Novel
Companion
A Girl Named
Disaster
Barrio Boy
Ernesto Galarza
Nancy Farmer
Picture Bride
Yoshiko Uchida
Dogsong
Gary Paulsen
The Story of My Life
Helen Keller
The Glory Field
Walter Dean Myers
Photo Credits
7 Joson/zefa/CORBIS; 11 23 Bettmann/CORBIS; 35 William Campbell/Sygma/
CORBIS; 51 Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS; 55 79 CORBIS; 95 Rob Howard/
CORBIS; 123 Bettmann/CORBIS; 139 Giorgio Viera/CORBIS; 143 155 Bettmann/
CORBIS; 183 CORBIS; 187 199 Bettmann/CORBIS; 227 Brian David Stevens/
CORBIS; 243 Bettmann/CORBIS.
Acknowledgments
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ISBN 13: 978-0-07-889152-6
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 047 14 13 12 11 10 09
TABLE OF CONTENTS
To Students, Parents, Guardians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Interactive Reading Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Note-Taking Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Note-Taking Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Introduction to the Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
CHAPTERS 1–12
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
CHAPTERS 13–30
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
CHAPTERS 31–42
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
iii
TA BLE OF CONTENTS
Picture Bride by Yoshiko Uchida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Introduction to the Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
CHAPTERS 1-–9
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
CHAPTERS 10–23
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
CHAPTERS 24–35
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dogsong by Gary Paulsen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Introduction to the Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
CHAPTERS 1–5
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
CHAPTERS 6–10
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
CHAPTERS 11–PART 3
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
v
TA BLE OF CONTENTS
Barrio Boy by Ernesto Galarza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Introduction to the Novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
CHAPTERS 1–11
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
CHAPTERS 12–21
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
CHAPTERS 22–31
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
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The Story of My Life by Helen Keller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Introduction to the Autobiography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
CHAPTERS 1–10
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
CHAPTERS 11–17
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
CHAPTERS 18–23
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
vii
TA BLE OF CONTENTS
The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Introduction to the Autobiography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Meet the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
CHAPTERS JULY 1753–APRIL 1900
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
CHAPTERS MAY 1930–JANUARY 1964
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
CHAPTERS AUGUST 1994–EPILOGUE
Before You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Active Reading Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Interactive Reading: Literary Element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Interactive Reading: Reading Skill or Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
On-Page Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Cornell Note-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
After You Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Work with Related Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Connect to Other Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Respond Through Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
viii
TO STUDENT S, PARENTS, AND GUARDIANS
Welcome to the Novel Companion. This portable book is designed for you
to write in. It is interactive: The book prompts, and you respond. The Novel
Companion encourages, questions, provides space for notes, and invites you
to jot down your thoughts and ideas. You can use it to circle and underline
words and phrases you think are important, and to write
questions that will guide your reading.
The Novel Companion helps you develop skills for reading, analyzing, and
responding to novels, as well as to autobiographies and plays. These
literary works are drawn from Glencoe’s Literature Library. They include
some of the most notable works in literature. Many are award-winning
modern works; others are classics.
The Novel Companion is designed to follow the approach and themes in
each unit of your textbook, Glencoe Literature. The Novel Companion includes
two types of lessons:
• Note-Taking Lessons presents two methods of note-taking to help you
connect major themes in Glencoe Literature to the other novels and works
you will be reading. Using the book will help you learn these valuable
note-taking methods, so you can make effective notes whenever you study.
• Interactive Reading Lessons are lessons based on the sequential chapter
groupings in each novel. In this part of the book you’ll practice
identifying important ideas and themes, analyzing literary elements,
applying reading strategies, completing graphic organizers, and
mastering vocabulary—all skills that expert readers use to help them
comprehend novels and other long works of literature.
Note to Parents and Guardians: Ask your students to show you their work
periodically, and explain how it helps them study. You might want to talk
to them about how the skills they are learning cross over to other subjects.
To S tudents, Par ents, and G uardi ans
1
INTERACTIVE READING LESSONS
The notes and features in the interactive reading lessons will direct
you through the process of reading and making meaning from each
set of chapters. As you use these notes and features, you’ll be
practicing and mastering the skills and strategies that good readers
use whenever they read.
: Chapte rs 1–9
BEFOR E YOU READ
Get Set to Read
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
to record
Keep a special notebook
that you
entries about the novels
ture
Conne ct to the Litera
and move to a
family and friends behind
What might it be like to leave
and the way of life were
language, the customs,
faraway land where the
you?
completely unfamiliar to
After reading about the novel and the author, you
will begin to read the novel. You will study it in
groupings of chapters, or chapter sets, in the
Novel Companion. Each chapter set begins with
an activity to connect your personal experience to
the literature. You will also read background
material to provide context for the chapter set
content.
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
using
below, in the present tense,
nd.
information from Build Backgrou
Freewrite
be like to be a
writing about what it might
Spend five to ten minutes
deal with loneliness,
Consider how you would
stranger in a faraway land.
and a new way
to learn a new language
homesickness, and the need
of life.
BEF ORE YOU
REA D: Cha
pter s 1–9
Build Backg round
Set Pur pos
es for Rea din
g
tion
Early Japanese Immigra
in the 1880s.
ts came to the United States
The first Japanese immigran
Oregon, but most
Washington, and Portland,
Some arrived in Seattle,
the first large
. Soon, San Francisco was
entered through San Francisco
were also significant
California. By 1890, there
Japanese settlement in
Oakland, the
where
County,
nearby Alameda
numbers of Japanese in
is located.
setting of much of this story,
laborers on the
ts worked as farmers or
Most early Japanese immigran
white settlers
ts often farmed land that
West Coast. Japanese immigran
worked hard and
farmers were successful—they
did not want. Japanese
twenty-five
By 1900 there were nearly
produced high-quality crops.
these early
of
success
The
United States.
thousand Japanese in the
did not escape the
numbers
g
increasin
their
Japanese immigrants and
said they could not
particularly farmers who
attention of white settlers,
ts launched the first
farmers. These complain
compete against Japanese
formed to try to
s in the United States. Groups
anti-Japanese campaign
businesses were
and Japanese farms and
end Japanese immigration,
than farmers’
hostility was fueled by more
frequently vandalized. This
racism that had
intense
ion. It reflected the same
concerns about competit
1882.
in
immigration
prompted a ban on Chinese
You’re invited to interact with the information in
Build Background by summarizing content or
writing a caption for an image related to the
content.
왘 BIG Quest
ion Reading: What
’s in It for You?
There are lots
of reasons to read.
Reading can teach
spark your emoti
ons, and take your
you new things
,
imagination to
reasons can you
new places. What
think of to read?
Explore what readin
g can do for you.
Literary Elem
ent Text Struc
ture
Text structure
is the way an autho
r organizes inform
way that autho
rs structure inform
ation in a text.
One
ation is in chron
order. When autho
ological order
rs organize inform
, or time
about events in
ation in chronologic
the order in which
al order, they tell
they occur. To
events, look for
recognize the order
time-order words
of
and phrases such
later, and finally
. Dates can also
as first, next, then,
help you recog
nize chronologic
al order.
Identifying the
order of events
is important becau
how one event
se it helps you
leads to another.
recognize
It also helps you
and events.
find and recall
key ideas
Vocabulary
affluence [af
lō¯ōəns] n.
abundance; wealt
h
Their affluence
allowed them to
buy a new home
and a boat.
conscientious
[kon shē en´sh
əs]
adj. ethical; princi
pled
Because Mark
was
conscientious,
he always did
his
homework.
placid [plas id]
adj. calm; mild
There was no wind,
so the lake
was placid.
pungent [pun
jənt] adj. biting
;
strong
The pungent flavor
s of the dish
were stronger
than those of most
foods I eat.
As you read, pay
attention to the
sequence of event
time-order words
s in Hana’s life.
and dates to under
Look for
stand how one
event relates to
another.
Reading Skill
Analyze Cultural
vulnerable [vul
Context
nər ə bəl] adj.
The customs, belief
exposed; unsaf
s, relationships,
e
and traditions
certain region
that are typica
and time period
Don’t build your
l of a
are the cultural
house
context in a story.
vulnerable to hurric where it is
Understanding
ane damage.
the cultural conte
xt of a novel is
helps show chara
important becau
cters, conflicts,
se culture
and themes. The
early Japanese
cultural context
immigration to
the West Coast
of
a Japanese Amer
What They
Details
and the transition
ican community
to
life
is central to Pictur
in
graphic organizer
Tell Me
e Bride. Use the
on the following
immigrant playe
s 1–9 55 page to think about
Chapter
d a role
how each
Picture Bride:
in the Japanese
Hana wears a
American comm
She is dressed
unity.
silk kimono.
As you read, you
as a Japanese
should also list
detail AMthat sugge
of the novel. Use
1/23/08 11:42:11 s
st the cultural
wom
graphic organ
an, not
context
izers like the one
next page to help
to the right and
an American
you.
on the
55
51_94_NC_889152.indd
woman.
You are then introduced to the targeted skills for
the chapter set: the Big Question, the literary
element, and the reading skill or strategy. You will
also get vocabulary for the chapter set.
56
NOVE L COM
PANI ON:
Unit 2
51_94_NC_88915
2.indd 56
1/23/08 11:42:11
AM
AC TI VE READ I NG : C h a p ter s 1– 9
In the first nine chapters of the novel, readers are
introduced to a variety of characters. Most of these
characters will play important roles in the remaining
sections of the novel. As you read, fill in the chart
below with details about each character.
Character
Role in Japanese American
Community
Characteristics
Hana
Taro’s picture bride
naive, intelligent, high-spirited
Read, Respond, Interpret
Every lesson includes an active reading
graphic organizer to fill in as you read.
This graphic organizer is related to
either the literary element or the reading
skill or strategy for the chapter set.
Taro
t
ING: Literar y Elemen
INTER ACTIV E READ
Literary Element
and
Text Structure In what time
What
place does the novel open?
happened before that? What
happens next?
Interactive reading pages include text
excerpts from the novels that emphasize
a literary element or a reading skill or
strategy. Questions in the margin help
you interact with highlighted portions of
the text.
58
2
Reading Skill
Analyze Cultu
ral Context
What
does this sente
nce tell you
about
the culture of
the Japanese
American comm
unity?
Yamaka
ship that
the railing of the small
Hana Omiya stood at
ber sea.
a in a turbulent Novem
shuddered toward Americ
the folds of her silk kimono
She shivered as she pulled
about her
tightened the wool shawl
close to her throat and
shoulders.
The Todas
ed in her
her dark eyes shadow
She was thin and small,
dour that
piled high in a pompa
pale face, her black hair
clung to the
so slight a woman. She
seemed too heavy for
into her
d the damp salt air deep
moist rail and breathe
though it
leaden and lifeless, as
lungs. Her body seemed
to a strange
transporting her soul
were simply the vehicle
y to be home
with childlike intensit
Dr. Kaneda
new life, and she longed
..
in
again in Oka Village. .
g, Hana was up and dressed
By five the next mornin
eat
and coat. She could not
her finest purple silk kimono
st and
that appeared for breakfa
the bean soup and rice
Her
the yellow pickled radish.
took only a few bites of
boarded
been touched since she
bags, which had scarcely
ed were
packed for all they contain
ship, were easily
the51_94_NC_889152.indd
The large
57
of her favorite books.
her kimonos and some
ed under
secured by a rope, remain
willow basket, tightly
it there.
her uncle had placed
the bunk, untouched since
cabin,
the other women in her
She had not befriended
voyage, too
bunks for most of the
for they had lain in their
Hana had fled
anyone. Each morning
sick to be company to
of the
g quarters and spent most
the closeness of the sleepin
the lonely
of the deck, listening to
day huddled in a corner
alien land.
s also travelling to an
songs of some Russian
the
to
land, Hana hurried up
As the ship approached
and sky,
gray expanse of ocean
deck to look out at-the
of her new homeland.
eager for a first glimpse
Unit 2
NOVEL COMPAN ION:
58
51_94_NC_889152.indd
INT ERA CTI
TER 1
NOVE L EXCER PT: CHAP
1917–1918
One
60
Pic t ur e
VE REA DIN
G:
Rea din g Ski
ll
NO VEL EXC
ERP T:
CH AP TER
“I would like
3
to introduce
from Oka Villa
Miss Hana
Omiya, who
ge near Kyo
comes
to,” he said
Hana heard
quietly.
the rustle of
look at her
clothing as
in the back
everyone turn
row. She kne
ed to
rise and ackn
w she was
owledge the
expecte
introductio
nearly gave
n, but her kne d to
way. She clun
es
g to the chai
bowed tow
r in front of
ard the dign
her and
ified gentlem
warmly at
an who now
her.
smiled
“I thank you
for your kind
beg your kind
ness,” she mur
indulgence
mur
ed,
“and I
in the future.”
a corset stay
and gasped
She felt the
as she awk
jab of
seat.
wardly resu
med her
The women
about her smi
acknowledg
led and bow
ement of her
ed in
words. Soo
and all the
n the minister
women gath
, his wife
ered around
about her trip
to greet her,
, inquiring
asking
about her fam
One woman
ily in Oka Villa
B r ide : C ha pte
r s 1 – 9drew
57 her
aside, informi
ge.
midwife and
ng her that
would be hap
she was a
py to assist
need arose.
her whenev
When, at last,
er the
moved outs 1/23/08 11:42:12 AM everyone had
ide into the
spoken to her,
thin Novemb
they
Taro stood
er sun.
with the othe
r men in fron
gradually mad
t of the chu
e his way to
rch and
Hana’s side
toward her
. He also stee
a tall, lanky
man with an
red
black hair. He
abundance
was far bett
of wavy
er looking than
“This is Kiy
Taro.
oshi Yamaka
,” he said. “He
together dur
ing our earl
and I struggle
y
years in Am
d
Hana recogniz
erica.”
ed
imm
ediately the
had encounte
handsome
red during
face she
the prayer
something
and groped
proper to say
for
to excuse hers
quickly relie
elf. But Yam
ved her of furt
aka
her embarra
“I hope you
ssment.
will be hap
py here,” he
is a lucky man
said
.” He had a
disarming smi politely. “Taro
relax, and he
le that mad
asked Taro
e Hana
if he could
drive them
somewhere.
NOV EL COM
PAN ION :AM
Unit 2
1/23/08 11:42:12
51_94_NC_889
152.indd 60
1/23/08 11:42:1
2 AM
INTERACTIVE READING LESSONS
Show What You Know
: Chapte rs 1–9
AFTER YOU READ
After you read the chapters in the chapter set,
you will answer questions about the content,
including how the background information helped
you as you read.
You will then demonstrate what you learned from
your interactive reading of the excerpts. You will
also practice using the vocabulary words you
were introduced to and learn a new vocabulary
word that can be used in your academic writing.
APPLY BACKGROUND
Novel
Reread Introduction to the
on page 52. How did that
nd
information help you understa
read in
or appreciate what you
the novel?
Critic ally
Respo nd and Think
attitude toward her
to marry Taro? What is her
1. Why does Hana agree
ize]
in the United States? [Summar
decision after she arrives
2. Who are the Todas? How
is Kiku Toda different from
Hana? [Compare]
AFT ER YO
U REA D:
Cha pte rs
Do you think their
hip between Hana and Taro.
3. Evaluate the relations
or why not? [Evaluate]
marriage will last? Why
Literary Elem
ent Text Stru
cture
1. How many
years have pass
ed in the nove
far? How do
l so
you know? [App
ly]
In addition, you will complete a short writing
assignment and other activities related to what
you read in the chapter set content. These
activities will draw on what you studied in your
interactive work on the excerpts from the
chapters.
2. Study the
table of cont
ents pages of
Explain the text
this book.
structure of
this novel. [App
ly]
learned about Japanese
for You? What have you
ize]
5. Reading: What’s in It
-century America? [Synthes
picture brides in early twentieth
64
Unit 2
NOVEL COMPAN ION:
Prac
tice
An antonym
is a word that
has the oppo
opposite mean
site or nearly
ing
the
boldfaced voca as another word. Match
each
bulary word
below with its
a thesaurus
antonym. Use
or dictionary
to check your
answers.
1. affluence
a. bold
2. conscien
tious
b. mild
3. placid
c. unethical
4. pungent
d. intolerable
5. vulnerable
e. poverty
f. secure
g. stormy
? Give evidence
takes her new role seriously
4. Do you think that Hana
your answer. [Infer]
from the novel to support
Reading Skill
Analyze Cult
1. What have
ural Context
you learned
about the chall
faced young
enges that
Japanese men
like Takeda and
Yamaka? [Syn
thesize]
1–9
Vocabulary
Academic
Vocabulary
When the narra
tor explains
that Hana’s moth
Hana would
“indicate an
er had hope
interest” in one
d
names her moth
of the men whos
er mentioned
e
, she is tellin
Hana’s moth
g readers that
er was hopin
g Hana woul
that one of the
d let her moth
men interested
er know
to figure out
her. Using cont
the meaning
ext clues, try
of the word
Write your gues
in the sente
s below. Then
dictionary.
check your gues nce above.
s in a
1/23/08 11:42:12 AM
Cha pte rs
U REA D:
AFT ER YO
64
51_94_NC_889152.indd
1–9
and Rep ort
ch the
2. Desc
earribe
Res
Japanese
Wr itin g
entationAmerican commoften
early twenPres
tieth-cen
al/Media
Visuthis
tury Oakl
pray, Hana unity in
s to and
want
gh
ghts went throu
onse What thou
in
Personal Resp read about Hana’s first year and
you
faces,
your mind as
enges Hana
.
e some chall
onds to them
California? Nam
of how she resp
on
opini
give your
as it shown
she
noveWhe
n thesi
l. [Syn
in
ze] Taro’s Christian god.
Assignment
Buddha and
other
parency, or
addresses both
uter-slide, trans
fs of each
Present a comp ing what the basic belie
show
each was
visual report
how
and
and when
religion are
Japan.
introduced to
and
arch questions
e a list of rese
ces fit your
Get Ideas Mak
h type of sour
s. Decide whic
a general or
search term
will you use
For example,
nt web
s, governme
purpose best.
book
dia,
clope
specialized ency ces?
r sour
sites, or othe
mation.
sources of infor
at least three
write
51_94_NC_889
152.indd 65 Research Use
s, and carefully
your own word
n.
Take notes in
of informatio
ce of each bit
s:
gorie
down the sour
cate
four
notes in
Organize your
Beliefs
• Buddhist
Beliefs
• Christian
to Japan
of Buddhism
• Introduction
y to Japan
of Christianit
• Introduction
one has
ls. Be sure each
te your visua
the type of
Prepare Crea
ifies
.
ing that ident
a clear head
large and clear
Make headings
ted text in a
information.
mation as bulle
infor
text you
ional
Present addit
font. Write the
, and legible
and
traditional, large and explain each visual,
ent
s,
pres
to
slide
use
will
show your
king as you
rehearse spea
ls.
, or other visua
transparencies
mation,
explain the infor
you display and
your
Present As
Leave time for
and clearly.
, ask
if necessary
speak slowly
reread, and,
,
ectful
read
resp
to
a
ys use
audience
much
t each one. Alwa
and make as
questions abou
ssing religions,
ible.
tone when discu
nce as poss
with your audie
eye contact
After you read the entire novel, you will work with
related readings, connect the novel to an excerpt
from Glencoe Literature, and finally, write an
essay or story that draws upon what you learned
by reading.
66
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CON NEC T
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92
2
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RE SP ON
Compare the novel
you have just read
which is excer
to the literature
pted from “Com
selection at the
ing to America”
left,
Wong, Vicki Bane
by Joe McGowan,
, and
Marisa
the questions below Laurie Morice in Glencoe Litera
ture. Then answ
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er
Re se ar ch
Re po rt
D TH RO
UG H
W RI TIN
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TALK ABOUT IT Investigate
Refugee Cam
at refugee
Do the challenges
ps Use the
camps and
that Jin Hua
UNDERSTAN
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other type
today. Wri
Zhang faces seem
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s of detainm t to research the con
te a researc
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more difficult, health and
or about
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around the
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is an
assignment
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at the cam
world
those faced by least oneequal
in which
Focus you
ps. Use at
Hana in primary
you explore
a topic by
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least thre
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gathering
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facts from
number of
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or five que
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guide you
notes
here first. find the answer
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information
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use introdu
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still need
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94
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Inter acti ve Readi ng Lessons
3
NOTE-TAKING SYSTEMS
You may dislike taking notes. Perhaps you don’t believe that notes are
useful or maybe you just haven’t been shown how to do an effective job of
taking notes. The Novel Companion will teach you two different systems of
taking notes. These systems will help you develop note-taking skills to use
in school and for the rest of your life. Research shows that students who
take good notes perform better on tests, and note-taking skills are crucial if
you plan to attend college. When you take notes, you become more
actively engaged in what you read by constantly looking for main ideas,
supporting details, and key relationships.
Note-Taking Lessons and BIG Questions
The note-taking lessons in the Novel Companion are focused on helping you
find a connection between the main ideas of featured novels (or
autobiographies or plays) and the Big Questions, or major themes, of the
units in your textbook, Glencoe Literature. By learning the note-taking skills
presented in the Novel Companion, you will be able to make such
connections more readily and easily.
On-Page Note-Taking
College students routinely write on the pages of the books they are
reading, using the margins to jot down ideas and questions. If you are
allowed to mark up your text, you can write notes directly on the page.
The On-Page Note-Taking lessons prompt you to make connections to a
Big Question by marking up an excerpt using a system of symbols.
4
N OTE-TAKING SYSTEMS
The Cornell Note-Taking System
The Novel Companion will also train you in the Cornell Note-Taking System,
which was developed at Cornell University to help students take more
effective notes. In this system, the page is divided into two columns, one
wide and one narrow. This format provides a way to organize your
thinking. You’ll use the Cornell Note-Taking System to take notes on
excerpts from the novels and how the excerpts relate to the Big Questions.
The following summarizes the steps of the system:
Record
First, you will record notes in the right (wide) column as you read.
Your notes may include summaries, bulleted lists, and graphic organizers.
Reduce
Next, you will reduce, or condense, your notes into key words,
phrases, questions, and comments in the left (narrow) column. This step will
help you clarify meaning, find information within your notes, and trigger your
memory when you study.
Recap
Finally, you will use the bottom portion of the page to recap, or
summarize, what you have learned from your notes. This step helps
strengthen your grasp of what you just read before you move on to the
next section of text.
A Life-long Skill
Once you become accustomed to using the note-taking skills taught in the
Novel Companion, you’ll be able to use these skills when you read other
literature, when you listen to a lecture in class, when you attend a meeting,
or even as you watch a film.
Note-Taki ng Syst ems
5
NOTE-TAKING LESSONS
Through the note-taking lessons presented in the Novel Companion, you’ll
be learning to record important information in your own words, to reduce
it to key words that will help you remember your notes, and to apply your
notes as you answer questions and read and write about the novels and
other longer works in the program.
ON- PA GE NOT E- TA KI NG: BI G Qu e sti on
Read, Question, and Mark-Up
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Not only will you be interacting with excerpts from
the novels as you work with the literary elements
and reading skills or strategies assigned to a
chapter set, but you will also be working with
excerpts that relate to the Big Question assigned
to each chapter set.
You will take notes on the excerpt—right on the
page. With practice, you will devise a short-hand
system that works for you. In the meantime, you
can use the suggested on-page mark-up system.
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Reading: What’s in It for You?
What have you found out about the
lives of early Japanese immigrants
to America?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
62
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 4
Hana nodded. “Oh yes, it was a most eventful day,” she
began. “It was my first visit to a Christian church, and
there was lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then the lovely
drive around the lake.” She recited the day’s activities like
a dutiful child reporting to its mother. She paused a
moment and added, “I also saw Taro San’s shop.”
“Oh. What did you think of it?”
“It was . . . well, it was very nice,” Hana began, trying to
find some kind words among the misgivings that raged
inside her. She saw Kiku’s questioning look, however, and
suddenly abandoned all attempts at restraint and control.
“No, that’s not true,” she burst out. “It wasn’t nice at all.
It was drab and dirty and smelled of stale food. There were
cobwebs and mice droppings in the corners, and the
shelves were covered with dust. It’s a wonder anyone
would want to buy anything there.” Hana swallowed,
trying to blink back the tears.
Kiku put an arm around her. “You were expecting
something a bit finer, I expect.”
Hana nodded. Kiku’s openness made it possible to
answer her with shameless candor. “I thought he would
have a large store on a fine street. I thought there would be
American ladies and gentlemen coming to his shop to buy
shirts and silks and thread.” She paused, remembering the
lonely men on Seventh Street. “Is it only people like those I
saw today on his street who go there to shop?”
“The fine white American ladies and gentlemen have their
own stores,” Kiku explained gently. “They have no need to
come to Seventh Street to buy pickled radish or soy sauce.”
She turned Hana’s face toward her and said gravely,
“You’re going to have to realize something important,
Hana. We are foreigners in this country, and there are many
white people who resent our presence here. They welcome
us only as cooks or houseboys or maids. Why, even if
Taro’s store was twice as big and it was on the best corner
in downtown Oakland, still his only customers would be
the Japanese and the men on Seventh Street. Don’t forget,
we are aliens here. We don’t really belong.”
Hana recalled the minister’s prayer that morning. “It
isn’t such a golden life here in America then, is it?” she said
almost to herself.
N OV E L C O M PA N I O N : U n i t 2
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Record, Reduce, and Recap
You will also learn the Cornell Note-Taking
System, described on the previous page.
Here you will take notes on the excerpt you
marked-up on the On-Page Note-Taking page.
C O R N E L L N O T E - TA K IN G : B I G Q u e s t i o n
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Write down your thoughts on the
excerpt.
Recap
Pi ct ur e B r i de: C h a p te r s 1 – 9
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A Girl Named
Disaster
Nancy Farmer
A Gir l N amed Di sast er
7
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE NOVEL
A Girl Named Disaster
Nancy Farmer
“
I lived in central Africa for seventeen
years. The character, viewpoint and zany
sense of humor of the people I met there
have had a major effect on my writing.
”
—Nancy Farmer in Something About the
Author
A Girl Named Disaster didn’t start out as a
work of fiction. Nancy Farmer intended
to mine her intimate knowledge of
African life and her expertise as an
entomologist to produce a textbook
about Africa. The storyteller in her
surfaced, however, and the tale of
Nhamo, a girl named Disaster, was born.
Farmer turned textbook descriptions into
a detailed landscape in which the wind
whispers with spirits and the grass
rustles with unseen dangers: leopards,
crocodiles, and deadly insects. Nhamo is
a girl right out of the remote Shona
villages of Mozambique that Farmer
once visited, an area where ancient
rituals and strict taboos abound, their
magic untouched by the outside world.
Farmer found this area to be “the wildest
country that exists on the planet,” where
the land, with its monsoons and
droughts, dominates the villagers’ lives.
When Nhamo leaves this isolated,
traditional world and arrives in more
modern Zimbabwe, she arrives in
another place Farmer knew well. Despite
8
NOV E L C O MPA NION: Un it 1
its churches, schools, hospitals, and
modern conveniences, Zimbabwe is a
country struggling to define itself. It is a
place like Nhamo herself, a place leaving
childhood for adulthood, shedding old
traditions and embracing new ones, yet
always shadowed by the past.
Shona Life Life in Nhamo’s Shona
village takes place during the 1980s, but
it is a far cry from the microwaves and
malls that are so much a part of modern
American life. In fact, the village Farmer
describes is little changed from what it
was even one hundred years ago.
Nhamo’s people depend upon the land
for survival, and all of their activities,
rituals, and stories center around this
relationship with the land.
The Shona spend a great part of their day
just making sure they have enough to
eat, and their cultural system is built
around this endeavor. Each family has
livestock (that is tended by men) and a
plot of tribal land (that is owned by the
family’s head male and cultivated by his
wives and daughters). The more wives a
man has, the more crops he has for
himself and his children. A good wife
must be able to handle the farming, the
cooking, and the housekeeping, but her
true value lies in her ability to produce
numerous children. When a young girl
shows that she can bear children, she
immediately gains new status, and her
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
fertility is a cause for celebration.
Children ensure that life will continue
and that a man’s particular totem, or clan
identity, will endure. A person who lives
to become a grandparent is especially
revered, because he or she has
contributed to the family’s survival and
will soon become an ancestor, a family
spirit who watches over the family. A
woman who cannot have children has no
status and no chance of becoming an
esteemed ancestor.
The Spirit World To the Shona, spirits are
a serious concern. The spirits of the land,
animals, and people are important, but
the spirits of witches are particularly
significant. To be accused of being a
witch is the worst insult, one that taints
the accused as well as that person’s
descendents. A woman who does not
bear children or someone who seems to
be an outsider may be identified as a
witch and accused of crimes such as
spreading disease.
Not all Shona live as traditionally as
Nhamo’s people do, however. When
Nhamo reaches Zimbabwe, she discovers
Shona people who have been thrust into
the twentieth century, working for wages
instead of food; learning mathematics
and reading instead of listening to myths
and folklore; embracing Western ideas
such as democracy and Christianity, with
its own set of spirits and rituals. For
some Shona, this change is a bit like
having the floor drop away, leaving them
to freefall until they can grasp
something. As Nhamo discovers, such a
material and spiritual change is both
frightening and rewarding.
The Price of Marriage
Check an American etiquette
book, and you’ll find all sorts of
rules for weddings. The groom,
for example, must pay for
certain items, such as the
bride’s ring. In Shona society,
the groom must pay for the bride
herself. A man must pay the
bride’s family a roora, or brideprice, that may consist of
livestock, crops, or even cloth or
tools. An expensive bride can
take years to pay for; in some
cases, however, the man is
given his bride on a “payment
plan.”
What happens if he fails to keep
up payments? The family can
repossess the bride. Similarly, a
man can return a bride and get
his bride-price back, even after
years of living with her. A Shona
marriage is not considered legal
until the full bride-price has
been paid.
also helps support the bride’s
parents in their old age. In
addition, the bride’s brothers
can use her bride-price to buy
brides of their own. Although
the custom of paying a brideprice is dying out, it still exists in
many countries around the
world, particularly in Africa,
Asia, and the Middle East.
What is the purpose behind
bride-price? Paying for a bride
is a mark of respect toward the
bride’s family, who is giving up a
valuable member of society: a
fertile woman. The bride-price
A Gir l N amed Di sast er
9
MEET THE AUTHOR
Nancy Farmer (1941– )
“
Every night until past midnight I
listened to stories from truck drivers,
cowboys, and railroad workers. My father
took me to the American legion hall on
bingo nights, and I heard a lot more stories
there. People were able to spin tales back
then, and they taught me a lot.
”
—Nancy Farmer in Contemporary
Authors
Nancy (Coe) Farmer grew up working in
her family’s hotel in Yuma, Arizona, near
the Mexican border. The hotel was the
perfect place for a young girl to soak up
stories.
World Traveler After graduating from
Reed College in Oregon, Farmer signed
on with the Peace Corps to teach English
and chemistry in India. In 1971, she
decided to see more of the world. She
booked passage on a freight ship heading
to Africa and ended up in Mozambique,
working as an entomologist at a lab on
Lake Cabora Bassa. Her job took her
around the fringes of the lake and to
rural villages, much like the one in A Girl
Named Disaster, where she saw firsthand
how the Shona lived and witnessed
things that were “completely
mysterious” to an outsider. When that
job ended after two years, Farmer moved
on to Zimbabwe, working as an
10
N OV E L C OMPA NION: Un it 1
entomologist at the University of
Zimbabwe. At the university, she met
and married an English teacher, Harold
Farmer.
An Unusual Muse Farmer remained in
Zimbabwe for twelve more years,
becoming intimate with Shona culture
and even adopting that culture’s
religious belief in animism, or the
existence of spiritual beings outside the
body. In fact, she believes that her
writing began when a shave, or roaming
spirit, possessed her. She says that shaves
teach their skills to whomever they
inhabit, and she was lucky enough to get
“a traditional storyteller.”
Spinning Tales Farmer published several
stories and books in Zimbabwe, winning
a prestigious short story contest in 1987.
The prize money she won enabled the
Farmers to move to the United States.
Once there, however, Farmer’s writing
sagged when the family faced financial
difficulties. Her dry spell didn’t last long,
however. One of her novels, The Ear, the
Eye, and the Arm, was chosen as a
Newbery Honor Book in 1995.
Farmer published A Girl Named Disaster
in 1996, and it was named a Newbery
Honor Book in 1997. Farmer continues to
weave stories as varied as those she
heard as a child.
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–12
Connect to the Literature
Have you ever felt as if you didn’t belong in a certain place or to a certain
group?
Write a Journal Entry
Write about what set you apart from that place or group. Was it your
ideas, personality, or clothing that set you apart? How did you react to
feeling as if you didn’t belong? How did others treat you?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, in the present tense, using
information in Build Background.
Read to find out how a young woman reacts when she feels that she
doesn’t belong to the family and village in which she’s been raised.
Build Background
Honoring Transition with Tradition
Many cultures have elaborate rituals to mark a child’s passage into
adulthood. Imagine having to survive in a remote wilderness with no
clothing or tools or having your body shaved, tattooed, or painted to prove
that you have become an adult. Such ceremonies show that a person is
ready to serve the community by providing food and protection and by
having children to replenish the community. Without such life-sustaining
acts, the community would perish. As you read, watch for the rituals of
Nhamo’s people, the Shona. In Nhamo’s world, religion is not something
practiced only on certain days; instead, religion saturates every aspect of
life, every day. The Shona express their religion through myths, stories
that explain their beliefs and rituals. The daily job of storyteller is an
important one because few people can read or write. The storyteller
keeps the oral tradition, stories that have been passed down for
generations so that children can learn the moral lessons of their culture.
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 1–12
11
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–12
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question How Do You Stay True to Yourself?
Over the course of your life you have built values and beliefs that define
who you are. As you read the first section of A Girl Named Disaster,
consider the various ways Nhamo stays true to herself by acting on her
values and believing in herself.
Literary Element Setting
In a literary work, the setting is the time and place during which the
events take place. In bringing the setting to life, authors often use sensory
details to appeal to the reader’s sense of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and
taste. As you read about a story’s setting, you create a picture of it your
mind. Often this picture inspires thoughts and feelings that enrich your
understanding of the events and characters.
As you read the first section of A Girl Named Disaster, note the many
sensory details author Nancy Farmer uses to help you create the setting in
your mind. Consider the feeling, or mood, that these details create.
Reading Skill Analyze Character
When you analyze, you look at details in order to better understand the
whole. Most authors do not directly state everything there is to know
about their characters, plot, and setting. Instead they provide clues that
guide readers toward an interactive process of interpreting these
elements.
Analyzing characters is important because it can help you understand and
make predictions about their actions and points of view, which enriches
your reading. To analyze character, pay attention to
• what the character thinks, says, and does
What Nhamo thinks
• how the character looks and sounds
of herself
• what others say about the character
• how the character is affected by his or
she does not think she is
her surroundings
As you read the first 12 chapters of A Girl
Named Disaster, analyze the character
Nhamo to learn about the culture she was
born into.
You may find it helpful to use graphic
organizers like the ones on the next page and
at the right.
12
N OV E L C OM PA NION: Un it 1
ugly
she uses her imagination
she is lonely
she is looked down on by
some people
she is comfortable with
the land and with nature
calabash [kal ə bash] n.
hollowed gourd used as a
container
Many desert communities use a
calabash to store their water.
centipedes [sen tə pēdz] n. small
invertebrates with many legs
When their basement flooded,
the Rileys found a lot of
centipedes near the drains.
chaff [chaf ] n. seed hulls removed
by threshing
“Separating the wheat from the
chaff” is a familiar expression
that means “dividing the useful
from the useless.“
mortar [môr tər] n. bowl used for
grinding
Chemists often mix ingredients
using a mortar and pestle.
totem [tō təm] n. object, animal,
or plant that serves as tribal
symbol
The hockey team’s totem is a
grizzly bear.
What others
think of her
How the setting
affects her
ACT IVE READING: Chapters 1–12
Who is Nhamo? Nhamo knows her spirit makes her
different from everyone around her, yet she
desperately wants to belong among her people. To
better understand the many influences and ideas
that define Nhamo, fill in the chart below as you
read. How does Nhamo see herself? How do others
see her? What expectations does she have for her
life? What expectations do others have for her?
Who is Nhamo in the family?
does all the work while
others rest
Aunt Chipo calls her lazy.
Who is Nhamo in her
own mind?
spirit like “boiling water,” dissatisfied,
restless, keeps occupied by observing things
Nhamo and other women
must serve men before
serving themselves.
Nhamo is not a mhandara, so
she is still seen as child.
Who is Nhamo in the village?
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 1–12
13
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Setting How does the setting in
the magazine photograph differ
from the setting in which Nhamo
lives? How does the picture make
her feel?
14
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 2
At the very top of the hill a perfectly round and deep
hole had been worn into the rock. Rain filled it in the rainy
season; even now it was half-full of water. Nhamo leaned
over and studied her face. She didn’t think she was ugly.
Now came the moment she was waiting for. She
dragged aside a slab of stone from a smaller, dry hole in
the rock. Inside were the treasures Nhamo had managed to
collect. She removed pots, wooden spoons, a drinking
gourd, an old cloth Aunt Chipo once used to cover her
hair, and a knife Uncle Kufa had hurled into a bush when
the tip broke off. (He was even angrier when he couldn’t
find it again later.) She left a few things inside the hole: a
precious box of matches, some glass beads that had come
off Aunt Shuvai’s bracelet, some of the copper wire Uncle
Kufa used to decorate his snuffboxes.
Reverently, Nhamo smoothed out the cloth and put the
utensils on it. Last of all, she reached into a pot and
removed—a roll of paper.
She weighted the edges down with stones. It was a
picture torn out of a magazine.
Books were unheard of in Nhamo’s village, but very
occasionally a magazine found its way from the distant
cities of Zimbabwe. Only two men in the village could
read. They retold the stories for everyone’s entertainment.
The women studied the pictures of clothes and houses,
gardens and cars with great interest. They tried to copy the
hairstyles in the photographs. Eventually, the magazines
fell apart and were used to light fires.
This picture had been on the cover, so it was of sturdier
paper. The minute Nhamo had seen it, her heart beat so
fast it hurt. The picture showed a beautiful woman with
braided hair decorated with beads. She wore a flowered
dress and a white, white apron. She was cutting a slice of
white, white bread, and next to her was a block of yellow
margarine.
Nhamo didn’t know what margarine was, but
Grandmother told her it was even better than peanut
butter.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
The room behind the woman was full of wonderful
things, but what interested Nhamo most was the little girl.
She was wearing a blue dress, and her hair was gathered
into two fat puffs over her ears. The woman smiled at her
in the kindest way, and Nhamo knew the white bread and
yellow margarine were meant for the little girl.
She thought the woman looked like Mother.
She couldn’t remember Mother, and of course no one
had a picture of her, but the way her spirit leaped when
she saw that picture told her this was how Mother had
looked. . . .
Nhamo suddenly realized the light was going. Maiwee!
She had been so absorbed, she had forgotten the time.
Scrambling, she packed everything and dragged the lid
over the hole.
She slid down the hill and tied the firewood to her back.
Oho! In this light, the trail was almost invisible! The air
was a strange, silvery color, and the gray-green trees
melted into the sky. It was the moment when the day
animals passed the night animals on their way to hunt.
Nhamo listened for the stream. The air was so still she
couldn’t smell it.
Sh, sh—there it was in the distance. She made more
noise than usual, smashing through the bushes in her
haste. All at once, she was by the stream. The surface of the
water gleamed with silver light, and it was impossible to
see underneath. Crocodiles liked this time of day. They
floated just beneath the water, where their flat, yellow eyes
could watch anything that approached.
Literary Element
Setting Identify the sensory details
in this passage. What feelings or
emotions do these details create?
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 1–12
15
INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Skill
Analyze Character What does this
section tell you about Nhamo’s
inner life? What does she feel
about her future?
16
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 10
The other women didn’t speak to her at all, and Nhamo
had plenty of time to think about her situation. Her father
was a murderer. The ngozi had demanded that she marry
a diseased man with several wives. Goré’s brother
wouldn’t pay roora for her, so she wouldn’t have any status
in her new household. The other wives would beat her.
Perhaps her husband would beat her, too, to get revenge
for his brother’s death. She wouldn’t see Masvita anymore,
or Ruva or Grandmother—if Grandmother even lived.
The future was so bleak, Nhamo refused to think about
it. She pretended that she lived on the trader’s porch
instead. It was what she did in the deserted village back
home. She knew, of course, that Mother didn’t really drink
tea with her on top of the hill there. She knew she sat with
a scrap of paper held down by pebbles—but the pictures in
her mind were so real, she thought they must somehow
exist. They might live in the underground country where
the thrown-away animals and people went. And someday,
if she could find the way, she might join them.
Nhamo applied herself to caring for Ambuya. When an
unpleasant thought occurred, she shook her head to clear
it out. Nothing existed for her but the trader’s house, the
porch with Grandmother’s bed, and an endless present.
Three or four times a day she made up a poultice. The
muvuki had provided powdered bark from a tree that had
been struck by lightning. This was the correct treatment, he
said, for someone who suffered from chikandiwa, or a
stroke. Nhamo boiled the powder with water, soaked it in
a cloth, and applied it to Grandmother’s paralyzed side.
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
Between times, she rubbed Ambuya’s arms and legs, and
told her stories. She couldn’t tell whether the old woman
understood her.
The other women helped during the day, but they
talked to one another and ignored Nhamo. . . .
Slowly, Grandmother improved. She could move both
sides of her body, although she was too weak to stand and
she still couldn’t talk. Her eyes had expression in them
now. They followed Nhamo and sometimes they welled
over with tears.
“Does it hurt, Ambuya?” whispered Nhamo as she
wiped the tears away. Grandmother couldn’t answer; the
tears continued to flow.
One afternoon, Uncle Kufa decided the old woman was
well enough to travel. “The basket maker has made a
traveling chair for you, Va-Ambuya,” he said. “It hangs on
long poles, which we can carry on our shoulders. You
should be very comfortable.” He instructed Nhamo to
have everything ready to leave the next morning.
Nhamo felt stunned as her uncle strode off. All at once,
the thoughts she had pushed away came back in a rush.
She wasn’t going to live on this porch forever. No one
would speak to her kindly anymore or worry about her
welfare. She would go to a strange house where the
women would hate her and her husband would beat her.
Even her own people couldn’t wait to get rid of her.
Reading Skill
Analyze Character How does
what you have learned about
Grandmother help you to
understand what she is feeling
even though she cannot speak?
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : Chapters 1–12
17
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
How Do You Stay True to Yourself?
What does Nhamo do in
preparation for leaving? How do
her thoughts and actions reflect
her values and beliefs?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
18
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 11
All went with amazing smoothness. Crocodile Guts’s
boat was still jammed into the reeds, and the mooring rope
was still attached. Nhamo removed a sack of already
ground and dried mealie meal from the storehouse. She
visited Aunt Chipo’s hut and took a box of matches and a
bag of beans. Here and there she went, removing odds and
ends. It was wicked to steal—she knew that—but worse to
disobey an elder. And so she entered into the adventure
with a clear conscience. No one bothered her or even
stopped to talk. She was a ghost in her own village, already
seen as the bride of the ngozi.
Only Masvita gave her an uncomfortable moment. “I’ll
miss you,” her cousin said tearfully as Nhamo bent over
Aunt Shuvai’s baby. “I want you to know . . . if it doesn’t
work out . . . if he’s cruel . . . come back. I couldn’t bear to
see you suffer. I’ll argue with Father until he lets you stay.
You’ll have to return anyway to have your first child.”
Nhamo knew that Masvita would never find the
courage to argue with Uncle Kufa, but she appreciated the
thought. She felt slightly guilty because she had just stolen
a pot of the millet-and-honey cakes Aunt Chipo kept to
fatten her daughter up.
Nhamo stored everything in the boat. In the late
afternoon, she went to the ruined village and fetched
Mother. “You’ll never guess what I’m going to do,” she
whispered to the clay pot. “I know it seems wrong, but
Grandmother commanded me to do it.”
As the shadows grew and the time for departure
approached, however, Nhamo began to have second
thoughts. It had been a wonderful plan when the sun was
high. Ambuya had seemed full of confidence and even—if
such a thing were possible with an elder—mischief.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key ideas.
Recap
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 1–12
19
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–12
Respond and Think Critically
1. Why is Nhamo’s father absent? How is his absence a problem for
Nhamo? [Identify]
2. What rituals must Masvita undergo when she becomes a mhandara
(woman)? How does Masvita seem to feel about these rituals?
[Analyze]
3. Why do the villagers wear charms when they journey to the muruvi
(healing specialist)? Why isn’t Nhamo given a charm at first? [Analyze]
4. What is the muruvi like? Do you think he is authentic? Why or why not?
[Evaluate]
5. How Do You Stay True to Yourself? What is it about Nhamo that makes
her unable to fit in among her family and the villagers? Would she fit in
even if her parents had not brought shame to the family? [Infer]
20
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Introduction to the Novel
on pages 8–9. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–12
Literary Element Setting
1. In Chapter 10, Nhamo is befriended by Rosa, the
trader’s wife. What is it about Rosa and the
porch setting that makes Nhamo feel so safe and
happy? [Infer]
2. Do you think Nhamo would have been safe if she
had been allowed to move in with the trader and
his wife? Why or why not? [Analyze]
Vocabulary Practice
Write the vocabulary word that correctly completes the
sentence.
calabash
centipede
chaff
mortar
totem
1. My mother ground five different spices together in her
_______________.
2. In some cultures nature provides many household
utensils, including the lowly _______________.
3. The leopard or jaguar is a powerful ancient
_______________.
4. Alegra thinks of her bread crusts as _______________
and she cuts them off and throws them away.
5. A spider has eight legs, but a _______________ has a
great many more!
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Skill Analyze Character
1. In Chapter 3, why does Nhamo tell the others
that she saw a leopard on the path? [Analyze]
Nhamo appears to derive great personal satisfaction from
her storytelling ability. In the preceding sentence, derive
means ”to obtain from a specific source.” To become more
familiar with the word derive, fill out the graphic organizer
below.
synonym
definition
2. What character details in the earlier part of the
story helped you understand this behavior?
[Recall]
derive
antonyms
sentence/image
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : Chapters 1–12
21
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–12
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Personal Response Do you think Nhamo is doing
Literature Groups
the right thing by running away? Why or why not?
Assignment How do you know when you have
become an adult? Is it simply a matter of reaching a
certain age, getting a diploma, or landing a job?
With a small group of classmates, discuss what it
takes to become an adult.
Prepare Before your group meets, think about the
cultural events that mark maturity for Nhamo’s
people. Are there similar markers in American
culture? Make a list. Then chart the comparisons.
Nhamo’s culture
When a young girl
gets her first
period she is
considered a
woman, and her
village celebrates
with a party.
Your culture
When a person
graduates from
high school, it is an
important event,
complete with a
ceremony and
sometimes a party.
Discuss During your discussion, respect the views
of others by listening carefully and maintaining eye
contact. Offer support for your own opinions,
without negating the views of others. Pay attention
to the views of students who grew up outside the
United States, as their input might provide another
dimension and insight to the discussion.
Report Have one member of your group orally state
your consensus to the class or state that no
consensus was reached. This group member must
speak loudly and clearly enough for all to hear.
Evaluate How would you rate your own
participation in the discussion?
22
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 13–30
Connect to the Literature
If you were suddenly marooned on an uninhabited island, what would you
do to survive?
Make a Web
Write the word “survival” in the center of a piece of paper. Then create a
word web listing the things you’d need to do to stay alive. What would be
your greatest challenge?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, in the present tense, using
information in Build Background.
Read to find out how Nhamo survives when her journey to Zimbabwe
takes a frightening detour.
Build Background
Spinning Tales
Nhamo has inherited the ability to tell folktales, the short stories handed
down orally from her grandmother and others. Folktales, like myths, pass
on explanations about the world and cultural values. For Nhamo, the
stories are a link to her people and a comfort when something goes
wrong. She uses a storytelling technique called anthropomorphism, in
which animals and objects can speak or display human characteristics.
As you read, notice how Nhamo’s stories relate to the animals and objects
she must actually deal with, particularly the baboon troop. Compare
Nhamo’s storytelling with other anthropomorphic stories you have read—
for example, fables such as “The Tortoise and the Hare” or well-known
fairy tales such as “Little Red Riding Hood.”
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 13–30
23
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 13–30
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question How Do You Stay True to Yourself?
In the beginning of the section of the novel you are about to read, Nhamo
spends many days in her latest home, Crocodile Guts’s boat, as she makes
her way along the river. As you read about the challenges to her safety,
consider the personal qualities it might take to make such a journey.
Literary Element Description
Description is writing that conveys to readers the feeling and impression
of a setting, a person, an animal, an object, or an event. Writers often
use imagery, or sensory details, to make their descriptions more vivid.
Sensory details, appeal to the reader’s five senses: hearing, sight, touch,
taste, and smell.
