PART 3 UNIT 1

PA R T 3

Life Transitions Analyze and

Extend
Big Idea
Life Transitions Direct
students to read the Big Idea
for Part 3. Explain that a rite of
passage refers to an event that
changes a person significantly,
often marking a transition from
innocence to experience. Ask:
What does the painting suggest
about the Big Idea of a life pas-
sage? (A life passage is a transi-
tion from one stage of life to the
next.)

S
Answer: Answers will vary. The
mood of the painting is solemn
All the Days of My Life No. 2, 1999. Evelyn Williams. Oil on canvas, 48.03 x 59.84 in. Private collection. and reflective. The expressions
The figures in this painting appear to be sharing a moment in daily life. Describe the mood and gestures of the figures sug-
of this painting. What can you infer from the figures and their expressions and gestures?
gest that the character in the
painting is looking back on earlier
stages of her life.
BIG IDEA
Ask students to notice the details
Life transitions are universal, prevalent in all cultures. Some cultures mark in British artist Evelyn Williams’s
transitions with ceremony, while others simply observe a gradual shift arresting painting All the Days of
in perspective and worldview. In the short stories in Part 3, you will encounter My Life No. 2. Ask: What stylistic
various rites of passage. As you read these stories, ask yourself, How do you,
devices does the painter use to
your family, and your friends mark transitions in your lives?
convey the theme of life transi-
tions? (The use of light verse dark,
183 shadowing the central figure and
English Learners making the other figures light, and
perspective, making the central
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figure appear closer)
Intermediate Write the following on the to give examples of rites of passage, such
board: rite of passage, transition. Have as births, deaths, marriages, confirmations,
English learners copy these words and and so on.
use a dictionary to look up and record
each word’s definition. (rite of passage: a
ritual associated with a change of sta-
tus; transition: passage from one stage
For additional support for English
to another, change) Point out that these Learners, see Unit 1 Teaching
words refer to change. The characters in Resources Book, p. 215.
Part 3 will undergo changes. Ask students

183
 Literary Focus Learning Objectives
LITERARY FOCUS
For pages 184–185
In studying this text, you will
focus on the following
objectives:
Narrator and Voice
Teach Literary Study: Analyze
narrator and voice.
Writing: Writing descriptive
sentences.
How are stories told?
Big Idea 1 Who will tell the story? This is an important question for anyone who
is writing a short story. Choosing a narrator is a decision that shapes
Life Transitions Ask stu- the style of a story. A narrator can speak from within the story, provid-
ing first-person narration, or from outside the story. There, it is possi-
dents to consider their reactions
ble to view the thoughts and feelings of all the characters. Based on
to life transitions that they have who is telling it, a story can be told in vastly different ways. 1
experienced. Tell students that Part
3 will deepen their understand-
ing of human responses to life’s
transitions. Encourage students to
contemplate this “big idea” and its
relation to the artwork. In real life I am a large, big-boned woman
with rough, man-working hands. In the win-
ter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and
Literary Element 2 overalls during the day. I can kill and clean
a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat
keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work
Narrator and Point of 2 outside all day, breaking ice to get water for
View Ask: From what point of washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over
view is the excerpt from “Every- the open fire minutes after it comes steam-
day Use” told? (first-person) How ing from the hog. One winter I knocked a
bull calf straight in the brain between the
do you know? (The narrator eyes with a sledge hammer and had the
refers to herself as I.) What can meat hung up to chill before nightfall.
you tell about the narrator from —Alice Walker, from “Everyday Use”
Cows, 1890. Vincent van Gogh. Oil on canvas.
the content and point of view? Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France.
(She is a capable, strong individ-
ual. She is proud of her strength
and ability to survive.) Point of View
A story with a first-person point of view is similar. The narrator is outside the story, but
told by a character, referred to as “I.” The only reveals the thoughts of one character,
reader sees people and events through the eyes referred to as “he” or “she.” A third-person
of one character, and the reader cannot know omniscient point of view differs greatly from
more than this character knows. For example, the first two: The narrator is outside the story
the reader cannot know what another character but knows everything about the characters
thinks. Limited third-person point of view is and events.

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Reading Practice
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Analyze Voice Review the elements of comparing herself with a man and using
voice, focusing on the distinctive use of coarse adjectives, such as rough and
language to express both an author’s and mercilessly.) How does this affect the
a character’s/narrator’s personality. Remind tone? (It contributes to the serious and
students that the voice and language proud tone.) Continue the analysis with
choice contribute directly to tone. Help the other excerpts.
students analyze the voice of “Everyday
Use.” Ask: What do you notice about
Walker’s syntax and word choice? (The
narrator speaks directly in a matter-of-
fact way. She emphasizes her strength by

184
 Voice
Voice is the distinctive use of language that
Style
The sum total of language choices an author
Literary Focus
conveys the author’s personality to the reader makes is his or her style. How sophisticated is
Sentence structure, word choice, and tone are the narrator’s vocabulary? Does he or she
elements that contribute to an author’s voice. speak in long, flowing sentences or short,
When reading other works by the same author, choppy ones? Is the language formal or infor-
a reader can recognize the author’s voice by his
or her unique use of language.
mal? It makes a difference whether the author
writes about an automobile or a car. Like tone,
style can tell a reader about the author’s pur-
Teach
A narrator has a voice too, because the author
pose in writing and his or her attitude toward
gives the narrator a particular way of speaking
the subject and audience. Reading Strategy 3
and using language, which contributes to the
overall emotional quality of the story. The tone
of the narrator’s voice also contributes to the
Analyze Style Ask: How are
setting, plot, and theme. Luis heard a car drive up and someone honk their cars referenced in the excerpt
horn. His father emerged from inside a new red from “Catch the Moon”? (They
Mustang that had been totaled. He usually dis- are referred to specifically by
mantled every small feature by hand before send-
When at last he started on his quest, it was a name as the “new red Mustang”
ing the vehicle into the cementerio, as he called
beautiful morning in late spring. The grass was up, and the “vintage white Volkswa-
the lot. Luis watched as the most beautiful girl he
the leaves were out, nature was at its best. Two
had ever seen climbed out of a vintage white
3 gen Bug.) Ask: What does this
medicine men accompanied him.
Volkswagen Bug. She stood in the sunlight in her reveal about Luis’s character?
—Lame Deer, from “The Vision Quest” white sundress waiting for his father, while Luis
stared. She was like a smooth wood carving. Her (He is familiar with different
skin was mahogany, almost black, and her arms makes and models of cars.)
and legs were long and thin, but curved in places
so that she did not look bony and hard—more like
Diction Good writers choose words carefully.
Diction refers to an author’s choice of words.
Authors choose their words to give the reader
a ballerina.
—Judith Ortiz Cofer, from “Catch the Moon”
Assess
a specific feeling or to convey a particular
meaning. Consider the difference in diction Quickwrite
between these two examples:
Check for a contrast between the
Constance hates lap swimming.
Constance loathes repetitive lap swimming. two styles. The first description
Quickwrite
Tone Diction also helps communicate the tone should be more conversational
Analyze Style Write a few sentences describing
of a story. Tone is the author’s attitude toward your classroom, or some other room, in your own with shorter words, more informal
the subject. An author’s tone might be sympa- style. Do not worry about trying to sound like a language, and a friendlier, more
thetic, objective, serious, ironic, sad, bitter, or writer; write the way you talk. After you write your
personal tone. The second pas-
humorous. sentences, use the checklist below to analyze your
style. Think about your choices, then rewrite your sage should be more formal with
For example, even the title of Isabel Allende’s
story “And of Clay Are We Created” incorpo-
description for a different purpose. Write as if you an enthusiastic, positive tone and
were trying to sell the room. Then analyze your
rates the story’s tone. Notice that she did not correct usage.
style in the second description.
call her story “We Are Created of Clay.” The
title she wrote immediately communicates the Words: long or short?
story’s solemn tone to the reader. On the other Sentences: long or short?
hand, James Thurber uses an amused, affection- Language: formal or informal?
ate tone in “The Car We Had to Push.” How would you describe the tone?
How would you describe the voice?

L I TE RARY FO C US 185

English Learners
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Intermediate English learners may have might this observation reveal about the
difficulty fully comprehending voice and style main character? (He appreciates small
because of their particular attention to mean- details about the natural world around him.)
ing. Help students step back from the text Discuss how the diction Lame Deer chooses
and analyze voice and style by giving them adds to the tone and flavor of the text.
examples such as the one presented under
the Diction head. Direct students’ attention
to the excerpt from “The Vision Quest.” Point
out the phrase The grass was up, the leaves
were out, nature was at its best. Ask: What

185
Before You Read Before You Read

Focus Everyday Use

Bellringer Options Meet Alice Walker

(born 1944)
Selection Focus
Transparency 11

I
f Alice Walker’s brother had not acciden-
Daily Language Practice tally shot her in the eye with a BB gun
Transparency 16 when she was eight, she might not have
become a writer. After children at school made
Or tell students that they will be fun of her, she “retreated into solitude, and
reading a short story that empha- read stories and began to write poems.” Her
sizes the varying personalities and great love for the written word had begun.
attitudes of each member of a Early Years Walker grew up in Eatonton, also experienced what it was like to live in a
Georgia, a small town where her parents world that was not completely segregated.
household and the effects these Walker knew that the changes she went
farmed. They were sharecroppers—people
attributes have on the family unit. who rented other people’s land to grow crops. through were difficult for the previous
generation. She wrote, “In the Sixties many of
Ask: What are some of the Sharecroppers made just enough money to
survive and viewed education as the means to us scared our parents profoundly when we
different personalities present showed up dressed in our ‘African’ . . .
a better life for their children. Walker received
in your household? How are a scholarship to Spelman College in Atlanta, clothes. We shocked them. . . .” In “Everyday
some family members different the nation’s oldest college for African Use,” Walker portrays the clash between
American women. At Spelman during some generations that sometimes resulted from
from others? In what ways are this rapid change.
of the most important years of the Civil
they all alike? Rights Movement, Walker was lured into An African American Woman’s Voice Walker
Have students think of one adjec- political activism. has published many volumes of fiction, non-
tive for each person in the family fiction, and poetry. Her most famous book,
The Color Purple, won the Pulitzer Prize and
unit.
“We will be ourselves and free, or die in the American Book Award. Steven Spielberg’s
movie version garnered numerous Academy
the attempt. Harriet Tubman was not Award nominations.
our great-grandmother for nothing.” One of Walker’s greatest influences was Zora
—Alice Walker Neale Hurston, whom Walker praised for por-
traying African American people as “complete,
complex, undiminished human beings.” Walker’s
own work reflects a similar commitment to por-
A Child of the Civil Rights Movement Walker
traying the beauty and complexity of the African
was ten years old when the Supreme Court
American experience.
ruled that “separate but equal” was unconsti-
tutional in schools. Her parents in the rural
South knew only the days of segregation and Literature Online
racism, but Walker came to know a different
Author Search For more about Alice Walker, go to
way of life. Walker saw people beaten and [Link] and enter QuickPass code GL59794u1.
battered for protesting for their rights, yet she

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Selection Skills
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Literary Elements Listening/Speaking/Viewing Skills Study Skills/Research/Assessment

• Reliable, Unreliable Narrator • Analyze Art (SE pp. 191, 193, 195) • Assessment: Short Answer
(SE pp. 187–190, 192–197) Questions (TE p. 190)
• Character (TE p. 192) • Research: Political and Social History
• Point of View (TE p. 196) (TE p. 196)
Everyday Use
Reading Skills Writing Skills/Grammar
• Question (SE pp. 187, 189-190, • Write a Character Sketch (SE p. 197)
192-194, 196, 197) Vocabulary Skills • Describe Characters (TE p. 188)
• Compare and Contrast (TE p. 194) • Word Usage (SE p. 197)
186
 Literature and Reading Preview
Learning Objectives
Before You Read
For pages 186–197
Connect to the Story
Focus
In studying this text, you will
focus on the following
Why might adult family members disapprove of how other mem-
objectives:
bers of their family live? Write a journal entry about a time when
Literary Study: Analyzing
you saw this happen in real life or in movies or television, and
explain how the family members dealt with the situation.
reliable/unreliable narrator. Summary
Reading: Questioning.
Mama and her daughter Maggie
Build Background
await the arrival of Dee, Maggie’s
“Everyday Use” takes place in the rural South in the 1970s. At
that time, there was often a great contrast between African
older sister, who has broken away
Americans living in cities, especially in the North, and African from their rural poverty. Dee arrives
Americans living in the rural South. Vocabulary with a boyfriend named Asala-
sidle (sı̄dəl) v. to move sideways; malakim. Dee has taken to calling
Set Purposes for Reading
p. 189 The shy child quietly sidled herself Wangero. She is as conde-
Big Idea Life Transitions up to me. scending and assertive as Mama
As you read ”Everyday Use,“ ask yourself, How does the selection furtive (furtiv) adj. secret; remembers. After dinner, Dee
address change: who changes, who does not change, and why? shifty; sly; p. 190 The guilty man discovers two quilts and demands
wore a furtive smile while main-
Literary Element Reliable/ Unreliable Narrator taining his innocence.
to have them. Mama defies Dee
The narrator is the person who tells the story. The narrator may be and explains that the quilts are
oppress (ə pres) v. to control or
a reliable, or trustworthy, source of information and interpretation.
govern by the cruel or unjust use for Maggie. Dee leaves in a rage,
A narrator might also be unreliable, or unable to be trusted. but Mama and Maggie enjoy the
of force or authority; p. 192 Some
Determining if the narrator of a story is reliable or unreliable will
governments further oppress people evening with a newfound respect
help you assess whether aspects of the story are true and
living in poverty. for each other.
unbiased. As you read “Everyday Use,” ask yourself, Who is the
narrator and is her version of events likely to be true or objective? doctrine (doktrin) n. particular
Why or why not? principle or position that is For summaries in languages other
taught or supported, as of a than English, see Unit 1 Teaching
Reading Strategy Question religion; p. 193 They believe in Resources Book, pp. 216–221.
When you question, you ask yourself whether specific information the doctrine of original sin.
in a selection is important, as well as whether you understand
Tip: Word Usage Select words not
what you have read. As you read, ask yourself, What do the
only for their meaning but for the
Vocabulary
details in this story say about Mama and her daughters?
context in which you will place them. Four Square Have students
For example, you might use sneaky
Tip: Make a Chart Use a chart like the one shown to record draw four squares on their papers.
when talking with your friends about
details and your questions.
an action but furtive when presenting Then have them write a vocabulary
an analysis of a character. word in the first square and the
Detail My Question definition in the second. In the
third square have students draw
“When the hard Why is this detail
a picture of the definition, and in
clay is swept here?
clean” the fourth square have them write
a sentence that uses the word in
context.

