Rough notes

English Literature

Climax

Read the extract.

So that’s how Grandpa came to be with us for two months. My friends kept asking to come see the old
man, but I put them off. I told myself that I didn’t want them laughing at Grandpa. But even as I made
excuses, I knew it wasn’t Grandpa that I was afraid they’d laugh at.

Nothing bothered Cheryl about bringing her friends to see Grandpa. Every day after school started,
there’d be a crew of giggling little girls or round-eyed little boys crowded around the old man in the
patio, where he’d gotten in the habit of sitting every afternoon.

What makes you say that?

In regard to this extract, compare the siblings and what is the impression that can be drawn of their
personalities?

Reflect on this dialogue

“I sent your mother and sister away. What you will hear today is only for a man’s ears. What you will
receive is only for a man’s hands.”

1. What is meant by ‘only for a man’s ears?’

2. According to our society’s perceptions, give an example of where you have seen it getting used.
3. Why do you think Grandpa has chosen Martin over Cheryl for his secret?

Context clue

Read the following:

“My father in his early manhood,” Grandpa began, “made a vision quest to find a spirit guide for

his life. You cannot understand how it was in that time, when the great Teton Sioux were first

made to stay on the reservation. There was a strong need for guidance from Wakantanka, the

Great Spirit. But too many of the young men were filled with despair and hatred. They thought

it was hopeless to search for a vision when the glorious life was gone and only the hated

confines of a reservation lay ahead. But my father held to the old ways.

Question
 1. What is meant by ‘despair?’
2. Which technique did you use to deduce it?

Falling action

Things in the medicine bag

1. A broken piece of an iron kettle

2. A pebble from the buttea
3. Piece of the sacred sage

Is the medicine bag symbolic?

Society and culture

“He carefully prepared for his quest with a purifying sweat bath and then he went alone to a

high butte top to fast and pray. After three days he received his sacred dream—in which he

found, after long searching, the white man’s iron. He did not understand his vision of finding

something belonging to the white people, for in that time they were the enemy.

 Reflect on the society and draw conclusions of their beliefs from the above extract.

Claim-support question

“I kept the bag until my son, your mother’s father, was a man and had to leave us to fight in

the war across the ocean. I gave him the bag, for I believed it would protect him in battle, but

he did not take it with him. He was afraid that he would lose it. He died in a faraway place.”

Again Grandpa was still and I felt his grief around me.

1. According to Grandpa, what caused his son’s death?

2. Do you believe his reasoning to be justified?

What does the medicine bag mean to Martin?

To Martin, the medicine bag is proof that he is a Sioux.

What does it represent to Grandpa?

To Grandpa, the medicine bag represents his cultural heritage, his father, and his son.

Resolution

Martin’s reaction
 Read the following lines:

Two weeks later I stood alone on the

lonely prairie of the reservation and put the sacred sage in my medicine bag.

After reading the end, do you believe that Martin is a static or dynamic character? Justify.

Ponder on

Which character is Cheryl? Flat or round? Give valid reasoning.

Let’s consolidate

1. In ‘The Medicine Bag’, a boy named Martin indulges in his native American culture and grows
closer to his grandfather.
2. Before even receiving the precious medicine bag, Martin feels self-conscious with his heritage
but somewhat learns to embrace it.
3. The story focuses on relationships with grandparents, attitudes towards culture, and how a
character’s environment affects their sentiments.

English Language

What are tenses?

Tenses are the forms taken by a verb to show the time of an action or the state of an event. There are
three main types of tenses:

a. The present tense

b. The past tense
c. The future tense

Types of tenses

Past tense: Past tense expresses an action or situation that started and finished in the past.

Present tense: It expresses an unchanging, repeated, or reoccurring action or situation that exists only
now. It can also represent a widespread truth.

Future tense: Future tense expresses an action or situation that will occur in the future.

Tenses

Present tense

It tells us about what is happening currently.

Example

I live in USA.

I am in class 10th.

Past tense

What has already happened

Example

1 lived in USA.

I was in class 9 last year.

Future tense

What will happen later in future

Example

I will live in USA.

I will be in class 11th next year.

Based on aspect, verb tenses may also be categorized according to aspect. Aspect refers to the nature
of the action described by the verb. There are four aspects:

1. Simple
2. Continuous or progressive
3. Perfect
4. Perfect continuous

Tense

Present

1. Indefinite
2. Continuous
3. Perfect
4. Perfect continuous

Past

1. Indefinite
2. Continuous
3. Perfect
4. Perfect continuous

Future

1. Indefinite
2. Continuous
3. Perfect
4. Perfect continuous