Description is important because it helps make people, places, and
actions in literary works seem real.
As you read the next section of the novel, consider the various ways in
which author Nancy Farmer uses physical description to bring her story to
vivid life.
Reading Skill Identify Sequence
Sequence is the arrangement or order in which thoughts or events are
presented.
Identifying sequence is important because it forces you to become a more
active and engaged reader. An appropriate sequence is one that is logical,
given the ideas of the selection. As you continue to read, pay particular
attention to sequence words such as first, then, and next.
Sometimes authors interrupt a chronological narrative with a flashback,
which presents readers with scenes from events that happened before
that point in the story or before the story began. Usually this is done to add
meaning to the current action; there is a connection between the events
that the narrator or author wants to make clear. Flashbacks may take the
form of recollections by the characters, narration by the characters,
dream sequences, or daydreams.
To identify sequence in the plot of a literary work, take note of the order in
which one event follows another.
As you read, try using a graphic organizer like the one at the right to help
you keep track of the sequence of events, including any flashbacks.
24
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
Vocabulary
forage [fôr ij] v. to search for
food
When the campers ran out of
supplies, they had to forage for
nuts and berries.
hapless [hap lis] adj. unlucky
The wind was so strong that it
blew a hapless bystander all the
way across the street.
haunches [hônch əz] n. part of
the body made up of the hips,
buttocks, and thighs
The little dog sat up on its
haunches begging for a treat.
inevitably [i nev ə tə blē] adv.
unavoidably
Eating too much sugar after
dinner inevitably makes the
smaller children cranky.
pariah [pə r¯ ə] n. outcast
Oksana’s bossiness made her a
pariah in the drama club.
Events
Nhamo teaches herself
to swim.
ACTIVE READING: Chapters 13–30
When Nhamo feels defeated by the enormous
challenges she faces, her mother’s spirit tells her
that “the paths of the body are long, but the paths
of the spirit are short.” Nhamo is, in essence,
undergoing her own coming-of-age ritual in which
her body and her spirit are proving their readiness
for adulthood. On the chart below, trace Nhamo’s
spiritual development as she overcomes the
physical challenges at each point in her journey.
Note whether of not a flashback is used and, if so,
what form it takes.
Guinea Fowl Camp
Physical Challenges
must overcome fears of hippos, being
alone; afraid of water and crocodiles;
starts learning to swim on her own
Spiritual Development
tells herself hippo myth for comfort
Flashback Used? Yes No Form of Flashback:
The Rock
Physical Challenges
Spiritual Development
Flashback Used? Yes No Form of Flashback:
Njuzu Island
Physical Challenges
Spiritual Development
Flashback Used? Yes No Form of Flashback:
Physical Challenges
Nhamo’s Island/Garden Island
Spiritual Development
Flashback Used? Yes No Form of Flashback:
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 13–30
25
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Description How does the author
use description of silence and
sudden sounds to convey the
danger the baboons present to
Nhamo in this passage?
26
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 29
Oo-AA-hoo! The sound brought her instantly alert. The
baboons were back early—and they had come almost
silently. Suddenly, they were all around her in a milling
crowd. It wasn’t the chaotic, screeching mob she was used
to. The animals slipped through the grassland like the
vervet monkeys near the leopard cave. Even Tag was
impressed with the seriousness of it. He rode on
Donkeyberry’s back without a single murmur.
Nhamo shivered. The males were unusually irritable.
They snapped at one another and threatened the females.
Now that the troop was close to the sleeping cliff, the
animals spread out and applied themselves to digging in
the soil. That in itself was unusual. At the end of the day
the baboons preferred social activities: grooming,
entertaining infants, lounging in friendly groups. They
were clearly ravenous. Something had kept them from
feeding.
Rumpy sniffed around the smoking-platform, barking
as a coal singed his nose. He spotted Nhamo and trotted
up, fur bristling, to demand the meager bunch of blackjack
leaves. “Go away!” shouted Nhamo. Rumpy slapped the
ground. She snatched up a stone and hurled it accurately
at his head.
Rumpy danced back and forth with fury. He didn’t
cower as he usually did when she hit him. She suddenly
realized he was dangerous. She grabbed the spear, which
was lying against the thorn barrier, and quickly unhooked
the ladder. As it flopped down, she thrust the spear at the
angry creature to drive him back. Rumpy sprang forward
instead.
He sent Nhamo crashing to the ground as he rushed to
grab the ladder. His foot smashed her face into the dirt. By
the time she recovered, he was already on the platform,
raging through her possessions. His big teeth crunched
into calabashes to get at the food inside. But what he really
wanted—and could obviously smell—was the meat.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
He hopped from branch to branch. He caved in the
delicate smaller platforms. He found the fish traps hanging
from the rope, but he couldn’t reach them. The branch was
too slender, and he didn’t have the sense to pull them in
with the string. Rumpy bounced up and down in the tree
in a perfect fit of rage.
Meanwhile, Nhamo had grabbed a burning branch from
the fire. She was terrified, but her survival depended on
protecting her stores. She swung up the ladder and shoved
the flames into Rumpy’s face. He flinched back. She
clambered around him, trying to drive him out of the tree.
Rumpy was beginning to lose his nerve. Nhamo
approached him like a small and utterly reckless honey
badger. She screamed insults. She cursed his ancestors. She
felt like she wouldn’t mind sinking her teeth into his
throat.
Wah! shouted Rumpy. He dodged past her. His twisted
foot stumbled against Mother’s jar, and he fell with a
shriek over the edge of the platform. Mother’s jar rolled
after him before Nhamo could teach it. It smashed open,
and the picture, caught in the afternoon breeze from the
lake, fluttered off and landed in the cook-fire.
Nhamo almost fell out of the tree in her haste. She
ignored the fallen animal as she raced for the picture. The
same puff of wind that had blown it away stirred the coals
in the fire. They flared up briefly, caught the paper, and
burned it to ashes before Nhamo even got close.
She knocked the coals aside with her bare hands,
ignoring the searing pain in her fingers. But it was already
too late. The picture blew away like the ashes that had
been beaten in the mortar so long ago in the village, the
day Vatete died.
Ambuya . . ., they whispered. Sister Chipo . . . Masvita . . .
beloved Nhamo. Please do not be frightened. I must go now. I
know you will follow when you can. The ashes floated off on
the wind, carrying the message.
Literary Element
Description What are some of
the strongest moments in this
description of Nhamo’s battle
with Rumpy? What descriptive
techniques does the author use to
create these moments?
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 13–30
27
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Identify Sequence Paraphrase the
sequence that leads to Nhamo
finding the island’s edible crops.
Use the words first, next, then,
and finally.
28
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 17
What would the njuzu like? Here, Nhamo was
completely stymied. They seemed to have plenty of food
and drink in her dream. They had houses and livestock,
too. Really, it was difficult to know what such powerful
spirits lacked. Then she had it: They liked jewelry. The
snake-girls had been covered with beads.
Nhamo hunted in her stores until she found the beads
from Aunt Shuvai’s bracelet. She looked at them sadly,
remembering when she had gathered them up long ago
after her aunt had thrown them away. They were one of
her few remaining links to the village. But she must not be
cowardly. The njuzu had brought her to this island, and it
would be extremely ungrateful not to repay them.
Nhamo closed her eyes and flung the beads into the
lake. She heard a light patter as they struck the water. “I
hope you like them,” she whispered. “They were very
beautiful.”
Nhamo made ready to climb the fig-tree roots to the top
of the island. She packed a cooking pot, mealie meal, and
matches into the fish trap. This she tied to her back. Then
she filled the calabash with water and began her journey.
Step by step, with many rests, she worked her way to
the top. The most difficult job was keeping the water in the
calabash. She would have to work out a better method for
transporting it. Nhamo fought against dizziness, but the
promise of cooked food kept her going. She finally hauled
herself over the top of the cliff and stopped.
And stared, open-mouthed.
The island was covered with greenery as far as she
could see—not with ordinary forest plants, but with
tomatoes, mealies, and bananas. Nhamo’s eyes grew wider
and wider as she took in the unbelievable scene. . . .
Most of the island’s trees were fairly small; the fig was
the main exception. They were scattered here and there
among untidy stands of mealies, rioting pumpkin vines,
and sweet potatoes. Nhamo found papayas, okra, chilies,
onions, and peanuts as well. They were at all stages of
development. The mealies grew in clumps as though they
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
had sprouted from entire ears dropped from unharvested
plants. In some places, though, she could see evidence of
systematic farming. In the center of the island was a ruined
house, behind which stood a lemon tree.
Nhamo walked around the structure. It was a square,
Portuguese house, not as grand as Joao and Rosa’s, but not
small either. The windows were boarded up, and the
remnants of iron grillwork hung from the frames. A door
stood slightly open, showing a dark and forbidding
interior. Nhamo wasn’t tempted to go inside. She fetched
the maheu pot and sat under the lemon tree to think.
Grandmother said this area had once been dry land,
except for the Zambezi. The Portuguese dammed up the
river and flooded the whole valley. Only the high hills
poked out above the water now.
The villagers who had lived in the Zambezi Valley dug
up the bones of their ancestors and carried them to new
places beyond the edge of the lake. It would have been
unthinkable to leave the bones behind. The ancestors were
as much a part of the family as the children, and to
abandon them would have been wicked beyond belief.
The mud huts of the villagers would perish after several
rainy seasons, but a Portuguese house was made of
stronger materials and would survive. As this one had.
Reading Skill
Identify Sequence Why do you
think the author used a flashback
here?
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 13–30
29
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
How Do You Stay True to Yourself?
How does Nhamo react to having
njuzu snakes climb up her tree and
pour water into her mouth? How
does her reaction show that she is
being true to herself?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
30
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 30
One of the snakes carried the wood to the hole in her
fangs and the other butted it into place with her head. In a
moment the rift was healed. They went on to the next hole,
and the next until the trunk was smooth again. Then they
came to the ring of birdlime.
Nhamo had put it there to discourage the caracal. She
watched to see how the njuzu would handle the problem.
They slithered down the tree and gathered up dry grass. Back
and forth they went, gluing the grass to the birdlime until it
was covered up. When they were finished, they glided over it
as smoothly as if they were rustling across a rock.
Nhamo had to admire their cleverness, but she realized
she was about to have njuzu in her bed. She wanted to die,
but she did not want snakes crawling all over her first! She
crept to the other end of the platform. Her body trembled
with the effort.
The njuzu coiled over the edge with their eyes glittering
in the moonlight. One of them found a calabash Nhamo
was certain was empty and dived her head inside. Water
droplets twinkled as she rose again. Her mouth brimmed
with water.
“No!” cried Nhamo, clinging to the trunk. “Go away!”
One snake twined around the girl’s body, ssuh, and came
up by her face. She lightly caught Nhamo’s lower lip with
her fangs and pulled the girl’s mouth open with surprising
strength.
“Aaugh!” Nhamo gasped. The other snake bent over her
mouth and poured the shining water inside. It was cold,
cold! It sank into her body like a frog diving into a lake. At
once the njuzu shook themselves loose, rippled over the
rim of the platform, and disappeared.
Nhamo was shocked to the very depths of her being.
She clung to the tree, shivering violently. She had
swallowed something offered by the njuzu. Did that mean
she was condemned to live with them forever? Or did the
rule only apply to food? One thing was certain: Her
determination to die had completely vanished. Now she
passionately wanted to live. She only hoped she wasn’t too
late to try.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
ASK QUESTIONS
Write a question about the novel.
Can you find the answer in your
notes?
Recap
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 13–30
31
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 13–30
Respond and Think Critically
1. What does Nhamo hold on to each night as she sleeps? Why does she
need to do this? [Interpret]
2. What does Nhamo need to get off the island where the baboons live?
Why does it take her so long to meet this need? [Analyze]
3. What does Nhamo do after the picture of “Mother” burns and Crocodile
Guts leaves? What changes her mind? [Analyze]
4. What parallels does Nhamo see between herself and the baboon
troop? Why does this comparison become so important to her? [Infer]
5. How Do You Stay True to Yourself? Nhamo frequently reminds herself,
“I am Nhamo Jongwe, a woman, not a little girl.” How is Nhamo
defining womanhood? Do you think her definition is in keeping with the
Shona definition or womanhood? Has she been using women’s skills or
men’s skills to survive—or both? [Connect]
32
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Meet the Author on page
10. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 13–30
Literary Element Description
1. Aside from Nhamo, which character are you able
to picture most clearly? Why? [Recall]
Vocabulary Practice
Write the vocabulary word that correctly completes the
sentence.
forage
hapless
haunches
2. Which descriptive elements helped you to form a
complete picture? [Evaluate]
inevitably
pariah
1. No matter how many times the counselor gave the
instruction, one of us would ________________ ask
her to repeat it.
2. My little brother likes to ________________ in the
cupboard in search of candy.
3. Maryka felt like a social ________________ when she
wasn’t asked to dance.
4. There is a(n) ________________ quality to Tomas—
strange things always seem to happen to him.
5. To make that old horse go faster, a good slap on the
________________ is often necessary.
Reading Skill Identify Sequence
1. In Chapter 18 Nhamo has a dream in which she
is back in her village. Why do you think author
Nancy Farmer chose to break the story’s
chronology with this form of flashback? [Infer]
Academic Vocabulary
Losing her mother at an early age was what made Nhamo
invest so deeply in the magazine photograph. In the
preceding sentence, invest means ”to involve and engage
emotionally.”Invest also has other meanings. For instance:
The village had to invest in the services of the muvuki. What
do you think invest means in the preceding sentence? What
is the difference between the two meanings?
2. As Chapter 30 ends, so does a particular plot
sequence involving Nhamo and Rumpy. What is
the end of the sequence? How do you know?
[Interpret]
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 13–30
33
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 13–30
Write with Style
Research and Report
Apply Description
Literary Criticism
Assignment Review the author’s use of description
in the section of the novel you just read. Look for
descriptive passages that convey fear, tension, or
suspense. Then write a description of an event or
situation in which you experienced these emotions.
Assignment Evaluate an excerpt of a critical
appraisal of A Girl Named Disaster and write a
short response explaining whether you believe the
criticism applies the novel and to Nhamo. Present
your response to the class.
Get Ideas Make a list of situations or events that
make you tense, afraid, or anxious. What other
emotions correspond to these? Look through
personal journals and recall recent discussions to
complete your list. Choose one event to write about.
Prepare Read the following quotation about A Girl
Named Disaster by critic Laura Tillotson:
Give It Structure Begin your paragraph with a
sentence that introduces readers to the event or
situation. Use detailed description to bring it to life.
Look at Language Description depends on concise
use of language to connect with readers. Use a
thesaurus to find words that enhance your
description. Avoid using strings of adjectives and
empty verbs. The right well-placed word will serve
you much better than numerous weak words.
Example:
Bad Huge, black, ominous clouds crossed the sky
very quickly, covering the moon completely for a
few moments.
Better Inky clouds scudded overhead, momentarily
eclipsing the moon.
34
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
“Farmer marvelously evokes the narrow but hopeful
atmosphere of Nhamo’s existence—her pariah
status in the village, her constant struggle for
survival in the wilderness, and her initial difficulty
adjusting to a westernized society.”
After considering this praise, craft a thesis
statement about your position on it. Then gather
details from the story to support your response.
Create When you present your response, make
sure you speak loudly enough to reach all listeners.
Use good posture and avoid making too many
gestures. Remember to make eye contact with your
audience.
Evaluate Write a paragraph evaluating your report.
After your classmates’ reports, offer oral feedback
on their presentations.
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 31–42
Connect to the Literature
Have you ever given up an older, more traditional way of doing something
(a custom, a technique, a habit) to try an updated, modern way of
doing things?
Share an Experience
Think about why you gave up the old way. Did someone persuade you, or
did you decide on your own? Did you find the new way better, or did the
new way present a different set of problems? Discuss your experience
with a partner. Then share your thoughts about the change you made with
the class.
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, in the present tense, using
information from Build Background.
Read to find out how Nhamo reacts when she is introduced to the benefits
and problems of modern life in Zimbabwe.
Build Background
War and Progress
Look on a map made before 1980 and you won’t find Zimbabwe. Instead,
you’ll find Southern Rhodesia, a British territory. In 1963, Southern
Rhodesia sought independence, but the question of just who would rule
the new country—the European settlers or the native Africans—sparked
a civil war between the two groups. After much bloodshed, Southern
Rhodesia became the independent nation of Zimbabwe on April 18, 1980.
The government was controlled by the black majority. Nhamo enters
Zimbabwe in 1981, when tensions still exist between blacks and whites,
land mines and soldiers still dot the borders, and the new government is
intent on bringing the country into the modern world. As you read, look for
evidence of both war and progress.
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 31–42
35
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 31–42
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question How Do You Stay True to Yourself?
In the section of the novel you are about to read, Nhamo becomes a part
of two very different communities. As you read, consider whether or not
her self-concept changes as a result of her new living situations.
Literary Element Conflict
Conflict is the central struggle between opposing forces in a story or play.
It is one of the major elements of plot. An external conflict is the struggle
of a character against an outside force, such as fate, nature, society, or
another person. An internal conflict exists within the mind of a character.
In the final chapters of a Girl Named Disaster, Nhamo is faced with both
external and internal conflicts. As you read, ask yourself: Who or what is
Nhamo struggling against? What does she want? How does she get it?
Reading Strategy Make Predictions About Plot
A prediction is an educated guess about a future event. When you make
predictions about plot, you put together details about the characters,
setting, and situation and use them as the basis for guesses about what
will occur in the story.
Making predictions about plot is an important part of being an engaged
reader. As you read and look for clues that suggest what might happen
next, you learn to use these clues to make predictions about the story’s
outcome.
To make predictions about plot ask yourself what Nhamo and the other
characters might do next. Consider the possible outcomes. How will her
personality traits, state of mind, and feelings affect the way she acts and
reacts to events and situations? Then read on to verify or adjust your
predictions.
A graphic organizer like the one below can help you make predictions
about the plot and then check your predictions. As you read, note each
new situation and make a prediction based on clues from the story.
Event
Nhamo hears a
leopard growl
36
Predict
Nhamo will kill
the leopard.
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
Actual outcome
Nhamo leaves the
island.
cloying [kloi´ in] adj. sickeningly
sweet
My aunt’s perfume always leaves
a cloying blast of lilac in the air.
deign [dān] v. to condescend; to
show one’s superiority
We wondered if the rock star
would deign to grant an interview
to the local paper.
exhort [i zôrt´] v. to urge strongly
The doctor took the time to
exhort her patient to eat more
green vegetables.
exorcism [ek sôr siz əm] n. a
ritual performed to expel evil
spirits
We used to joke that it would
take an exorcism to make Eric
give up watching TV.
pagan [pā ən] adj. heathen;
having to do with a polytheistic
religion
It is a mistake to assume that
another culture is pagan simply
because it differs from your own.
ACTIVE READING: Chapters 31–42
When Nhamo comes to Zimbabwe, it is a country
still trying to define itself, sifting through the old
traditions and stirring in new ideas. Like Zimbabwe,
Nhamo is in conflict: she must sort through the
traditions she’s always known to decide which she
Traditional and Mystic
Village women Nhamo meets upon arrival:
primitive, just like Nhamo’s village; hospitable,
polite; offer food and rest; willing to overlook
her appearance; willing to listen to her story
but afraid of her when they think she’s a
witch
will keep and which she will discard. Keep track of
the people, places, and ideas that influence Nhamo
by filling in the chart below as you read. Underline
behaviors, attitudes, or ideas that Nhamo decides to
keep and those she decides to adopt.
Modern and Scientific
White family Nhamo spies on:
have luxurious house, plenty of food,
clothing; not hospitable, have no thought of
helping her; speak to Nhamo as if she were
an animal; send dogs after her
Nhamo’s village in Mozambique:
Efifi:
Masvita:
Dr. Masuku:
The muvuki of Nhamo’s tribe:
Baba Joseph:
Nhamo’s grandmother and her
great-grandfather:
Jongwe family:
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 31–42
37
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Conflict In what way does this
action express Nhamo’s internal
conflict?
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 35
I’M OFF TO HARARE TOMORROW,” Dr. van Heerden
told Mother as the sun settled behind the gray-green trees
of the forest and a soft dusk stole out of the east. The
doctors and about ten villagers, all men, were seated
companionably outside Dr. van Heerden’s hut. There was
no room for such a crowd inside and besides, it was too
hot. Nhamo was hidden by the leaves of a bougainvillea
vine the Afrikaner had grown over a frame at the side. It
cast a welcome shade against the hut in the afternoon and
formed a convenient nook for someone who did not wish
to be noticed.
Dr. van Heerden had given Nhamo a bottle of orange
soda from the refrigerator earlier, but by now had
forgotten about her existence. She spun out the pleasure of
the cold drink as long as possible. She pressed it against
her face and let the juice slide down her throat to make her
cool from inside. Now all she had left was a few sugary
drops. She applied them to her tongue, one by one. . . .
Whenever Dr. van Heerden went to town, everyone
made out a list of requests. His Land Rover returned as
loaded as the tractor that visited the trading post.
“I’m making two quick trips if the weather stays good.
I’m taking in bottles of cow smell to be analyzed.”. . .
“I think I’ll bring Bliksem back for a few days. We can
hunt jackals together.”
Who is Bliksem? thought Nhamo. She hadn’t heard of
him.
“This place is bad for his health,” Mother pointed out.
“Ach, a few days won’t hurt. The old fellow needs a
vacation.”
Bliksem must be an elder relative, Nhamo decided.
Perhaps he was Dr. van Heerden’s uncle.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
“Someday we have to send the Wild Child off, you
know,” Mother remarked. “It isn’t fair to keep her without
an education.”
Nhamo’s throat suddenly closed up. Mother said that?
Mother wanted to get rid of her?
“She’s learning plenty,” said Dr. van Heerden. “Works
harder than five of these buggers.” He was into his fifth or
sixth beer. The men rolled their eyes.
“You know what I mean. She can’t read or add. She’s
totally unsuited for modern life—and she’s bright enough
to take advantage of good schooling. In fact, she’s
brilliant.”
Nhamo’s heart burned within her. Mother’s praise
meant nothing. She wanted to get rid of her.
“Baba Joseph can teach her.” Dr. van Heerden tipped the
bottle up over his red, sweaty face.
“Baba Joseph!” Mother sounded exasperated. “He’d
teach her to speak in tongues. Besides, he doesn’t have
time—and neither does Sister Gladys, and neither do I, so
don’t ask.”
“You’d make such a wonderful mother,” Dr. van Heerden
said sentimentally.
“Nhamo needs a proper school and a real family. She
says she has a father at Mtoroshanga.”
“The Old Man is very attached to her.” Petrus offered an
opinion for the first time. Everyone knew that the Old Man
was Baba Joseph. “She called him Grandfather when she
was sick. He lost a granddaughter years ago, and Nhamo
reminds him of her.”
“Oh, brother! Just what I need. Another one of Baba
Joseph’s pets!” groaned Dr. van Heerden.
Literary Element
Conflict How would you define the
external conflict here? What
opposing points of view are Dr. van
Heerden and Mother expressing?
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 31–42
39
INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Make Predictions About Plot
Using what you already know
about Nhamo’s story, how do you
predict she will react to the idea
that the leopard was acting as
friend to her?
40
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 41
“I think there were two spirit leopards involved with
your life, Nhamo,” the nganga said suddenly. “Goré
Mtoko’s totem was the leopard. So is ours.”
“I thought ours was the lion.” Nhamo was appalled. If
two people with the same totem married, it was incest.
“Ours is both the lion and the leopard. That happens
sometimes when two powerful clans combine. Our praise
name is Gurundoro, the people who wear the ndoro, the
symbol of royalty. The Mtokos, by the way, are very remote
relatives with different praise names, so you can relax. The
marriage wouldn’t have been incest, although it would
certainly have been evil. My understanding is this: Goré
Mtoko’s spirit killed your mother and, I believe, caused
your father’s mine shaft to collapse. At that time Goré’s
revenge was complete.
“But your father’s spirit was unsatisfied. He knew he
had a child who must be brought to her true family. Proud
told your mother his totem was the lion because it made
him feel powerful, but he was really more like a leopard. A
leopard hunts alone in the shadows. He doesn’t face his
enemies openly. I think your father’s first appearance to
you was by the stream.”
“It might have been a trick of the light,” Nhamo
couldn’t help saying.
“Yes, but why did you insist on telling everyone about
it? He appeared again in the banana grove the night before
Vatete got sick, and he left his print on her grave. He was
driving you away from your mother’s village.”
“But the leopard on the island—”
“Tell me, did it ever harm you?”
“No,” Nhamo admitted.
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
“From what you told me, it provided you with meat
when you most needed it, and killed the baboon that was a
danger to you. At the same time, it frightened you off the
island. Otherwise, you might have spent the rest of your
life there.”
Nhamo clasped her hands. That was certainly true.
The nganga took the photograph without a word and led
Nhamo from the room. “Phew! I need fresh air after that,”
said the old man, seating himself by the open dining-room
window. The cool smell of lawn sprinklers drifted inside.
“They rented the clothes.” He tapped the portrait. “That’s
what Catholics wear when they get married.”
Nhamo was afraid to look. She had imagined her
parents’ appearance for so long, she didn’t want the image
destroyed. But she finally had to open her eyes and
acknowledge them. They were so young! Mother wore a
gauzy white cloth over her hair and held a bunch of
flowers trimmed with ribbons. Father was cheerfully at
ease in the whiteman clothes, while Mother seemed
embarrassed. They were both extremely handsome people.
“She looks like Masvita,” murmured Nhamo.
“Masvita? Oh, your first cousin. That’s not surprising,”
said the old man. “You’re in the picture, too, little
Disaster.”
“I am?”
“Right here.” The nganga pointed at Mother’s stomach,
and laughed at Nhamo’s discomfort. “This picture belongs
to you. I’ll give you the wedding license tomorrow. It
proves you really are a Jongwe, although sometimes I
think that’s not such a wonderful thing.”
Both Nhamo and the old man winced as the first sounds
of fighting erupted from Jongwe Senior’s room.
Reading Strategy
Make Predictions About Plot
Keeping in mind the events of the
novel to this point—and what you
know about Nhamo—what is your
prediction about her future? Explain
your answer.
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 31–42
41
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
How Do You Stay True to Yourself?
Why does Nhamo hang around the
doctors? How does her behavior
and interaction with them express
her true nature?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
42
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 34
Dr. Masuku, for her part, was often impatient with the
little shadow she had acquired. “Go haunt someone else!”
she would cry. “You hang around like a tsetse fly!” And
Nhamo would fade away, only to reappear later when she
thought Mother wasn’t looking.
Nhamo observed Dr. van Heerden as he picked up dead
flies with a pair of tweezers and put them into bottles. She
was a little afraid of him. He was so big and hairy! His legs
were like tree trunks, and nestled in the top of one of his
long socks was a comb. Nhamo wondered if he used it to
comb his legs. Dr. van Heerden warned her not to make
any noise or touch anything or get in his way.
Once she had satisfied these conditions, though, he was
willing to let her watch. In fact he became so absorbed he
often forgot about her altogether. If he was feeling sociable,
he called her his Wild Child and insisted she had been
raised by jackals. “I saw your brothers near the goat pen,
Wild Child. Tell them I’ll make a rug out of them if they get
any ideas.
Nhamo explained gently that she came from a proper
village full of people.
“We’ll see what happens when the full moon arrives. I
bet you’ll run through the forest with your tongue hanging
out.”
There was no shaking him. She knew he was trying to
be funny, so she didn’t take offense.
When Dr. van Heerden’s work went badly, his beard
fluffed out like Fat Cheeks’s mane. “What are you smiling
at?” he rumbled, peering at her over his bottles.
“I am happy,” said Nhamo.
“Go be happy somewhere else, Wild Child.”
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Comment on what you learned from
your own notes.
Recap
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 31–42
43
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 31–42
Respond and Think Critically
1. What sort of place is Efifi? Why do you think they let Nhamo stay there?
[Interpret]
2. How do Nhamo’s relatives react to her presence? Why do they accept
her? [Analyze]
3. What happens to Nhamo’s gold nuggets? Why are they important to her
future? [Interpret]
4. After the exorcism, Dr. Masuku says “It’s very hard to turn your back on
something you learned as a child.” Do you think this is true? Why or
why not? [Connect]
5. How Do You Stay True to Yourself? Do you think Nhamo has stayed
true to herself by leaving her traditional village and coming to
Zimbabwe? What does she have to give up? What does she gain?
[Evaluate]
44
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background
on page 35. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 31–42
Literary Element Conflict
1. In what ways is Nhamo’s conflict with the
Jongwes similar to her conflict in her old village?
[Compare]
2. How is Nhamo’s internal conflict resolved?
Explain. [Analyze]
Vocabulary Practice
Identify whether the words in each pair have the same or
the opposite meaning.
1. exorcism and insertion
______________________________________________
2. pagan and monotheistic
______________________________________________
3. exhort and discourage
______________________________________________
4. cloying and nauseating
______________________________________________
5. deign and condescend
______________________________________________
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Strategy Make Predictions
About Plot
Nhamo came from a culture that governed themselves with
ancient laws and beliefs. Culture means ”the features of
everyday life used by people in a particular time or place.”
How would you describe your own culture? What are some
of your culture’s core beliefs and laws?
1. Did you predict that the picture of “Mother” in
the magazine would turn out to have been an
advertisement? If so, what were the clues? If
not, what was your prediction? [Predict]
2. Having met Nhamo’s grandmother, Baba Joseph,
and the nganga of the Jongwe family, what
prediction can you make about the kinds of
people Nhamo will be drawn to later in her life?
[Analyze]
A Gir l Nam ed D isaster : C hapters 31–42
45
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 31–42
Writing
Connect to Content Areas
Write an Article Imagine that you are a journalist
Art
at a magazine for U.S. teenagers. Write an article
about Nhamo’s incredible experiences focusing on
only one of the story’s settings (Nhamo’s home
village, the boat, her garden island, or Efifi). Select
one of Nhamo’s conflicts as the main idea of your
article. For example:
Assignment Throughout the novel, Nhamo’s lion/
leopard totem has been an important part of her.
From it she has drawn her family identity and her
personal sense of power. If you had a totem, what
would it be? Create a poster that reveals your
totem.
Internal conflict
Get Ideas Make a list of your personal qualities.
Think about animals or aspects of nature you
associate with these qualities. Here is a sample list:
fast runner—cheetah, gazelle, lightning
fast talker—parrot, squirrel, monkey
friendly—turtle, cow, dog, warm summer rain
hot tempered—wolf, tiger, grizzly bear, sun,
tornado, hurricane
patient—turtle, beaver
joker—fox, jackal, crow
fun loving—otter, dolphin,
Nhamo’s need for family, community, and a sense of
belonging.
External conflict
Nhamo against the environment
Nhamo against the muvuki
Nhamo against Rumpy
As you write, keep in mind that your article is for
people of your own age.
Jot down some notes here first.
Research From the list you created, choose an
animal or aspect of nature for your totem. (If you
know of a real totem or emblem in your family’s
history, you might choose that.) Then perform
library or Internet research to find out more and to
view images of your chosen totem.
Prepare Go through the images you have found and
select the one that best reflects your personality
and identity. You can draw or paint your own
version of your totem or use an existing photograph
or illustration. Once you have decided on the image,
draw it or place a cutout in the center of a large
piece of poster board and glue it down. Think about
what you want readers to know about you through
this totem. On a separate sheet of paper, write a
rough draft of your thoughts. When you have edited
the draft, fill in your poster using your research
information.
Present Display your poster for the class. Be
prepared to discuss the various aspects of your
totem.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
WORK WITH RELATE D READINGS
A Girl Named Disaster
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in Glencoe’s
Literature Library edition of this novel. Support your answers with
details from the text. Write your answers on a separate sheet of
paper, but jot down some notes here first on the lines provided.
Abuela; It was a long time before
Rosa Elena Ysquierdo; Leslie Marmon Silko
Make Connections How are their grandmothers
important to Nhamo and to the granddaughters in
these two readings? What would these girls miss
without such grandmothers?
Frank and Stein
Eve B. Feldman
Make Connections Once Nhamo joins the Jongwes
in Zimbabwe, she must learn new customs and she
meets new expectations that change her life. How
does her great-grandfather comfort her and help
her fit in? How is the comfort he provides similar to
that provided by Benjy’s grandfather?
from Down the Zambezi
Paul Theroux
Make Connections What are some of the
similarities you see between the world Theroux
writes about and the world in which Nhamo lives?
A Story from Zimbabwe: The Hunters and the Axe
folktale
Make Connections How do the songs Nhamo sings
about herself reflect some of the same values
shown in this story/song?
Thank You M’am
Langston Hughes
Make Connections What do you think would have
happened to Nhamo if she hadn’t stumbled into the
science compound at Efifi? How do the kind people
there steer her in a good direction?
A Gir l Na med Di sast er
47
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: The People Could Fly
The slaves labored in the fields from
sunup to sundown. The owner of the
slaves callin himself their Master. Say he
was a hard lump of clay. A hard, glinty
coal. A hard rock pile, wouldn’t be
moved. His Overseer on horseback
pointed out the slaves who were slowin
down. So the one called Driver cracked
his whip over the slow ones to make
them move faster. That whip was a sliceopen cut of pain. So they did move
faster. Had to.
Sarah hoed and chopped the row as
the babe on her back slept.
Say the child grew hungry. That babe
started up bawling too loud. Sarah
couldn’t stop to feed it. Couldn’t stop to
soothe and quiet it down. She let it cry.
She didn’t want to. She had no heart to
croon to it.
“Keep that thing quiet,” called the
Overseer. He pointed his finger at the
babe. The woman scrunched low. The
Driver cracked his whip across the babe
anyhow. The babe hollered like any hurt
child, and the woman fell to the earth.
The old man that was there, Toby,
came and helped her to her feet.
“I must go soon,” she told him.
“Soon,” he said.
Sarah couldn’t stand up straight any
longer. She was too weak. The sun
burned her face. The babe cried and
cried, “Pity me, oh, pity me,” say it
sounded like. Sarah was so sad and
starvin, she sat down in the row.
“Get up, you black cow,” called the
Overseer. He pointed his hand, and the
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 1
Driver’s whip snarled around Sarah’s legs.
Her sack dress tore into rags. Her legs bled
onto the earth. She couldn’t get up.
Toby was there where there was no
one to help her and the babe.
“Now, before it’s too late,” panted
Sarah. “Now, Father!”
“Yes, Daughter, the time is come,”
Toby answered. “Go, as you know how
to go!”
He raised his arms, holding them out
to her. “Kum . . . yali, kum buba tambe,”
and more magic words, said so quickly,
they sounded like whispers and sighs.
The young woman lifted one foot on
the air. Then the other. She flew clumsily
at first, with the child now held tightly in
her arms. Then she felt the magic, the
African mystery. Say she rose just as free
as a bird. As light as a feather.
The Overseer rode after her, hollerin.
Sarah flew over the fences. She flew over
the woods. Tall trees could not snag her.
Nor could the Overseer. She flew like an
eagle now, until she was gone from sight.
No one dared speak about it. Couldn’t
believe it. But it was, because they that
was there saw that it was.
Say the next day was dead hot in the
fields. A young man slave fell from the
heat. The Driver come and whipped him.
Toby come over and spoke words to the
fallen one. The words of ancient Africa
once heard are never remembered
completely. The young man forgot them
as soon as he heard them. They went
way inside him. He got up and rolled
over on the air. He rode it awhile. And
he flew away.
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the novel you have just read with the literature selection at the
left, which is excerpted from “The People Could Fly” by Virginia Hamilton
in Glencoe Literature. Then answer the questions below.
Compare & Contrast
1. Setting As you know, the setting of a story is the time and place during
which the events take place. Both “The People Could Fly” and A Girl
Named Disaster feature long trips by boat. What were some of the
differences between Nhamo’s journey and that of the slaves?
WRITE ABOUT IT
Although they do so in very
different ways, both Nhamo and the
old man in “The People Could Fly”
find a way to stay true to
themselves. Explain how each of
them accomplishes this.
2. Description Both the narration in “The People Could Fly” and Nhamo’s
songs and stories in A Girl Named Disaster contain descriptions that
feature people involved in a struggle. What are the similarities between
the two forms of storytelling?
3. Conflict Recall that conflict is the central struggle between opposing
forces in a story or play. In both “The People Could Fly” and A Girl
Named Disaster, the characters are forced to leave home and go
elsewhere. Identify how the journey affects the characters in both
works with regard to the idea of the search for freedom.
A Gir l Na med Di sast er
49
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Expository Essay
Compare and Contrast Characters In “The Medicine Bag,” a story in
Glencoe Literature, an elderly Sioux man leaves his home on a reservation
and travels to visit his great-grandson to give him a vital piece of their
shared heritage. Like Nhamo, he finds himself caught between two
worlds—the traditional world of his past on the reservation and the
modern world in which his grandchildren and great-grandchildren live.
Write an expository essay comparing and contrasting the grandfather in
“The Medicine Bag” with Nhamo in A Girl Named Disaster.
Prewrite Read the story carefully, taking notes as you read. Then make a
plan about what you intend to write. Do not begin the essay until you have
figured out a writing strategy. To guide your thinking, create a list of
questions like the ones below:
• How do both characters feel about the past and their ancestors?
• What special items does each character treasure? What is the
significance of those items?
• What is the role of gender in each of the stories?
• Why was each character’s journey necessary?
• Did both characters accomplish the goal of their journey?
Once you have answered these questions, establish a guiding idea and a
general structure for your essay. What overall point do you want to make?
In what order will you present your information?
Draft As you begin to write your essay, continue to refer to your notes and
questions. Using examples from the two texts, try to present the
information as clearly, logically, and effectively possible.
Revise As you continue to refine your essay, be on the lookout for areas
where it might be over- or underwritten. Delete any statements that do not
support your guiding idea. Locate and incorporate any missing information.
When you feel you have completed your work, exchange papers with a
classmate and evaluate each other’s essays. Are the writer’s references to
the texts clear and logical? Is the guiding idea strong enough to pull
readers in? Keep in mind that your feedback on your classmate’s essay
may also relate to your own work.
Edit and Proofread Edit your writing so that it expresses your thoughts
effectively and is well organized. Carefully proofread for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling errors.
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UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• To compare is to determine how
things are alike.
• To contrast is to determine how
things are different.
• Characters are the individuals in
a literary work.
Grammar Tip
Semicolons
Semicolons are used to join
the parts of a compound
sentence when a coordinating
conjunction, such as and, or, or
but is not used. This makes them
especially effective when it
comes to compare-and-contrast
structures:
Nhamo set out on a long and
difficult journey by boat;
Grandpa’s journey, on the other
hand, was by bus.
You should also use a semicolon
to separate main clauses joined
by a conjunctive adverb such as
however, therefore, moreover,
and nonetheless:
Grandpa did not want to leave
the reservation; nevertheless, he
knew he must.
Picture Bride
Yoshiko Uchida
Pi ct ure Bri de
51
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE NOVEL
Picture Bride
Yoshiko Uchida
“
Tomorrow, at last, the ship would dock in
San Francisco and she would meet face to
face the man she was soon to marry. Hana
was overcome with excitement at the
thought of being in America and terrified of
the meeting about to take place. What would
she say to Taro Takeda when they first met,
and for all the days and years after?
—Picture Bride, Chapter 1
”
These words reflect the emotions of
twenty-one-year-old Hana Omiya, the
main character of Picture Bride, as she
nears the end of her journey to the United
States. Hana not only is traveling alone to
an unfamiliar country but also is about to
meet for the first time the man she has
promised to marry. Hana’s experiences
mirror the real experiences of hundreds of
young Japanese women who immigrated
to the United States as “picture brides” in
the early nineteen hundreds. Yoshiko
Uchida’s fictional character gives these
women a voice—revealing why many
journeyed to America and what their lives
were truly like after they arrived.
Arranged Marriages In many states,
marriages between white Americans and
people of Japanese descent were
outlawed. For that reason Japanese
American men often sought arranged
marriages. Frequently, the marriages were
arranged through family or friends of the
woman or the man. The couple, often
52
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
strangers to each other, would agree to
marriage after exchanging pictures and
perhaps some letters. The women who
agreed to this arrangement, called picture
brides, sometimes saw the marriage as a
door to opportunities not available to
them in Japan. Like Hana, many were
excited by the idea of going to the United
States.
Facing Prejudice Community, family life,
and tradition were important to Japanese
women. In the United States, many
found that their communities and
families were continually threatened by
outside problems. In addition to having
to adjust to marriage with a virtual
stranger, the women quickly learned that
many people in the United States were
not friendly to Asian immigrants and
their families.
White Americans felt threatened by the
influx of Chinese and Japanese
immigrants. Their attitudes often led to
open hostility, violence, and the
imposition of restrictions on the work that
Japanese Americans could do and the
places where they could live. In Picture
Bride, Hana enters the United States with
innocent excitement but, over the course
of time, learns some harsh realities about
U.S. society.
The Drive to Get Ahead What accounts
for what the historians call “waves of
immigration” when no war or catastrophe
causes the movement? The desire to
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
improve one’s economic situation is a
factor in many large migrations. The
migrations of Europeans from the 1600s to
the late 1800s were often prompted by the
hope of owning land on the large and
unsettled North American continent.
Some came to establish businesses and
begin new careers, often settling in
colonies and communities populated by
earlier arrivals from their home countries.
When Hana arrived in California in 1917,
the period of the largest influx of
immigrants to the United States was
ending. Beginning in 1840 and continuing
until the 1920s, 37 million immigrants
arrived, mostly from European countries
in which the Industrial Revolution was
changing the economy. It is estimated that
less than 10 percent of the immigrants to
the United States over the years were
motivated by political or religious reasons.
Regardless of their country of origin, the
majority of the immigrants faced
discrimination in their new country.
National laws and official actions often
reflected the prejudices of the U.S.
electorate, as Hana and her husband
discover in the novel. Immigration laws
are frequently revised even today, often
reflecting the need in the United States for
workers and economic development.
Despite the annual limits on the number
of people who can migrate to this
country—usually under 1 million—about
3.6 million names were on the waiting list
at the end of the twentieth century.
Daughter of a Samurai
In the first chapter of Picture
Bride, readers are given insight
into Hana’s family life and
cultural background. She is said
to be the daughter of one of her
village’s last samurai. Samurai
refers to members of the warrior
class in Japan’s feudal system,
which developed in the twelfth
century.
From the beginning of the
seventeenth century, samurai
formed the leading, most
respected class in Japanese
society. People within this
warrior class were often wealthy
and powerful, owning large
amounts of land. In 1868 a new
emperor reorganized Japan’s
government. The positions of
shogun, daimyo, and samurai
were eliminated, so people like
Hana’s father found their lives
dramatically changed. Some fell
into poverty, while others went
on to become successful
businesspeople or politicians.
The fact that Hana’s father was a
samurai indicates that her family
has had a long and prestigious
history in Japan. Also, the values
of her family are probably
influenced in part by the strict
values of the samurai.
Pi ct ure Bri de
53
MEET THE AUTHOR
Yoshiko Uchida (1921–1992)
“
By putting . . . special happenings into
words and writing them down, I was
trying to hold on to and somehow preserve
the magic as well as the joy and sadness of
certain moments in my life, and I guess
that’s really what books and writing are
all about.
”
—Yoshiko Uchida
Considered one of the most important
Japanese American writers of her time,
Yoshiko Uchida wrote more than thirty
books, including nonfiction for adults and
fiction for young people. The daughter of
Japanese immigrants, Uchida
(pronounced Oo-CHEE-dah) grew up in
Berkeley, California. Although her father
had a secure job with an international
trading company, many of her family’s
immigrant friends lived in poverty
because anti-Asian discrimination limited
job opportunities.
While Uchida’s parents provided their
two daughters with financial security,
many books, and enriching experiences,
the outside world—especially school—
could be a frightening place for a young
girl of Asian ancestry in the 1920s and
1930s. In high school, Japanese American
students were excluded from social
functions. Anxious to escape from high
school, Uchida took a heavy class load in
order to graduate early and enter the
University of California at Berkeley by the
time she was sixteen years old.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
World War II and Internment Returning
home from her university classes on
December 7, 1941, the day Japan attacked
Pearl Harbor and the United States
entered World War II, Uchida found that
her father had been taken away by FBI
agents for questioning. This was the
beginning of three years of harassment
and forced confinement of her family and
thousands of other Japanese Americans
on the West Coast. U.S. government
officials feared that some among the
population might be sympathetic to Japan
during the war.
Universal Values After receiving her
master’s degree in education Uchida
taught for a while. Supporting herself
with office jobs, she began her writing
career in New York City. After publishing
a collection of Japanese folktales for
children, she received a fellowship to
study in Japan. Although Uchida focused
on Japanese history and the Japanese
American experience in much of her
writing, she saw a larger purpose:
I try to stress the positive aspects of life that I
want children to value and cherish. I hope
they can be caring human beings who don’t
think in terms of labels—foreigners or Asians
or whatever—but think of people as human
beings. If that comes across, then I’ve
accomplished my purpose.
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–9
Connect to the Literature
What might it be like to leave family and friends behind and move to a
faraway land where the language, the customs, and the way of life were
completely unfamiliar to you?
Freewrite
Spend five to ten minutes writing about what it might be like to be a
stranger in a faraway land. Consider how you would deal with loneliness,
homesickness, and the need to learn a new language and a new way
of life.
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, in the present tense, using
information from Build Background.
Build Background
Early Japanese Immigration
The first Japanese immigrants came to the United States in the 1880s.
Some arrived in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, but most
entered through San Francisco. Soon, San Francisco was the first large
Japanese settlement in California. By 1890, there were also significant
numbers of Japanese in nearby Alameda County, where Oakland, the
setting of much of this story, is located.
Most early Japanese immigrants worked as farmers or laborers on the
West Coast. Japanese immigrants often farmed land that white settlers
did not want. Japanese farmers were successful—they worked hard and
produced high-quality crops. By 1900 there were nearly twenty-five
thousand Japanese in the United States. The success of these early
Japanese immigrants and their increasing numbers did not escape the
attention of white settlers, particularly farmers who said they could not
compete against Japanese farmers. These complaints launched the first
anti-Japanese campaigns in the United States. Groups formed to try to
end Japanese immigration, and Japanese farms and businesses were
frequently vandalized. This hostility was fueled by more than farmers’
concerns about competition. It reflected the same intense racism that had
prompted a ban on Chinese immigration in 1882.
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 1–9
55
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–9
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question Reading: What’s in It for You?
There are lots of reasons to read. Reading can teach you new things,
spark your emotions, and take your imagination to new places. What
reasons can you think of to read? Explore what reading can do for you.
Literary Element Text Structure
Text structure is the way an author organizes information in a text. One
way that authors structure information is in chronological order, or time
order. When authors organize information in chronological order, they tell
about events in the order in which they occur. To recognize the order of
events, look for time-order words and phrases such as first, next, then,
later, and finally. Dates can also help you recognize chronological order.
Identifying the order of events is important because it helps you recognize
how one event leads to another. It also helps you find and recall key ideas
and events.
As you read, pay attention to the sequence of events in Hana’s life. Look for
time-order words and dates to understand how one event relates to another.
Reading Skill Analyze Cultural Context
The customs, beliefs, relationships, and traditions that are typical of a
certain region and time period are the cultural context in a story.
Understanding the cultural context of a novel is important because culture
helps show characters, conflicts, and themes. The cultural context of
early Japanese immigration to the West Coast and the transition to life in
a Japanese American community is central to Picture Bride. Use the
graphic organizer on the following page to think about how each
immigrant played a role in the Japanese American community.
As you read, you should also list details that suggest the cultural context
of the novel. Use graphic organizers like the one to the right and on the
next page to help you.
56
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
Vocabulary
affluence [af lō¯ōəns] n.
abundance; wealth
Their affluence allowed them to
buy a new home and a boat.
conscientious [kon shē en´shəs]
adj. ethical; principled
Because Mark was
conscientious, he always did his
homework.
placid [plas id] adj. calm; mild
There was no wind, so the lake
was placid.
pungent [pun jənt] adj. biting;
strong
The pungent flavors of the dish
were stronger than those of most
foods I eat.
vulnerable [vul nər ə bəl] adj.
exposed; unsafe
Don’t build your house where it is
vulnerable to hurricane damage.
Details
Hana wears a
silk kimono.
What They
Tell Me
She is dressed
as a Japanese
woman, not
an American
woman.
ACT IVE READING: Chapters 1–9
In the first nine chapters of the novel, readers are
introduced to a variety of characters. Most of these
characters will play important roles in the remaining
sections of the novel. As you read, fill in the chart
below with details about each character.
Character
Role in Japanese American
Community
Characteristics
Hana
Taro’s picture bride
naive, intelligent, high-spirited
Taro
Yamaka
The Todas
Dr. Kaneda
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 1–9
57
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 1
Literary Element
Text Structure In what time and
place does the novel open? What
happened before that? What
happens next?