AL I C E WAL KE R 187

English Learners
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For additional vocabulary practice,
see Unit 1 Teaching Resources
Beginning Point out the root word Intermediate Tell students that they Book, p. 224.
culture in the word cultural. Have students must carefully evaluate who the narrator
use a dictionary to look up the word cul- is and what he or she says. Discuss what
ture. Then ask students to share a cultural types of narrators are more likely to be For additional context, see Glencoe
Interactive Vocabulary CD-ROM.
tradition from their country of origin. reliable and how emotional involvement in
the conflict by the narrator can influence
his or her reliability.

187
Teach
Big Idea 1
Life Transitions Say: Keep
this question in mind as you
read. What changes do Maggie
and Mama undergo as a result
of Dee’s visit? (Mama learns
to stand up to her overbearing
and demanding daughter, Dee,
in order to protect her weaker
daughter, Maggie. As a result,
Mama is pleased with herself, and
Maggie no longer fears her older
sister.)

Literary Element 2
Reliable/Unreliable
Narrator Answer: She is Fog over Rural Road in Great Smoky Mountains.
Alice Walker
William Manning.
waiting in the yard for Maggie’s
sister; she is proud of her clean,
swept yard.
E NG LI S H LE A R N ERS Point out
1 will wait for her in the yard that Maggie scars down her arms and legs, eying her
and I made so clean and wavy yesterday sister with a mixture of envy and awe. She
that the narrator refers to herself
afternoon. A yard like this is more comfort- thinks her sister has held life always in the
as I. She is telling the story, and able than most people know. It is not just a palm of one hand, that “no” is a word the
students can learn about her from yard. It is like an extended living room. When world never learned to say to her.
what she says and thinks. the hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the
fine sand around the edges lined with tiny, You’ve no doubt seen those TV shows
irregular grooves, anyone can come and sit where the child who has “made it” is
and look up into the elm tree and wait for the confronted, as a surprise, by her own
breezes that never come inside the house. mother and father, tottering in weakly
Maggie will be nervous until after her from backstage. (A pleasant surprise, of
Cultural History S sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in course: What would they do if parent and
corners, homely and ashamed of the burn child came on the show only to curse out
Swept Yards African Americans
and insult each other?) On TV mother and
frequently defined their space with child embrace and smile into each other’s
swept earth “yards,” which origi- Reliable/Unreliable Narrator What have you learned
2 about the narrator so far?
faces. Sometimes the mother and father
nated in Africa and served as the weep, the child wraps them in her arms
home’s center.
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Writing Practice
For an audio recording of this 0188_0196_U1P3_877979.indd 188 12/10/07 7:20:51 AM

selection, use Listening Library SPIRALDescribe Characters Point think of someone they know well, fill in
REVIEW
Audio CD-ROM. out to students that the image of the blank with an action that is charac-
Mama that emerges on the next teristic of that person, and complete the
page appears through information about sentence several more times with other
Readability Scores what she does (wears overalls, slaughters actions that are characteristic of that
Dale-Chall: 5.5 hogs, washes in ice water). Remind stu- person. Have students write a paragraph
DRP: 53 dents that a character’s appearance only describing the subject.
Lexile: 810
superficially defines the character.
Ask students to write the following
sentence: “_______________ is the sort
of person who . . .” Then ask them to

188
 and leans across the table to tell how she
would not have made it without their help.
bright lights. Johnny Carson has much to do
to keep up with my quick and witty tongue. Teach
I have seen these programs. But that is a mistake. I know even before
Sometimes I dream a dream in which Dee I wake up. Who ever knew a Johnson with
and I are suddenly brought together on a TV a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me Reading Strategy 3
program of this sort. Out of a dark and soft- looking a strange white man in the eye? It
seated limousine I am ushered into a bright seems to me I have talked to them always Question Answer: Possible
room filled with many with one foot raised in flight, with my answers may include that the
people. There I meet a head turned in whichever way is farthest narrator longs for Dee’s show of
smiling, gray, sporty from them. Dee, though. She would always gratitude.
man like Johnny look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no
Carson who shakes part of her nature. For additional practice using the
my hand and tells me reading skill or strategy, see
Visual Vocabulary what a fine girl I have. “How do I look, Mama?” Maggie says, Unit 1 Teaching Resources Book,
Johnny Carson hosted Then we are on the showing just enough of her thin body
The Tonight Show, the
p. 223.
popular late-night TV
stage and Dee is enveloped in pink skirt and red blouse for
talk show, from 1962 embracing me with me to know she’s there, almost hidden by
to 1992. tears in her eyes. She the door.
pins on my dress a “Come out into the yard,” I say. Literary Element 4
large orchid, even though she has told me Have you ever seen a lame animal, per-
once that she thinks orchids are tacky flowers. haps a dog run over by some careless per- Reliable/Unreliable
In real life I am a large, big-boned woman son rich enough to own a car, sidle up to Narrator Answer: Dee
with rough, man-working hands. In the win- someone who is ignorant enough to be does not approve of her mother’s
ter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and kind to him? That is the way my Maggie
appearance and station in life.
overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a walks. She has been like this, chin on chest,
hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since Mama is aware of her daughter’s
hot in zero weather. I can work outside all the fire that burned the other house to criticism, and she may be hurt or
day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I the ground. defensive. Thus, the narrator is
can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer probably not objective.
minutes after it comes steaming from the hog. hair and a fuller figure. She’s a woman ENGLIS H LE A R N E R S Explain that
One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in now, though sometimes I forget. How long
the brain between the eyes with a sledge ago was it that the other house burned?
the conflict is between the mother,
hammer and had the meat hung up to chill Ten, twelve years? Sometimes I can still who is the narrator and her daugh-
before nightfall. But of course all this does not hear the flames and feel Maggie’s arms ter Dee. Tell English learners that
show on television. I am the way my daugh- sticking to me, her hair smoking and her the narrator is using the conditional
ter would want me to be: a hundred dress falling off her in little black papery tense here, implying that if life were
pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked flakes. Her eyes seemed stretched open, like her dream, then she would
barley pancake. My hair glistens in the hot blazed open by the flames reflected in
have the physical appearance that
them. And Dee. I see her standing off
under the sweet gum tree she used to dig Dee would want her to have.
3 Question Why might the narrator have this dream?
gum out of; a look of concentration on her
face as she watched the last dingy gray
Reliable/Unreliable Narrator What conflict does the
narrator reveal between her and her daughter? Do you
4 think this conflict affects the narrator’s ability to be objec- Vocabulary
tive about her daughter? Explain. sidle (sɪ̄d´əl) v. to move sideways

AL I C E WAL KE R 189

English Learners
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Intermediate Have students discuss ask students whether they see themselves
how Dee is different from Mama and as typical or atypical representatives of
Maggie. Point out to students that during their homelands or traditional cultures and
the 1960s and 1970s, African Americans why they see themselves that way.
fought for their rights. They also worked
hard for equal educational opportunities.
As a result, the African American culture
changed, especially in the cities. Have
students describe how Dee reflects these
changes in African American culture. Then

189
Teach board of the house fall in toward the red-
hot brick chimney. Why don’t you do a
good looks and money, quickness passed
her by. She will marry John Thomas (who
dance around the ashes? I’d wanted to ask has mossy teeth in an earnest face) and
her. She had hated the house that much. then I’ll be free to sit here and I guess just
Reading Strategy 1 I used to think she hated Maggie, too. sing church songs to myself. Although I
But that was before we raised the money, never was a good singer. Never could carry
Question Answer: Possible the church and me, to send her to Augusta1 a tune. I was always better at a man’s job. I
questions: How did the fire get to school. She used to read to us without used to love to milk till I was hooked in
started? Did Dee have anything to pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, the side in ’49. Cows are soothing and slow
do with it? Why did Dee hate her whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and don’t bother you, unless you try to
own house as a young child? and ignorant underneath her voice. She milk them the wrong way.
washed us in a river of make-believe, I have deliberately turned my back on
Ask: What happened to the
burned us with a lot of knowledge we the house. It is three rooms, just like the
sisters in the fire? (Maggie was didn’t necessarily need to know. Pressed one that burned, except the roof is tin;
badly burned and emotionally us to her with the serious way she read, they don’t make shingle roofs any more.
traumatized by the fire. Dee was to shove us away at just the moment, like There are no real windows, just some
unhurt and pleased to see the old dimwits, we seemed about to understand. holes cut in the sides, like the portholes in
house destroyed.) Dee wanted nice things. A yellow a ship, but not round and not square,
organdy2 dress to wear to her graduation with rawhide holding the shutters up on
from high school; black pumps to match a the outside. This house is in a pasture,
Literary Element 2 green suit she’d made from an old suit too, like the other one. No doubt when
somebody gave me. She was determined to Dee sees it she will want to tear it down.
Reliable/Unreliable stare down any disaster in her efforts. Her She wrote me once that no matter where
eyelids would not flicker for minutes at a we “choose” to live, she will manage to
Narrator Answer: She time. Often I fought off the temptation to come see us. But she will never bring her
resents Dee’s education and new shake her. At sixteen she had a style of her friends. Maggie and I thought about this
ideas because she thinks that own: and knew what style was. and Maggie asked me, “Mama, when did
Dee feels superior as a result and I never had an education myself. After Dee ever have any friends?”
because Dee forces her ideas on second grade the school was closed down. She had a few. Furtive boys in pink
her and Maggie. Don’t ask me why: in 1927 colored asked shirts hanging about on washday after
fewer questions than they do now. school. Nervous girls who never laughed.
Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She Impressed with her they worshiped the
Big Idea 3 stumbles along good-naturedly but can’t well-turned phrase, the cute shape, the
see well. She knows she is not bright. Like scalding humor that erupted like bubbles
Life Transitions Answer: in lye. She read to them.
When Mama was young, children When she was courting Jimmy T she
1. Augusta is a city in Georgia.
didn’t have much time to pay to us,
received little or no education.
2. Organdy is a lightweight fabric, usually made of cotton. but turned all her faultfinding power
Now children go to school, even to
Question What questions do you have about the fire or
college. 1 about Dee’s relationship to it?
Reliable/Unreliable Narrator How do you think it
Reliable/Unreliable Narrator How does Mama feel
makes the narrator feel that Dee hates her house? Do you 4
Literary Element 4 2 about her daughter’s education and new ideas?
think this affects how she tells her story? Explain.

Vocabulary
Reliable/Unreliable 3
Life Transitions How have things changed since Mama
furtive (fur´tiv) adj. secret; shifty; sly
was young?
Narrator Answer: The nar-
rator is probably offended that
190 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY
Dee hates her house. This prob-
ably affects the way the narrator Assessment Practice
recounts the story. 0188_0196_U1P3_877979.indd 190 12/10/07 7:20:59 AM

A P P ROAC H I N G Ensure that stu- SPIRAL

REVIEW
Short-Answer Questions Re- style, the way Dee treated Jimmy T, and
dents understand why the narrator mind students that responses to that Dee would never bring her friends to
says that Dee hates her house. short-answer questions are evalu- see her family.)
Point out that the narrator says, ated on their insight and use of evidence
“No doubt when Dee sees it she from the text. Ask: How does the nar-
will want to tear it down.” Point rator show her attitude toward Dee’s
students to the description of the sense of superiority? Have students write
house. Then have students discuss their responses and share their answers
why Dee would find the house with the class. (Students should note the
unacceptable. narrator’s description of her and Maggie
as trapped and ignorant, Dee’s sense of

190
 It is hard to see them
clearly through the strong Teach
sun. But even the first
glimpse of leg out of the car
tells me it is Dee. Her feet Big Idea 5
were always neat-looking,
as if God himself had
Life Transitions Answer:
shaped them with a certain Based on Mama and Maggie’s
style. From the other side of appearance, the man’s long hair
the car comes a short, and beard are shockingly different.
stocky man. Hair is all over Ask: What
AP P ROAC H I N G
his head a foot long and
details show that the narrator
hanging from his chin like a
kinky mule tail. I hear disapproves of the man’s long
Maggie suck in her breath. hair? (Students should refer to the
“Uhnnnh,” is what narrator’s comparison of his hair
it sounds like. Like when to a “kinky mule tail.”)
you see the wriggling end
of a snake just in front of
your foot on the road.
“Uhnnnh.”
Dee next. A dress down
to the ground, in this hot
weather. A dress so loud it
hurts my eyes. There are
yellows and oranges
Girl in a Green Dress, 1930. William H. Johnson. Oil on canvas, 24 / x 19 / in.
National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.
1
4
1
2 enough to throw back the
light of the sun. I feel my
S
William H. Johnson’s art focuses on the African American experience. His earlier Answer: Students may say
works–like this one–are influenced by the Expressionist Style, a form that whole face warming from
emphasizes intense emotions. the heat waves it throws that the girl in the painting, with
Which of the two sisters in the story might be more like the girl in out. Earrings gold, too, her reserved, solemn bearing,
this portrait? Explain. and hanging down to her resembles Maggie more. The
shoulders. Bracelets dan- painting’s somber colors and
gling and making noises when she moves
on him. He flew to marry a cheap city thick shadows further evoke
her arm up to shake the folds of the dress
girl from a family of ignorant flashy out of her armpits. The dress is loose and Maggie’s reticence. Ask: What
people. She hardly had time to recom- flows, and as she walks closer, I like it. I colors would you expect to see
pose herself. hear Maggie go “Uhnnnh” again. It is her in a portrait of Dee? (Students’
sister’s hair. It stands straight up like the answers will vary. From reading
When she comes I will meet—but there wool on a sheep. It is black as night and
they are! the description of Dee’s “dress so
around the edges are two long pigtails
Maggie attempts to make a dash for the loud it hurts,” students might sug-
house, in her shuffling way, but I stay her gest bold primary colors.)
with my hand. “Come back here,” I say.
And she stops and tries to dig a well in Life Transitions Why do the man’s hair and beard
the sand with her toe. signify change to Mama? 5

AL I C E WAL KE R 191

Approaching Level
DI F F ER E NTIATED
0188_0196_U1P3_877979.indd 191 I N STR UCTION 3/14/08 3:56:50 AM

Established Have students visualize

what it would be like to return home after
a ten-year absence. Ask students to think
about how they might want to change
and have others see them as a different
or “new” person. Tell students to write
a scenario depicting their visions. Then
have students discuss which goals might
be superficial and which goals might be
worthwhile.

