
B. inappropriate dress or appearance
C. unreliability in attendance and punctuality
D. failure to follow instructions given by the Employer
TEACHING NOTE
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0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.165 165 11/19/07 12:25:52 PM
Ask interested students to research nanny jobs

on the Internet to learn about the jobs avail-
able. Where are the most jobs available? What
pay is offered? What experience do potential
employers require? Students should report their
findings to the class.

5.b. If a second warning is required, the Nanny is considered on probation until it is proven
Refer and Reason that the unsatisfactory behavior has been corrected. A third incidence of the same behavior
1. Neffie traveled to California to take may lead to a deduction in pay or termination of employment as the Employer deems
a job as a nanny. She left Snowball appropriate. The Employer shall keep written record of all warnings issued.
because her husband died and she
wanted to start over. She seemed 5.c. If the Nanny has any reasonable grievances relating to her employment, the matter can
confident her decision was the be raised with the Employer in a casual manner, if the Nanny deems it appropriate. For more
right one. serious grievances, the Nanny should provide a written statement to the Employer. At that
2. Neffie is a good cook and story- point, the Employer will call a meeting with the Nanny to discuss the grievance and rectify the
teller. She is patient and kind. situation to the satisfaction of both parties.
Her nonstandard speech patterns
are most important to Beryl. This
aspect of Neffies character mat-
ter because Beryl thinks there is SIGNED by the Employer
only one proper way for people to DATED
speakher way. Her decision to
fire Neffie indicates that Neffies SIGNED by the Nanny
good cooking, honesty, and DATED
imaginative storytelling ability
all important qualities for a nanny
who watches young childrenare
not that important to Beryl.
3. Responses will vary. Beryl would
probably find life in Snowball to Refer and Reason Writing Options
1. Recall why Neffie traveled to California. Analyze her 1. Write a postcard from Neffie to Pat and Penny
be very unconventional. She might reasons for leaving Snowball. How do you think she telling them about her life now that she is back in
think its backward. felt about leaving? Snowball. Make sure the message on the postcard
2. List some of Neffies characteristics. Assess which of reflects Neffies character and speech.
Neffies characteristics was most important to Beryl. 2. Write a contract that Beryl could have her next
Rubrics for Writing Why do you think this mattered to her so much? nanny sign. Use the employment contract you just
Options What does her decision to fire Neffie tell you about read as a guide. Add or adjust clauses to reflect
For writing rubrics and student Beryls character? some of Beryls concerns.
3. Identify some of the differences between life in
Snowball and life at Beryls. If Beryl went to live
assignments, go to with Neffie for a month, what challenges would she
www.mirrorsandwindows.com. face?
TO
Review the Termination section of the contract. If
this contract were in place, would Beryl have had
just cause to fire Neffie? Explain.
166 UNIT 1 FICTION
Text TO
Text Connection
Beryl would probably not have had just cause to

fire Neffie, since there is no mention of giving
notice and Neffies behavior did not involve neg-
ligence or gross misconduct.
166 UNIT 1 FICTION

INDEPENDENT READING
At a Glance
Independent Reading
Difficulty Considerations: Cultural
references; length; vocabulary
Ease Factor: Style
Objectives
students to
Chee sat upright, a terrible fear address critical thinking questions.
possessing him. For a moment standing of the text.
his mouth could make no
A Short Story by Launch the Lesson
sound. Then: The Little One! Share with students photos of Navajo
Mother, where is she? Juanita Platero and villages and people both from the
1930s (when this story was written)
Siyowin Miller and today. Ask them to share what
they know about Navajo people.
Dine Country, 1996. Nelson Tsosie. Nelson Tsosie Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Chees Daughter is the story of a traditional Navajo farmer, Chee, T he hat told the
story, the big, black,
W
IRRORS The Mirrors
W INDOWS
whose ways come into conflict with modern society and materialistic & Windows
drooping Stetson. It was
values. After Chees wife dies, his daughter is taken by his in-laws to live questions
with them, according to a Navajo custom that maintains that a girl child not at the proper angle, the
proper rakish angle for so tthat
hat ffollow
ollow th
the selection ask
belongs with her mothers relatives. Chee struggles to maintain his belief
in the promise of the land as he fights to get his daughter back. young a Navajo. There was sstudents
tudeents to ddiscuss whether
no song, and that was not actions speak louder than
Juanita Platero, a Navajo writer, lived at one time on a reservation in words when dealing with a
New Mexico, the setting for Chees Daughter. She began working in in keeping either. There
should have been at least problem or conflict. Prepare
collaboration with Siyowin Miller in 1929. Most of the stories the two
a humming, a faint, all-to- students to discuss these ques-
wrote together share the theme of the conflict in values between the
old Navajo ways and the new ways of industrial society. As you read, himself he he he heya, for tions by asking them an opening
consider why the setting is important to the story. it was a good horse he was question: How do you react to
riding, a slender-legged, conflicts with other people? Do
Have you ever lost something you valued? What were you willing to do you deal with them by words
to get it back? high-stepping buckskin
talking or shouting your way
that would race the wind
through the problemor do you
CHEES DAUGHTER 167 remain silent and come up with
a plan?
/19/07 12:25:53 PM
Program Resources
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.167 167 11/19/07 12:25:56 PM

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CHEES DAUGHTER 167

CHEES LONG THIN LIPS CURVED INTO A SMILE AS HE
PASSED HIS DAUGHTERS TINY HOGAN SQUATTED LIKE A
Teach the Selection
ROUND PUEBLO OVEN BESIDE THE CORRAL.
Summary
As the story opens, a young Navajo with light knee-urging. This was a day for Chee urged the buckskin toward the family
farmer named Chee returns home to singing, a warm winter day, when the touch of compound where, secure in a recess of over-
announce to his family that his wife the sun upon the back belied the snow high on hanging rock, was his mothers dome-shaped
has succumbed to the coughing ill- distant mountains. hogan,2 red rock and red adobe like the ground
ness, or tuberculosis. In conformity Wind warmed by the sun touched his high- on which it nestled. Not far from the hogan
with Navajo tradition, Chees daugh- boned cheeks like flicker1 feathers, and still he was the half-circle of brush like a dark shadow
ter, called the Little One, must now rode on silently, deeper into Little Canyon, until against the canyon wallcorral for sheep and
be raised by the young mans in-laws. the red rock walls rose straight upward from the goats. Farther from the hogan, in full circle,
Although he is torn by doubts about stream bed and only a narrow piece of blue sky stood the horse corral made of heavy cedar
the traditional ways and angry at hung above. Abruptly the sky widened where branches sternly interlocked. Chees long thin
the hostility and materialism of his the canyon walls were pushed back to make a lips curved into a smile as he passed his daugh-
in-laws, Chee works hard to use the A
wide place, as though in ancient times an angry ters tiny hogan squatted like a round Pueblo
promise of the land and eventually stream had tried to go all ways at once. oven beside the corral. He remembered the
succeeds in getting his daughter back. This was homethis wide place in the summer day when together they sat back on
canyonlevels of jagged rock and levels of rich their heels and plastered wet adobe all about
Analyze Literature red earth. This was home to Chee, the rider of the circling wall of rock and the woven dome
Foreshadowing The act of present- the buckskin, as it had been to many genera- of pion3 twigs. How his family laughed when
ing hints to events that will occur tions before him. the Little One herded the bewildered chickens
later in a story is foreshadowing. He stopped his horse at the stream and sat into her tiny hogan as the first snow fell.
Have students read the first para- looking across the narrow ribbon of water to Then the smile faded from Chees lips
graph of the story. What hints indi- the bare-branched peach trees. He was seeing and his eyes darkened as he tied his horse
cate that something is wrong? them each springtime with their age-gnarled to a corral post and turned to the strangely
limbs transfigured beneath veils of blossom empty compound. Someone has told them,
Use Reading Skills pink; he was seeing them in autumn laden he thought, and they are inside weeping. He
Authors Approach Direct students with their yellow fruit, small and sweet. Then passed his mothers deserted loom on the south
to the first two paragraphs on the his eyes searched out the indistinct furrows of side of the hogan and pulled the rude wooden
page. How do the authors use the set- the fields beside the stream, where each year door toward him, bowing his head, hunching
ting to create mood, or atmosphere? the corn and beans and squash drank thirstily his shoulders to get inside.
A of the overflow from summer rains. Chee was His mother sat sideways by the center
trying to outweigh todays bitter betrayal of hope fire, her feet drawn up under her full skirts.
by gathering to himself these reminders of the Her hands were busy kneading dough in the
integrity of the land. Land did not cheat! His chipped white basin. With her head down, her
mind lingered deliberately on all the days spent voice was muffled when she said, The meal
here in the sun caring for the young plants, his will soon be ready, Son.
songs to the earth and to the life springing from Chee passed his father sitting against the
it In the middle of the wide field...Yellow wall, hat over his eyes as though asleep. He
Corn BoyHe has started both ways then
the harvest and repayment in full measure. Here 1. flicker. Woodpecker
2. hogan. Traditional cone-shaped Navajo house made of logs or
was the old feeling of wholeness and of oneness strips of wood and covered with mud
with the sun and earth and growing things. 3. pion. Small pine tree native to the Southwest
168 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use

rakish, 167 materialistic, 167
gnarled, 168 collaboration, 167
psuedo, 170 industrial, 167
garish, 170 nostalgia, 178
truant, 171 keen, 178
indolence, 171 manipulative, 179
belligerently, 171
acrid, 173
deference, 176
surmise, 176
168 UNIT 1 FICTION

passed his older sister, who sat turning mutton
ribs on a crude wire grill over the coals, noticed
tears dropping on her hands. She cared more Teach the Selection
for my wife than I realized, he thought.
Then because something must be said Homework Suggestions
sometime, he tossed the black Stetson upon 1. Have students read the story as
a bulging sack of wool and said, You have homework and answer the Refer
heard, then. He could not shut from his mind and Reason questions on page
how confidently he had set the handsome new 179.
hat on his head that very morning, slanting the 2. Ask students to write a synopsis of
wide brim over one eye: he was going to see the story.
his wife, and today he would ask the doctors 3. Assign one of the Writing Options
about bringing her home; last week she had on page 179.
looked so much better. 4. Direct students to read the poem
His sister nodded but did not speak. His Freeway 280 on page 178.
mother sniffled and passed her velveteen sleeve
beneath her nose. Chee sat down, leaning
against the wall. I suppose I was a fool for
hoping all the time. I should have expected TEACHING NOTE
this. Few of our people get well from the Tuberculosis
coughing sickness.4 But she seemed to be Tuberculosis, or TB, is one of the oldest diseases
getting better. of humans. During the first half of the twentieth
His mother was crying aloud now and century, TB was also called consumption or
blowing her nose noisily on her skirt. His white plague because it consumed and killed
father sat up, speaking gently to her. millions of people. Have students research the
Chee shifted his position and started a ciga- Chee blew smoke slowly, and some of the answers to the following questions about TB
rette. His mind turned back to the Little One. sadness left his dark eyes as he said, It is not and create a Frequently Asked Questions docu-
At least she was too small to understand what as bad as it might be. It is not as though we are ment about it:
had happened, the Little One who had been left with nothing. What is the cause of TB?
born three years before in the sanitarium5 where Chees sister arose, sobs catching in her How does it spread?
his wife was being treated for the coughing throat, and rushed past him out the doorway. What were the ways in which people fought
sickness, the Little One he had brought home Chee sat upright, a terrible fear possessing him. TB during the first half of the twentieth
to his mothers hogan to be nursed by his For a moment his mouth could make no sound. century?
sister, whose baby was a few months older. As Then: The Little One! Mother, where is she? How is the medical field fighting TB
she grew fat-cheeked and sturdy-legged, she His mother turned her stricken face to today?
followed him about like a shadow; somehow him. Your wifes people came after her this
her baby mind had grasped that of all those at morning. They heard yesterday of their daugh-
the hogan who cared for her and played with ters death through the trader at Red Sands.
her, heCheebelonged most to her. She Chee started to protest, but his mother
sat cross-legged at his elbow when he worked shook her head slowly. I didnt expect they
silver at the forge; she rode before him in the would want the Little One either. But there
saddle when he drove the horses to water;
often she lay wakeful on her sheep pelts until 4. coughing sickness. Tuberculosis, a disease that affects the
lungs
he stretched out for the night in the darkened 5. sanitarium. Institution where tuberculosis patients go to
hogan and she could snuggle warm against him. recover their health
CHEES DAUGHTER 169
CHEES DAUGHTER 169

BUT CHEE HAD ASKED INSTEAD FOR A PIECE OF LAND FOR A CORNFIELD
Teach the Selection AND HELP IN BUILDING A HOGAN FAR BACK FROM THE HIGHWAY AND
A CORRAL FOR THE SHEEP HE HAD BROUGHT TO THIS MARRIAGE.

Analyze Literature
Irony Irony is the difference is nothing you can do. She is a girl child and Several cars were parked around the
between appearance and realityin belongs to her mothers people; it is custom. trading store, which was built like two log
other words, what seems to be and Frowning, Chee got to his feet, grinding his hogans side by side, with red gas pumps in
what really is. What is ironic about cigarette into the dirt floor. Custom! When did front and a sign across the tar-paper roofs:
Chees in-laws wanting their grand- my wifes parents begin thinking about custom? Red Sands Trading PostGroceries Gasoline
daughter to live with them? Why does Why, the hogan where they live doesnt even Cold Drinks Sandwiches Indian Curios. Back
Chee suspect his in-laws have ulterior face the east!6 He started toward the door. of the trading post an unpainted frame house
motives? Perhaps I can overtake them. Perhaps they and outbuildings squatted on the drab, tree-
Answers: Chees in-laws scoff at the dont realize how much we want her here with less land. Chee and the Little Ones mother had
Navajo tradition of living off the land, us. Ill ask them to give my daughter back to lived there when they stayed with his wifes
yet they want to uphold the tradition me. Surely, they wont refuse. people. That was according to customliving
of raising their granddaughter. Chee His mother stopped him gently with her with ones wifes peoplebut Chee had never
thinks his in-laws want their grand- outstretched hand. You couldnt overtake been convinced that it was custom alone which
daughter as an attraction for tourists. them now. They were in the traders car. Eat prompted Old Man Fat and his wife to insist
and rest, and think more about this. that their daughter bring her husband to live at
Have you forgotten how things have always the trading post.
been between you and your wifes people? his Beside the post was a large hogan of logs,
father said. with brightly painted pseudo-Navajo designs
That night, Chees thoughts were on the roofa hogan with smoke-smudged
troubledhalf-forgotten incidents became windows and a garish blue door which faced
disturbingly vividbut early the next north to the highway. Old Man Fat had offered
morning he saddled the buckskin and set out Chee a hogan like this one. The trader would
for the settlement of Red Sands. Even though build it if he and his wife would live there and
his father-in-law, Old Man Fat, might laugh, Chee would work at his forge, making silver
Chee knew that he must talk to him. There jewelry where tourists could watch him. But
were some things to which Old Man Fat Chee had asked instead for a piece of land for a
might listen. cornfield and help in building a hogan far back
Chee rode the first part of the fifteen miles from the highway and a corral for the sheep he
to Red Sands expectantly. The sight of sandstone had brought to this marriage.
buttes near Cottonwood Spring reddening in the A cold wind blowing down from the
morning sun brought a song almost to his lips. mountains began to whistle about Chees ears.
He twirled his reins in salute to the small boy It flapped the gaudy Navajo rugs which were
herding sheep toward many-colored Butterfly hung in one long bright line to attract tour-
Mountain, watched with pleasure the feathers ists. It swayed the sign Navajo Weaver at Work
of smoke rising against tree-darkened western beside the loom where Old Man Fats wife sat
mesas from the hogans sheltered there. But as he hunched in her striped blanket, patting the
approached the familiar settlement sprawled in colored thread of a design into place with a
mushroom growth along the highway, he began
to feel as though a scene from a bad dream was 6. Why, the hoganface the east. According to Navajo cus-
becoming real. tom, the door of the hogan faces east.
170 UNIT 1 FICTION

Social Studies artsfrom the Mexicans metalworking to the

Traditional Navajo culture is matrilineal; a fam- Pueblo Indians weaving. The Navajo reside on
ily traces its ancestry back through the mothers reservations in northeastern Arizona, northwest-
line, and children belong to the mothers clan. ern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah.
Several generations of a family might live
Discuss with students the Navajo tradition of
together. Women have an important position in
grandparents raising their granddaughter after
Navajo society; the oldest woman in the family
their daughters death. How might this tradi-
enjoys a place at the center of family life. The
tion have originated? What are some advan-
largest Native American tribe in the United
tages and disadvantages of this tradition?
States, the Navajo have adopted peaceful
170 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
Use Reading Skills
Summarize Ask students to sum-
marize the differences between Chees
family and Old Man Fat and his wife.
Analyze Literature
Conflict A conflict is a struggle
between two forces in a literary work.
A plot introduces a conflict, develops
it, and eventually resolves it. Direct
students to the line Chees lips tight-
ened as he began to look around for
Old Man Fat. What are two conflicts
that may explain the tightening of
Chees lips here? A
Answer: He may feel estrangement
from the tourists; the sight of his
daughter also reminds him of the
upcoming interview with Old Man Fat.
wooden comb. Tourists stood watching the chatter, he watched Old Man Fat bearing down
weaver. More tourists stood in a knot before on them, scowling. Use Reading Strategies
the hogan where the sign said: See Inside a Real As his father-in-law walked heavily across Make Inferences Ask students
Navajo Home 25. the graveled lot, Chee was reminded of a state- through whose eyes the reader has
Then the knot seemed to unravel as a few ment his mother sometimes made: When seen the Little One up until now.
people returned to their cars; some had cameras; you see a fat Navajo, you see one who hasnt How does the tourist see her? Why do
and there against the blue door Chee saw the worked for what he has. Chees lips tighten when he overhears
Little One standing uncertainly. The wind was Old Man Fat was fattest in the middle. the tourist?
plucking at her new purple blouse and wide There was indolence in his walk even though Answers: The reader has seen the
green skirt; it freed truant strands of soft dark he seemed to hurry, indolence in his cheeks Little One through Chees adoring
hair from the meager queue7 into which it had so plump they made his eyes squint, eyes now eyes up until now. The tourist sees her
been tied with white yarn. smoldering with anger. as another Indian curio. Chees lips
Isnt she cunning! one of the women Some of the tourists were getting into may tighten because he doesnt like
tourists was saying as she turned away. their cars and driving away. The old man said seeing his culture being exploited for
Chees lips tightened as he began to look belligerently to Chee, Why do you come money and is offended that the tour-
A ist sees his daughter as an object and
around for Old Man Fat. Finally he saw him here? To spoil our business? To drive people
passing among the tourists collecting coins. away? not a person.
Then the Little One saw Chee. The uncer- I came to talk with you, Chee answered,
tainty left her face, and she darted through trying to keep his voice steady as he faced the
the crowd as her father swung down from his old man.
horse. Chee lifted her in his arms, hugging
her tight. While he listened to her breathless 7. queue. Braid
CHEES DAUGHTER 171
CHEES DAUGHTER 171