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
1917–1918
One
Hana Omiya stood at the railing of the small ship that
shuddered toward America in a turbulent November sea.
She shivered as she pulled the folds of her silk kimono
close to her throat and tightened the wool shawl about her
shoulders.
She was thin and small, her dark eyes shadowed in her
pale face, her black hair piled high in a pompadour that
seemed too heavy for so slight a woman. She clung to the
moist rail and breathed the damp salt air deep into her
lungs. Her body seemed leaden and lifeless, as though it
were simply the vehicle transporting her soul to a strange
new life, and she longed with childlike intensity to be home
again in Oka Village. . . .
By five the next morning, Hana was up and dressed in
her finest purple silk kimono and coat. She could not eat
the bean soup and rice that appeared for breakfast and
took only a few bites of the yellow pickled radish. Her
bags, which had scarcely been touched since she boarded
the ship, were easily packed for all they contained were
her kimonos and some of her favorite books. The large
willow basket, tightly secured by a rope, remained under
the bunk, untouched since her uncle had placed it there.
She had not befriended the other women in her cabin,
for they had lain in their bunks for most of the voyage, too
sick to be company to anyone. Each morning Hana had fled
the closeness of the sleeping quarters and spent most of the
day huddled in a corner of the deck, listening to the lonely
songs of some Russians also travelling to an alien land.
As the ship approached land, Hana hurried up to the
deck to look out at-the gray expanse of ocean and sky,
eager for a first glimpse of her new homeland.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
“We won’t be docking until almost noon,” one of the
deck hands told her.
Hana nodded. “I can wait,” she answered, but the last
hours seemed the longest.
When she set foot on American soil at last, it was not in
the city of San Francisco as she had expected, but on Angel
Island, where all third-class passengers were taken. She
spent two miserable days and nights waiting, as the
immigrants were questioned by officials, examined for
trachoma and tuberculosis and tested for hookworm by a
woman who collected their stools on tin pie plates. Hana
was relieved she could produce her own, not having to
borrow a little from someone else, as some of the women
had to do. It was a bewildering, degrading beginning, and
Hana was sick with anxiety, wondering if she would ever
be released.
On the third day, a Japanese messenger from San
Francisco appeared with a letter for her from Taro. He had
written it the day of her arrival, but it had not reached her
for two days.
Taro welcomed her to America and told her that the
bearer of the letter would inform Taro when she was to be
released so he could be at the pier to meet her.
The letter eased her anxiety for a while, but as soon as
she was released and boarded the launch for San Francisco,
new fears rose up to smother her with a feeling almost
of dread.
The early morning mist had become a light chilling rain,
and on the pier,-black umbrellas bobbed here and there,
making the task of recognition even harder. Hana searched
desperately for a face that resembled the photo she-had
studied so long and hard. Suppose he hadn’t come. What
would she do-then?
Literary Element
Text Structure Which words
and phrases help to show
chronological, or time, order from
this moment until Hana first speaks
with Takeda?
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 1–9
59
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Analyze Cultural Context What
does this sentence tell you about
the culture of the Japanese
American community?
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 3
“I would like to introduce Miss Hana Omiya, who comes
from Oka Village near Kyoto,” he said quietly.
Hana heard the rustle of clothing as everyone turned to
look at her in the back row. She knew she was expected to
rise and acknowledge the introduction, but her knees
nearly gave way. She clung to the chair in front of her and
bowed toward the dignified gentleman who now smiled
warmly at her.
“I thank you for your kindness,” she murmured, “and I
beg your kind indulgence in the future.” She felt the jab of
a corset stay and gasped as she awkwardly resumed her
seat.
The women about her smiled and bowed in
acknowledgement of her words. Soon the minister, his wife
and all the women gathered around to greet her, asking
about her trip, inquiring about her family in Oka Village.
One woman drew her aside, informing her that she was a
midwife and would be happy to assist her whenever the
need arose. When, at last, everyone had spoken to her, they
moved outside into the thin November sun.
Taro stood with the other men in front of the church and
gradually made his way to Hana’s side. He also steered
toward her a tall, lanky man with an abundance of wavy
black hair. He was far better looking than Taro.
“This is Kiyoshi Yamaka,” he said. “He and I struggled
together during our early years in America.”
Hana recognized immediately the handsome face she
had encountered during the prayer and groped for
something proper to say to excuse herself. But Yamaka
quickly relieved her of further embarrassment.
“I hope you will be happy here,” he said politely. “Taro
is a lucky man.” He had a disarming smile that made Hana
relax, and he asked Taro if he could drive them somewhere.
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
“Yamaka is the only member of the church with an
automobile,” Taro explained with good-natured envy.
“But without a wife,” Yamaka added. “I find the car a
great convenience, but not very good company.” He
laughed and Taro laughed with him.
Much to Hana’s pleasure, Taro accepted Yamaka’s offer,
inviting him to join them for lunch at a Chinese restaurant
on Seventh Street. The gentleman who had made the
announcement now came and touched Taro’s elbow. Taro
turned quickly to introduce Hana. “This is Dr. Sojiro
Kaneda,” he said, explaining that he was one of the early
founders of the church. “Without him we would probably
have no church. He is its life and strength.” Taro spoke with
grave earnestness and Hana could see that everyone treated
Dr. Kaneda with the same deference they extended to the
minister himself.
Yamaka did most of the talking during lunch, filling the
awkward gaps of silence with tales of his early days in
Oakland. “I almost killed myself the first week,” he related.
“I was only nineteen and hadn’t the sense to say no to
anything. Back home I never so much as held a mop or a
broom,” he admitted. “I wasn’t even permitted to enter the
kitchen or soil my hands with womanly work.”
“It surely was another world for us,” Taro agreed. “It
scarcely seems real anymore.”
“But can you imagine such a boy,” Yamaka continued,
“being sent by the Japan Employment Agency to do
housework in an elegant white man’s home? The first day I
reported for work, the lady of the house gave me a bucket
and a sponge and told me to wash all the upstairs windows
inside and out.”
Reading Skill
Analyze Cultural Context What do
the details about Yamaka’s first jobs
tell you about the culture he came
from and the new culture that he
had to become a part of? Use
details from the text to support your
answer.
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 1–9
61
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Reading: What’s in It for You?
What have you found out about the
lives of early Japanese immigrants
to America?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
62
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 4
Hana nodded. “Oh yes, it was a most eventful day,” she
began. “It was my first visit to a Christian church, and
there was lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then the lovely
drive around the lake.” She recited the day’s activities like
a dutiful child reporting to its mother. She paused a
moment and added, “I also saw Taro San’s shop.”
“Oh. What did you think of it?”
“It was . . . well, it was very nice,” Hana began, trying to
find some kind words among the misgivings that raged
inside her. She saw Kiku’s questioning look, however, and
suddenly abandoned all attempts at restraint and control.
“No, that’s not true,” she burst out. “It wasn’t nice at all.
It was drab and dirty and smelled of stale food. There were
cobwebs and mice droppings in the corners, and the
shelves were covered with dust. It’s a wonder anyone
would want to buy anything there.” Hana swallowed,
trying to blink back the tears.
Kiku put an arm around her. “You were expecting
something a bit finer, I expect.”
Hana nodded. Kiku’s openness made it possible to
answer her with shameless candor. “I thought he would
have a large store on a fine street. I thought there would be
American ladies and gentlemen coming to his shop to buy
shirts and silks and thread.” She paused, remembering the
lonely men on Seventh Street. “Is it only people like those I
saw today on his street who go there to shop?”
“The fine white American ladies and gentlemen have their
own stores,” Kiku explained gently. “They have no need to
come to Seventh Street to buy pickled radish or soy sauce.”
She turned Hana’s face toward her and said gravely,
“You’re going to have to realize something important,
Hana. We are foreigners in this country, and there are many
white people who resent our presence here. They welcome
us only as cooks or houseboys or maids. Why, even if
Taro’s store was twice as big and it was on the best corner
in downtown Oakland, still his only customers would be
the Japanese and the men on Seventh Street. Don’t forget,
we are aliens here. We don’t really belong.”
Hana recalled the minister’s prayer that morning. “It
isn’t such a golden life here in America then, is it?” she said
almost to herself.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Write down your thoughts on the
excerpt.
Recap
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 1–9
63
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–9
Respond and Think Critically
1. Why does Hana agree to marry Taro? What is her attitude toward her
decision after she arrives in the United States? [Summarize]
2. Who are the Todas? How is Kiku Toda different from Hana? [Compare]
3. Evaluate the relationship between Hana and Taro. Do you think their
marriage will last? Why or why not? [Evaluate]
4. Do you think that Hana takes her new role seriously? Give evidence
from the novel to support your answer. [Infer]
5. Reading: What’s in It for You? What have you learned about Japanese
picture brides in early twentieth-century America? [Synthesize]
64
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Introduction to the Novel
on page 52. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–9
Literary Element Text Structure
1. How many years have passed in the novel so
far? How do you know? [Apply]
2. Study the table of contents pages of this book.
Explain the text structure of this novel. [Apply]
Vocabulary Practice
An antonym is a word that has the opposite or nearly the
opposite meaning as another word. Match each
boldfaced vocabulary word below with its antonym. Use
a thesaurus or dictionary to check your answers.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
affluence
conscientious
placid
pungent
vulnerable
a. bold
b. mild
c. unethical
d. intolerable
e. poverty
f. secure
g. stormy
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Skill
Analyze Cultural Context
1. What have you learned about the challenges that
faced young Japanese men like Takeda and
Yamaka? [Synthesize]
When the narrator explains that Hana’s mother had hoped
Hana would “indicate an interest” in one of the men whose
names her mother mentioned, she is telling readers that
Hana’s mother was hoping Hana would let her mother know
that one of the men interested her. Using context clues, try
to figure out the meaning of the word in the sentence above.
Write your guess below. Then check your guess in a
dictionary.
2. Describe the Japanese American community in
early twentieth-century Oakland as it shown in
this novel. [Synthesize]
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 1–9
65
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–9
Writing
Research and Report
Personal Response What thoughts went through
Visual/Media Presentation
your mind as you read about Hana’s first year in
California? Name some challenges Hana faces, and
give your opinion of how she responds to them.
Assignment When she wants to pray, Hana often
addresses both Buddha and Taro’s Christian god.
Present a computer-slide, transparency, or other
visual report showing what the basic beliefs of each
religion are and when and how each was
introduced to Japan.
Get Ideas Make a list of research questions and
search terms. Decide which type of sources fit your
purpose best. For example, will you use a general or
specialized encyclopedia, books, government web
sites, or other sources?
Research Use at least three sources of information.
Take notes in your own words, and carefully write
down the source of each bit of information.
Organize your notes in four categories:
• Buddhist Beliefs
• Christian Beliefs
• Introduction of Buddhism to Japan
• Introduction of Christianity to Japan
Prepare Create your visuals. Be sure each one has
a clear heading that identifies the type of
information. Make headings large and clear.
Present additional information as bulleted text in a
traditional, large, and legible font. Write the text you
will use to present and explain each visual, and
rehearse speaking as you show your slides,
transparencies, or other visuals.
Present As you display and explain the information,
speak slowly and clearly. Leave time for your
audience to read, reread, and, if necessary, ask
questions about each one. Always use a respectful
tone when discussing religions, and make as much
eye contact with your audience as possible.
66
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 10–23
Connect to the Literature
What are some qualities that can help people solve problems, accept
change, or rise above difficult circumstances?
Share Ideas
In a small group, talk about specific personal qualities that can help
people adjust to change and survive difficult times. If possible, refer to
individuals you know or have read about. Share your insights with the
members of another group.
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Build Background
Prejudice Despite Citizenship
People who immigrated to the United States from Japan, like Hana and
Taro, were known as Issei. The children of Issei were known as Nisei.
Because they were born on U.S. soil, Nisei automatically became citizens
of the United States. As citizens, they could own property; thus, parents
often would purchase land under their children’s names. United States
citizenship, however, could not protect Nisei from racist attitudes.
Although they had lived in the United States since birth and usually spoke
fluent English, Nisei were seen by many other Americans as outsiders.
During the early nineteen hundreds, the U.S. public’s hostility toward
Japanese immigrants influenced aspects of government policy. The San
Francisco Board of Education, in response to public pressure, voted to
racially segregate schools in 1906. All Japanese American schoolchildren
were sent to schools in Chinatown. When Japan protested this action,
President Theodore Roosevelt proposed a “gentleman’s agreement”
whereby he would try to end segregation if Japan would stop Japanese
men from immigrating to the United States. Other laws that grew out of
anti-Japanese sentiment included the Alien Land Law of 1913, which
banned Japanese people from owning land, and the Immigration Act of
1924, which officially halted Japanese immigration to the United States.
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 10–23
67
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 10–23
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question Reading: What’s in It for You?
As you read, ask yourself, how can reading a novel help increase your
knowledge of an immigrant experience?
Literary Element Theme
Theme is the main idea of a story. In most works of literature, the theme is
never stated directly. Instead, it is revealed gradually through other
elements such as plot, character, setting, or point of view.
To understand the theme means to understand the author’s underlying
idea. It is what the author wants you to remember most. To gather clues
about the author’s main idea, notice the events of the plot and pay
attention to what the characters do, say, or learn.
As you read, think about what the theme may be. Ask yourself, in general,
what do these characters experience? What message about life or about
a part of American history do I learn from the characters and events in
this novel? Use the graphic organizer on the following page to record
information about the novel’s theme.
Reading Skill Identify Cause-and-Effect Relationships
A cause is an event. An effect is what happens as a result of the cause.
For example, Jason hit a baseball (cause) that broke a window (effect).
Authors use a cause-and-effect approach to explore the reasons for
something and to examine the results of actions or events.
It is important to identify cause-and-effect relationships to see how
events are connected. To identify cause-and-effect relationships
• ask yourself “Why did this event happen?” Your answer will tell you the
cause.
• ask yourself “What will happen as a result of this event?” Your answer
will tell you the effect.
• look for signal words such as so, because, and as a result.
As you read this section of Picture Bride, identify the reasons or causes
for each major choice Hana makes or for each major event in her life. Use
a graphic organizer like the one at the right to keep track of cause-andeffect relationships.
68
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
Vocabulary
dissuade [di swād´] v. to
discourage
Leah had to win the prize, and no
one could dissuade her from
trying.
effusive [i fū´ siv] adj. expressive;
talkative
The effusive praise led me to
believe I had done a great job.
erratically [ə rat´ ik əlē] adv. not
consistently
Jolene goes to practice
erratically so we never know
when she will show up.
impel [im pel´] v. to move
forcefully
The gratitude we feel impels us
to return the favor.
indignation [in´di nā´ shen] n.
outrage
I felt indignation when Tomás did
not invite me to his party.
Cause
Toda loses his job at
the bank and wants a new kind
of work.
Effect
ACTIVE READING: Chapters 10–23
Hana faces many challenges. Some of them are
universal challenges—challenges faced by people
in every culture. Some, however, result from her
status as a Japanese American. List challenges
Hana faces in chapters 10–23 because she is a
Japanese immigrant. Then reflect on what each
challenge says about Japanese immigrants in
general at the time the novel is set.
Challenges Hana Faces
Challenge:
Challenge:
Challenge:
What It Says About
Japanese Immigrants:
What It Says About
Japanese Immigrants:
What It Says About
Japanese Immigrants:
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 10–23
69
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Theme How are Hana and Taro’s
struggles like those of other
immigrants at almost any time in
American history?
70
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 10
Good news, Hana!” Taro called as he came in.
Hana knew by the way he had bounded up the steps
and flung open the door that he was excited. She quickly
put a finger to her lips to caution him about the baby.
“She’s asleep,” Hana whispered.
The child, at six months, was still sleeping erratically,
not napping when she should and falling asleep at the
most inconvenient moments. She was also hopelessly
spoiled, often crying for no reason than to be picked up
and coddled. However, Hana could not restrain the
extravagance of love that Taro lavished on his infant
daughter, and she herself found release in a similar
outpouring. It was as though the two of them unburdened
on the tiny creature the affection they could not seem to
show one another.
Taro lowered his voice. “I think I’ve finally found a
house we can rent,” he whispered. “It’s in a residential
area and there’s a school close by.” Actually, the
neighborhood was beyond his means, but he had extended
himself for the sake of their child.
“You’re quite sure it’s all right for us to move in?”
By now Hana was well acquainted with the antiJapanese sentiments that burgeoned throughout the state.
Too many times Taro had come home discouraged and
dismayed at having been refused a house because he was
Japanese. The landlords had various ways of letting him
know. “The house has just been rented,” they would say,
or, “I don’t think you would care for this particular house.”
It was difficult for Hana to understand why they should
be so despised. She had been both puzzled and vexed
when Taro had told her about the Gentlemen’s Agreement,
concluded by Theodore Roosevelt and the Japanese
government ten years before her arrival, that prevented
Japanese laborers from emigrating to America.
Hana had frowned. “But that doesn’t seem a very
gentlemanly thing for such a big country to do to a small
country like Japan. There is so much room here.”
Hana could scarcely comprehend the vastness of the
United States. She would study a map, trace her finger
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
across the breadth of the country, and then compare it with
the meager droplets of land that was Japan. She could not
understand the hatred and fear of such a giant land.
Taro explained that the problem was economic. “When
the white men felt that we Asians were threatening their
jobs, then words like ‘yellow peril’ began to appear in
newspapers, and legislators passed laws discriminating
against us.”
“Peril?” Hana asked incredulously. “We Japanese are a
peril to this enormous country?” It was beyond belief.
Taro enjoyed educating his wife to a more complete
knowledge of the world.
“Do you know we Asians cannot own land in
California, even if we have the money to buy it? There is a
law called the Alien Land Law that prohibits it.”
“But you are a responsible and law-abiding citizen.”
Taro interrupted, “I may be responsible and lawabiding, Hana, but this country will not allow me to
become a citizen because I am an Asian. That is the law of
this land, too.”
“Ah, they hate us so much?” Hana wanted to hear no
more. It didn’t matter so much for her or Taro, but she did
not want her child to be hated simply because she was a
Nisei––a second-generation American of Japanese ancestry.
“Well, our child is an American citizen, Hana, even if we
cannot be,” Taro comforted, “and we will give her a fine
American name.” He selected the name Mary because it
was honest and forthright.
“Mary Takeda.” Hana tried the name on her tongue
many times. “That is a good name,” she agreed, “but
couldn’t she have a Japanese name as well?” Taro wanted
that, too, so they called her Mary Yukari.
Hana wondered now about school. “Will Mary be
treated all right, do you think?”
“I can’t be sure,” Taro admitted. “But maybe by the time
she’s old enough to start school things will be better.”
He hadn’t told Hana that there had been a time when all
the Japanese American children in San Francisco had been
forced to attend a segregated school for Asians.
Literary Element
Theme How were the struggles of
Asian immigrants in the early 1900s
different from those of other
immigrants?
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 10–23
71
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Identify Cause-and-Effect
Relationships What causes Mary
to play down her Japanese identity
whenever she can?
72
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 21
At Oakland High School where Mary was now a junior,
there were only two other Nisei girls. The few Nisei boys
were too shy to say more than hello to her, and when she
saw them approaching, she usually busied herself at her
locker or pretended to be reading something on the
bulletin board. She could not imagine herself going out
with them, and not in her wildest dreams did she even
think of dating a white boy. None, in fact, would have
asked her.
Mary had a few white girl friends at school, and knew
that among themselves they spoke of skating or swimming
parties or the spring prom, but she was never included in
such discussions and accepted her exclusion as the normal
course of events.
For some years now, Mary had known that her Japanese
face denied her certain privileges. White people had their
own special world, and the Japanese Americans were not a
part of it, except perhaps as servants, day workers,
gardeners or cooks. When she went to the City Plunge
with her friends one day, she was told, “We don’t think
you’ll enjoy swimming here.” When she made her first
appointment for a haircut at Corley’s Beauty Parlor, she
called first to ask whether they would cut Japanese hair.
Mary knew that’s how life was. She neither questioned it
nor resented it, trying only to be unobtrusive, emulating
the white American world, hoping desperately to be
absorbed into it. She submerged her Japaneseness
whenever she could, trying to be less different, shielding
herself from hurt by keeping to her own private world.
The one after-school activity Mary enjoyed was the
International Club, where she was sometimes forced to
acknowledge her heritage on such occasions as the special
International Day assembly. Miss Nelson, who advised the
club, persuaded Mary and the two other Nisei girls to
wear kimonos for their part in the program.
“Do you think your mother could come help you girls
get dressed in your kimonos?” Miss Nelson asked Mary.
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
“Sure, if it’s not one of her days to . . . I mean if she’s
free.” Mary did not want to admit that her mother did
housework and could not come on the days she worked.
When Mary spoke of it to her mother, Hana was
delighted. “Why, of course, I’ll be glad to help,” she said,
circling the date on the Takeda Dry Goods and Grocers
calendar that hung on their kitchen wall.
On the morning of the assembly, Mary instructed her
mother to be at school by two o’clock sharp. “Don’t be late
now,” she begged. “You know how to get to my school?”
“Yes, I know. I won’t be late.” Hana had already
determined the time necessary to get there on the streetcar.
She had pressed Mary’s blue-flowered kimono and hung
the brocade obi out to air, so it would not smell of moth
balls. Both had lain in a trunk since Mary’s grandmother
sent them from Japan, and when Hana removed them, she
had taken out her best silk furoshiki in which to wrap and
carry the kimonos.
“Mama,” Mary said just before she left for school.
“Yes?”
“What will you wear when you come?”
“I thought my navy blue suit and hat. Is that all right?”
“Uh-huh, I guess so.”
Hana felt the uneasy disapproval in her daughter’s
voice. “It’s my Sunday suit,” she explained. “It’s the best I
can do.”
Mary chose not to discuss the matter further. “I’ll meet
you at the main entrance at two,” she said, and with a
whirl of her pleated serge skirt, she was gone. . . .
Hana took a deep breath as she approached the high
school, carrying her best blue leather handbag and Mary’s
Japanese outfit carefully wrapped in her silk furoshiki.
Mary was waiting at the door to meet her.
“Mama, you came on the streetcar carrying that thing?”
“What, my furoshiki?” Hana was startled. “It’s my best
one.”
“But you look like you just came off the boat from
Japan.”
Reading Skill
Identify Cause-and-Effect
Relationships Why is coming to
school a problem for both Mary
and Hana?
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 10–23
73
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
Reading: What’s in It for You?
What did you find out about the
reactions of some whites to the
Japanese immigrants?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
74
N OV E L C OMPA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 10
Promptly at seven the next evening the doorbell rang.
“You need not come out to meet them,” Taro told Hana,
and he went to the door alone.
“Please come in,” he said. The four men filled the living
room with their large physical presence and the smell of
cigars.
“We represent the people of this block,” one of them
began. “We’d like to have a talk with you.”
“Yes. Please sit down.”
The men glanced around the living room which Hana
had taken great pains to decorate properly. A new flowered
rug lay on the floor, and fresh white curtains that Kiku had
helped Hana sew hung at the windows. The first tight
buds of the flowering peach in their yard had begun to
swell, and knowing there would be callers, Hana had
arranged a spray on the mantel.
“We’ll come right to the point,” a tall red-headed man
said without bothering to sit down. “There’ve been some
complaints from the neighborhood about having Japanese
on this block.”
Taro caught his breath. “I see. Can you tell me who it
was that complained?”
“Just some of the neighbors.”
“What is it we have done to offend them?”
“Well, nothing specific.”
Taro looked at each of the men in turn and tried to keep
his voice steady. “Gentlemen,” he began. “My wife and I
looked many, many months to find a home where we
might raise our daughter. When the owner said there
would be no objection to our moving here, we trusted him.
It was a dream come true for us. We have already spent
much time and money to make this house our home. And
now, you would ask us to leave?”
Taro dared not stop before he finished all he wanted to
say. “I should like to meet those neighbors who object to
us,” he said. “Is it any of you gentlemen?”
The men looked uncomfortable. “We’re just here to
represent them.”
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Comment on what you learned from
your own notes.
Recap
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 10–23
75
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 10–23
Respond and Think Critically
1. Why do you think Ellen Davis is in the novel? What does she represent?
[Analyze]
2. Explain why Nishima is staying in the Takeda home. What do Hana’s
actions toward him reveal about her character? [Interpret]
3. Why do you think Mary’s feelings toward her family and her heritage
change so much as she grows older? [Infer]
4. In your opinion, how has the relationship between Hana and Taro
changed since the early chapters of the novel? [Synthesize]
5. Reading: What’s in It for You? What have you learned so far about why
Japanese immigrants stayed together in their own community?
[Synthesize]
76
N OV E L C OM PA NION: Un it 2
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on
page 67. How did that information
help you understand or
appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 10–23
Literary Element Theme
1. Which scenes do you think show the theme of
challenges in adjusting to a new culture best?
Why? [Evaluate]
2. In this section, which character besides Hana or
Taro best helps you understand the difficulties
Japanese immigrants faced? Why? [Evaluate]
Vocabulary Practice
For each boldfaced vocabulary word in the left column,
identify the related word with a shared root in the right
column. On a separate sheet of paper, write each word
and underline the part they have in common. Use a
printed or online dictionary to look up the meaning of the
related word. Then explain how it is related to the
vocabulary word.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
dissuade
effusive
erratically
impel
indignation
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
profuse
propelling
compensation
stoically
dignified
persuasion
erred
EXAMPLE:
disconsolate, solace
Solace means “comfort.” A disconsolate person is one
Reading Skill Identify Cause-and-Effect
Relationships
1. Why does Taro sink into a depressed state?
How do Hana and Nishima help him out of it?
[Analyze]
Academic Vocabulary
Hana becomes a source of embarrassment to Mary. In the
preceding sentence, source means “a cause.” Think about
how Hana is different from her daughter. Then fill in the
blank for this statement: One source of Mary’s negative
feelings is ________________________________________
2. Why do Hana and her family find the visit to Kiku
and Henry so enjoyable and uplifting? [Analyze]
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 10–23
77
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 10–23
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Write a Letter Imagine that you are a close friend
of the Takeda family and you have noticed how
Hana and Mary are drifting apart. Write a letter to
both Hana and Mary urging them to improve their
relationship. Help them see how their differences
result more from the stress of their identity as
Japanese immigrants than from other problems
between them. Encourage them to find common
ground.
Speech
Jot down some notes here first.
Assignment Imagine that you live on the Takedas’
block and that you disapprove of the chilly
reception that the family has received. Prepare an
informal speech to be presented at the next meeting
of the block club. Encourage your neighbors to put
aside their prejudices and welcome the Takedas to
the neighborhood.
Prepare Make a list of reasons for welcoming the
Takedas. Also, prepare an anecdote, or a brief story,
telling about a time when someone took your part
and explaining how it felt to be supported. Use your
reasons and your anecdote to appeal to your
neighbors’ reason and sense of fairness. Frame
your anecdote in this way:
Example
Once, when I ____________________________.
As a result, I felt ____________________________.
Also, remember your identity as a member of the
same group that makes up your audience, and use
the pronoun we wherever possible. Identify with
your audience as you simultaneously present a
different point of view.
Deliver This is an informal speech, so keep your
tone personal. Remember, however, that all the
guidelines of effective delivery still apply: you
should speak loudly and clearly enough for
everyone to hear. Keep your pace slow enough so
that everyone hears every word, but not so slow
that you sound unnatural.
Evaluate Write one paragraph reflecting on the
content of your speech. Was it persuasive? Was it
clear? Write another paragraph reflecting on your
delivery. Did you keep your audience engaged? Do
you think you might have changed any minds?
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 24–35
Connect to the Literature
What if you were forced to leave your home and your daily routine on
short notice and for an indefinite period of time?
Quickwrite
Describe how you might react if you were suddenly forced to leave your
home. What would you take with you? What would you miss most?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, in the present tense, using
information in Build Background.
Build Background
The Internment of American Citizens
The bombing of Pearl Harbor, a U.S. naval base in Hawaii, by the
Japanese in December 1941 stirred up anti-Japanese feelings based on
the idea that people of Japanese ancestry might become a threat to
national security. Rumors fueled by racism and irrational fear began to
spread. Before long, the entire California coastline was named Military
Area One, an area from which Japanese families were told that they
should voluntarily move. Although many tried to move, they found that they
were unwelcome in other parts of the state. In 1942 President Franklin
Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066, which gave the military
permission to remove “enemy aliens” and anyone who was believed to be
disloyal. People in this area were to be evacuated and moved into
relocation camps.
In trying to evacuate “enemy aliens” from the West Coast, the government
evacuated Japanese Americans. Many of these people had never been to
Japan and did not speak Japanese. Ironically, because they were U.S.
citizens, the Nisei were the only persons the government allowed to hold
positions of authority in the camps. Japanese tradition calls for elders to be
treated with respect, yet Issei (people who had immigrated from Japan)
were not allowed positions of authority, which caused conflict for many in
the camps.
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 24–35
79
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 24–35
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question Reading: What’s in It for You?
As you read, ask yourself, how can reading about immigrants during
World War II help you learn about your world?
Literary Element Mood
Mood is the emotional effect that a story or poem has on a reader. The
author creates a mood through the type of words and sentences he or she
uses in describing the setting, events, and objects. For example, when a
story is set during a dark and stormy night, the mood may be tense or
suspenseful.
Mood is important in helping a reader become emotionally involved with
the story. To identify the mood of a story, look for descriptive words and
phrases. What emotions do these words create?
As you read this section of the novel, identify the mood and consider
how author Yoshiko Uchida uses word choice and sentence structure to
create it.
Reading Strategy Visualize
When you visualize, you picture in your mind what you are reading by
using the descriptive details the author provides. Fiction writers and poets
often use imagery, or sensory details, to bring the characters and setting
of a story or poem to life.
Good readers use this imagery to create pictures in their minds of the
setting, characters, and events of a narrative. Visualizing can help readers
enjoy, understand, and remember a selection. It can also help readers feel
the mood and tone of the selection.
Vocabulary
cursory [kurser ē] adj. hastily
done
Carla’s cursory work resulted in
several careless errors.
garrulous [ar ə ləs] adj. talkative
After two hours with the
garrulous man, I wanted only
silence.
laud [lôd] v. to praise
The coaches laud us for our
efforts but not for our losing
streak.
sabotage [sab ə tazh´] n.
deliberate damage
The sabotage was planned to
stop traffic at the busiest time
of day.
succor [sukər] v. to aid
It was an act of treason to succor
the enemy.
Description from Novel
“Taro removed his glasses
blinking wearily. His eyes were
red-rimmed and shadowed
with dark circles.”
As you read, notice sensory details that help you see, hear, smell, taste,
and feel what the author describes. You may find it helpful to use a
visualization chart like the one at the right.
Visualization
I can see the worry and shock
on Taro’s face; I can feel the
tension. This creates a mood
of anxiety.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
ACTIVE READING: Chapters 24–35
In Chapters 24–35, Uchida creates a vivid picture of
the deplorable conditions endured by the Takedas
and other Japanese Americans who were forced to
live in assembly centers and internment camps. As
Tanforan
you read, record descriptive details and imagery
of the conditions at Tanforan and Topaz in the
chart below.
Topaz
forced to live in cold, dirty horse stalls
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 24–35
81
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Mood Find the details that create
the setting. Name the mood they
create.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 24
On a cold night in January, Hana awoke to the sound of
distant explosions. Had the war come so close? She turned
for the comfort of Taro’s arms, but found the bed empty.
“Papa?” she called, her voice hollow in the quiet room.
Hana put on her bathrobe and went to the kitchen
where she found Taro hunched over the ledgers, notes and
papers from his shop. They were spread out on the kitchen
table in complete disarray.
“What in the world are you doing?” Hana asked. “It’s
three o’clock in the morning.”
Taro removed his glasses, blinking wearily. His eyes
were red-rimmed and shadowed with dark circles. “I
know, Mama. I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been thinking of what I
must do with the shop if we are to be evacuated.”
For several weeks now their lives had been laced with
disturbing rumors that all the Japanese on the West Coast
would be uprooted from their homes and incarcerated in
government camps. It was referred to as “the evacuation.”
But Taro refused to believe such talk.
“The United States government would never do such a
thing,” he explained to Hana, recalling the Constitution he
had studied long ago. “After all, there is such a thing as
due process of law, and our children are citizens.”
Still, false stories of sabotage continued to circulate, and
anti-Japanese forces exerted political and economic
pressure to rid the West Coast of all the Japanese
Americans, citizen and non-citizen alike. Hatred and fear
of the enemy were increasingly focused on the Japanese
American presence along the West Coast, and rumors of an
evacuation grew stronger each day.
Night after night, Taro lay in bed contemplating the
enormity of such an uprooting. What would happen to all
the Japanese Americans if it should actually come to pass?
What was to become of their businesses, nurtured so
carefully over a lifetime? What of the small cleaners and
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
shoe repair shops, the laundries, the cafes, the grocery
stores, the homes, the farms? What of Dr. Kaneda’s
medical equipment and the office he’d been forced to
abandon in such haste. And what of his own shop? After
thirty long years, at last he’d been able to buy it in Mary’s
name and begun to earn a decent living from it, no longer
having to depend on Hana’s help. At last, the shop’s
success was his own triumph, and only last month, he had
told Hana she could stop her day work and enjoy some
years of leisure. . . .
On the nineteenth of February 1942, the weeks of
speculation and uncertainty came to an end. The President
of the United States authorized the Secretary of War and
his military commanders to prescribe areas from which
any or all persons could be excluded. The newspapers
carried ominous headlines about the President’s Executive
Order 9066.
“What does it mean?” Hana asked anxiously. “What
will happen to us now?”
“It means we are all going to be evacuated one day
soon,” Taro explained sadly. “It means we are all going to
be uprooted from our homes and-interned without even a
trial or hearing.”
Evacuated. Hana hated the word. She looked it up again
in the dictionary to be sure she understood. “To remove; to
send away,” it said. Hana understood. There were those
who had always wanted to be rid of all the Japanese
Americans in California. Now, at last, they’d gotten their
way, and the President himself had made it seem a
respectable act.
Literary Element
Mood Which words and phrases in
the last four paragraphs create the
mood of sadness and disbelief at
injustice?
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 24–35
83
INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Visualize Which details best help
you see Topaz and Hana and Taro’s
living quarters there?
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 32
He came back with a slip of paper. “We’re assigned to
Block Seven, Barrack Two, Apartment A,” he said. “They
told me it’s an end room, for two people.”
“You’ll be nearby,” Sumiko said, looking pleased.
“We’re in Block Six, next to yours.”
Sumiko and Kenji led the way down the long dusty
road toward Block Seven. With each step, they sank almost
ankle-deep into the fine powdery sand. The army, in its
search for a site to deposit the thousands of Japanese
Americans uprooted from California, had located this
utterly desolate land that had once been a peaceful lake
bed. It had sent in its bulldozers and trucks to disturb the
creatures that lived among centuries-old bones and stone;
it had uprooted the sagebrush that once held down the
sand, and it had churned the desert into a seething mass of
dust that floated, suspended, everywhere. It had further
defiled the desert by building on this loose bed of sand a
wretched barrack camp encircled with barbed wire, with
guard towers at its four corners. The camp was then called
Topaz.
Hana felt the dust seep into her nostrils and eyes. Both
she and Mrs. Mitosa coughed as they plodded slowly
through the drifts of glaring white sand. No one spoke as
they walked on.
At Block Six, Sumiko and her mother stopped. “We’ll
leave you here,” Sumiko said. “Your block is just ahead.”
Kenji tried to encourage Hana. “We’ll be there soon,” he
said. “Just one more firebreak to cross and we’ll be in
Block Seven. That’s the hospital over there to the left, and
over in the corner, just beyond the guard tower, are the
soldiers’ barracks.”
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
Hana turned her head. She did not want to see the
guard towers or the barracks where the soldiers lived.
Apartment A was one of the small rooms at the end of
each barrack, not much larger than the horse stalls. The
rooms in the center were for families of four or more. The
barracks were far from complete, and as they arrived,
workmen were still pouring tar on the roofs. Dust sifted
into the room from every crevice and from the hole in the
roof where the stove chimney was to go. Two army cots
lay folded on the dusty floor and a single light bulb
dangled from the ceiling.
“So this is Topaz, ‘jewel of the desert’,” Taro said,
recalling the words he had read on the instruction sheet.
Hana had no words to utter. She was so exhausted, she
could have stretched out on the dusty floor and gone right
to sleep. . . .
“The only good thing about Topaz,” Hana wrote to
Ellen Davis, “is the sunset each evening.”
Hana had never seen such an expanse of space as the
sky that arched over the desert. As the sun dipped each
evening behind the towering mountains that ringed their
desert, the entire sky turned a brilliant, flaming red that
faded into the lavenders and pinks of dusk. Hana and Taro
usually stayed outside long enough to watch the
mountains melt into the dark shadows of night. Sometimes
they would walk to the hospital to visit Mrs. Mitosa or
visit a church friend in another block. By the time they
returned home, the first stars would appear, and Hana
gazed at the sky until she could see the River of Heaven. It
was as though the stars sang out in an explosion of
brilliance to console the creatures fenced in beneath them.
Reading Strategy
Visualize How does the imagery
in this excerpt help you see, hear,
smell, taste, or feel the family’s
experience as they enter the
new camp?
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 24–35
85
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What’s in It for You? How has your
knowledge of what Japanese
immigrants went through
deepened?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 27
There was a pounding at the door. “Mr. and Mrs. Taro
Takeda?”
Pleased to think one of their friends had somehow
found them already, Hana flung open the door. A young
boy with a pimpled face held out a yellow envelope.
“Telegram,” he said, as he hurried away.
It seemed ludicrous that such amenities could follow
them to a horse stall behind barbed wire. Hana was
reluctant to open it. Telegrams never brought good news,
and her fingers shook as she struggled with the envelope.
At first, she could not believe what she read.
TODA SHOT TO DEATH LAST NIGHT STOP
FUNERAL SUNDAY KIKU
Hana read the telegram over and over before she
understood what it said. Still, she could not believe it. Why
would anyone want to kill such a warm, lovable man?
Henry never would have harmed another living creature.
Hana continued to read the telegram again and again, as
though by reading its terse message something of the awful
circumstances might be revealed.
“Kiku, oh Kiku. I cannot even go to comfort you.”
Hana shuddered, suddenly depleted and drained of all
feeling. She could not really be here, sitting in this
miserable horse stall, shivering on a dusty cot, mourning
the loss of an old friend. It just was not happening. She
could not even cry.
When Taro and Kenji returned with two straw-filled
mattresses, their faces streaked with dust and sweat, they
found Hana sitting silently on the cot looking stunned. She
was still clutching the telegram.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Write down your thoughts on the
excerpt.
Recap
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 24–35
87
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 24–35
Respond and Think Critically
1. How do Hana and Taro cope with the living conditions at Topaz? What
do their responses reveal about the character of each individual?
[Analyze]
2. What happens when Taro goes out alone for a walk one evening at
Topaz? How does Mary respond to this event? What does her response
reveal about her feelings toward her parents? [Analyze]
3. Why do Taro and Hana apologize to each other near the end of the
novel? Do you think these apologies are necessary? Why or why not?
[Evaluate]
4. Evaluate the decision Hana makes at the end of the book. Do you think
it is the right decision? Why or why not? [Evaluate]
5. Reading: What’s in It for You? How has your knowledge of the lives
and challenges of the earliest Japanese immigrants changed or
deepened as a result of reading this novel? Name specific details from
the novel to support your answer. [Synthesize]
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Meet the Author on page
54. How did that information help
you understand or appreciate
what you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 24–35
Literary Element Mood
1. What mood do the details about Dr. Kaneda’s
decision to return to Japan create? Use details
from the novel to support your answer.
[Synthesize]
Vocabulary Practice
Identify the context clues in the following sentences that
help you determine the meaning of each boldfaced
vocabulary word.
1. The cursory note was like everything Jim did—rushed
and careless.
2. The garrulous child chattered for the entire
two-hour ride.
2. What is the mood at the end of the novel? Use
details from the novel to support your answer.
[Synthesize]
3. We did not know whether our parents would laud us
for our courage or criticize us for our risk-tasking.
4. Damaging the electrical plant was an act of sabotage.
5. The agency will succor those in need by providing
food and shelter.
Reading Strategy Visualize
1. What could you visualize in the scenes in which
Hana packs up and cleans out the house?
[Analyze]
Academic Vocabulary
Taro and Hana are forced to reside in a stable. In the
preceding sentence, reside means “live or occupy as a
home.” Reside also has other meanings. For instance: The
answer to prejudice does not reside only in making new
laws. What do you think reside means in the preceding
sentence? What is the difference between the two
meanings?
2. What could you visualize in the scene in which
Taro and Hana first arrive at Tanforan? [Analyze]
Pictur e B r ide: C hapters 24–35
89
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 24–35
Write With Style
Speaking and Listening
Apply Imagery
Debate
Assignment Choose one place from chapters 29 or
31 that you can see very well in your mind’s eye or
experience through your senses. Create one single
main impression of the place by describing
it in a paragraph.
Assignment Although the U.S. government would
probably never again act as it did toward the
Japanese during World War II, this question
remains: Should the government be able to limit
freedoms in time of war for reasons of national
security? Create two teams, choose a side of the
issue, and debate.
Get Ideas Make a cluster like the one below to
record images about the place or thing.
Place
Decide on a single main idea that all or most of your
images create. Cross out any images that do not
contribute to that one main idea.
Give It Structure Use spatial order to describe the
place. For example, you can start from far away
from the scene or object and move closer, describe
it from top to bottom or from left to right, or start
from the center and work outward. Choose a
method of organization that makes sense.
Look at Language Select images that allow your
reader to see or otherwise experience the place. In
addition to visual images that tell shape, size, and
color, use words that appeal to other senses, such
“air thick with dust” and “the stale air of the
crowded car.”
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
Prepare With your team, review evidence from the
novel that supports or refutes your side of the
debate. Then use Internet and print sources to read,
gather, and develop reasons to support your side.
List your arguments and your support for them.
Also, list the arguments that you anticipate the
other side to offer, or the counterarguments. Make
a plan, including evidence and explanation, to meet
those counterarguments.
Debate Begin with your best arguments. State them
clearly and use specific examples to explain them.
Listen carefully as the other team presents. Focus
on how best to challenge their arguments. Then use
specific examples to weaken their opinion and
support your own.
Evaluate Critique your own participation and skills
in the debate by providing examples of and rating
how well you met each of the criteria below:
Criterion
Developed
effective
arguments
beforehand
Presented and
supported
arguments
clearly
Anticipated
and met
counterarguments
Example
Made a list
of 4 wellsupported
reasons
My
Rating
Good
WORK WITH RELATE D READINGS
Picture Bride
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in Glencoe’s
Literature Library edition of this novel. Support your answers with
details from the texts. Write your answers on a separate sheet of
paper, but jot down some notes first on the lines provided.
Natsu Okuyama Ozawa—A Japanese Woman
Remembers
June Namias
Make Connections How did the racial
discrimination that Ozawa experienced before and
during the war compare with the discrimination that
Hana and Taro faced?
from Nisei Daughter
Monica Sone
Make Connections How does Mary’s attitude
toward her heritage in Picture Bride compare with
Sone’s attitude?
Sent from the Capital to Her Elder Daughter
Otomo No Sakanoe
Make Connections Compare and contrast the
speaker in this poem with Hana.
Rain Music
Longhang Nguyen
Make Connections Compare and contrast Linh’s
parents with Mr. and Mrs. Takeda in Picture Bride.
In what ways are their hopes for their children
similar?
Topaz: City of Dust
Yoshiko Uchida
Make Connections Identify some experiences in
“Topaz: City of Dust” that Uchida retold as the
experiences of Hana in Picture Bride.
Pi ct ure Bri de
91
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: Coming to America
The United States is a nation built by
immigrants. . . . Over 31 million
immigrants live in the U.S. They make
up about 11.5% of the population. Like
those who came before, these immigrants
are arriving in hopes of building their
own version of the American Dream. . . .
Jin Hua Zhang
When she was 11 years old, Jin Hua’s father
brought his family to New York City.
Although Jin Hua has made friends and is
doing well in school, she still misses her
home in China.
In my hometown of Ting Jiang, in
southeastern China, people always said
that America was very good, like some
kind of wonderland. They said you could
have a good life here. So when my
mother, my brother, and I flew into New
York City’s LaGuardia Airport, I was so
happy. It was night, and I thought, “This
city is so good, so beautiful.” I knew at
that moment my life would be changing.
I thought it would be great.
But then I came to my apartment. I
was shocked. In China, my parents were
bosses at a company that made bricks.
We had a big house; it was very
comfortable. Here, there were four of us
squeezing into two small rooms [in
Chinatown]. Everything is shared—I
can’t do anything in private. The next
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
day, when I went down to the street, it
was so noisy. And, oh, my gosh, so
stinky! Starting school was hard too. In
China, I’d been a good student—I
completed every exam perfectly. Here, I
didn’t understand what the teacher was
saying. It was the [toughest] time I’ve
ever had.
But the biggest difference between
China and here was that I was lonely.
Some Americans look at you differently
[if you’re an immigrant]; they look down
on you. I had to make all new friends. In
China, teenagers come together as a
group and go out to play. Here, my
parents didn’t want me to hang out
outside; they thought I could get lost or
[might] hang out with bad people.
I know that my family decided to
come here so my brother and I could get
a better education. In China, they made
money more easily, but they never felt
like it was enough; they always wanted
more. Now, they work all the time, every
morning until midnight, [because they]
want me to go to college [instead of]
working in a factory like most Chinese
immigrants [we know]. But I feel like I
have less.
I don’t know if I consider myself an
American. I feel like I’m really more
Chinese.
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the novel you have just read to the literature selection at the left,
which is excerpted from “Coming to America” by Joe McGowan, Marisa
Wong, Vicki Bane, and Laurie Morice in Glencoe Literature. Then answer
the questions below.
Compare & Contrast
1. Text Structure Explain three ways in which the text structure of this
article differs from the text structure of Picture Bride.
TALK ABOUT IT
Do the challenges that Jin Hua
Zhang faces seem less difficult,
more difficult, or about equal to
those faced by Hana in Picture
Bride? Why?
Jot down some notes here first.
2. Theme What does the theme of this excerpt have in common with the
theme of Picture Bride?
3. Mood Choose a scene from Picture Bride. Tell how the mood of
this excerpt is the same or different from the mood of the scene in
Picture Bride.
Pi ct ure Bri de
93
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Research Report
Investigate Refugee Camps Use the Internet to research the conditions
at refugee camps and other types of detainment camps around the world
today. Write a research report of about 1,500 words. Focus your report on
health and sanitation at the camps. Use at least three sources, including at
least one primary source.
Prewrite Write four or five questions to guide your research. Use only
reliable sources to find the answers, and take notes. Develop a thesis.
Then outline the main ideas you will use to develop and support your
thesis.
Draft Use your introduction to build background and to present your
thesis. Use your body paragraphs to present evidence from your
notecards, choosing only those details that strengthen your thesis. As you
weave in sources, use introductory phrases such as “As ____________
writes in ____________, . . . ” Be sure to correctly cite, or credit, each
work you use, both in your paper and in your Works Cited list.
Revise Ask yourself:
• What information does my reader still need to understand my thesis?
UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• A research report is an
assignment in which you explore
a topic by gathering facts from a
number of different sources.
Using this information, you
develop a point of view or draw
a conclusion.
• Thesis is the main idea of your
report.
Grammar Tip
Parentheses in Citations
In the body of your paper, cite
online sources by enclosing the
author or authors’ names in
parentheses:
“I did not have any clean water
for more than twenty-four
hours” (Kashkouri).
• Where do I need to give more background information?
• Where should I add an introduction or an explanation to make the
meaning of each cited bit of information clearer or more relevant to my
thesis?
If no author is given, enclose the
name of the sponsoring
institution or the title of the
online work in parentheses:
• Which terms in my paper might be unfamiliar to my readers? How can I
explain them better?
Thirty-nine million people now
live in refugee camps (Doctors
Without Borders).
Revise for clarity and to remove any potential misunderstandings.
Edit and Proofread Edit your writing so that it expresses your thoughts
effectively and is well organized. Carefully proofread for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling errors.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 2
Dogsong
Gary Paulsen
Dogsong
95
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE NOVEL
Dogsong
Gary Paulsen
“
I don’t make stuff up much. Most of the
things I write about are based on personal
inspection at zero altitude, and I have scars
pretty much all over my body to prove
those things.
”
—Gary Paulsen, National Council of
Teachers of English National Convention,
20 November 1993
In 1979, determined to start life anew,
Gary Paulsen moved back to Minnesota,
where he had spent his youth. To make a
living, he trapped coyotes and beavers in
the north woods. At first he tended his
traps on foot or skis, but one day a
neighbor gave him a sled and four sled
dogs to use instead. Paulsen didn’t know
much about dog sledding, but he took his
neighbor’s offer, repaired the sled, and
began running his team along the trap
line. It was a move that would change his
life and rekindle his literary career.