191
Teach that rope about like small lizards disap-
pearing behind her ears.
“What happened to ‘Dee’?” I wanted to
know.
“Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!” she says, coming on “She’s dead,” Wangero said. “I couldn’t
in that gliding way the dress makes her bear it any longer, being named after the
Reading Strategy 1 move. The short stocky fellow with the people who oppress me.”
hair to his navel is all grinning and follows “You know as well as me you was
Question Answer: She may up with “Asalamalakim,3 my mother and named after your aunt Dicie,” I said. Dicie
feel that her intelligence is being sister!” He moves to hug Maggie but she is my sister. She named Dee. We called her
undermined. Ask: What tone falls back, right up against the back of my “Big Dee” after Dee was born.
did Asalamalakim probably use chair. I feel her trembling there and when I “But who was she named after?” asked
when making this comment? look up I see the perspiration falling off Wangero.
(Possible responses include con- her chin. “I guess after Grandma Dee,” I said.
“Don’t get up,” says Dee. Since I am “And who was she named after?” asked
descending and arrogant.)
stout it takes something of a push. You can Wangero.
see me trying to move a second or two “Her mother,” I said, and saw Wangero
before I make it. She turns, showing white was getting tired. “That’s about as far back
heels through her sandals, and goes back as I can trace it,” I said. Though, in fact, I
to the car. Out she peeks next with a probably could have carried it back beyond
Literary Element 2
Polaroid. She stoops down quickly and the Civil War through the branches.
Reliable/Unreliable lines up picture after picture of me sitting “Well,” said Asalamalakim, “there you
there in front of the house with Maggie are.”
Narrator Answer: Mama cowering behind me. She never takes a “Uhnnnh,” I heard
feels that Asalamalakim is looking shot without making sure the house is Maggie say.
down on her as if she were some included. When a cow comes nibbling “There I was not,” I
outdated person. Asalamalakim is around the edge of the yard she snaps it said, “before ‘Dicie’
amused. and me and Maggie and the house. Then cropped up in our family,
she puts the Polaroid in the back seat of so why should I try to Visual Vocabulary
the car, and comes up and kisses me trace it that far back?” The Model A was
on the forehead. He just stood there manufactured by
Meanwhile Asalamalakim is going grinning, looking down the Ford Motor
Company from
through motions with Maggie’s hand. on me like somebody 1927 to 1931.
Maggie’s hand is as limp as a fish, and inspecting a Model A car.
probably as cold, despite the sweat, and she Every once in a while he
keeps trying to pull it back. It looks like and Wangero sent eye signals
Asalamalakim wants to shake hands but over my head.
So that English
E NG LI S H LE A R N ERS
wants to do it fancy. Or maybe he don’t
learner students understand the know how people shake hands. Anyhow, he
significance of this comparison, Question How do you think Asalamalakim’s comment
soon gives up on Maggie. makes Mama feel? 1
explain that the Model A would “Well,” I say. “Dee.”
have been extremely outdated “No, Mama,” she says. “Not ‘Dee,’ Reliable/Unreliable Narrator What is Mama’s view of
at the time of the story. Have Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”4 this conversation? What do you think Asalamalakim’s view 2
might be?
students reread this passage and
apply this new knowledge. 3. Wa-su-zo-Tean-o! (wä sōō ́ zō tēn´o) and Asalamalakim Vocabulary
(ä säl ä mä´ lä kēm) are greetings. oppress (ə pres) v. to control or govern by the cruel
4. Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo or unjust use of force or authority
(wän ɡārō lē wā´ nē kə ke mänjō)

192 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Literary Element Practice

0188_0196_U1P3_877979.indd 192 3/14/08 3:56:59

SPIRAL
REVIEW PARTNERS
Analyze Character to describe the speaker’s, or Mama’s,
Write the following quotes attitude. Then have students volunteer to
on the board or on an read these sentences in the tone Mama
overhead transparency: might have used.
“There I was not,” I said, “before ‘Dicie’
cropped up in our family, so why should I
try to trace it that far back?”
“Why shouldn’t I?” I asked. “If that’s what
you want us to call you, we’ll call you.”
Pair students and then have them read
the two quotes and write three words
192
 Teach
Reading Strategy 3
Question Answer: Most
students will say that Mama did
know from the beginning. In her
own way, she is making fun of
Hakim-a-barber.

Literary Element 4
Giving Thanks, 1942. Horace Pippin.
The Barnes Foundation, Merion Station, PA.
Horace Pippin uses a primitive style with bold colors and flat
Reliable/Unreliable
forms to depict the everyday lives of African Americans, their history, and their Narrator Answer: Most stu-
struggle for equality. What elements from the story can you locate in this image? dents will say that Asalamalakim is
rude for not eating the food.
“How do you pronounce this name?” busy: feeding the cattle, fixing the fences,
I asked. putting up salt-lick shelters, throwing down
“You don’t have to call me by it if you hay. When the white folks poisoned some of
don’t want to,” said Wangero. the herd the men stayed up all night with
“Why shouldn’t I?” I asked. “If that’s what rifles in their hands. I walked a mile and a S
you want us to call you, we’ll call you.” half just to see the sight. Answer: The room is simple with
“I know it might sound awkward at Hakim-a-barber said, “I accept some of minimal furniture and appears to
first,” said Wangero. their doctrines, but farming and raising be inhabited by very poor people,
“I’ll get used to it,” I said. “Ream it out cattle is not my style.” (They didn’t tell me,
similar to Mama’s house. There is
again.” and I didn’t ask, whether Wangero (Dee)
Well, soon we got the name out of the had really gone and married him.) a quilt on the bed that is prob-
way. Asalamalakim had a name twice as We sat down to eat and right away he ably handmade, like Mama’s. The
long and three times as hard. After I said he didn’t eat collards and pork was people in the image seem humble
tripped over it two or three times he told unclean. Wangero, though, went on but strong, like Mama, and wear
me to just call him Hakim-a-barber.5 I through the chitlins and corn bread, the vibrant clothing, as Dee does.
wanted to ask him was he a barber, but I greens and everything else. She talked a
didn’t really think he was, so I didn’t ask. blue streak over the sweet potatoes.
Horace Pippin (1888–1946), one
“You must belong to those beef Everything delighted her. Even the fact of the foremost African American
cattle peoples down the road,” I said. They artists of his time, is noted for his
said “Asalamalakim” when they met you, Reliable/Unreliable Narrator From this narration of social themes and his use of color.
too, but they didn’t shake hands. Always too events, what impressions are you gaining of 4
Asalamalakim? Explain.

5. Hakim-a-barber (hä kēmʼ ä bär bər) Vocabulary

Question Do you think that Mama knew all along that doctrine (dok trin) n. a particular principle or posi-
3 Asalamalakim was a greeting, not a name? Explain. tion that is taught or supported, as of a religion

AL I C E WAL KE R 193

Approaching Level
9 AM DI F F ER E NTIATED
0188_0196_U1P3_877979.indd 193 I N STR UCTION 3/14/08 3:57:23 AM

AAVE Approaching-level students who meaning is that Dicie is named Dee. Have
use African American Vernacular English students write their own sentences con-
(AAVE) may be accustomed to leaving out taining helping verbs, such as is and was.
the helping verb in a sentence. On the
board, write the following excerpt from
the text: Dicie is my sister. She named
Dee.
Explain that the sentence, as it is, sounds
as though Dicie actually named Dee
herself. However, the narrator’s intended

193
Teach that we still used the benches her daddy
made for the table when we couldn’t afford
When she finished
wrapping the dasher the
to buy chairs. handle stuck out. I took
“Oh, Mama!” she cried. Then turned to it for a moment in my
Big Idea 1 Hakim-a-barber. “I never knew how hands. You didn’t even
lovely these benches are. You can feel the have to look close to see
Life Transitions Answer: rump prints,” she said, running her hands where hands pushing the
Dee sees them as remnants of a underneath her and along the bench. Then dasher up and down to
quaint time in the past. She wants she gave a sigh and her hand closed over make butter had left a
them for decoration, not everyday Grandma Dee’s butter dish. “That’s it!” kind of sink in the wood. Visual Vocabulary
use. she said. “I knew there was something I In fact, there were a lot A dasher is part of
wanted to ask you if I could have.” She of small sinks; you could a churn, an old-
E NG LI S H LE A R N ERS Explain that fashioned device
jumped up from the table and went over see where thumbs and
the repetition of the phrase looked for making butter.
in the corner where the churn stood, the fingers had sunk into the
at emphasizes that Dee was not milk in it clabber6 by now. She looked at wood. It was beautiful
simply viewing the object. She was the churn and looked at it. light yellow wood, from a
studying it with a plan in mind. “This churn top is what I need,” she tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee
Ask: Where else is repetition said. “Didn’t Uncle Buddy whittle it out and Stash had lived.
of a tree you all used to have?” After dinner Dee (Wangero) went to
used in the story? How does
“Yes,” I said. the trunk at the foot of my bed and
the repetition affect the clarity “Uh huh,” she said happily. “And I started rifling through it. Maggie hung
of the text? (repetition of quilts, want the dasher, too.” back in the kitchen over the dishpan. Out
for example, Dee says “The point “Uncle Buddy whittle that, too?” asked came Wangero with two quilts. They had
is these quilts, these quilts!”; the the barber. been pieced by Grandma Dee and then
repetition emphasizes the conflict Dee (Wangero) looked up at me. Big Dee and me had hung them on the
“Aunt Dee’s first husband whittled the quilt frames on the front porch and
over the quilts)
dash,” said Maggie so low you almost quilted them. One was in the Lone Star
couldn’t hear her. “His name was Henry, pattern. The other was Walk Around the
but they called him Stash.” Mountain. In both of them were scraps
“Maggie’s brain is like an elephant’s,” of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty
Wangero said, laughing. “I can use the and more years ago. Bits and pieces of
Literary Element 2 churn top as a centerpiece for the alcove7 Grandpa Jarrell’s Paisley shirts. And one
table,” she said, sliding a plate over the teeny faded blue piece, about the size
Reliable/Unreliable churn, “and I’ll think of something artistic of a penny matchbox, that was from
Narrator Answer: She is not to do with the dasher.” Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he
wore in the Civil War.
impressed with him.
“Mama,” Wangero said sweet as a bird.
6. Clabber is the thick, clotted part of sour milk.
“Can I have these old quilts?”
Reading Strategy 3 7. An alcove (al´ kōv) is a small room or recessed opening I heard something fall in the kitchen,
off of a larger room. and a minute later the kitchen door
Question Answer: Maggie Life Transitions Why is Dee so interested in these every-
slammed.
overheard the discussion about
1 day objects?

the quilts. She is upset because Reliable/Unreliable Narrator Mama calls Hakim-a-
they have been promised to her. 2 barber “the barber.” What does this reveal about her Question Why might Maggie have slammed the kitchen
attitude toward him? door?
3

194 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Reading Practice
0188_0196_U1P3_877979.indd 194 12/10/07 7:21:53 AM

SPIRAL
REVIEW SMALL GROUP
Compare and Contrast as speaking styles; and end with traits they
Conducting a detailed infer from the characters’ dialogue and
comparison of the two actions, such as kindness and generosity.
sisters in the story can help students draw Then incorporate ideas from all of the
conclusions about the story’s theme and groups to create one chart for the class.
about the narrator’s character traits. Have Have volunteers contribute items for the
students work in small groups to create chart on the board.
a chart contrasting Maggie and Dee. Sug-
gest that they begin with superficial traits,
such as physical appearance and style of
dress; progress to discernible traits, such

194
 Teach
Literary Element 4
Reliable/Unreliable
Narrator Answer: Dee
would probably describe things
differently. Mama’s interpretation
of Dee’s action may reflect her
frustration with Dee, rather than
Dee’s actual motivation for coming
back.

Big Idea 5
Life Transitions Answer:
Quilts on the Line, 1994. Anna Belle Lee Washington. Oil on canvas, 20 x 30 in. National Dee is cruel enough to say “back-
Museum of American Art, Washington, DC. ward” and thinks “everyday use” is
A former social worker, Anna Belle Lee Washington paints images that focus on connections
between people. Quilts are a prominent feature in many of her paintings. inappropriate. Mama and Maggie
Compare and contrast the family and the setting of this painting with find “everyday use” for everything.
those in the story. What are the most striking differences? Similarities?

“Why don’t you take one or two of the back just enough so that I couldn’t reach
others?” I asked. “These old things was the quilts. They already belonged to her.
just done by me and Big Dee from some “Imagine!” she breathed again, clutch-
tops your grandma pieced before she ing them closely to her bosom. ENGLIS H LE A R N E R S Ensure that

died.” “The truth is,” I said, “I promised to English learners understand the
“No,” said Wangero. “I don’t want give them quilts to Maggie, for when she concept of “everyday use.” Dee
those. They are stitched around the bor- marries John Thomas.” thinks that the quilts should not be
ders by machine.” She gasped like a bee had stung her.
used daily rather should be safely
“That’ll make them last better,” I said. “Maggie can’t appreciate these
“That’s not the point,” said Wangero. quilts!” she said. “She’d probably be kept away or displayed for decora-
“These are all pieces of dresses Grandma backward enough to put them to tion, but Mama thinks that they
used to wear. She did all this stitching by everyday use.” should be used for their intended
hand. Imagine!” She held the quilts purpose.
securely in her arms, stroking them. Reliable/Unreliable Narrator Would Dee explain her
“Some of the pieces, like those lavender action the same way that Mama does? Do you judge 4
Mama to be a reliable narrator at this point? Explain.
ones, come from old clothes her mother
handed down to her,” I said, moving up
Life Transitions How does this passage suggest a fun-
to touch the quilts. Dee (Wangero) moved damental difference in values between Dee, Mama, and 5
Maggie? S
Answer: Students may men-
AL I C E WAL KE R 195 tion that the scene in the painting
Approaching Level is far more serene than what is
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
0188_0196_U1P3_877979.indd 195 12/10/07 7:21:55 AM
depicted in the story or that none
of the characters in the paint-
Emerging Point out to students that ing are dressed as outlandishly
Maggie’s body language and comments as Dee (Wangero). Similarities
indicate what she has learned to expect may include the rural setting, the
from her family. Have students copy sen- prominence of women and girls,
tences that show Maggie’s body language the African American characters,
and comments. Then have students draw and the importance of the quilts.
conclusions about Maggie’s previous role
in the family. Ask students what Maggie’s
speech and actions teach the narrator.