OLD MAN FAT WAS REACHING FOR THE LITTLE ONE.
DONT BE COMING HERE WITH PLANS FOR MY DAUGHTERS
Teach the Selection
DAUGHTER, HE WARNED. IF YOU TRY TO MAKE TROUBLE, ILL
Analyze Literature TAKE THE CASE TO THE GOVERNMENT MAN IN TOWN.
Characterization The act of creat-
ing or describing a character is char- We have nothing to talk about, Old Man a Pueblo farmer, all during that summer when
acterization. Writers create char- Fat blustered and did not offer to touch Chees he planted and weeded and harvested. Yet they
acters using three major techniques: extended hand. ate the green corn in their mutton stews, and
showing what characters say, do, or Its about the Little One. Chee settled the chili paste from the fresh ripe chilis, and
think; showing what other characters his daughter more comfortably against his hip the tortillas from the cornmeal his wife ground.
say or think about them; and describ- as he weighed carefully all the words he had None of this working and sweating in the sun
ing what physical features, dress, and planned to say. We are going to miss her very for Old Man Fat, who talked proudly of his
personalities the characters display. much. It wouldnt be so bad if we knew that easy way of livingcollecting money from the
Have students read the description of part of each year she could be with us. That trader who rented this strip of land beside the
Old Man Fat on this page. How is he might help you too. You and your wife are no highway, collecting money from the tourists.
characterized? A longer young people and you have no young Yet Chee had once won that argument. His
Answer: Old Man Fat is characterized ones here to depend upon. Chee chose his wife had shared his belief in the integrity of
by what he says and does. He comes next words remembering the thriftlessness of the earth, that jobs and people might fail one,
across as being boastful, arrogant, his wifes parents, and their greed. Perhaps we but the earth never would. After that first year
and materialistic. could share the care of this little one. Things she had turned from her own people and gone
are good with us. So much snow this year will with Chee to Little Canyon.
make lots of grass for the sheep. We have good Old Man Fat was reaching for the Little
land for corn and melons. One. Dont be coming here with plans for my
Chees words did not have the expected daughters daughter, he warned. If you try to
effect. Old Man Fat was enraged. Farmers, make trouble, Ill take the case to the govern-
all of you! Long-haired farmers! Do you think ment man in town.
everyone must bend his back over the shorthan- The impulse was strong in Chee to turn
dled hoe in order to have food to eat? His tone and ride off while he still had the Little One
changed as he began to brag a little. We not in his arms. But he knew his time of victory
only have all the things from cans at the traders, would be short. His own family would uphold
but when the Pueblos come past here on their the old custom of children, especially girl chil-
way to town, we buy their salty jerked8 mutton, dren, belonging to the mothers people. He
young corn for roasting, dried sweet peaches. would have to give his daughter up if the case
A Chees dark eyes surveyed the land along were brought before the headman of Little
the highway as the old man continued to brag Canyon, and certainly he would have no better
about being progressive. He no longer was chance before a strange white man in town.
tied to the land. He and his wife made money He handed the bewildered Little One to her
easily and could buy all the things they wanted. grandfather who stood watching every move-
Chee realized too late that he had stumbled ment suspiciously. Chee asked, If I brought
into the old argument between himself and his you a few things for the Little One, would that
wifes parents. They had never understood his be making trouble? Some velvet for a blouse,
feeling about the landthat a man took care
of his land and it in turn took care of him. Old
Man Fat and his wife scoffed at him, called him 8. jerked. Preserved by being cut into strips and dried
172 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Visual Have students create a painting or

Auditory Have students read aloud a favorite drawing of one of the characters in the story,
descriptive passage from the story. Then have using clues in the text as a springboard.
students read aloud a portion of dialogue from Kinesthetic Have students choose a scene
the story. from the story to act out before an audience of
younger children.
172 UNIT 1 FICTION

or some of the jerky she likes so wellthis stubbornness of a long-haired Navajo resisting
summers melon? change? Take care of the land and it will take
Old Man Fat backed away from him. care of you. True, the land had always given Teach the Selection
Well, he hesitated, as some of the anger him food, but now food was not enough.
disappeared from his face and beads of greed Perhaps if he had gone to school, he would
shone in his eyes. Well, he repeated. Then as have learned a different kind of wisdom, some- More About the Authors
the Little One began to squirm in his arms and thing to help him now. A schoolboy might even Juanita Platero, born Juanita Standly
cry, he said, No! No! Stay away from here, be able to speak convincingly to this govern- in 1905, was a white woman who
you and all your family. ment man whom Old Man Fat threatened to married a Navajo man, Luciano
The sense of his failure deepened as Chee call, instead of sitting here like a clod of earth Platero, in 1930 and moved with
rode back to Little Canyon. But it was not itselfPueblo farmer indeed. What had the him to his familys ancestral home at
until he sat with his family that evening in the land to give that would restore his daughter? Canoncito (now ToHajiileeh), west
In the days
of Albuquerque. She had to adapt
hogan, while the
and learned much about the Navajo
familiar bustle of that followed,
way of life. They remained among
meal preparing Chee herded
the Navajos until Lucianos death in
went on about sheep. He got
1936, after which Juanita moved to
him, that he up in the half-
Albuquerque.
began to doubt light, drank the
the wisdom of hot coffee his Siyowin Miller (19131983) was
the things hed mother had ready, born Virginia Ann Potter. She met
always believed. then started the Juanita in an Indian dance troupe,
He smelled the flock moving. It and the two began collaborating on
coffee boiling was necessary to stories in 1929. If students like the
and the oily drive the sheep story Chees Daughter, they may
fragrance of chili a long way from wish to read the book The Winds
powder dusted the hogan to Erase Your Footprints (2002), written
into the bubbling pot of stew; he watched his find good winter forage. Sometimes Chee met by Miller about Juanitas relation-
mother turning round crusty fried bread in the friends or relatives who were on their way to ship with her first husband Luciano
small black skillet. All around him was plenty town or to the road camp where they hoped to Platero.
a half of mutton hanging near the door, bright get work; then there was friendly banter and an
strings of chili drying, corn hanging by the exchange of news. But most of the days seemed
braided husks, cloth bags of dried peaches. Yet endless; he could not walk far enough or fast
in his heart was nothing. enough from his memories of the Little One or
He heard the familiar sounds of the sheep from his bitter thoughts. Sometimes it seemed
outside the hogan, the splash of water as his his daughter trudged beside him, so real he
father filled the long drinking trough from the could almost hear her footstepsthe muffled
water barrel. When his father came in, Chee pad-pad of little feet in deerhide. In the glare of
could not bring himself to tell a second time of a snowbank he would see her vivid face, brown
the days happenings. He watched his wiry, soft- eyes sparkling. Mingling with the tinkle of
spoken father while his mother told the story, sheep bells he heard her laughter.
saw his fathers queue of graying hair quiver as he When, weary of following the small sharp
nodded his head with sympathetic exclamations. hoof marks that crossed and recrossed in the
Chees doubting, acrid thoughts kept snow, he sat down in the shelter of a rock, it
forming: Was it wisdom his father had passed was only to be reminded that in his thoughts
on to him, or was his inheritance only the he had forsaken his brotherhood with the earth
CHEES DAUGHTER 173
CHEES DAUGHTER 173

and sun and growing things. If he remembered Before his cousins were out of sight down
times when he had flung himself against the the canyon, Chee was walking toward the
Teach the Selection earth to rest, to lie there in the sun until he fields, a bold plan shaping in his mind. As the
could no longer feel where he left off and the plan began to flourish, wild and hardy as young
Analyze Literature earth began, it was to remember also that now tumbleweed, Chee added his own voice softly
Motivation A motivation is a force he sat like an alien against the same earth; the to the song his father was singing: In the
that moves a character to think, feel, or belonging together was gone. The earth was middle of the wide fieldYellow Corn BoyI
behave in a certain way. Have students one thing and he was another. wish to put in.
read the first full paragraph on the It was during the days when he herded Chee walked slowly around the field, the
page. What motivates Chee to want sheep that Chee decided he must leave Little rich red earth yielding to his footsteps. His plan
to leave Little Canyon? What does he Canyon. Perhaps he would take a job silver- depended upon this land and upon the things
hope to accomplish by leaving? A A smithing for one of the traders in town. he remembered most about his wifes people.
Answers: Chee is motivated by a sense Perhaps, even though he spoke little English, Through planting time Chee worked zeal-
of hopelessness. He doesnt believe he could get a job at the road camp with his ously and tirelessly. He spoke little of the
in the land anymore because it didnt cousins; he would ask them about it. large new field he was planting, because he
help him keep his daughter. Hes not Springtime transformed the mesas. The felt so strongly that just now this was some-
sure what he hopes to accomplish by peach trees in the canyon were shedding thing between himself and the land. The
leavinghe just knows he wants to fragrance and pink blossoms on the gentled first days he was ever stooping, piercing the
leave. wind. The sheep no longer foraged for the ground with the pointed stick, placing the corn
yellow seeds of chamiso9 but ranged near the kernels there, walking around the field and
Analyze Literature hogan with the long-legged new lambs, eating through it, singing, His track leads into the
Personification A figure of speech tender young grass. groundYellow Corn Boyhis track leads into
in which an animal, a thing, a force of Chee was near the hogan on the day his the ground. After that, each day Chee walked
nature, or an idea is described as if it cousins rode up with the message for which through his field watching for the tips of green
were human or is given human char- he waited. He had been watching with mixed to break through; first a few spikes in the center
acteristics is called personification. emotions while his father and his sisters and then more and more, until the corn in all
Have students read the paragraph husband cleared the fields beside the stream. parts of the field was above ground. Surely,
beginning with Through the summer The boss at the camp says he needs an Chee thought, if he sang the proper songs, if
Chee worked long days and locate extra hand, but he wants to know if youll be he cared for this land faithfully, it would not
examples of personification. How willing to go with the camp when they move it forsake him now, even though through the
does the use of personification make to the other side of the town? The tall cousin lonely days of winter he had betrayed the good-
a description more interesting and shifted his weight in the saddle. ness of the earth in his thoughts.
meaningful? B The other cousin took up the explanation. Through the summer Chee worked long
Answers: The corn plants waving and The work near here will last only until the days, the sun hot upon his back, pulling weeds
the wind wandering are examples of new cutoff beyond Red Sands is finished. After from around young corn plants; he planted
personification. In general, the use of that, the work will be too far away for you to squash and pumpkin; he terraced a small piece
personification makes texts come alive get back here often. of land near his mothers hogan and planted
because it shows instead of tells. It That was what Chee had wantedto get B carrots and onions and the moisture-loving
also shows the connection of Chee to away from Little Canyonyet he found himself chili. He was increasingly restless. Finally he
the natural world. told his family what he hoped the harvest
not so interested in the job beyond town as in
this new cutoff which was almost finished. He from this land would bring him. Then the
pulled a blade of grass, split it thoughtfully down whole family waited with him, watching the
the center, as he asked questions of his cousins. corn: the slender graceful plants that waved
Finally he said: I need to think more about this.
If I decide on this job, Ill ride over. 9. chamiso. Shrubs that form dense thickets
174 UNIT 1 FICTION
English Language Learning thriftlessnesscarelessness, 172

Share with students the following vocabulary foragefood for animals that graze, 173
words and their definitions: bantergood-humored, witty joking, 173
integritycompleteness; soundness; honesty, zealouslyeagerly; ardently, 174
168 flauntingdisplaying to public notice; showing
curiosthings considered unusual or bizarre, off, 175
170 frothsomething light and airy, 176
meagerdeficient in quantity or quality, 171
smolderingshowing suppressed anger, hate,
or jealousy, 172
174 UNIT 1 FICTION

green arms and bent to embrace each other as Red Sands Trading Post was deserted. A sign
young winds wandered through the field, the banged against the dismantled gas pumps:
maturing plants flaunting their pollen-laden Closed until further notice. Teach the Selection
tassels in the sun, the tall and sturdy parent Old Man Fat came from the crude summer
corn with new-formed ears and a froth of shelter built beside the log hogan from a Use Reading Skills
purple, red, and yellow corn beards against the few branches of scrub cedar and the sides of Draw Conclusions Ask students the
dusty emerald of broad leaves. wooden crates. He seemed almost friendly following questions about the story:
Summer was almost over when Chee slung when he saw Chee. Why does Chee find no cars on the
the bulging packs across two pack ponies. Get down, my son, he said, eyeing the highway? How has the cutoff affected
His mother helped him tie the heavy rolled bulging packs. There was no bluster in his Old Man Fat?
pack behind the saddle of the buckskin. Chee voice today, and his face sagged, looking some- Answers: There are no cars on the
knotted the new yellow kerchief about his neck what saddened, perhaps because his cheeks highway because a new road was
a little tighter, gave the broad black hat brim were no longer quite full enough to push his built for people to get into town more
an extra tug, but these were only gestures of eyes upward at the corners. You are going on quickly. As a result, tourists no longer
assurance and he knew it. The land had not a journey? drive past Old Man Fats store. Old
failed him. That part was done. But this he was Chee shook his head. Our fields gave us so Man Fat and his wife are no longer
riding into? Who could tell? much this year, I thought to sell or trade this to able to make a living from tourism.
When Chee arrived at Red Sands, it was the trader. I didnt know he was no longer here.
as he had expected to find itno cars on Old Man Fat sighed, his voice dropping to Use Reading Strategies
the highway. His cousins had told him that an injured tone. He says he and his wife are Make Predictions Considering Old
even the Pueblo farmers were using the new going to rest this winter; then after that hell Man Fats situation now, ask students
cutoff to town. The barren gravel around the build a place up on the new highway. to predict what will happen next in
the story.
Critical Viewing
Ask students to examine the pho-
tograph of the woman weaving.
Interested students may find pictures
of Navajo weaving on the Internet
and share the designs they discover
with the class. C
C
CHEES DAUGHTER 175
CHEES DAUGHTER 175

when her husband asked with noticeable defer-
ence if she would give him money to buy
Teach the Selection supplies. Chee surmised that the only income
here was from his mother-in-laws weaving.
Analyze Literature She peered around the corner of the shelter
Suspense Ask students to identify at the laden ponies, and then she looked at
the moments that create increased Chee. What do you have there, my son?
suspense in the story, making readers Chee smiled to himself as
wonder about the outcome. They may he turned to pull the pack from
note that on page 177, in the para- one of the ponies, dragged
graph beginning Chee knew immedi- it to the shelter where
ately that he had overspoken, greater he untied the ropes.
suspense is created as Chee makes a Pumpkins and hard-
misstep and almost ruins his plan to shelled squash tumbled
win back his daughter. out, and the ears of corn-
pale yellow husks fitting
firmly over plump ripe
kernels, blue corn, red
corn, yellow corn, many-
colored corn, ears and
ears of ittumbled into every corner of
the shelter.
Yooooh, Old Man Fats wife exclaimed as
she took some of the ears in her hands. Then
she glanced up at her son-in-law. But we have
Chee moved as though to be traveling on, no money for all this. We have sold almost
then jerked his head toward the pack ponies. everything we owneven the brass bed that
Anything you need? stood in the hogan.
Ill ask my wife, Old Man Fat said as he Old Man Fats brass bed. Chee concealed his
led the way to the shelter. Maybe she has a amusement as he started back for another pack.
little money. Things have not been too good That must have been a hard parting. Then he
with us since the trader closed. Only a few stopped, for, coming from the cool darkness of
tourists come this way. He shrugged his shoul- the hogan was the Little One, rubbing her eyes
ders. And with the trader goneno credit. as though she had been asleep. She stood for
Chee was not deceived by his father-in- a moment in the doorway, and Chee saw that
laws unexpected confidences. He recognized she was dirty, barefoot, her hair uncombed, her
them as a hopeful bid for sympathy and, if little blouse shorn of all its silver buttons. Then
possible, something for nothing. Chee made she ran toward Chee, her arms outstretched.
no answer. He was thinking that so far he had Heedless of Old Man Fat and his wife, her father
been right about his wifes parents: their thrift- caught her in his arms, her hair falling in a
lessness had left them with no resources to last dark cloud across his face, the sweetness of her
until Old Man Fat found another easy way of laughter warm against his shoulder.
making a living. It was the haste within him to get this slow
Old Man Fats wife was in the shelter waiting game played through to the finish that
working at her loom. She turned rather wearily made Chee speak unwisely. It was the desire
176 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles ture of Old Man Fats face as he looks at the

Auditory After reading the lyrics of Chees Little One at the end of the storyAnd it was
song, Yellow Corn Boy, in this story, students not a thing to see.
may be interested in hearing what Navajo Kinesthetic Have students act out the final
music sounds like. Locate a CD of Navajo music scene of the story, improvising dialogue and
and play some traditional songs for students. using body language and gestures to convey
Visual Ask students to draw a picture of the feelings of Chee, Old Man Fat, and Old
Chees daughter based on the description on Man Fats wife.
page 176. Alternatively, they may draw a pic-
176 UNIT 1 FICTION

to swing her before him in the saddle and ride bags; jerked meat from several butcherings
fast to Little Canyon that prompted his words. spilled from a flour sack; and bright red chilis
The money doesnt matter. You still have splashed like flames against the dust. Teach the Selection
something I will leave all this anyhow, Chee told
Chee knew immediately that he had over- them. I would not want my daughter nor even
spoken. The old woman looked from him to you old people to go hungry. W Students
the corn spread before her. Unfriendliness Old Man Fat picked up a shiny tin of IRRORS
began to harden in his father-in-laws face. All coffee, then put it down. With trembling hands
he began to untie one of the cloth bagsdried
W INDOWS may say
that, as
the old arguments between himself and his pproven
roven by ChChees story, it often
wifes people came pushing and crowding in sweet peaches. w orkks out be
works better to keep silent
between them now. The Little One had wriggled from her and form a plan rather than to
Old Man Fat began kicking the ears of corn grandmothers lap, unheeded, and was on her shout and argue. However, it is
back onto the canvas as he eyed Chee angrily. knees, digging her hands into the jerked meat. difficult to follow this method,
And you rode all the way over here thinking There is almost enough food here to last since feelings often get the bet-
that for a little food we would give up our all winter. Old Man Fats wife sought the eyes ter of a person.
daughters daughter? of her husband.
Chee did not wait for the old man to reach Chee said, I meant it to be enough. But
for the Little One. He walked dazedly to the that was when I thought you might send the
shelter, rubbing his cheek against her soft dark Little One back with me. He looked down at
hair, and put her gently into her grandmothers his daughter noisily sucking jerky. Her mouth,
lap. Then he turned back to the horses. He both fists, were full of it. I am sorry that you
had failed. By his own haste he had failed. He feel you cannot bear to part with her.
swung into the saddle, his hand touching the Old Man Fats wife brushed a straggly wisp
roll behind it. Should he ride on into town? of gray hair from her forehead as she turned
Then he dismounted, scarcely glancing to look at the Little One. Old Man Fat was
at Old Man Fat, who stood uncertainly at the looking too. And it was not a thing to see.
corner of the shelter, listening to his wife. For in that moment the Little One ceased to
Give me a hand with this other pack of corn, be their daughters daughter and became just
Grandfather, Chee said, carefully keeping the another mouth to feed.
small bit of hope from his voice. And why not? the old woman asked
Puzzled, but willing, Old Man Fat helped wearily.
carry the other pack to the shelter, opening it Chee was settled in the saddle, the bare-
to find more corn as well as carrots and round, footed Little One before him. He urged the
pale yellow onions. Chee went back for the roll buckskin faster, and his daughter clutched his
behind the buckskins saddle and carried it to shirtfront. The purpling mesas flung back the
the entrance of the shelter, where he cut the echo: My corn embrace each other. In the
ropes and gave the canvas a nudge with his toe. middle of the wide fieldYellow Corn Boy
Tins of coffee rolled out, small plump cloth embrace each other.
&
W Do actions always speak louder than words? When you feel an injustice has been
IRRORS
W INDOWS
done to you, what is the benefit to remaining silent and working out a plan?
Why is this difficult?
CHEES DAUGHTER 177

0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.177 177 11/19/07 12:26:22 PM
Have students review Understanding Character on page 60. Then ask students to write a paragraph
discussing the characterization of Chee in the story. Is Chee a credible character? Why or why not?
Is Chee is a round or flat character? Finally, is Chee a dynamic or static character? Remind students
to cite specific details from the story in their paragraphs. Assign points for the Assessment Project
according to the following scale.
3 Student includes discussion of Chee as credible/not believable, round/flat, and
dynamic/static.
2 Student includes discussion of only two of the questions regarding Chees character.
1 Student includes discussion of only one of the questions regarding Chees character.
CHEES DAUGHTER 177

Literature
Connection
At a Glance The speaker of Freeway 280 is caught between two cultures, that of Mexican Americans
Reading Level: Moderate and that of white Americans. In her quest for self-identity, the speaker visits her old neighbor-
hood and is overwhelmed by nostalgia for how things used to be. Before you read, predict how
Difficulty Considerations: Spanish the speakers emotional experiences will compare to Chees in Chees Daughter.
vocabulary; subject
Lorna Dee Cervantes is a Mexican-American poet who published her first collection of
Ease Factor: Length poems, Emplumada, in 1981. Cervantes has a keen awareness of the struggles faced by
women, especially Hispanic women, in contemporary American society.
Summary
In this poem, the speaker describes
her internal conflict of wanting to
escape her culture but, as a result, los-
ing a part of herself. She uses a high-
way as a symbol of the world outside
of her home in Mexico.