In Love With Dog Sledding Paulsen fell
in love with dog sledding. The “ancient
and beautiful” bond between man and
dog, as he described it, possessed his
soul. One night, returning with his dogs
from trapping, he found himself crossing
a frozen lake under a full moon. Thrilled
by the scenic beauty, he simply steered
away from home and continued running
for eight days. “My wife thought I’d
gone through the ice,” he says.
Paulsen gave up trapping but continued
running and racing his dogs. In 1983 he
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 3
entered the grueling Iditarod sled race in
Alaska. He covered the nearly twelve
hundred miles in fewer than eighteen
days, enduring injuries, extreme cold,
and a lack of sleep. While racing in the
Iditarod, Paulsen had an experience that
shaped Dogsong. At a stopover along the
race, a young Inuit boy who wanted to
learn about dog sledding invited Paulsen
to stay with his family. “I [was] stunned,”
Paulsen recalls, “that an Eskimo boy on
the Bering Sea would have to ask
someone from Minnesota about dogs.”
Dogsong, published in 1985, met with
acclaim from critics and readers alike.
Paulsen, full of new energy, returned to
full-time writing and produced a series
of popular books for young adults. But
Dogsong remains his first love. Even after
it was published, he confesses, he would
pull the text up on his computer screen
to read and revise passages he enjoyed.
“I miss Dogsong,” Paulsen says. “I wish I
could keep writing it. It’s like a friend
who has gone away.”
Real People Living on a thirty-five
hundred-mile strip of land from eastern
Siberia to Greenland are a people whose
way of life is unlike that of any others on
Earth. Westerners have traditionally called
them Eskimos, but they prefer their own
name: Yup’ik, meaning “real people.”
Traditional Yup’ik life is ruled by the
region’s extreme cold. On the Bering Sea
in northernmost Alaska, the average
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
temperature is subfreezing for nine
months of the year. Open water is a
rarity. The land is treeless tundra. Only
the first few inches of earth thaw out
during the summer. Below that, the
ground is frozen hard year round.
Yupik Ways of Life Despite these harsh
conditions, the Yup’ik devised a way of
life that kept them warm and well fed
throughout much of their history. They
survived mainly on what they could kill:
seal, caribou, whale, fish, birds, and
sometimes polar bears. They dressed
warmly in the skins of the animals they
hunted and lived in houses well
insulated from the northern gales.
In many ways, the cold was their friend.
It forced the seals to the surface at ice
holes, and it drove the caribou south in
great herds during the fall. It also
provided a natural freezer for preserving
stored meat. During most of the year,
dogsleds could glide easily across the
frozen terrain. Ironically, life could
become harder in summer, when the land
was marshy and swarms of biting flies
made life uncomfortable.
Yupik Today Change has come rapidly to
the Yupik, and it has not always been
welcomed. Today they live in two worlds:
the traditional world and the modern
industrial world. In many ways, they
have benefited from outside influences.
Modern medicine has helped curtail the
epidemics that swept through Yup’ik
villages when the Europeans first landed.
Rifles, outboard motors, and
snowmobiles have made the hunt for
caribou, whale, and seal easier. Education
has enabled their youth to compete in
society beyond the far north, and
modern, insulated housing has sheltered
them from the region’s savage climate.
Outside influences have brought
disadvantages too. Government
programs have divided families and
discouraged traditional ways of life,
creating aimlessness and unemployment.
Though tempted by images of
materialism and abundance, the Yup’ik
still inhabit a world where survival
demands respect for the forces of nature.
As you read Dogsong, notice how the
clash of cultures, old and new, affects one
young Yupik boy living in Alaska.
Dog Sledding
Most Yupik today are more
familiar with tuning an engine
than with driving a team of dogs.
In the 1930s, an estimated
twenty thousand dogs pulled
sleds in Canada; by 1970 that
number had dwindled to two
thousand. Nevertheless, the
sled dog remains a remarkable
performer.
A mixed breed, weighing
anywhere from forty to more
than a hundred pounds, a sled
dog can pull eighty to one
hundred pounds of weight over
distances of about forty miles a
day—all on a daily ration of little
more than a pound of meat and
fat. The traditional sled was a
low structure made of wood and
whale or caribou bone. It had a
curved front and might be
anywhere from twelve to thirty
feet long. In these vehicles, a
Yupik hunter might travel
several hundred miles on a trip,
fueling his hardworking dogs
with the caribou or seal killed
along the way.
Dogsong
97
MEET THE AUTHOR
Gary Paulsen (1939– )
“
All of our knowledge—everything we
are—is locked up in books, and if you can’t
read, it’s lost.
”
—Gary Paulsen, School Library Journal,
June 1997
No one who met Gary Paulsen as a
teenager in Minnesota could have
predicted that he would become one of
the country’s most successful and
productive authors. It was rare enough
for him to complete an assignment for
school. “I just didn’t study and wound
up in trouble,” he remembers. “I pretty
much flunked the ninth grade.”
A Library Card Born in 1939, Paulsen did
not have a happy childhood. Both his
parents were alcoholics, and young Gary
spent his happiest days with relatives in
the country. “Every opportunity I would
get away from the house,” he recalls. At
school, he was miserable: “I was a geek,
a nerd, a dweeb. You know, the last kid
chosen for sports, or never chosen
actually.”
One cold night when Gary was fourteen,
things began to change. The temperature
was twenty degrees below zero, and he
took shelter in the local library. To his
surprise, the librarian gave him a card
and chose a book for him. “When she
handed me the card, she handed me the
world,” Gary said. That night he became
a reader.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 3
Starting to Write Gary got through high
school with a D average and flunked out
of a local teacher’s college in his second
quarter. He next joined the army. But
reading had sown the seed for his future
career. He loved words. One day, when
he was twenty-six years old, he read an
article about airplanes and a sudden
thought struck him: “What a way to
make a living—writing about something
you like and getting paid for it! ”From
that day, Paulsen devoted his life to
writing.
Writing Until the End By his sixtieth
birthday, Paulsen had written nearly 150
books and was showing no signs of
slowing down. His best books concern
young people who overcome challenges
and learn about themselves in the
process. For his novels Dogsong, Hatchet,
The Winter Room, and Woodsong, Paulsen
was honored with a lifetime achievement
award for writing for young adults by
the American Library Association in
1997. “The theme of survival is woven
throughout, whether it is living through
a plane crash or living in an abusive,
alcoholic household,” wrote the awards
committee. A survivor himself, Gary
writes about his own experiences and
intends to continue until the end: “When
you are an artist, you spend yourself,” he
says, “and you hope that you’ve spent
yourself just about out when you die.”
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–5
Connect to the Literature
What kinds of stories of the past do you enjoy hearing from your elders?
Why do you enjoy these stories?
Quickwrite
Describe a story from the past than an elder relative has shared with you.
Share your story with the class.
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Build Background
Traditional Ways of Life
In Dogsong, Russel, the main character, goes on a great journey alone.
During his journey, Russel lives according to the traditional ways of his
people. In this way of living, there is no separation between the natural
world, the spiritual world, and the human world. At the time when the
novel is set, the fictional present, these traditional ways have been largely
lost under the influence of Western and modern culture.
At the beginning of the novel, Russel turns to Oogruk, one of the only
people who still remembers those traditional ways. Oogruk still knows the
old songs, which were not songs in the way we think of them, but more
like prayers or spiritual acts. Passed down from generation to generation,
the songs were often part of larger rites and traditions. The purpose of
many them was to be sure the hunt was successful. Other traditional
religious and spiritual acts were performed by shamans, who helped
connect the human and spiritual world. Shamans were healers, prophets,
and advisors.
D ogsong: C hapters 1–5
99
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–5
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question What’s More Important, the Journey or the
Destination?
It’s important to have a destination, or place you want to go. Sometimes,
though, the experience you gain along the way is just as valuable as
getting there. Explore how the journey can be just as important as the
destination.
Literary Element Conflict
Conflict is the central struggle between opposing forces in a story. An
external conflict is the struggle of a character against an outside force,
such as nature, society, fate, or another character. An internal conflict
takes place within a character’s mind. For example, he or she might have
to make a difficult choice.
The events in most stories revolve around conflict. As a reader, you can
learn much about life by seeing how people and characters confront and
resolve conflicts.
As you read, ask yourself, what internal and external conflicts does Russel
face? Use the graphic organizer on the following page to help you record
information about the conflicts in his life that result from the clash of old
ways and new ways of living.
Reading Skill Analyze Theme
When you analyze, you look at separate parts of something in order to
understand the whole thing. A theme is a central message about life in
a work of fiction. Some themes are directly stated; others
are implied.
Analyzing theme helps you understand the messages the
author wants to get across. You go beyond knowing what
the work is about to understanding how it expresses
meaning.
Event
or
Scene
To analyze themes, pay attention to
• points the author makes directly
• underlying messages you get from the work
• how the themes work together to help you understand the author’s
overall message about life
As you read, ask yourself how author Gary Paulsen expresses his themes,
such as through a character’s words or a clash of values. You may find it
helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one at the right.
10 0
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 3
aloof [ə lō¯ō f] adj. reserved and
disinterested; uninvolved; apart
The aloof woman never smiled
and spoke to no one.
grimace [rim is] v. to contort
the face, indicating pain or
displeasure
The pain was so intense that Ted
could not help but grimace.
lure [loor] v. to draw into danger
or difficulty
Using a piece of cheese, she will
lure the mouse into the trap.
rancid [ransid] adj. having the
unpleasant odor or taste of a
spoiled oily substance
As soon as we tasted the nuts,
we knew they were rancid and
spit them out.
wince [wins] v. to draw back as
from something painful,
dangerous, or unpleasant
The wasp’s sting made Tina
wince.
Message It
Communicates
How the
Message
Is Sent
ACT IVE READING: Chapters 1–5
Russel’s world is split between the old way of life
and the new. In the chart below, fill in examples
from this section of Dogsong that represent the old
way of life and the new way of life.
Topic
Old Way of Life
New Way of Life
Transportation
dogsleds
snowmachines
Hunting Tools
Ways of Eating Meat
Ways of Learning
Clothing
Housing
Lighting
Men in Russel’s Life
Religion
D ogsong: C hapters 1–5
101
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Conflict Name Russel’s external
conflicts.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 1
RUSSEL SUSSKIT ROLLED OUT of the bunk and put
his feet on the floor and listened in the darkness to the
sounds of morning.
They were the same sounds he had always heard,
sounds he used to listen for. Now in the small government
house—sixteen by twenty—they grated like the ends of a
broken bone.
He heard his father get up and hack and cough and spit
into the stove. His father smoked cigarettes all day, rolled
them with Prince Albert tobacco, and had one hanging on
his lip late into the night. In the morning he had to cough
the cigarettes up. The sound tore at Russel more than at his
father. It meant something that did not belong on the coast
of the sea in a small Eskimo village. The coughing came
from Outside, came from the tobacco which came from
Outside and Russel hated it.
After the coughing and spitting there was the sound of
the fire being lit, a sound he used to look forward to as he
woke. The rustle of paper and kindling and diesel fuel,
which was used to start the wood, the scratch of the match,
the flame taking and the stink of the diesel oil filling the
one room. Russel did not like the smell of the diesel oil but
he did not hate it the way he hated his father’s coughing in
the morning.
Russel heard the wind outside and that was good except
that it carried the sounds of the village waking, which
meant the sound of snowmachine engines starting up.
The snowmachines were loud and scared the seals. To
fourteen-year-old Russel the whine of them above the
wind hurt as much as the sound of coughing. He was
coming to hate them, too.
It was still dark in the house because the village
generator hadn’t been turned on for the day. The darkness
was cut by the light of the oil lamp on the table as his
father touched a match to the wick.
Flat light filled the room and Russel looked around as he
always did. It was a standard government house—a winter
house. They would move to summer fishcamps later.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
But in the winter they came into the village and stayed
in the government houses. Boxes is what they are, really,
he thought: boxes to put people in. . . .
Russel smiled. “Raw meat tastes better. You get the
blood then.”
“That’s true. But you also get the small things to make
you sick. It’s better to cook it.”
“Yes, Father.” He wanted to go on and say, Father, I am
not happy with myself, but he did not. It was not the sort of
thing you talked about, this feeling he had, unless you
could find out what was causing it. He did not know
enough of the feeling to talk.
“There were some of the old things that were not bad,”
his father said. “I am too young to remember many of
them, but I was told a lot of them by my father. You did
not meet him because before you were born he died in a
bad storm on the sea. His umiak was torn by ice when they
were walrus hunting and all the men in the boat died but
one who rode to the ice on a sealskin float. It was an awful
thing, an awful thing. The women cut themselves deep
and bled in grief when they learned. I was just a small boy,
but I remember the grief.”
His father scratched himself and took some meat, still
nearly raw. “I like the blood taste, too.” He bit, cut and
chewed and put the ulu back on the stove top.
“Father, something is bothering me.”
He replied around the meat. “I know. I have seenit.”
“But I don’t know what it is.”
“I know that, too. It is part that you are fourteen and
have thirteen winters and there are things that happen
then which are hard to understand. But the other part that
is bothering you I cannot say because I lack knowledge.
You must get help from some other place.”
Literary Element
Conflict Quote the words that tell
you Russel has an internal conflict.
D ogsong: C hapters 1–5
103
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Analyze Theme What big ideas
does Oogruk communicate—
through speech or by example—
about how to live life?
10 4
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 2
Russel opened the door without knocking, as was the
custom, and went in and closed the door. Outside there
had been bright-light and sea-wind off the frozen sea ice,
salt-wind. Inside it was almost pitch-dark. The windows
were covered with smoke grime, and the room was full of
smoke from the lamp on a box in the corner, a seal-oil
lamp with a moss wick that threw a tiny yellow glow
around the room.
Leaning against the wall were harpoons and lances,
hanging on nails were arrow-bags and bows and small
ivory carvings. On other nails were skin clothes, squirrelskin undergarments and caribou-skin parkas, some old
and some not so old, all hanging loosely and thick with the
smoke.
Against the far wall sat Oogruk. At first it was hard to
know where the smoke ended and Oogruk began. Except
for a small breechclout he was nude, and his skin was the
same color as the smoke, a tan-brown, rich and oily. His
hair had gone white, or would have been white, but it had
taken the smoke, too, seemed to have flown into the smoke
and become part of the smoke from the lamp.
“Hello. Hello. You sit down and we’ll talk for a while.”
The voice was strong—it always amazed Russel to hear
Oogruk’s voice. He was so old but the voice moved like
strong music. “I will talk for you.”. . .
“Did you see my dogs when you came in?”
Russel nodded, then remembered the blindness and
said aloud, “Yes. They are well. They are fat.”
“Good. I don’t drive them anymore but they are good
dogs and I worry that they don’t get fed enough.”
“They are being taken care of by everybody—they are all
right.”
Oogruk said nothing for a time. The eyes moved back to
the flame from the lamp so the thick-white caught the
yellow of the light and glowed for a second.
“Dogs are like white people,” Oogruk said, looking at
the flame. “They do not know how to get a settled mind.
They are always turning, looking for a better way to lie
down. And if things go wrong they have anger and
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
frustration. They are not like us. It is said that dogs and
white people come from the same place.” He snorted—a
nasal sound, a kind of chaa sound through his nose that
could have meant anything from scorn to anger to humor.
“I do not know how true that is because white people are
clearly not dogs. But they have many of the same ways
and so one wonders.”
Russel nodded but said nothing. One time he had seen a
bushpilot who had crashed his plane near the village. The
plane was broken in the middle and the pilot had stood
screaming at it and kicking it for failing him and falling
from the sky. He treated the plane like a living animal until
he got tired, then he walked away as a dog would walk
away from a stick he’d been tearing at.
Oogruk sighed. “I will tell you about something. We
used to have songs for everything, and nobody knows the
songs anymore. There were songs for dogs, for good dogs
or bad dogs, and songs to make them work or track bear.
There were songs for all of everything. I used to know a
song that would make the deer come to me so that I could
kill it. And I knew a man who could sing a song for whales
and make them come to his harpoon.”
Reading Skill
Analyze Theme What differences
do you find between what Oogruk
suggests or lives by and the world
in which Russel lives?
D ogsong: C hapters 1–5
105
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What’s More Important, the
Journey or the Destination? Is
Oogruk comfortable with his
decision and his “journey”? How
do you know?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
10 6
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 5
“I will leave you with the dogs and go out on foot.”
But now Oogruk shook his head. “No. No. It is time to
talk one more time and I must leave you. But I wanted to
come out here for it because I missed the smell of the sea. I
wanted to smell the sea one more time.”
Russel looked down in the sled at the old man. “You’re
leaving me?
“Yes. But first I must tell you what to do . . .”
“Where are you going?” “It is time to leave,” Oogruk
said simply. “It is my time. But there is a thing you must
do now to become a man. You must not go home.”
“Not go home? I do not understand.”
“You must leave with the dogs. Run long and find
yourself. When you leave me you must head north and
take meat and see the country. When you do that you will
become a man. Run as long as you can. That’s what used to
be. Once I ran for a year to find good birds’ eggs. Run with
the dogs and become what the dogs will help you become.
Do you understand?”
Russel remembered now when Oogruk had said he
would take a long journey. He spoke quietly. “I think so.
But you, what are you to do?”
“You will leave me here on the ice, out here by the edge
of the sea.”
“With respect, Grandfather, I can’t do that. There is a
doctor. Things can be done if something is bothering you.”
Oogruk shook his head. “An old man knows when death
is coming and he should he left to his own on it. You will
leave me here on the ice.”
“But . . .”
“You will leave me here on the ice.”
Russel said nothing. He didn’t help Oogruk, but the old
man got out of the sled himself. When he was standing on
the ice he motioned Russel away. “Go now.”
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Write down your thoughts on the
excerpt.
Recap
D ogsong: C hapters 1–5
107
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–5
Respond and Think Critically
1. What does Russel do when he wakes up from his sleep at Oogruk’s
house? How has he learned so much? [Infer]
2. What does Oogruk instruct Russel to do when he has killed an animal?
What does this suggest about the relationship between hunters and
their prey in traditional society? [Interpret]
3. What does Russel leave with Oogruk when he discovers that the old
man is dead? What might be his reason for doing this? [Infer]
4. Do you sympathize with Russel’s desire to rediscover the old ways? Do
people in our society sometimes feel this way? Explain. [Evaluate]
5. What’s More Important, the Journey or the Destination? On what kind
of journey does Oogruk send Russel? Is Oogruk interested in Russel’s
journey or his destination? Explain your answer using details from the
novel. [Conclude]
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background
on page 99. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–5
Literary Element Conflict
1. How is Russel different from other teens of his
own generation? [Compare]
Vocabulary Practice
Denotation is the literal, or dictionary, meaning of a word.
Connotation is the implied, or cultural, meaning of a word.
For example, the words scrawny and skeletal have a
similar denotation, “being very thin,” but they have
different connotations:
Negative
scrawny
2. In what ways is Russel’s conflict like the conflict
of every teen who is growing up? [Synthesize]
More Negative
skeletal
Each of the vocabulary words is listed with a word that
has a similar denotation. Choose the word that has a
more negative connotation.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
aloof
grimace
lure
rancid
wince
apart
frown
tempt
spoiled
cringe
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Skill Analyze Theme
1. What theme have you discovered in the first five
chapters of this book? [Synthesize]
The structure of this novel consists of three parts: “The
Trance,” “The Dreamrun,” and “Dogsong.” In the preceding
sentence, structure means “the order or pattern that a
writer uses to present ideas.” Structure also has other
meanings. For example: Leeann did not think the structure
was safe to live in. What do you think structure means in the
preceding sentence? What is the difference between the
two meanings?
2. How does author Gary Paulsen show the theme
you discovered? [Analyze]
D ogsong: C hapters 1–5
109
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–5
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Write an Argument Oogruk explains that his
people lost their songs because of missionaries and
Western culture. Missionaries and others felt their
culture was superior to those of the native people,
but was it? Write an argument in which you state
and support an opinion on this issue.
Jot down some notes here first.
Interview
Assignment There is little dialogue in Dogsong, yet,
there is much going on. Work with a partner to
create an interview with Russel that helps explain
unspoken feelings and events in the novel.
Prepare Make a list of at least ten questions for
Russel. Do not frame yes or no questions. Instead,
urge him to tell his deepest thoughts by asking
questions that probe how and why. Then develop
answers to the questions. As you practice the
interview, fine-tune each of the following:
• Tone Serious questions on a serious subject
require a serious, respectful tone.
• Pace Thoughtful answers may be given at a
relatively slow pace.
• Volume Think of your interview as a serious
conversation, not a speech, a play, or a
broadcast. Speak only as loud as you need to
speak to be heard.
• Gestures Use gestures that are natural to
conversation with someone you do not know well.
• Body language Your posture and movements
should show that you are involved and interested.
Interview Enact the interview using all the verbal
and nonverbal techniques that you rehearsed.
Remember that you can ask for clarification during
the interview or use follow-up questions to help
make responses clearer or richer.
Report Prepare an oral report for the class on your
interview.
Evaluate Evaluate an interview done by another
pair of classmates. Your evaluation should cover the
following:
• quality of the questions (Did they probe why and
how? Did they elicit rich, full answers?)
• verbal techniques (Were the tone and volume
appropriate to the subject matter and occasion?)
• nonverbal techniques (Were the gestures, body
language, and pace appropriate to the subject
matter and occasion?)
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BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 6–10
Connect to the Literature
Recall a recurring dream (or a series of dreams about the same subject)
that you may have had. What do you think they meant?
List the Details
Think of a vivid dream that you have had more than once and quickly list
its key details. What about the dream makes it stand out in your mind?
Why do you think it returns? Share your list and your thoughts with a
partner.
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Build Background
Hunting for Survival
In this section, Russel kills four caribou. Caribou, the deer of the Arctic,
were central to traditional Yup’ik culture. Caribou meat was a winter
staple for people and dogs. Caribou hides made the warmest parkas and
the snuggest tents. Caribou skin covered kayaks and was made into
luggage. Caribou bones were fashioned into toggles and spearheads.
Caribou sinew was a tough thread, and caribou blood a glue. In this
section, Russel burns the caribou fat for light. No part of this precious
animal went to waste.
In a land where a missed kill could mean hardship or even death for his
family, Russel is careful to treat his prey with reverence. Traditional
hunters believed that animals, like people, had spirits, which could take
revenge upon those who killed without paying due respect. It was
common practice, therefore, to put snow in the mouth of a newly killed
seal—a final drink of water for the animal that had given itself to the
hunter. To a trapped male fox, a Yupik might tie a hunting knife, and to the
female fox a needle and thimble. As you read this section of Dogsong,
notice how the hunting ritual shows the Yupik’s close connection to the
natural world.
D ogsong: C hapters 6–10
111
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 6–10
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question What’s More Important, the Journey or the
Destination?
When you believe in yourself, you have confidence to do the right thing,
even when it is difficult. As you read, decide how Russel’s actions show
that he believes in himself.
Literary Element Imagery
Imagery is language that emphasizes sense impressions to help the
reader see, hear, feel, smell, and taste things described in the work.
Paying attention to imagery helps you visualize settings and characters in
a text. If you try to imagine what is described as you read, you are more
likely to understand it.
As you read the novel, try to experience what the imagery in it suggests.
Reading Skill Evaluate Style
When you evaluate, you think critically about the choices an author made.
Style is the way an author chooses and arranges words, sentences,
paragraphs, and chapters. Style can help reveal an author’s purpose and
create the work’s tone and other powerful effects.
Evaluating style helps you understand how and why a novel or other work
has an effect on you.
bluff [bluf] n. broad cliff or
headland
The girls were exhausted after
climbing to the top of the bluff.
exultation [e´zul tāshən] n.
triumphant joy
The troops greeted the news of
their victory with exultation.
forlorn [fôr lôrn] adj. hopeless;
abandoned; deserted
Left in the kennel, the dog looked
forlorn.
liberally [libər əl ē] adv.
generously
As a daily volunteer for the Red
Cross, Sanjeev gave liberally of
his time.
ravenous [ravə nəs] adj.
extremely hungry
Because Ella had not eaten all
day, she was ravenous at dinner.
To evaluate style, make decisions about how well the author
• made word choices
• used imagery
• varied sentences
• used chapters, parts, or other methods to tell the story
Word Choices
Use the organizer on the following page to help you
understand one of the author’s major style choices.
Sentences
As you read, also think about how these separate elements
work together to create an overall effect. You may find it
helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one at the right.
112
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
Example or Description
Images
ACT IVE READING: Chapters 6–10
The chapters in this section of Dogsong alternate
between Russel’s own journey (The Run) and his
dream of the hunter (The Dream). Alternating
between the journey and the dream is an interesting
style choice that the author made. In the organizer
below, briefly summarize the key events for each
chapter.
The Run
Chapter 6
1. Russel drives his dogs until they are
The Dream
Chapter 7
1.
exhausted.
2.
2.
3.
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
1.
1.
2.
2.
Chapter 10
1.
2.
3.
D ogsong: C hapters 6–10
113
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Imagery Think about the part of the
dream that takes place inside the
tent. What can you see, hear, smell,
or feel?
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 7
A skin shelter, a tent, on the side of the ocean. Inside
there was an oil lamp, much like the one Oogruk had,
burning a smoky yellow that lighted the faces of the
people in the tent.
Two children were there. Small and round and
wonderfully fat. They were eating of some fat red meat
that Russel could not understand, didn’t know, but knew
as being important. He wanted to know what kind of meat
they were eating because it was so red and had coarse
texture and rich yellow fat. All over the children’s faces
and in their hair the grease shone and they were happy
with it.
On the other side of the lamp sat a woman, young,
round and shining beautiful. She was fat and had eaten of
the meat but was done now and worked at tending the
lamp. There was much honor in tending the lamp and she
took pride in it. The flame was even, if smoky, and in the
stone lamp-bowl there was the same yellow fat that was so
important for him to name.
One other person was in the skin tent and he couldn’t
see who it was; it was a man, but he kept back in the
shadows and would not come forward.
They were saying nothing, but the children laughed
until the laughter was like a kind of music in the
background and the woman looked at the man and smiled
often. It was the kind of smile all men look for in women,
the kind that reaches inside, and Russel felt warm to see it.
But he could not see the man and he did not know the
meat, and they were important to him.
The fog came again, and this time when it cleared the
man was standing near the doorway in a parka. The parka
was deerskin and he held a long spear with some form of
black stone point, chipped black stone that was deep and
shining dark. He was going out hunting and Russel knew,
sensed, that he was going to hunt whatever had made the
coarse meat and yellow fat and Russel wanted to go with
him.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
The woman kept smiling and the children kept laughing
but the woman was worried and said something in a
language that Russel could not understand. It was words,
and they were similar to what he knew, but enough
different so they didn’t quite make sense to him.
As the man turned to leave the hut the woman said
something to him and he stopped and looked at her.
Her eyes glowed at him and there was much fear in
them, so much that Russel was afraid, and he knew that
there was some fear in the man, too, but hidden.
Russel would not have known that except that he felt
close to the man. More than close somehow.
The man left the tent and went out to harness dogs and
they were already in harness, waiting for him, and they
were dogs but they were more than dogs, too.
Great gray sides twitching, they stood like shadows,
with wide heads and heavy triangular jaws. Russel had
never seen anything like the dogs in the dream. They were
higher than the man’s waist and had silent yellow eyes
that watched everything the man did while he put his gear
in the sled and got ready to leave, and the way they
watched it was clear that they could either run or turn and
eat him. It was up to the man.
He stood to the sled and Russel saw then that it was not
of wood but all of bone and ivory, with large rib bones for
the runners, and lashed with yellow rawhide. It shone
yellow-white and rich in the night light, the color deep and
alive, and when the man stepped on the runners the dogs
lunged silently but with great speed and power and the
fog closed again, swirled in thick and deep.
When it lifted the man was alone out on the sweeps.
The stretch of land looked familiar, but there was
something different in the dream and after a time Russel
could see that it was the grass. Where the snow had been
blown away the grass was taller and thinner, with pointed
ends. It was bent over in wind, but not twisted like the
tundra grass.
Literary Element
Imagery Name three images that
describe the dream world outside
the tent.
D ogsong: C hapters 6–10
115
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Evaluate Style Describe the
sentences that author Gary Paulsen
uses at the beginning of this
chapter.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 6
Out.
Into the sweeps, into the great places where the land
runs to the sky and into the sky until there is no land and
there is no sky.
Out.
Into the distance where all lines end and all lines begin.
Into the white line of the ice-blink where the mother of
wind lives to send down the white death of the northern
storms.
Out.
Into the mother of wind and the father of blue ice.
Russel went out where there is nothing, into the wide
center of everything there is.
Into the north. His village lay on the northern edge of
the tree line. Here and there in small valleys nearby there
were scrub spruce, ugly dwarfed things torn and ripped by
the fierce wind. But as the run went north even these trees
vanished to be replaced by small brush and gnarled grass.
Snow was scarce, blown, and the landscape looked like
something from another planet.
Still there is beauty, Russel thought.
It was hard to believe the beauty of that torn and forlorn
place. The small mountains—large hills, really—were
sculpted by the wind in shapes of rounded softness, and
the light . . .
The light was a soft blue-purple during the day, a gentle
color that goes into the eyes and becomes part of the mind
and goes still deeper and deeper to enter the soul. Soul
color is the daylight.
At night, Russel knew, often the wind would die and go
back to its mother and the cold would come down from
the father of ice and the northern lights would come to
dance.
They went from red to green and back again, moving
across the sky in great pulses of joy, rippling the heavens,
pushing the stars back, and were so grand to see that many
people believed that they were the souls of dead-born
children dancing in heaven and playing with balls of grass
and leather.
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
Even in the wind there was beauty to Russel. The wind
came from the north in a steady push that made the dogs
work evenly, and the wind made the snow move, change
into shapes that blended into the light of day and the soft
glow from the sky at night.
Out.
When he’d gone far enough north along the coast to
miss the village, Russel headed back into shore and moved
up onto the land in a small gully, headed mostly north but
slightly east.
He moved into the dark. He ran the dogs out and down.
Ran them steadily for a full day, eighteen hours, letting
them find the way. He stood on the sled’s runners and
moved to get away from what he knew, ran to get away
from death sitting on the ice in Oogruk’s form.
When the first dog started to weave with exhaustion,
still pulling, but slipping back and forth as it pulled, he
sensed their tiredness in the black night and stopped the
team. He had a piece of meat in the sled, deer meat from a
leg and he cut it in six pieces. When he’d pulled them
under an overhanging ledge out of the wind and tipped
the sled on its side, he fed them. But they were too tired to
eat and slept with the meat between their legs.
He didn’t know that they could become that tired and
the knowledge frightened him. He was north, in the open,
and the dogs wouldn’t eat and they were over a hundred
and fifty miles to anything. Without the dogs he would
die.
Without the dogs he was nothing.
He’d never felt so alone and for a time fear roared in
him. The darkness became an enemy, the cold a killer, the
night a ghost from the underworld that would take him
down where demons would tear strips off him.
He tried a bite of the meat but he wasn’t hungry. Not
from tiredness. At least he didn’t think so.
But he knew he wasn’t thinking too well, and so he lay
down between the two wheel-dogs and pulled them close
on either side and took a kind of sleep.
Reading Skill
Evaluate Style Tell what you like or
do not like about the style of this
passage.
D ogsong: C hapters 6–10
117
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What’s More Important, the
Journey or the Destination? What
is Russel’s destination?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 10
They started slowly, two of them holding back until he
yelled at them again. Then they went to work and headed
away from the camp.
Light came gently, but the sky was clear and cold and
clean and he let the dogs seek their own pace. Once they
had shaken out their legs they began an easy lope that
covered miles at a fierce clip.
They ran into light, then all through the day, easily
pulling the sled on the fast snow, grabbing a mouthful
when they got thirsty, and Russel watched the new country
come.
There were few hills now. The land was very flat, and
there were no trees of any kind. If he kept going this way
for a long time—he was not sure how long it would take
with dogs but it took all day with an airplane—he would
come to mountains. He thought.
But before the mountains he believed the sea came back in
again. In the school he had seen a map that showed the sea
coming back into the land but he was not sure if that was
straight north or north and west and he was not sure how
long it would take to get to the sea by dog sled. He did not
know how far dogs traveled in a day.
Yet it didn’t matter.
Oogruk had said, “It isn’t the destination that counts. It
is the journey. That is what life is. A journey. Make it the
right way and you will fill it correctly with days. Pay
attention to the journey.”
So Russel ran the team and now the land was so flat that
it seemed to rise around him like a great lamp bowl
sloping up to the sky. . . .
When the short day was gone the dogs didn’t seem to
want to stop. He let them run. There was no place to camp
anyway and his mind looked now to the run.
He had come north a long way but was not sure how long.
In the dark they kept up the pace, increased it, and they
could cover many more miles before he had to rest them
again, running on fresh meat as they were.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
ASK QUESTIONS
Write a question about the novel.
Can you find the answer in your
notes?
Recap
D ogsong: C hapters 6–10
119
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 6–10
Respond and Think Critically
1. What happens when Russel drives his dogs for eighteen hours at a
stretch? What does he learn about survival in the Arctic? [Interpret]
2. What does Russel realize when he sees the face of the man in his
dream? What does Russel have in common with the man that makes
this realization believable? [Synthesize]
3. In Russel’s second dream, what does the hunter pretend to be while
Russel is dancing? Why might the hunter be doing this? [Infer]
4. In what ways are Russel’s dreams like your own dreams? Does Russel
experience dreams for the same reasons you do? Explain. [Connect]
5. What’s More Important, the Journey or the Destination? Before he
died, Oogruk told Russel that the journey is more important than the
destination. In what way does this statement express the theme of
Dogsong? [Conclude]
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background
on page 111. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 6–10
Literary Element Imagery
1. Which images help to distinguish Russel’s dream world
from his real world? [Analyze]
Vocabulary Practice
Choose the sentence that uses the vocabulary
word correctly.
1. A. Jed could see for miles from the bluff.
B. Jed could see only three feet ahead of him in
the bluff.
2. How well does author Gary Paulsen help you see and
otherwise experience Russel’s journey? Explain your
answer with details from the novel. [Analyze]
2. A. I felt exultation when I crossed the finish line
last.
B. I felt exultation when I crossed the finish line
first.
3. A. The deserted hall gave Lily a forlorn feeling.
B. The party with her all her friends gave Lily a
forlorn feeling.
Reading Skill Evaluate Style
1. Tone is also part of author Gary Paulsen’s style. How
does his tone change as he switches from the real
world to the dream world? Cite evidence from the novel
in your answer. [Apply]
4. A. The Chins gave liberally to their favorite
charity.
B. The Chins shopped liberally at their favorite
store.
5. A. After eating their fill, the women were
ravenous.
B. After roofing the house, the women were
ravenous.
Academic Vocabulary
The caribou skins provide considerable warmth in the
frozen Arctic. To become more familiar with the word
considerable, fill out the graphic organizer below.
2. Describe author Gary Paulsen’s style in presenting the
dream and tell what you did or did not like about it.
[Evaluate]
synonyms
definition
considerable
antonyms
sentence/image
D ogsong: C hapters 6–10
121
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 6–10
Write With Style
Speaking and Listening
Apply Tone
Literature Groups
Assignment Write a description of a person, place,
thing, or event as you see it in real life. Then change
your tone and describe it as you might see it in a
dream.
Assignment The five chapters in this section have
only two titles: “The Run” and “The Dream.” With a
group, decide what a good title might be for each of
the five chapters.
Get Ideas Look back at the dream chapters in
Dogsong, Chapters 7 and 9. Think about what you
hear in author Gary Paulsen’s tone in those
chapters. Then jot down the choices the author
makes to create the tone you hear. Remember that
a tone can come from any choice a writer makes,
including sentence types, sentence lengths, word
choices, and figures of speech.
Prepare Working individually, review each chapter.
Decide what is the single most important idea or
event in the chapter, or come up with a short
phrase that provides a clear overview of the
chapter. Make notes for each chapter that include
your title ideas as well as quoted words from the
novel or reasons for your choice that are based on
the novel.
Words from
Novel
Tone I Hear
How the
Tone Is
Created
Give It Structure You are going to create two
contrasting descriptions, so create two paragraphs.
Make an informal outline that begins with the reallife description. Decide on the tone of your first
paragraph, and jot down ideas about the sentences,
words, and other choices you will make to create it.
Then plan a transition to your second paragraph
and the dream description. Decide on your tone for
that paragraph, and jot down ideas about how you
will create it. Use your informal outline to write your
draft.
Look at Language Look closely at your verbs to see
if or how they help suggest a particular feeling or
attitude. Also, decide whether poetic techniques,
such as repetition, assonance, or alliteration, might
help you create a dreamlike tone. For example, if
you want to sound matter-of-fact, you might say,
“The cat moved across the sofa.” If you want to
create a dreamlike tone, you might write, “The cat
snaked slowly along the surface of the sofa.”
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
Discuss As a group, discuss the ideas. Decide
which are most concise and which truly give the
reader the best idea of the content of each chapter.
Present logical arguments for why each title is
appropriate. Support your arguments with evidence
from the novel. By listening carefully to others’
ideas and agreeing or disagreeing based on
evidence and logic, arrive at a consensus, or group
decision, on the best titles.
Report Have one group member present your ideas
to the class. Compare your group’s titles with those
selected by other groups. Then, as a class, choose
the most appropriate titles for the five chapters.
Evaluate Evaluate your work in a written paragraph
that addresses each of these criteria:
• choice of titles
• use of logical arguments
• use of evidence
• ability to reach consensus
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 11–Par t III
Connect to the Literature
What is the most difficult thing you have ever done in your life? What did
you learn from the experience?
Share a Task
Think of a difficult task or activity that you did not think that you could
accomplish. Share the experience with a partner.
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, using information in Build
Background.
Build Background
Becoming a Man
In this section of the novel, Russel’s survival, as well as the survival of the
girl-woman Nancy and the dog team, depends on Russel’s skill as a
hunter. That skill is tested when Russel encounters a polar bear.
For the Yup’ik, hunting and killing a polar bear was the ultimate test of
manhood. Polar bears are solitary creatures that can weigh more than
sixteen hundred pounds. They are the largest bears in the world. The Inuit
revered them for their cunning and courage. The traditional hunting
method of using a lance, or maybe only a knife, required extraordinary
bravery. Hunters would use their dogs to distract and slow the bear before
preparing for the face-to-face encounter. The first blow with the lance had
to be fatal. A hunter who missed his mark would likely lose his life. The
hunter who brought home the huge pelt of a white bear was hailed as a
man of courage.
D ogsong: C hapter s 11–Part I I I
123
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 11–Par t III
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question What’s More Important, the Journey or the
Vocabulary
As you read, ask yourself, how does the journey change Russel?
clamor [klam ər] v. to make loud,
continuous cries
The children in the nursery
school clamor for attention.
Literary Element Motivation
Motivation is the reason characters do certain things. A character’s
beliefs and perspective or the preceding plot events can be motivations in
a story. For example, parents may motivate children to do chores at home
by offering rewards.
clarity [klar ə tē ] n. quality of
being clear
Check for clarity to be sure your
reader can understand
everything you wrote.
Destination?
Motivation is important because it helps reveal characterization or plot
events. To understand a character’s motivation, think about the reasons
for his or her thoughts, actions, and words.
As you read, think about why the main characters act the way they do.
Use the graphic organizer on the following page to record ideas about
Russel’s motivation and the hunter’s motivation in the dream.
Reading Strategy Make Generalizations About Plot
A generalization is a broad statement that applies to many facts or situations.
When you make generalizations about plot, you make broad statements
based on the events in a story or novel. For example, after reading a novel
about growing up in which a character becomes more mature, and thinking
about other novels like it, you might generalize that characters become more
knowledgeable and confident in novels about growing up.
Making generalizations about plot can help you identify the common traits
of novels or novels about growing up or coming of age.
gore [ôr] n. blood that has been
shed, especially when thick or
clotted
Ilana could not stand all the gore
in the butcher shop.
impertinent [im purt ən ənt] adj.
offensively bold or rude;
inappropriate
Most students were polite to the
visitor, but a few were
impertinent.
submission [səb mishən] n. act of
yielding to some power or
authority
The well-trained dog sat in
perfect submission to its owner.
Plot element in this novel.
A boy can’t find what he’s
To make generalizations about plot, think about
looking for in his own home.
• what happens in the novel
• other novels you’ve read that have similar plots
Similar plot element in other
• what all of these plot elements may reveal about novels about growing
novels about growing up
up or coming of age
To think about the common plot elements in novels about growing up, you
may find it helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one at the right.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
Generalization about novels
about growing up
ACTIVE READING: Chapters 11–Par t III
Russel’s story and the story of the dream hunter
have much in common. There are also important
differences. Fill in the Venn diagram below to show
how the motivation of the dream hunter is the same
as or different from Russel’s motivation.
Russel’s Motivation
The Hunter’s
Motivation
Both
Both must fight a
terrible storm.
The hunter is
motivated by worry
and fear
D ogsong: C hapter s 11–Part I I I
125
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Motivation What motivates Russel
to go off on his own and leave the
girl-woman behind?
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 14
And these things happened when Russel’s life folded
into the dream and the dream folded into his life:
It came that they ran past their food.
It was true that he perhaps fed the dogs a bit too much,
but they were working hard and it took meat and fat to
drive them. Three, four, seven more days of running north,
stopping at night in the skins with the lamp and the chips
of fat and the yellow glow while they ate much and talked
little; sat in their own minds until they dozed and he came
to know the woman-girl—eight, nine, ten days and nights
they ran north toward the mother of wind, and they ran
past their food.
The first and second day without food there was no
trouble. The dogs grew weak, but when they didn’t get fed
they went back to work and began to use of the stored fat
and meat of their bodies.
“They will run to death,” Oogruk had said. “You must
not let them.”
At the end of the second day Russel’s stomach
demanded food and when he didn’t feed it and ignored it
his body finally quit asking for food and he went to work
and began using the meat and fat of his body.
The woman-girl grew weak rapidly because her body
fed the baby within. Russel saved the last of the food for
her and when that was gone and it was obvious that the
dogs could not go much further he stopped.
There had been no game. No sign. They had seen
nothing and he was worried. No, more than worried—he
had been worried when the first two days with no game
sighted had come. Now he was afraid.
He had to make meat.
“I will leave you in the tent and take the team for meat.
They will run lighter with only one person.”
Nancy agreed, nodding. She got slowly out of the sled
and pulled the skins out to make the shelter. They were
near the side of a cut bank where a creek had long ago run.
They used the dirt bank for one wall and made a lean-to.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
There were some chips for the lamp, and a long strip of
fat that he had been saving for fuel—pictures from the
dream haunted him and he did not want to leave her
without heat.
When the shelter was up he returned to the sled. “I’ll be
back.”
It was as close as he would come to a goodbye and he
made the dogs leave. They did not want to go. They
thought they should sleep in camp and eat and saw no
reason to go out again. But he forced them and when they
were away from camp he made them run to the east, up
the old creekbed. If there is game, he thought, it will be up
the creek run.
But they went all of that day into the dark and he saw
nothing. No hare, no ptarmigan, no tracks of anything.
With dark he stopped and lay on the sled in his parka.
There was light wind, but not the vicious cold of the
previous days of running. He tried to sleep but it did not
come.
Instead he lay awake all night thinking of the womangirl back in the tent. If he did not find game she would die.
She would die.
He would die.
The dogs would die.
Perhaps I ought to run back to her and kill and eat the
dogs, he thought, over and over. If he kept running away
from the shelter until the dogs went down he would not
get back to her. If there was not game out ahead of him he
would not get back to her. If he saw game but his mind
was not true and the arrow flew wrong he would not get
back. She would die.
She would die.
He would die.
The dogs would die.
But if he went back and they ate the dogs they would
not be able to leave and they would die anyway.
And now when he thought, there was nothing from the
ghost of Oogruk. No help. Nothing. Nothing from the
trance or the time when they turned to yellow smoke.
Literary Element
Motivation What motivates Russel
to force the dogs to run?
D ogsong: C hapter s 11–Part I I I
127
INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Make Generalizations About
Plot How is this novel like other
books you have read about
growing up?
128
N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 14
So began the race.
The dogs were strong almost past measuring. Though
there were only four left they had been fed meat and run
so their legs rippled and were hard to the touch. Their
heads were also hard. They had seen and done much and
now they knew the man on the sled, knew that he was part
of them, knew that no matter what happened he would be
there and that made them stronger still. The strength in
them came back to Russel and he fed on it and returned it
as more strength still.
We have fire, he thought as they left the camp and went
for meat to begin the final leg of the run. We have fire
between us that grows and grows. Fire that will take us
north to safety, fire that will save Nancy.
So began the race.
They took meat from the bear, as much as Russel
thought they could carry, but had to leave the hide, the
beautiful hide, because it was too heavy. He took the skin
from the front legs to make pants, but the rest had to stay.
She brightened when they reached the dead bear. “You
did this,” she whispered. “With a spear you did this?”
He looked away. “And with the dogs. A man does not
kill a bear alone. The dogs helped.”
“Still. It is a huge thing, is it not?”
And now he chose not to answer. The dead bear made
him sad, doubly so because they had to leave so much
behind. It seemed wrong to talk of it as being a big thing—
killing the bear with the lance. He did not wish to speak
cheaply of it. Or brag of it.
So began the race.
They left the bear and headed north again, running in
sun and light wind. In the dark and some gentle snow they
ran; up the edge of the saucer of light they ran, day into
day they ran for six days, stopping only to feed the dogs
and rest them in three- and four-hour naps, sleeping on the
sled—or Russel sleeping next to it and Nancy on the
skins—then up and gone again.
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
I must win this race, Russel thought. I must win. The
girl-woman named Nancy got worse, grew weaker, but his
strength grew with her weakness, his strength grew and
went into the dogs.
Now they had more light. Winter was still there, but the
sun was coming back and he ran through the sun, grateful
for the warmth. Even the nights were not so cold.
The dogs did not go down now. They were everything
he would have wanted them to be and he drove them with
his mind, drove them to the edge of the land, drove them
until he felt the land start to tip down and then he smelled
it, finally saw the sea ice out ahead.
When he got them to the edge of the sea he stopped and
leaned over.
“See? We are north. We have come to the edge of the
land.”
She was still, but the edges of her eyes were glowing
with life, with happiness, with the pride in his voice at
what his dogs had done. She was weak, weak and down,
but there was still life, enough life, and the corners of her
mouth turned up in a smile, a smile that went into Russel.
“See?” he said, raising the team. “We will be in a village
soon.”
And he brought them up and ran them with his
thoughts and on the ice they cut a snowmachine trail and
he followed it to the left because that is what his leader
said to do and he was the leader and the leader was him.
They drove down the coast, drove on the edge of the
sea-ice and land-snow, drove into the soft light of the
setting spring sun, drove for the coastal village that had to
be soon; the man-boy and the woman-girl and the driving
mind-dogs that came from Russel’s thoughts and went out
and out and came from the dreamfold back.
Back.
Reading Strategy
Make Generalizations About
Plot How is this ending like
the ending of other books you
have read?
D ogsong: C hapter s 11–Part I I I
129
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
NOVEL EXCERPT: PART III
Come, see my dogs.
My dogs are what lead me,
they are what move me.
See my dogs in the steam,
in the steam of my life.
They are me.
Come, see my dogs.
I was nothing before them,
no man
and no wife.
Without them, no life,
no girl-woman breathing
no song.
Come, see my dogs.
왘 BIG Question
What’s More Important, the
Journey or the Destination? How
has Russel changed as a result of
his journey?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
With them I ran,
ran north to the sea.
I stand by the sea and I sing.
I sing of my hunts
and of Oogruk.
Come, see my dogs.
Out before me they go.
Out before me they curve
in the long line out
before me
they go, I go, we go. They are me.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key words.
Recap
D ogsong: C hapter s 11–Part I I I
131
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 11–Par t III
Respond and Think Critically
1. Why do the dogs stop suddenly when Russel is driving them in the
storm? What might have happened if Russel had made them go on?
[Infer]
2. What major decision does Russel make without help from Oogruk’s
ghost? What is the result of this decision? How does this mark a
change in Russel’s life? [Synthesize]
3. What did you think of the way the dream “folded” into Russel’s real life?
Did this folding strike you as believable? Do you feel that people can
learn from dreams the way Russel does? [Evaluate]
4. What do you think Russel would regard as the most difficult thing he
has ever done? What does he gain from his accomplishment?
[Conclude]
5. What’s More Important, the Journey or the Destination? What has
changed in Russel’s life by the end of the novel? Was it the journey or
the destination that created the change? Explain your answer.
[Conclude]
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on
page 123. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 11–Par t III
Literary Element Motivation
1. What is Nancy’s motivation for heading into the
wilderness? What is her motivation for turning
around? [Summarize]
Vocabulary Practice
Studying the etymology, or origin and history, of a
word can help you better understand and explore its
meaning. Create a word map, like the one below, for
each of these vocabulary words from the selection.