195
Teach “I reckon she would,” I said. “God
knows I been saving ’em for long
mad at her. This was Maggie’s portion. This
was the way she knew God to work.
enough with nobody using ’em. I hope When I looked at her like that some-
she will!” I didn’t want to bring up how thing hit me in the top of my head and
Literary Element 1 I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when ran down to the soles of my feet. Just like
she went away to college. Then she had when I’m in church and the spirit of God
Point of View Tell students
told me they were old-fashioned, out touches me and I get happy and shout. I
to consider what the story would of style. did something I never had done before:
be like if it had been told from “But they’re priceless!” she was saying hugged Maggie to me, then dragged
Maggie’s point of view. Ask: how now, furiously; for she has a temper. “Maggie her on into the room, snatched the
would she tell about the scene would put them on the bed and in five years quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands
in which Mama snatches the they’d be in rags. Less than that!” and dumped them into Maggie’s lap. 1
“She can always make some more,” I Maggie just sat there on my bed with her
quilts from Dee? (Students may
said. “Maggie knows how to quilt.” mouth open.
mention fear of Dee and surprise Dee (Wangero) looked at me with “Take one or two of the others,” I said
at Mama’s actions.) hatred. “You just will not understand. The to Dee.
point is these quilts, these quilts!” But she turned without a word and
“Well,” I said, stumped. “What would went out to Hakim-a-barber.
Reading Strategy 2 you do with them?” “You just don’t understand,” she said,
“Hang them,” she said. As if that was as Maggie and I came out to the car.
Question Answer: Dee’s the only thing you could do with quilts. “What don’t I understand?” I wanted to
perspective has changed; she now Maggie by now was standing in the know.
sees the quilts as works of art or door. I could almost hear the sound her “Your heritage,” she said. And then she
valuable artifacts of her former life. feet made as they scraped over each turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said,
other. “You ought to try to make something of
“She can have them, Mama,” she said, yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day
Big Idea 3 like somebody used to never winning any- for us. But from the way you and Mama
thing, or having anything reserved for her. still live you’d never know it.”
Life Transitions Answer: “I can ’member Grandma Dee without She put on some sunglasses that hid
Mama cannot accept the new the quilts.” everything above the tip of her nose and
I looked at her hard. She had filled her her chin.
Dee. Dee represents new ideas.
bottom lip with checkerberry snuff 8 and it Maggie smiled; maybe at the sunglasses.
Maggie represents Mama’s way of gave her face a kind of dopey, hangdog But a real smile, not scared. After we
life. Mama’s choice to give Maggie look. It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who watched the car dust settle I asked Maggie
the quilts is an assertion of her taught her how to quilt herself. She stood to bring me a dip of snuff. And then the
preference and her own ideals. there with her scarred hands hidden in the two of us sat there just enjoying, until
folds of her skirt. She looked at her sister it was time to go in the house and go
Progress Check with something like fear but she wasn’t to bed. m

Can students identify

reliable/unreliable narrators? 8. Snuff ('snəf) is finely ground tobacco that can be sniffed, Life Transitions Why do you think Mama reacts
snorted, placed against the gums or chewed. this way? 3
If No ➔ See Unit 1 Teaching Checkerberry ('che-kər- ber-ē) is the fruit of the
'
wintergreen plant.
Resources Book, p. 222. Reliable/Unreliable Narrator How does Mama feel
Question Why does Dee want the quilts now, when she about the way Dee’s visit ended? If Dee had been the
2 did not want to take one to college? narrator, how might the story have ended differently? 4
Literary Element 4
196 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Reliable/Unreliable Research Practice

Narrator Answer: Mama 0188_0196_U1P3_877979.indd 196 12/10/07 7:22:01 AM
feels satisfied at the end of Dee’s SPIRALPolitical and Social History a multimedia presentation that incorpo-
REVIEW
visit; she sits there “just enjoying.” If Have students develop a list of rates their research results.
Dee had told the story, she might questions to research to learn more
have portrayed her mother as about the United States during the 1960s
being upset, resentful, or spiteful. and 1970s. Then have students use Inter-
net and library sources to search for the
To check students’ understanding answers to their questions and to learn
of the selection, see Unit 1 Teach- about the major events of this time. After
ing Resources Book, p. 227 they have completed their research, have
them share their information with the rest
of the class. Challenge students to create

196
 After You Read
After You Read
Respond and Think Critically
Assess
1. Answers will vary.
Respond and Interpret 5. How does the character of Hakim-a-barber
make the story richer and more interesting?
1. To whom would you have given the quilts? Explain. 2. (a) Maggie is homely, envious,
2. (a)How does Mama describe each daughter Connect timid, and “not bright.” Dee is
before Dee’s arrival? (b)How do you think
6. Big Idea Life Transitions Mama does not
bold, aggressive, and stylish.
Mama feels about Maggie and Dee based on (b) Mama feels that Dee is
like many of the ways that Dee has changed
these descriptions?
since leaving home. What is your opinion of the overconfident and cruel; Mama
3. How does the origin of the quilts affect Maggie’s changes that Dee has undergone? Explain. identifies most with Maggie.
and Dee’s feelings about them?
7. Connect to Today In the story, Dee’s 3. Maggie sees them as both
Analyze and Evaluate (Wangero’s) bright African clothes, ”Afro“ hairstyle,
and new name are linked to a social movement
useful and a connection to her
4. How might the story be different if the characters grandmother; Dee sees their
and certain political beliefs. Give examples of
lived in another time and place?
movements today that have certain styles of aesthetic and cultural value.
dress or behavior associated with them.
4. The clash of values might not
be as intense.
5. He underscores the conflict
Literary Element Reliable/ Unreliable Vocabulary Practice between Dee and her mother.
Narrator Practice with Usage Respond to these state- 6. Students may say Dee has
In “Everyday Use,” Mama is the narrator, and every- ments to help you explore the meanings of changed with the times,
thing the reader learns is from her point of view. vocabulary words from the selection. whereas Mama lives in the past.
1. Why do you think the author chose Mama as 1. Describe what people do when they sidle. 7. Answers will vary. Shared style
the narrator?
2. Describe what a furtive person looks like or serves a role of identification
2. In what ways is Mama a reliable narrator? In does. that may suggest shared values
what ways might she be unreliable?
3. Name two ways in which a government and unity, while causing outsid-
Reading Strategy Question might oppress its citizens. ers to feel alienated.
Review the chart you filled in as you read the text. 4. Identify a doctrine in which you believe.

1. What are Walker’s ideas about change and the Literary Element
clash between old and new ways?
Writing
2. Do you think Walker’s goal was to give us a
1. Mama can see the virtues and
Write a Character Sketch Write a description of
story with predictable answers? Explain. flaws of both daughters. Maggie
Maggie’s personality, using details from the story to
support the points you make. Keep in mind that might have been too weak, and
you need not accept Mama’s interpretations of Dee too overwhelming, as a
Literature Online
Maggie’s actions. narrator.
Selection Resources For Selection Quizzes, eFlashcards,
and Reading-Writing Connection activities, go to 2. Mama knows the truth from her
[Link] and enter QuickPass code GL59794u1.
point of view, but she does not
have a wide experience of the
AL I C E WAL KE R 197 world.

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Reading Strategy
Vocabulary Practice Writing 1. When change happens fast (in
Answers will vary. Sample responses: Students’ character sketches should: one generation), old ways and
1. They approach indirectly. • include details from the story new ways clash.
2. A furtive person might sidle, slink, or • present Maggie’s personality in a bal- 2. No, change is complicated
do sneaky and dishonest things. anced manner and none of the characters are
3. A government might oppress its citi- entirely right or wrong. There are
zens by taking away freedom of the For additional assessment, see Assessment no clear answers.
Resources, pp. 67–68.
press and the right to assemble.
4. I believe in the golden rule.

197
 Learning Objectives
Comparing Literature Comparing Literature
Across Genres For pages 198–217
Across Genres In studying these texts, you
will focus on the following

Focus Compare Literature About Life’s Lessons

objectives:
Literary Study:
Comparing across genres.
How do writers and storytellers pass along lessons they have learned Analyzing point of view.
about life? The three literary works compared here—a short story, a leg- Reading: Visualizing.
Bellringer Options end, and a personal letter—each share wisdom.
Daily Language Practice Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing ............short story .................. 199
Transparency 17
Or write on the board some The Vision Quest by Lame Deer ............................... legend .................. 212
common challenges students “Dear Pie” from Rules to Live By
face, such as “standing up to a by F. Scott Fitzgerald .......................................................................letter .................. 215
bully,” and “making new friends.”
Ask: What are some challenges
you’ve faced in your life? COM PA R E T H E Big Idea Life Transitions
Have students discuss difficult Young people setting off on their own, even for a short time, face chal-
lenges. The three selections you are about to read treat this theme in
challenges they’ve wanted to
different ways. As you read, ask yourself, How do the young people in
overcome and why. these selections find strength in their families, their cultures, and their
own inner resources?

COM PA R E Narrators
The relationship between the narrator and the literary work is the
narrative point of view. In a letter or personal essay, the narrator
always speaks in the first-person point of view. In fiction, the narrator
can be inside or outside the story. A first-person narrator is a character
who has access only to his or her own thoughts and feelings. A third-
Connect person narrator speaks to the reader from outside the story. As you
read, ask yourself, How is the narrative point of view of each selection Figure In Water. Kari Van Tine.
Allow students to share their
suited to the author’s purpose?
responses to the opening question.
Then have students discuss what COM PA R E Authors’ Cultures
they already know about Doris The writers featured here share rites of passage within their cultures—
Lessing, Native American legends, rituals associated with a change in status for an individual. The rite of pas-
and F. Scott Fitzgerald. sage takes different forms in each of these selections: the first involves an
individual, internal conflict; the second involves the relationship between
an individual and his community; and the third involves fatherly advice to
Literature Online
a teenage girl. As you read, ask yourself, What do these rites of passage
have in common, and how are they different? Author Search For more
about the authors, go to
[Link] and enter
QuickPass code GL59794u1.

198 C OMPARI NG L I TE RATURE

Selection Skills
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Literary Elements Listening/Speaking/Viewing Skills

• Point of View (SE pp. 200–204, 207, • Analyze Art (SE pp. 203, 204, 209)
208, 211; TE pp. 213, 216)
• Irony (TE p. 215)
Comparing Literature
Writing Skills/Grammar
• Quickwrite (SE p. 216)
Reading Skills • Write a Letter (SE p. 211)
• Visualize (SE pp. 200, 202, 204, Vocabulary Skills • Draw Conclusions (TE p. 210)
205, 206, 208, 209) • Infinitive and Prepositional Phrases
• Antonyms (SE p. 211; TE p. 200)
• Compare and Contrast Theme (TE p. 212)
(TE p. 214)

198
 Comparing Literature

World Literature Comparing Literature

Before You Read Zimbabwe

Before You Read

Through the Tunnel
Focus
Meet Doris Lessing
(born 1919)
Literary History S
Lessing’s “Space Fiction”
A
theme of Lessing’s life, starting fresh,
took roots early. At the age of four,
Doris Lessing is the author of a sci-
Lessing traveled with her parents on a
transcontinental journey by train, leaving ence fiction series called Canopus
their home in Persia (now Iran) and travers- in Argos: Archives. One of these
ing Russia, Europe, and England. From there, books, The Making of the Repre-
her family began their quest for a new life in
Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). sentative for Planet 8, is about the
inhabitants of a paradisaical planet.
Adjusting to Africa Doris’s world as an ener-
getic child was the African bush. She reveled They are saved from annihilation
in the land’s wildlife, spaciousness, and and plays. In 1962 Lessing published the con- by merging themselves into one
smells. As was customary at the time for troversial feminist novel The Golden Notebook. It
quickly became a best seller. Her nonfiction
indestructible soul. Lessing and
expatriates, Lessing was sent to boarding
schools—first a convent and then to a British books include The Wind Blows away Our Words, composer Philip Glass wrote an
girls’ school. There, the young teenager devel- concerning the wars in Afghanistan during the opera based on the book.
oped pinkeye. Even after she had fully recov- 1980s, and African Laughter: Four Visits to
ered, Lessing insisted that her eyesight was Zimbabwe, an account of the new nation.
ruined: her mother came and got her, and
“that was the end of [her] life at school.”
Educating herself at home, Lessing developed “That is what learning is. You suddenly
her writing skills. Soon after, she sold her first
story to a magazine. Her career was launched.
understand something you’ve understood
Her first novel, The Grass Is Singing, was pub-
all your life, but in a new way.”
lished in 1950. Her early work draws heavily on —Doris Lessing
her years in Africa. Martha Quest, her second
novel, depicts a white woman in Africa who
escapes farm life by fleeing to the city, marrying, Critic William Peden summed up Lessing’s
divorcing, and joining the Communist party— strengths: “She tells a story which can be
all parallels to Lessing’s experience. read with delight and wonder . . . a meaning-
ful commentary on one or another phase of
Unaffected by Criticism Lessing’s books have
the endlessly varied human experience.”
received mixed reviews. Critics have charac-
terized her style as being “blunt,” having
“analytical purity,” and possessing “frankness Literature Online
and clarity.” The range of literary forms
Author Search For more about Doris Lessing, go to
Lessing has tackled is impressive: short sto- [Link] and enter QuickPass code GL59794u1.
ries, fiction, nonfiction, “space fiction,” essays,

D O RI S L E S S I NG 199

Approaching Level
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Emerging Approaching learners may

find it helpful to preview the selections
that they are about to read. Tell students
to read through the titles, look at the art,
and skim the selections. Have students
write their ideas about what each selection
is about, and encourage them to predict
what theme will unite the three selections.

199
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature

Before You Read Literature and Reading Preview Vocabulary

Connect to the Story conscientiously (końshē en

Focus Why do you think people challenge themselves to accomplish

dangerous goals? List several difficult or challenging tasks or
shəs lē)adv. thoughtfully and
carefully; p. 201 Slowly and con-
scientiously, the jury examined the
endeavors you have undertaken and explain their significance.
Summary evidence.
Build Background contrition (kən trishən) n. sor-
Jerry, a young English boy on vaca- row for one’s sin or wrongdoing;
The story takes place on the Mediterranean coast during the
tion at a beach resort, is amazed 1940s or 1950s. Here, boys dove off rocks and practiced breath- repentance; p. 201 A thief who
as he watches a group of local hold diving. This type of diving uses no equipment other than shows contrition is on his way to
boys perform daring dives from goggles or a facemask. Most breath-hold divers can remain sub- being reformed.
merged for less than one minute, although with training, some supplication (suṕlə kāshən) n.
high rocks. When the boys reject
divers can stay underwater for several minutes. an earnest and humble request;
him, apparently because he cannot
p. 203 After numerous supplica-
duplicate their feat, he challenges Set Purposes for Reading tions, the downtrodden man was
himself to swim the tunnel and Big Idea Life Transitions finally given a job.
prove himself. His plan for accom- As you read, ask yourself, What is Jerry’s personal challenge and beseeching (bi sēching) adj. beg-
plishing this goal includes learning why is this transition so important to him at this time in his life? ging; asking earnestly; p. 206 The
to hold his breath for longer and homeless woman raised beseeching
Literary Element Point of View hands to all who passed by.
longer periods of time. Finally, he
Point of view is the relationship of the narrator to the story. When incredulous (in krejə ləs) adj.
successfully swims the tunnel and,
a narrator in the third-person who is all-knowing tells a story, it is unwilling or unable to believe;
in the process, makes an important called third-person omniscient point of view. As you read, ask p. 208 We were incredulous at the
discovery about himself. yourself, What does the point of view in this story reveal about the child’s story of the candy-stealing
characters and events? ghost.
For summaries in languages other
than English, see Unit 1 Teaching
Reading Strategy Visualize Tip: Antonyms You can find
Resources Book, pp. 230–235. To visualize is to form a mental image of events and places in a Internet sites that list antonyms by
story through the descriptive words that the writer uses to appeal entering antonyms and other
to senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. As you read, search terms such as reference and
ask yourself, How is visualizing a scene a useful and effective way thesaurus into a search box.
Vocabulary to remember and understand what I read?
Antonyms Remind students
Tip: Identify Sensory Descriptions Use a chart like the one
that an antonym is a word that has
below to record Jerry’s description of his tunnel experience and
the opposite meaning of a given the corresponding senses.
word. Have students use a thesau-
rus and a dictionary to find Descriptive Phrases Sense
antonyms for each of the vocabu- “hot roughness” touch
lary words. Tell students to use the “fanged and angry sight
antonyms to write original sen- boulders”
tences that reveal their understand-
ing of each word’s meaning. 200 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Reading Practice
0199_0200_U1P3_877979.indd 200 3/14/08 4:02:00