Make Inferences Ask students to
make inferences about the follow-
Freeway
Freeway 280
280
ing questions: Why were the houses A Poem by Lorna Dee Cervantes
destroyed? Why do the old ladies
come back to the area? Why do you
think the narrator is sad about the
destroyed houses?
Answers: The houses were destroyed
to make way for a new freeway. The
old ladies come back there because Las casitas1 near the gray cannery,
plants that once grew around the nestled amid wild abrazos2 of climbing roses
neighborhood are still coming back and man-high red geraniums
in the bare areas around the freeway. are gone now. The freeway conceals it
The narrator may be sad because all beneath a raised scar.
she was a resident of the destroyed
neighborhood, or because she laments But under the fake windsounds of the open lanes,
the destruction of a thriving, vibrant in the abandoned lots below, new grasses sprout,
neighborhood in the name of prog- wild mustard remembers, old gardens
ress. come back stronger than they were,
trees have been left standing in their yards.
Albaricoqueros, cerezos, nogales3
Viejitas4 come here with paper bags to gather greens.
1. Las casitas (l5s k5 s7> t5s). [Spanish] Little houses
2. abrazos (5 br5> z9s). [Spanish] Embraces
3. Albaricoqueros, cerezos, nogales (5l b5 r7 k9 k6> r9s, se re> z9s,
n9 g5> les). [Spanish] Apricot, cherry, and walnut trees
4. Viejitas (v7 y6 h7> t5s). [Spanish] Old women
178 UNIT 1 FICTION

History communities they surrounded. Towns that once

In the 1950s and 1960s, automobile owner- enjoyed the traffic of smaller highways were
ship was on the rise, and cars were overwhelm- now bypassed as motorists took to the brand-
ing U.S. roads. Hundreds of new freeways had new freeways. These towns, much like Old
to be built to accommodate the nations new Man Fats small community, withered and died
love affair with cars. Sadly, in the process, much quickly. Other communities that lay directly in
public transportationincluding streetcars and the path of the freeway were destroyed. Usually
passenger trainswas neglected or dismantled these neighborhoods were working-class or
as a result of the power of the auto industry. lower-class neighborhoods, home to immigrants
The new freeways also had an effect on the or minorities who had less political power.
178 UNIT 1 FICTION

Espinaca, verdolagas, yerbabuena5
I scramble over the wire fence Refer and Reason
that would have kept me out. 1. Chees home is described as a
Once, I wanted out, wanted the rigid lanes home at one with nature, a peace-
to take me to a place without sun, ful and traditional Navajo home.
without the smell of tomatoes burning By contrast, Old Man Fats home
on swing shift6 in the greasy summer air. is a commercialized place, not true
to his Navajo roots. Tourists gather
Maybe its here and pay money to see inside a
en los campos extraos de esta ciudad7 real Navajo home, but this is
where Ill find it, that part of me clearly not a real Navajo home.
mown under The narrator uses a tone of respect
like a corpse when describing Chees home, but
or a loose seed. a critical tone when describing Old
Man Fats abode. Descriptions of
5. Espinaca, verdolagas, yerbabuena (es p7 n5> k5, ver d0 l5> g5s,
yer b5 b2 6> n5). [Spanish] Spinach, purslane (an edible weed), and mint Old Man Fats property emphasize
6. swing shift. Work shift between the day and night shifts, for example his acceptance of questionable
4 PM to midnight
7. en los campos extraos de esta ciudad (en l9s c5m> p9s eks tr5>
materialistic values. This ties in
ny9s d6 6> st5 c7 y2 d5d). [Spanish] In the strange fields of this city with the theme of the story, which
is that people should remain true
to the land and traditional ways of
1. List examples of specific words used in the descrip- 1. Imagine that you are Chee in winter when he loses life.
tion of the two settingsChees home and Old Man faith in the land. Describe a daydream in which 2. Old Man Fat and his wife have
Fats home. Analyze what tone is set by the descrip- your life is the way you want it to be. What are you fallen on hard times and, without
tions. Relate the description of setting to the theme doing? Who is present? What happens? real jobs to sustain them, they
of the story. 2. In this story, we are given descriptions of two really need the food that Chee
2. Describe what happens when Chee brings food to contrasting settings: the trading post and Chees
Old Man Fat and his wife. Judge whether Chee is home in Little Canyon. Write two descriptive para- offers. Realizing that they will
being generous or manipulative when he gives the graphs contrasting settings that create different have to share the food with Chees
food to Old Man Fat and his wife. emotions in you. Use specific details to help readers daughter, they give her up as
3. Quote Old Man Fats wifes comment after Chee visualize the two settings and understand your feel- Chee suspected they might. Chees
says he meant for there to be enough food. Create ings about the two places. actions are manipulative, but they
a new ending for the story that explores what might
W
have happened to Old Man Fat, his wife, and Chees W Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more. are justifiable given the heartless
daughter if they had not accepted Chees offer. way Chees in-laws took his daugh-
ter from him in the first place.
TO 3. Old Man Fats wife says wearily,
And why not? Responses about
What has the speaker of Freeway 280 lost? How does her the new ending to the story will
loss compare with Chees? How does it compare with Old
vary.
Man Fats loss?
CHEES DAUGHTER / FREEWAY 280 179
Text Text Connection

/19/07 12:26:22 PM 0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.179TO
179 11/19/07 12:26:27 PM
Rubrics for Writing Options
In Freeway 280, the speaker has lost the For writing rubrics and student models of
sights and traditions of her heritage. Her loss the Writing Options assignments, go to
might be considered greater than Chees, www.mirrorsandwindows.com.
because Chee, despite his doubts, remains loyal
to his traditions and regains his daughter. The
speakers loss might be considered parallel to
that of Old Man Fat, with the difference that
Old Man Fats greed and materialism, rather
than a new freeway, have been responsible for a
renunciation of the old ways.
CHEES DAUGHTER / FREEWAY 280 179

INDEPENDENT READING
At a Glance
Independent Reading
Reading Level: Moderate to chal-
lenging
Unfamiliar terms/names; dialect;
Civil
vocabulary
Ease Factors: Suspense; engaging
characters
Objectives
students to
Peace
Nothing puzzles
God, he said in
standing of the text. wonder.
Launch the Lesson A Short Story by
Write the title of the story on the
board. Point out that the title is an
Chinua Achebe
Victory, 1947. Jacob Lawrence. Private collection.
example of word-play. If civil war is
a conflict between two opposing fac-
tions or parties within a single country,
what might civil peace involve? Call
on volunteers to give suggestions, and
list their suggestions on the board.
Chinua Achebe was born in 1930 in Nigeria. At the
time, Nigeria was a British colony. Achebes first, and
perhaps best-known, novel, Things Fall Apart, add
addresses
J onathan Iwegbu counted
himself extraordinarily
lucky. Happy survival!
the effects of colonialism and Western influences on
the traditional Igbo way of life. The Igbo are on
one of meant so much more to
Nigerias largest ethnic groups. him than just a current
W The Mirrors Civil Peace, published in 1971, was probab
probably set fashion of greeting old
IRRORS
W INDOWS
in 1970 shortly after the Nigerian civil war ended. Th
The war friends in the first hazy
& Windows
began in 1967, when the Igbo people tried to secede and form an indeindependent days of peace. It went deep
questions at nation, the Republic of Biafra. Achebe has said, Any good story, any ggood
tthe
he eend
nd of thi
this story ask students to his heart. He had come
novel, should have a message, should have a purpose. As you read C Civil
aabout
bout tthe
he role of luck, or fate, in Peace, try to determine the message or purpose Achebe intended it to have. out of the war with five
life. Before they read, ask students inestimable blessingshis
Think about a person you know or have heard about who has survived some-
whether they consider themselves head, his wife Marias head
thingan illness, a natural disaster, a war. What qualities does this person
lucky or unlucky, and why. have? What did he or she have to do to survive? and the heads of three out
of their four children. As a
180 UNIT 1 FICTION
Program Resources
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01.indd 180 2/12/08 8:43:59 AM 0130-0203_Lit3eG

E-Lesson Planner
ExamView
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows
180 UNIT 1 FICTION

bonus he also had his old bicyclea miracle again and it was still standing there before him.
too but naturally not to be compared to the But, needless to say, even that monumental
safety of five human heads. blessing must be accounted also totally inferior Teach the Selection
The bicycle had a little history of its to the five heads in the family. This newest
own. One day at the height of the war it was miracle was his little house in Ogui Overside. Summary
commandeered for urgent military action. Indeed nothing puzzles God! Only two houses In Nigeria, shortly after a period of
A
Hard as its loss would have been to him he away a huge concrete edifice some wealthy civil war, Jonathan Iwegbu counts it a
would still have let it go without a thought had contractor had put up just before the war was miracle to have survived intact, along
he not had some doubts about the genuineness a mountain of rubble. And here was Jonathans with his wife and three of his four
of the officer. It wasnt his little zinc house3 of no children. He is also happy to have his
disreputable rags, nor the regrets built with mud old bicycle, which he had buried for
safekeeping during the hostilities, and
toes peeping out of one
blue and one brown canvas
Then he made the journey to blocks quite intact! Of
course the doors and his house, which, remarkably, is still
shoes, nor yet the two stars windows were missing standing. A resourceful man, Jonathan
of his rank done obviously Enugu and found another and five sheets off the is soon on the road to financial recov-
ery, starting a palm wine bar and
in a hurry in biro,1 that roof. But what was that?
other enterprises. One night, however,
troubled Jonathan; many
good and heroic soldiers
miracle waiting for him. And anyhow he had
returned to Enugu early thieves with guns arrive at his house,
looked the same or worse. enough to pick up bits terrorizing his family and forcing
It was rather a certain lack of old zinc and wood Jonathan to hand over all his money.
of grip and firmness in his manner. So Jonathan, and soggy sheets of cardboard lying around The next day, Jonathan is hard at
suspecting he might be amenable to influence, the neighborhood before thousands more came work again with no tears, realizing
rummaged in his raffia bag and produced the out of their forest holes looking for the same that he must accept all that comes in
two pounds with which he had been going to things. He got a destitute carpenter with one life, since nothing puzzles God.
buy firewood which his wife, Maria, retailed to old hammer, a blunt plane and a few bent and
camp officials for extra stock-fish and corn meal, rusty nails in his tool bag to turn this assort- Analyze Literature
and got his bicycle back. That night he buried it ment of wood, paper and metal into door and Characterization The act of creat-
in the little clearing in the bush where the dead window shutters for five Nigerian shillings or ing or describing a character is char-
of the camp, including his own youngest son, fifty Biafran pounds. He paid the pounds, and acterization. What does the anec-
were buried. When he dug it up again a year moved in with his overjoyed family carrying dote about the bicycle in the first full
later after the surrender all it needed was a little five heads on their shoulders. paragraph suggest about Jonathan
palm-oil greasing. Nothing puzzles God, he His children picked mangoes near the Iwegbus character? A
said in wonder. military cemetery and sold them to soldiers Answer: He is quick-witted, resource-
He put it to immediate use as a taxi and wives for a few penniesreal pennies this ful, and optimistic.
accumulated a small pile of Biafran money timeand his wife started making breakfast
ferrying camp officials and their families across akara balls4 for neighbors in a hurry to start
the four-mile stretch to the nearest tarred road. life again. With his family earnings he took
His standard charge per trip was six pounds his bicycle to the villages around and bought
and those who had the money were only glad fresh palm wine which he mixed generously in
to be rid of some of it in this way. At the end his rooms with the water which had recently
of a fortnight he had made a small fortune of
one hundred and fifteen pounds. 1. biro. Ballpoint pen, here used to draw the stars that marked
Then he made the journey to Enugu2 and the officers rank
2. Enugu. City in southeast Nigeria
found another miracle waiting for him. It was 3. zinc house. House with a zinc-coated roof
unbelievable. He rubbed his eyes and looked 4. akara balls. Round bean cakes
CIVIL PEACE 181
2/12/08 8:43:59 AM 0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.181 181

Words in Use 11/19/07 12:26:35 PM

inestimable, 180 secede, 180
commandeered, 181 proactive, 184
edifice, 181 extremity, 184
dissent, 184 queues, 184
CIVIL PEACE 181

started running again in the public tap down As soon as the pound notes were placed
the road, and opened up a bar for soldiers and in his palm Jonathan simply closed it tight
Teach the Selection other lucky people with good money. over them and buried fist and money inside
At first he went daily, then every other his trouser pocket. He had to be extra careful
Use Reading Strategies day and finally once a week, to the offices of because he had seen a man a couple of days
Ask Questions Students may work the Coal Corporation where he used to be a earlier collapse into near madness in an instant
together to ask questions they may miner, to find out what was what. The only before that oceanic crowd because no sooner
have about the story. In particular, thing he did find out in the end was that that had he got his twenty pounds than some heart-
they may wish to clarify what egg little house of his was even a greater blessing less ruffian picked it off him. Though it was not
rasher (ex gratia) is and why Jonathan than he had thought. Some of his fellow ex- right that a man in such an extremity of agony
receives it. miners who had nowhere to return at the should be blamed yet many in the queues that
end of the days waiting just slept outside the day were able to remark quietly on the victims
Homework Suggestions carelessness, especially after he
1. Have students read the story as pulled out the innards of his
homework. pocket and revealed a hole in it
2. Ask each student to record an big enough to pass a thiefs head.
image, a line, or an idea from the But of course he had insisted that
story that strikes them as impor- the money had been in the other
tant. In class the next day, ask stu- pocket, pulling it out too to show
dents to share what they recorded. its comparative wholeness. So
Have other students try to explain one had to be careful.
why that image, line, or idea might Jonathan soon transferred
be significant. the money to his left hand and
3. Assign one of the Writing Options pocket so as to leave his right
on page 184. free for shaking hands should
the need arise, though by fixing
Analyze Literature his gaze at such an elevation as
Style The manner in which some- to miss all approaching human
thing is said or written is called style. faces he made sure that the need
One way to think of a writers style is doors of the offices and cooked what meal they did not arise, until he got home.
as his or her written personality. One could scrounge together in Bournvita tins. As He was normally a heavy sleeper but that
aspect of Achebes style in the story is the weeks lengthened and still nobody could night he heard all the neighborhood noises
the repetition of the motto Nothing say what was what Jonathan discontinued his die down one after another. Even the night
puzzles God, which functions as a weekly visits altogether and faced his palm watchman who knocked the hour on some
capsule summary of Jonathans opti- wine bar. metal somewhere in the distance had fallen
mistic philosophy. Ask students to But nothing puzzles God. Came the day silent after knocking one oclock. That must
point out other distinguishing aspects of the windfall when after five days of endless have been the last thought in Jonathans mind
of Achebes style. scuffles in queues and counter queues in the before he was finally carried away himself.
sun outside the Treasury he had twenty pounds He couldnt have been gone for long, though,
counted into his palms as ex gratia5 award for when he was violently awakened again.
the rebel money he had turned in. It was like Who is knocking? whispered his wife
A
Christmas for him and for many others like lying beside him on the floor.
him when the payments began. They called
it (since few could manage its proper official
name) egg rasher. 5. ex gratia. In kindness, something given as a favor
182 UNIT 1 FICTION
English Language Learning destituteextremely poor; penniless,181

Share with students the following vocabulary
Reading Proficiency
from the selection:
Encourage students to use a graphic organizer to
disreputablenot worthy of respect or honor,
track the sequence of events in the story as they
181
read.
amenableresponsive, 181
retailsell directly to a consumer, 181
fortnighttwo weeks, 181
rubblepile of rocks remaining after a building
is destroyed, 181
182 UNIT 1 FICTION

I dont know, he whispered back breath-
lessly.
The second time the knocking came it was Teach the Selection
so loud and imperious that the rickety old door
could have fallen down. Analyze Literature
Who is knocking? he asked then, his Suspense Suspense is a feeling of
voice parched and trembling. expectation, anxiousness, or curiosity
Na tief-man and him people, came the created by questions raised in the
cool reply. Make you hopen de door. This mind of a reader or viewer. Direct
was followed by the heaviest knocking of all. students to the last bit of dialogue on
Maria was the first to raise the alarm, then page 182: Who is knocking? What
he followed and all their children. details contribute to the suspense of
Police-o! Thieves-o! Neighbors-o! Police-o! We this section? A
are lost! We are dead! Neighbors, are you asleep? Answer: The loud knocking and the
Wake up! Police-o! puzzled, probably fearful whispers of
This went on for a long time and then husband and wife contribute to the
stopped suddenly. Perhaps they had scared the suspense.
thief away. There was total silence. But only for
a short while. Analyze Literature
You done finish? asked the voice outside. Dialect A dialect is a version of a
Make we help you small. Oya, everybody! language spoken by the people of a
Police-o! Tief-man-o! Neighbors-o! we done particular place, time, or social group.
loss-o! Police-o!... The conversation between Jonathan
There were at least five other voices besides
the leaders. Awrighto. Now make we talk business. We
Jonathan and his family were now no be had tief. We no like for make trouble.
completely paralyzed by terror. Maria and Trouble done finish. War done finish and all TEACHING NOTE
the children sobbed inaudibly like lost souls. the katakata wey de for inside.6 No Civil War and the thieves is in dialect and, as a result,
Jonathan groaned continuously. again. This time na Civil Peace. No be so? may be difficult to understand. Divide students
The silence that followed the thieves alarm Na so! answered the horrible chorus. into small groups or pairs to paraphrase the
vibrated horribly. Jonathan all but begged their What do you want from me? I am a poor conversation into standard American English.
leader to speak again and be done with it. man. Everything I had went with this war. Research Nigeria
My frien, said he at long last, we don Why do you come to me? You know people Have students consult maps to locate the coun-
try our best for call dem but I tink say dem who have money. We try of Nigeria. Interested students may conduct
all done sleep-oSo wetin we go do now? Awright! We know say you no get plenty research to learn more about some aspect of
Sometaim you wan call soja? Or you wan make money. But we sef no get even anini.7 So dere- the country, such as its ethnic makeup, its main
we call dem for you? Soja better pass police. fore make you open dis window and give one natural resources and exports, and its his-
No be so? hundred pound and we go commot. Oderwise tory, including the Nigerian Civil War
Na so! replied his men. Jonathan thought we de come for inside now to show you that followed Nigerias independence
he heard even more voices now than before guitar-boy like dis from England.
and groaned heavily. His legs were sagging
under him and his throat felt like sandpaper. 6. War done finish and all the katakatainside. Nigerian
My frien, why you no de talk again. I de dialect meaning roughly The war is finished and all that went with
it. The word katakata may be an onomatopoeic word to represent
ask you say you wan make we call soja? gunfire.
No. 7. anini. Nigerian coin of little value
CIVIL PEACE 183
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0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.183 183 11/19/07 12:26:39 PM
Reading Proficiency is related to increased longevity, to high-quality

Have student partner groups choose their job performance, and to a better-than-average
favorite short passage in the story and practice ability to recuperate from serious illness. Have
reading it aloud. students use library or Internet resources to
investigate current research on this topic. They
Enrichment can then summarize their findings in an oral
Many psychologists and health experts have report to the class as a whole.
advanced the theory that an optimistic attitude
CIVIL PEACE 183

A volley of automatic fire rang through sky. plenty moneyMake we go inside and search
Maria and the children began to weep aloud properly wellWetin be twenty pound?...
Review the Selection again. Shurrup! rang the leaders voice like
Ah, missisi de cry again. No need for dat. a lone shot in the sky and silenced the
We done talk say we na good tief. We just take murmuring at once. Are you dere? Bring the
W Students
our small money and go nwayorly. No molest. money quick!
IRRORS Abi we de molest? I am coming, said Jonathan fumbling in
W INDOWS may con-
clude that At all! sang the chorus. the darkness with the key of the small wooden
eevents
vents in life are governed by My friends, began Jonathan hoarsely. I box he kept by his side on the mat.
a ccombination
ombinatio of luck (or fate) hear what you say and I thank you. If I had
and our own actions. You may
prompt students to discuss
one hundred pounds
Lookia my frien, no be play we come play
for your house. If we make mistake and step
A t the first sign of light as neighbors and
others assembled to commiserate with
him he was already strapping his five-gallon
whether a strong belief in fate
helps us or hinders us in life. for inside you no go like am-o. So derefore demijohn to his bicycle carrier and his wife,
To God who made me; if you come inside sweating in the open fire, was turning over
and find one hundred pounds, take it and akara balls in a wide clay bowl of boiling oil. In
Refer and Reason shoot me and shoot my wife and children. I the corner his eldest son was rinsing out dregs
1. Jonathan has the lives of himself, swear to God. The only money I have in this of yesterdays palm wine from old beer bottles.
his wife, and three of their four chil- life is this twenty-pounds egg rasher they gave I count it as nothing, he told his
dren. He also counts it as a bless- me today sympathizers, his eyes on the rope he was
ing that he still has his bicycle. His OK. Time de go. Make you open dis tying. What is egg rasher? Did I depend on it
life before the war is very similar to window and bring the twenty pound. We go last week? Or is it greater than other things that
his life after the war. Students may manage am like dat. went with the war? I say, let egg rasher perish in
infer that Jonathan has lost one There were now loud murmurs of dissent the flames! Let it go where everything else has
child and his mining job because of among the chorus: Na lie de man de lie; e get gone. Nothing puzzles God.
the war.
&
2. Responses will vary. The thief says, W
Na tief-man and him people. IRRORS Is luck or fate responsible when good things happen? When bad things happen?
Make you hopen de door. (The
thief and his people. We demand
W INDOWS Can a person be proactive in determining his or her future?
you open the door.).