Use a dictionary for help.
clamor
impertinent
clarity
submission
gore
Example: scripture
2. What is Russel’s motivation for returning to the
village? [Analyze]
Definition
Etymology
any sacred writing
Latin scriptura means
book or “writing”
Sample Sentence
Ameena reads Muslim scripture.
Reading Strategy Make Generalizations
About Plot
1. What is the climax, or point of highest excitement, in
this novel? How is it like other climaxes you have
read in stories of growing up? [Synthesize]
Academic Vocabulary
The Arctic region in which Russel lives and travels
presents many challenges for survival. In the
preceding sentence, region means “a geographical
area.” Think of the geographical area you live in.
What challenges does it pose in terms of landforms
or climate?
2. What plot elements does this novel share with other
stories or novels you have read about surviving in
nature or making a journey? Cite specific works and
details from them. [Synthesize]
D ogsong: C hapter s 11–Part I I I
133
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 11–Par t III
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Personal Response Describe how you reacted to
Performance
the ending of Dogsong and explain why.
Assignment Set the words to Dogsong, found in
Part III, to music. Compose original music to go
along with the words, using instruments that
capture the mood of the lyrics.
Prepare Use multiple sources to come up with
ideas for your musical composition. Use the
Internet, your library catalog, or library databases to
locate recordings of native songs of Arctic peoples.
Identify characteristics of the melody, the sounds of
the musical instruments, and ways in which the
songs convey rhythm. Then write the words and
music for your own song. Consider using “Come,
see my dogs” as a chorus. Decide where to
integrate other repeating elements. Prepare by
rehearsing several times. Be sure the musical
sounds capture the mood of the lyrics.
Perform Perform your song for the class. Try to
match your facial expression and posture to the
mood of the music, as well as the effect you wan to
have on your audience.
Evaluate Write an evaluation that covers both the
content of your song, including the words and
music, and the performance. Come up with at least
two ideas for what you did well and one idea for
what you could have improved.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
WORK WITH RELATE D READINGS
Dogsong
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in Glencoe’s
Literature Library edition of this novel. Support your answers with details
from the texts. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper, but jot
down some notes first on the lines provided.
from Woodsong
Gary Paulsen
Make Connections How would you compare the
author’s attitude toward animals to Russel’s
relationship with wild creatures in Dogsong?
The Iditarod
Lucid Interactive Web Site
Make Connections Find a passage in this selection
that describes the lesson Russel learns about
working with dogs in Dogsong.
Caribou Girl
Claire Rudolf Murphy
Make Connections Which character in Dogsong
most closely resembles Caribou Girl’s greatgrandmother? Explain your answer.
from I Am the Ice Worm
MaryAnn Easley
Make Connections Which character from Dogsong
does Ikayauq remind you of, Russel’s father or
Oogruk? Explain your answer.
from Songs of the Dream People
James Houston, editor
Make Connections Which character in Dogsong
might have written the song of the Greenland
Eskimo? Explain your reasoning.
D ogsong
135
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: Woodsong
That night, once again, he was
awakened by the growling of his dog. A
dark figure stood just outside the circle
of light.
It looked smaller than the night before,
and the glow of its eyes was weak.
“I am Nyagwahe,” the dark figure
said. “Why do you pursue me?”
“You cannot escape me,” Swift Runner
said. “I am on your trail. You killed my
people. You threatened the Great Peace. I
will not rest until I catch you.”
“Hear me,” said the Nyagwahe. “I see
your power is greater than mine. Do not
kill me. When you catch me, take my
great teeth. They are my power, and you
can use them for healing. Spare my life
and I will go far to the north and never
again bother the People of the
Longhouse.”
“You cannot escape me,” Swift Runner
said. “I am on your trail.”
The dark figure faded back into the
darkness, and Swift Runner sat for a long
time, looking into the night.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
At the first light of day, the boy and his
dog took the trail. They had not gone far
when they saw the Nyagwahe ahead of
them. Its sides puffed in and out as it
ran. The trail was beside a big lake with
many alder trees close to the water. As
the great bear ran past, the leaves were
torn from the trees. Fast as the bear went,
the boy and his dog came closer, bit by
bit. At last, when the sun was in the
middle of the sky, the giant bear could
run no longer. It fell heavily to the earth,
panting so hard that it stirred up clouds
of dust.
Swift Runner unslung his
grandfather’s bow and notched an arrow
to the sinewy string.
“Shoot for my heart,” said the
Nyagwahe. “Aim well. If you cannot kill
me with one arrow, I will take your life.”
“No,” Swift Runner said. “I have
listened to the stories of my elders. Your
only weak spot is the sole of your foot.
Hold up your foot and I will kill you.”
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the novel you have just read to the literature selection at the left,
which is excerpted from “Racing the Great Bear” as retold by Joseph
Bruchac in Glencoe Literature. Then answer the questions below. Use the
exact words of the text or explain events and ideas in the text to support
your answer.
TALK ABOUT IT
Discuss ways in which Swift
Runner and Russel are alike.
Discuss ways in which the tone
and mood of the two stories are
different.
Compare & Contrast
Jot down some notes here first.
1. Conflict How is the conflict here the same as one of the conflicts
Russel faces? How is it different?
2. Imagery How does what you can see and hear in this excerpt differ
from what you can see and hear in the scene in which Russel faces
a bear?
3. Motivation How is Swift Runner’s motivation for killing the bear
different from Russel’s motivation?
D ogsong
137
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Review
Convince an Audience Dogsong has won the honor of being named a
“best book” for young adult readers. Write a review of Dogsong in which
you persuade your peers to read the book. To back up your claim that the
book is worth reading, explain what is truly special about the characters,
setting, theme, style, or other aspects of the novel.
Prewrite List reasons to read Dogsong. Select your three best reasons.
Use your reasons to write your thesis or opinion statement:
Dogsong is worth reading because _____________, _____________, and
(reason 2)
(reason 1)
_____________.
(reason 3)
Draft Open by creating interest in the book. Also state your thesis or
opinion statement near the beginning of your paper. Then present each of
your reasons in a separate body paragraph. Fully explain each reason you
give by referring to the novel. You can quote the novel as well as describe
specific events or information from the novel.
Revise As you revise, look for ways to be more precise and to support
your claims with evidence. Do not say, for example, simply that the setting
is interesting. Instead, you might write, “The setting of this book is unique
because ________________.” Then follow this statement with quotations
from the story that show the unique setting. Or describe where Russel
goes and what he finds along the way.
Edit and Proofread Edit your writing so that it expresses your thoughts
effectively and is well organized. Carefully proofread for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling errors.
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N OV E L COMPA NION: Un it 3
UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• A thesis is a statement of a
paper’s main ideas.
Grammar Tip
Subject-Verb Agreement
Always make sure that subjects
and verbs agree. When words
come between the subject and
the verb, make sure the verb still
agrees with the subject instead
of the noun that comes right
before or is closest to the verb:
The mother of the children dips
her finger in the oil.
The stars in the night sky
overhead shine brightly.
Barrio Boy
Ernesto Galarza
B arri o Boy
139
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE ME M OIR
Barrio Boy
Ernesto Galarza
“
Far more valuable and persuasive than the
many anthropological studies of exotic
Mexico . . . Barrio Boy warmheartedly
relates everyday images about real country
people.
”
—“Galarza, Ernesto” by Carlos B. Gil,
Chicano Literature: A Reference Guide
edited by Julio A. Martinez and Francisco A.
Lomelí
In Barrio Boy, Ernesto Galarza describes
his early years in rural Mexico, his
family’s journey to the United States, and
his experiences growing up in
Sacramento, California. Galarza felt that
telling his own story would also provide
a general portrait of the Mexicans who
came to the United States in a huge wave
of immigration during the early
twentieth century.
The Hardships of the Barrio Hispanics
have been living in North America since
the 1500s. In 1848, the United States
defeated Mexico in war and seized
California and most of the Southwest.
This event proved disastrous for
Hispanics in the conquered territories.
Many lost their land and had to work for
settlers who came from other parts of the
country.
In 1900, there were roughly half a million
Mexican Americans. Included in this
population were immigrants who came
here to escape the poverty of rural
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
Mexico, where nearly all land was held
by a small number of wealthy
landowners. Mexican Americans were
able to find work on the railroads, in
factories, and on farms. They usually
lived in barrios—segregated sections of
towns and cities.
The barrios began to swell after the
Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910.
Violence and economic turmoil brought
about 700,000 Mexican immigrants to the
United States between 1910 and 1930.
During World War I, they helped make
up for a worker shortage. Thousands
also served in the U.S. military.
A Cycle of Poverty Despite their
important contributions, Mexican
Americans continued to experience harsh
discrimination in employment, housing,
and education. They were stereotyped as
an inferior people who lacked
intelligence and ambition. The
discrimination worsened during the
Depression, when Anglo Americans
resented competition for scarce jobs.
During the 1930s, the government
encouraged immigrants to return to
Mexico and deported thousands of them.
Mexican migrant laborers, who moved
from region to region harvesting crops,
were especially vulnerable to
mistreatment. Contractors often cheated
them out of their wages and housed
them in unsanitary conditions. Migrant
INTRODUCTION TO THE MEMOIR
children had trouble keeping up at
school because they moved so frequently
and because they worked in the fields to
help support their families. Although
Galarza overcame great obstacles to
achieve a brilliant career, most children
of Mexican immigrants in his generation
were trapped in a cycle of poverty.
Destination: Sacramento The events
described in Barrio Boy take place from
1910 to about 1920. Part One is set in
Galarza’s birthplace, Jalcocotán, a tiny
village in the Sierra Madre Occidental
Mountains of western Mexico. “Jalco” is
located in the state of Nayarit, whose
capital is Tepic. Galarza and his family
lived briefly in Tepic and in Mazatlán, a
city farther north, on the Pacific coast.
After moving to the United States, the
Galarzas settled in Sacramento,
California. The city attracted many
Mexican immigrants and was an
important transportation center
surrounded by rich farmland. Today,
about 16 percent of the city’s population
is Hispanic.
The Battle for Control of Mexico
Mexico has a turbulent history.
Several great Native American
empires rose and fell before the
arrival of Europeans. After Spain
defeated the Aztecs in 1521, it
colonized Mexico for three
centuries. In 1810 the priest
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla led an
Indian uprising against the
Spanish. Assisted by wealthy
Mexican landowners, the
Spanish authorities defeated
Hidalgo and the revolutionary
priest, Jose Maria Morelos y
Pavon. These landowners
launched their own revolt in
1821 and established Mexico’s
independence.
During the next few decades
heavy debts burdened the new
republic, a problem made worse
by corrupt officials. Lacking a
strong central government,
Mexico soon lost nearly half its
territory. First, U.S. settlers in
Mexico declared Texas’s
independence in 1836. Ten years
later, war broke out between the
United States and Mexico over
Texas, which the United States
had annexed as a state. After
losing this war in 1848, Mexico
signed a treaty ceding a huge
area that included California,
Nevada, Utah, and parts of New
Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and
Wyoming to the United States in
exchange for $15 million. The
United States later purchased
the rest of New Mexico and
Arizona, establishing the
present-day border between the
two countries. (A map of Mexico
is included in Glencoe’s
Literature Library edition of
Barrio Boy.) Mexico remained in
turmoil until 1876, when the
general Porfirio Diaz seized
power and established a stable
government. Galarza’s story
begins in the last years of Diaz’s
regime.
B arri o Boy
141
MEET THE AUTHOR
Ernesto Galarza (1905–1984)
What brought me and my family to the
“United
States from Mexico also brought
hundreds of thousands of others like us. In
many ways the experiences of a multitude
of boys like myself, migrating from
countless villages like Jalcocotán and
starting life anew in barrios like the one in
Sacramento, must have been similar.
—Ernesto Galarza, Barrio Boy
”
Ernesto Galarza was born in 1905 in
Jalcocotán, a tiny village in the Sierra
Madre Mountains of western Mexico. He
was five years old when the Mexican
Revolution broke out. To escape the
violence, his mother and two uncles fled
to the north. They reached Sacramento,
California, in 1911. Galarza won a
scholarship to Occidental College and
was the only Mexican American student
in his class to graduate. Galarza went on
to earn a master’s degree in history and
political science at Stanford University
and a doctorate in economics from
Columbia University. While at Stanford,
he met his wife, a teacher. From 1932 to
1936, they co-directed a progressive
school in New York City, which gave
them an opportunity to test their
educational theories.
Social Activism After World War II,
Galarza returned to California and
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
joined; the then-new National Farm
Labor Union. At first he tried to help
agricultural workers by leading strikes.
However, his efforts at organizing were
thwarted by anti-labor laws and by the
bracero program, which brought Mexican
workers temporarily into the United
States. In 1964 he published Merchants of
Labor, a history of the abuses of the
bracero program. Soon afterward, the
program was abolished and farm
workers carried out a successful strike.
Overcoming Stereotypes Galarza took a
special interest in promoting bilingual
education. In 1971, the year that he
published Barrio Boy, he started a
bilingual education program in San Jose,
California. At the time, there were few
Chicano writers who wrote for children.
To fill this need, Galarza wrote a series of
brief collections of poems and stories in
English and Spanish. In addition to
providing students with interesting
literature, he hoped to use this series to
overcome stereotypes about Chicanos.
The books were widely acclaimed. In
1979, Galarza was nominated for the
Nobel Prize for Literature. When he died
in 1984, an obituary in the Los Angeles
Times declared him the “first Chicano
Renaissance man.”
BEFORE YOU READ: Par t One
Connect to the Literature
What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in a small
community?
Make a List
With a group of students, brainstorm to create a list of advantages and
disadvantages. Then discuss whether you would prefer living in a small
community or a city and tell why.
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, in the present tense, using
information in Build Background.
Build Background
In the Shadow of Porfirio Diaz
Barrio Boy is an autobiography—a person’s written account of his or her
own life. Although autobiographies describe true events, they generally
are not as objective as other forms of nonfiction, such as history books.
On the other hand, autobiographies are often an excellent way for readers
to learn how events affect people’s lives. Ernesto Galarza, the author, was
born in a village where the residents, most of them Native American,
farmed communal land on their mountain. Although poor, they considered
themselves better off than workers who lived on haciendas, large
plantations. Native Americans on these large plantations could be forced
into a type of bondage known as debt peonage. A plantation owner would
give workers advances on their wages to buy food and other necessities
from the plantation’s store. When the workers fell into debt, they had to
continue working for the same employer until they paid off the debt, which
often was impossible.
Under the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, many Native American
communities lost their land to hacienda owners. Thus, land reform was a
major issue that incited the Mexican Revolution.
B arr io B oy: Part O ne
143
BEFOR E YOU READ: Par t One
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question What’s Worth Fighting For?
Vocabulary
What are some issues or problems facing your community? How can you
decide which issues matter enough to fight for? As you read Part One of
Barrio Boy, consider the things Ernesto and his family are fighting for.
annihilate [ə n¯ ə lāt ´] v. to
reduce to nothing; destroy
Our team was able to annihilate
the opponent by using shrewd
strategy and brute force.
Literary Element Narrator and Point of View
Point of view is the relationship of the narrator, or storyteller, to the story.
In a story with a first-person point of view, all information about the
story’s characters and events comes from the narrator, who refers to
himself or herself as I. A skillful reader must determine how the narrator’s
experience and opinions influence the telling of the story.
indolent [ind ə lənt] adj. having
or showing a dislike of work
Georgia resents being called
indolent just because she likes
to lounge by the community pool
all day.
Barrio Boy is a memoir, a type of narrative nonfiction that presents the story
of a period in the writers life. Like autobiographies, memoirs are nearly
always written from the first-person point of view. The narrator is the
author.In Barrio Boy, author Ernesto Galarza is speaking as his younger self.
As you read this first section of the memoir, think about how Ernesto’s point
of view and age-perspective affects the way in which the story is told. Use
the graphic organizer on the next page to help you understand the
narrator’s view of other characters.
iridescent [ir ə des ənt] adj.
displaying shimmering and
changing colors like those
reflected by soap bubbles
The lizard had dry, iridescent
green skin.
Reading Strategy Make Predictions About Plot
A prediction is an educated guess about a future event. When you make
predictions about plot, you use your own prior knowledge in combination
with what has already happened in a story as the basis for guessing what
will happen next. Careful predictions and later verifications and
adjustments based on your reading will increase your understanding of
the text.
As you read Part One of Barrio Boy, make predictions about what will
happen to Ernesto’s family. You may find it helpful to use a graphic
organizer like the one below.
Plot point:
A hurricane causes a
flood that threatens
Jalcocotán.
144
What I predict will
happen: Ernesto’s family
will lose its home.
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
litanies [lit ə nēz] n. prayers
consisting of petitions from a
priest or minister, alternating with
responses from the congregation.
Many different religions use
litanies as a form of community
prayer.
surmise [sər m¯z] v. to infer
(something) from little or no
evidence; to guess
“If I had to surmise,” said Bea
with a smile, “I’d say I’m getting
horseback riding lessons for my
birthday.”
What actually
happens:
ACTIVE READING: Par t One
This section of the book introduces a first-person
narrator, Ernesto, and his relatives. In the boxes
below, identify each person’s relationship to
Ernesto. Then write down an example from the text
that reveals how Ernesto feels about each of them.
Doña Henriqueta
Relationship:
Example:
Doña Esther
Don Catarino
Relationship:
Relationship:
uncle (mother’s brotherin-law)
Example:
Example: head of
Ernesto
household
Gustavo
José
Relationship:
Relationship:
Example:
Example:
B arr io B oy: Part O ne
145
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Narrator and Point of View Do you
think this is an objective telling of
this event? Why or why not?
146
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
MEMOIR EXCERPT: PART ONE
Coronel and his hens were making their way up the
street between scratches. The hens kept their beaks down,
pecking; and he paced this way and that, flaunting his
comb, his feathers glistening in the sunlight.
When they were a few steps from the zopilote, the hens
became alert. They stood still, some on both legs, some on
one, looking intently at something that lay between the
talons of the buzzard, which held his attention completely.
He lowered his bald white head and tore at the garbage
with his hooked beak. Among the pigs and dogs and
chickens there seemed to be an understanding not to
bother the zopilotes that came down to scavenge. To all the
residents of Jalcocotán, including the domestic animals, the
vulture’s looks, not to mention his smell, were enough to
discourage sociability.
Nerón and I were watching when one of the hens left
the flock and went in for a peck at the zopilote’s breakfast.
She moved head low, neck forward, more greedy than
afraid.
The buzzard struck. With a squawk the hen flipped over
and scratched the air madly, as if she were pedaling a
bicycle.
Coronel sailed in. His wings spread, his beak half open
and his legs churning over the hard earth, he struck the
zopilote full front, doubled forward so that his beak and
his spurs were at the zopilote’s breast feathers. The
buzzard flapped one great wing over Coronel and bowled
him over. The rooster twisted to his feet and began making
short passes in cock-fighting style, leaping into the air and
snapping his outstretched legs, trying to reach his
antagonist with his spurs.
Up and down the street the alarm spread. “Coronel is
fighting the zopilote.
“He is killing Coronel.”
“Get him, Coronel. Éntrale, éntrale.”
A ring of small children, women, pigs, and dogs had
formed around the fighters. Nerón and I had run to the
battleground, Nerón snapping at the big bird while I tried
to catch Coronel.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
As suddenly as it had started, the fight was over. The
zopilote, snatching at the heap of chicken guts that had
tempted the hen, wheeled and spread his great wings,
lifting himself over the crowd. He headed for a nearby
tree, where he perched and finished his spoils.
Coronel, standing erect among the litter, gave his wings
a powerful stretch, flapped them and crowed like a
winning champ. His foe, five times larger, had fled, and all
the pueblo could see that he was indeed muy gallo.
Seeing that Coronel was out of danger, Nerón and I
dashed back to the cottage to tell the epic story. We
reported how our rooster had dashed a hundred times
against the vulture, how he had driven his spurs into the
huge bird inflicting fatal wounds. Nerón, my dumb
witness, wagged his tail and barked.
My mother had stepped to the door when she heard the
tumult. She had seen it all and heard me through my tale
solemnly. Coronel himself was strutting home prodding
his flock and followed by the children who had seen the
fight.
That night, after Jesús and Catarino and I were in bed in
the tapanco, we heard Doña Esther give the men an
account of the battle. Coming through to me in the dark,
the story seemed tame, nothing more exciting than
throwing the dishwater into the street.
“The boys think Coronel was magnificent,” my mother
commented.
Gustavo chuckled. Don Catarino drew on his cigarette
and said: “Coronel is smart. Zopilotes are very chicken.
They will fight among themselves, but if it’s alive they
won’t even fight a fly.”
The next day I asked my mother what it meant that
somebody was chicken if he was not a chicken.
“It means he is not very brave,” she explained.
“Is Coronel chicken?”
She guessed what was troubling me. “In no way. He is
not chicken. He is the most rooster in Jalco. And I think he
is the most rooster from here to Tepic.”
Literary Element
Narrator and Point of View What
does the narrator, Ernesto, reveal
about his views on bravery when
he tells the story of Coronel? In
what way does his view change
when he hears the adults talking
about it later?
B arr io B oy: Part O ne
147
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Strategy
Make Predictions About Plot
“Algun dia me la pagan” means
“Someday they will pay me.” What
is your prediction about how these
statements will reflect on the future
of Ernesto’s family?
148
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MEMOIR EXCERPT: PART ONE
The world of work into which Jacinto and the other
seven-year-olds were apprenticed was within sight and
sound of the pueblo. It was work under blazing suns, in
rainstorms, in pitch-black nights. It was work that you
were always walking to or walking from, work without
wages and work without end. It was work that gave you a
bone-tired feeling at the end of the day, so you learned to
swing a machete, to tighten a cinch, and to walk without
lost motion. Between seven and twelve you learned all
this, each lesson driven home when your jefe said with a
scowl: “Así no, hombre; así.” And he showed you how. . . .
Boys who went with their fathers to the haciendas soon
learned the differences between making a living on the
mountain and working for the patrones. One was that on
the mountain you took home corn, bananas, peppers,
coffee, and anything else you had raised, but never money.
From the hacienda, when your contract ended, you never
took anything to eat or wear except what you paid for at
the tienda de raya, the company store. A peon could make as
much as ten pesos a month at hard labor working from
dawn to dusk, seven days a week, four weeks every month.
It came to about two or three centavos per hour, plus your
meals and a place to spread your straw sleeping mat.
The most important difference, however, was the
capataz, the riding boss who watched the laborers all day
long, just as the guardia watched them throughout the
night. The business of the capataz was to keep the peonanda,
as the crews of field hands were called, hustling at the
assigned tasks. He carried a machete slung from his
saddle, a whip, and often a pistol: the equipment of a top
sergeant of the hacienda. The captain was the
Administrador, who in turn took his orders from the patrón
who probably lived in Tepic or Guadalajara or perhaps
even in La Capital, as everyone called Mexico City.
The men who had worked on haciendas knew of these
matters. We heard snatches of firsthand reports from them
but mostly we learned from Don Catarino, José, Don
Cleofas, and the muleteers who passed through Jalco.
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
Whoever had been there came back cursing it. The riding
boss was the Devil on horseback; in the company store
every centavo you earned was taken back by a clerk who
kept numbers in a book that proved you always owed him
something. If a peon left the hacienda before his contract
was over and his debts were paid, he became a fugitive.
He either returned to his pueblo, his compadres and his
milpa in some far-off place in the mountains, or he
scratched for a living, lost in the forest. Old men in the
village talked of the time they had worked on a hacienda
as if they had served a sentence in prison or on a chain
gang. They remembered capataces who had whipped them
or cursed them fifty years before, and they still murmured
a phrase: “Algún día me la pagan.” There were a hundred
blood debts of this kind in Jalcocotán, Doña Esther said,
thousands of them in all the villages of the Sierra Madre,
and millions in all the pueblos of Mexico.
“Algún día me la pagan.”
“Tía, what does that mean?” I asked her more than
once. She always sent me to my mother with the question.
Her answer was: “It means that somebody owes him
something.”
“But what does somebody owe him?”
The anger and the foreboding in “algún día me la pagan”
was in my mother’s voice: “Something that hurts.” She did
not explain, just as she would not tell me why Catalino the
bandit hated the rurales and shot so many of them.
Guessing at what people meant, I came to feel certain
words rather than to know them. They were words which
came from the lips of the jalcocotecanos with an accent of
suspicion, of fear, and of hatred. These words were los
rurales, the jefe político, the señor gobernador, las autoridades,
el gobierno. When a stranger rode into Jalco, people stopped
talking. Every detail about him and his horse was observed
for a clue as to whether he was one of the autoridades.
It was the same with all outsiders. They always came
asking questions, which the jalcocotecanos answered
politely but roundabout. For me the world began to divide
itself into two kinds of people—the men on horseback and
the men who walked.
Reading Strategy
Make Predictions About Plot
Based on this statement, what
prediction can you make about
what will happen to the villagers?
B arr io B oy: Part O ne
149
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What’s Worth Fighting For? Are
the Galarzas willing to send their
family members to fight in the
Mexican Revolution?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
150
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
MEMOIR EXCERPT: PART ONE
José came back to the village a day or two after the
rurales left. He had circled the mountain, talking with the
peasants. He said that the bolas were forming, and that
people were asking whether there would be one in
Jalcocotán. Gustavo had not returned. It had been decided
that he would go to Tepic and let us know what was
happening there.
The villagers were still talking about the occupation by
the mounted police when Halley’s comet appeared. Only
old Don Cleofas claimed that he had seen anything like it
before, when he was a boy.
Every man, woman, and child gathered in the plaza to
stare at the heavenly kite with the bushy tail. Shooting
stars we saw every night, streaking across the most
unexpected places of the sky. They came in a wink and
were gone in another. A comet was something else. Don
Cleofas said it was bigger than the earth and that the tail
was so long nobody could guess how many millions of
kilometers it was from tip to tip. Jesús and Catarino and I
were called down from the tapanco the first night the comet
appeared. I caught the awe of the older people who were
listening to Don Cleofas tell that a comet foretold
something important, and serious. He said that this one
meant La Revolución.
Gustavo returned from Tepic a few days later. He, too,
had seen the comet. He said that soldiers had arrived in
Tepic, that guards were traveling with the stage coaches,
and that the rurales were taking young men to the
regimental barracks to be drafted into Don Porfirio’s army.
The rumors about Don Francisco Madero were true; in the
marketplace he had heard that the maderistas had already
fought the porfiristas in the north. A peasant from
Escuinapa said that he had himself seen the rurales set fire
to a village.
Evenings after supper the conversation was about these
matters, and important decisions were made. It was agreed
that Gustavo was to leave for Tepic. José, my mother, and I
would follow him. The four of us would find work and a
place to live for the whole family in the city.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key ideas.
Recap
B arr io B oy: Part O ne
151
AFTER YOU READ: Par t One
Respond and Think Critically
1. Who is in charge of the household where Ernesto lives? How would you
describe the attitude of the other family members toward this person?
[Evaluate]
2. What conflict makes Ernesto and some of his relatives decide to leave
the village? With which of the two sides in the conflict do Ernesto’s
relatives sympathize? [Identify]
3. In his introduction, author Ernesto Galarza reveals that his book grew
out of anecdotes that he told his family about Jalcocotlán. Why might a
parent want to tell such stories as these to his or her children?
[Analyze]
4. In your opinion, was Jalcocotán a good place for a child to grow up?
[Connect]
5. What’s Worth Fighting For? How does the arrival of the rurales affect
villagers’ perception of the conflict going on outside the village? Why?
[Infer]
152
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on
page 143. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the memoir?
AFTER YOU READ: Par t One
Literary Element Narrator and Point of View
1. From his own description, how would you
characterize Ernesto’s early childhood in
Jalcocotán? [Evaluate]
Vocabulary Practice
Each of the vocabulary words is listed with a word
that has a similar denotation. Choose the word that
has the more negative connotation.
1. annihilate
2. indolent
3. surmise
4. iridescent
5. litanies
2. What begins to happen to Ernesto’s family and social
network toward the end of Part One? How does he
feel about this? [Analyze]
Reading Strategy Make Predictions
About Plot
1. What predictions can you make about Ernesto’s
adjustment to life in Tepic? On what do you base your
prediction? Use examples from the story and your
own experience to form your response. [Infer]
extinguish
laid-back
presume
glittering
recitations
obliterate
lazy
conclude
flickering
invocations
Academic Vocabulary
Although the rurales’ conduct in Jalcocotán is
outwardly civil, the villagers know that they are being
threatened with something far beyond unwanted
searches of their homes. In the preceding sentence
conduct means “behavior.” Conduct also has other
meanings. For example: The villagers were unable to
conduct themselves normally with the soldiers moving
through the village. What do you think conduct means in
the preceding sentence? What is the difference
between the two meanings? Write your guess below.
Then look in a dictionary to check your answer.
2. What predictions did you make about the arrival of
the soldiers in Jalcocotán? Did your predictions
prove correct? [Identify]
B arr io B oy: Part O ne
153
AFTER YOU READ: Par t One
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Write an Article Imagine that you are a reporter
who has followed the rurales to Jalcocotán. Write a
brief article about this incident. How do the villagers
react to the sudden appearance of the rurales?
What does their reaction suggest about the political
situation in Mexico?
Oral Report
Jot down some notes here first.
Assignment Imagine that you have been sent to
Jalcocotán to investigate how children are being
raised there. Write a report in which you describe
the daily life of the village’s children, including their
responsibilities and education. Present an oral
report in the style of a radio or television humaninterest story.
Prepare Before you begin to structure your report,
listen to some television or radio news stories to
remind yourself of how they sound. Then skim and
scan Part One of Barrio Boy, looking for broad
general categories of childcare and development—
for example, “Education,” “Family Chores,” and
“Social Life.” Create a chart like the one below to
keep track of your findings.
Family Chores
Education
Raise the bed
Tend the chickens
Help with sewing
Languages
Cooking
Report As you collect your information in the chart,
take notes about your reactions to the information
in each category. Decide which methods and
customs of Jalcocotán’s childrearing system you
approve of. Try to think beyond your own personal
experience to larger underlying issues. In other
words, look for the “why” of the village childrearing
methods. Are there any elements you strongly
disagree with? Think about why you feel as you do.
Then organize your notes into a cohesive outline
and present your report to the class.
Evaluate Write a paragraph in which you assess
how effectively you explained each of your points.
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BEFORE YOU READ: Par t Two
Connect to the Literature
Think of a time when you or a friend moved to a different neighborhood.
How did you or your friend adjust to new surroundings?
Quickwrite
Spend one or two minutes writing a response to this question.
Build Background
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, using information in Build
Background.
A History of Rebellion
In Part Two, Ernesto performs in a Cinco de Mayo (Fifth of May)
celebration. This national holiday commemorates the 1862 Battle of
Puebla. After Mexico stopped paying its debts to France, the emperor
Napoleon III decided to take over the country. As the French army
marched toward Mexico City, it was defeated at Puebla by a force of
poorly armed Mexican soldiers led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin. A
year later, Napoleon was victorious with a much larger army. In 1864, he
appointed the Austrian Archduke Maximilian to rule Mexico. Maximilian
stayed in power until 1867, when he was captured and executed by the
previous Mexican head of state. Mexican Independence Day, another
holiday mentioned in the book, is celebrated on September 16. It marks the
beginning of Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s revolt in 1810 against the
Spanish colonial rulers of Mexico.
B arr io B oy: Part Two
155
BEFORE YOU READ: Par t Two
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question What’s Worth Fighting For?
As you read this next section of the memoir, ask yourself in what ways the
author challenges or changes your ideas about what is worth fighting for.
Literary Element Style
Style is an author’s choice and arrangement of words and sentences in a
literary work. Style can reveal an author’s purpose in writing, as well as an
attitude toward his or her subject and audience. Part of an author’s style is
his or her use of techniques such as description, or writing that seeks to
convey a clear impression of a setting, a person, animal, object, or event
using concrete who, what, when, where, how and sensory details.
Nearly all writing contains description. Ernesto Galarza, the author of
Barrio Boy, writes in a clean, straightforward style, using specific
concrete details to tell his story. As you read the next section of the
memoir, pay attention not only to the story the author is telling but also
the way in which he tells it. Use the graphic organizer on the next page
to help you.
Reading Skill Analyze Conflict
When you analyze, you look at the separate parts of something in order to
better understand the whole. When you analyze conflict in a story or play,
you look at the various components of the central struggle between
opposing forces, such as fate, nature, society, or another person. An
external conflict exists when a character fights against some outside
force, such as another person, nature, or society. An internal conflict
refers to a struggle within a character’s mind.
Analyzing conflict is important because it helps you understand the
relationships among the characters and the forces at work in a literary
work. Understanding what the character wants and what opposes him or
her will also help you understand the author’s purpose for writing.
To analyze conflict,
• identify the main problem(s) faced by the character(s) in a story
• determine what types of conflict are suggested by the problem
• identify the outcome of each conflict and its importance to the story
As you read, ask yourself what the main character’s internal conflict tells
you about him. To determine the internal conflict, you first need to identify
all the external conflicts in the story. You may find it helpful to use a
graphic organizer like the one at the right.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
Vocabulary
consternation [kon stər nā shən]
n. dismay or amazement leading
to confusion or fear
Jared saw with consternation
that one of the oars had fallen out
of the rowboat.
desolate [des ə lit] adj. empty of
inhabitants; deserted
Many fairy tales are set at the
edge of a desolate forest.
indelible [in del ə bəl] adj. that
cannot be removed, washed out,
or obliterated
My grandparents have indelible
memories of growing up in the
1950s.
perfidious [pər fid ē əs] adj.
faithless, treacherous
The con artist pulled off some
perfidious scams while
pretending to befriend members
of a retirement community.
sonorous [sə nôr əs] adj.
producing or capable of
producing sound, especially
deep, full, or rich sound
The chapel bell sounded a
sonorous refrain.
External
Conflict(s)
The rurales
disrupt the
lives of the
Galarza
family
Internal
Conflict(s)
A CTIVE READING: Par t Two
In Part Two, Ernesto and his family move from place
to place in search of work and safety from the
revolutionary conflict. As you read, use the spaces
below to record concrete and sensorydetails about
descriptions of Ernesto’s life in each neighborhood
where he lives.
TEPIC
Description of
Housing:
two small adobe rooms in a boarding house
Ernesto’s
Responsibilities:
Ernesto’s
Pleasures:
ACAPONETA
Description of
Housing:
Ernesto’s
Responsibilities:
Ernesto’s
Pleasures:
CASA REDONDA
Description of
Housing:
Ernesto’s
Responsibilities:
Ernesto’s
Pleasures:
LEANDRO VALLE
Description of
Housing:
Ernesto’s
Responsibilities:
Ernesto’s
Pleasures:
B arr io B oy: Part Two
157
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Style The author reveals a
transaction between the Galarzas
and the mountain family. Identify
several concrete details that help
you to understand how the
mountain family feels about the
travelers.
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MEMOIR EXCERPT: PART TWO
The ranchero and his wife knew why we had stopped,
and just what we would say. We knew that they would
give us permission, that they would not take any money
for the tortillas, and that we must leave some gift before
we left. I had watched these formalities before, the signs of
courtesy and hospitality of the mountain people. We said
“thank you” all around and retired with the mule and the
horse to our camp behind the corral.
Don Catarino and José unloaded the mule and
unsaddled the horse, fed them and watered them at the
brook. The Ajax was unpacked, and with the straw mats
and blankets in which it was wrapped my mother made
our beds on the ground. Some pots were placed over an
open fire to warm our supper. The lady of the rancho
appeared with a stack of tortillas wrapped in a napkin. My
mother asked her if she would do us the favor of accepting
two cones of panocha and some salt.
It was nearly dark when my mother returned with the
cups and plates she had been washing at the brook. The
mats were spread around the coals of the firepit and we
covered ourselves with sarapes and blankets. I was told to
go to sleep at once, but I had catnapped all along the trail
and I wanted to listen to the voices of children in the hut.
Sneaking looks from under my covers, I could see the
kitchen fire in the center of the dwelling flickering between
the palings of the wall. I had seen the rooster and hens in
the yard, and a skinny dog, the color of Nerón. I liked the
rancho and decided we should stay there instead of going
on to Tepic.
When my mother awakened me, the mule was already
loaded and the horse saddled. There was coffee on the
coals, with tortillas and warm bean tacos. Inside the hut
the fire was still flickering through the chinks. The rooster
crowed and the man came to the back door to see us off.
My mother and I mounted and we were on the trail again.
It was downhill the rest of the trip, easy for the horses,
the trail getting wider until it became a genuine road of
hard-packed brown earth. We could see other travelers
ahead of us, on burros or horses, but mostly walking. The
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
people and the animals carried loads, sacks, crates,
earthenware, and huacales filled with chickens. A burro
train passed us going the other way. The donkeys carried
piles of empty sacks in which charcoal had been delivered
to the city. The arrieros, powdered with coal dust, kept
them at a trot with shouts and whistles and snapping
whips. A boy about my age skipped along the line of
burros, helping the two men.
The road became busier with foot travelers and pack
animals. . . . In the midst of the green and brown fields of
sugarcane, corn, and pastureland I saw a checkerboard of
white and red, tiny blocks of whitewashed houses with tile
roofs. My mother reined the horse and pointed. In the
middle of the checkerboard I spotted two grey towers not
much longer than my little finger.
“Tepic. The cathedral,” my mother said.
As we descended, the country road straightened out
into a lane enclosed by low walls and one-story houses,
their roofs slanting this way and that. The tops of the walls
were set with pieces of broken glass and splintered bottles
that glistened in the morning sun. Women with blue
shawls draped around their heads and shoulders walked
close to the adobe walls carrying wicker baskets filled with
fruit, meat, and vegetables. They were coming from the
market with the day’s food supply for the family—the
mandado. Donkeys loaded with straw, firewood, and
huacales, charcoal, green bananas, and lumber passed by.
Rancheros returning to the mountains cantered on nags
that looked too small for the riders. I had never seen that
many people in my life.
Our horse’s shoes began to clack as we came to a street
paved with stones. Along the middle of the street they
were flat, at the sides they were cobblestones, rounded and
neatly laid. The walls of the houses echoed the clatter of
the traffic, so that people indoors could tell whether horses
or mules or burros were passing, whether they were
coming or going, and how many there were. Everything
that passed over such a pavement made a characteristic
sound, even the bare feet of people.
Literary Element
Style In a series of simple sensory
details, the author reveals the town
of Tepic. What are some of these
sensory details? What is the overall
effect of this description?
B arr io B oy: Part Two
159
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Analyze Conflict What is the
largest external struggle for the
Galarzas at this point?
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MEMOIR EXCERPT: PART TWO
On bad days José just walked in and sat down on the
back stairs. “How did it go, brother?” my mother always
said, knowing well that it had gone badly, but to make
conversation. He always answered: “Like being kicked
before breakfast.” Good or bad news, our supper talk was
always about the chances of the next day. If he had
brought wages home he took a few cents and walked to
the plaza for a beer. If he had not, my mother offered the
money but he did not take it. Instead he went to bed.
José didn’t carry by himself the burden of keeping us in
shelter and food very long. Every day I was sent to Doña
Florencia’s, our landlady, to ask whether the Ajax had
come, and one day I ran home to announce that we could
call for it at the railroad terminal. That afternoon José
brought it home in a pushcart.
He set the sewing machine in the middle of the room
and the three of us removed the wrapping of straw mats,
rags, and blankets, carefully, like doctors afraid of finding
a broken bone. When the machine stood clear my mother
tested it, bobbin, treadle, belt and all. “Thanks to God,” she
said gratefully. The arrieros, the mules, the mozos, the train
and everyone who had anything to do with the safe
delivery of the Ajax had performed, in her opinion, a
service of the Lord.
The Ajax was placed next to the window where Doña
Henriqueta sat, day in and day out, bending over the
sewing she did for pay. On the windowsill next to the
geranium she laid out doilies, blouses, and handkerchiefs
so that passersby would see them and spread the word
that on Leandro Valle there was a seamstress who did
beautiful work. The big pieces, like bedsheets, fell from the
machine crumpled on a straw floor mat which we
scrubbed every day.
As Ajax assistant production and maintenance man I
picked up where we had left off in Tepic. Like a regular
engineer I squeezed golden drops of oil from a thimblesized can into the bearings of the treadle, the transmission,
and the balance wheel. When we ran out of thread I went
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
on the double to the corner store of El Chino, half a block
down the street. I helped pick up the sheets from the mat
and fold them for ironing. Everything from the table top
up was dusted and polished by my mother; everything
below the deck, by me.
Now I heard again above the bustle of the Ajax, the
songs she hummed or sang softly, like the one about the
seagulls fluttering their wings far over the ocean, as if they
were waving handkerchiefs to say good-bye, forever.
We had a problem with the sewing in that I balked at
my chores if the front door was not kept shut. Sewing was
a girl’s work, and my pals in the barrio never let me forget
it if they saw me folding sheets or holding a hem. Running
for thread and oiling the machinery were dignified things
for a boy to do, but not fooling around with stitches. My
mother pointed out that the best tailors in the world were
men and they all sewed on Ajaxes. The trouble was that
Perico and Corchos and the rest of the gang didn’t know or
appreciate this. She agreed to my point and we kept the
door closed during sewing hours.
By a lucky break I found a job myself that put me on a
par with José and my mother as breadwinners. An elderly
woman who lived two blocks down Rosales from our
street needed a boy to help on Friday afternoons. The
woman was a pozolera and her business a sidewalk
restaurant which specialized in pozole, a chowder made of
boiled garbanzo grains, and chopped meat or pig’s
knuckles served steaming hot. La Pozolera set up a long
table in the street in front of her house, and on the
sidewalk the portable charcoal stove, the pots, sauces, and
tortilla pan. Sitting on the sidewalk in the midst of her
kitchen gear, she served the customers on a wooden table
opposite her.
My job consisted of throwing buckets of water on the
street to settle the dust, helping to put the table and bench
in place, carrying the big ollas outdoors, and filling the
charcoal basket that she kept handy under the table. Hot
pozole was served from late afternoon until after dark,
when the restaurant closed and the equipment was moved
indoors.
Reading Skill
Analyze Conflict What is Ernesto’s
internal conflict?
B arr io B oy: Part Two
161
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What’s Worth Fighting For? What
do you learn on this page about
Ernesto’s mother’s place within her
family?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
162
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
MEMOIR EXCERPT: PART TWO
My mother looked the patrón level in the eye and said:
“The wages—that is all—the wages.” I was afraid. The
patron’s face was red with anger and perhaps fear. He
called a clerk who counted out fifteen pesos to José.
“Thank you, and may you have a good afternoon,” my
mother said as she gave us our cue to leave. But José, with
the stack of pesos in his hands, said a different sort of
goodbye.
“The next time you want to kill a man for his wages,
you should come and do it yourself, if you are that much
of a man.”
“José!” It was a sharp command from my mother, and
we left.
“He knows we know,” she said to José on the way
home. “It is better that we leave Mazatlán.”
One evening at supper I asked why we had to leave
Mazatlán. “It is better,” was all she said, and everything
after that showed that that was the way it was going to be.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
ASK QUESTIONS
Write a question about the novel.
Can you find the answer in your
notes?
Recap
B arr io B oy: Part Two
163
AFTE R YOU READ: Par t Two
Respond and Think Critically
1. How does Ernesto’s family get by when they are short of money? Why
would health care be such a big concern for them? [Interpret]
2. How does Ernesto become a member of a gang? What do you think
makes him want to become a member? [Infer]
3. Which incident causes Ernesto’s family to leave Leandro Valley? What
do you think they decided to move to the United States instead of
another part of Mexico? [Analyze]
4. Do you think Ernesto’s mother should have forbidden him from joining
the gang? Why or why not? [Evaluate]
5. What’s Worth Fighting For? In what way does Dona Henriqueta’s
decision to leave Mazatlán reflect what she believes is worth fighting
for? [Infer]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Meet the Author on page
142. How did that information
help you understand or
appreciate what you read in the
memoir?
AFTE R YOU READ: Par t Two
Literary Element Style
1. In your opinion, what were some of the most
memorable descriptions of Ernesto’s life in Mazatlán?
Cite two examples from this section and identify
reasons for your choices. [Identify]
2. Barrio Boy uses many Spanish words, such as
puestos, maderistas, soldaderas, and pozole. What is
the effect of the author’s decision to retain these
words in the story? [Analyze]
Reading Skill
Analyze Conflict
1. One of the external conflicts the Galarzas face is that
of physical illness. Explain why. [Explain]
Vocabulary Practice
On a separate sheet of paper, write the vocabulary
word that correctly completes the sentence.
consternation perfidious
desolate
sonorous
indelible
1. There was a notable sense of _______________
when the election failed to produce a clear
winner.
2. William Shakespeare’s plays are full of brave
heroes, young lovers, and _______________
villains.
3. The English actor had an extremely ___________
____ voice that was audible in the very back row
of the theater.
4. Many people who heard Martin Luther King Jr.
speak were left with a(n) _______________
impression.
5. In Scotland we visited a(n) _______________
ruined castle.
Academic Vocabulary
The Galarza family could not afford to pay for things on
credit, so their choice was either to pay in cash or to go
without. Using context clues, try to figure out the
meaning of the boldfaced word in the sentence above.
Write your guess below. Then check your guess in a
dictionary.
2. Describe the conflict between Ernesto and El Perico.
What was the outcome of the conflict? [Identify]
B arr io B oy: Part Two
165
AFTE R YOU READ: Par t Two
Write With Style
Speaking and Listening
Apply Description
Literature Groups
Assignment Look over some of the descriptions
author Ernesto Galarza presented in this section of
the memoir. Good examples include the description
of crossing the “devil’s backbone,” arriving in Tepic,
and the long ride to Mazatlán. Consider Galarza’s
simple yet effective use of descriptive techniques.
Then, using strong concrete images, write a
paragraph about a time when you traveled across
town or across the world.
Assignment Do you think Ernesto’s family has made
the right decision to move to the United States?
What do you predict will happen to them when they
get there? Discuss these questions in your group
and try to reach a consensus. When you are
finished, compare your responses with those in
another group.
Get Ideas Think about the various times you have
traveled. Make a list of places you have been and
the moments you remember about leaving home,
the trip itself, and arriving at your destination.
Which memories and images are strongest? Choose
one from the list to write about.
Give It Structure Begin your paragraph with a topic
sentence that introduces the place you traveled to
or from. Follow with sentences that support that
thesis. End with a sentence that restates it.
Look at Language Barrio Boy uses a descriptive
style that relies on concrete details, meaning
images that help readers see the object or
experience itself. This type of description is
relatively free of metaphors, similes, sensory
details, and emotional language. As you write your
paragraph, try to create a strong description
without use of these elements. If you need
guidance, feel free to look back at Part Two of the
memoir as you continue your writing process.
Prepare Before your group meets, look back at Part
Two of the memoir and review the events that may
have led Dona Henriqueta to push for the move to
the United States. Divide the reasons into two
categories, as shown in the chart below.
Personal Reasons
Political Reasons
Ernesto has joined
a gang.
There are rumors
of shops and
factories closing
down.
Jose is nearly killed
by an unscrupulous
patron.
The Galarzas’
house is the line of
fire between the
maderistas and
pro-Diaz forces.
Mazatlán is
besieged by proDiaz forces.
Discuss Respect the opinions of others by listening
attentively. However, do not be shy about sharing
your own viewpoint in a normal tone of voice.
Provide examples from your chart to support
your ideas.
Report When you are finished, compare your
responses with those in another group. Was there a
consensus between the two groups?
Evaluate Write a paragraph in which you assess
the effectiveness of your discussion, both in your
own group and between your group and the other.
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BEFORE YOU READ: Par ts Three–Five
Connect to the Literature
What would you miss the most if you had to move to a country where the
dominant culture and traditions are very different from your own?
Discuss
In a small group, discuss the things that you would miss the most if you
had to move to a country whose culture differed from your own. Would
you welcome the opportunity, or would you resist it? Why?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Build Background
The Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918
Toward the end of the book, Galarza reveals how his family was affected
by a tragic event that caused terror throughout the world. The Spanish flu
epidemic of 1918–1919 killed at least twenty million people, which was
more than the number of people who died in World War I. This flu strain
was first detected in a Kansas military camp in March 1918. By autumn, it
had spread to every continent. Victims died painful deaths, suffocating as
too much fluid built up in their lungs. Normally, children and the elderly are
most vulnerable to flu infections, but the Spanish flu killed many healthy
young adults. The death rate from this type of influenza for 15- to 34-yearolds was 20 times higher than in previous years. People often contracted
the disease before they were aware of it, which caused many to die on
the street while, for example, walking home from work. One harrowing
story claimed that four women were playing bridge late into the night. By
the next morning three of them had died from influenza. Scientists are still
trying to figure out what made the epidemic so deadly.