SPIRAL
REVIEW
Predict Using prior knowledge periodically revisit their prediction to verify
and the information they’ve or revise it. (Students should realize that
For additional vocabulary practice, gathered in the first few paragraphs Jerry will probably contend with some sort
see Unit 1 Teaching Resources of reading, students can predict what of tunnel in the bay.)
Book, p. 238.
they will learn in reading a selection
or what event might happen next in a
For additional context, see Glencoe selection. Say: Use the title and text
Interactive Vocabulary CD-ROM. clues from the first page to predict
what the conflict in the story might
be. Suggest that as they read, students

200
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature

Teach
Big Idea 1
Life Transitions Say: Keep
the following questions in mind
Doris Lessing as you read. Why does Jerry
want to go off on his own?
Why is impressing the older
boys so important to Jerry?
How does Jerry change over
the course of the story? (He
hungers for an adventure. He
wants to be accepted by the older
boys. He goes from immature to
self-confident.)
AP P ROAC H I N G If students are

Beach. Bobbi Tull. having difficulty, help them identify

sentences showing that Jerry no
oing to the shore on the first morning She frowned, conscientiously worrying longer wants to be treated like a
of the vacation, the young English boy over what amusements he might secretly child. (For example, “And yet, as
stopped at a turning of the path be longing for, which she had been too he ran, he looked back over his
and looked down at a wild and rocky bay, busy or too careless to imagine. He was shoulder at the wild bay; and all
and then over to the crowded very familiar with that anxious, apologetic
morning, as he played on the safe
beach he knew so well from other years. smile. Contrition sent him running after
His mother walked on in front of him, car- her. And yet, as he ran, he looked back beach, he was thinking of it.)
rying a bright striped bag in one hand. over his shoulder at the wild bay; and all 1
Her other arm, swinging loose, was very
white in the sun. The boy watched that
white, naked arm, and turned his eyes, Point of View By expressing Jerry’s and his mother’s
which had a frown behind them, toward perspectives here, how does the narrator help you under- 2
the bay and back again to his mother. stand the mother’s character? Literary Element 2
When she felt he was not with her, she
swung around. “Oh, there you are, Jerry!” Vocabulary Point of View Answer: Her
she said. She looked impatient, then conscientiously (końshē enshəs lē) adv. thought- thoughts reveal that she is con-
fully and carefully
smiled. “Why, darling, would you rather cerned that she has not been pay-
not come with me? Would you rather—” contrition (kən trishən) n. sorrow for one’s sin or
wrongdoing; repentance ing enough attention to Jerry. Jerry
recognizes this response, suggest-
D O RI S L E S S I NG 201 ing that she is usually thoughtful
English Learners and concerned.
A DVA N C E D Ask advanced students
0 AM DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
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to analyze the exchanges between
Beginning Because Lessing writes in for example, explain that the description Jerry and his mother to draw conclu-
long, complex sentences, English learners of Jerry’s eyes as having a “frown behind sions about their relationship.
may have difficulty reading and compre- them” means that Jerry is unhappy about
hending the story independently. Read the going to the “regular” beach with his
story’s first sentence aloud to them, and mother.
demonstrate correct pacing and emphasis.
Then, have the students take turns reading
aloud, and allow students time to cor-
rect pronunciation as necessary. Explain
any points that students find confusing,

201
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature morning, as he played on the safe beach, descent to the bay.
he was thinking of it. From where he was,
Next morning, when it was time for the high up among red-
Teach routine of swimming and sunbathing, his
mother said, “Are you tired of the usual
brown rocks, it was a
scoop of moving blu-
beach, Jerry? Would you like to go some- ish green fringed
Reading Strategy 1 where else?” with white. As he
“Oh, no!” he said quickly, smiling at her went lower, he saw
Visualize Answer: “Wild” out of that unfailing impulse of contri- that it spread among
elicits a vision of an untamed, tion—a sort of chivalry.1 Yet, walking small promontories Visual Vocabulary
Promontories are high
perhaps dangerous place—not the down the path with her, he blurted out, and inlets of rough, points of land or rock
“I’d like to go and have a look at those sharp rock, and the overlooking the water.
safe, familiar beach.
rocks down there.” crisping, lapping sur-
She gave the idea her attention. It was a face showed stains of
For additional practice using the wild looking place, and there was no one purple and darker blue. Finally, as he ran
reading skill or strategy, see Unit 1 there; but she said, “Of course, Jerry. sliding and scraping down the last few
Teaching Resources Book, p. 237. When you’ve had enough, come to the big yards, he saw an edge of white surf and
beach. Or just go straight back to the villa,2 the shallow, luminous movement of water
if you like.” She walked away, that bare over white sand, and, beyond that, a solid,
arm, now slightly reddened from yester- heavy blue.
Literary Element 2
day’s sun, swinging. And he almost ran He ran straight into the water and
Point of View Answer: after her again, feeling it unbearable that began swimming. He was a good swim-
she should go by herself, but he did not. mer. He went out fast over the gleaming
Her son is growing up. She wants
She was thinking, Of course he’s old sand, over a middle region where rocks
to give him independence, but enough to be safe without me. Have I been lay like discolored monsters under the sur-
finds it difficult. keeping him too close? He mustn’t feel he face, and then he was in the real sea—a
ought to be with me. I must be careful. warm sea where irregular cold currents
He was an only child, eleven years old. from the deep water shocked his limbs.
She was a widow. She was determined to When he was so far out that he could
be neither possessive nor lacking in devo- look back not only on the little bay but
tion. She went worrying off to her beach. past the promontory that was between it
As for Jerry, once he saw that his mother and the big beach, he floated on the buoy-
had gained her beach, he began the steep ant surface and looked for his mother.
There she was, a speck of yellow under an
For an audio recording of this
umbrella that looked like a slice of orange
1. Here, chivalry (shivəl rē) means “an act of courtesy or
selection, use Listening Library politeness.” peel. He swam back to shore, relieved at
Audio CD-ROM. 2. Villa, from the Italian word, means “house,” usually one being sure she was there, but all at once
in the country or at the seashore. very lonely.
Visualize What mental picture does the word “wild” pro- On the edge of a small cape that marked
Readability Scores 1 voke? How does it contrast with the beach where the the side of the bay away from the promon-
characters swim and sunbathe? tory was a loose scatter of rocks. Above
Dale-Chall: 6.6 them, some boys were stripping off their
DRP: 54 Point of View Here, the omniscient narrator reveals the clothes. They came running, naked, down
Lexile: 860
2 mother’s concerns. What internal conflict might she be
to the rocks. The English boy swam
experiencing?

202 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Writing Practice
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SPIRAL
REVIEW
Interpret Spatial Order Writers white sand. Have students write a short
can organize details of a setting descriptive paragraph about a favorite
in spatial order, presenting details scene or setting using phrases that convey
from left to right, far to near, top to spatial order.
bottom, clockwise, and so on. Read aloud
the description of the setting, starting with
the paragraph that begins “As for Jerry....”
Have students determine the kind of
spatial order Lessing uses (top to bottom).
Ask them to note phrases used to present
that order, such as to the bay and over

202
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature

Teach
Big Idea 3
Making Choices
Figure In Water. Kari Van Tine.
Answer: Jerry wants to feel like
The dark atmosphere of this
painting contrasts with the sunny days when he belongs to a group.
Jerry attempts his feat. How might this dark AP P ROAC H I N G If students are
mood relate to Jerry’s obsessive and
potentially self-destructive desire to emulate having difficulty, ask: how do
the older boys? young people behave when they
want to be accepted or popular?
(Young people may act irrationally
and act out of character in order
to impress others.)

toward them, but kept his distance at a forget him. But he was happy. He was
stone’s throw. They were of that coast; all with them.
of them were burned smooth dark brown They began diving again and again
and speaking a language he did not from a high point into a well of blue sea
understand. To be with them, of them, was between rough, pointed rocks. After they
a craving that filled his whole body. He had dived and come up, they swam
swam a little closer; they turned and around, hauled themselves up, and waited
watched him with narrowed, alert dark their turn to dive again. They were big S
eyes. Then one smiled and waved. It was boys—men, to Jerry. He dived, and they Answer: The dark mood of the
enough. In a minute, he had swum in and watched him; and when he swam around painting relates to Jerry’s internal
was on the rocks beside them, smiling to take his place, they made way for him.
conflict and feelings when he
with a desperate, nervous supplication. He felt he was accepted, and he dived
They shouted cheerful greetings at him; again, carefully, proud of himself. is nervous to swim through the
and then, as he preserved his nervous, Soon the biggest of the boys poised him- tunnel. The person in the paint-
uncomprehending smile, they understood self, shot down into the water, and did not ing might be related to Jerry’s
that he was a foreigner strayed from come up. The others stood about, watch- character as the painting gives an
his own beach, and they proceeded to ing. Jerry, after waiting for the sleek brown ominous feel.
head to appear, let out a yell of warning;
Kari Van Tine’s art often features
Vocabulary
feminine figures, angels, and lithely
supplication (suṕlə kāshən) n. an earnest and Life Transitions Why might Jerry value the boys’
humble request acceptance so much? 3 rendered animals. Ask: How
does the artist make the water
D O RI S L E S S I NG 203 seem more significant than the
swimmer? How might this idea
English Learners
connect to the story? (The artist
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
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makes the water take up most of
the image, dwarfing the swimmer.
Beginning Write impatient, careless, in the story. Then have partners discuss
Also, the swimmer’s head is lost
unbearable, and darker on the board. what the root words mean and how the
to the edge of the picture, making
Help English language learners analyze prefixes and suffixes change the words’
the water and the act of swim-
the words. Point out that the prefix which meanings.
ming more important. In the story,
means “not,” in this case im-, may also
the water is one of Jerry’s antago-
be spelled ir-, in-, or il-, depending on the
nists, something that dwarfs him
spelling of its root word. Add that not all
with its great power and depth.)
words that begin with im- and in-, such as
imagine, contain prefixes. Have students
find other words with prefixes and suffixes

203
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature

Teach
Literary Element 1
Point of View Answer: His
plea to be accepted despite failure
is an innate, unchangeable part of
his immaturity or insecurity.

School of Fish, 1991. John Bunker. Mixed media.

S they looked at him idly and turned their some gap or hole in it. He plunged down
John Bunker’s art has been col- eyes back toward the water. After a long again. He could see nothing through the
lected by a number of museums, time, the boy came up on the other side of stinging salt water but the blank rock.
including the Jacksonville Museum a big dark rock, letting the air out of his When he came up the boys were all on the
of Modern Art and the Cummer lungs in a sputtering gasp and a shout of diving rock, preparing to attempt the feat
Museum of Art and Gardens. His triumph. Immediately the rest of them again. And now, in a panic of failure, he
dived in. One moment, the morning yelled up, in English, “Look at me! Look!”
work often features flowers, sea-
seemed full of chattering boys; the next, and he began splashing and kicking in the
shells, and fish. Ask: How does the air and the surface of the water were water like a foolish dog.
the painting show the change empty. But through the heavy blue, dark They looked down gravely, frowning.
in Jerry’s underwater world after shapes could be seen moving and groping. He knew the frown. At moments of fail-
he starts wearing the goggles? (It Jerry dived, shot past the school of ure, when he clowned to claim his moth-
shows that the underwater world underwater swimmers, saw a black wall er’s attention, it was with just this grave,
of rock looming at him, touched it, and embarrassed inspection that she rewarded
is no longer a dark, completely
bobbed up at once to the surface, where him. Through his hot shame, feeling the
alien place for Jerry now that he the wall was a low barrier he could see pleading grin on his face like a scar that he
can open his eyes to see it. It is across. There was no one visible; under could never remove, he looked up at the
a world filled with life and color, him, in the water, the dim shapes of the group of big brown boys on the rock and
showing that he is taking a step swimmers had disappeared. Then one,
toward enlightenment.) and then another of the boys came up on
Point of View The narrator explains Jerry’s response to
the far side of the barrier of rock, and he failure with a simile. What does this figure of speech
understood that they had swum through imply about Jerry? 1

204 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Writing Practice
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SPIRAL
REVIEW
Write Paragraphs Jerry’s goal raising a grade one or two letters or saving
is to swim the tunnel. He is likely a certain amount of money. They should
to accomplish his goal if he forms write one or two paragraphs, outlining a
a plan: (1) get the equipment he needs plan that includes what they need to do to
(goggles); (2) locate and explore the accomplish their goal.
tunnel entrance; (3) teach himself to
hold his breath; (4) practice diving and
holding his breath for long periods of
time. Have students think about and set
a realistic goal for themselves, such as

204
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature

Teach
Reading Strategy 2
Visualize Answer: The
tanned boys with heads back
spouting water up into the air, look
like brown whales surfacing to
breathe.

shouted, “Bonjour! Merci! Au revoir! terror of counting on and on into the blue
Monsieur, monsieur!”3 while he hooked his emptiness of the morning. And then, at a
fingers round his ears and waggled them. hundred and sixty, the water beyond the
Water surged into his mouth; he choked, rock was full of boys blowing like brown
sank, came up. The rock, lately weighted whales. They swam back to the shore
with boys, seemed to rear up out of the without a look at him.
water as their weight was removed. They He climbed back to the diving rock and
were flying down past him, now, into the sat down, feeling the hot roughness of it
water; the air was full of falling bodies. under his thighs. The boys were gathering
Then the rock was empty in the hot sun- up their bits of clothing and running off
light. He counted one, two, three. . . . along the shore to another promontory.
At fifty, he was terrified. They must all They were leaving to get away from him.
be drowning beneath him, in the watery He cried openly, fists in his eyes. There
caves of the rock! At a hundred, he stared was no one to see him, and he cried him-
around him at the empty hillside, wonder- self out.
ing if he should yell for help. He counted It seemed to him that a long time had
faster, faster, to hurry them up, to bring passed, and he swam out to where he
them to the surface quickly, to drown could see his mother. Yes, she was still
them quickly—anything rather than the

3. “Bonjour! . . . monsieur!” These words are French for Visualize What mental image do you have of “boys
“Hello! Thanks! Good-bye! Sir, sir!” blowing like brown whales”? 2

D O RI S L E S S I NG 205

Approaching Level
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Emerging Students may find it difficult endure. Then ask students to connect their
to understand Jerry’s reasons for putting own experiences to Jerry’s so that they will
himself through such physical punish- understand his motivation.
ment. Encourage students to reflect on a
time when they worked hard to achieve a
goal (for example, by studying for a test
or training to make an athletic team). Ask
student why they worked hard, and have
them orally describe obstacles that they
had to overcome or pain that they had to