3. Responses will vary. People in the
postwar community were less sym- Refer and Reason society? Explain why people are often eager to
1. List the blessings Jonathan has after the war. Infer blame victims.
pathetic than they might have been
what Jonathan may have lost in the war. Writing Options
during a more relaxed time before 2. Quote what the thief says when Jonathan asks who
the war. The time was tough for 1. Imagine a newsmagazine is writing a feature on
is knocking. Evaluate the use of dialect during the Jonathan Iwegbu. Write a personality profile of
everyone, so nobody could spare robbery scene. How does the use of dialect affect Jonathan. Consider the kind of person he seems to
sympathy for one unlucky man. your reading? What effect does the use of dialect be based on what he says and does in the story.
have on this scene? 2. Consider Achebes quotation, Any good story, any
3. Recall what happened to a man who received his good novel, should have a message, should have a
Rubrics for Writing egg rasher a few days before Jonathan. The narrator purpose. Write a brief essay in which you explain
Options says, Though it was not right that a man in such the message or purpose of Civil Peace.
an extremity of agony should be blamed yet many
For writing rubrics and student in the queues that day were able to remark quietly
W
models of the Writing Options W Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more.
on the victims carelessness. What does this
assignments, go to statement suggest about the people in the postwar
184 UNIT 1 FICTION
Assessment Project
Ask students to write a paragraph discussing the authors style in the story. In their paragraphs,
students should consider such features of style as word choice, sentence structure, lightly ironic tone,
repetition, and the use of dialect. Remind students to cite specific details from the story in their
paragraphs. Assign points for the Assessment Project according to the following scale.
3 Student includes discussion of at least three of the stylistic features listed.
2 Student includes discussion of at least two of the stylistic features listed.
1 Student includes discussion of only one of the stylistic features listed.
184 UNIT 1 FICTION

INDEPENDENT READING
At a Glance
Independent Reading
Difficulty Considerations: Dialect;
length; slow-moving plot
Ease Factor: Style
Objectives
students to
A Short Story by unfamiliar vocabulary words.
Sarah Orne Jewett use writing options to assess under-
Suddenly this little woods-girl Launch the Lesson

Have students reflect on the topic of
is horror-stricken to hear a Louisiana Heron. Rodney Busch. Private collection.
secrecy. They can write their thoughts
in their journals. When is secrecy
appropriate? reprehensible? fun? dan-
clear whistle not very far away. I gerous? nasty? interesting? childish?
T he woods were already filled with shadows

one June evening, just before eight oclock,
though a bright sunset still glimmered faintly
You might have students provide an
example of each.
among the trunks of the

Sarah Orne Jewett (18491909) grew up in a small trees. A little girl was driving W The Mirrors
town in rural Maine. Jewett published her first short story IRRORS
W INDOWS
home her cow, a plodding, & Windows
as a teenager. In her writing, she celebrated rural Maine
and its people. dilatory, provoking crea- questions
ture in her behavior, but aatt tthe
A White Heron, one of her short stories published
in a collection of the same name, is an example of a valued companion for sstudents
tudeents to tthink about the
regional literature. The nineteenth-century regionalists all that. They were going theme of sacrifices or moral
wrote at a time when the United States was being rapidly away from whatever light compromises people are willing
industrialized. People had to work in factories, and many people moved from there was, and striking deep to make for money. To prepare
the country to the city looking for work. Old-growth forests were being cut
down to plant farms to feed city dwellers, and the wild animals that lived in
into the woods, but their students for discussion on this
these places were losing their natural habitats. Like much regional literature, feet were familiar with the topic, ask them to recall the first
A White Heron can be seen as a protest against these events. path, and it was no matter money they earned as a child
Which do you prefer, the country or the city? Why? whether their eyes could see and what it meant to them.
it or not.
A WHITE HERON 185
Program Resources

E-Lesson Planner
Developing Readers, Ask Questions
ExamView
English Language Learners, Take Notes
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows
A WHITE HERON 185

There was hardly a night the summer hornd torment1 too many summer evenings
through when the old cow could be found herself to blame anyone else for lingering, and
Teach the Selection waiting at the pasture bars; on the contrary, it was only thankful as she waited that she had
was her greatest pleasure to hide herself away Sylvia, nowadays, to give such valuable assis-
Summary among the high huckleberry bushes, and though tance. The good woman suspected that Sylvia
The story is set in rural Maine in the she wore a loud bell she had made the discovery loitered occasionally on her own account; there
1800s. The main character is Sylvia, that if one stood perfectly still it would not ring. never was such a child for straying about out-of-
an eight-year-old, imaginative child So Sylvia had to hunt for her until she found her, doors since the world was made! Everybody said
who lives with her grandmother in the that it was a good change for a little maid who
countryside. Shy and lonely, Sylvia has She waded on through the brook as had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded
the woods as her only companion, but manufacturing town, but, as for Sylvia herself,
she seems instinctively to be in tune the cow moved away, and listened it seemed as if she never had been alive at all
with nature. Into this childs world before she came to live at the farm. She thought
comes a young man who is an orni- to the thrushes with a heart that often with wistful compassion of a wretched
thologist. He is intent on collecting a geranium that belonged to a town neighbor.
specimen of a white heron and offers beat fast with pleasure. Afraid of folks, old Mrs. Tilley said to
Sylvia ten dollars if she helps him find herself, with a smile, after she had made the
one. Eager to gain his approval, Sylvia unlikely choice of Sylvia from her daughters
combs the woods by night and suc- houseful of children, and was returning to the
ceeds in finding the heron. But then and call Co! Co! with never an answering Moo, farm. Afraid of folks, they said! I guess she
Sylvia has second thoughts. Knowing until her childish patience was quite spent. If the wont be troubled no great with em up to the old
that the young man will kill the bird creature had not given good milk and plenty of place! When they reached the door of the lonely
to add it to his collection, Sylvia it, the case would have seemed very different to house and stopped to unlock it, and the cat came
remains silent about its whereabouts, her owners. Besides, Sylvia had all the time there to purr loudly, and rub against them, a deserted
and the young man leaves. was, and very little use to make of it. Sometimes pussy, indeed, but fat with young robins, Sylvia
in pleasant weather it was a consolation to look whispered that this was a beautiful place to live
upon the cows pranks as an intelligent attempt in, and she never should wish to go home.
to play hide and seek, and as the child had no The companions followed the shady wood-
playmates she lent herself to this amusement road, the cow taking slow steps, and the child
with a good deal of zest. Though this chase had very fast ones. The cow stopped long at the
been so long that the wary animal herself had brook to drink, as if the pasture were not half a
given an unusual signal of her whereabouts, swamp, and Sylvia stood still and waited, letting
Sylvia had only laughed when she came upon her bare feet cool themselves in the shoal water,
Mistress Moolly at the swamp-side, and urged while the great twilight moths struck softly
her affectionately homeward with a twig of birch against her. She waded on through the brook
leaves. The old cow was not inclined to wander as the cow moved away, and listened to the
farther, she even turned in the right direction for thrushes with a heart that beat fast with pleasure.
once as they left the pasture, and stepped along There was a stirring in the great boughs over-
the road at a good pace. She was quite ready to head. They were full of little birds and beasts that
be milked now, and seldom stopped to browse. seemed to be wide awake, and going about their
Sylvia wondered what her grandmother would world, or else saying goodnight to each other in
say because they were so late. It was a great while sleepy twitters. Sylvia herself felt sleepy as she
since she had left home at half past five oclock, walked along. However, it was not much farther
but everybody knew the difficulty of making this
errand a short one. Mrs. Tilley had chased the 1. hornd torment. Troublesome cow
186 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use

dilatory, 185 regionalists, 185
loitered, 186 industrialized, 185
demure, 189 habitats, 185
pettishly, 191 initial, 194
186 UNIT 1 FICTION

to the house, and the air was soft and sweet. She such an accident as this? It did not seem to
was not often in the woods so late as this, and be her fault, and she hung her head as if the
it made her feel as if she were a part of the gray stem of it were broken, but managed to answer Teach the Selection
shadows and the moving leaves. She was just Sylvy, with much effort when her companion
thinking how long it seemed since she first came again asked her name.
to the farm a year ago, and wondering if every- Mrs. Tilley was standing in the doorway Analyze Literature
thing went on in the noisy town just the same as when the trio came into view. The cow gave a Point of View Remind students
when she was there; the thought of the great red- loud moo by way of explanation. that point of view is the vantage
faced boy who used to chase and frighten her Yes, youd better speak up for yourself, point, or perspective, from which a
made her hurry along the story is toldin other words, who
path to escape from the is telling the story. A White Heron
shadow of the trees. is told from the third-person limited
Suddenly this little point of view, which means that the
woods-girl is horror- narrator is not a character in the story
stricken to hear a clear but someone outside it. The narrator
whistle not very far away. limits himself or herself to what one
Not a birds whistle, character (in this case, Sylvia) experi-
which would have a sort ences, thinks, and feels. Ask students
of friendliness, but a boys to identify those moments when it is
whistle, determined, and especially clear the reader is seeing
somewhat aggressive. events through Sylvias eyes.
Sylvia left the cow to what-
ever sad fate might await Use Reading Skills
her, and stepped discreetly Summarize Ask students to sum-
aside into the bushes, but marize how Sylvia came to live with
she was just too late. The her grandmother and what Sylvias
enemy had discovered her, Cows in the Meadow, c.1980. Robert McIntosh. personality is like.
and called out in a very
cheerful and persuasive tone, Halloa, little girl, you old trial! Whered she tucked herself away
how far is it to the road? and trembling Sylvia this time, Sylvy? But Sylvia kept an awed TEACHING NOTE
answered almost inaudibly, A good ways. silence; she knew by instinct that her grand- Early-American Cities
She did not dare to look boldly at the mother did not comprehend the gravity of the By the end of World War I, one-half of the peo-
tall young man, who carried a gun over his situation. She must be mistaking the stranger ple in the United States lived in twelve major
shoulder, but she came out of her bush and for one of the farmer-lads of the region. cities, and 8.5 million of these people were
again followed the cow, while he walked along- The young man stood his gun beside the factory workers. Life in manufacturing towns
side. I have been hunting for some birds, door, and dropped a lumpy game bag beside was marked by low wages, dangerous working
the stranger said kindly, and I have lost my it; then he bade Mrs. Tilley good evening, and conditions, and overcrowded and filthy living
way, and need a friend very much. Dont be repeated his wayfarers story, and asked if he quarters. Students interested in early-American
afraid, he added gallantly. Speak up and tell could have a nights lodging cities should be encouraged to read Upton
me what your name is, and whether you think Put me anywhere you like, he said. I Sinclairs The Jungle.
I can spend the night at your house, and go out must be off early in the morning, before day;
gunning early in the morning. but I am very hungry, indeed. You can give me
Sylvia was more alarmed than before. some milk at any rate, thats plain.
Would not her grandmother consider her Dear sakes, yes, responded the hostess,
much to blame? But who could have foreseen whose long slumbering hospitality seemed to
A WHITE HERON 187
A WHITE HERON 187

Teach the Selection
Analyze Literature
Characterization
Characterization is the act of creat-
ing or describing a character. Direct
students to the paragraph beginning
It was a surprise to find. Discuss
with students what they learn about
the young mans character from his
reaction to Mrs. Tilleys house. A
homework.
why that image, line, or idea might be easily awakened. You might fare better if growing enthusiasm, and insisted that this was
be significant. you went out to the main road a mile or so, the best supper he had eaten for a month, and
3. Assign one of the Writing Options but youre welcome to what weve got. Ill milk afterward the new-made friends sat down in the
on page 194. right off, and you make yourself at home. You doorway together while the moon came up.
can sleep on husks or feathers, she proffered Soon it would be berry-time, and Sylvia
graciously. I raised them all myself. Theres was a great help at picking. The cow was a
good pasturing for geese just below here good milker, though a plaguy thing to keep
towards the mash. Now step round and set track of, the hostess gossiped frankly, adding
a plate for the gentleman, Sylvy! And Sylvia presently that she had buried four children,
promptly stepped. She was glad to have some- so Sylvias mother, and a son (who might be
thing to do, and she was hungry herself. dead) in California were all the children she
It was a surprise to find so clean and had left. Dan, my boy, was a great hand to go
C
comfortable a little dwelling in this New gunning, she explained sadly. I never wanted
England wilderness. The young man had known for patridges or gray squerls while he was to
the horrors of its most primitive housekeeping, home. Hes been a great wandrer, I expect,
and the dreary squalor of that level of society and hes no hand to write letters. There, I dont
A which does not rebel at the companionship of blame him, Id ha seen the world myself if it
hens. This was the best thrift of an old-fashioned had been so I could.
farmstead, though on such a small scale that B Sylvia takes after him, the grandmother
it seemed like a hermitage. He listened eagerly continued affectionately, after a minutes pause.
to the old womans quaint talk, he watched There aint a foot o ground she dont know
Sylvias pale face and shining gray eyes with ever her way over, and the wild creaturs counts her
188 UNIT 1 FICTION
Reading Proficiency r should be dropped, especially at the end

Point out to students that Jewetts story con- of a word or after an a sound
tains examples of the Maine dialect, particu- g is dropped at the end of words ending in
larly in the words of Sylvias grandmother. This ing
dialect is known as the Downeast Accent. a and e sounds are broad (bath
Help students to read it by sharing with them becomes bahth)
these rules: the r sound is added to the ends of words
ending in a (idea becomes idear).
188 UNIT 1 FICTION

one o themselves. Squerls shell tame to come Sylvias heart gave a wild beat; she knew
an feed right out o her hands, and all sorts that strange white bird, and had once stolen
o birds. Last winter she got the jay-birds to softly near where it stood in some bright green Teach the Selection
bangeing2 here, and I believe shed a scanted swamp grass, away over at the other side of
herself3 of her own meals to have plenty to the woods. There was an open place where the Analyze Literature
throw out amongst em, if I hadnt kep watch. sunshine always seemed strangely yellow and Dialect A dialect is a version of a
Anything but crows, I tell her, Im willin to hot, where tall, nodding rushes grew, and her language spoken by the people of a
help supportthough Dan he had a tamed grandmother had warned her that she might particular place, time, or social group.
one o them that did seem to have reason same sink in the soft black mud underneath and Have students read the paragraph
as folks. It was round here a good spell after never be heard of more. Not far beyond were beginning Sylvia takes after him, on
he went away. Dan an his father they didnt the salt marshes just this side the sea itself, pages 188 and 189 and translate Mrs.
hitch,but he never held up his head agin which Sylvia wondered and dreamed about, Tilleys sentences into standard English.
after Dan had dared him an gone off. but never had seen, whose great voice could Discuss with students why a writer
The guest did not notice this hint of family sometimes be heard above the noise of the might use dialect and how it helps
sorrows in his eager interest in something else. woods on stormy nights. develop Mrs. Tilleys character. B
So Sylvy knows all about birds, does I cant think of anything I should like so
she? he exclaimed, as he looked round at the much as to find that herons nest, the hand- Use Reading Strategies
little girl who sat, very demure but increas- some stranger was saying. I would give ten Clarify A hint of family sorrows is
ingly sleepy, in the moonlight. I am making a dollars to anybody who could show it to me, revealed in the paragraph at the top
collection of birds myself. I have been at it ever he added desperately, and I mean to spend of page 189. Ask students to reread
since I was a boy. (Mrs. Tilley smiled.) There my whole vacation hunting for it if need be. the passage from she had buried
are two or three very rare ones I have been Perhaps it was only migrating, or had been four children on page 188 to gone
hunting for these five years. I mean to get them chased out of its own region by some bird of off on page 189, then answer these
on my own ground if they can be found. prey. questions: Who is Dan? What is he
Do you cage em up? asked Mrs. Tilley Mrs. Tilley gave amazed attention to all like? Why did he go off and leave the
doubtfully, in response to this enthusiastic this, but Sylvia still watched the toad, not family? C
announcement. divining, as she might have done at some Answers: Dan is the grandmothers
Oh, no, theyre stuffed and preserved, calmer time, that the creature wished to get son and Sylvias uncle. He loved to
dozens and dozens of them, said the orni- to its hole under the doorstep, and was much hunt and is a great wanderer. Sylvia
thologist, and I have shot or snared every one hindered by the unusual spectators at that takes after him. He and his father did
myself. I caught a glimpse of a white heron hour of the evening. No amount of thought, not get along well, so Dan rebelled
three miles from here on Saturday, and I have that night, could decide how many wished-for against his father and took off. This
followed it in this direction. They have never treasures the ten dollars, so lightly spoken of, information about Dan helps to show
been found in this district at all. The little would buy. why the stranger is so welcome in the
white heron, it is, and he turned again to look house. He reminds the old woman of
her son.
at Sylvia with the hope of discovering that the
rare bird was one of her acquaintances.
But Sylvia was watching a hop-toad in the
T he next day the young sportsman hovered
about the woods, and Sylvia kept him
company, having lost her first fear of the
narrow footpath. friendly lad, who proved to be most kind and
You would know the heron if you saw it, sympathetic. He told her many things about
the stranger continued eagerly. A queer tall the birds and what they knew and where
white bird with soft feathers and long thin legs. they lived and what they did with them-
And it would have a nest perhaps in the top selves. And he gave her a jackknife, which she
of a high tree, made of sticks, something like a 2. bangeing. Hanging around
hawks nest. 3. a scanted herself. Would have deprived herself
A WHITE HERON 189
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0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.189 189 11/19/07 12:26:50 PM
Science while others may be turned off by the sport.