B arr io B oy: Parts Three–Fi ve
167
BEFORE YOU READ: Par ts Three–Five
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question What’s Worth Fighting For?
Learning how to adjust to and behave in a new culture can be a struggle.
As you read the final section of Barrio Boy, consider two of the things the
Galarzas are fighting for: assimilating into American culture and retaining
their rich Mexican heritage.
Literary Element Diction
Diction is a writer’s choice of words and how those words are arranged in
phrases and sentences.
Barrio Boy contains a unique vision of the world relayed, in part, through
the author’s diction. The author, Ernesto Galarza, is an adult looking back
on a boyhood that straddled both his native Mexican and his adopted
American cultures. Galarza writes with sensitivity and incisiveness about
the lives of immigrants—the good, the bad, and everything in between.
As you read this section of the memoir, think about how Galarza’s diction,
including the use of Spanish words, enriches your understanding of the story.
Reading Skill Identify Cause-and-Effect Relationships
Literature, like life, is full of cause-and-effect relationships. A cause is the
reason behind a thought, action, or event. An effect is the result of a
thought, action, or event. A cause may result in one or more effects, which
in turn may lead to move effects; so effects can also become causes.
Identifying cause-and-effect relationships in an essay or story is important
because it allows readers a means to figure out how one event relates to
another.
To identify cause-and-effect-relationships,
• identify significant people and events in the story. Why are
they important?
• determine the motivation for people’s actions or the reasons
behind events
• evaluate the consequences of people’s actions or events described
in the story
As you read the final section of Barrio Boy, ask yourself “What causeand-effect relationships impact the climax and resolution of this memoir?”
You may find it helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one on the next
page.
168
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
Vocabulary
acculturation [ə kəl chə rā shən]
n. the process by which a person
absorbs the culture of a society
Sajad told the class that moving
from to the United States from
India was difficult period of
acculturation.
contraband [kon trə band] n.
goods prohibited by law from
being imported or exported
Among the contraband they
discovered, police found six kinds
of illegal fireworks.
partisan [par tə zən] n. one who
strongly supports an idea, cause,
or side, especially one who is an
overly zealous adherent
Ms. Danzig is a true partisan
when it comes to the
neighborhood cleanup project.
reverie [rev ə rē] n. fanciful
musing, especially of happy,
pleasant feelings
Sugar cookies send me into a
reverie of early childhood
memories.
transient [tran shənt] adj.
stopping only for a short time;
passing through
The doctor said the injury was
nothing to worry about and that
the pain would be transient.
ACT IVE READING: Par ts Three–Five
Causes and effects may be discreet: one effect
resulting from one cause. More often, there are
multiple effects and multiple causes. Sometimes
these form a chain of causes and effects. In the
graphic organizer below, identify the causes and
effects and consider how many of these may be
part of a larger cause-and-effect chain.
Cause(s)
Effect(s)
A measles epidemic breaks out on
The train is stopped, passengers are
the train
quarantined.
Older Mexicans in the barrio stayed home
and did not mix with Americans.
Ernesto’s teacher says Homer and
Ernesto can vote for each other for
president if they like.
Ernesto is surrounded by music in the
barrio.
The Galarza family begins to get
larger.
The Spanish flu strikes.
Ernesto leaves the work camp to look
for an inspector in Sacramento.
B arr io B oy: Parts Three–Fi ve
169
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Diction In what ways does this
discussion of how people in the
barrio combined Spanish with
English aid your understanding of
Ernesto’s world?
17 0
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MEMOIR EXCERPT: PART THREE
It took time to realize that when the Americans said
“Sackmenna” they meant Sacra-men-to, or that
“Kellyphony” was their way of saying Cali-for-nia. Worse
yet, the names of many of their towns could not be
managed. I tried to teach Gustavo that Woodland was not
pronounced “Boor-lan,” and that Walnut Grove was not
“Gualen-gro.” A secondhand shop on our block that called
itself The Cheap Store sounded to us like the Sheep Store,
and the sign did not spell it like the school books.
There was no authority at 418 L who could tell us the
one proper way to pronounce a word and it would not
have done much good if there had been. Try as they did
the adults in my family could see no difference between
“wood” and “boor.” Words spelled the same way or nearly
so in Spanish and English and whose meanings we could
guess accurately—words like principal and tomato—were
too few to help us in daily usage. The grown-ups adapted
the most necessary words and managed to make
themselves understood, words like the French loff, yelly-rol,
eppel pai, teekett, and kenn meelk. Miss Campbell and her
colleagues lost no time in scrubbing out these spots in my
own pronunciation. Partly to show off, partly to do my
duty to the family, I tried their methods at home. It was
hopeless. They listened hard but they couldn’t hear me.
Besides, Boor-lan was Boor-lan all over the barrio. Everyone
knew what you meant even though you didn’t say
Woodland. I gave up giving English lessons at home.
The barrio invented its own versions of American talk.
And my family, to my disgust, adopted them with no little
delight. My mother could tell someone at the door asking
for an absent one: “Ess gon.” When some American tried
to rush her into conversation she stopped him with: “Yo no
pick een-glees.” But at pocho talk my mother drew the line,
although José and Gustavo fell into it easily. Such words as
yarda for yard, yonque for junk, donas for doughnuts,
grocería for grocery store, raite for ride, and borde for meals
shocked her and I was drilled to avoid them. Woolworth’s
was el fei-en-ten to the barrio but it was el baratillo to her and
by command to me also. Gustavo could say droguería
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
because there wasn’t anything she could do about it, but
for me botica was required. . . .
Our family conversations always occurred on our own
kitchen porch, away from the gringos. One or the other of
the adults would begin: Se han fijado? Had we noticed—
that the Americans do not ask permission to leave the
room; that they had no respectful way of addressing an
elderly person; that they spit brown over the railing of the
porch into the yard; that when they laughed they roared;
that they never brought saludos to everyone in your family
from everyone in their family when they visited; that
General Delibree was only a clerk; that zopilotes were not
allowed on the streets to collect garbage; that the
policemen did not carry lanterns at night; that Americans
didn’t keep their feet on the floor when they were sitting;
that there was a special automobile for going to jail; that a
rancho was not a rancho at all but a very small hacienda;
that the saloons served their customers free eggs, pickles,
and sandwiches; that instead of bullfighting, the gringos
for sport tried to kill each other with gloves?
I did not have nearly the strong feelings on these
matters that Doña Henriqueta expressed. I felt a vague
admiration for the way Mr. Brien could spit brown. Wayne,
my classmate, laughed much better than the Mexicans,
because he opened his big mouth wide and brayed like a
donkey so he could be heard a block away. But it was the
kind of laughter that made my mother tremble, and it was
not permitted in our house.
Rules were laid down to keep me, as far as possible, un
muchacho bien educado. If I had to spit I was to do it
privately, or if in public, by the curb, with my head down
and my back to people. I was never to wear my cap in the
house and I was to take it off even on the porch if ladies or
elderly gentlemen were sitting. If I wanted to scratch,
under no circumstances was I to do it right then and there,
in company, like the Americans, but I was to excuse
myself. If Catfish or Russell yelled to me from across the
street I was not to shout back. I was never to ask for tips
for my errands or other services to the tenants of 418 L, for
these were atenciones expected of me.
Literary Element
Diction What does this succinct
listing of the rules of etiquette say
about Ernesto’s opinion of his
mother?
B arr io B oy: Parts Three–Fi ve
171
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Identify Cause-and-Effect
Relationships What do you think
was the cause of Jose’s wild
behavior?
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MEMOIR EXCERPT: PART FOUR
Late one afternoon José came into my room, wrapped
me in blankets, pulled a cap over my ears, and carried me
to my mother’s bedside. My stepfather was holding a hand
mirror to her lips. It didn’t fog. She had stopped breathing.
In the next room my sister was singing to the other
children, “A birdie with a yellow bill/ hopped upon my
windowsill/ cocked a shiny eye and said/ Shame on you
you sleepy head.”
The day we buried Doña Henriqueta, Mrs. Dodson took
the oldest sister home with her. The younger children were
sent to a neighbor. That night José went to the barrio, got
drunk, borrowed a pistol, and was arrested for shooting up
Second Street.
We did not find out what had happened until I bicycled
the next morning to Mrs. Dodson’s to report that José had
not come home. By this time our friends in the barrio knew
of José’s arrest and a telephone call to a bartender who
knew us supplied the details. Nothing serious, Mrs.
Dodson repeated to me. Nobody had been hurt. She left
me in charge of my sister and went to bail out my uncle.
They returned together. Gently, Mrs. Dodson scolded
José, who sat dejectedly, his eyes closed so he would not
have to look her in the eye, cracking the joints of his
fingers, chewing on his tight lips, a young man
compressing years of hard times and the grief of the past
days in a show of manhood.
When the lecture was nearly over, Mrs. Dodson was not
talking of drunkenness and gunplay, but of the future,
mostly of mine, and of José’s responsibility for it. She
walked with us down the front stairway. Pushing my
bicycle I followed him on foot the miles back to Oak Park,
keeping my distance, for I knew he did not want me to see
his face. As he had often told me, “Men never cry, no
matter what.”
A month later I made a bundle of the family keepsakes
my stepfather allowed me to have, including the butterfly
sarape, my books, and some family pictures. With the
bundle tied to the bars of my bicycle, I pedaled to the
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
basement room José had rented for the two of us on O
Street near the corner of Fifth, on the edge of the barrio.
José was now working the riverboats and, in the slack
season, following the round of odd jobs about the city. In
our basement room, with a kitchen closet, bathroom, and
laundry tub on the back porch and a woodshed for
storage, I kept house. We bought two cots, one for me and
the other for José when he was home.
Our landlords lived upstairs, a middle-aged brother and
sister who worked and rented rooms. As part payment on
our rent I kept the yard trim. They were friends of Doña
Transito, the grandmother of a Mexican family that lived in
a weather-beaten cottage on the corner. Doña Tránsito was
in her sixties, round as a barrel, and she wore her gray hair
in braids and smoked hand-rolled cigarettes on her rickety
front porch. To her tiny parlor chicanos in trouble came for
advice, and the firm old lady with the rasping voice and
commanding ways often asked me to interpret or translate
for them in their encounters with the Autoridades. Since her
services were free, so were mine. I soon became a regular
visitor and made friends with her son, Kid Felix, a
prizefighter who gave free boxing lessons to the boys in
the neighborhood.
Living only three houses from Doña Tránsito, saying my
saludos to her every time I passed the corner, noticing how
even the Kid was afraid to break her personal code of
barrio manners, I lived inside a circle of security when José
was away. . . .
It was Doña Tránsito who called in the curandera once
when the child of a neighbor was dying. I had brought a
doctor to the house and was in the sick room when he told
the family there was nothing more he could do. Doña
Tránsito ordered me at once to fetch the old crone who
lived on the other side of the railroad tracks towards the
river and who practiced as a healer.
Reading Skill
Identify Cause-and-Effect
Relationships What were the
effects of the doctor’s diagnosis on
Dona Transito?
B arr io B oy: Parts Three–Fi ve
173
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What’s Worth Fighting For?
How does Ernesto deal with the
contractor’s abuse of power?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
174
N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
MEMOIR EXCERPT: PART FIVE
There was never any doubt about the contractor and his
power over us. He could fire a man and his family on the
spot and make them wait days for their wages. A man
could be forced to quit by assigning him regularly to the
thinnest pickings in the field. The worst thing one could do
was to ask for fresh water on the job, regardless of the heat
of the day; instead of iced water, given freely, the crews
were expected to buy sodas at twice the price in town, sold
by the contractor himself. He usually had a pistol—to
protect the payroll, so it was said. Through the ranchers for
whom he worked, we were certain that he had connections
with the Autoridades, for they never showed up in camp to
settle wage disputes or listen to our complaints or to go for
a doctor when one was needed. Lord of a rag-tag labor
camp of Mexicans, the contractor, a Mexican himself, knew
that few men would let their anger blow, even when he
stung them with curses like, “Orale, San Afabeeches
huevones.”
As a single worker, I usually ate with some household,
paying for my board. I did more work than a child but less
than a man, neither the head nor the tail of a family. Unless
the camp was a large one I became acquainted with most
of the families. Those who could not write asked me to
chalk their payroll numbers on the boxes they picked. I
counted matches for a man who transferred them from the
right pocket of his pants to the left as he tallied the lugs he
filled throughout the day. It was his only check on the
record the contractor kept of his work. As we worked the
rows or the tree blocks during the day, or talked in the
evenings where the men gathered in small groups to smoke
and rest, I heard about barrios I had never seen but that
must have been much like ours in Sacramento.
The only way to complain or protest was to leave, but
now and then a camp would stand instead of run, and for
a few hours or a few days work would slow down or stop.
I saw it happen in a pear orchard in Yolo when pay rates
were cut without notice to the crew. . . .
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Comment on what you learned from
your own notes.
Recap
B arr io B oy: Parts Three–Fi ve
175
AFTER YOU READ: Par ts Three–Five
Respond and Think Critically
1. Whom does Ernesto’s mother marry in Sacramento? Why do you think
the author tells us so little about his stepfather? [Infer]
2. How would you characterize Ernesto’s relationships with his teachers?
Why do you think Mrs. Crowley wants to persuade Ernesto to give up
his job as a fiddler at a dance hall? [Infer]
3. Why might the author have chosen to end the book after describing
Ernesto’s experiences at the camp where workers became ill? Do you
consider this a satisfactory ending? [Evaluate]
4. What would you say Ernesto misses most about Mexico? [Evaluate]
5. What’s Worth Fighting For? At the end of the story, what has Ernesto
found that is worth fighting for? [Interpret]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background
on page 167. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the memoir?
AFTER YOU READ: Par ts Three–Five
Literary Element Diction
1. Author Ernesto Galarza uses a straightforward style
with very few emotionally charged words. Do you
think this diction works well? Why or why not?
[Evaluate]
Vocabulary Practice
A synonym is a word that has the same or nearly the
same meaning as another word. Match each
boldfaced vocabulary word with its synonym. Use a
thesaurus or dictionary to check your answers.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
2. What are some of the techniques Galarza uses to
ensure understanding of the many Spanish words he
includes in the text? [Explain]
acculturation
contraband
partisan
reverie
transient
adherent
trance
ephemeral
adaptation
illegal goods
Academic Vocabulary
Many of the camps in California were run by owners
who tried to restrict the rights of immigrant workers. In
the preceding sentence, restrict means, “to limit.” To
become more familiar with the word restrict, fill out the
graphic organizer below.
definition
synonyms
Reading Skill Identify Cause-and Effect
Relationships
1. What was one of the effects of Mrs. Dodson’s
lecturing Jose about the drunken shooting incident?
[Connect]
similarities
antonyms
sentence/image
2. In the labor camp near Folsom, what was the cause
that pulled the workers together? [Identify]
B arr io B oy: Parts Three–Fi ve
177
AFTER YOU READ: Par ts Three–Five
Write With Style
Research and Report
Apply Diction
Literary Critism
Assignment In Barrio Boy, the author’s diction
depends upon the intermittent use of Spanish
words, including slang and words that have evolved
out of combining English and Spanish.
Assignment Evaluate a piece of literary criticism
about Barrio Boy and write a short response in
which you explain why you agree or disagree with
the critic’s statements. Present your response to the
class.
In your own writing there may be forms of language
that are unique to your peer group, geographical
location, ethnicity, family, or age. Write a letter or
an email to a friend in which you tell a story or
share a memory. Include language that is specific
to one of the groups you belong to.
Get Ideas Make a list of words you commonly use
when you talk to friends or close family members.
You may use informal language and slang. You may
even use the kind of abbreviations that are standard
in text messages. Think carefully about the context
of these kinds of communications. When you have a
list of about fifteen or more words, look through
them and connect the ones that seem to go
together. Think about the group with whom you use
that diction. Choose a person from that group as
the recipient of your letter.
Give It Structure Write your letter or email in an
informal style and use the slang and other word
choices that you associate with your chosen group.
You may tell a brief story, describe a memorable
moment, or share some news.
Look at Language Remember that not all readers
may be familiar with the diction you use in your
letter. Use context clues to ensure understanding.
Try writing a list of all the unique words and phrases
you use. Then check to see that the meaning of
each is clearly communicated.
Prepare The following quotation about Barrio Boy
comes from Maria Montes de Oca Ricks in the
Dictionary of Literary Biography:
The closely knit family unit in the book is clearly
offered as a paradigm of Chicano survival in the
United States. The Galarza extended family, faced
with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, tries to
remain united at all costs and, as a result, triumphs
where defeat would appear to be the only logical
outcome. . . . Throughout his life Galarza would, in
fact, credit the steadfastness of this family bond as
peculiarly Mexican: “It was a Mexican family that I
lived in. And we made no bones about it…. It was
just natural, which is the way it should be.”
Get Ideas Carefully analyze the quotation, as well
as the quotation within the quotation. What are the
points you agree with? Are there any you disagree
with? For example, what is your response to the
statement that a steadfast family bond is “peculiarly
Mexican”? When you have determined your
position, write a thesis statement about it. Gather
details from the novel to support your argument.
Report When you present your response, make eye
contact with your audience, pay attention to your
volume and enunciation, and present a confident
appearance. Look for signs that your audience
understands your point of view.
Evaluate Write a brief paragraph evaluating your
report. Be open to others’ feedback on your
presentation. When your classmates present, offer
them oral feedback.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 4
WORK WITH RELATE D READINGS
Barrio Boy
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in Glencoe’s Literature
Library edition of this memoir. Support your answers with details from the tests.
Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper, but jot down some notes first on
the lines provided.
The Mexican Revolution
Mexico Connect
Make Connections How does this article explain
why author Ernesto Galarza’s family supported the
Maderistas?
Day in the Barrio ; Linked
Judith Ortiz Cofer; Naomi Shihab Nye
Make Connections Which of these poems reminds
you most of Ernesto’s life in the barrio of
Sacramento? Explain your choice.
Latinos Gain Visibility in Cultural Life of U.S.
The New York Times
Make Connections How do you think Galarza might
have responded to this article?
The Balek Scales
Heinrich Böll
Make Connections What similarities do you see
between Franz and Ernesto of Barrio Boy ?
An Hour with Abuelo
Judith Ortiz Cofer
Make Connections What qualities does Arturo
have in common with Ernesto in Barrio Boy ?
B arri o Boy
179
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: Escaping
I learned about perseverance when
my parents decided that they wanted a
better life for their children, their threeyear-old son and their six-year-old
daughter. We had been living in
communist Czechoslovakia and were
tired of the life we were living and the
system. At first they had doubts, as
anyone might, but they would not let
their children grow up as prisoners.
Leaving Czechoslovakia at that point
was very difficult, however. They had to
figure out a way to get to Austria, which
was a free country. At first the plan was
simple: They would claim I needed to
see a doctor there for my ear infection.
Their spirits were crushed when a border
guard gave their request a stern “No.” As
we approached a second border crossing,
they hoped for a different response.
However, as we sat in our car, the guard
reached in, yanked out the keys and
ordered my parents to turn themselves in
to the police.
Feeling hopeless, they decided to take
one last chance, which would be difficult.
We would hike across the Alps into
Austria, leaving behind everything we
could not carry. It was extremely
dangerous, and getting caught meant
prison or even death. Yet we marched on
because the freedom of America
glistened in our souls. As my parents
saw the sign welcoming us to Austria,
they knew they had succeeded.
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Once in Austria, they found a refugee
center and then a hotel. We lived in this
overcrowded, infested, dirty hotel for
over a year. They often wondered if they
had made the right decision leaving their
homeland. However, once their time
came to go to America and begin new,
free lives, their question was answered.
Even in America, life was very hard
at first. We lived in slums in Boston
where my parents had to fight with the
landlord to give us heat, and waking up
every day was a hard realization. My
parents’ perseverance was strong,
though, and within a few years my
father had gained recertification of his
medical degree and my mother, foreign
accent and all, finished first in her
dental-assistant school.
Perseverance is a valuable law of life,
imperative to reaching one’s dreams. My
parents had little when we lived under
Communism, yet they were willing to
live with nothing. Realizing that I cannot
fully appreciate my parents’ perseverance
and indomitable spirit that brought us
here, I remain thankful for the chance to
live a wonderful life, in which I had
boundless opportunities. In my parents’
case, “Perseverance [made] the difference
between success and defeat,” and I am
glad it did.
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the memoir you have just read to the literature selection at the
left, which is excerpted from “Escaping” by Zdenko Slobodnik in Glencoe
Literature. Then answer the questions below.
Compare & Contrast
1. Narrator and Point of View In what ways are the narrators in Barrio
Boy and “Escaping” similar . . .? What are the chief differences
between them?
WRITE ABOUT IT
Family and the search for a better
way of life are often at the heart of
what people find worth fighting for.
Both Ernesto Galarza’s Barrio Boy
and Zdenko Slobodnik’s “Escaping”
reflect this idea in different ways.
In a paragraph, compare and
contrast the two authors’ view
points.
2. Style The style of both these stories favors information over emotion.
How would you describe some of their stylistic differences?
3. Diction Although both narrators discuss coming from different
countries of origin and emigrate to the United States, Barrio Boy uses
the key diction element of Spanish words and phrases. Do you think
this technique would be effective for the excerpt of “Escaping” as well?
Why or why not?
B arri o Boy
181
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Expository Essay
Analyze Cause and Effect Barrio Boy is based on the twofold journey of its
young narrator, Ernesto—the immigration journey that eventually brings
him to the United States, and his internal journey toward adulthood and
knowledge. In an essay, analyze the causes of the major changes Ernesto
and his family experience—and the various effects of those causes over
the course of the memoir.
Prewrite Plan carefully before you begin to write. It is a good idea to skim
through the novel and make a list of important events, their causes, and
the immediate and eventual effects. Use a graphic organizer like the one
below to help you keep track of your ideas.
Cause(s)
The rurales ride in to question and search the
people of Jalcocotán.
Effects
•
•
•
The villagers hide their valuables and lie about where the
men are.
Ernesto’s family decides to move to Tepic.
Ernesto begins to develop a hatred of the rurales.
Once you have completed your graphic organizer, use the collected
information to establish a controlling idea and structure for your essay.
What will your overall point be? Keep in mind that your goal is to
encapsulate causes and effects in the memoir overall, not just one
segment of it.
Draft Create your thesis. Then use a chronological progression through
the events of the story to develop a logical sequence of information.
Claims must be supported with evidence from the memoir. You may refer to
plot events and character traits, or quote directly from the memoir.
Revise As you review your first draft, pay close attention to the logic and
cohesiveness of your cause-and-effect analyses. Exchange papers with a
classmate and evaluate each others’ essays. Is the information well
supported with logical assertions and examples from the text? Provide
feedback on your classmate’s essay and revise your own according to the
comments you receive.
Edit and Proofread Carefully proofread for grammar, punctuation, and
spelling errors.
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UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• To analyze, you must show how the
parts create the whole. Because
your goal is to encapsulate the
major events of the novel, you may
find it helpful to break the memoir
down by its major locations:
Jalcocotán, Tepic, Mazatlan, and
Sacramento.
Grammar Tip
Adverb Clauses
An adverb may be a single word
such as in this sentence: “We’re
going to leave tomorrow.” An
adverb may be a phrase, as in
“Our friends will come next
Thursday.” Adverbs can also be
clauses, containing a subject
and a full verb. Adverb clauses
can be useful when it comes to
writing cause-and effect
statements. Notice the
underlined adverb clause in
these examples:
After their village is searched,
the Galarza family decides to
move to Tepic.
Because he was mourning two
deaths in his family, Jose went
on a shooting spree.
The Story
of My Life
Helen Keller
The S tor y of My Li f e
183
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE AU T OBIOGRAPHY
The Story of My Life
Helen Keller
“
. . . [T]he children of the future, the men
of the future, will understand [her] even
better than men do now, for they will be
liberated and will know how the spirit can
prevail over the senses.
”
—Dr. Maria Montessori to Anne Sullivan
As a young woman and college student,
Helen Keller at first was reluctant to
write The Story of My Life. Her blindness
and deafness imposed particular
demands on her as a student, and the
rigors of college life and her unique
challenges convinced her that such an
undertaking was too difficult.
Nevertheless, through the encouragement
of those closest to her and the enticement
of generous financial compensation,
Keller agreed to write her life story.
Creating a Classic The Story of My Life
first appeared in five installments in the
Ladies’ Home Journal and was
subsequently published by Doubleday as
a complete work with several of her
letters. Readers and critics alike raved
about the autobiography, and publishers
clamored for more works by and about
Keller.
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If the story seems a bit fragmented at
times, this is at least in part because
Keller originally wrote the piece to be
published in segments. In addition, she
labored under unusual circumstances.
Producing much of her manuscript on a
typewriter, she was unable to go back
and reread sections of the work unless
someone read them for her and manually
spelled back the words into her hand.
When she finally finished the work, it
was set in Braille for her so that she
could make revisions.
Many sections of the autobiography
come from short themes that Keller had
written for her English courses. John
Albert Macy, who married Anne Sullivan
and served as Helen’s agent and editor,
noted that
Partly from temperament, partly from the
conditions of her work, she has written rather
a series of brilliant passages than a unified
narrative.
In spite of obvious constraints, Keller
nevertheless attempted to create as
connected a work as possible, working
with her teacher and John Macy to give
the manuscript a sense of organic unity.
INTRODUCTION TO THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
The Story of My Life was destined to
become a classic. For decades, it has been
hailed as the remarkable achievement of
a brilliant and determined individual
who sought to inspire others and whose
“success has been complete, for in trying
to be like other people she has come
most fully to be herself” (John Macy).
A Love of Travel In the late 1800s,
education for persons who were both
hearing- and vision-impaired was a field
in its infancy. Not many individuals
could boast success stories, and schools
for hearing- and vision-impaired
students were few. Consequently, travel
was necessary for Helen Keller to be able
to take advantage of the resources
available at the time.
Keller spent her early life in Tuscumbia,
Alabama, and many scenes from The
Story of My Life take place there. In
addition, Keller and her teacher traveled
frequently to Boston to study at the
Perkins Institute for the Blind. They
traveled by train, often spending winters
in the North and summers in the South.
Travel is an important element in The
Story of My Life because much of Keller’s
practical education came from her
experiences away from home.
Challenging Expectations
Women in the early 1900s had
far fewer opportunities for
higher education than they have
now. Only a handful of colleges
and universities were
coeducational, and most
schools refused admission to
women. Furthermore, many of
the women’s colleges focused
heavily on subjects that would
aid women in their domestic
duties or train them to become
teachers.
In The Story of My Life, Helen
Keller recalls that as a child she
proclaimed her desire to attend
Harvard. However, Harvard
University did not begin
admitting women until well into
the twentieth century. Instead of
attending Harvard, Keller had to
settle for admission to Radcliffe
College, the “sister school”
affiliated with Harvard. Like
Harvard, several prestigious
schools annexed women’s
colleges but did not grant
degrees to female students.
In view of the limited
educational options available to
women, Helen Keller’s
achievement of a university
education was remarkable for
any woman of her time. That she
achieved it in her unique
circumstances is remarkable for
anyone at any time.
The S tor y of My Li f e
185
MEET THE AUTHOR
Helen Keller (1880–1968)
“
In a word, literature is my Utopia. Here
I am not disfranchised. No barrier of the
senses shuts me out from the sweet,
gracious discourse of my book-friends. The
things I have learned and the things I have
been taught seem of ridiculously little
importance compared with their “large
loves and heavenly charities.
”
—Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
It is scarcely imaginable that Helen
Keller would have achieved so many
remarkable feats without her love of
literature. Her thirst for knowledge led
her to devour writing on virtually all
subjects; she read the works she loved so
often that she literally wore Brailleprinted words off the page.
Learning to Communicate In 1880, Helen
Keller was born a healthy child into a
typical southern family. But when she
was nineteen months old, she was struck
with an illness that left her deaf and
blind for the rest of her life. She was a
clever child, often naughty, and her
behavior was left unchecked by
indulgent family members.
It was not until Anne Mansfield Sullivan
arrived that the world opened up for
Helen. Teacher, as Helen would call
Sullivan throughout her lifetime, bridged
the seemingly impassable gulf between
Helen and the rest of the world. Teacher
taught Helen a form of sign language,
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
taught her how to read, and instilled in
her a love of nature and learning that
would carry her through her darkest
hours.
An “Ambassador for the Blind” Helen’s
achievements were remarkable by any
standards. She knew several languages
and excelled in her academic pursuits.
She learned to speak intelligibly and
gave public addresses. Active in political
and social causes, she served as an
“ambassador for the blind.” Helen
graduated with honors from Radcliffe
College in 1904, the first deaf-blind
person ever to receive a college degree.
During her years at Radcliffe, Helen
wrote The Story of My Life.
Traveling and Raising Awareness
Traveling was an important part of
Helen’s life. Because most of the schools
for the deaf and blind were in the North,
as a young woman Helen spent a good
deal of time there. After World War II,
she traveled the world extensively,
raising awareness about issues related to
disabilities.
With many interests and passions, Helen
led a full life that spanned nearly eightyeight years. She had numerous friends
who filled her life with joy, including
Alexander Graham Bell and Mark Twain.
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–10
Connect to the Literature
Think of someone who has affected your life (or the life of someone you
know) in a positive way. How has this person changed your life or
someone else’s life for the better?
Write a Journal Entry
In your journal, write about someone who has helped you overcome a
problem or make a discovery. What were the circumstances surrounding
the situation? How did this person influence your actions or feelings?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE A CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below using information in Build
Background.
Build Background
A Dedicated Teacher
The Perkins Institute for the Blind, now the Perkins School for the Blind,
was chartered in 1829 near Boston, Massachusetts, and was the first
school for the vision-impaired in the United States. Dr. Samuel Gridley
Howe, the school’s first director, educated Laura Bridgman, who was the
first American hearing- and vision-impaired woman to be educated
successfully. Her story inspired Helen Keller’s mother to seek a teacher
for Helen.
Anne Sullivan, Helen’s teacher, was herself blind for periods of her life and
attended the Perkins Institute. Sullivan had known Laura Bridgman at
Perkins and was familiar with Dr. Howe’s successes. In 1887 Sullivan
spent several months studying the records of Dr. Howe’s work with Laura
Bridgman. Sullivan then joined the Keller family as Helen’s teacher when
Helen was six years old. Helen and her teacher would later spend several
periods at the Perkins Institute for the Blind.
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 1–10
187
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 1–10
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question What Really Matters?
How can you decide what really matters in your life? Are personal
connections such as family and friends most important to you, or are you
more concerned with important social issues or causes? Reading about
other people whose lives were defined by what mattered most to them
can be interesting and revealing as you go about the process of
discovering and exploring what matters most to you.
As you read the first ten chapters of Helen Keller’s The Story of My Life,
see if you can answer the question of what really matters to her and to
those around her.
Literary Element Voice
Voice is an author’s distinctive style or the particular speech patterns of a
character in a story. Voice is created through the author’s word choice,
sentence structure, and attitude toward the subject matter.
Voice is on of the elements that makes an author’s work unique. As you
read the first ten chapters of The Story of My Life, notice how Helen
Keller’s distinctive voice draws you into her experiences.
Reading Strategy Connect to Personal Experience
When you connect to personal experience, you relate an experience you
read about to one you have actually had. For example, the people,
feelings, or events that Helen Keller describes may remind you of
moments in your own life.
Connecting what you read to personal experience is important because it
enables you to better understand the author’s ideas.
To connect to personal experience when you read,
• note any mention of activities you enjoy.
• ask yourself if you have known people in your life who are similar to
the characters.
• think about events and situations that may have made you experience
the feelings described in the work.
As you read the opening chapters of the autobiography, ask yourself if
you can relate to the life lessons that Keller has learned. You may find it
helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one on the right.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
Vocabulary
anecdotes [an ik dōts ] n. brief
narratives, usually interesting or
humorous
My great-aunt has amazing
anecdotes about traveling in
Tibet.
caprice [kə prēs ] n. a sudden,
impulsive action or notion;
a whim
In a fit of caprice, the office
workers decided that every
Friday they would have a
costume party.
indulgent [in dul jənt] adj. lenient
If Jody’s parents had been less
indulgent with her, she wouldn’t
have thrown so many tantrums
as a child.
innate [i nāt] adj. present in an
individual from birth
Noah has always had an innate
talent for getting along with other
people.
poignancy [poin yən sē] n. the
ability to affect deeply or make
an impression
The music of Mozart often
contains remarkable poignancy.
Detail from
Autobiography
My Related
Experience
ACT IVE READING: Chapters 1–10
Helen Keller describes her early life as a series of
events that were important to her. As you read
about these events, reflect on how they affect or
change Helen’s life in some way. Use the top half of
the chart below to describe the effects of important
Event in Helen’s Life
Helen becomes ill when she is nineteen
months old.
events on Helen. Use the bottom half of the chart to
add events you yourself have experienced—and
the effect of those events and experiences on
your life.
Effect of the Event on Helen and Her Life
Helen loses her ability to see and hear. Her
family indulges her. She often misbehaves.
Anne Sullivan arrives.
Helen learns to communicate through sign
language.
Helen begins to understand the concepts of
abstract ideas, such as “think” and “love.”
Helen learns to read.
Helen and her teacher visit Boston.
Event in My Life
Effect of the Event on Me and My Life
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 1–10
189
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Voice What are some of the words
choices that make this passage
distinctive? How does Keller’s
sentence structure enhance your
understanding and enjoyment of
the passage?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 3
Meanwhile, the desire to express myself grew. The few
signs I used became less and less adequate, and my failures
to make myself understood were invariably followed by
outbursts of passion. I felt as if invisible hands were
holding me, and I made frantic efforts to free myself. I
struggled—not that struggling helped matters, but the spirit
of resistance was strong within me; I generally broke down
in tears and physical exhaustion. If my mother happened to
be near I crept into her arms, too miserable even to
remember the cause of the tempest. After awhile the need
of some means of communication became so urgent that
these outbursts occurred daily, sometimes hourly.
My parents were deeply grieved and perplexed. We
lived a long way from any school for the blind or the deaf,
and it seemed unlikely that any one would come to such
an out-of-the-way place as Tuscumbia to teach a child who
was both deaf and blind. Indeed, my friends and relatives
sometimes doubted whether I could be taught. My
mother’s only ray of hope came from Dickens’s “American
Notes.” She had read his account of Laura Bridgman, and
remembered vaguely that she was deaf and blind, yet had
been educated. But she also remembered with a hopeless
pang that Dr. Howe, who had discovered the way to teach
the deaf and blind, had been dead many years. His
methods had probably died with him; and if they had not,
how was a little girl in a far-off town in Alabama to receive
the benefit of them?
When I was about six years old, my father heard of an
eminent oculist in Baltimore, who had been successful in
many cases that had seemed hopeless. My parents at once
determined to take me to Baltimore to see if anything
could be done for my eyes.
The journey, which I remember well, was very pleasant.
I made friends with many people on the train. One lady
gave me a box of shells. My father made holes in these so
that I could string them, and for a long time they kept me
happy and contented. The conductor, too, was kind. Often
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
when he went his rounds I clung to his coat tails while he
collected and punched the tickets. His punch, with which
he let me play, was a delightful toy. Curled up in a corner
of the seat I amused myself for hours making funny little
holes in bits of cardboard. . . .
When we arrived in Baltimore, Dr. Chisholm received
us kindly: but he could do nothing. He said, however, that
I could be educated, and advised my father to consult Dr.
Alexander Graham Bell, of Washington, who would be
able to give him information about schools and teachers of
deaf or blind children. Acting on the doctor’s advice, we
went immediately to Washington to see Dr. Bell, my father
with a sad heart and many misgivings, I wholly
unconscious of his anguish, finding pleasure in the
excitement of moving from place to place. Child as I was, I
at once felt the tenderness and sympathy which endeared
Dr. Bell to so many hearts, as his wonderful achievements
enlist their admiration. He held me on his knee while I
examined his watch, and he made it strike for me. He
understood my signs, and I knew it and loved him at once.
But I did not dream that that interview would be the door
through which I should pass from darkness into light, from
isolation to friendship, companionship, knowledge, love.
Dr. Bell advised my father to write to Mr. Anagnos,
director of the Perkins Institution in Boston, the scene of
Dr. Howe’s great labours for the blind, and ask him if he
had a teacher competent to begin my education. This my
father did at once, and in a few weeks there came a kind
letter from Mr. Anagnos with the comforting assurance
that a teacher had been found. This was in the summer of
1886. But Miss Sullivan did not arrive until the following
March.
Thus I came up out of Egypt and stood before Sinai, and
a power divine touched my spirit and gave it sight, so that
I beheld many wonders. And from the sacred mountain I
heard a voice which said, “Knowledge is love and light
and vision.”
Literary Element
Voice Keller gives the arrival of her
teacher an almost mystical
significance. What does this add to
the story for you as a reader?
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 1–10
191
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Connect to Personal Experience
Think about a cherished childhood
toy or other possession you had
that was lost or broken. In what
ways was your experience similar
to what Helen relates about
Nancy?
192
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 9
As I shall not have occasion to refer to Nancy again, I
wish to tell here a sad experience she had soon after our
arrival in Boston. She was covered with dirt—the remains
of mud pies I had compelled her to eat, although she had
never shown any special liking for them. The laundress at
the Perkins Institution secretly carried her off to give her a
bath. This was too much for poor Nancy. When I next saw
her she was a formless heap of cotton, which I should not
have recognized at all except for the two bead eyes which
looked out at me reproachfully.
When the train at last pulled into the station at Boston it
was as if a beautiful fairy tale had come true. The “once
upon a time” was now; the “far-away country” was here.
We had scarcely arrived at the Perkins Institution for the
blind when I began to make friends with the little blind
children. It delighted me inexpressibly to find that they
knew the manual alphabet. What joy to talk with other
children in my own language! Until then I had been like a
foreigner speaking through an interpreter. In the school
where Laura Bridgman was taught I was in my own
country. . . .
One day spent with the blind children made me feel
thoroughly at home in my new environment, and I looked
eagerly from one pleasant experience to another as the
days flew swiftly by. I could not quite convince myself that
there was much world left, for I regarded Boston as the
beginning and the end of creation.
While we were in Boston we visited Bunker Hill, and
there I had my first lesson in history. The story of the brave
men who had fought on the spot where we stood excited
me greatly. I climbed the monument, counting the steps,
and wondering as I went higher and yet higher if the
soldiers had climbed this great stairway and shot at the
enemy on the ground below.
The next day we went to Plymouth by water. This was
my first trip on the ocean and my first voyage in a
steamboat. How full of life and motion it was! But the
rumble of the machinery made me think it was thundering,
and I began to cry, because I feared if it rained we should
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
not be able to have our picnic out of doors. I was more
interested, I think, in the great rock on which the Pilgrims
landed than in anything else in Plymouth. I could touch it,
and perhaps that made the coming of the Pilgrims and
their toils and great deeds seem more real to me. I have
often held in my hand a little model of the Plymouth Rock
which a kind gentleman gave me at Pilgrim Hall, and I
have fingered its curves, the split in the centre and the
embossed figures “1620,” and turned over in my mind all
that I knew about the wonderful story of the Pilgrims.
How my childish imagination glowed with the
splendour of their enterprise! I idealized them as the
bravest and most generous men that ever sought a home in
a strange land. I thought they desired the freedom of their
fellow men as well as their own. I was keenly surprised
and disappointed years later to learn of their acts of
persecution that make us tingle with shame, even while we
glory in the courage and energy that gave us our “Country
Beautiful.”
Among the many friends I made in Boston were Mr.
William Endicott and his daughter. Their kindness to me
was the seed from which many pleasant memories have
since grown. One day we visited their beautiful home at
Beverly Farms. I remember with delight how I went
through their rose-garden, how their dogs, big Leo and
little curly-haired Fritz with long ears, came to meet me,
and how Nimrod, the swiftest of the horses, poked his
nose into my hands for a pat and a lump of sugar. I also
remember the beach, where for the first time I played in
the sand. It was hard, smooth sand, very different from the
loose, sharp sand, mingled with kelp and shells, at
Brewster. Mr. Endicott told me about the great ships that
came sailing by from Boston, bound for Europe. I saw him
many times after that, and he was always a good friend to
me; indeed, I was thinking of him when I called Boston
“the City of Kind Hearts.”
Reading Strategy
Connect to Personal Experience
Do you have (or have you had in
the past) a special place where you
love to be? In what way are your
feelings for this place similar to
Helen’s about Boston? In what way
are your feelings different?
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 1–10
193
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What Really Matters? What is
Helen trying to understand in this
excerpt? Why is that important to
her?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 6
At first, when my teacher told me about a new thing I
asked very few questions. My ideas were vague, and my
vocabulary was inadequate; but as my knowledge of things
grew, and I learned more and more words, my field of
inquiry broadened, and I would return again and again to
the same subject, eager for further information. Sometimes
a new word revived an image that some earlier experience
had engraved on my brain.
I remember the morning that I first asked the meaning
of the word, “love.” This was before I knew many words. I
had found a few early violets in the garden and brought
them to my teacher. She tried to kiss me; but at that time I
did not like to have any one kiss me except my mother.
Miss Sullivan put her arm gently round me and spelled
into my hand, “I love Helen.”
“What is love?” I asked.
She drew me closer to her and said, “It is here,” pointing
to my heart, whose beats I was conscious of for the first
time. Her words puzzled me very much because I did not
then understand anything unless I touched it.
I smelt the violets in her hand and asked, half in words,
half in signs, a question which meant, “Is love the
sweetness of flowers?”
“No,” said my teacher.
Again I thought. The warm sun was shining on us.
“Is this not love?” I asked, pointing in the direction from
which the heat came, “Is this not love?”
It seemed to me that there could be nothing more
beautiful than the sun, whose warmth makes all things
grow. But Miss Sullivan shook her head, and I was greatly
puzzled and disappointed. I thought it strange that my
teacher could not show me love.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key ideas.
Recap
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 1–10
195
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–10
Respond and Think Critically
1. What event causes Helen to realize that “Everything ha[s] a name”?
Why does Helen call this discovery her “soul’s sudden awakening”?
[Interpret]
2. How does Miss Sullivan teach Helen to read? How do Miss Sullivan’s
creative teaching methods motivate Helen? [Analyze]
3. What places do Helen and Miss Sullivan visit while they are in Boston?
Why does Helen call her trip to Boston an important event? [Infer]
4. Describe the relationship between Helen and her teacher. How do your
own experiences help you to appreciate or relate to Miss Sullivan’s
dedication to Helen? [Connect]
5. What Really Matters? In Chapter 6, Anne teaches Helen about the
concept of “love.” Why does Helen’s sudden understanding of this
abstract concept have such a profound effect on her? [Infer]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Introduction to the
Autobiography on page 184. How
did that information help you
understand or appreciate what
you read in the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–10
Literary Element Voice
1. In this section of the autobiography, Helen Keller
writes in a series of brief sketches rather than in a
straightforward chronological narrative. Do you think
this style is effective? Why or why not? [Evaluate]
2. Helen writes passionately about her learning
experiences. However, her references to such things
as the loss of her beloved doll Nancy and her
parakeet Tim use far less emotional language. What
do you think might account for the differences in how
these emotional moments are written? [Conclude]
Reading Skill Connect to
Personal Experience
1. Helen’s teacher opened her up to a new and richer
life. Have you ever had a special friend, mentor, or
teacher who introduced you to ideas and new ways
of thinking and feeling? In what way was your
experience like and unlike Helen Keller’s? [Connect]
Vocabulary Practice
On a separate sheet of paper, write the vocabulary
word that correctly completes each sentence.
anecdote
indulgent
poignancy
caprice
innate
1. Some teachers are ____________ about gum
chewing during class, but most strictly forbid it.
2. Sometimes Ms. Yatamoto doesn’t get all the way
through the history lesson because she tells so
many interesting ____________.
3. Having great love of animals is a(n) ____________
characteristic in my family.
4. Like many people, I had a childhood that was a
strange blend of comedy and ____________.
5. In a moment of sheer ____________, Edie
decided to have ice cream for dinner.
Academic Vocabulary
Once Helen was able to understand the principle that
“everything has a name,” a whole new world revealed
itself to her. To learn more about the word principle, fill
out the graphic organizer below.
definition
synonym
principle
2. Before her teacher shows her that everything has a
name, Helen is profoundly frustrated by her inability
to learn. Have you ever felt incapable of learning
something despite your desire and strong effort to do
so? Describe your experience. [Analyze]
antonym
sentence/image
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 1–10
197
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 1–10
Write with Style
Research and Report
Apply Sentence Structure
Visual Media/Presentation
Assignment One of the things that defines Helen
Keller’s voice is a strong sense of rhythm. She
accomplishes it by using elegantly structured
sentences of various lengths. You can create this
effect in your own writing. Review the opening
chapters of the novel. Using similar sentence
structures, write a brief story about something that
happened to you when you were a young child.
Assignment In a small group, research the different
communications technologies that are available to
people who are hearing- or vision-impaired. You
can gather information from the Internet, through
various businesses, or from schools for persons
who are hearing- or vision-impaired. Use visual aids
to present your findings to the class.
Get Ideas Make a list of your early childhood
memories. Choose one memory from the list to write
about.
Give It Structure Begin your paragraph with a topic
sentence stating your main idea. Follow with
supporting sentences. End with a sentence that
restates the main idea.
Look at Language Try using the following
techniques to add variety to your sentences.
• Alternate shorter sentences and longer
sentences.
• If you have two or three short sentences in a
row, try combining them into one longer
sentence.
• Start with an adjective or adverb: Terrified,
I jumped down from the counter.
• Start with an adverb phrase: In the silence,
I heard my mother’s footsteps coming.
• Start with a subordinate clause: As my mother
turned the corner toward the kitchen, I slipped
on the spilled oil and fell down.
Get Ideas Discuss the various techniques you might
use to create your visual presentation. Will you
create a process diagram to show how a particular
technology works? Or will you instead create a
timeline to reveal the history of several technologies’?
Take notes on any ideas that come up.
Research To get your discussion started, make a
list of technologies specifically for hearing- and
vision-impaired persons. Use an Internet search
engine and a chart like the one below to keep track
of your findings.
Hearing impaired
visual fire alarms
captioning
Vision impaired
talking watches
and computer
programs
screen Braille
communicator
Prepare When you have completed your research,
choose the technology or technologies you wish to
present. Then go back to your discussion notes and
decide which method you will use to present it.
Work with your group to create the best possible
graphic organizers and visual aids.
Present Choose one or two group members to
present the group’s findings to the class. The
presenters should rehearse the visual presentation
and get feedback from their fellow group members.
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BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 11–17
Connect to the Literature
If you could visit any place in the world, where would you go? Why?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
Quickwrite
Think about your favorite place. What details stand out in your mind?
Write a descriptive paragraph about this place, using words that will help
someone visualize the place you are describing.
WRITE A CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, using information in Build
Background.
Build Background
World’s Columbian Exposition
In 1893 the World’s Columbian Exposition—or World’s Fair—that Helen
Keller describes in her autobiography was held in Chicago to celebrate
the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in America. The fair went on
for six months and boasted over 21 million visitors. The plaster-fronted
buildings were lighted at night by electricity, a phenomenon still quite
unfamiliar to most Americans. As a result of the illuminated buildings, the
exposition came to be known as the “White City.” In addition, the Ferris
wheel made its debut at the fair. This wildly popular ride, designed by a
Pennsylvania bridge builder named George Ferris, could accommodate
more than 2,000 riders at time. Each car was the size of a bus and could
hold up to sixty riders. By contemporary standards, this “thrill ride” was
pretty slow—it took twenty minutes to perform two complete revolutions!
The Midway Plaisance, a favorite with Helen Keller, was a strip of land on
which many of the fair’s amusements were located. Keller describes some
of her experiences there in The Story of My Life.
The S tor y of M y Life: C ha pters 11–17
199
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 11–17
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question What Really Matters?
Do you ever look back on a troublesome event or situation in your life and
wonder what made you get so upset over it? Sometimes experience can
lead you to new perspectives. You can view what’s really important
through three sometimes related perspectives:
• personal connections
• social issues
• scientific matters
As you read the next section of the novel, think about which of these
perspectives relates to Helen’s view of what really matters—and why.
Literary Element Flashback
A flashback is a chronological narrative that tells about something that
happened before that point in the story or before the story began.
Flashbacks give readers information that helps explain the main events of
the story.
Although Chapters 11–17 take readers chronologically through the events
of Helen Keller’s life, the author does include a recollection within a
recollection, which serves as a kind of flashback. As you read, identify this
use of flashback and evaluate what it adds to the story. Use the graphic
organizer on the next page to help you.
Reading Strategy Interpret Figurative Language
When you interpret figurative language, you use your own prior knowledge
and understanding of the world to decide what the author intends to
communicate by the use of words and phrases that convey ideas beyond
their literal meanings. Some examples of figurative language are
• metaphor—a figure of speech that compares or equates seemingly
unlike things
• simile—a figure of speech using like or as that compares or equates
seemingly unlike things
• personification—a figure of speech in which an animal, object, or idea
is given human form or characteristics
Interpreting figurative language is important because it can help you to
uncover more complex meanings behind the author’s words and phrases.