205
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature there, a yellow spot under an orange everything clear and delicate and waver-
umbrella. He swam back to the big rock, ing in the bright water.
climbed up, and dived into the blue pool Under him, six or seven feet down, was
Teach among the fanged and angry boulders.
Down he went, until he touched the wall
a floor of perfectly clean, shining white
sand, rippled firm and hard by the tides.
of rock again. But the salt was so painful Two grayish shapes steered there, like
Reading Strategy 1 in his eyes that he could not see. long, rounded pieces of wood or slate.
He came to the surface, swam to shore, They were fish. He saw them nose toward
Visualize Ask: How would and went back to the villa to wait for his each other, poise motionless, make a dart
you characterize this description, mother. Soon she walked slowly up the forward, swerve off, and come around
path, swinging her striped bag, the again. It was like a water dance. A few
in terms of visual image and
flushed, naked arm dangling beside her. inches above them the water sparkled as if
physical sensation? (The fish are “I want some swimming goggles,” he sequins were dropping through it. Fish
bright and shiny like silver. They panted, defiant and beseeching. again—myriads of minute fish, the length
are tiny and soft and feel like light She gave him a patient, inquisitive look of his fingernail, were drifting through the 1
flakes on the skin as they swim as she said casually, “Well, of course, water, and in a moment he could feel the
past.) darling.” innumerable tiny touches of them against
But now, now, now! He must have them his limbs. It was like swimming in flaked
A P P ROAC H I N G If students have
this minute, and no other time. He nagged silver. The great rock the big boys had
difficulty, list some of Lessing’s and pestered until she went with him to a swum through rose sheer out of the white
descriptive words and phrases on shop. As soon as she had bought the sand—black, tufted lightly with greenish
the board, such as water dance goggles, he grabbed them from her hand weed. He could see no gap in it. He swam
and sparkled. Then have students as if she were going to claim them for her- down to its base.
explain what the word or phrase self, and was off, running down the steep Again and again he rose, took a big
path to the bay. chestful of air, and went down. Again and
helps them “see.”
Jerry swam out to the big barrier rock, again he groped over the surface of the
adjusted the goggles, and dived. The rock, feeling it, almost hugging it in the
impact of the water broke the rubber- desperate need to find the entrance. And
Reading Strategy 2 enclosed vacuum, and the goggles came then, once, while he was clinging to the
loose. He understood that he must swim black wall, his knees came up, and he shot
Visualize Answer: down to the base of the rock from the sur- his feet out forward and they met no
The blue pool with the fanged face of the water. He fixed the goggles obstacle. He had found the hole.
boulders looks like an angry tight and firm, filled his lungs, and He gained the surface, clambered about
mouth swallowing Jerry. “Fanged” floated, face down, on the water. Now, he the stones that littered the barrier rock
suggests sharp, pointed rocks and could see. It was as if he had eyes of a until he found a big one, and, with this in
different kind—fish eyes that showed his arms, let himself down over the side of
“angry” suggests the possibility of
the rock. He dropped, with the weight,
a dangerous attack. Ask: Why straight to the sandy floor.
would the author use these Clinging tight to the anchor of stone, he
particular words to describe the Visualize What mental image does “fanged and angry” lay on his side and looked in under the
2 help you create?
rocks? (It makes the rocks sound dark shelf at the place where his feet had
like living, violent animals for Jerry Vocabulary
gone. He could see the hole. It was an
to defeat. The sea and earth are irregular, dark gap; but he could not see
beseeching (bi sēch ing) adj. begging; asking
earnestly deep into it. He let go of his anchor, clung
his adversaries.)
If students have
A P P ROAC H I N G
206 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY
difficulty understanding the
metaphorical language, have them Literary Element Practice
make associations with living 0201_0210_U1P3_877979.indd 206 12/10/07 5:01:14 PM

creatures that are “fanged” and SPIRALIdentify Conflict External conflict involve an external conflict with nature.
REVIEW
that appear “angry.” Then have exists when a character struggles Jerry’s struggle with his fear and insecurity
students apply these associations against an outside force such as is an internal conflict.)
to the boulders. another character or nature itself. Internal
conflict exists when the character struggles
with his or her feelings or opposing goals.
Ask: What types of conflicts are found
in “Through the Tunnel”? (The conflicts
are both internal and external. Jerry’s
attempts to swim through the tunnel

206
 Comparing Literature

with his hands to the edges of the hole, rushed to the villa and found his mother
Comparing Literature
and tried to push himself in. at her supper. She said only, “Did you
He got his head in, found his shoulders enjoy yourself?” and he said, “Yes.”
jammed, moved them in sidewise, and
was inside as far as his waist. He could
All night the boy dreamed of the water-
filled cave in the rock, and as soon as
Teach
see nothing ahead. Something soft and breakfast was over he went to the bay.
clammy touched his mouth; he saw a That night, his nose bled badly. For Big Idea 3
dark frond4 moving hours he had been underwater, learning to
against the grayish hold his breath, and now he felt weak and Life Transitions
rock, and panic filled dizzy. His mother said, “I shouldn’t Answer: It will be both a physical
him. He thought of overdo things, darling, if I were you.”
transition and a mental or emo-
octopuses, of cling- That day and the next, Jerry exercised
ing weed. He pushed his lungs as if everything, the whole of his tional transition from frustration to
Visual Vocabulary
himself out back- life, all that he would become, depended a sense of accomplishment.
A tentacle is a long,
flexible limb that ward and caught a upon it. Again his nose bled at night, and
could belong to a glimpse, as he his mother insisted on his coming with her
plant or to a creature
retreated, of a harm- the next day. It was a torment to him to Literary Element 4
such as an octopus.
less tentacle of sea- waste a day of his careful self training, but
weed drifting in the he stayed with her on that other beach, Point of View Answer:
mouth of the tunnel. But it was enough. which now seemed a place for small chil- Jerry’s adoption of a rational,
He reached the sunlight, swam to shore, dren, a place where his mother might lie methodical plan shows that he
and lay on the diving rock. He looked safe in the sun. It was not his beach. is becoming more logical and
down into the blue well of water. He knew He did not ask for permission, on the mature and less impulsive and
he must find his way through that cave, or following day, to go to his beach. He went, childlike. Ask: If the narrator
hole, or tunnel, and out the other side. before his mother could consider the com- were not omniscient, how might
First, he thought, he must learn to con- plicated rights and wrongs of the matter. A
the author’s description of
trol his breathing. He let himself down day’s rest, he discovered, had improved
into the water with another big stone in his count by ten. The big boys had made Jerry’s plan differ? (The descrip-
his arms, so that he could lie effortlessly the passage while he counted a hundred tion would probably not show
on the bottom of the sea. He counted. One, and sixty. He had been counting fast, in Jerry’s counting. It would probably
two, three. He counted steadily. He could his fright. Probably now, if he tried, he not describe his inner feelings or
hear the movement of blood in his chest. could get through that long tunnel, but he thoughts. The description would
Fifty-one, fifty-two. . . . His chest was hurt- was not going to try yet. A curious, most focus more on what was going on
ing. He let go of the rock and went up into unchildlike persistence, a controlled impa- around Jerry and what an outsider
the air. He saw that the sun was low. He tience, made him wait. In the meantime,
could observe of Jerry’s behavior.)
he lay underwater on the white sand, lit-
tered now by stones he had brought down
from the upper air, and studied the
4. A frond is a large leaf with many divisions, or a leaf-like
part of a plant such as seaweed.
entrance to the tunnel. He knew every jut
and corner of it, as far as it was possible to
3
Life Transitions In what ways will this feat be a transi-
tion for Jerry?
see. It was as if he already felt its sharp- Writer’s Technique S
ness about his shoulders.
He sat by the clock in the villa, when his
Scientific Backup Lessing has
Point of View What sort of change in Jerry’s character clearly researched the science
4 is the narrator describing here? mother was not near, and checked his time.
behind free diving and air pressure.
D O RI S L E S S I NG 207
Nosebleeds are often caused by
changes in air pressure. In practic-
English Learners ing, Jerry subjects himself to the
DI F F ER E NTIATED
0201_0210_U1P3_877979.indd 207 I N STR UCTION 3/14/08 4:05:30 AM pressure of the water for long peri-
ods of time. This greater pressure
Intermediate Less-proficient readers makes his heart beat faster. When
may find it difficult to visualize the story and he returns abruptly to the lesser
relate to the characters. A simple drama pressure of the air, blood vessels
strategy called tableau or frozen pictures close to the surface of the nasal
can help these readers connect with char- membrane rupture and cause
acters. Have students act out a scene from bleeding.
the story, freezing the action at its climax.
Then tap students in the frozen picture to
make them come to life and talk about the
character’s feelings and motivations.

207
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature He was incredulous and then proud to find and very heavy; tons of rock pressed down
he could hold his breath without strain for on where he would go. If he died there, he
two minutes. The words “two minutes,” would lie until one day—perhaps not
Teach authorized by the clock, brought close the
adventure that was so necessary to him.
before next year—those big boys would
swim into it and find it blocked.
In another four days, his mother said cas- He put on his goggles, fitted them tight,
Literary Element 1 ually one morning, they must go home. On tested the vacuum. His hands were shak-
the day before they left, he would do it. He ing. Then he chose the biggest stone he
Point of View Answer: would do it if it killed him, he said defiantly could carry and slipped over the edge of
Jerry’s internal conflict is very real. to himself. But two days before they were to the rock until half of him was in the cool,
leave—a day of triumph when he increased enclosing water and half in the hot sun.
He wants to attempt to swim
his count by fifteen—his nose bled so badly He looked up once at the empty sky, filled
through the tunnel, but is horrified that he turned dizzy and had to lie limply his lungs once, twice, and then sank fast to
at what could happen to him once over the big rock like a bit of seaweed, the bottom with the stone. He let it go and
inside. watching the thick red blood flow on to the began to count. He took the edges of the
A P P ROAC H I N G Help struggling stu- rock and trickle slowly down to the sea. He hole in his hands and drew himself into it,
dents articulate Jerry’s inner conflict was frightened. Supposing he turned dizzy wriggling his shoulders in sidewise as he
in the tunnel? Supposing he died there, remembered he must, kicking himself
by telling them to imagine how trapped? Supposing—his head went along with his feet.
Jerry might discuss his troubled around, in the hot sun, and he almost gave Soon he was clear inside. He was in a
feelings with his mother. up. He thought he would return to the small rock-bound hole filled with yellow-
house and lie down, and next summer, per- ish-gray water. The water was pushing
haps, when he had another year’s growth in him up against the roof. The roof was
him—then he would go through the hole. sharp and pained his back. He pulled him-
But even after he had made the decision, self along with his hands—fast, fast—and
or thought he had, he found himself sitting used his legs as levers. His head knocked
up on the rock and looking down into the against something; a sharp pain dizzied
water; and he knew that now, this moment, him. Fifty, fifty-one, fifty-two. . . . He was
when his nose had only just stopped bleed- without light, and the water seemed to
ing, when his head was still sore and throb- press upon him with the weight of rock.
Reading Strategy 2 bing—this was the moment when he Seventy-one, seventy-two. . . . There was
would try. If he did not do it now, he never no strain on his lungs. He felt like an
Visualize Answer: They would. He was trembling with fear that he inflated balloon, his lungs were so light
appeal to sight and touch. would not go; and he was trembling with and easy, but his head was pulsing.
horror at that long, long tunnel under the He was being continually pressed
rock, under the sea. Even in the open sun- against the sharp roof, which felt slimy as
light, the barrier rock seemed very wide well as sharp. Again he thought of octo-
puses, and wondered if the tunnel might
be filled with weed that could tangle him.
Point of View How realistic and convincing is Jerry’s
1 internal conflict?
He gave himself a panicky, convulsive
kick forward, ducked his head, and swam.
Vocabulary
incredulous (in krejə ləs) adj. unwilling or unable Visualize To what senses do the words and images in
to believe this sentence appeal? 2

208 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Reading Practice
0201_0210_U1P3_877979.indd 208 3/14/08 4:05:33

SPIRAL
REVIEW
Identify Cause-and-Effect and connect each cause to it with a line.
Relationships Point out that Encourage students to look beyond the
when a reader asks “Why?” he or obvious cause—Jerry’s admiration of the
she is analyzing cause-and-effect. Explain older boys—to subtle causes such as his
that there is often more than one cause loneliness or desire for challenge.
for an effect or more than one effect pro-
duced by a cause. Have students create
a web showing the causes of Jerry’s dive
through the tunnel. Suggest that they write
the effect—”Jerry’s Dive”—in the center

208
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature

Teach

S
Answer: The painting empha-
sizes the desolation of the diving
area, underscoring the dangers of
Jerry’s undertaking.
Edward Hopper (1882–1967)
painted this picture early in his
career. It suggests the simple,
realistic style reflected in his later
urban paintings.

Rocky Sea Shore, 1916–1919. Edward Hopper. Oil on canvas panel, 91/2 x 1215/16 in. Collection of
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Josephine N. Hopper Bequest. 70.166.
This panoramic view appears as if seen from a promontory or cliff. How do the scale
and point of view in this painting compare with the point of view in the story? How would the story
be different if it were told from the point of view that Hopper adopts for this painting?