Ask students to discuss hunting in their area. Are Whether students are for or against hunting,
they interested in hunting? Ask them what they you might point out that responsible hunting
think of the young mans hunting hobby, as well helps to prevent overpopulation of animals,
as his plans for the rare birds. Is there anything while the killing of rare birds, such as what the
wrong with what he is attempting to do? young man is setting out to do, is usually a
Answers: Some students may be interested, crime prohibited by law.
A WHITE HERON 189

thought as great a treasure as if she were a II
Teach the Selection
desert-islander. All day long he did not once
make her troubled or afraid except when he
brought down some unsuspecting singing
H alf a mile from home, at the farther edge
of the woods, where the land was highest,
a great pine tree stood, the last of its genera-
Analyze Literature creature from its bough. Sylvia would have tion. Whether it was left for a boundary mark,
Conflict A conflict is a struggle liked him vastly better without his gun; she or for what reason, no one could say; the
between two forces in a literary work. could not understand why he killed the very woodchoppers who had felled its mates were
A plot introduces a conflict, develops birds he seemed to like so much. But as the dead and gone long ago, and a whole forest of
it, and eventually resolves it. Have stu- day waned, Sylvia still watched the young sturdy trees, pines and oaks and maples, had
dents read the paragraph beginning man with loving admiration. She had never grown again. But the stately head of this old
at the bottom of page 189 and con- seen anybody so charming and delightful; pine towered above them all and made a land-
tinuing onto page 190. What internal the womans heart, asleep in the child, was mark for sea and shore miles and miles away.
conflict is beginning to develop in vaguely thrilled by a dream of love. Some A Sylvia knew it well. She had always believed
Sylvia regarding her feelings for the premonition of that great power stirred and that whoever climbed to the top of it could see
young man? swayed these young creatures who traversed the ocean; and the little girl had often laid her
Answer: The conflict is between the solemn woodlands with soft-footed silent hand on the great rough trunk and looked up
Sylvias admiration for the young man wistfully at those dark boughs that the wind
and her confusion about why he kills always stirred, no matter how hot and still the
the very creatures he loves. What a spirit of adventure, what wild air might be below. Now she thought of the
ambition! What fancied triumph and tree with a new excitement, for why, if one
Use Reading Strategies climbed it at break of day, could not one see all
Make Predictions After students delight and glory for the later morning the world, and easily discover from whence the
read the first paragraph in part II, ask white heron flew, and mark the place, and find
them to write down their predictions when she could make known the secret! the hidden nest?
about what might happen next in the What a spirit of adventure, what wild
story. To help them make predictions, ambition! What fancied triumph and delight
ask: What is Sylvia planning to do? and glory for the later morning when she could
What might happen as a result? How care. They stopped to listen to a birds song; make known the secret! It was almost too real
do you think the story will end? A they pressed forward again eagerly, parting and too great for the childish heart to bear.
the branches,speaking to each other rarely All night the door of the little house stood
Analyze Literature and in whispers; the young man going first open and the whippoorwills came and sang
Theme A theme is a central idea of and Sylvia following, fascinated, a few steps upon the very step. The young sportsman and
a story. Ask students to read the sen- behind, with her gray eyes dark with excite- his old hostess were sound asleep, but Sylvias
tence at the bottom of page 190 that ment. great design kept her broad awake and watching.
begins, Alas. What is the narrators She grieved because the longed-for white She forgot to think of sleep. The short summer
hope for this young child? What does heron was elusive, but she did not lead the night seemed as long as the winter darkness, and
this suggest about the theme of the guest, she only followed, and there was no at last when the whippoorwills ceased, and she
story? B such thing as speaking first. The sound of her was afraid the morning would after all come too
Answer: The narrator hopes that the own unquestioned voice would have terrified soon, she stole out of the house and followed
small childs connection with nature her,it was hard enough to answer yes or no the pasture path through the woods, hastening
will not be taken away by the cor- when there was need of that. At last evening toward the open ground beyond, listening with
rupting influence of human interest. began to fall, and they drove the cow home a sense of comfort and companionship to the
One possible theme of the story may together, and Sylvia smiled with pleasure when drowsy twitter of a half-awakened bird, whose
be that people should not become so they came to the place where she heard the perch she had jarred in passing. Alas, if the great
caught up in their worldly desires that B
whistle and was afraid only the night before. wave of human interest which flooded for the
they lose their connection with the
natural world. 190 UNIT 1 FICTION
Learning Styles Kinesthetic Sylvias climb up the oak and

Visual Inform students that we all connect to then up to the top of the pine tree is extremely
prior knowledge in order to form visual images daring for anyone, let along a young child.
of what we read. Ask students to discuss what Ask students to talk about a time when they
they visualize when they read about Sylvias climbed a tree or cliff. How did they overcome
adventures. Do they recall images of a particu- their fear of falling? How did they feel when
lar woods they have been to? Do they recall they reached the top?
any particular moments of being in nature? You
may ask students to sketch their impressions of
the pine tree Sylvia climbs.
190 UNIT 1 FICTION

first time this dull little life
should sweep away the satis-
factions of an existence heart Teach the Selection
to heart with nature and the
dumb life of the forest! Analyze Literature
There was the huge Simile Remind students that a simile
tree asleep yet in the paling is a comparison using like or as. It
moonlight, and small and invites readers to see things in an
silly Sylvia began with imaginative way. Ask students to look
utmost bravery to mount to for similes and metaphors on page
the top of it, with tingling, 191. For example, what simile does
eager blood coursing the the author use to describe Sylvias
channels of her whole feet and fingers as she climbs the
frame, with her bare feet tree? Toward the end of the left col-
and fingers, that pinched umn, what simile is used to describe
and held like birds claws the way the branches scratch Sylvia?
to the monstrous ladder What effect do these similes have? In
reaching up, up, almost to the last paragraph on the page, what
the sky itself. First she must simile is used to describe the tree?
mount the white oak tree Why do you think the author chose to
that grew alongside, where make this comparison?
she was almost lost among Answers: The similes compare Sylvias
the dark branches and the feet and fingers to birds claws, and
green leaves heavy and wet the branches of the tree to talons.
with dew; a bird fluttered off Both similes have to do with birds,
its nest, and a red squirrel and fit in with the topic of the story.
ran to and fro and scolded The tree is described as a great main-
pettishly at the harmless mast to the voyaging earth. This
housebreaker. Sylvia felt her
simile helps the reader to feel the
awesome sense of adventure Sylvia
way easily. She had often
felt while climbing the tall pine tree.
climbed there, and knew that higher still one of robins in the woods below were beginning to
the oaks upper branches chafed against the pine wake and twitter to the dawn, yet it seemed
trunk, just where its lower boughs were set close much lighter there aloft in the pine tree, and
together. There, when she made the dangerous the child knew that she must hurry if her
pass from one tree to the other, the great enter- project were to be of any use.
prise would really begin. The tree seemed to lengthen itself out as
She crept out along the swaying oak limb she went up, and to reach farther and farther
at last, and took the daring step across into upward. It was like a great main-mast to the
the old pine tree. The way was harder than voyaging earth; it must truly have been amazed
she thought; she must reach far and hold fast, that morning through all its ponderous frame
the sharp dry twigs caught and held her and as it felt this determined spark of human spirit
scratched her like angry talons, the pitch made winding its way from higher branch to branch.
her thin little fingers clumsy and stiff as she Who knows how steadily the least twigs held
went round and round the trees great stem, themselves to advantage this light, weak crea-
higher and higher upward. The sparrows and ture on her way! The old pine must have loved
A WHITE HERON 191
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0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.191 191 11/19/07 12:26:50 PM
Natural Science
Ask students to locate pictures of the birds men-
tioned in the story, including the white heron,
partridge, whipporwhill, jay-bird, sparrow, robin,
and crow. They should put these photos together in
a PowerPoint presentation to share with the class.
Students may also find pictures of oak trees, pine,
and hemlock.
A WHITE HERON 191

Teach the Selection
Art Connection
Salt Marsh at Southport, Connecticut,
c.18751881 by Martin Johnson
Heade.
Martin Johnson Heade (18191904)
was born and raised in rural
Pennsylvania. He is known for land-
scapes that convey mood through
subtle effects of light and atmosphere.
Heade often painted the seashore and
marshes.
Art Activity As an additional activ-
ity, ask students to imagine they
work for an art gallery and have been
asked to write a brief analysis of this
painting to be included in a catalog.
They should describe the scene in
their own words, being sure to discuss
Heades use of light and atmospheric
effects to create a particular mood. A
Analyze Literature
Simile A simile is a comparison of
two seemingly unlike things using the
word like or as. In the first full para-
Salt Marsh at Southport, Connecticut, c. 187581. Martin Johnson Heade. North Carolina Museum of Art. A
graph on the page, to what does the
narrator compare Sylvias face? What is his new dependent. More than all the hawks, looked in the air from that height when one
the significance of this simile? B and bats, and moths, and even the sweet had only seen them before far up, and dark
Answers: Sylvias face is compared to voiced thrushes, was the brave, beating heart against the blue sky. Their gray feathers were
a pale star. The simile is significant of the solitary gray-eyed child. And the tree as soft as moths; they seemed only a little way
because Sylvia is high up in a tree, like stood still and frowned away the winds that from the tree, and Sylvia felt as if she too could
a star is high up in the sky. The star is June morning while the dawn grew bright in go flying away among the clouds. Westward,
pale because Sylvia is tired and a little the east. the woodlands and farms reached miles and
afraid. The image of a star is signifi- Sylvias face was like a pale star, if one miles into the distance; here and there were
cant because it is part of nature, like had seen it from the ground, when the last church steeples, and white villages; truly it was
Sylvia is in many ways connected to B thorny bough was past, and she stood trem- a vast and awesome world!
and, in a sense, a part of nature.
bling and tired but wholly triumphant, high The birds sang louder and louder. At last
in the treetop. Yes, there was the sea with the the sun came up bewilderingly bright. Sylvia
dawning sun making a golden dazzle over it, could see the white sails of ships out at sea,
and toward that glorious east flew two hawks and the clouds that were purple and rose-
with slow-moving pinions. How low they colored and yellow at first began to fade away.
192 UNIT 1 FICTION
Analyze Literature
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.192 192 that time feared were being lost in the rapidly 11/19/07 12:26:54 PM 0130-0203_Lit3eG
Regionalism modernizing world. A White Heron, which first

Sarah Orne Jewetts writing can be consid- appeared in 1886, is one of the most famous
ered an example of American regionalism. examples of regionalist fiction. Other regionalist
Regionalism, or local-color fiction, became writers included Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and
popular in the United States in the late 1800s, Kate Chopin. You may invite students to read
after the Civil War. Regionalist writers attempted other examples of regionalist fiction, such as
to create realistic stories that included color- Bret Hartes The Outcasts of Poker Flat or Mark
ful dialects and local customs which people of Twains The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
192 UNIT 1 FICTION

of light and consciousness from your two eager
eyes, for the heron has perched on a pine
bough not far beyond yours, and cries back to Teach the Selection
Where was the white herons nest in Analyze Literature
Motivation A motivation is a force
the sea of green branches, and was this that moves a character to think, feel,
or behave in a certain way. Direct
wonderful sight and pageant of the world students to the paragraph on page
193 beginning The child gives a long
the only reward for having climbed to sigh. At the end of the paragraph,
what does Sylvia decide to do? C
such a giddy height? Answer: She decides to tell the young
man how to get to the nest.
Then, have students read the para-
graph on page 194 beginning No,
his mate on the nest, and plumes his feathers she must keep silence! What moti-
for the new day! vates Sylvia to change her mind?
The child gives a long sigh a minute later Answer: After having seen the beau-
when a company of shouting catbirds comes tiful bird up high in the trees and
also to the tree, and vexed by their fluttering watched the sea and the morning
and lawlessness the solemn heron goes away. together with the creature, she real-
She knows his secret now, the wild, light, izes she doesnt want the white heron
slender bird that floats and wavers, and goes to die.
back like an arrow presently to his home in
the green world beneath. Then Sylvia, well Analyze Literature
C
satisfied, makes her perilous way down again, Climax The climax is the high point
not daring to look far below the branch she of interest or suspense in the story.
stands on, ready to cry sometimes because Ask students to identify what they
her fingers ache and her lamed feet slip. think is the climactic moment of the
Where was the white herons nest in the sea of Wondering over and over again what the story.
green branches, and was this wonderful sight stranger would say to her, and what he would Answer: Students may say that the
and pageant of the world the only reward for think when she told him how to find his way climax is reached at the point when
having climbed to such a giddy height? Now straight to the herons nest. Sylvia sees the white heron and knows
look down again, Sylvia, where the green its secret hiding place.
marsh is set among the shining birches and
dark hemlocks; there where you saw the white
heron once you will see him again; look, look!
S ylvy, Sylvy! called the busy old grand-
mother again and again, but nobody
answered, and the small husk bed was empty
a white spot of him like a single floating feather and Sylvia had disappeared.
comes up from the dead hemlock and grows The guest waked from a dream, and
larger, and rises, and comes close at last, and remembering his days pleasure hurried to
goes by the landmark pine with steady sweep dress himself that might it sooner begin. He
of wing and outstretched slender neck and was sure from the way the shy little girl looked
crested head. And wait! wait! do not move a once or twice yesterday that she had at least
foot or a finger, little girl, do not send an arrow seen the white heron, and now she must really
A WHITE HERON 193

Students may be discouraged by the difficult Encourage students to analyze the narrative
vocabulary in this story. Encourage them to tone and voice in this story. What is the tone of
use context clues to guess the meanings of the narrator toward the little girl? Why are so
new words. Model this strategy by pointing out many exclamation points included, and what
the word pinions at the bottom of page 192 effect do they create? Whom does the narrator
and saying, Suppose I do not know the word address in the first paragraph on page 193?
pinions. By reading the sentence, I am able to Who is being addressed at the end of the story?
guess from the context that they must be the Students may write a short essay describing the
hawks wings. tone and voice of Orne Jewetts story.
A WHITE HERON 193

be made to tell. Here she comes now, paler Has she been nine years growing and now,
than ever, and her worn old frock is torn when the great world for the first time puts
Review the Selection and tattered, and smeared with pine pitch. out a hand to her, must she thrust it aside for
The grandmother and the sportsman stand in a birds sake? The murmur of the pines green
Use Reading Skills branches is in her ears, she remembers how the
Main Idea To help students uncover white heron came flying through the golden air
the main idea of the story, have them
Whatever treasures were lost to her, and how they watched the sea and the morning
make a Pro and Con Chart with the woodlands and summertime, remember! together, and Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot
headings What Sylvia Lost and tell the herons secret and give its life away.
What Sylvia Gained. Discuss with Bring your gifts and graces and tell your
students what the author is trying to
tell readers about nature and beauty
as opposed to material possessions.
secrets to this lonely country child! D ear loyalty, that suffered a sharp pang as
the guest went away disappointed later in
the day, that could have served and followed
him and loved him as a dog loves! Many a
W night Sylvia heard the echo of his whistle
Students
IRRORS the door together and question her, and the haunting the pasture path as she came home
W INDOWS may not
be comfort-
splendid moment has come to speak of the
dead hemlock tree by the green marsh.
with the loitering cow. She forgot even her
sorrow at the sharp report of his gun and the
aable
blee ttalking
alking aabout their own But Sylvia does not speak after all, though sight of thrushes and sparrows dropping silent
m oraal failing
moral failings in class, but you the old grandmother fretfully rebukes her, and to the ground, their songs hushed and their
could ask them to write about the young mans kind, appealing eyes are looking pretty feathers stained and wet with blood.
this topic in their journals. straight in her own. He can make them rich with Were the birds better friends than their hunter
money; he has promised it, and they are poor might have been,who can tell? Whatever
now. He is so well worth making happy, and he treasures were lost to her, woodlands and
Refer and Reason waits to hear the story she can tell. summertime, remember! Bring your gifts
1. At first, Sylvia is a little frightened No, she must keep silence! What is it that and graces and tell your secrets to this lonely
of the young man, since she is a suddenly forbids her and makes her dumb? country child!
very shy girl. As she warms up
&
to him, she find herself a little W Have you ever done something you didnt believe in because you needed the
attracted to him. She wants to IRRORS
W INDOWS
money? What sacrifices do people often make for money? Why does money have
help him find the white heron, but
so much power over people?
it bothers her that he hunts and
stuffs birds instead of letting them
be free in the wild. At the end of
the story, Sylvia is sad she cant
Refer and Reason a list of secrets Sylvia might learn from nature.
help the man, but the white herons 1. Identify Sylvias initial impression of the young man. Explain why she is worthy of such secrets.
life is more important to her. How does Sylvias attitude toward the young man Writing Options
2. Responses will vary. The young change in the course of the story? 1. Write a dialogue between Sylvia and the young
man offers Sylvia ten dollars. 2. Recall what the young man offers Sylvia if she helps man in which she tells him why she wont tell the
3. Responses will vary. him find the white heron. Evaluate Sylvias decision white herons secret.
to not tell the young man where the white heron 2. Write a note to a friend who has also read this
nests. story. In your note, compare the conflict Sylvia faced
Rubrics for Writing 3. At the end of the story, the narrator says, Whatever with an internal conflict you have overcome.
Options treasures were lost to her, woodlands and summer- W
time, remember! Bring your gifts and graces and tell
For writing rubrics and student your secrets to this lonely country child! Compose W Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more.
assignments, go to
www.mirrorsandwindows.com. 194 UNIT 1 FICTION
Assessment Project
Ask students to write a paragraph discussing the authors use of vivid descriptive passages and
details in the story. Remind students to cite specific details from the story in their paragraphs.
Assign points for the Assessment Project according to the following scale.
3 Student includes discussion of at least three descriptive passages in the story.
2 Student includes discussion of two descriptive passages in the story.
1 Student discusses only one descriptive passage or detail in the story.
194 UNIT 1 FICTION

INDEPENDENT READING
The At a Glance
Enchanted Independent Reading

Garden Vocabulary; botanical references

Ease Factors: Subject
Objectives
The pale boy was wandering Reading this selection will enable
students to
about his shady room apply reading strategies and skills.
furtively, touching with his analyze literary elements.
white fingers the edges unfamiliar vocabulary words.
of the cases studded use writing options to assess under-
with butterflies; then
he stopped to listen. Launch the Lesson
To help students prepare to consider
the fantasy elements in this story,
A Short Story by have them brainstorm ideas about
Italo Calvino the title. What would an enchanted
garden be like? What plants might
Artists Garden at Vtheuil, 1880. Claude Monet. National Gallery of Art,
Washington, DC.
grow there? What might be the shape
of the garden? What might happen
Born in Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba, Italo Calvino
(19231985) left Cuba for Italy in his youth. There,
G iovannino and
Serenella were strolling
along the railroad tracks.
there? Have students share their
thoughts in small groups.
he joined the Italian Resistance during World War II.
After the war, he wrote his first novel, The Path to the Below was a scaly sea of
Nest of Spiders, when he was only twenty-four years somber, clear blue; above, W The Mirrors
IRRORS
W INDOWS
old. In the 1950s, Calvino turned his attention to a sky lightly streaked with & Windows
writing fantasy and allegory. white clouds. The railroad questions
The Enchanted Garden is a realistic short story with elements tracks were shimmering aatt tthe
of fantasy. Taken from Calvinos collection Difficult Loves, the selection and burning hot. It was sstudents
tudeents to cconsider the theme
is written in lyrical and sharply realistic prose, particularly the descriptive fun going along the tracks, of joy from the simple things in
passages of the garden grounds that Giovannino and Serenella find by there were so many games life. To prepare them to discuss
chance. Chance is an invisible character in the story, governing among to playhe balancing on these questions, ask students
other things the childrens discovery of the garden. one rail and holding her if they think the rich are truly
If you could design your own paradise, what would it look like? hand while she walked happy. Why, or why not?
along on the other, or else
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Program Resources
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.195 195 11/19/07 12:26:56 PM

E-Lesson Planner
Developing Readers, Visualize
ExamView
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows

both jumping from one sleeper1 to the next while up the hillside ran a rambling hedge with
without ever letting their feet touch the stones thick leaves but no flowers. There was still no
Teach the Selection in between. Giovannino and Serenella had sign of the train; perhaps it was coasting, with
been out looking for crabs, and now they had the engine cut off, and would jump out at them
Summary decided to explore the railroad tracks as far as all of a sudden. But Giovannino had now found
As they play together along the the tunnel. He liked playing with Serenella, for an opening in the hedge. This way, he called.
railroad tracks, two young children The fence under the rambling hedge was an
named Giovannino and Serenella old bent rail. At one point it twisted about on
crawl through a gap in a hedge the ground like the corner of a sheet of paper.
and discover they are in a beautiful, Giovannino had slipped into the hole and
deserted garden. Although they are already half vanished.
apprehensive because the garden Give me a hand, Giovannino.
does not belong to them, they explore They found themselves in the corner of a
it together, admiring the lovely flow- garden, on all fours in a flower bed, with their
ers and plants, taking a dip in the hair full of dry leaves and moss. Everything
swimming pool, and playing ping- was quiet; not a leaf was stirring.
pong. Manservants deliver a delicious Come on, said Giovannino, and Serenella
tea, leaving it for the children to she did not behave as all the other little girls nodded in reply.
enjoy. Then the children peep through did, forever getting frightened or bursting into There were big old flesh-colored eucalyptus
the window of a grand villa, spy- tears at every joke. Whenever Giovannino said, trees and winding gravel paths. Giovannino
ing on a pale boy in a shady room. Lets go there, or Lets do this, Serenella and Serenella tiptoed along the paths, taking
Their apprehensions make them very followed without a word. care not to crunch the gravel. Suppose the
nervous, however, so they crawl back Ping! They both gave a start and looked up. owners appeared now?
through the hedge and go down to A telephone wire had snapped off the top of Everything was so beautiful: sharp bends in
the beach, where they invent a new the pole. It sounded like an iron stork shutting the path and high, curling eucalyptus leaves and
game: throwing great clumps of sea- its beak in a hurry. They stood with their noses patches of sky. But there was always the worrying
weed at one another. in the air and watched. What a pity not to have thought that it was not their garden, and that they
seen it! Now it would never happen again. might be chased away any moment. Yet not a
Art Connection Theres a train coming, said Giovannino. sound could be heard. A flight of chattering spar-
Direct students to the painting on Serenella did not move from the rail. rows rose from a clump of arbutus at a turn in
page 195. Claude Monet (1840 Where from? she asked. the path. Then all was silent again. Perhaps it was
1926) was the originator of the Giovannino looked around in a knowledge- an abandoned garden?
Impressionist style, which was con- able way. He pointed at the black hole of the But the shade of the big trees came to an
cerned with representing the effects tunnel, which showed clear one moment, then end, and they found themselves under the
of light and color in nature. Monet misty the next, through the invisible heat haze open sky facing flower beds filled with neat
moved to Vtheuil because of the rising from the stony track. rows of petunias and convolvulus, and paths
quality of light found there and even From there, he said. It was as though and balustrades2 and rows of box trees. And up
constructed gardens especially to they already heard a snort from the darkness at the end of the garden was a large villa with
serve as subjects in his paintings. of the tunnel, and saw the train suddenly flashing window panes and yellow-and-orange
Art Activity Ask students to exam-
appear, belching out fire and smoke, the curtains.
ine Artists Garden at Vtheuil and
wheels mercilessly eating up the rails as it And it was all quite deserted. The two
discuss in what ways the Impressionist
hurtled toward them. children crept forward, treading carefully
style is suited to representing a flower
Where shall we go, Giovannino?
garden.
There were big gray aloes down by the sea, 1. sleeper. British term for a tie supporting a railroad track
surrounded by dense, impenetrable nettles, 2. balustrades. Staircase railings held up by posts
196 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use

impenetrable, 196 fantasy, 195
mortar, 197 allegory, 195
villa, 198 lyrical, 195
furtively, 199
196 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Selection
homework.
why that image, line, or idea might
be significant.
on page 199.
TEACHING NOTE
Science Project
Calvino often references the scientific names of
flowers and plants in this story. Have students
list these references and then use the Internet
to look up the names. Ask students to find pic-
over the gravel: perhaps the windows would empty rectangle: a swimming pool. They crept tures of the different flowers, trees, and shrubs
suddenly be flung open, and angry ladies and up to the edge; it was lined with blue tiles and and use them to design their own gardens. You
gentlemen appear on the terraces to unleash filled to the brim with clear water. How lovely may want to divide students into groups for this
great dogs down the paths. Now they found a it would be to swim in! activity.
wheelbarrow standing near a ditch. Giovannino Shall we go for a dip? Giovannino asked
picked it up by the handles and began pushing Serenella. The idea must have been quite
it along: it creaked like a whistle at every turn. dangerous if he asked her instead of just saying,
Serenella seated herself in it and they moved In we go! But the water was so clear and blue,
slowly forward, Giovannino pushing the and Serenella was never afraid. She jumped off
barrow with her on top, along the flower beds the barrow and put her bunch of flowers in it.
and fountains. They were already in bathing suits, since theyd
Every now and then Serenella would point been out for crabs before. Giovannino plunged
to a flower and say in a low voice, That one, innot from the diving board, because the
and Giovannino would put the barrow down, splash would have made too much noise, but
pluck it, and give it to her. Soon she had a from the edge of the pool. Down and down he
lovely bouquet. went with his eyes wide open, seeing only the
Eventually the gravel ended and they blue from the tiles and his pink hands like gold-
reached an open space paved in bricks and fish; it was not the same as under the sea, full
mortar. In the middle of this space was a big of shapeless green-black shadows. A pink form
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0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.197 197 11/19/07 12:26:58 PM
Reading Proficiency somberdark and gloomy, 198