When you interpret figurative language, you break down figures of
speech to derive meaning from the comparison being made. As you
interpret figurative language in the next chapters, you may find it helpful to
use a graphic organizer like the one at the right.
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N OV E L COM PA NION: Un it 5
Vocabulary
assimilate [ə sim ə lāt] v. to
absorb; to take into the mind
The speech was stated so quickly
that I could not assimilate it.
audible [ō də bəl] adj. capable of
being heard
In the distance, barely audible,
came the sound of thunder.
intelligible [in tel ə jə bəl] n.
capable of being understood
If Marty would slow down, his
speech would be more
intelligible.
pinnacle [pin ə kəl] n. the highest
point
The pinnacle of my brother’s
college career was when he
made the dean’s list for the fifth
straight semester.
reproachfully [ri prōch fə lē] adv.
in a disapproving or blameful
manner
“What caused this blue spot on
the carpet?” Ginny asked her
little sister reproachfully.
Figurative Language
Gino is a lightning rod for
criticism.
What I Know
A lightning rod attracts
lightning to itself.
My Interpretation
Gino attracts criticism from
other people.
ACTIVE READING: Chapters 11–17
Sometimes The Story of My Life is difficult to follow
because the author moves quickly from one set of
recollections to another, at times even incorporating
a flashback within a recollection. As you read, use
Chapter
11
Setting
Alabama, at the summer cottage
near Tuscumbia
the chart below to keep track of the time and place
for each chapter and the specific important events
that occur. Note when the author uses flashback to
relate the events.
Important Events
Helen, Mildred, and Miss Sullivan get
lost; they climb down the crossbraces
of the trestle to avoid being hit by a
train.
12
13
14
15
16
17
The S tor y of M y Life: C ha pters 11–17
201
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Flashback Where does the
flashback in this passage begin?
Why do you think the author used
flashback to reveal these events?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 14
The winter of 1892 was darkened by the one cloud in
my childhood’s bright sky. Joy deserted my heart, and for
a long, long time I lived in doubt, anxiety and fear. Books
lost their charm for me, and even now the thought of those
dreadful days chills my heart. A little story called “The
Frost King,” which I wrote and sent to Mr. Anagnos, of the
Perkins Institution for the Blind, was at the root of the
trouble. In order to make the matter clear, I must set forth
the facts connected with this episode, which justice to my
teacher and to myself compels me to write.
I wrote the story when I was at home, the autumn after
I had learned to speak. We had stayed up at Fern Quarry
later than usual. While we were there, Miss Sullivan had
described to me the beauties of the late foliage, and it
seems that her descriptions revived the memory of a story,
which must have been read to me, and which I must have
unconsciously retained. I thought then that I was “making
up a story,” as children say, and I eagerly sat down to write
it before the ideas should slip from me. My thoughts
flowed easily; I felt a sense of joy in the composition.
Words and images came tripping to my finger ends, and as
I thought out sentence after sentence, I wrote them on my
braille slate. Now, if words and images come to me
without effort, it is a pretty sure sign that they are not the
offspring of my own mind, but stray waifs that I
regretfully dismiss. At that time I eagerly absorbed
everything I read without a thought of authorship, and
even now I cannot be quite sure of the boundary line
between my ideas and those I find in books. I suppose that
is because so many of my impressions come to me through
the medium of others’ eyes and ears.
When the story was finished, I read it to my teacher, and
I recall now vividly the pleasure I felt in the more beautiful
passages, and my annoyance at being interrupted to have
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
the pronunciation of a word corrected. At dinner it was
read to the assembled family, who were surprised that I
could write so well. Some one asked me if I had read it in a
book.
This question surprised me very much; for I had not the
faintest recollection of having had it read to me. I spoke up
and said, “Oh, no, it is my story, and I have written it for
Mr. Anagnos.”
Accordingly I copied the story and sent it to him for his
birthday. It was suggested that I should change the title
from “Autumn Leaves” to “The Frost King,” which I did. I
carried the little story to the post-office myself, feeling as if
I were walking on air. I little dreamed how cruelly I should
pay for that birthday gift.
Mr. Anagnos was delighted with “The Frost King,” and
published it in one of the Perkins Institution reports. This
was the pinnacle of my happiness, from which I was in a
little while dashed to earth. I had been in Boston only a
short time when it was discovered that a story similar to
“The Frost King,” called “The Frost Fairies,” by Miss
Margaret T. Canby, had appeared before I was born in a
book called “Birdie and His Friends.” The two stories were
so much alike in thought and language that it was evident
Miss Canby’s story had been read to me, and that mine
was—a plagiarism. It was difficult to make me understand
this; but when I did understand I was astonished and
grieved. No child ever drank deeper of the cup of
bitterness than I did. I had disgraced myself; I had brought
suspicion upon those I loved best. And yet how could it
possibly have happened? I racked my brain until I was
weary to recall anything about the frost that I had read
before I wrote “The Frost King”; but I could remember
nothing, except the common reference to Jack Frost, and a
poem for children, “The Freaks of the Frost,” and I knew I
had not used that in my composition.
Literary Element
Flashback Why do you think the
author used dialogue in the
flashback?
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 11–17
203
INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Interpret Figurative Language
Identify an example of a metaphor
and personification in this passage.
How do you interpret the meaning
of each?
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 12
After my first visit to Boston, I spent almost every
winter in the North. Once I went on a visit to a New
England village with its frozen lakes and vast snow fields.
It was then that I had opportunities such as had never
been mine to enter into the treasures of the snow.
I recall my surprise on discovering that a mysterious
hand had stripped the trees and bushes, leaving only here
and there a wrinkled leaf. The birds had flown, and their
empty nests in the bare trees were filled with snow. Winter
was on hill and field. The earth seemed benumbed by his
icy touch, and the very spirits of the trees had withdrawn
to their roots, and there, curled up in the dark, lay fast
asleep. All life seemed to have ebbed away, and even when
the sun shone the day was
Shrunk and cold,
As if her veins were sapless and old,
And she rose decrepitly
For a last dim look at earth and sea.
The withered grass and the bushes were transformed
into a forest of icicles.
Then came a day when the chill air portended a
snowstorm. We rushed out-of-doors to feel the first few
tiny flakes descending. Hour by hour the flakes dropped
silently, softly from their airy height to the earth, and the
country became more and more level. A snowy night
closed upon the world, and in the morning one could
scarcely recognize a feature of the landscape. All the roads
were hidden, not a single landmark was visible, only a
waste of snow with trees rising out of it.
In the evening a wind from the northeast sprang up,
and the flakes rushed hither and thither in furious mêlée.
Around the great fire we sat and told merry tales, and
frolicked, and quite forgot that we were in the midst of a
desolate solitude, shut in from all communication with the
outside world. But during the night the fury of the wind
increased to such a degree that it thrilled us with a vague
terror. The rafters creaked and strained, and the branches
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INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
of the trees surrounding the house rattled and beat against
the windows, as the winds rioted up and down the
country.
On the third day after the beginning of the storm the
snow ceased. The sun broke through the clouds and shone
upon a vast, undulating white plain. High mounds,
pyramids heaped in fantastic shapes, and impenetrable
drifts lay scattered in every direction.
Narrow paths were shoveled through the drifts. I put on
my cloak and hood and went out. The air stung my cheeks
like fire. Half walking in the paths, half working our way
through the lesser drifts, we succeeded in reaching a pine
grove just outside a broad pasture. The trees stood
motionless and white like figures in a marble frieze. There
was no odour of pine-needles. The rays of the sun fell
upon the trees, so that the twigs sparkled like diamonds
and dropped in showers when we touched them. So
dazzling was the light, it penetrated even the darkness that
veils my eyes.
As the days wore on, the drifts gradually shrunk, but
before they were wholly gone another storm came, so that
I scarcely felt the earth under my feet once all winter. At
intervals the trees lost their icy covering, and the bulrushes
and underbrush were bare; but the lake lay frozen and
hard beneath the sun.
Our favourite amusement during that winter was
tobogganing. In places the shore of the lake rises abruptly
from the water’s edge. Down these steep slopes we used to
coast. We would get on our toboggan, a boy would give us
a shove, and off we went! Plunging through drifts, leaping
hollows, swooping down upon the lake, we would shoot
across its gleaming surface to the opposite bank. What joy!
What exhilarating madness! For one wild, glad moment
we snapped the chain that binds us to earth, and joining
hands with the winds we felt ourselves divine!
Reading Strategy
Interpret Figurative Language
What things are being compared in
the similes in this passage?
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 11–17
205
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What Really Matters? Why is
writing difficult for the author and
why does she keep trying to master
it?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 14
I am afraid I have not yet completed this process. It is
certain that I cannot always distinguish my own thoughts
from those I read, because what I read becomes the very
substance and texture of my mind. Consequently, in nearly
all that I write, I produce something which very much
resembles the crazy patchwork I used to make when I first
learned to sew. This patchwork was made of all sorts of
odds and ends—pretty bits of silk and velvet; but the
coarse pieces that were not pleasant to touch always
predominated. Likewise my compositions are made up of
crude notions of my own, inlaid with the brighter thoughts
and riper opinions of the authors I have read. It seems to
me that the difficulty of writing is to make the language of
the educated mind express our confused ideas, half
feelings, half thoughts, when we are little more than
bundles of instinctive tendencies. Trying to write is very
much like trying to put a Chinese puzzle together. We have
a pattern in mind which we wish to work out in words; but
the words will not fit the spaces, or, if they do, they will
not match the design. But we keep on trying because we
know that others have succeeded, and we are not willing to
acknowledge defeat.
“There is no way to become original, except to be born
so,” says Stevenson, and although I may not be original, I
hope sometime to outgrow my artificial, periwigged
compositions. Then, perhaps, my own thoughts and
experiences will come to the surface. Meanwhile I trust and
hope and persevere, and try not to let the bitter memory of
“The Frost King” trammel my efforts.
So this sad experience may have done me good and set
me thinking on some of the problems of composition. My
only regret is that it resulted in the loss of one of my
dearest friends, Mr. Anagnos.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
ASK QUESTIONS
Write a question about the novel.
Can you find the answer in your
notes?
Recap
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 11–17
207
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 11–17
Respond and Think Critically
1. How does Mr. Anagnos react after Helen is accused of plagiarism?
Why does he react in this way? [Analyze]
2. How does Helen describe her emotions upon visiting Niagara Falls and
the World’s Fair? Why does she call these places wonders? [Evaluate]
3. What is Helen’s apparent attitude toward her education? Why do you
think she feels this way? [Infer]
4. Based on Helen’s descriptions of her travels, what do you think she
would most enjoy about visiting a place you would like visit? Why?
[Connect]
5. What Really Matters? Why is it so important to Helen to clarify the
story behind her writing of the “The Frost King”? [Interpret]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Meet the Author on page
186. How did that information
help you understand or
appreciate what you read in the
novel?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 11–17
Literary Element Flashback
1. In what ways does the author’s use of flashback
in this section differ from the rest of the
autobiography’s narrative, which consists
entirely of memories of her past? [Analyze]
Vocabulary Practice
Identify whether the words in each pair have the
same or opposite meaning.
1. assimilate and absorb
2. audible and imperceptible
3. intelligible and garbled
2. How does Helen Keller’s use of flashback compare to
other flashbacks you have come across in literary
works? [Evaluate]
4. pinnacle and apex
5. reproachfully and hopefully
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Skill Interpret Figurative Language
1. In Chapter 11, Helen Keller says that when she met
new people who “talked” into her hand, “The barren
places between my mind and the minds of others
blossomed like the rose.” What is being compared in
this simile and what does it mean? [Interpret]
Helen learned to speak by using her sense of touch to
understand how the movements of the tongue
correspond to the sounds of human language. Using
context clues, try to figure out the meaning of the
boldfaced word in the sentence above. Write your
guess below. Then check it in a dictionary.
2. Keller describes a stream as “frolicsome” and says it
“leaps,” “tumbles” and “laughs.” What kind of
figurative language is this? What is your
interpretation of it? [Interpret]
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 11–17
209
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 11–17
Write with Style
Speaking and Listening
Apply Figurative Language
Literature Group
Assignment Figurative language is often a part of
an author’s distinctive voice. Review some of the
metaphors, similes, and examples of personification
in the autobiography so far. Write a paragraph
about an emotional moment from your recent or
distant past using at least one example of each
figure of speech.
Assignment In this section of the biography, Helen
is still quite young—ten to fourteen years old. In a
small group, discuss the following questions: How
does Helen’s age affect your responses to her
experiences? Are you surprised by any of her
actions or emotions? How might you react in similar
circumstances?
Get Ideas Make a list of words you associate with
the moment you have selected.
Guilt
sadness
loneliness
shame
Prepare Before your group meets, review Chapters
11–17 and take notes about Helen’s emotional
reactions to such situations as the accusation of
plagiarism, her visit to the World’s Fair, and her
various teachers. Create a chart like the one below
to keep track of your ideas and reactions.
Then think about the comparisons you can make
from those words. For example:
Guilt
murky gray fog
impenetrable prison cell
utter darkness
a rat in a cage
Choose three strong images from your list and
create a simile, a metaphor, and an example of
personification from each.
Examples
Simile: My guilt was like a murky gray fog.
Metaphor: Its impenetrable prison walls kept me
from talking to my friends and family.
Personification: Guilt enveloped me in its arms and
made me a constant companion.
Give It Structure Begin with a topic sentence that
leads readers into your paragraph. Try not to clump
your examples of figurative language together.
Instead spread them out over the paragraph.
Look at Language Once you have completed a draft
of your paragraph, reread it very carefully. Is the
language as vivid as you would like it to be? If not,
use a thesaurus to replace weak words with
strong ones.
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Event/
Situation
How Helen
Reacts
How I Might
React
Helen is
accused of
plagiarism.
She breaks
down
emotionally,
can’t sleep or
eat or have
any fun.
I might break
down at first,
but I would
try to
understand
and explain
what had
happened.
Discuss When you meet with your group, use your
chart to fuel the discussion. Listen carefully to your
fellow group members. If there are disagreements,
attempt to resolve them calmly and politely. Be
specific in your use of examples from the text.
Report Present your group’s findings in a panel
discussion that allows each person to contribute his
or her thoughts. Be sure each group member
speaks loudly enough for the rest of the class to
hear.
Evaluate Write a paragraph in which you assess
the effectiveness of your discussion.
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 18–23
Connect to the Literature
What are some of your long-term goals or ambitions? How do you plan to
achieve them?
Make a Chart
Think of a particular goal you would like to achieve. Create a chart that
outlines the steps you will need to follow to achieve the goal. In what
sequence must you complete the steps? Which are most important? How
long will they take?
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Build Background
Braille’s Gift
Louis Braille, a Frenchman who lived in the early 1800s, became blind at
the age of four as a result of an injury and ensuing infection. He eventually
learned to read through a system of embossing, or pressing letters of the
alphabet into sheets of waxed paper. A reader would trace the outlines of
the impressions with a finger. The process was laborious, and few
embossed books were available.
Eventually, Charles Barbier invented a system of raised dots and dashes,
to be used by the military for silent communication at night. This system
was based on sounds and was complex and difficult. Building on Barbier’s
work, the twelve-year-old Braille began to experiment in an effort to
simplify it. After years of trial and error, Braille developed a system of
raised dots that represented the letters of the alphabet. Braille’s
breakthrough opened a new world of possibilities for readers who were
vision-impaired.
The S tor y of M y Life: C ha pters 18–23
211
BEFORE YOU READ: Chapters 18–23
Set Purposes for Reading
Vocabulary
왘 BIG Question What Really Matters?
As people grow older and more experienced, their ideas about what
matters most often change. As you read the final section of the
autobiography, ask yourself whether or not Helen Keller’s view of what
matters most in her life changes or stays the same as she enters college
and society.
Literary Element Anecdote
An anecdote is a brief, entertaining story based on a single interesting or
humorous incident or event. Anecdotes often reveal some aspect of a
person’s character. They can be used to add interest to a person’s life
story. Throughout her autobiography, author Helen Keller uses anecdotes
to draw readers into the larger world of her experience.
As you read the final section of the autobiography, notice which
anecdotes engage you most and bring Helen Keller’s story to life.
Reading Skill Analyze Historical Context
When you analyze historical context in a literary work, you pay attention
to details that reveal what life was like for certain groups of people at a
particular time in history. This involves examining the political and social
factors that influenced the events described in the work.
Analyzing historical context is important because it helps you to
understand challenges people faced in the past. You can use this
knowledge to understand social issues people still face today.
When you analyze historical context, you
• look for details that tell about a particular time and place.
• determine what those details reveal about what it was like to live at
that time in history.
As you read the final chapters of The Story of My Life, look for details that
establish the historical context of Helen Keller’s college days and her
journey toward adulthood in the larger world. You may wish to use graphic
organizers like the one below and on the next page to keep track of your
findings.
Society
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College
caricatures [kar ə kə chərz]
n. exaggerations through
distorted characteristics
I didn’t believe one thing about
that movie because all the people
in it were caricatures.
encumbered [en kum bərd] adj.
weighed down
Mr. Howard is always worried
because he’s encumbered by
debt.
panorama [pan ə ram ə] n. a
complete view
The panorama of the Australian
outback is amazing to behold.
remonstrate [rim on strāt] v. to
protest; to reprove
Dawn ran over a man’s foot with
her shopping cart, which made
him remonstrate at peak volume.
tedium [tē dē əm] n. the quality of
being tiresome; boredom
The tedium of the country
afternoons was too much for
Daniel—he just had to get into
town once in a while.
ACTIVE READING: Chapters 18–23
Helen Keller’s insistent pursuit of her educational
and societal goals broke new ground in the early
part of the twentieth century. In this section of The
Story of My Life, she writes about some of the
challenges she faced. Using the web diagram
Today:
Mr. Gilman tried to hold
Helen back.
below, which lists some of those challenges, tell
how she met and surpassed them. In the bubbles
labeled “Today,” add information about how each
situation might be different if Helen were attempting
to get an education today.
Today:
Today:
Teachers lacked
experience with deaf and
blind students.
Textbooks could not be
embossed quickly.
Helen Keller’s Challenges
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 18–23
213
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Anecdote Why does Oliver
Wendell Holmes cry when Helen
recites the Tennyson poem? What
does this anecdote tell you about
the effect she has on people?
NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 23
I remember well the first time I saw Dr. Oliver Wendell
Holmes. He had invited Miss Sullivan and me to call on
him one Sunday afternoon. It was early in the spring, just
after I had learned to speak. We were shown at once to his
library where we found him seated in a big armchair by an
open fire which glowed and crackled on the hearth,
thinking, he said, of other days.
“And listening to the murmur of the River Charles,”
I suggested.
“Yes,” he replied, “the Charles has many dear
associations for me.” There was an odour of print and
leather in the room which told me that it was full of
books, and I stretched out my hand instinctively to find
them. My fingers lighted upon a beautiful volume of
Tennyson’s poems, and when Miss Sullivan told me what
it was I began to recite:
Break, break, break
On thy cold gray stones, O sea!
But I stopped suddenly. I felt tears on my hand. I had
made my beloved poet weep, and I was greatly distressed.
He made me sit in his armchair, while he brought different
interesting things for me to examine, and at his request I
recited “The Chambered Nautilus,” which was then my
favorite poem. After that I saw Dr. Holmes many times
and learned to love the man as well as the poet.
One beautiful summer day, not long after my meeting
with Dr. Holmes, Miss Sullivan and I visited Whittier in
his quiet home on the Merrimac. His gentle courtesy and
quaint speech won my heart. He had a book of his poems
in raised print from which I read “In School Days.” He was
delighted that I could pronounce the words so well, and
said that he had no difficulty in understanding me. Then I
asked many questions about the poem, and read his
answers by placing my fingers on his lips. He said he was
the little boy in the poem, and that the girl’s name was
Sally, and more which I have forgotten. I also recited “Laus
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INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
Deo,” and as I spoke the concluding verses, he placed in
my hands a statue of a slave from whose crouching figure
the fetters were falling, even as they fell from Peter’s limbs
when the angel led him forth out of prison. Afterward we
went into his study, and he wrote his autograph for my
teacher and expressed his admiration of her work, saying
to me, “She is thy spiritual liberator.” Then he led me to
the gate and kissed me tenderly on my forehead. I
promised to visit him again the following summer; but he
died before the promise was fulfilled. . . .
I have already written of my first meeting with Dr.
Alexander Graham Bell. Since then I have spent many
happy days with him at Washington and at his beautiful
home in the heart of Cape Breton Island, near Baddeck, the
village made famous by Charles Dudley Warner’s book.
Here in Dr. Bell’s laboratory, or in the fields on the shore of
the great Bras d’Or, I have spent many delightful hours
listening to what he had to tell me about his experiments,
and helping him fly kites by means of which he expects to
discover the laws that shall govern the future airship. Dr.
Bell is proficient in many fields of science, and has the art
of making every subject he touches interesting, even the
most abstruse theories. He makes you feel that if you only
had a little more time, you, too, might be an inventor. He
has a humorous and poetic side, too. His dominating
passion is his love for children. He is never quite so happy
as when he has a little deaf child in his arms. His labours
in behalf of the deaf will live on and bless generations of
children yet to come; and we love him alike for what he
himself has achieved and for what he has evoked from
others.
Literary Element
Anecdote What does this brief
anecdote tell you about Alexander
Graham Bell’s personality? What
does it tell you about Helen Keller’s
personality?
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 18–23
215
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Analyze Historical Context What
does this passage tell you about
the social values of the time during
which Helen Keller was trying to
move forward in her studies?
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 19
On the seventeenth of November I was not very well,
and did not go to school. Although Miss Sullivan knew
that my indisposition was not serious, yet Mr. Gilman, on
hearing of it, declared that I was breaking down and made
changes in my studies which would have rendered it
impossible for me to take my final examinations with my
class. In the end the difference of opinion between Mr.
Gilman and Miss Sullivan resulted in my mother’s
withdrawing my sister Mildred and me from the
Cambridge School.
After some delay it was arranged that I should continue
my studies under a tutor, Mr. Merton S. Keith, of
Cambridge. Miss Sullivan and I spent the rest of the winter
with our friends, the Chamberlins in Wrentham, twentyfive miles from Boston.
From February to July, 1898, Mr. Keith came out to
Wrentham twice a week, and taught me algebra, geometry,
Greek and Latin. Miss Sullivan interpreted his instruction.
In October, 1898, we returned to Boston. For eight
months Mr. Keith gave me lessons five times a week, in
periods of about an hour. He explained each time what I
did not understand in the previous lesson, assigned new
work, and took home with him the Greek exercises which I
had written during the week on my typewriter, corrected
them fully, and returned them to me.
In this way my preparation for college went on without
interruption. I found it much easier and pleasanter to be
taught by myself than to receive instruction in class. There
was no hurry, no confusion. My tutor had plenty of time to
explain what I did not understand, so I got on faster and
did better work than I ever did in school. I still found more
difficulty in mastering problems in mathematics than I did
in any other of my studies. I wish algebra and geometry
had been half as easy as the languages and literature. But
even mathematics Mr. Keith made interesting; he
succeeded in whittling problems small enough to get
through my brain. He kept my mind alert and eager, and
trained it to reason clearly, and to seek conclusions calmly
and logically, instead of jumping wildly into space and
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
arriving nowhere. He was always gentle and forbearing,
no matter how dull I might be, and believe me, my
stupidity would often have exhausted the patience of Job.
On the 29th and 30th of June, 1899, I took my final
examinations for Radcliffe College. The first day I had
Elementary Greek and Advanced Latin, and the second
day Geometry, Algebra and Advanced Greek.
The college authorities did not allow Miss Sullivan to
read the examination papers to me; so Mr. Eugene C.
Vining, one of the instructors at the Perkins Institution for
the Blind, was employed to copy the papers for me in
American braille. Mr. Vining was a stranger to me, and
could not communicate with me, except by writing braille.
The proctor was also a stranger, and did not attempt to
communicate with me in any way.
The braille worked well enough in the languages, but
when it came to geometry and algebra, difficulties rose. I
was sorely perplexed, and felt discouraged wasting much
precious time, especially in algebra. It is true that I was
familiar with all literary braille in common use in this
country—English, American, and New York Point; but the
various signs and symbols in geometry and algebra in the
three systems are very different, and I had used only the
English braille in my algebra.
Two days before the examinations, Mr. Vining sent me a
braille copy of one of the old Harvard papers in algebra.
To my dismay I found that it was in the American notation.
I sat down immediately and wrote to Mr. Vining, asking
him to explain the signs. I received another paper and a
table of signs by return mail, and I set to work to learn the
notation. But on the night before the algebra examination,
while I was struggling over some very complicated
examples, I could not tell the combinations of bracket,
brace and radical. Both Mr. Keith and I were distressed
and full of forebodings for the morrow; but we went over
to the college a little before the examination began, and
had Mr. Vining explain more fully the American symbols.
Reading Skill
Analyze Historical Context How
does this passage illustrate Helen
Keller’s fierce determination to
make society conform to her goals
and ambitions?
The S tor y of M y Life: C ha pters 18–23
217
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
What Really Matters? Why is the
gaining of knowledge so important
to Helen’s sense of herself?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses the
Big Question.
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NOVEL EXCERPT: CHAPTER 20
But the examinations are the chief bugbears of my
college life. Although I have faced them many times and
cast them down and made them bite the dust, yet they rise
again and menace me with pale looks, until like Bob Acres
I feel my courage oozing out at my finger ends. The days
before these ordeals take place are spent in cramming your
mind with mystic formulae and indigestible dates—
unpalatable diets, until you wish that books and science
and you were buried in the depths of the sea. . . .
It comes over me that in the last two or three pages of
this chapter I have used figures which will turn the laugh
against me. Ah, here they are—the mixed metaphors
mocking and strutting about before me, pointing to the bull
in the china shop assailed by hailstones and the bugbears
with pale looks, an unanalyzed species! Let them mock on.
The words describe so exactly the atmosphere of jostling,
tumbling ideas I live in that I will wink at them for once,
and put on a deliberate air to say that my ideas of college
have changed.
While my days at Radcliffe were still in the future, they
were encircled with a halo of romance, which they have
lost; but in the transition from romantic to actual I have
learned many things I should never have known had I not
tried the experiment. One of them is the precious science of
patience, which teaches us that we should take our
education as we would take a walk in the country, leisurely,
our minds hospitably open to impressions of every sort.
Such knowledge floods the soul unseen with a soundless
tidal wave of deepening thought. “Knowledge is power.”
Rather, knowledge is happiness, because to have
knowledge—broad, deep knowledge—is to know true ends
from false, and lofty things from low. To know the thoughts
and deeds that have marked man’s progress is to feel the
great heart-throbs of humanity through the centuries; and
if one does not feel in these pulsations a heavenward
striving, one must indeed be deaf to the harmonies of life.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Comment on what you learned from
your own notes.
Recap
The S tor y of M y Life: C hapters 18–23
219
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 18–23
Respond and Think Critically
1. What types of leisure activities does Helen enjoy? What do her
interests reveal about her personality? [Infer]
2. Who are some of the people Helen mentions as special friends who
have contributed to her happiness? Why does she hesitate to speak
more candidly about her friendships, calling them “things too sacred to
set forth in cold print”? [Interpret]
3. Helen is able to achieve many seemingly impossible goals. Do any of
her own goals seem impossible to you? What advice do you think Helen
might give you to help you achieve your goals? [Connect]
4. Now that you have finished The Story of My Life, what would you
suggest was Helen Keller’s purpose in writing the work? What lessons
about life does the autobiography attempt to teach? [Analyze]
5. What Really Matters? Now that you have finished reading the
autobiography, what, in your view, mattered most to Helen Keller?
[Interpret]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on
page 211. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the autobiography?
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 18–23
Literary Element Anecdote
1. In a series of anecdotes, Helen Keller describes her
encounters with many of the thinkers and artists of
her day. Which of these stories affected you most
strongly? Why? [Connect]
2. In Chapter 23, Helen Keller reveals that she doesn’t
know what it means to be bored with other people as
“the hands of people I meet are dumbly eloquent to
me.” What does she mean by this? [Interpret]
Vocabulary Practice
A synonym is a word that has the same or nearly the
same meaning as another word. Match each
boldfaced vocabulary word below with its synonym.
Use a thesaurus or dictionary to check your
answers.
1. caricature
2. encumber
3. panorama
4. remonstrate
5. tedium
a. squabble
b. transformation
c. burden
d. sketch
e. dulled
f. vista
g. monotony
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Skill Analyze Historical Context
1. Do you think getting an education would be easier
for someone like Helen Keller in today’s world? Why
or why not? [Connect]
One of the things that has made The Story of My Life so
popular over the years is the author’s refusal to allow
society to restrict her from doing the things she
dreamed of doing. Using context clues, try to figure out
the meaning of the boldface word in the sentence
above. Write your guess below. Then check it in a
dictionary.
2. In Chapter 22, Helen reveals the things she likes to
do in her spare time: walk with her dog, play solitaire
and other games, visit museums, knit and crochet,
read, and so on. In what way is this list similar to and
different from what young people like to do today?
[Analyze]
The S tor y of M y Life: C ha pters 18–23
221
AFTER YOU READ: Chapters 18–23
Writing
Research and Report
Write a Script Although there is hardly any dialogue
in The Story of My Life, many of the events depicted
contain their own special kind of drama. Write a
short script based on one of the anecdotes in the
text. For example, you might choose to portray
Helen’s meeting with the famous actor Joseph
Jefferson, or her encounter with Oliver Wendell
Holmes. Remember that scripted scenes are not
just about what the characters say, but also about
what they do. Write the stage directions
(movements you wish the actors to perform) in
parentheses.
Internet Connection
Example
JEFFERSON (in a deep theatrical voice): Welcome,
Miss Keller!
(Jefferson takes Helen’s hand and puts it on his
face near his mouth. Then in the same voice)
JEFFERSON: Welcome, Miss Keller!
(Helen smiles.)
When you have finished writing your scene,
proofread it and rehearse it briefly with a
classmate. Then perform it for the class.
Jot down some notes here first.
Assignment Helen Keller meets and even becomes
friends with a number of famous literary figures.
Choose one of the authors she mentions in Chapter
23, and conduct Internet research to find out about
the author’s life. Report on your findings and include
a brief sample quote from your chosen author’s work.
Get Ideas Before you begin your research, skim
through Chapter 23 to read anecdotes about Helen
Keller’s meetings with literary figures. Based on
these meetings, which author interests you most?
Create a web diagram around that author’s name.
Make a list of specific research questions to answer:
• What are the author’s major works?
• For what type of literature is the author best
known?
• What factors influenced the author’s work?
• What are the birth and death dates of the author?
Research Remember that the Internet is an
amazing resource, but it is filled with information of
all kinds—some of which is not factual or reliable.
As you research, use the questions below to
evaluate the reliability of each Web site.
• Is the site associated with a reputable
organization?
• Can the information be verified in other sources?
Are there grammatical or factual errors that
make the site seem questionable?
• Is the content factual, or does it contain opinion?
As you research, record the answers to your
research questions in a two-column chart. Put the
questions on the left and the answers on the right.
When you have found all the relevant information,
organize the answers in a logical sequence to
prepare your report.
Report Use the information from the reputable
sources you located on the Internet as the basis of
your report. Include your chart as a visual aid.
Create a source list of properly formatted citations
for any Web sites from which you took information.
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WORK WITH RELATE D READINGS
The Story of My Life
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in Glencoe’s Literature
Library edition of this autobiography. Support your answers with details from
the texts. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper, but jot down
some notes first on the lines provided.
Selected Letters
Helen Keller
Make Connections Evaluate the tone of the letters.
Does the tone vary from one letter to another? How
is the tone of the letters different from the tone of
the autobiography?
On His Deafness; Of One Who Neither Sees Nor
Hears
Robert F. Panara; Richard Watson Gilder
Make Connections Evaluate the apparent attitudes
toward disability expressed by Panara and Gilder in
their poems and by Keller in The Story of My Life.
What are their attitudes? What do their attitudes
suggest about personal limitations?
from The Miracle Worker: A Play for Television
William Gibson
Make Connections Review Chapter 4 of The Story
of My Life. Compare Helen Keller’s account of the
water pump scene to its dramatization in The
Miracle Worker. How does reading the scene from
the play affect your reaction to the event described
in the autobiography?
from Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty
Duke
Patty Duke and Kenneth Turan
Make Connections How is concentration an
important factor in Patty Duke’s preparation for the
role of Helen Keller and in Helen Keller’s own life?
How are Duke’s learning experiences similar to
Keller’s?
from The Sound and Silence: What Made
Alexander Graham Bell Invent the Telephone?
Joseph Epstein
Make Connections Review Keller’s brief discussion
of Bell in Chapter 23 (pp. 103–104) of The Story of
My Life. What does her description reveal about
Bell’s character? Why do you think Bell’s friendship
was especially important to Keller?
The S tor y of My Li f e
223
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: The Night Ghosts
Then I realized the light was strange. It
glowed and ebbed and seemed to fill too
much space to be a regular light source. It
was low to the ground, and wide.
I was still not frightened, and would
probably not have become frightened
except that the dogs suddenly started
to sing.
I have already talked about some of
their songs. Rain songs and first-snow
songs and meat songs and come-backand-stay-with-us songs and even puppytraining songs, but I had heard this song
only once, when an old dog had died in
the kennel. It was a death song.
And that frightened me.
They all sat. I could see them quite
well in the glow from the light—the soft
glow, the green glow, the ghost glow. It
crept into my thinking without my
knowing it: the ghost glow. Against my
wishes I started thinking of all the things
in my life that had scared me.
Ghosts and goblins and dark nights
and snakes under the bed and sounds I
didn’t know and bodies I had found and
graveyards under covered pale moons
and death, death, death . . .
And they sang and sang. The cold
song in the strange light. For a time I
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could do nothing but stand on the
back of the wheeled rig and stare at the
light with old, dusty terror.
But curiosity was stronger. My legs
moved without my wanting them to
move and my body followed them,
alongside the team in the dark, holding
to each dog like a security blanket until I
reached the next one, moving closer to
the light until I was at the front and there
were no more dogs to hold.
The light had gotten brighter, seemed
to pulse and flood back and forth, but I
still could not see the source. I took
another step, then another, trying to look
around the corner, deeply feeling the
distance from the dogs, the aloneness.
Two more steps, then one more,
leaning to see around the corner and at
last I saw it and when I did it was worse.
It was a form. Not human. A large,
standing form glowing in the dark. The
light came from within it, a
cold-glowing green light with yellow
edges that diffused the shape, making it
change and grow as I watched.
I felt my heart slam up into my throat.
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the autobiography you have just read with the literature selection
at the left, which is excerpted from “The Night Ghosts” by Gary Paulsen in
Glencoe Literature. Then answer the questions below.
Compare & Contrast
1. Voice The voices of Gary Paulsen and Helen Keller, narrators of “The
Night Ghosts” and The Story of My Life, respectively, share a number of
similarities. What are these similarities, and how does each work
benefit from them?
WRITE ABOUT IT
Both Helen Keller’s attempt to gain
an education and Gary Paulsen’s
travels in remote areas with a pack
of dogs reveal clear notions of
what each of them feels is truly
important. Briefly compare and
contrast the inferences you made
about the two authors’ views.
2. Flashback You will recall that in Chapter 14 of The Story of My Life,
author Helen Keller provides a flashback about her story “The Frost
King” and the trouble it caused. Like The Story of My Life, Gary
Paulsen’s “The Night Ghosts” is written in the past tense; it is his
recollection of a nighttime trip with his dogs. If there were a flashback
in this story, what further information or clarification might it provide?
3. Anecdote Think about some of the anecdotes Helen Keller tells about
the way she learned to understand, read, and talk. Compare this with
Gary Paulsen’s encounter with the strange green light. What common
personality trait do these anecdotes reveal about their narrators?
The S tor y of My Li f e
225
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Autobiographical Narrative
Apply Flashback Helen Keller uses a flashback to examine a situation that
has continued to bother her over the years since it happened. Think of a
situation in your own past that has stuck with you over the course of time.
Using the element of flashback, write an autobiographical narrative of at
least 1,500 words about this situation.
Prewrite Brainstorm, talk with your family, or read though old journals to
stimulate your memory. When you have identified the event or situation
you wish to write about, spend 10 or 15 minutes freewriting (writing
without stopping or editing) to get the basic events, emotions, and ideas
down on paper.
Draft To create an effective flashback, introduce the event or situation
from a more current perspective. Use a chart like the one below to
help you.
UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• In an autobiographical narrative,
the author (in this case, you) tells
a sequence of events from his or
her life and reveals the personal
significance of the experience.
• A flashback tells about something
that happened before that point in
the story or before the story
began.
Grammar Tip
Usage
Helen Keller opens many
sentences, and even many new
paragraphs, with a conjunction:
How I Feel Now Why I Feel This Way Based on a Past Event
Details:
Details:
“Then he evidently retracted his
favourable judgment, why I do
not know. Nor did I know the
details of the investigation.”
When you have created a vivid flashback scene, transition your writing
smoothly back to the present.
Be careful about using the
conjunctions and, but, or, or nor
as the first word in a sentence.
Conjunctions by definition are
connectors, or words that
connect one group of words
with another.
Revise Check your work to make sure you have smooth transitions into
and out of the flashback. Then read your work aloud to clear up any
confusing areas or rough spots.
Use the following questions
when considering opening a
sentence using a conjunction:
Edit and Proofread Edit your writing so that it expresses your thoughts
effectively and is well organized. Carefully proofread for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling errors.
• Would the sentence function
just as well without the
introductory conjunction?
• Would the sentence
beginning with the
conjunction be better if added
to the end of the previous
sentence?
Write your initial paragraphs from the perspective of the present or how
you feel now. Use this introduction as the jumping-off point for your
flashback. Obviously, the past event you note in the chart will be the
subject of your flashback. Aim for a clear, straightforward style.
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The
Glory Field
Walter Dean Myers
The G l ory Fi el d
227
INTRODUCTI ON TO THE NOVEL
The Glory Field
Walter Dean Myers
“
The Lewis family . . . owes its growth—
indeed its very survival—to the fortitude of
several remarkable teenagers, whose
sacrifices and decisions throughout the
family’s 250-year history are highlighted in
six self-contained but seamlessly
interrelated tales. . . .
”
—Elizabeth Bush, Bulletin of the Center for
Children’s Books, 1994
The Glory Field begins in 1753 when
eleven-year-old Muhammad Bilal is
kidnapped by slave traders who attack
his African village. Though fictional, the
character Muhammad could be one of the
more than eleven million Africans taken
from their homes between the 1400s and
the 1800s. Muhammad is forced onto a
slave ship, where he struggles to survive
a horrific journey that eventually takes
him to a plantation on an island off the
South Carolina coast. There, as an
enslaved worker, he labors on the land
that later is called the Glory Field by his
descendants. Many of these descendants
use the last name of Lewis.
A Journey Through Time The Glory Field
spans the years from 1753 to 1994. The
novel is set in three primary locations:
coastal South Carolina, Chicago, and
New York City. One location—the South
Carolina land that the Lewis family calls
the Glory Field—is central to the novel.
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Family members first work this land as
enslaved people on the Live Oaks
Plantation.
Plantations and Slavery The plantation
economy in America began when the
southern colonies were first settled.
Fertile lands were made into large farms
of between two and ten thousand acres.
Main crops included tobacco, cotton,
sugarcane, rice, hemp, and indigo. To
grow these crops, planters needed many
workers. By the mid-1700s, plantation
owners were getting these workers
largely through the trade in enslaved
Africans. More than five thousand newly
enslaved Africans arrived each year. A
typical large Southern plantation usually
housed between fifty and two hundred
enslaved people.
Plantations were mini-villages. Crops
were processed through milling or
grinding; lumber was treated at the
sawmill; and animals were raised,
housed, and slaughtered. Enslaved
people, some of whom became quite
skilled, performed these tasks. They also
cleaned the planter’s large manor house,
cooked his family’s food, washed the
clothing, and performed scores of other
daily tasks. Enslaved people also did
most of the field work—planting,
tending, and harvesting the crops.
Because the planter wasn’t paying his
workers, he made a great deal of money
INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL
selling his crops and could then buy the
manufactured goods he needed. Thus,
the South had few factories or cities.
Becoming Landowners In the novel, after
the Civil War, the Lewis family stays on a
piece of land its members farmed as
enslaved workers. They become
landowners, as some historical African
Americans did. These new landowners
received their land in one of several
ways. Sometimes plantations were split
up among formerly enslaved workers. At
other times, the government helped freed
African Americans buy land at reduced
costs. A large number of African
Americans ended up working the land
but not actually owning it, paying rent or
a share of the crops to the former
slaveholders.
A Long History of Injustice
The first Africans brought to this
continent came to what is now
South Carolina as early as 1526.
Over the next three centuries,
millions of others were brought
by force primarily to the West
Indies and to the southern
United States. They came from
many different nations and
cultures within Africa, each with
unique characteristics. Once in
North America, nearly all
became enslaved workers in
farming communities.
Even after the Civil War ended
slavery, African Americans in
southern states often faced
racism, limited job opportunities,
and difficult living conditions. To
try to escape these problems,
many African Americans left
rural areas and moved to
northern cities. They went to
such places as Chicago’s South
Side and New York City’s
Harlem, where they built strong
and vital communities.
Although life was better in many
ways for African Americans
who moved north, they still
faced racism and discrimination.
The civil rights movement of the
1950s and 1960s arose in
response to the injustices
African Americans faced in their
everyday lives, both in the South
and in the North. African
Americans struggled to gain
their full civil rights; a number of
whites and people of other
races joined in the struggle. The
civil rights movement resulted in
the passage of new laws
designed to ensure full civil
rights to Americans of all races.
The G l ory Fi el d
229
MEET THE AUTHOR
Walter Dean Myers (1937– )
“
[Writing for black children] . . . meant
capturing the subtle rhythms of language
and movement and weaving it all, the
sound and the gesture, the sweat and the
prayers, into the recognizable fabric of black
life.
”
—Walter Dean Myers, New York Times
Book Review, 1987
Walter Dean Myers was born in 1937 and
grew up mostly in the Harlem
neighborhood of New York City. He
moved there as a young child, after his
mother’s death, to live with foster
parents. The Harlem of Myers’s
childhood was a close-knit community
with a strong church presence, many
artists, and an abundance of
hardworking families. His foster mother
taught him to read at the age of four, and
soon he was reading the daily newspaper
to her. When he was ten or eleven years
old, he began to write fiction, filling up
notebooks with his stories. Although
Myers won several writing contests
during high school, family members did
not take his writing seriously because
they did not consider writing to be a
“real” job.
Limited Choices Myers’s teenage years,
like those of the main characters in The
Glory Field, contained an important
turning point. He began to feel during
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high school that his career choices were
defined not so much by his abilities as by
his family’s finances and by his race. He
saw few opportunities for an African
American male who was good at writing.
As Myers faced this moment of
compromise, he became angry. He left
school to join the army, though years
later he did complete college.
After the army, Myers worked at a series
of jobs to keep a roof over his head. He
married and had two children. He also
committed himself to a writing career,
writing every day and trying to get
published. Myers got his big break in
1968 when his book Where Does the Day
Go? won a contest for African American
writers.
First Novel An encounter at a party was
the next important turning point for the
author. An editor who had enjoyed one
of Myers’s short stories, but thought it
was the opening of a novel, asked him
how the story continued. Myers made it
up right there at the party. That novel,
Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff (1975), was
the first of the many young adult novels
that have made Myers so popular. Many
of Myers’s books have won awards,
including Somewhere in the Darkness
(1992) and Now Is Your Time!: The AfricanAmerican Struggle for Freedom (1991).
BEFORE YOU READ: July 1753–April 1900
Connect to the Literature
What personal characteristics might have helped enslaved African
Americans find the courage to survive brutal and dehumanizing
conditions? How much courage do you think it took to try to escape from
slavery and find freedom?
Write a Journal Entry
In your journal, explore your responses to the questions above. Try to
imagine what it was like to be considered the lawful property of a
slaveholder and to have none of the rights that Americans today take for
granted.
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one or two sentences
the most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Build Background
Slavery and Segregation
The African slave trade reached its peak in the mid-1700s, not long after
colonies such as Virginia passed laws allowing enslaved Africans to be
owned as property. Most enslaved workers lived on plantations, often in
shacks. Both house and field workers spent their days serving their
owners, from dawn until the work was done—often eighteen hours at a
stretch. For field workers, this meant backbreaking labor caring for crops.
Food supplies from the owner were small, so workers were often hungry.
Worst of all, enslaved people had no control over their own lives. Families
could be separated at the owner’s whim. Enslaved people could not marry
without the owner’s consent. They were not allowed to learn to read, nor
could they leave the plantation, or gather in a group, or even hold religious
rituals, without the owner’s permission.
Following the Civil War, all enslaved African Americans were finally freed.
Though African Americans gained many legal rights in the years after the
Civil War, they were not always able to truly exercise these rights. “Jim
Crow Laws” legally kept African Americans and whites segregated in
many parts of the South. For example, African Americans could not attend
the same schools as whites or sit with whites in restaurants and theaters.
It was not until the 1950s and 1960s that most laws supporting racial
segregation were struck down.
The Glor y Field: July 1753 –A pri l 190 0
231
BEFORE YOU READ: July 1753–April 1900
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question How Do You Keep from Giving Up?
Sometimes, you might feel as if the whole world is against you. Other
times, you might feel as if a situation is hopeless. What do you do when
faced with such enormous challenges?
In the beginning of The Glory Field, you will read about one of the greatest
personal challenges anyone could face. Think about how Muhammad Bilal
found the inner strength to keep going.
Literary Element Plot
Plot is the sequence of events in narrative works such as stories, novels,
plays, and some nonfiction. The plot begins with exposition, which
introduces the story’s characters, setting, and situation. The rising action
adds complications to the story’s conflicts, or problems. It leads to the
climax, or point of greatest interest or suspense. The falling action is the
logical result of the climax, and the resolution presents the final outcome.
Understanding the plot helps you organize and understand the events in a
narrative. It gives you insight into the actions of a central character, or
protagonist.
As you read each of the separate stories that make up this novel, identify
the central character and the plot elements that tell his or her story. Use
the graphic organizer on the following page to help you.
Reading Skill Analyze Text Features
When you analyze, you look closely at the parts of something in order to
understand the whole work. Text features are special ways of presenting
information. These include titles, heads, subheads, and graphics such as
charts, maps, and diagrams. When you analyze text features in a work of
fiction, you look for any clues to meaning that are signaled by such
features. You also look for any special features that are set off in the
novel. In this novel, the family trees and part openers are prominent
features.
Analyzing text features can help you understand the overall plan of a
work, the separate parts of a work, and the places where there is a break
in the action. Analyzing the family trees in this work can help you
understand the connections between family members over time.
As you read, use the family trees to remind you of who is who. Use a chart
like the one at the right to record information.
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Vocabulary
forage [fôr ij] v. to search for food
Without food, they were forced to
forage for berries and roots.
sporadic [spə rad ik] adj.
occurring occasionally
Here, water is always available,
but in some places, the supply is
sporadic.
treacherous [trech ər əs] adj.
marked by hidden danger
Boulders and roots made the
path on the cliff treacherous at
night.
tussle [tus əl] n. a physical
struggle
Morgan got a cut lip from the
tussle, and Mel got a bloody
nose.
uppity [up ə tē] adj. acting as if
better than others
The uppity young man would not
clean the table after himself.
Character
Muhammad
Bilal
Information
from Family
Tree
ACTIV E READING: July 1753–April 1900
Muhammad, Lizzy, and Elijah each face a
challenging obstacle. As you read, identify the main
problem or conflict each character faces, note the
climax of each character’s battle to overcome the
problem, and record how each conflict is resolved.
Muhammad
kidnapped,
imprisoned, aboard
slave ship in
shackles and
chains
climax
conflict
resolution
Lizzy
climax
conflict
resolution
Elijah
climax
conflict
resolution
The Glor y Field: July 1753 –A pri l 190 0
233
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Plot Explain why the highlighted
words are part of the rising action
of the plot. How does it add
complications to the story’s
conflicts, or problems?
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Novel Excerpt: March 1864
“Lem, you think being free means being all excited all
the time?”
“You excited?” Lem asked. “Or you just scared?”
“Little of both, I think,” Lizzy answered.
Lem reached out and took her hand. “You and me being
scared together is all right,” he said. “I can think of helping
to get you some place safe, and that makes me feel good.”
“Don’t be thinking too hard on me, Lem.” Lizzy swung
the hand that Lem held. “You don’t know what I’m going
to be doing—”
They had heard it at the same time. The hounds! Lizzy
stood stock-still, holding her breath. In the distance she
could hear them. Hounds barking in the night air, their
yelps coming quickly as they moved along. Lizzy lifted the
bottom hem of her dress and started running away from
the sound.