His feet and hands moved freely, as if in through the rock.

open water. The hole must have widened Sunlight was falling
out. He thought he must be swimming through it, showing
fast, and he was frightened of banging his the clean, dark rock
head if the tunnel narrowed. of the tunnel, a sin-
A hundred, a hundred and one. . . . The gle mussel shell, and
Visual Vocabulary
water paled. Victory filled him. His lungs darkness ahead. A mussel is a kind of
were beginning to hurt. A few more He was at the end shellfish. Mussels are
strokes and he would be out. He was of what he could do. in the same scientific
classification as clams,
counting wildly; he said a hundred and He looked up at the oysters, and scallops.
fifteen, and then, a long time later, a hun- crack as if it were
dred and fifteen again. The water was a filled with air and
clear jewel-green all around him. Then he not water, as if he could put his mouth to
saw, above his head, a crack running up it to draw in air. A hundred and fifteen, he

D O RI S L E S S I NG 209

Approaching Level
3 AM DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
0201_0210_U1P3_877979.indd 209 12/10/07 5:01:19 PM

Emerging Students with strong spatial learners may find these sketches to be
abilities may respond to their reading more useful references when they are answering
readily through visual images than through questions about the story.
words. These students can sketch their
impressions of settings, characters, and key
story events as they read. Ask students to
stop whenever they form a strong visual
impression and make a quick sketch of
that impression. Students may add cap-
tions or labels as they choose. Spatial

209
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature heard himself say inside his head—but he In a short while, Jerry swam to shore
had said that long ago. He must go on into and climbed slowly up the path to the
the blackness ahead, or he would drown. villa. He flung himself on his bed and
Teach His head was swelling, his lungs cracking.
A hundred and fifteen, a hundred and fif-
slept, waking at the sound of feet on the
path outside. His mother was coming
teen pounded through his head, and he back. He rushed to the bathroom, thinking
Big Idea 1 feebly clutched at rocks in the dark, pull- she must not see his face with bloodstains,
ing himself forward, leaving the brief or tearstains, on it. He came out of the
Life Transitions Answer: space of sunlit water behind. He felt he bathroom and met her as she walked into
He has learned that preparing for was dying. He was no longer quite con- the villa, smiling, her eyes lighting up.
scious. He struggled on in the darkness “Have a nice morning?” she asked, lay-
and accomplishing a goal is more
between lapses into unconsciousness. An ing her hand on his warm brown shoulder
important than impressing others. immense, swelling pain filled his head, a moment.
His identity is more secure and and then the darkness cracked with an “Oh, yes, thank you,” he said.
clear; he is able to affirm himself. explosion of green light. His hands, grop- “You look a bit pale.” And then, sharp
A P P ROAC H I N G Ask students hav- ing forward, met nothing; and his feet, and anxious, “How did you bang your
ing difficulty to review why the kicking back, propelled him out into the head?”
open sea. “Oh, just banged it,” he told her.
local boys were once important He drifted to the surface, his face turned She looked at him closely. He was
to Jerry. (He had not yet set out a up to the air. He was gasping like a fish. He strained; his eyes were glazed-looking. She
goal to accomplish, so his initial felt he would sink now and drown; he could was worried. And then she said to herself,
motivation was to impress the not swim the few feet back to the rock. Then Oh, don’t fuss! Nothing can happen. He
local boys.) he was clutching it and pulling himself up can swim like a fish.
on to it. He lay face down, gasping. He They sat down to lunch together.
could see nothing but a red-veined, clotted “Mummy,” he said, “I can stay under
dark. His eyes must have burst, he thought; water for two minutes—three minutes, at
they were full of blood. He tore off his gog- least.” It came bursting out of him.
gles and a gout5 of blood went into the sea. “Can you, darling?” she said. “Well, I
His nose was bleeding, and the blood had shouldn’t overdo it. I don’t think you
filled the goggles. ought to swim any more today.”
He scooped up handfuls of water from She was ready for a battle of wills, but
Big Idea 2 the cool, salty sea, to splash on his face, he gave in at once. It was no longer of the
and did not know whether it was blood or least importance to go to the bay. m
Life Transitions Answer: salt water he tasted. After a time, his heart
He may realize how dangerous quieted, his eyes cleared, and he sat up.
it was and that it would worry his He could see the local boys diving and
playing half a mile away. He did not want
mother.
them. He wanted nothing but to get back
A DVA N C E D Ask advanced stu- home and lie down.
dents to explain why keeping an
accomplishment to himself shows 5. Here, gout refers to a mass of fluid that gushes or bursts
more maturity on Jerry’s part than forth.

announcing his feat to his mother. Life Transitions Why is Jerry no longer interested in the Life Transitions Why do you think Jerry kept his tri-
1 local boys? umph of swimming through the tunnel to himself? 2

210 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Writing Practice
0201_0210_U1P3_877979.indd 210 12/10/07 5:01:24 PM

SPIRAL
REVIEW
Draw Conclusions Explain to other boys leave him? (embarrassed,
To check students’ understanding
students that they should spend rejected) How does he feel when he
of the selection, see Unit 1 Teach- some time reflecting on the story achieves his goal? (proud, satisfied)
ing Resources Book, p. 241. after they finish reading. Have students Have students write several paragraphs
review the story and take notes on the describing the ways that Jerry changes
changes that Jerry undergoes. Ask: How during the story. Remind students to cite
does Jerry feel at the beginning of the details to support their ideas.
story? (restless) How does he feel when
he meets the other boys? (excited,
accepted) How does he feel when the

210
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature
After You Read
After You Read
Respond and Think Critically
Respond and Interpret
1. (a)How would you have challenged yourself if
5. (a)How has Lessing made Jerry’s decision to go
through the tunnel seem credible or genuine?
Assess
(b)Does it seem believable that Jerry does not
you had been in Jerry’s place? (b)With whom
tell his mother what he has accomplished? 1. (a) Students may say they
would you have shared your experience?
2. (a)Summarize what Jerry does when he goes to Connect would have been more cau-
the beach the second time. (b)Why do you think tious. (b) Answers will vary.
6. Big Idea Life Transitions Both Jerry and his
Jerry decides that he must go through the tunnel? 2. (a) He uses a large rock as a
mother go through a major transition in this
3. (a)How is Jerry’s preparation unlike the real story. How is each character’s response to the weight and lowers himself to the
test? (b)In your opinion, what is the most dra- other helpful to these transitions? cave. Then he explores the first
matic moment of Jerry’s actual test? Explain.
7. Connect to the Author Doris Lessing spent few feet. (b) To prove that he is
Analyze and Evaluate many years living in Persia and Southern the equal of the other boys
Rhodesia before settling in England in 1949.
4. (a)How would you describe the mother’s feelings 3. (a) He is not underwater for the
How might her experiences as an expatriate
toward Jerry? (b)Do you think Lessing makes the
have informed ”Through the Tunnel“? full length of time; he is never
mother a realistic character? Why or why not?
in any real danger. (b) He must
exceed his practice time to
Literary Element Point of View Vocabulary escape drowning.
A third-person omniscient narrator can give us Practice with Antonyms An antonym is a
insight into all characters by revealing and interpret-
4. (a) She is protective, but knows
word that has a meaning opposite to that of
ing their deepest thoughts and feelings. he needs some freedom (b)
another word. With a partner, match each bold-
1. In the story’s first paragraph, how does Lessing faced vocabulary word below with its antonym. Students may say it is implau-
use the third-person omniscient point of view? You will not use all the answer choices. Then sible to let an eleven-year-old
use a thesaurus or dictionary to check your go alone to an isolated beach.
2. How did Lessing’s point of view in this story
answers.
make its telling more effective? a. demanding 5. (a) Other boys do it, so it is phys-
1. conscientiously b. consistency
ically possible. (b) Yes, he knows
Reading Strategy Visualize 2. contrition c. revelation
3. supplication d. certain she worries about him.
Visualizing the scenes and events in the story can
help increase your understanding of their meaning. 4. beseeching e. edict 6. Her seemingly confident release
5. incredulous f. remorselessness of him encourages him to strike
1. What does Jerry experience as he swms g. carelessly
through the tunnel? out on his own.
2. The narrator never describes Jerry’s physical 7. Lessing’s experiences as an expa-
appearance. How do you visualize Jerry? Writing triate would have heightened her
Write a Letter Was Jerry brave or foolish in swim- understanding of feeling like an
Literature Online ming through the tunnel? Write a letter to Jerry in outsider and wanting to belong.
Selection Resources For Selection Quizzes, eFlash-
which you express your opinion of his venture.
cards, and Reading-Writing Connection activities, go to
[Link] and enter QuickPass code GL59794u1. Writing
Students should:
D O RI S L E S S I NG 211 • use formal letter format
• use details from the text to
support opinions
0211_U1P3_877979.indd 211 3/20/08 1:29:51 PM
• include personal experiences
Literary Element Reading Strategy
1. The narrator reveals the thoughts 1. Seaweed or a fish. This creates fear. Progress Check
and feelings of Jerry and his mother, 2. Students may say short and slim. Can students identify point
using the words “contrition” and of view?
“conscientiously” to give insight.
If No ➔ See Unit 1 Teaching
2. Jerry and his mother change over the
Vocabulary Resources Book, p. 236.
course of the story. The use of this
point of view allows the reader to see
1. g 2. f 3. e 4. a 5. d
the growth. For additional assessment, see
Assessment Resources, pp. 69–70.

211
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature
Build Background
Lame Deer is a spiritual name that has been handed

Teach down from father to son in one Sioux family. Richard

Erdoes met John Fire Lame Deer in 1967 and
recorded this story.
Summary
A brash young Native American
is determined to have a vision
that will enable him to become
a medicine man. Two elders take
him to a hilltop and prepare the
traditional pit and sweat lodge. The
young man has angered the spirits,
who order him to leave and chase
him out with a boulder. Feeling like
a failure, the youth returns to his
village. His uncle reminds him that
humility is an important lesson.

Told by Lame Deer

Recorded by Richard Erdoes

Mountain Spirit. Stephan Daige.

A
young man wanted to go on a han- The young man was daring and brave,
bleceya, or vision seeking, to try for eager to go up to the mountaintop. He had
a dream that would give him the been brought up by good, honest people
power to be a great medicine man. Having who were wise in the ancient ways and
a high opinion of himself, he felt sure that who prayed for him. All through the win-
he had been created to become great ter they were busy getting him ready,
Readability Scores among his people and that the only thing feeding him wasna,1 corn, and plenty of
Dale-Chall: 6.4 lacking was a vision. good meat to make him strong. At every
DRP: 55
Lexile: 890
1. Wasna is a high-energy food made of meat, fat, and
berries pounded together.

212 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Grammar Practice
0212_0214_U1CL_877979.indd 212 3/14/08 4:07:03

Infinitive and Prepositional Phrases read the first page of the story again,
Write the following sentences on the locate all the phrases beginning with the
board, underlining the phrases beginning word to, and orally identify each as an
with the word to in each sentence: infinitive or prepositional phrase.
He wanted to endure one more night.
He stumbled back to his village.
Point out that the word to is used to
introduce both infinitive and prepositional
phrases. In the first case, to is followed by
the base form of a verb and in the second
by a noun or pronoun. Ask students to
212
 Comparing Literature

meal they set aside with the spirits for the vision, the power
Comparing Literature
something for the he wanted. But no dreams came to ease
spirits so that they his mind. Toward morning before the sun
would help him to
get a great vision. His
came up, he heard a voice in the swirling
white mists of dawn. Speaking from no
Teach
relatives thought he particular direction, as if it came from dif-
Visual Vocabulary
had the power even ferent places, it said: “See here, young Big Idea 1
A travois (trə voi) is before he went up, man, there are other spots you could have
a V-shaped sled made
of hide or netting
but that was putting picked; there are other hills around here. Life Transitions Ask: Based
the cart before the Why don’t you go there to cry for a on what you’ve read, do you
supported by two
horse, or rather the dream? You disturbed us all night, all us
long poles that are think the young man will suc-
harnessed to a horse travois before the creatures and birds; you even kept the
or dog. horse, as this is an trees awake. We couldn’t sleep. Why ceed on his quest? Explain.
Indian legend. should you cry here? You’re a brash young (Students may say that the man
1 When at last he man, not yet ready or worthy to receive a will succeed because most quest
started on his quest, it was a beautiful vision.” stories are stories of success. Oth-
morning in late spring. The grass was up, But the young man clenched his teeth, ers might point out that the young
the leaves were out, nature was at its best. determined to stick it out, resolved to man’s arrogance may cause him
Two medicine men accompanied him. force that vision to come. He spent another
trouble.)
They put up a sweat day in the pit, begging for enlightenment
lodge to purify him which would not come, and then another
in the hot, white night of fear and cold and hunger.
breath of the sacred When dawn arrived once more, he
steam. They sanctified heard the voice again: “Stop disturbing us;
him with the incense go away!” The same thing happened the
of sweet grass, rub- third morning. By this time he was faint
bing his body with with hunger, thirst, and anxiety. Even the
Visual Vocabulary sage, fanning it with air seemed to oppress him, to fight him.
A sweat lodge is a hut
in which steam is pro-
an eagle’s wing. They He was panting. His stomach felt shriv- Literary Element 2
went to the hilltop eled up, shrunk tight against his backbone.
duced by pouring or
sprinkling water over with him to prepare But he was determined to endure one Point of View Ask: Is the
red-hot rocks con- the vision pit and more night, the fourth and last. Surely the young man a fool, a hero, or a
tained in a central pit. make an offering of vision would come. But again he cried for
little of both? (Students may say
tobacco bundles. Then it out of the dark and loneliness until he
they told the young was hoarse, and still he had no dream. 2 he is a little of both. He is as per-
man to cry, to humble himself, to ask for Just before daybreak he heard the same sistent as a hero but as stubborn
holiness, to cry for power, for a sign from voice again, very angry: “Why are you still as a fool.)
the Great Spirit, for a gift which would here?” He knew then that he had suffered in
make him into a medicine man. After they vain; now he would have to go back to his
had done all they could, they left him there. people and confess that he had gained no
He spent the first night in the hole the knowledge and no power. The only thing he
medicine men had dug for him, trembling could tell them was that he got bawled out
and crying out loudly. Fear kept him every morning. Sad and cross, he replied, “I
awake, yet he was cocky, ready to wrestle can’t help myself; this is my last day, and

L AME D E E R 213

English Learners
3 AM DI F F ER E NTIATED
0212_0214_U1CL_877979.indd 213 I N STR UCTION 3/14/08 4:07:12 AM

Advanced All cultures have their own and stories that are often embellished.
legends and myths that are passed down Encourage students to share a family story
from generation to generation to teach and examine how this kind of story relates
lessons about life. Students from other cul- to myths and legends.
tures may know some of the legends and
myths commonly told in their society. Have
these students share their stories, and
have other students share some of the leg-
ends and myths they’ve read or heard. In
addition, families have their own traditions

213
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature I’m crying my eyes out. I know you told me time the boulder actually leap-frogged over
to go home, but who are you to give me him, bouncing down the slope, crushing
orders? I don’t know you. I’m going to stay and pulverizing everything in its way. He
Teach until my uncles come to fetch me, whether
you like it or not.”
ran unseeingly, stumbling, falling, getting
up again. He did not even notice the boul-
All at once there was a rumble from a der rolling up once more and coming down
larger mountain that stood behind the hill. It for the fourth time. On this last and most
became a mighty roar, and the whole hill fearful descent, it flew through the air in a
trembled. The wind started to blow. The giant leap, landing right in front of him and
Literary History S young man looked up and saw a boulder embedding itself so deeply in the earth that
poised on the mountain’s summit. He saw only its top was visible. The ground shook
The Boulder in Myth Boulders
lightning hit it, saw it sway. Slowly the boul- itself like a wet dog coming out of a stream
appear in legends and myths as der moved. Slowly at first, then faster and and flung the young man this way and that.
objects of power, obstacles, and faster, it came tumbling down the mountain- Gaunt, bruised, and shaken, he stum-
even as punishments. In a Greek side, churning up earth, snapping huge trees bled back to his village. To the medicine
myth, Sisyphus was punished in as if they were little twigs. And the boulder men he said: “I have received no vision
Tartarus (the mythical underworld) was coming right down on him! and gained no knowledge. I have made
with the eternal task of rolling a The young man cried out in terror. He the spirits angry. It was all for nothing.”
was paralyzed with fear, unable to move. “Well, you did find out one thing,” said
boulder up a hill. Every time he
The boulder dwarfed everything in view; it the older of the two, who was his uncle.
reached the top, the boulder rolled towered over the vision pit. But just as it “You went after your vision like a hunter
back down and Sisyphus had to was an arm’s length away and about to after buffalo, or a warrior after scalps. You
start over. crush him, it stopped. Then, as the young were fighting the spirits. You thought they
man stared open-mouthed, his hair stand- owed you a vision. Suffering alone brings
ing up, his eyes starting out of his head, the no vision nor does courage, nor does sheer
boulder rolled up the mountain, all the way will power. A vision comes as a gift born
to the top. He could hardly believe what he of humility, of wisdom, and of patience. If
saw. He was still cowering motionless from your vision quest you have learned
Discussion Starter when he heard the roar and rumble again nothing but this, then you have already
and saw that immense boulder coming learned much. Think about it.” m
Students are likely to conclude
down at him once more. This time he man-
that an experience can be useful aged to jump out of his vision pit at the last
even if a goal is not reached. They moment. The boulder crushed it, obliter- Discussion Starter
should point out that although the ated it, grinding the young man’s pipe and Can an experience be useful even if you fail to
young man in the legend does not gourd rattle into dust. reach your goal? Discuss this question in a small
Again the boulder rolled up the moun- group. List some benefits a person might get
achieve his goal, he learns valuable from an experience even if the original goal is
tain, and again it came down. “I’m leaving,
lessons about humility, patience, not reached. Use specific details from the legend
I’m leaving!” hollered the young man.
and respect. Regaining his power of motion, he scram-
to support your opinions. Then share your con-
clusions with the rest of the class.
bled down the hill as fast as he could. This