Explain to students that, while some stories parrydeflect, 198
could be set in any number of places, the set- chaise loungelounge chair, 199
ting in The Enchanted Garden is crucial to subsidebecome less intense, 199
both the action and the theme of the story. furtivelysneakily; stealthily, 199
residueleftover or remainder, 199
Share with students the following vocabulary
items from the storys opening section.
impenetrableincapable of being passed
through, 196

Teach the Selection
Analyze Literature
Setting The setting of a literary
work is the time and place in which
it occurs, together with all the details
used to create a sense of a particular
time and place. How does the physi-
cally beautiful setting here inspire
both enjoyment and anxiety in the
children?
Answer: Although the children take
pleasure in the gardens beauty, they
are nervous because they feel that
they have no right to be there and
that they may be caught by the own-
ers of the house.
Analyze Literature
Fantasy A fantasy is a literary
work that contains highly unrealistic appeared above him: Serenella! He took her on a round table under an orange-and-yellow-
elements. Included as fantasy are sto- hand and they swam up to the surface, a bit striped umbrella, off they went.
ries that resemble fairy tales, involve anxiously. No, there was no one watching them Giovannino and Serenella crept up to the
the supernatural, or have imaginary at all. But it was not so nice as theyd thought it table. There was tea, milk, and sponge cake.
characters and settings. Have students would be; they always had that uncomfortable They had only to sit down and help them-
read the paragraph beginning with feeling that they had no right to any of this, selves. They poured out two cups of tea and
They scrambled out of the water. and might be chased out at any moment. cut two slices of cake. But somehow they did
What are two fantastic elements in They scrambled out of the water, and there not feel at all at ease, and sat perched on the
this passage? A beside the swimming pool they found a Ping- edge of their chairs, their knees shaking. And
Answer: Two fantastic elements are Pong table. Instantly Giovannino picked up the they could not really enjoy the tea and cake, for
the highly unlikely chain of cause paddle and hit the ball, and Serenella, on the nothing seemed to have any taste. Everything
and effect involving the ping-pong other side, was quick to return his shot. And in the garden was like that: lovely but impos-
ball, the gong, and the appearance of so they went on playing, though giving only sible to enjoy properly, with that worrying
the servants, as well as the servants light taps at the ball, in case someone in the feeling inside that they were only there through
setting down the tea tray and then A villa heard them. Then Giovannino, in trying to an odd stroke of luck, and the fear that theyd
disappearing. parry a shot that had bounced high, sent the ball soon have to give an account of themselves.
sailing away through the air and smack against Very quietly they tiptoed up to the villa.
a gong hanging in a pergola.3 There was a long, Between the slits of a Venetian blind they
somber boom. The two children crouched down saw a beautiful shady room, with collections
behind a clump of ranunculus. At once two of butterflies hanging on the walls. And in
menservants in white coats appeared, carrying the room was a pale little boy. Lucky boy, he
big trays; when they had put the trays down
3. pergola. An arbor
198 UNIT 1 FICTION
TEACHING NOTE
Write About Chance
Invite students to write about the role chance

plays in life. Have they, or someone close to
them, experienced a chance discovery or chance
encounter? How does the element of chance
add to a persons enjoyment in life?
198 UNIT 1 FICTION

must be the owner of this villa and garden. He ever. Perhaps it was the fear of a spell that
was stretched out on a chaise lounge, turning hung over this villa and garden and over all
the pages of a large book filled with figures. these lovely, comfortable things, the residue of Review the Selection
He had big white hands and wore pajamas some injustice committed long ago.
buttoned up to the neck, though it was Clouds darkened the sun. Very quietly
summer. Giovannino and Serenella crept away. They W Students
As the two children went on peeping went back along the same paths they had IRRORS
through the slits, the pounding of their hearts come, stepping fast but never at a run. And W INDOWS may say
that great
gradually subsided. Why, the little rich boy oy can
joy can be found
fou in simple
seemed to be sitting there and turning the pleeasures. Wealthy
pleasures. We people may
pages and glancing around with more anxiety become so caught up in gather-
and worry than their own. Then he got up and ing material possessions that they
tiptoed around, as if he were afraid that at any forget how to have simple fun.
moment someone would come and turn him
out, as if he felt that that book, that chaise
lounge, and those butterflies framed on the
wall, the garden and games and tea trays, the Refer and Reason
swimming pool and paths, were only granted 1. The setting creates a feeling of
to him by some enormous mistake, as if he enchantment or otherworldliness.
were incapable of enjoying them and felt the they went through the hedge again on all fours. 2. Unlike Giovannino and Serenella,
bitterness of the mistake as his own fault. Between the aloes they found a path leading the little boy is rich and seems
The pale boy was wandering about his down to the small, stony beach, with banks of to be the owner of the garden
shady room furtively, touching with his white seaweed along the shore. Then they invented and villa, whereas they are in the
fingers the edges of the cases studded with a wonderful new game: a seaweed fight. They garden by chance. All the children
seem anxious, as if they do not
butterflies; then he stopped to listen. The threw great handfuls of it in each others faces
belong in this space.
pounding of Giovannino and Serenellas hearts, till late in the afternoon. And Serenella never
3. The garden seems enchanted
which had died down, now got harder than once cried.
because of the mysterious way in
which the children enter it by slip-
&
ping through a gap in a hedge.
W Other factors include the many
IRRORS What joy can be found in the simple things in life? Why do people who have a lot
winding paths and abundant flow-
W INDOWS of wealth and possessions sometimes miss out on the most simple pleasures?
ers and plants, the fact that the
children have the garden all to
themselves, the accidental way in
which the servants are summoned,
1. List some details about the enchanted garden. 1. In a paragraph or two, write a brief story about and the presence of so many things
Analyze the mood created by the settings details. what the pale little boy did after Giovannino and that children enjoy.
2. Describe the little boy Giovannino and Serenella Serenella left.
see through the window. Compare and contrast him 2. Write a summary of the theme of the story and give
with Giovannino and Serenella. What do you think three examples that illustrate this theme.
Rubrics for Writing
would happen if they met? W Options
3. Identify elements in the garden that emphasize the
W Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more. For writing rubrics and student
feeling of otherworldliness. Explain what the phrase models of the Writing Options
the residue of some injustice committed long ago
assignments, go to
might refer to.
/19/07 12:27:02 PM
Assessment Project
0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.199 199 11/19/07 12:27:04 PM
Ask students to write a paragraph discussing the authors use of three fantasy elements in the story.
Remind students to cite specific details from the story in their paragraphs. Assign points for the
Assessment Project according to the following scale.
3 Student includes discussion of at least three fantasy elements in the story.
2 Student includes discussion of at least two fantasy elements in the story.
1 Student identifies but fails to discuss only one fantasy element in the story.

INDEPENDENT READING
At a Glance
Independent Reading
Vocabulary; cultural references
Ease Factor: Subject
Objectives
students to
apply reading strategies and skills. All the time the headmaster was
use context clues to understand singing, Sekhar went on commenting
unfamiliar vocabulary words. within himself. He croaks like a
dozen frogs. He is bellowing like a T ruth, Sekhar reflected, is like the sun. I
suppose no human being can ever look
it straight in the face without blinking or
buffalo. Now he sounds like loose being dazed. He realized that, morning till
Launch the Lesson night, the essence of human relationships
Have students consider this question: window shutters in a storm. consisted in tempering truth so that it might
Should people always tell the truth, or not shock. This day he set apart as a unique
is there a need in human relationships A Short Story by R. K. Narayan dayat least one day in the year we must
for a more diplomatic approach or give and take absolute Truth whatever may
even for some fudging? Hold a class- happen. Otherwise life is not worth living.
wide discussion, encouraging students The day ahead seemed to him full of possi-
to support their views with reasons bilities. He told no one of
and examples. R. K. Narayan (19062001) was born in Madras, his experiment. It was a
India. The author of more than thirty books, Narayan
quiet resolve, a secret pact
didnt always find writing easy. He once said, Writing
in the beginning is like going uphill. Absolutely between him and eternity.
W The Mirrors The very first test came
IRRORS terrible. It was all frustration and struggle for more
W INDOWS & Windows

questions
than fifteen years. Narayan persevered, however,
and published many short stories, essays, travel
while his wife served him
his morning meal. He
aatt tthe
he end of the selection ask pieces, and translations. showed hesitation over
sstudents
tudeents to tthink about the Like many of his stories, Like the Sun is set in the imaginary town a tidbit, which she had
theme of lying. First, ask stu- of Malgudi in southern India. Through the ordinary experiences of the thought was her culinary
dents to discuss the questions in characters in this town, Narayan portrays the quirkiness of human rela- masterpiece. She asked,
the prereading on page 200. tionships and the ironies of daily life. Why, isnt it good? At
Think of a time you struggled with telling the truth at the risk of hurting other times he would
someones feelings or causing someone to be angry with you. What did have said, considering
you decide to do? What was the outcome of your decision? her feelings in the matter,
I feel full up; thats all.
200 UNIT 1 FICTION
Program Resources

E-Lesson Planner
Developing Readers, Set Purpose
ExamView
Technology Tools
Quiz
Audio Library
Mirrors
&
Windows
200 UNIT 1 FICTION

But today he said, It isnt good. Im unable Ive been learning and practicing secretly,
to swallow it. He saw her wince and said to and now I want you to hear me this evening.
himself, Cant be helped. Truth is like the sun. Ive engaged a drummer and a violinist to Teach the Selection
His next trial was in the common room accompany methis is the first time Im doing
when one of his colleagues came up and said, it full dress2 and I want your opinion. I know it Summary
Did you hear of the death of so and so? Dont will be valuable. Sekhar, a junior master at a school
you think it a pity? No, Sekhar answered. Sekhars taste in music was well known. in India, awakes one morning deter-
He was such a fine man the other began. He was one of the most dreaded music critics mined to dedicate a whole day to
But Sekhar cut him short with: Far from in the town. But he never anticipated his a unique experiment: telling the
it. He always struck me as a mean musical inclinations would lead him complete truth without evasion or
and selfish brute. A hundred to this trial. Rather a surprise omission. Therefore, he tells his wife
During the last period, for you, isnt it? asked the that the morning meal is mediocre,
when he was teaching geog- headmaster. Ive spent a and when a colleague at school asks
papers in the boys
raphy for Third Form A, fortune on it behind closed about someones death, he criticizes
Sekhar received a note doors. They started the deceased as a mean and selfish
scrawls; he had shirked this
from the headmaster: for the headmasters brute. Sekhars most important test
Please see me before you house. God hasnt given comes when the headmaster invites
work for weeks, feeling all
go home. Sekhar said to me a child, but at least him home to listen to a musical per-
himself: It must be about let him not deny me the formance. The headmaster has secret-
the time as if a sword were ly taken up music and wants Sekhars
these horrible test papers. A consolation of music, the
hundred papers in the boys headmaster said, pathetically, opinions. True to his vow, though,
hanging over his head. Sekhar delivers an unflattering, but
scrawls; he had shirked this as they walked. He incessantly
work for weeks, feeling all the time chattered about music: how he completely honest, critique. The next
as if a sword were hanging over his head. began one day out of sheer boredom; day, the headmaster reneges on his
The bell rang and the boys burst out of the how his teacher at first laughed at him and decision to grant Sekhar extra time to
class. then gave him hope; how his ambition in life correct his students test papers.
Sekhar paused for a moment outside the was to forget himself in music.
headmasters room to button up his coat; that At home the headmaster proved very ingra- Analyze Literature
was another subject the headmaster always tiating. He sat Sekhar on a red silk carpet, set Exposition In a storys plot, the
sermonized1 about. before him several dishes of delicacies, and exposition is the part that sets the
He stepped in with a very polite Good fussed over him as if he were a son-in-law of tone or mood, introduces the charac-
evening, sir. the house. He even said, Well, you must listen ters and the setting, and provides nec-
The headmaster looked up at him in a very with a free mind. Dont worry about these test essary background information. What
friendly manner and asked, Are you free this papers. He added half humorously, I will give are the essential facts that Narayan
evening? you a weeks time. provides in this exposition?
Sekhar replied, Just some outing which I Make it ten days, sir, Sekhar pleaded. Answer: Sekhar, the main character,
have promised the children at home All right, granted, the headmaster said has decided to set aside this day as
Well, you can take them out another day. generously. Sekhar felt really relieved nowhe unique: he will give and take absolute
Come home with me now. would attack them at the rate of ten a day and Truth whatever happens.
Ohyes, sir, certainly And then he get rid of the nuisance.
added timidly, Anything special, sir? The headmaster lighted incense sticks.
Yes, replied the headmaster, smiling to Just to create the right atmosphere, he
himselfYou didnt know my weakness for
1. sermonized. Gave lectures
music? 2. full dress. As a dress rehearsal, or final practice before a per-
Oh, yes, sir formance
LIKE THE SUN 201
/19/07 12:27:05 PM 0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.201 201

Words in Use 11/19/07 12:27:07 PM

tempering, 200 frustration, 200
culinary, 200 quirkiness, 200
wince, 201 tempering, 200
shirked, 201
incessantly, 201
scrutinized, 203
LIKE THE SUN 201

like loose window shutters in a
storm.
Teach the Selection The incense sticks burnt
low. Sekhars head throbbed
Use Reading Strategies with the medley of sounds that
Make Predictions Ask students to had assailed his eardrums for
make predictions about what will hap- a couple of hours now. He felt
pen next, given what Sekhar has told half stupefied. The headmaster
the headmaster. had gone nearly hoarse, when
he paused to ask, Shall I go
Analyze Literature on? Sekhar replied, Please
Irony Irony is the difference dont, sir, I think this will
between appearance and realityin do. The headmaster looked
other words, what seems to be and stunned. His face was beaded
what really is. Have students read the with perspiration. Sekhar felt
last paragraph on page 203. How is the greatest pity for him. But
the conclusion of the story ironic? A he felt he could not help it.
Answer: The headmaster, who had No judge delivering a sentence
seemed so indulgent about the stu- felt more pained and help-
dents papers beforehand, now reveals less. Sekhar noticed that the
that he needs to have them all cor- headmasters wife peeped in
rected in a single day. from the kitchen, with eager
curiosity. The drummer and
Analyze Literature the violinist put away their
Theme The theme is a main idea burdens with an air of relief.
in a story. Ask students to give the The headmaster removed his
theme of this story. spectacles, mopped his brow,
Answers: Students may come up with and asked, Now, come out
statements such as the following: It with your opinion.
requires as much strength to give Cant I give it tomorrow,
the truth as to receive it. The price of sir? Sekhar asked tentatively.
telling the absolute truth is too high. No. I want it immedi-
Softening the truth is often necessary explained. A drummer and a violinist, already atelyyour frank opinion. Was it good?
to maintain goodwill. seated on a Rangoon mat,3 were waiting for No, sir, Sekhar replied.
him. The headmaster sat down between them Oh!Is there any use continuing my
like a professional at a concert, cleared his lessons?
throat, and began an alapana,4 and paused Absolutely none, sir, Sekhar said with
to ask, Isnt it good Kalyani?5 Sekhar his voice trembling. He felt very unhappy that
pretended not to have heard the question. he could not speak more soothingly. Truth, he
The headmaster went on to sing a full song reflected, required as much strength to give as
composed by Thyagaraja6 and followed it to receive.
with two more. All the time the headmaster
was singing, Sekhar went on commenting 3. Rangoon mat. Woven mat from the seaport capital of Burma
4. alapana. Classical Indian music that is improvised
within himself. He croaks like a dozen frogs. 5. Kalyani. Folk song from Mysore, a state in what is now India
He is bellowing like a buffalo. Now he sounds 6. Thyagaraja. Indian composer (17561847)
202 UNIT 1 FICTION
Reading Proficiency incessantlycontinually, 201

Remind students to use the footnotes as an aid tentativelyhesitantly, 202
to understanding. sullendisagreeable, 203
scrutinizedexamined carefully, 203
Share with students the following vocabulary Enrichment
items. Have students prepare discussion questions
temperingmoderating; making gentler, 200 on the story to be used in a book-club format.
common roomfaculty lounge, 201 Allow these students to lead a book-club discus-
shirkedavoided, 201 sion with the rest of the class.
202 UNIT 1 FICTION

All the way home he felt worried. He truth about my music all these days. Why such
felt that his official life was not going to be antics at my age! Thank you. By the way,
smooth sailing hereafter. There what about those test papers? Review the Selection
were questions of increment You gave me ten days, sir,
and confirmation7 and so on, Sekhar felt for correcting them.
all depending upon the Oh, Ive reconsidered W Students
headmasters goodwill. All the greatest pity for it. I must positively have IRRORS
kinds of worries seemed
him. But he felt he could
them here tomorrow. W INDOWS may say
that a
to be in store for him. A hundred papers in a
ssmall
mall llie,
ie, or w
white lie, is rela-
Did not Harischandra8 day! That meant all nights ttively
ivelyy hharmless.
armle It may be a lie
lose his throne, wife, not help it. No judge delivering sitting up! Give me a A
told to spare a persons feel-
child, because he would couple of days, sir. ings. A big lie may be harmful.
speak nothing less than the a sentence felt more pained No. I must have them Students may say that telling a
absolute Truth, whatever tomorrow morning. And lie to protect someones feelings
happened? and helpless. remember, every paper must is sometimes necessary. It is not
At home his wife served him be scrutinized. a good idea to always tell the
with a sullen face. He knew she was Yes, sir, Sekhar said, feeling truth, as peoples feelings would
still angry with him for his remark of the that sitting up all night with a hundred be hurt.
morning. Two casualties for today, Sekhar said to test papers was a small price to pay for the
himself. If I practice it for a week, I dont think I luxury of practicing Truth.
shall have a single friend left. Refer and Reason
He received a call from the headmaster in his 1. Sekhar is so devoted to Truth that
classroom next day. He went up apprehensively. he considers it an absolute neces-
7. increment and confirmation. Raise and recognition for an
Your suggestion was useful. I have paid employee sity for human existence, like the
off the music master. No one would tell me the 8. Harischandra. Ancient ruler of the Mysore sun. Life will not be worth living
if he does not carry out his experi-
ment. His decision implies that
&
W Sekhar is sincere, but somewhat
IRRORS Whats the difference between a small lie and a big lie? Is it ever right to tell a extreme and abstract, rather than
W INDOWS lie? What are the consequences of always telling the truth? practical.
Refer and Reason Writing Options Rubrics for Writing