Lem was running, too. He ran ahead of her and she ran
faster, trying to catch up with him. She could feel her face
contorting with the fear of the moment, with the panic that
she felt. Lem was slowing down. Lizzy could hear him
gasping for breath. She felt a sharp pain in her side, but
she didn’t stop. She ran and ran until her legs felt heavy
and her thighs burned with the effort. She stopped for a
moment, leaning heavily against a tree and trying to stop
the rushing of her breath, the pounding of her temples, so
she could listen for the hounds.
She heard them. They sounded further away, but she
knew that if the dogs had their scent they would pick it up
again.
“We got to keep going!” Lem said. “We walk for a
while, then run for a while. But we got to keep going!”
They pushed on, running for a while, walking when
they couldn’t run, stopping as little as possible. But each
time they stopped, the dogs seemed closer. . . .
“I see the dogs!” Lem said.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
Lizzy turned and looked, but she didn’t see anything.
She squinted and pushed her head forward. Then she saw
them, four riders on dark horses, carrying torches, the
dogs running ahead of them.
They weren’t more than a few minutes away, Lizzy
thought. She turned and, grabbing Lem’s arm, started off
again.
They ran toward the lights, which soon were clearly
campfires. They stopped. Soldiers weren’t any better than
the patrollers.
Lizzy turned and looked behind her. The riders had also
stopped. “They pointing at us!” Lizzy said.
“No, I think they pointing at them fires,” Lem said. He
was down on one knee. Lizzy got down with him and
looked at the riders behind them. They were still looking
in their direction and pointing. But now Lizzy could see
they were pointing at the fires.
One of them whistled and the dogs stopped in the field.
They were whining and circling, eager to get on.
There were two more whistles, and the dogs circled one
more time and headed back.
Lem and Lizzy stayed low as they moved toward the
campfires. There were shadows among the fires, and once
in a while they could make out a person. They couldn’t see
what they looked like.
“Hold it!”
Lizzy jumped and grabbed her arms. Lem started to
run, and two men with rifles jumped in front of him. One
swung his rifle, and Lizzy watched as Lem reeled
backwards and fell heavily in the dark field.
Literary Element
Plot Is this the climax, or is it more
rising action? Explain your answer.
The Glor y Field: July 1753 –A pri l 190 0
235
INTERACTIVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Novel Excerpt: March 1864–April 1900
Analyze Text Features How do
the part heading and the family
tree help you understand the
relationship between each of the
characters in this part of the novel
and the characters in the first part
of the novel?
MARCH 1864,
LIVE OAKS PLANTATION,
CURRY ISLAND,
SOUTH CAROLINA
THE LEWIS FAMILY, 1864
Dolly ◆
b. 1807
Joshua Lewis ◆ Neela Foster
b. 1821
b. 1818
Lem Lewis
b. 1847
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Richard Lewis Lizzy
b. 1852
b. 1850
?
Moses Lewis ◆ Saran
b. 1825
b. 1827
Yero Lewis
b. 1857
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Skill
Reading Skill
Analyze Text Features Explain how
these text features let you know
what has stayed the same and
what is different in this section of
the novel.
APRIL 1900,
CURRY ISLAND,
SOUTH CAROLINA
THE LEWIS FAMILY, 1900
Moses Lewis ◆ Saran
b. 1825
b. 1827
Lem Lewis
b. 1847
Richard Lewis ◆ Lizzy
b. 1852
b. 1850
Elijah Lewis
b. 1885
Yero Lewis ◆ Lois Quincy
b. 1857
b. 1855
Abby Lewis
b. 1885
The Glor y Field: July 1753 –A pri l 190 0
237
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
How Do You Keep from Giving Up?
What reassurances do the
characters give each other about
their situation?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
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Novel Excerpt: April 1900
“Elijah . . . Elijah . . .” Grandma Saran rubbed the back of
his hand. “It ain’t about handling a gun. It’s about going
on. And looking for a better day. And that’s what you got
to do. You a Lewis. And you got something in you what’s
been passed down from generation to generation, from
man to man. We come a long way, from them shackles to
now, but we still got so long to go.”
“Everything was so good this morning—”
“It’s still good, Elijah,” Grandma Saran said. “It’s still
good. As long as God is still ruling heaven, it’s still good. . . .
Goldie had helped make the basket of food he was
taking. She handed it to him and whispered in his ear that
she loved him.
Elijah kissed Grandma Saran, who turned quickly away
and went to the wagon.
“You ain’t going to marry nobody till . . .”
“I ain’t going to marry nobody till you get back, Elijah,”
Goldie finished the sentence for him. “I won’t even think of
nobody or nothing until you get back.”
Elijah took her shoulders in his hands and pulled her to
him. Her face, as they kissed, was wet with tears and puffy
from crying. The kiss itself was quick and salty from the
tears. It was the first time that they had kissed like this, like
a man and a woman, and both of them knew that it might
be the last. He moved away from her and saw her eyes
searching his face, looking for some sign that things would
be all right.
“I know I’ll be back,” Elijah said, softly. “Don’t you
worry on it.”
There wasn’t a colored car so he had to sit on a crate in
one of the boxcars. The conductor said that when they got
to Illinois he could ride where he wanted.
The train rocked through the darkness, through the
night. Elijah Lewis closed his eyes and felt the weariness in
his bones come down on him. He closed his eyes and
waited for sleep, wondering if he would ever wake to a
better day.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Write down your thoughts on the
excerpt.
Recap
The Glor y Field: July 1753 –A pri l 190 0
239
AFTER YOU READ: July 1753–April 1900
Respond and Think Critically
1. Explain what happened to Muhammad. What do you learn about his
character from his reactions to the experience? [Infer]
2. What happens at Live Oaks Plantation to change Lizzy’s life? How does
she feel about her place on the plantation before and after this event?
[Compare]
3. What does Elijah do to try to prove his independence and maturity?
How does his behavior affect those around him? [Interpret]
4. Why do you think it is so important for Elijah to feel like a man? What
does he learn from his experiences? [Evaluate]
5. How Do You Keep from Giving Up? Not giving up is a theme of this
novel. Name three characters from the first three parts of this novel
who you think show this theme best. Support your choices with
evidence from the novel. [Synthesize]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Introduction to the Novel
on pages 228–229. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: July 1753–April 1900
Literary Element Plot
1. What is the most important conflict in this novel so
far? Do you think there will be a resolution? Explain
your answer by referring to events so far.
[Synthesize]
Vocabulary Practice
On a separate sheet of paper, write the vocabulary
word that correctly completes each sentence. If
none of the words fits the sentence, write none.
forage
2. How is the plot of this novel so far the same or
different from the plot of other novels you have read?
[Compare]
Reading Skill Analyze Text Features
1. The part names, such as “JULY 1953, OFF THE COAST
OF SIERRA LEONE, WEST AFRICA” tell you the time
and place for each part. What do all the part names
together tell you about the organization and content
of the novel? [Analyze]
sporadic
treacherous
tussle
uppity
1. The _______________ woman helped everyone
she could.
2 The supply of gasoline was _______________
during the war.
3. The _______________ patron claimed the best
seat in the audience for himself.
4 When the deer are hungry, they will sometimes
_______________ in suburban yards.
5. After the _______________, the girls were sent
home to think about improving their behavior.
6. Matt was too _______________ ever to brag
about an achievement.
7. That section of the road can be _______________
during an ice storm.
Academic Vocabulary
A reader can use the family trees to link the stories and
generations of Lewises. In the preceding sentence,
what does link mean? To become more familiar with the
word link, fill out the graphic organizer below.
definition
synonyms
link
2. Explain why the family trees are a necessary feature
of this novel. [Analyze]
antonyms
sentence
The Glor y Field: July 1753 –A pri l 190 0
241
AFTER YOU READ: July 1753–April 1900
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Personal Response What do you think of the risks
Literature Groups
that Lizzy and Elijah took? Were their goals worth
these risks? Explain by using logical arguments and
evidence from
the novel.
Assignment In the first three parts of the novel,
characters are trapped in various ways. The African
American characters are physically or economically
trapped, while the white characters are trapped by
their prejudice. With your group, find and discuss
examples of the different kinds of shackles—both
literal and figurative—that imprison different
characters.
Prepare Scan the first three parts of the novel to
find examples of being trapped or chained in any
way. Assign each member of the group a range of
pages to take notes on.
Discuss As a group, discuss each possible
reference to being trapped or chained in some way.
As you present your own ideas, begin with the
specific references to the novel and then provide
your own interpretation of entrapment. As you listen
to others, do so actively by carefully evaluating
each point. If you agree, nod politely, or, when the
speaker finishes, offer additional evidence to show
why the speaker is correct. If you disagree, politely
explain why, again using evidence from the novel to
support your point.
Report Present the results of your group discussion
orally to another group. Consider this an informal
speaking situation in which you share ideas with an
interested audience that is well-acquainted with the
topic. You do not have to speak loudly or slowly, but
you must speak clearly enough for all to hear and
follow. Provide nonverbal signals, such as constant
eye contact and natural gestures, to show you are
interested both in your topic and your audience’s
response.
Evaluate Evaluate the individual contributions to
the group discussion. Be sure to consider how
carefully you looked for references, how clearly you
presented your own ideas, how well you used
evidence from the novel, and how politely and
actively you listened to others.
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BEFORE YOU READ: May 1930 and Januar y 1964
Connect to the Literature
What are some of your goals and dreams? Do you think they will be easy
or difficult to achieve? What might be some obstacles or choices you’ll
face along the way?
Make a List
On a sheet of paper, list some of your goals and dreams, reasons you think
you can attain that particular goal, and obstacles you may encounter. In
addition, list decisions and choices you may have to make as you pursue
your ambitions—for example, you might have to give up one goal to fully
pursue another.
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
WRITE THE CAPTION
Write a caption for the image
below, using information in Build
Background.
Build Background
The Great Migration and the Civil Rights Era
In the early 1900s, many African Americans left the South for northern
cities such as New York City and Chicago in search of better jobs, more
education, and greater opportunity. Migrating African Americans found
jobs, though racism limited the kinds of employment and education African
Americans could obtain. Housing was scarce and very expensive. Unlike
their southern relatives, African Americans in the North could legally go
anywhere. Still, they lived in segregated communities and often were
unwelcome in white-owned businesses.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights
leaders organized nonviolent protests in the South. Often, police and angry
whites responded violently to peaceful protesters. Marchers were
attacked and often arrested. The year 1964, when Tommy’s story takes
place, held both disaster and triumph for the civil rights movement. Civil
rights workers were murdered in Mississippi, while the Civil Rights Act of
1964 brought legal protection against many kinds of discrimination.
The Glor y Field: M ay 1930 and Ja nuary 1964
243
BEFORE YOU READ: May 1930 and Januar y 1964
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question How Do You Keep from Giving Up?
In The Glory Field, you have already met characters who faced one or
more great challenges but found the inner strength, the outside help, or
both, to keep going. As you read the next parts of this novel, think about
what keeps the main character from giving up.
Literary Element Setting
Setting is the time and place in which a story occurs. The setting includes
any elements in which the action takes place: the date and time;
geographic region; season; weather; and spaces, such as buildings,
rooms, and landscapes. The historical period in which the characters and
plot develop is also part of the setting.
Setting contributes to the way we feel about a story, helping us
understand—and, often, sympathize with—the characters.
As you read the next two parts of The Glory Field, think about how the
historical setting, including the social, cultural, and political movements of
each time period, helps you understand the characters, the plots, and the
themes of the novel as a whole. Use the graphic organizer on the
following page to record information from the novel.
Reading Strategy Question
As you read, it helps to take an active role by asking questions. When you
question a text, you ask whether information in a selection is important or
whether you understand what you’ve read. Sometimes, you question the
choices an author makes.
Asking questions helps you increase your understanding of a selection. It
also helps you remember it better. You can figure out an author’s purpose
for writing by asking yourself the right questions.
When you question, you
• pause to ask questions about parts that puzzle you.
• ask why the author made certain choices about organization,
characters, setting, and other text elements.
• read carefully and look for clues in the text to answer your questions.
As you read, think of questions to ask yourself about the novel. Keep track
of your questions and any answers or clues to answers you may discover
later in the text. You may find it helpful to use a graphic organizer like the
one on the right to record your questions.
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Vocabulary
integration [in tə rā shən] n.
process of opening schools,
businesses, and communities
equally to citizens of all races
As part of integration, African
American students attended the
school for the first time.
intimidate [in tim ə dāt] v. to
frighten
The boss used a series of threats
to intimidate the workers.
predominantly [pri dom ə nənt lē]
adv. mostly
The area was predominantly
suburban, but there were some
open spaces.
puckish [puk ish] adj. fun;
mischievous
The puckish girl loved laughter
and practical jokes.
vitality [v¯ tal ə tē] n. quality of
liveliness
His vitality amazed us: he was a
dad, a marathon runner, and a
successful businessman.
Question
Clues/
Answers
ACTIVE READING: May 1930 and Januar y 1964
In both “May 1930” and “January 1964,” aspects
of the setting, including social and political
movements, pull the main characters in opposing
directions. Luvenia feels the pull to leave her
Chicago life for the family land on Curry Island.
Tommy must choose between personal opportunity
and taking a political stand for equal rights. As you
read about Luvenia and Tommy, note some of the
forces that pull them in these opposing directions.
Toward Chicago
Toward Curry
parents are in Curry
and want her to
come, too
Luvenia
Working for Equal
Rights
Following Personal
Dream
wants to play college
basketball
Tommy
The Glor y Field: M ay 1930 and Ja nuary 1964
245
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Setting People’s attitudes toward
one another are part of a social
setting. What attitudes are
expressed by this excerpt?
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Novel Excerpt: January 1964
“With all the mess that’s going on I sure didn’t need this
tonight,” Miss Robbins said. “We had to close an hour
early.”
“What mess?” Tommy asked.
“The colored getting ready to march through town and
that King coming down here,” Miss Robbins said. “He’s
from Atlanta and he should stay in Atlanta. It’s people like
him who stirs up the coloreds.”
“You take the average one of your black folks around
here,” Jed said. He was sitting on a high stool that
normally stood on the other side of the counter. “He don’t
want race mixing any more than the average white man.
But when they start bringing in them people from out of
town, things get stirred up. When’s the last time you had
any problems between whites and coloreds?”
“Negroes can’t get food in here,” Tommy said.
“Whoa! They can get anything they want anytime they
want it,” Miss Robbins said. “And you’ve been working
here long enough to know that. They just can’t sit at the
counter and eat it. Most coloreds don’t want to eat here,
anyway.”
“You can eat in a colored store,” Tommy said. He put
the new pipe in place, saw that it fit, and began to handtighten the nuts.
“Now I don’t want to eat in a colored store,” Jed said.
“And I don’t see why a colored man or woman would
want to eat in a white store. And that Reverend King—and
I don’t know if he’s a real preacher or not—don’t care
where colored people eat. What he wants is race mixing.
You hear that speech he made in Washington about little
black boys and little white girls playing together?”
“Who’s that other one they got up in New York?
Malcolm X or something?” Miss Robbins said. “Now he
don’t want no race mixing.
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
“I don’t trust no man that calls himself ‘X,’ ” Jed said.
“That man hates white people something terrible.” . . .
“What I think,” Miss Robbins went on, “is that people
should leave things the way they were and let people work
out what they want to do without people from the outside
coming in. Tommy, you certainly don’t have any problems
getting along and you never will, because you are a fine
young boy. If everybody were like you, we’d all get along
just fine.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“The truth is that white people are a certain way, and
coloreds are a certain way,” Miss Robbins went on. “And
Lord knows that doesn’t mean that one race is better than
the other. It just means that people are a certain way and
get along with people who are like them. You take Jed and
you. Jed is better at some things than you are, and you’re
better than Jed at some things. If you ask me, I’d rather
have you working for me than him any day.”
“If I had a big place, would you work for me?” Tommy
asked.
“Sure I would!” Miss Robbins said. “You being colored
would not bother me one bit as long as you paid a decent
wage and had decent work. But I would not socialize with
you because you are not the kind of person I would
socialize with. Everybody has their preferences, and my
preferences are for my own people. And don’t you prefer
to be around your own people?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Literary Element
Setting How does this excerpt
reflect the social concerns, cultural
ideas, and historical events of
1964?
The Glor y Field: M ay 1930 and Ja nuary 1964
247
INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Question What questions might
you ask about the “plot” or
Luvenia’s part in it?
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Novel Excerpt: May 1930
“I once made the mistake of asking Daddy if I could
drive the Ford, and he just about laughed in my face,”
Florenz continued. “He said that I didn’t know a thing
about driving. This is not true, of course, because I’ve
driven plenty of times in cars owned by some of the boys
at school. Of course, I can’t tell Daddy that, and he
wouldn’t count it anyway.”
“He should trust you,” Luvenia said.
“Of course, he should,” Florenz said. “But, as we were
saying before, Daddy doesn’t always do what he’s
supposed to do. So we have hatched a small plot.”
“And you are part of it!” Katie leaned forward.
“Am I going to get into trouble?” Luvenia asked.
“Of course not,” Florenz said. “We’ve got this whole
thing worked out. Daddy takes this new car—”
“The Oldsmobile—” Katie added.
“The Oldsmobile,” Florenz went on, “to work almost
every day. I think he wants to hire a chauffeur, and I don’t
see why he doesn’t, but he hasn’t so far—”
“The guilt of the nouveau riche,” Katie chimed in.
“How many sugars, Lulu?”
“Two, please,” Luvenia added in the same tone as the
two white girls.
“Anyway,” Florenz clucked at Katie for interrupting,
“so what we want to do is to call him and tell him that we
have to take you to the hospital.”
“Me?”
“Right. You’re perfect,” Katie said. “This part is my
idea.”
“What we’re going to tell him is that you have these
terrible cramps and that we have to take you all the way
across town to a colored doctor,” Florenz said.
“We’re going to tell him that we made a dreadful
mistake,” Katie added. “We tried to get a car service to
take you, but when they realized that you were colored
and that you had ‘female trouble,’ they refused.”
“I don’t have female trouble,” Luvenia said.
“Of course not,” Florenz said. “But Daddy’s too old-
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
fashioned to ask me questions about it. And there’s five
dollars in it for you if we pull it off.”
“He won’t be mad at me, will he?”
“How can he be mad at your being sick?” Florenz
asked. She was already picking up the telephone. “Now,
the only possible hitch is if he asks to speak to you. You
must just tell him that you feel terrible.”
“Then moan a little and give the phone back to
Florenz,” Katie said. “Then we’ll all hop into the car, take a
spin around the park, and come back!”
“And I will have established my driving!” Florenz said.
Luvenia wasn’t at all sure about the adventure, but the
idea of it was exciting. She put her hands under the table
and clasped them tightly. She was hoping for all the world
that Mr. Deets would not ask to speak to her.
As Florenz dialed and waited for someone to answer the
telephone, Katie held her stomach and pretended to be in
great distress, which almost made Luvenia laugh aloud.
“Hello? Country Star Products?” Florenz exhaled
heavily as she got into her part. “Yes, this is Florenz Deets.
May I speak to my father? And please hurry. It’s an
emergency!”
The girl rolled her eyes up as she listened to the
secretary on the other end of the telephone. She signaled
silence from her co-conspirators with a finger on her lips.
“No, I have to speak to my father,” she said in a
response to some question from the other end of the
telephone, adding just the right touch of authority.
She waited again, and then her eyes widened as she got
back into her role. “Daddy, I just made the biggest mistake.
Lulu’s here and she’s sick. Female trouble. I think she
might even be in the family way.”
Luvenia swallowed hard. She wasn’t “in the family
way” and didn’t want anyone to think she was.
Reading Strategy
Question What other question
could you ask about what happens
in this excerpt or the choices the
author makes by including it?
The Glor y Field: M ay 1930 and Ja nuary 1964
249
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
How Do You Keep from Giving
Up? Who does not give up in this
passage? Why?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
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Novel Excerpt: May 1930
“Thank you, everybody,” Luvenia said, still looking at
Miss Etta. “I really appreciate you coming.”
“And this girl can do up some hair!” Miss Etta said.
“Soon as she gets her shop together we’ll be letting you
know.”
“Go on, girl!”
Two men were asleep on the coats and had to be
wakened. One woman said it was too early to break the
party up, and Miss Etta said that she could stay and party
by herself if she wanted to.
A few people stopped and told Luvenia how nice the
party was and how much they had enjoyed themselves.
“You ever give another rent party, you be sure to let us
know!” a young couple said. The man shook Luvenia’s
hand awkwardly.
As soon as the last person had left, Miss Etta took off her
dress and wriggled out of the girdle. “I think everybody
enjoyed themselves,” she said. “What you think?”
“That you are the most wonderful friend in the world!”
Luvenia said.
“Well, that is true,” Miss Etta said. “Now I’m going to
get me some serious sleep. We’ll talk later.”
Mornings in the black neighborhoods in Chicago started
earlier than they did in the white neighborhoods. Black
men had to deliver the goods that white shopkeepers
would sell; black women had to get to white households to
put in a full day’s work. Some men and women had to go
downtown to look for work with the army of whites that
was also looking.
Luvenia walked home slowly, realizing for the first time
how tired she was. She held the brown paper bag with the
rent party money tightly as she walked. She was trying to
remember how much the Madame Walker products were.
She had glanced in the bag. There was at least fifteen
dollars in bills and God only knew how much in change.
She knew that if she could make as much doing hair and
selling as she thought she could, things would be all right.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
TO THE POINT
Write a few key ideas.
Recap
The Glor y Field: M ay 1930 and Ja nuary 1964
251
AFTER YOU READ: May 1930 and Januar y 1964
Respond and Think Critically
1. What steps does Luvenia take to try to achieve her goals? What is the
outcome of these efforts? From these events, what do you learn about
the whites and African Americans in Luvenia’s community? [Conclude]
2. Do you think Mr. Deets treats Luvenia fairly? Give reasons for your
answer. [Evaluate]
3. What important decision does Tommy face? How do the events in
Johnson City affect his decision? [Infer]
4. Evaluate the important choice that Tommy makes. What does he
sacrifice? What does he gain? Do you think he made the right choice?
Why or why not? [Evaluate]
5. How Do You Keep from Giving Up? At what points might Luvenia have
given up? Why didn’t she? [Conclude]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Build Background on
page 243. How did that
information help you understand
or appreciate what you read in
the novel?
AFTER YOU READ: May 1930 and Januar y 1964
Literary Element Setting
1. What is life like in Chicago in 1930 for African
Americans? [Interpret]
Vocabulary Practice
Identify whether the paired words in each set have
the same or the opposite meaning.
1. integration and segregation
2. intimidate and frighten
3. predominantly and mostly
2. How are the lives of African Americans in Johnson
City, South Carolina, changing or on the brink of
change in 1964? [Interpret]
4. puckish and solemn
5. vitality and liveliness
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Skill Question
1. Write a question about the way the author chose to
organize this novel. [Synthesize]
When discussing playing professional basketball with
Mr. Chase, Tommy asks, “They offered you a contract
and everything?” In effect, Tommy is asking Mr. Chase
about how close he actually came to playing
professional ball. Using context clues, try to figure out
the meaning of the word contract in the sentence
above. Write your guess below. Then check your guess
in a dictionary.
2. Write a question about a choice the author made
about what to include or leave out of the description
of 1964. [Synthesize]
The Glor y Field: M ay 1930 and Ja nuary 1964
253
AFTER YOU READ: May 1930 and Januar y 1964
Writing
Connect to Content Areas
Write a Letter Put yourself back in time to January
Math
1964 in Johnson City. You have just read a
newspaper account of Sheriff Moser’s press
conference and the treatment Tommy receives
while in jail. Write a letter to the editor of your local
newspaper about these events. Do your best to use
the facts and reasons that a person who actually
lived in that time and place might use.
Jot down some notes here first.
Assignment The sum of fifteen-plus dollars that
Luvenia receives from the rent party seems like a
fortune to her. How much do you think she would
need in today’s dollars to set up a business in
Chicago or another large American city?
Investigate Use ads from the newspaper of a major
American city to find “For Rent” ads that provide an
index to today’s cost of living. Find several examples
of what it would cost to rent an apartment or small
property zoned for commercial use. Print out,
photocopy, or cut out ads to support your
calculations.
Create Assume Luvenia needs the first month’s
rent, the last month’s rent, and one month’s rent for
a security deposit to open her business. Calculate
the total amount of money that the rent party would
have to generate just to cover just those costs of
starting a business. Then work backward to
propose a per-drink cost and the number of drinks
that would have to be sold to raise the sum, as well
as the number of guests who might consume them.
Report Put your information together in a clear,
well-organized report. Reflect on any issues or
unpredictable factors you think may exist with the
rental costs you found. Attach the source material
to your report. Be sure it contains URLs or other
bibliographic data so that a reader can verify it.
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BEFORE YOU READ: August 1994 and Epilogue
Connect to the Literature
When someone in a family has a problem, are other family members
obligated to help that person? What if the person doesn’t want to be
helped? What if the problem is the result of bad choices the family
member has made?
Share Ideas
Think about your responses to the questions above. Then meet with a
partner to discuss your opinions and ideas. Finally, share your thoughts
with the class.
NOVEL NOTEBOOK
Keep a special notebook to record
entries about the novels that you
read this year.
SUMMARIZE
Summarize in one sentence the
most important idea(s) in Build
Background.
Build Background
Harlem
Malcolm Lewis, the main character in the last part of the novel, lives in
Harlem, a neighborhood of New York City. Like Chicago’s South Side,
Harlem expanded rapidly during the Great Migration. African Americans
from the South flooded into the neighborhood between 1910 and 1930.
They created an incredibly vital community, filled with a mix of wealthy
professionals, entertainers, and struggling working people. One successful
Harlem businesswoman was Madame C. J. Walker, who, like Luvenia
Lewis, made her fortune creating beauty products for African American
women. Harlem offered African Americans a sense of belonging and of
community.
A center for African American culture, Harlem was home to many artists,
writers, and performers. African Americans all over the country wanted to
visit Harlem or to create communities in its image. Over the years,
however, the quality of life in Harlem declined. According to one of the
novel’s characters, integration caused this decline by making it possible
for wealthier African Americans to leave Harlem. Malcolm Lewis has
benefited from his neighborhood’s proud history. Yet, in the early 1990s, he
finds himself living in a Harlem that is sadly deteriorated. A number of
buildings are in disrepair, and many people are unemployed. Drug abuse is
a serious problem for some people, including a member of Malcolm’s own
family.
The Glor y Field: August 1994 and Epi l ogue
255
BEFORE YOU READ: August 1994 and Epilogue
Set Purposes for Reading
왘 BIG Question How Do You Keep from Giving Up?
In this part of The Glory Field, one character faces the challenge of drug
addiction. His cousin faces the challenge of trying to help someone who
probably needs professional help. As you read, think about what keeps
both characters from giving up.
Literary Element Tone
Tone is an author’s attitude toward his or her subject matter. To identify
tone, think about the language the author uses to describe the characters,
events, or setting. In fiction, tone is reflected by the emotional attitudes of
the characters.
Analyzing the tone can help you better understand both the characters
and the theme.
As you read the final parts of the novel, looks for words and details in text
that reveal the characters’ emotional attitudes. Use the graphic organizer
on the next page to help you.
Reading Strategy Make Generalizations About Theme
When you make generalizations, you combine several facts or ideas to
make a broad or general statement. Theme is the central message or
meaning of the whole poem or story. A theme is not the work’s specific
subject. It is a more universal message about life.
Making generalizations about theme helps you bring together different
characters and plots and tell how they contribute to a single main idea or
focus. Use the graphic organizer on the following page to make a
generalization about the theme of family in the final parts of the novel.
To make a broader generalization about the whole novel, review part of the
book to think about what they have in common in terms of theme. You may
find it helpful to use a graphic organizer like the one below.
Theme
July 1753
March 1864
April 1900
May 1930
January 1964
August 1994
Epilogue
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Vocabulary
censor [sen sər] v. to remove
things that might offend
Some words cannot be said on
television, so editors censor
them.
fidget [fij it] v. to move or act
restlessly
After two hours in the car, the
children began to fidget and
whine.
miff [mif] v. to put in a bad mood;
to offend
Impolite actions always miff
Carla, who is never rude.
parched [parchd] adj. dried, from
heat and lack of water
We were parched by the end of
the hike because we had not
brought enough water.
ventilator [vent əl ā´ tər] n. tool or
device for letting in fresh air and
removing stale air
If the ventilator is working, we
will have fresh air soon.
ACTIVE READING: August 1994 and Epilogue
In the last part of the novel, two young men must
define their relationship to the Lewis family. Each
has had a different experience with the family and
has a distinct view of his link to it. As you read,
record some of the ways Malcolm and Shep relate
to the Lewis family. What do they want from the
family? How do they feel about the family and about
their connection to it?
Malcolm
annoyed by Shep’s
behavior but wants to
help him
The Lewis Family
Shep
The Glor y Field: August 1994 and Epi l ogue
257
INTERACTIVE READING: Literar y Element
Literary Element
Tone What do you think the
author’s attitude is toward calling
the chains “memorabilia”? Explain
your answer using ideas from the
novel.
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Novel Excerpt: August 1994
“You know, last year I went down to a sale they had in
Johnson City,” Planter said. He leaned into the rake, his
angular body complementing its dark angle. “It was
supposed to be a sale of stuff the sheriff had. He had a set
of slave chains. Everybody round here knew where they
came from. They came from the Lewis family. They been in
our family since the first one of us put his feet in this soil.
“We knowed the sheriff’s office had them, but we never
thought we could get them back.”
“What happened after you bought them?”
“Hey! Who’s telling this story?”
“You are, Planter.” Malcolm couldn’t stop the smile that
came to his face.
“Passed down from generation to generation,” Planter
said. “Then, during the civil rights time, we lost them. The
sheriff got hold of them, and he held them. They brought
them out for sale, long with some stolen radios, a shotgun,
and some other stolen stuff that nobody claimed. They
were trying to raise money for a gym for the police
department. That was a good cause.”
“You recognized the chains?”
“Yeah, I recognized them. But I had to pay dear to get
them. You know what they called them?”
“What?”
“Black memo—Lord what did they call them things?”
Planter pushed his hat to the back of his head. “Black
something or the other—memorabilia or something.”
“Memorabilia?” Malcolm asked. “That’s like things that
remind people of historical events?”
INTERACT IVE READING: Literar y Element
“Yeah, I guess that was it,” Planter said. “Anyway, they
had a bidding for it, and I had to give two hundred and
nine dollars to get them.”
“But you got them,” Malcolm said. “A black person
should have them.”
“A black person? Those shackles didn’t rob us of being
black, son, they robbed us of being human. Who should
own them is a human being.” Planter shielded his eyes
from the sun. “’Course it would’ve helped if the human
being had a little more money than I had.”
Planter turned away and went back to picking the sweet
potatoes. Malcolm asked him if they had other
memorabilia for sale, but he didn’t answer, and Malcolm
figured he didn’t want to.
They broke for a lunch that was bigger than the dinners
Malcolm had in New York. Someone said that they would
probably be finished by the next afternoon, and how good
it was to be able to bring in a good crop. . . .
“I can just look around and see who the farm people are
and who the city people are,” Malcolm said. “I don’t see
anybody from the city hopping up to get ready to go back
out into the field.”
“Child, you can say that again,” a dark-skinned woman
wearing brand-new jeans said.
“Oh, when you get used to it, it’s real good,” a man
said. “You bring in your crops, and you can see what you
did for the year. Man, that’s a good feeling.”
Several of the city people exchanged glances, figuring
out just who they all were. It was Planter who jumped up
and said that he thought he heard a sweet potato calling
his name, as he put on his hat to go back out to the field.
Literary Element
Tone What attitude or attitudes do
you hear from the different
characters here about the work of
picking the sweet potatoes?
The Glor y Field: August 1994 and Epi l ogue
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INTERACTIV E READING: Reading Strategy
Reading Strategy
Make Generalizations About
Theme In each part of the novel, at
least one character’s attitude
toward work, circumstances, or
goals shows one of the novel’s
themes. How do Malcolm’s feelings
about his music help show a theme
in this part of the novel?
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Novel Excerpt: Epilogue
He closed his eyes and thought of the group, of Deepak
playing his heart out, of Daoud and George and all of
them, and of Jenn, sitting on the small stool next to her
cello, waiting to come in. She was a challenge, a challenge
that always brought out the best in him. They had
practiced together the whole week, with her memorizing
his compositions, adding touches of Chinese classical
music that created an almost unbearable tension. Somehow
they had all seemed to understand that the music, their
music, was about who they were and the search for who
they wanted to be.
The music had to mean something for all of them, each
according to his or her needs. For Malcolm it meant
remembering an old man he had met on Curry Island.
His mother had called him and told him the bad news
that Planter had died.
He had flown to Curry for the funeral, had sat in the
third car, too far from Planter’s body, too far from the grin
and from the strength of the man. After the funeral, he had
gone to the Lewis place and had seen the surveyors lining
up their poles where the old slave quarters had been.
There were going to be tennis courts behind the hotel.
Planter would have liked that, thinking about those courts
and the people that had walked on that ground. He would
have liked the one field they hadn’t touched and wouldn’t
touch.
Around the Glory Field they had built a stone walk with
live oaks on either side. In the field itself they planted
azaleas. It was a small field, and Aunt Luvenia had said
the architects didn’t put up too much of a fight when the
family didn’t want to change the field into a miniature golf
course.
In the days after the funeral, Malcolm was making the
rounds of the colleges. He had decided to major in history,
this despite his mother’s insistence that he looked like a
doctor. He didn’t know what he wanted to do with String
Theory. The group was better than he thought it ever could
be, but they were going to different colleges. They had
INTERACT IVE READING: Reading Strategy
talked about playing together summers or at least getting
together now and then just to jam. Then they were invited
to play at two colleges, Oberlin and Brown, and they were
all reluctant to give up what they had created.
A week after the funeral, on the day before String
Theory was supposed to leave New York by train for
Brown, Aunt Luvenia called him and asked if he had
received the package.
“What package?”
“Planter’s granddaughter sent you something,” his aunt
had said. “She sent me a picture of him, and I guess she
sent you one, too.”
The thought of having a picture of Planter made
Malcolm smile. He hoped it would be one of him grinning
as only he could, the straw hat pushed far back on his
head, the look in his eye that said he knew things that only
a man named after a boat stolen in the Civil War could.
But when the package came, it wasn’t a picture.
Malcolm knew by the weight and by the shape of it what it
was. It was the shackles.
They had been passed from generation to generation,
and now Planter had entrusted them to him. In the quiet of
his room, on a day in which the rain beat with a fury
against his Harlem window, he lifted the shackles, felt their
weight, ran his fingers along the smoothness of the wellworn iron. He had even thought about putting them
around his ankles, but knew that it would never be the
same. It wasn’t his to experience, only his to know about,
to imagine how hard it had been. The weight of the
shackles gave substance to all the people who had worn
them, and who had triumphed in spite of them. They gave
weight, even, to those who had been broken by them, or
by the invisible shackles they had found along their way.
Reading Strategy
Make Generalizations About
Theme How do the shackles, or
slave chains, help show the same
theme over time in this novel?
The Glor y Field: August 1994 and Epi l ogue
261
ON-PAGE N OTE-TAKING: BIG Question
MARK IT UP
Are you allowed to write in your
novel? If so, then mark up the
pages as you read, or reread, to
help with your note-taking. Develop
a shorthand system, including
symbols, that works for you. Here
are some ideas:
Underline = important idea
Bracket = text to quote
Asterisk = just what you were
looking for
Checkmark = might be useful
Circle = unfamiliar word or phrase
to look up
왘 BIG Question
How Do You Keep from Giving Up?
What keeps Shep from giving up in
this passage?
Mark up the excerpt, looking for
evidence of how it expresses or
answers the Big Question.
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Novel Excerpt: August 1994
There was a half-acre left to go the next day when Planter,
who was telling Malcolm the difference between long- and
short-grain rice, suddenly stopped and straightened up.
Malcolm bent over, looked up and saw Shep on his hands
and knees between the rows. He was throwing up. Jennie
Lewis went to him, and Malcolm put his hoe down.
“Wait a minute, son,” Planter said. He put a big hand on
Malcolm’s shoulder.
Jennie got down on her knees next to Shep and put her
arm around his shoulder. She was talking to him,
whispering in his ear.
“Planter, he’s got a problem,” Malcolm said.
“We got those problems down here the same as you got
them in New York,” he said. “We know what they are.”
Malcolm looked at the other people in the field. They
had all stopped working and were looking toward Jennie
and Shep.
“What’s she doing?” Malcolm asked.
“Trying to get him to stand up,” Planter said. “Trying to
get him to take that first step on his own.”
The shadows were short. Malcolm’s shadow was less
than half his size. Malcolm looked at Shep, then away. The
sky was clear. In the distance a jet liner left a long, white
vapor trail that spread as the plane moved away.
“Planter, I think he needs help,” Malcolm said.
“Yeah, he do,” Planter said. “And his help starts from
within himself.”
The first move was just Shep pushing himself up off his
hands, so that he knelt on his knees. Jennie was kneeling
with him. Shep’s shoulders lifted and fell, as if he were
taking a deep breath, and then he stood.
“All right, brother!” a man called out. “All right!”
A woman came to him with a cup of water, and he
drank it. Then Jennie went back and brought him his hoe.
Malcolm was glad that Shep had got back on his feet.
He wanted with all of his heart for Shep to make it through
just this one reunion, maybe just this one day, maybe just
one more row of sweet potatoes. Malcolm looked around
and saw that the work had picked up again. They were all
glad to see Shep on his feet.
CORNELL NOTE-TAKING: BIG Question
Use the Cornell Note-Taking system to take notes on the excerpt at the left.
Record your notes, Reduce them, and then Recap (summarize) them.
Record
Reduce
Try the following approach as you
reduce your notes.
MY VIEW
Write down your thoughts on the
excerpt.
Recap
The Glor y Field: August 1994 and Epi l ogue
263
AFTER YOU READ: August 1994 and Epilogue
Respond and Think Critically
1. Describe Malcolm’s and Shep’s life situations. How are the two similar
and different? What do the two boys share? [Compare]
2. What do Malcolm and Shep each learn during their trip and their time
on Curry Island? [Synthesize]
3. Why do you think memory and remembering are so important to the
Lewis family? [Conclude]
4. Do you think Shep and Malcolm are believable characters? Why or why
not? [Evaluate]
5. How Do You Keep from Giving Up? In what ways is Planter a “nevergive-up” character? [Synthesize]
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APPLY BACKGROUND
Reread Meet the Author on page
230. How did that information
help you understand or
appreciate what you read in the
novel?
AFTER YOU READ: August 1994 and Epilogue
Literary Element Tone
1. What tone, or emotional attitude, does Planter Lewis
reflect through his words and actions? Use evidence
from the novel in your answer. [Synthesize]
Vocabulary Practice
Respond to these questions.
1. Which of these would an authority be more likely
to censor—a newspaper column or a parking
violation?
2. When would you be most likely to fidget—while
eating a tasty meal or while waiting in a long line?
2. What is the tone of the ending of the novel? Which
words reveal the tone? [Conclude]
3. Which of these might miff your best friend—
inviting him to a party or leaving him out of a plan?
4. Where is the soil more likely to be parched—in a
forest or in a desert?
5. Where would you expect to find a ventilator—on
top of a mountain or in a locker room?
Reading Strategy Make Generalizations
About Theme
1. What theme do all the separate plots combine to
present about the history of African Americans in
America? Use details from the novel to support your
answer. [Synthesize]
Academic Vocabulary
Walter Dean Myers incorporates a significant amount
of history into his novel. In the preceding sentence,
significant refers to a large or substantial amount. When
have you poured a significant amount of something into
a goal, project, or other undertaking? Why do you think
of the amount as significant?
2. What theme do all the separate plots combine to
present about family? Use details from the novel to
support your answer. [Synthesize]
The Glor y Field: August 1994 and Epi l ogue
265
AFTER YOU READ: August 1994 and Epilogue
Write with Style
Speaking and Listening
Apply Tone
Performance
Assignment In this novel, the shackles from the
days of slavery, the sense of family, and the field on
Curry Island are all things that the Lewises care
about deeply. Think about the people, places, or
objects in your own life. Then write a descriptive
essay about the person or people, place, or thing
that affects you strongly. Use a deeply emotional
tone.
Assignment In August 1994, Malcolm has to make a
series of hard choices that relate to his cousin
Shep. With a small group, plan and role-play the
outcome of a choice that Malcolm did not make.
Get Ideas Begin by identifying your attitude and a
single strong impression you wish to create of the
people, place, or thing. Then list ideas for two or
more body paragraphs in your essay. For example, if
you are writing to tell how much you love your
grandmother, you might write one body paragraph
about your earliest memories of her, one body
paragraph about her role in your life during
elementary school, and one body paragraph about
her role in your life now or in the future.
Give It Structure Use the introduction to name the
people, place, or object you will focus on and to
convey a general sense of your attitude toward
them or it. In the body of your essay, explore your
topic in a logical order, such as chronological order
for a person or spatial order for a place or thing.
Look at Language Recall that tone is an attitude
toward your subject. Authors can create tone
through the details they select and the word
choices they make. Revise your language to be sure
it shows how deeply something affects you in a
positive or negative way. Use a broad range of
language, including the following:
• describing words, such sacred, sultry, soulful, or
cinnamon
• active, vivid verbs, such as lured, dismayed,
destroyed, exhausted, trampled, or triumphed
• figures of speech, such as “the old house
beckons,” “like a fearless soldier,” or “an angel
of sympathy”
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Prepare Work together to find all the places where
Malcolm might have given up on Shep or acted
differently than he did. Think about how these
decisions would have ultimately worked out for both
characters, including the way in which Malcolm
might have been looked on or treated when he
reached Curry Island. Develop a sense of each
scene and decide which one to present to the
class. Then assign roles and write the scene.
Rehearse the role-play several times before you
present it. Adjust the script as necessary.
Perform Present your role-play to the class. Be
sure to choose the tone of voice and the type of
body language that each character might actually
have used in the scene. Watch for clues from the
audience that might tell you to speak more loudly or
clearly, or to slow down.
Evaluate As a group, discuss the rating criteria
below. Rate yourself from 1 (not acceptable) to 5
(excellent) on each criterion, and support your
rating with an example from your performance.
• content, including showing sense of choice and
the probable outcome of that choice
• voice, including clarity and loudness
• body language
• ability to read audience clues
Then, working individually, write a paragraph
evaluating your own part in the performance on the
criteria above.
WORK WITH RELATE D READINGS
The Glory Field
The following questions refer to the Related Readings in Glencoe’s
Literature Library edition of this novel. Support your answers
with details from the text. Write your answers on a separate sheet of
paper, but jot down some notes here first on the lines provided.
Inheriting Slavery
Katie Bacon
Make Connections Imagine that Edward Ball’s
ancestors owned Live Oaks before the Civil War.
How do you think the Lewises would have
responded if Edward Ball had approached them in
the course of researching his family’s past?
characters do you think would best relate to “Lay
Freedom Among Us”? Why?
from The Promised Land
Federal Accounts of the
July 18 Assault on Wagner; Glory
[Government record]; Roger Ebert
Make Connections In The Glory Field, Lem and
Joshua join the Northern Army. What differences
might they have found between the situations and
treatment of the African American soldiers and the
people enslaved at Live Oaks?
Lay Freedom Among Us; Runagate Runagate
Rita Dove; Garrison Keillor
Make Connections Which character or characters
in The Glory Field do you think would best relate to
“Runagate Runagate”? Which character or
Nicholas Lemann
Make Connections One part of The Glory Field
takes place in Chicago in the 1930s. How does the
Chicago described in the novel compare to the
1940s Chicago described in the excerpt from The
Promised Land?
The Sit-In Movement
Belinda Rochelle
Make Connections Imagine that Tommy Lewis was
present at the NAACP Youth Council meeting when
Harvey Grantt suggested that the students begin a
sit-in movement in Charleston. Would Tommy have
participated in the sit-in even if it meant risking his
chance to go to college? Explain.
The G l ory Fi el d
267
CO NNECT TO OTHER LITER AT URE
LITERATURE EXCERPT: The Diary of Anne Frank
Act 1—SCENE 5
[It is the first night of the Hanukkah
celebration. Mr. Frank is standing at the head
of the table on which is the Menorah. He
lights the Shamos, or servant candle, and
holds it as he says the blessing. Seated
listening is all of the “family,” dressed in
their best. The men wear hats, Peter wears
his cap.] . . .
Mr. Van Daan. [Under his breath.] God
Almighty! [The only light left comes from
the Hanukkah candle. Dussel comes from his
room. Mr. Frank creeps over to the stairwell
and stands listening. The dog is heard
barking excitedly.] Do you hear anything?
Mr. Frank. [In a whisper.] No. I think
they’ve gone.
Mrs. Van Daan. It’s the Green Police.
They’ve found us.
Mr. Frank. If they had, they wouldn’t
have left. They’d be up here by now.
Mrs. Van Daan. I know it’s the Green
Police. They’ve gone to get help. That’s
all. They’ll be back!
Mr. Van Daan. Or it may have been
the Gestapo, looking for papers . . .
Mr. Frank. [Interrupting.] Or a thief,
looking for money.
Mrs. Van Daan. We’ve got to do
something . . . Quick! Quick! Before they
come back.
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Mr. Van Daan. There isn’t anything
to do. Just wait.
[Mr. Frank holds up his hand for them to
be quiet. He is listening intently. There is
complete silence as they all strain to hear any
sound from below. Suddenly Anne begins to
sway. With a low cry she falls to the floor in
a faint. Mrs. Frank goes to her quickly,
sitting beside her on the floor and taking her
in her arms.]
Mrs. Frank. Get some water, please!
Get some water!
[Margot starts for the sink.]
Mr. Van Daan. [Grabbing Margot.] No!
No! No one’s going to run water!
CONNECT TO OTHER LIT ERATURE
Compare the novel you have just read to the literature selection at the left,
which is excerpted from The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and
Albert Hackett in Glencoe Literature. Then answer the questions below.
Use the exact words of the text or explain events and ideas in the text to
support your answer.
Compare & Contrast
WRITE ABOUT IT
Write a reflection in which you
identify either with the Lewises at
any part of the novel or with the
group in this passage and explain
why. Or explain why you cannot
identify with either group.
1. Plot What part or parts of the plot are revealed in this passage? What
part or parts of the plots of The Glory Field could you compare this
passage to? Why?
2. Setting How are the setting of this passage and the setting of The
Glory Field alike or different in a historical, cultural, or social way?
3. Tone Describe the emotional attitude of one of the characters in this
passage. Tell if or where you hear a similar tone in The Glory Field.
The G l ory Fi el d
269
RES POND THROUGH WRITING
Short Story
Apply Plot Development The Glory Field has several plots, each of which
contains an exposition, a conflict, rising action, a climax, and a resolution.
Write a short story in which you develop a plot.
Prewrite Find story ideas by asking and answering “What if?” questions,
such as “What if a mysterious stranger led me back into my family’s past?”
“What if the day I planned for for several years changed at the last
minute?” “What if someone overcame a great obstacle to change the
world or his or her fate?” Make a story map to develop your answer to a
“What if?” question. Be sure your story map shows the time and place, or
setting, of your story, as well as the main characters. It should also list the
conflict, main events in the rising action, the climax of the story, and the
resolution.
Draft As you draft, remember that you must present a clear sequence of
events that leads up to a moment of great excitement and also resolves
the conflict in some way. You want the tension, suspense, or excitement to
build up during the story, so pace the events so that they don’t all run
together or stretch out endlessly. Help your reader follow changes in time
and place by using transitional words and phases such as first, later that
day, when they reached home, and so on.
Revise Exchange your draft with a classmate. Identify the setting, conflict,
rising action, climax, and resolution in each other’s stories. Offer at least
one suggestion for adding concrete sensory details in order to locate the
story in a specific time and place. In addition, give one suggestion for
improving the pacing of the plot, such as by adding dialogue in order to
build up more slowly to the climax.
Edit and Proofread Edit your writing so that it expresses your thoughts
effectively and is well organized. Carefully proofread for grammar,
punctuation, and spelling errors.
UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• Exposition is the part of the plot
that introduces the characters,
setting, and situation.
• The rising action adds
complications to the story’s
conflicts, or problems.
• The climax is the point of greatest
interest or suspense.
• The resolution is the final
outcome.
Grammar Tip
Capitalization
Capitalize all proper nouns. In
addition to naming particular
people, proper nouns name
these special places and things.
Cities and States, Countries,
Regions:
Johnson City, South Carolina
Sierra Leone
West Africa
Geographical Places, Specific
Locations, Buildings:
Curry Island
Calhoun Street
Tombee Bridge
Cadet Park
Carnegie Hall
Organizations and Institutions:
White Citizens Council
Committee on Academic
Standing
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