1. Recall what motivates Sekhar to undertake his 1. A younger friend is learning about truth and lying.
truth experiment. What can you infer about his Write a fable about telling the truth. Consider Options
character from this motivation? Sekhars conclusions about the truth and your own For writing rubrics and student
2. List examples of Sekhar telling the truth. Assess feelings. Choose an appropriate moral for the fable. models of the Writing Options
whether it is better to tell the truth or to temper the 2. You and your best friend discuss whether it is ever assignments, go to
truth. Distinguish how tempering the truth differs ethical to lie. As a way of continuing your conversa-
from lying. tion, write a reflective essay for your friend on the
3. At the end of the story, Sekhar refers to the luxury topic of truth and lying. In your essay, refer to ideas
of practicing Truth. Do you think telling the truth is from the story as well as your own experiences.
a luxury? When might you relish the chance to tell W
the truth instead of tempering it to avoid shocking Go to www.mirrorsandwindows.com for more.
people?
W
LIKE THE SUN 203

0130-0203_Lit3eG10_U01_3_IndSel.203 203 11/19/07 12:27:13 PM
Ask students to write a paragraph discussing the authors use of humor and irony in the story.
Remind students to cite specific details from the story in their paragraphs. Assign points for the
Assessment Project according to the following scale.
3 Student includes discussion of at least three examples of humor and irony.
2 Student includes discussion of two examples of humor and irony.
1 Student includes discussion of only one example of humor or irony.
LIKE THE SUN 203

FOR YOUR READING LIST
Independent Reading BEE SEASON NECTAR IN A SIEVE
by Myla Goldberg by Kamala Markandaya
Respond to Fiction Eliza Naumann, despite the Rukmani had never met
Independent Reading Activity brilliance of the rest of her Nathan when they married,
Ask students what they think makes family members, has never but soon their mudwalled
a short story or novel worth reading. been good at schooluntil home is filled with love.
Explain that they can often answer she surprises everyone by Although barely surviving,
this question simply by observing how winning the fourth-grade they continue to hope that
they themselves respond to what they spelling bee. Although it someday they can return
begins with a simple spelling to their farm. Set in 1940s
read. Encourage students to ask the
bee, this bittersweet coming- India during the last years of
following questions: of-age novel is ultimately English rule, this is a story of
How does the plot work? Is it about the joys and sorrows love, poverty, industrializa-
suspenseful, or predictable? Is of love. tion, and determined survival.
it unique, or formulaic? At what
point, if any, am I gripped with A TALE OF TWO CITIES DRACULA
interest or suspense? When do I by Charles Dickens by Bram Stoker
feel confused? It was the best of times, In 1887, Irishman Bram
Does the book emotionally engage it was the worst of times. Stoker published the best-
me? In other words, when do I feel So begins Charles Dickenss known of the vampire novels,
happy or sad about what is hap- riveting tale of ill-fated combining popular folklore
pening? love and heroic sacrifice set with the historical figure
against the backdrop of the Prince Vlad Dracul. In it,
What is the conflict? How is it
French Revolution. In one English lawyer Jonathan
resolved? Are the conflict and its Harker visits Castle Dracula
of his most popular and
resolution believable? Is the resolu- powerful novels, Dickens in Transylvania on business,
tion satisfying? paints an unforgettable only to be imprisoned by his
How do I feel about the charac- portrait of London and Paris host. Little does he know the
ters? Are they fully drawn, realistic at the height of the Reign of danger that will follow.
characters, or are they more like Terror.
clichs? THINGS FALL APART
Students may use the answers to their ACROSS THE GRAIN
by Chinua Achebe
questions to write a review of each by Jean Ferris
Okonkwo holds a promi-
book they read. After the death of his mother,
nent place in his Ibo village
seventeen-year-old Will is left
in 1890s Nigeria. When
under the guardianship of
EMC E-Library his irresponsible sister, Paige.
Christian missionaries appear,
The EMC E-Library contains more everything begins to fall
Readers can sympathize with
than twenty thousand pages of apart for Okonkwo and his
Wills feelings of loneliness,
village. In this simple master-
literary classics that can be used for self-pity, and anger as he
piece, Okonkwos ruin comes
students independent reading. An struggles to figure out who
to stand for that of the entire
Electronic Library Guide provides he is and how best to deal
culture as it collides with
teaching suggestions, enrichment with his situation.
modern life.
activities, and reading strategy
guidesheets.
204 UNIT 1 FICTION
Program Resources
0204-0215_Lit3eG10_U01_4_End.ind204 204 11/19/07 12:36:33 PM 0204-0215_Lit3eG
EMC Access Editions

For additional independent reading, you may wish
to refer students to one of EMCs Access Edition
titles such as Nectar in a Sieve, A Tale of Two Cities,
and Things Fall Apart. Each Access Edition contains
a thorough study apparatus, including background
information, literal comprehension questions, foot-
notes, vocabulary definitions, and related projects
and activities. An Assessment Manual offering work-
sheets and exams is available for each Access Edition.
204 UNIT 1 FICTION

SPEAKING & LISTENING WORKSHOP
Teach the Workshop
Present a Horror Story Speaking Tip
Picture yourself sitting around a campfire in the woods. You and your friends
Use simple vocabulary Objectives
and sentence structure. Participating in this lesson will help
decide to tell spooky stories to pass the time. Good storytellers are able to make
Your audience will not students to present a story with
stories come alive for their audiences by using not only words but also facial
have time to go back
expressions, gestures, and different tones of voice. In this lesson, you will present a clear chronologybeginning,
and reread what you
a horror story to your classmates.
said. They have to under-
middle, and end.
stand it the first time. strong opening and closing sen-
1. Select a story tences.
Using your textbook, the library, or the Internet, find a spooky story or urban
legend that interests you. Two horror stories youll find in Unit 1 are The Masque
vivid description.
Also keep in mind the
of the Red Death and The Monkeys Paw. appropriate volume, enunciation,
following nonverbal
types of expression:
and pace.
2. Read the story eye contact effective intonation, stress, and
Read the story to yourself several times until you are familiar with the order of tone to create mood.
facial expressions
events and the details that are important to readers understanding of the story. effective eye contact, facial expres-
gestures
3. Map out the story line body language sions, gestures, and body language.
Determine the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Decide on good first and
last lines for the story, and commit these lines to memory. Dont try to memorize Launch the Lesson
the whole story word for word. Instead, become familiar enough with the main plot Ask students to think of the last
elements that you can tell the story in your own words. time theyve been scared by a horror
4. Visualize the story story. Was it around a campfire in the
What is the setting of the story? What sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures woods? At a sleepover late at night?
attract you as you read? Figure out how to add these to your story using descrip- Tell them they will want to recreate
tive words and imagery. this spooky mood when they present a
horror story to their classmates.
5. Create mood and tone Speaking & Listening Rubric
Do you want your audience to laugh nervously or be
frightened? Should you use a quiet voice or a forceful Your presentation will be evaluated on Refer to page 1111 of the
voice, or both? Think about how your facial expressions these elements: Language Arts Handbook 7.1, Verbal
and posture help create tone and mood.
and Nonverbal Communication, and
Content
6. Practice 7.8, Telling a Story, for additional
Tell the story oftenby yourself in front of a mirror,

Clear chronologybeginning, middle, and instruction.
or to a friend. As you practice, also keep in mind the end
following elements of verbal communication:
Strong opening and closing sentences
Watch your volume. For a horror story, your volume
Simple vocabulary and sentence structure
should vary depending on the action in the story.
TEACHING NOTE
Be sure to enunciate, or pronounce your words Vivid description
Mapping the Story
clearly. Delivery/Presentation
Pay attention to your pace. Do not speak too Suggest that students create a simple plot dia-
slowly or too quickly.

Appropriate volume, enunciation, and pace gram to use as they map out their stories. This
Vary your pitch, or intonation (the highness or
Effective intonation, stress, and tone to graphic aid will help them focus on the plot and
lowness of your voice), to give expression to your create mood not get lost in the details.
narrative.
Effective eye contact, facial expressions,
Use stress to emphasize important ideas. gestures, and body language
Vary your tone (the emotional quality of your
voice) throughout the narrative.
SPEAKING & LISTENING WORKSHOP 205
Words in Use KEY TERMS

/19/07 12:36:33 PM 0204-0215_Lit3eG10_U01_4_End.ind205 205
ENUNCIATE, 205 Program Resources 11/19/07 12:36:35 PM
Teaching Words INTONATION, 205

gestures, 205 TONE, 205
To expand upon this workshop les-
textures, 205 son, Present a Horror Story, see the
posture, 205 Exceeding the Standards: Speaking
& Listening resource.
SPEAKING & LISTENING WORKSHOP 205

WRITING WORKSHOP Expository Writing
Teach the Workshop
Plot Analysis
Assignment
Objectives Choose a story from this What makes a short story meaningful and satisfying to read? In The Open
Studying this workshop will enable unit and write a plot Window by Saki, a young storyteller plays with Mr. Nuttels mind. A dangerous
students to do the following: analysis, using the three- wish leads to loss in The Monkeys Paw by W. W. Jacobs. In Through the Tunnel
analyze a storys plot part process prewriting, by Doris Lessing, a young boys risk almost takes his life. In each gripping story, a
organize an introduction, body, and drafting, and revising. strong plotthe series of events related to a central conflictcreates an electri-
conclusion Purpose fying, emotional, or thoughtful experience for the reader.
draft, revise, and proofread a plot To provide insight A plot analysis takes a story apart and examines it piece by piece in order to
analysis into how and why the discover what makes it work. An analysis considers how plot elementsincluding
elements of plot work in exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and
a specific story dnouementwork together to create a good story. A plot analysis is a way to
Launch the Lesson Audience interpret the story to gain a deeper understanding of both content and form.
Have students write or give orally Your teacher and class-
a plot summary for one of the best mates; people who PREWRITE
movies or TV shows they have seen have read the story and
recently. Encourage them to use the may or may not have Select Your Topic
specific terms for different parts of a analyzed the plot Choose a story from this unit to analyze, perhaps one that was most compelling for
plot, such as exposition or inciting you to read and that interests you most.
incident. Emphasize that being able
Gather Information
to understand plot development will Reread the story you have chosen to analyze. Identify what happens in each
enhance their appreciation of a wide stagenote that plot elements will vary in order and
range of narratives. importance depending on the story. This is how you
Writing Rubric take the story apart. Copy quotations you may want to
Prewrite A successful plot analysis:
refer to in your essay. Write your notes in a Plot Element
Select Your Topic Encourage stu- Chart like the one on page 207.
dents to choose a story according to
states the title, author, and brief summary Once you isolate and examine the plot elements, you
how interesting it is to them, not how of the story in the introduction can look at the story analytically to see how it works
easy it is to analyze.
presents a clear thesis statement and to gain insight into the plot. When you form a
Gather Information Encourage expressing the main idea of the analysis focused observation, write it as your thesis statement.
students to write down everything
develops body paragraphs that support Organize Your Ideas
they think is important in the plot of the thesis, identify what happens in each To focus your ideas, review your Plot Element Chart
their story, even though they may not element of the plot, and cite details and and ask yourself these questions: What is the authors
use all the information in their plot brief quotations from the story most impressive accomplishment in the story? What plot
analysis. This strategy will save them
concludes by summarizing the analysis feature offers surprise, shock, or emotional depth? What
from having to go back into the text and restating the thesis plot device creates the turning point in the story?
to look for missing information.
is written in complete sentences Create an organizational plan for your essay using
your Plot Element Chart. Number or list the plot
elements in the order they logically appearthe same order they appeared in the
story. Highlight information that is important and relevant to your analysis. Cross
out irrelevant, unnecessary information.
Write Your Thesis Statement

Examine your notes and write a statement capturing the main point of your plot
analysis. This is your thesis statement. One student, Lucy Ann Morris, wrote this
206 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
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PLOT, 206
Teaching Words PLOT ANALYSIS,206
electrifying, 206
THESIS STATEMENT,
206
isolate, 206
INTRODUCTION, 207
irrelevant, 206
BODY, 208
contagion, 209
CONCLUSION, 208
206 UNIT 1 FICTION

Plot Element Chart
Teach the Workshop
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe Organize Your Ideas
Story Details Significance / Ideas Quotations Write Your Thesis Statement
Exposition The Red Death sweeps the The story is horrible and sad the horror of blood Point out that a good thesis state-
country from the start ment should convey a specific, per-
Inciting Prince Prospero wants to hide Who wouldnt try to hide? The prince is happy and sonal angle on a storys plot. In the
Incident from death and have a long Still, its irresponsible for a dauntless, in defiance to model, for example, the student writer
party with friends leader to ignore plague contagion connects the plot of Poes story with
Rising Action Prospero hosts a masked The partys grotesque; the party glowed with barbaric the main character.
ball; clock chimes eerily clock makes it so no one can lustre; clock causes
really forget the sadness of confused revery Draft
plague Have students use their completed
Climax, or Man dressed as Red Death Prospero is so proud he Red Death dressed as a graphic organizers to identify their
Crisis appears; when Prospero tries thought he was protected stiffened corpse: Prospero thesis, build points of support, and
to unmask him, he dies from his fate shouts, Who dares? establish a conclusion. Remind stu-
Falling Action Guests attack Red Death; no Red Death comes to the Red Death is not human dents to include in their plot analyses
one is inside the costume partiers in costume, like they untenanted by any tangible only details relevant to the thesis.
are form
Resolution Guests die This part happens so quickly one by one dropped the revel- Refer to page 1087 of the
lers in the blood-bedewed Language Arts Handbook 4.1,
halls
The Writing Process, for additional
Dnouement Clock stops; flames go out; Time and life have stopped for Red Death held illimitable instruction.
Red Death wins these people dominion over all
Thesis Idea: Prince Prospero made the Red Death even more horrible by trying so hard to defy it.
thesis statement about the plot of Edgar Allan Poes The

Masque of the Red Death: What Great Writers Do
The sad story turns to horror because of Prosperos Edgar Allan Poe used long
vain belief that he can escape the fate of the Red and short sentences in The
Death. Masque of the Red Death.
Notice the example below:
DRAFT
But the Prince Prospero was happy
Write your essay by following the three-part framework and dauntless and sagacious. When his
described on page 208: introduction, body, and conclusion. dominions were half depopulated, he
summoned to his presence a thousand hale
Draft Your Introduction and light-hearted friends from among the
In a plot analysis, the introduction identifies the author knights and dames of his court, and with
and title of the story and briefly summarizes its plot or these retired to the deep seclusion of one of
theme. The introduction also states the thesis, establishing his castellated abbeys.
the main idea of the analysis. Finally, a good introduction
creates interest, drawing readers into the rest of the essay.
The introduction that Lucy wrote during the Draft stage is
shown in the first column of the chart on page 209. Her first
WRITING WORKSHOP 207
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Program Resources 11/19/07 12:36:36 PM
Reading Proficiency Additional writing workshops are

Suggest that students choose a story with a available in Exceeding the Standards:
suspenseful plot, one in which the plot develop- Writing.
ment is strong and easy to follow.
You might invite students who are learning
English to analyze the plot of a story they have
read in their native language.

WRITING WORKSHOP WRITING WORKSHOP WRITING WORKSHOP WRITINGW
WO
WO
Teach the Workshop Introduction sentence states the title of the story and author and briefly tells what the story is
Provide the title, about. Then she provides a general statement about the plot elements. Lastly, she
author, and a writes the main point of her analysis, her thesis statement. Her sentences, however,
summary of the story. are choppy. They do not work well together. How could Lucy improve the flow of
TEACHING NOTE Include the thesis her sentences?
Test the Organization statement of your
Suggest that students test how well they have analysis. Draft Your Body
Body In the body, write about plot elements in the order they occur in the story, starting
organized their ideas by sharing their outline
Write an in-depth with exposition and ending with dnouement. State each point you want to make,
with a partner. Students could also ask the part- and support it with evidencedetails, ideas, and brief quotations from the text.
analysis by expanding
ner to read their drafts and identify the main
on the thesis. Include Look at the draft of Lucys first of her four body paragraphs in the left-hand column
ideas. If the partner is confused at any point, details and quota- of the chart on page 209. She begins to prove her thesis by offering specific details
this could signal problems with organization tions from the story from the story, including a quotation.
that need to be addressed before a final draft. to illustrate your
points about the plot Referring to your Plot Element Chart, develop into logical paragraphs your observa-
elements. tions about the plot you are analyzing. Add supporting details and quotations from
Conclusion the story. Every detail should relate to the main point you make about the plot in
Rephrase the thesis your thesis statement.
statement, summarize Draft Your Conclusion
the analysis, and give Finally, write a good conclusion that restates the thesis, summarizes the analysis,
the essay a sense of and provides closure to the essay. Give your readers, who have read the story,
closure. insight. You might describe your response to the plot and whether it worked for
you, compare the plot to that of a modern-day story, or link the plot structure with
one characters development.
How successfully does Lucy conclude the draft of her essay? Read the draft of her
conclusion in the chart on page 209.
REVISE
What Great Writers Do Evaluate Your Draft
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 The final step is to evaluate your writing. Read your own
1849) paid as much essay or exchange papers with a classmate to evaluate each
attention to grammar others work. Comment on what has been done well and
as to plot. He says: what can be improved.
The writer who neglects punctuation, or Focus on content and organization. The introduction, body,
mispunctuates, is liable to be misunderstood. and conclusion should work together to prove the thesis. All
... For the want of merely a comma, it often paragraphs should relate to the main idea. Use the Revision
occurs that an axiom appears a paradox, Checklist on page 210 to guide your evaluation. Write notes
or that a sarcasm is converted into a on the essay about what changes could be made.
sermonoid.
Next, check for language errors. Correctly apply the guide-
lines in the Grammar & Style Workshops in this unit. Again,
use the Revision Checklist to evaluate the writing. Think
about how to write more clearly. Challenge any phrases that
sound awkward when you say them out loud. Rewrite them
until the words sound natural.
208 UNIT 1 FICTION
Evaluating a Draft
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Discuss with students the following tips for Be specific. Tell your peer reviewer your spe-
delivering and receiving helpful criticism: cific concerns and questions.
Delivering a Peer Review Ask questions. Make sure you understand
Be focused. Concentrate on content, organi- your reviewers comments.
zation, and style. Leave spelling and punctua- Be selective. Accept your reviewers sugges-
tion for the proofreading stage. tions graciously, but dont feel you have to
Be positive. Respect the writers feelings use allor anyof them if you dont feel
and genuine efforts. they are helpful.
Be specific. Give the writer concrete ideas
for improving his or her work.
208 UNIT 1 FICTION

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WORKSHOP
WO WRITING WORKSHOP WRITING WORKSHOP WRITING WORKSHOP
Teach the Workshop
DRAFT STAGE REVISE STAGE
Introduction Revise
The Masque of the Red Identifies title The Masque of the Red Death Combines If time allows, have students
Death by Edgar Allan Poe is and author; by Edgar Allan Poe is a chilling sentences exchange papers for peer evaluation.
a chilling story. The story is briefly summa- story. The story is about the Encourage peer evaluators to use the
about the attempts of Prince rizes story attempts of Prince Prospero and Revision Checklist on the following
Prospero and his friends to his friends to escape the Red page and to offer suggestions for
escape the Red Death. The Identifies aspect Death, The Red Death is a fatal Adds defining improving areas of weakness. Remind
Red Death is a plague. Poe and hideous plague that is details
to be analyzed students that they should not be
combines all the elements of sweeping the land. Poe combines afraid to make suggestions but that
plot to build a horror story all the elements of plot to build
Avoids unneces- all criticism should be constructive.
full of horror from beginning a horror story full of horror from
to end. Its horror because States thesis beginning to end. In fact, the sad sary repetition of
of Prosperos vain belief that story turns to horror because of words; develops
he can escape the fate of the Prosperos vain belief that he can thesis
Red Death. escape the fate of the Red Death.
Body Paragraph
Readers learn that the Starts analysis The exposition sets a frightening Includes all plot
Red Death leaves victims with the begin- mood. Readers learn that the elements
dizzy and bleeding. With ning of story Red Death leaves victims dizzy
red stains all over the face and bleeding, with red stains all Fixes sentence
and body. Then we meet over the face and body. Then we fragment
the main character, Prince Refers to plot meet the main character, Prince
Prospero. The inciting inci- elements Prospero. He is happy and Adds details and
dent introduces the central dauntless, in spite of the plague. quotations
conflict. Prince Prospero The inciting incident introduces
attempts to escape the Red the central conflict, Prince Effectively
Death. To do so, he takes Prosperos desperate attempts to combines
one thousand friends. They escape the Red Death. To do so, sentences to
go into a sealed abbey. They he takes one thousand friends improve quality of
hide away, in defiance to Uses a quotation They go into a sealed abbey. writing
contagion. from the text They hide away, in defiance to
contagion.
Conclusion
The Prince and his guests, Brings discussion Its ironic that the Prince and Uses analyt-
after trying so hard to to end of story his guests, after trying so hard ical language;
escape death, are overcome to escape death, are overcome corrects word
by it right there in there by it right there in their hiding usage; combines
hiding place. The party place. The party chamber Prince sentences to
chamber Prince Prospero Prospero meant to keep them strengthen the
meant to keep them all safe all safe became a tomb. Edgar connection
became a tomb. Edgar Allan Summarizes Allan Poe combines all of the
Poe combines all of the analysis plot elements to make this horror
plot elements to make this story work.
horror story work.
Grammar & Style

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Fix Sentence Fragments Fragment: The two old friends.

A sentence fragment does not express a com- Fragment: Decide to go fishing.
plete thought. A complete sentence must have Sentence: The two old friends decide to go
a subject and a complete predicate. The sub- fishing.
ject, usually the first part of the sentence, says
what the sentence is about. The predicate con- Have students review their drafts to make sure
tains the verb and provides information about each sentence is complete.
the subject. In the examples below, the first
fragment has a subject but no predicate, and
the second has a predicate but no subject.

WRITING WORKSHOP WRITING WORKSHOP WRITING WORKSHOP WRITINGW
WO
WO
Teach the Workshop Revise for Content, Organization, and Style
REVISION CHECKLIST Lucy evaluated her draft and found things to improve.
Proofread for Errors Look at the chart on page 209 (this time, the right-hand
Students should use proofreaders Content and Organization column) to see how she revised the three paragraphs we
marks when correcting their work. Are the storys title, author, and brief sum- looked at earlier:
Refer to page 1087 of the Language mary stated in the introduction? Introduction: Lucy combined sentences to reduce
Arts Handbook 4.1, The Writing Does the thesis statement make an wordiness and create a seamless flow in her writing.
Process, for additional instruction on important analytical point about the plot? She defined Red Death for readers, using quota-
using proofreaders marks. tions from the story.
In the body, are the elements of plot Body: Lucy added story details and quotations to
arranged in a logical order? prove her points. She made sure to refer to all plot
Publish and Present What additional evidence is used to sup- elements. She corrected a sentence fragment and
Before students begin their final ver- port each plot element? combined sentences to make them less choppy.
sion, they might benefit from using Does the conclusion summarize the analy- Conclusion: By using analytical language, Lucy
the Final Manuscript Preparation sis, restate the thesis, and provide closure? made a more compelling final point. Combining
Checklist in the Language Arts sentences strengthened the relationship between
Handbook, section 4.1. Encourage
Are all sentences effective? them. In reworking her last line, she retained her
students to present their papers orally Grammar and Style draft idea but created a more resonant closure.
to the class. They may create a poster- Do all subjects and verbs agree? (page 26) Review the notes you or your partner made regarding
sized plot pyramid to use as a visual your draft. Respond to each comment and effectively
element in their oral report.
Does the writer use parallel structure?
revise your essay.
(page 40)
Do all pronouns agree with their anteced- Proofread for Errors
Reflect ents? (page 58) Proofread to check for remaining errors. While you may
Allow students to answer the reflec- have corrected errors as you evaluate your essay, you
tion questions in their journals. Then
Are sentences varied in length and struc-
can focus on this purpose during proofreading. Use
ture to add interest? (page 104)
have them get into small groups and proofreaders symbols to mark any errors you find. (See
discuss their responses to this lesson Does the writer use commas correctly? Language Arts Handbook 4.1 for a list of proofreaders
(page 128) symbols.) To complete the assignment, print out a
and to the experience of analyzing a
storys plot. final draft and read the entire essay once more before
turning it in.
Take a look at Lucys final draft on the next page. Review how she worked through
the three stages of the writing process: Prewrite, Draft, and Revise.
WRITING FOLLOW-UP
Publish and Present
In small groups, share your plot analyses. Pay attention to what you learn from
other students plot analyses as well as to how they respond to yours.
Submit your essay to a school or community literary magazine, newsletter,
journal, or newspaper.
Reflect
What did you discover by reading the short story a second and third time? What
did you miss during the first reading? What is the value of rereading?
What did you learn from your classmates reactions to the same story? What is
the value of discussing literature? How does insightful conversation help you
become a better writer?
210 UNIT 1 FICTION
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210 UNIT 1 FICTION

GW
WORKSHOP
WO WRITING WORKSHOP WRITING WORKSHOP WRITING WORKSHOP
STUDENT MODEL Teach the Workshop
Use the Model
Plotting Horror in Poes The Masque of the Red Death Direct students attention to the
by Lucy Ann Morris model. Point out the side notes that
The Masque of the Red Death, by Edgar Allan Poe, is a chilling identify the major parts of the essay:
story about the attempts of Prince Prospero and his friends to hide from the introduction, the body, and the
the Red Death, a fatal and hideous plague that sweeps the land. conclusion. Some students might ben-
Poe combines all the elements of plot to build a story full of horror What is the writers efit from outlining the model to grasp
from beginning to end. In fact, the sad story turns to horror because of thesis statement? the writers plan of organization and
Prosperos vain belief that he can escape the fate of the Red Death. use of textual evidence.
The exposition sets a frightening mood. Readers learn that the Red
Death leaves victims dizzy and bleeding, with red stains all over the
face and body. Then we meet the main character, Prince Prospero. He How does the writer
is happy and dauntless, in spite of the plague. The inciting incident organize her essay?
introduces the central conflict, Prince Prosperos desperate attempt to
What language of
escape the Red Death. To do so, he takes one thousand friends into a
analysis does the
sealed abbey. They hide away, in defiance to contagion. writer use?
The action rises when Prince Prospero hosts a masked ball in
seven rooms of his fortress. The guests cannot forget about the plague, How does the
however, and neither can readers. One room scares the guests because writer incorporate
a red light shines through the window. A huge and eerie clock chimes references to plot
each hour. Both remind the guests of death. The rising action peaks elements?
when a stranger appears, dressed as a stiffened corpse, and shrouded
from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. How does the writer
The corpselike figure frightens everyone. Prince Prospero shouts, integrate details
Who dares? and demands that his guests capture and unmask this and quotations from
person. When his guests understandably shrink from the terrifying the story into her
sentences?
figure, the Prince grabs his dagger and chases him. The corpse turns
and confronts the Prince, bringing the plot to its climax. The Prince
screams, drops his dagger, and dies.
The falling action occurs when the guests attack the figure. They
discover nothing under his wrappings. He is not a person but is unten-
anted by any tangible form. The guests are staring at the Red Death.
The central conflict resolves as one by one dropped the revellers in the
blood-bedewed halls. Soon they are all dead. The dnouement ties up
loose ends. As the story closes, Poe writes that when the guests lie dead
on the floor, the clock stops chiming and the lights go out. The Red
Death has won. It holds illimitable dominion over all.
Edgar Allan Poe combines all of the plot elements to make this Where does the
horror story work. Though the reader may expect the ending, the writer restate her
thesis?
dnouement is horrifying because of how hard the partiers try to ignore
the plague. In spite of hiding, the guests cannot escape death.

TEST PRACTICE WORKSHOP
Teach the Workshop
Reading Skills
Objectives MAKE INFERENCES
Participating in this lesson will enable
students to People make inferences all the time. You walk into the gym and see several volley-
make inferences using the clues in balls on the floor and a volleyball net set up in the center of the room; you infer
that your gym class will play volleyball this period. You see your friend frantically
a passage.
studying his notes for biology class and infer that he has a test that day. Making
prewrite, write, and revise a reflec- inferences means combining clues with your prior knowledge to make an
tive essay in response to a writing educated guess about what is happening or is about to happen.
prompt. Test-Taking Tips As you read, you gather clues from the text and use your prior knowledge to fill
read and revise a passage for errors Read the passage care- in the gaps. For example, read the following passage from The Monkeys Paw
in organization, grammar, spelling, fully.
by W. W. Jacobs, which comes just after the sergeant-major has revealed that the
punctuation, and capitalization. Read and consider all
monkeys paw can grant its owner three wishes:
of the answer choices
before you choose the
one that best responds Well, why dont you have three, sir? said Herbert White cleverly.
Refer students to page 1118 to the question. The soldier regarded him in the way that middle age is wont to regard
of the Language Arts Handbook Refer to the passage presumptuous youth. I have, he said quietly, and his blotchy face
8.18.9, Test-Taking Skills, for when answering the whitened.
additional instruction. questions.
From the way the sergeant-major lowers his voice and turns pale, you might infer
that something horrible happened when he made his wishes. You can test this
inference by reading on and gathering more clues.
TEACHING NOTE One way to make inferences while you read is to use an Inference Chart like the
Test-Taking Strategies one below. In the first column, write part of a text or details about a character,
event, or setting in a text. In the second column, write the conclusion youve drawn
The following steps will help students answer
about the meaning of the text or details.
the reading comprehension questions on stan-
dardized tests. Text or Details My Conclusion
Preview the passage and questions and pre-
dict what the text will be about. The sergeant-major lowers his voice Something terrible happened when
Use the reading strategies you have learned and his face goes white. the sergeant-major used the paw.
to read the passage. Mark the text and make
notes in the margins. Answering Multiple-Choice Questions
Reread the questions carefully. Make sure When you are taking a test that only gives you a certain amount of time to answer
you know exactly what they are asking. a number of questions, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Scan the passage to look for key words 1. Answer the easy questions first. If you get stumped by a question, skip to the
related to the question. When you next question and come back to the difficult one.
2. Rule out answers you know are incorrect. When you have eliminated several
find a key word, slow down and read
answers, its easier to make an educated guess about the remaining choices.
carefully. 3. Keep track of time. If you are short on time, focus on the questions you can
answer quickly.
4. Skip questions you are unable to answer. Its better to spend your time on ques-
tions you can answer than to spend a lot of time trying to figure out a very
difficult question.
212 UNIT 1 FICTION
Words in Use
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INFERENCES,212
Teaching Words INFERENCE CHART, 212
frantically, 212 PROSE, 213
intricate, 213 CONSTRUCTED
unobtrusive, 213 RESPONSE, 213
sufficient, 214 REFLECTIVE ESSAY, 214
212 UNIT 1 FICTION

Teach the Workshop
PRACTICE
Directions: Read the following story. The ques- Multiple Choice Reading Skills Practice
tions that come after it will ask you to make Think Aloud Ask student volunteers
1. Which of the following statements is most likely to think aloud how to answer the
inferences using the clues in the passage.
true of the man in the story?
Reading Skills questions. Students
Prose Fiction: This passage is Lon Ottos short A. He is one of the most important poets of his
story Love Poems. time.
think alouds should provide reasons
B. He has beautiful handwriting. for eliminating wrong answers and
He has written her a St. Valentines Day love identifying correct ones. If students
C. He is a loyal husband.
poem. It is very beautiful; it expresses, embodies a
D. He takes himself very seriously. need additional help, you may want
passionate, genuine emotion, emotion of a sort he
to demonstrate how to think aloud.
hardly realized himself capable of, tenderness that 2. Which of the following adjectives best describes
5 is like the tenderness of a better man. At the same 1. D. Possible Think-Aloud: There is no
the man?
time, the imagery is hard, diamond clear, the form F. loving evidence in the passage that the
intricate yet unobtrusive. He says the poem out G. self-absorbed man is considered an important
loud to himself over and over. He cannot believe H. talented poet by other people, so answer A
it, it is so good. It is the best poem he has ever J. humble can be eliminated. The mans hand-
10 written. writing is referred to as interest-
3. Which of the following is an antonym for the
He will mail it to her tonight. She will open it as word prestigious (line 22)? ing but not as beautiful, so answer
soon as it arrives, cleverly timed, on St. Valentines A. obscure B is not correct. The man does not
Day. She will be floored, she will be blown away B. famous seem like a loyal husband, because
by its beauty and passion. She will put it away C. important the first recipient of the poem is a
15 with his other letters, loving him for it, as she D. boring woman other than his wife.
loves him for his other letters. She will not show
4. Based on the passage, what can you infer about
2. G
it to anyone, for she is a private person, which is 3. A or D. Possible Think-Aloud: The
one of the qualities he loves in her. the first woman to whom the man sends his
poems? man has not yet been able to get
After he has mailed the poem to her, written out F. She and the man correspond often. his work published in the literary
20 in his interesting hand, he types up a copy for G. She doesnt like poems and letters. magazine, although he would like
his own files. He decides to send a copy to one of H. She lives in England. to, which suggests that the maga-
the more prestigious literary magazines, one into J. She reads a lot of poetry. zine is probably famous and impor-
which he has not yet been admitted. He hesitates
Constructed Response
tant. Therefore, answers B and C
about the dedication, which could lead to embar-
25 rassment, among other things, with his wife. In
are more likely synonyms, and not
the end he omits the dedication. In the end he
5. Why, do you think, does the man love the antonyms, of prestigious.
womans quality of being a private person? Use 4. F
decides to give a copy also to his wife. In the end
information from the passage to explain your
he sends a copy also to a woman he knows in Constructed Response
answer.
England, a poet who really understands his work. 5. He loves this quality because the
30 He writes out a copy for her, dedicated to her woman, who is not his wife, will
initials. It will reach her a few days late, she will probably not disclose or betray
think of him thinking of her a few days before St. their secret relationship.
Valentines Day.
TEST PRACTICE WORKSHOP 213

Reading Strategies, for additional
instruction on making inferences.

TEST PRACTICE WORKSHOP TEST PRACTICE WORKSHOP TEST PRACTICE WORKSHO
HO
Teach the Workshop
Writing Skills
Essay Test-Taking Strategies REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Analyze the Question Remind
When you write a reflective essay, you look back on, or reflect on, your past experi-
students that essay questions contain
ences, thoughts, and feelings and examine the ways theyve shaped who you are
clues about what is expected of them. today. A good example of a reflective essay is How Reading Changed My Life by
Sometimes they will find key words Anna Quindlen, an excerpt of which can be found in Unit 2.
that will help them determine exactly
what is being asked. See the list Yet there was always in me, even when I was very small, the sense
below for some typical key words: that I ought to be somewhere else. And wander I did, although, in my
analyze everyday life, I had nowhere to go and no imaginable reason on earth
identify why I should want to leave. The buses took to the interstate without
compare me; the trains sped by. So I wandered the world through books.
Writing Tips from How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen
contrast Practice writing in
describe different formats and
Many standardized tests include sections that ask you to demonstrate your writing
discuss in real situations.
ability by composing an essay in response to a prompt, or topic. Some writing
evaluate Share your writing
prompts ask you to express your thoughts and feelings about something that has
argue with others and get
happened to you. When you respond to an expressive or a reflective prompt, keep
explain feedback.
the following tips in mind:
interpret Strive for your writing
Narrow the topic to one specific aspect, experience, or event about which you
justify to be well-developed
have something to say.
and well-organized.
prove Dont just tell what happened, but explain how it affected you, what you
Use precise, clear, and
summarize learned, or how it changed your thinking.
concise language.
Include an introduction in which you identify your narrowed topic, a body in
which you explain the topic and your insights about it, and a conclusion in
Refer to page 1120 of the which you sum up your reflections on the topic.
Language Arts Handbook 8.9, Because you will be evaluated in part on your ability to use standard English,
Answering Essay Questions, for you should also pay attention to grammar, usage, capitalization, spelling, and
additional instruction. punctuation.
PRACTICE
Timed Writing: 30 minutes Include sufficient detail so that the reader gets a
sense of the content of the book, movie, or play
Assignment: Write a reflective essay for an inter-
and understands why it has been important to you.
ested reader about a book, movie, or play that has
Organize the information in your essay so that the
had a significant impact on you. Explain why it has
reader can follow it.
been important.
Choose precise, descriptive words that show your
As you write, make sure that you accomplish these insight into the subject and audience.
tasks: Use a variety of sentence structures to make the
Write about a specific book, movie, or play and writing interesting.
explain the impact it has had on you, always Proofread your writing for errors in grammar,
keeping your audience and purpose in mind. usage, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.
214 UNIT 1 FICTION
Reflective Essay Rubric

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Have students use this rubric when evaluating Shows effective use of standard, formal
their reflective essays. English
Makes correct use of punctuation, spelling,
Content and Organization
and capitalization
Reflects on an issue or experience that is
Uses first-person narration (I or me)
meaningful to you
Shows appropriate word choice for the audi-
Develops the topic with descriptive reasons
ence and purpose
and examples
Reflects a clear voice or perspective
Shows a logical organization
Uses varied sentence structures
Offers an engaging introduction with a clear
thesis, several supporting body paragraphs, and
a conclusion that summarizes your reflections
214 UNIT 1 FICTION

KSH
HOP
O TEST PRACTICE WORKSHOP TEST PRACTICE WORKSHOP TEST PRACTICE W
Teach the Workshop
Some standardized tests ask you to read a draft of an essay and answer questions Revising and Editing Skills
about how to improve it. As you read the draft, watch for errors like these: Multiple Choice
incorrect spellings 1. D. Possible Think-Aloud: I know
disagreement between subject and verb; inconsistent verb tense; incorrect forms that book titles must be italicized,
for irregular verbs; sentence fragments and run-ons; double negatives; and incor- so D is correct.
rect use of frequently confused words, such as affect and effect 2. H. Possible Think-Aloud: The semi-
missing end marks, incorrect comma use, and lowercased proper nouns and colon in G is wrong; that should be
proper adjectives a comma. In option J, a comma is
unclear purpose, unclear main ideas, and lack of supporting details introduced after Although. That is
confusing order of ideas and missing transitions
also clearly wrong. H must be the
language that is inappropriate to the audience and purpose, and mood that is
inappropriate for the purpose correct answer.
3. B
4. H
PRACTICE 5. B
Directions: For each underlined section in the H. Although I was relieved to see it was a
passage that follows, choose the revision that most short book, by the time I finished reading
improves the writing. If you think the original it I was glad my teacher suggested it.
version is best, choose MAKE NO CHANGE. J. Although, I was relieved to see it was a
short book by the time I finished this book
(1) Earlier this year I had to do a book report, and
I was glad my teacher suggested for me to
my teacher suggested I write about a book called
read it.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. (2) Although
I was relieved to see it was a short book. By the 3. A. MAKE NO CHANGE.
time I finished this book I was so glad my teacher B. liked
suggested I should read it. (3) I really likes the two C. have liked
main characters, Lenny and George. (4) They took D. will like
care of each other; even though sometimes it was
4. F. MAKE NO CHANGE.
difficult. (5) This reminded me of the relationship
G. each other, but even though
between me and my brother.
H. each other, even though
1. A. MAKE NO CHANGE. J. each other even though
B. Of Mice and Men
5. A. MAKE NO CHANGE.
C. Of Mice And Men
B. My brother and I
D. Of Mice and Men
C. My brother and me
2. F. MAKE NO CHANGE. D. I and my brother
G. Although I was relieved to see it was a short
book; by the time I finished reading it I was
glad my teacher suggested I should read it.
/19/07 12:36:43 PM
Program Resources
0204-0215_Lit3eG10_U01_4_End.ind215 215 11/19/07 12:36:45 PM
For more study and practice with test-taking

skills, see the following lessons in the Exceeding
the Standards: Test Practice resource:
English, Reading, and Writing: ACT Format,
Practice Test A
English, Reading, and Writing: ACT Format,
Practice Test B

Analyzing Lit - FM and Unit 1

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Sample Teachers Edition pages through Unit 1

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Senior Editor: Brenda Owens

Literary Acknowledgments: Literary Acknowledgments appear following the Glossary of

ISBN 978-0-82193-161-5 (Student Edition Text)

2009 by EMC Publishing, LLC

Printed in the United States of America

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Reading Fiction Independently

Unit 2 Nonfiction 217

Reading Nonction Independently

Unit 3 Poetry 389

Reading Poetry Independently

viii CONTENTS IN BRIEF

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Reading Drama Independently

Unit 5 Folk Literature 739

Reading Folk Literature Independently

Unit 6 Independent Reading 887

Reading Independently: Use Reading Strategies

Language Arts Handbook............................................................................... 1028

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Fiction Reading Model 4

Doris Lessing Through the Tunnel SHOR T S TORY 28

Understanding Point of View 42

VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Idioms, Metaphors, and Similes 92

Guy de Maupassant Two Friends SHOR T S TORY 94

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Reading Fiction Independently 130

F OR YOUR RE A DING L IS T 204

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Introduction to Nonction 218

Nonction Reading Model 220

Understanding Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir 232

VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Word Meanings in Synonyms, Antonyms, 274

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Anna Quindlen from How Reading Changed My Life PER S ON A L E SS AY 286

Understanding Speeches 296

VOCABUL ARY & SPELLING Word Origins 306

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Anne Lamott Short Assignments HOW -TO WRI T ING 328

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Reading Nonction Independently 338

F OR YOUR RE A DING L IS T 376

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