214 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Reading Practice
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SPIRAL
REVIEW
Compare and Contrast larities between the short story and the
Theme Like “Through the Tun- legend, especially in the author’s approach
nel,” “The Vision Quest” presents to the transition from youth to adulthood.
a young person’s rite of passage. Explain Students may also wish to share rites of
that rites of passage are processes or cer- passage from their own cultures.
emonies indicating that a child is becom-
ing an adult. Some religious faiths and
ethnic groups mark a child’s growth with
formal and elaborate ceremonies. Ask
students to find the differences and simi-

214
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature
Build Background
In the summer of 1933, F. Scott Fitzgerald was in he wrote the following letter to their beloved
Maryland working on his novel Tender Is the Night.
His wife was being treated for the mental illness
that would last the rest of her life. During that time
daughter, Scottie, who was twelve years old and
away at summer camp. Teach
Summary
F. Scott Fitzgerald writes a let-
ter to Scottie, his twelve-year-old
daughter, who is at camp for the
summer. He discusses what he
believes or doesn’t believe, what
is and is not worth worrying about,
and provides a short list of things
to think about.

Literary Element 1
Irony Fitzgerald’s letter cites
F. Scott Fitzgerald to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 94, which
Frances Scott “Scottie” Fitzgerald also states “[the] sweetest things
turn sourest by their deeds.” Ask:
Why is the irony expressed in the
sonnet effective for Fitzgerald’s
letter? (The poem’s contradictory
statements emphasize that the
La Paix, Rodgers’ Forge, All I believe in in life is the rewards loveliest things may be the most
Towson, Maryland, for virtue (according to your talents) and disappointing. The irony is effective
August 8, 1933. the punishments for not fulfilling your because it serves as a warning
duties, which are doubly costly. If there is to Fitzgerald’s daughter to make
Dear Pie: such a volume in the camp library, will you good and virtuous choices.)
I feel very strongly about you doing ask Mrs. Tyson to let you look up a sonnet
duty. Would you give me a little more AP P ROAC H I N G If students are
of Shakespeare’s in which the line occurs
documentation about your reading in “Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.” 1 having difficulty understanding
French? I am glad you are happy—but I Have had no thoughts today, life seems irony, remind them that irony exists
never believe much in happiness. I never composed of getting up a Saturday when events or statements differ
believe in misery either. Those are things Evening Post story. I think of you, and from readers’ expectations.
you see on the stage or the screen or the always pleasantly; but if you call me
printed page, they never really happen to “Pappy” again I am going to take the
you in life.

F. S C OTT FI TZ GE RAL D 215

Approaching Level
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
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Established Ask: What can you tell in one column, have them note instances
Readability Scores
about the relationship between father in which Fitzgerald speaks to his daugh-
Dale-Chall: 8.4
and daughter by reading the letter? ter on something of an adult level; in the
DRP: 54
Guide students toward the idea that the other column, have them list evidence that
Lexile: 1040
writer does not speak to his daughter as if he speaks to her as he would to a child.
she were a little girl—his words and inten-
tions are sophisticated—yet he does not
quite speak to her as an equal either—he
teases her and gives her rules to live by.
Have students make a two-column chart:

215
 Comparing Literature

Comparing Literature Don’t worry about boys

Don’t worry about disappointments
Don’t worry about pleasures
Teach Don’t worry about satisfactions 1
Things to think about:
Literary Element 1
What am I really aiming at?
Point of View Ask: How good am I really in comparison
to my contemporaries in regard to:
How would you characterize American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, his wife Zelda, and daughter, (a) Scholarship
Fitzgerald as a narrator? (Some Scottie, go for a motor jaunt in Italy.
(b) Do I really understand about
students will say that Fitzgerald people and am I able to get along
sounds independent and confi- with them?
dent. His list of things not to worry (c) Am I trying to make my body a
White Cat out and beat his bottom hard, useful instrument or am I neglect-
about demonstrates disregard for six times for every time you are impertinent. ing it?
typical concerns.) Do you react to that?
With dearest love,
I will arrange the camp bill.
Halfwit, I will conclude. Things P.S. My come-back to your calling me
to worry about: Pappy is christening you by the word Egg,
which implies that you belong to a very
Worry about courage
rudimentary state of life and that I could
Worry about cleanliness
break you up and crack you open at my 2
Big Idea 2 Worry about efficiency
will and I think it would be a word that
Worry about horsemanship
Life Transitions Ask: would hang on if I ever told it to your
Worry about . . .
contemporaries. “Egg Fitzgerald.” How
Through what stage of life is
would you like that to go through life with
Fitzgerald trying to guide his Things not to worry about:
“Eggie Fitzgerald” or “Bad Egg
daughter? Why does he choose Fitzgerald” or any form that might occur
Don’t worry about popular opinion
the nickname “Egg”? (He is Don’t worry about dolls to fertile minds? Try it once more and I
trying to guide her through her Don’t worry about the past swear to God I will hang it on you and it
adolescent years, in which she is Don’t worry about the future will be up to you to shake it off. Why bor-
row trouble?
beginning to worry about social Don’t worry about growing up
acceptance. Fitzgerald teases his Don’t worry about anybody getting
Love anyhow.
daughter and believes “Egg” fits ahead of you
Don’t worry about triumph
as an implication that his daughter
Don’t worry about failures unless it Quickwrite
is in “a very rudimentary state of comes through your own fault Fitzgerald writes that he does not believe much in
life,” and he seems determined Don’t worry about mosquitoes happiness or misery, only in rewards and punish-
that she be respectful.) Don’t worry about flies ments. Do you agree or disagree with his opinion?
Don’t worry about insects in general Reread the first two paragraphs of the letter and
Quickwrite Don’t worry about parents write a paragraph explaining your views.

Students may say that Fitzgerald is 216 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

writing about rewards and punish-
ments because that is how parents
Writing Practice
often talk to their children. Stu- 0215_0216_U1CL_877979.indd 216 12/10/07 5:28:23 PM

dents should back up their opin- SPIRAL

REVIEW
Prewrite In the prewriting determine about the length of the letter?
ions with valid reasoning. stage, students explore topics, Appropriate topics? Tone and language of
gather information, and begin to the writing?
organize their material. Have students • What will I write about?
employ prewriting strategies for a business When students are finished prewriting,
letter that they will write. Use the following have them draft their letters.
questions to help them prewrite:

• What is the purpose of the letter?

• To whom should I write the letter?
• What do my purpose and audience

216
 Wrap-Up:
Wrap-Up: Comparing Literature Comparing Literature
Across Genres Across Genres

• Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing Assess

• The Vision Quest by Lame Deer
Compare The Big
• Dear Pie by F. Scott Fitzgerald Idea
Students should cite specific
Things to Things Not to Things to examples referencing each text in
CO M PAR E T H E Big Idea Life Transitions Worry About Worry About Think About their three-column charts. Answers
Write Make two three-column charts with the following headings: will vary, however, students should
Things to Worry About, Things Not to Worry About, Things to Think
About. Then fill in one chart to give to the boy in “Through the Tunnel”
draw upon their own experiences
and the other to give to the young man in “The Vision Quest.” What wis- in answering the question.
dom can you share with each to help them through their life transitions?

Things to Things Not to Things to Compare Narrator

CO M PAR E Narrator Worry About Worry About Think About
Group Activity “Through the Tunnel” is told from a third-person 1. Readers would not know any
omniscient, or all-knowing, point of view. “The Vision Quest,” in which characters’ inner thoughts and
the narrator reveals the thoughts and feelings of only one character, has fears.
a third-person limited point of view. “Dear Pie,” a personal letter, has
a first-person point of view. In a group, discuss the following questions. 2. Students should support their
answers with details from the
1. How would “Through the Tunnel” be different if it had a first-person
point of view? letter. Students may say that
the father has high standards
2. Even though the narrator of “Dear Pie” is writing about his daughter,
what do you learn about him? Do you think he is a good parent?
and is very concerned about his
daughter’s moral development.
3. Suppose that someone else had accompanied the young man on his
vision quest and had written about it. From what point of view would
They may point out that Fitzger-
the account be written? How would the story be different? ald is a good father because he
cares so much for his daughter.
CO M PAR E Authors’ Cultures 3. The account would be written
Write an Analysis The characters in “Through the Tunnel” and “The Vision from a third-person point of
Quest” experienced rites of passage. Investigate initiation customs of a soci-
view. Students will likely say
ety or a group. Write an analysis comparing the customs you studied with
those of the culture in one of the stories. Plan by charting your main points. that the story would be very dif-
ferent. For example, the main
Initiation Customs of Initiation Customs in Comparison of character would not have felt so
(society or group) (“The Tunnel” or “The Vision Quest”) Initiation Customs
isolated and frightened.

Compare Authors’
C OMPARI NG L I TE RATURE 217
Cultures
Approaching Level
Students’ analyses should com-
DI F F ER
0217_U1CL_877979.indd 217E NTIATED I N STR UCTION 3/14/08 4:08:53 AM
pare the initiation event in one
story with the initiation customs
Emerging Explain that parents feel each of Fitzgerald’s lists. Ask: Why did
of a society or group they have
responsible for sharing the wisdom they Fitzgerald want to share that idea with
researched.
have gained through experience with their his daughter? Do you agree or dis-
children. Have students read Fitzgerald’s agree with his assessment of the item?
lists. Ask: With what is the first list Explain.
concerned? (Virtues, life skills, character-
building) Ask: With what is the second
list concerned? (Things that cannot be
controlled, such as the past or the future)
Have students choose one item from

217
Before You Read Before You Read

Focus Catch the Moon

Bellringer Options Meet Judith Ortiz Cofer

(born 1952)
Selection Focus
Transparency 13

L
atina wherever I am,” is the way Judith
Daily Language Practice Ortiz Cofer sees herself. When she was a
Transparency 18 child, her family moved from her birth-
place of Puerto Rico to Paterson, New Jersey.
Or write the following quotation However, they made frequent trips back to
on the board: “All learning has an Puerto Rico, so she always felt close to her cul-
emotional base.”–Plato tural roots. She has a childhood memory of sit-
ting in her grandmother’s living room, which
Ask: Who in your life has was furnished with mahogany rocking chairs. began her long teaching career, first as a bilin-
gual teacher in Florida public schools and then
helped you learn something “It was on these rockers that my mother, her
sisters and my grandmother sat on these after- as an English and Spanish teacher at colleges
new? Who has helped you and universities. She is currently the Franklin
noons of my childhood to tell their stories,
become a better person? teaching each other and my cousin and me Professor of English and Creative Writing at
the University of Georgia, Athens.
Have students discuss how what it was like to be a woman, more specifi-
cally, a Puerto Rican woman.” Writer of Poetry and Fiction In graduate
they’ve learned their most
school Cofer began writing poetry in order to
important lessons. Ask: Do you express the concerns of Latina women. Cofer
agree or disagree with Plato’s believes that “poetry has made me more
“I write in English, yet I write
quotation? disciplined. . . . Poetry taught me about
obsessively about my Puerto Rican economizing in language and about the
experience.” power of language.” Ten years later, Cofer
—Judith Ortiz Cofer began writing fiction, and her first novel, The
Line of the Sun, was nominated for a Pulitzer
Prize in 1989. Cofer has also written An Island
Like You: Stories of the Barrio, a book of short
Bilingual Advantage Early on, Cofer experi-
stories for young adults. The stories are set in
enced a disadvantage of the family’s frequent
Paterson, New Jersey, and deal with the prob-
moving. Cofer was teased for having “a
lems facing Puerto Rican teenagers. Chicana
Spanish accent when [she] spoke English; and,
author Sandra Cisneros says, “In these stories,
when [she] spoke Spanish, [she] was told that
both hilarious and tragic, [Cofer] has captured
[she] sounded like a ‘Gringa.’ ” Cofer trans-
the isolated lives of those wobbling between
formed this into an advantage when she began
two clashing cultures—childhood and adult-
writing fiction and poetry. Writer Marian C.
hood.” “Catch the Moon” is one of the stories
Gonsior says that Cofer deals with “the effect
in An Island Like You.
on Puerto Rican Americans of living in a world
split between the island culture of their home-
Literature Online
land and the teeming tenement life of the
United States.” After receiving her bachelor’s Author Search For more about Judith Ortiz Cofer, go
to [Link] and enter QuickPass code GL59794u1.
degree from Augusta College in Georgia, Cofer

218 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

0218_0219_U1P3_877979.indd 218 3/20/08 1:31:23 P

Literary Elements Reading Skills

• Point of View (SE pp. 219, 222, 224, • Interpret Imagery (SE pp. 219, 220,
226, 227, TE p. 226) Catch the Moon 222, 225, 226, 228)
• Plot and Setting (SE p. 227) • Verify Predictions (TE p. 220)
• Make Inferences (TE p. 222)
• Adjective Clauses (TE p. 224)
Vocabulary Skills
• Connotation and Denotation (SE p.
228, TE p. 219) Listening/Speaking/Viewing Skills Writing Skills/Grammar
• Academic Vocabulary (SE p. 228) • Analyze Art (SE pp. 223, 224) • Apply Point of View (SE p. 228)

218
 Literature and Reading Preview
Learning Objectives
Before You Read
For pages 218–228
Connect to the Story
Why does gift giving make the giver feel good? Freewrite for a
In studying this text, you will
focus on the following
Focus
objectives:
few minutes about a gift you have given someone and how it
made you feel to give it.
Literary Study: Analyzing Summary
point of view.

Build Background Reading: Interpreting Luis Cintrón has been released from
imagery. juvenile detention on the condition
A barrio is an urban neighborhood where most of the people are
of Hispanic heritage. People in a barrio may have been born in that he work in his father’s junkyard
the United States or have come from Spanish-speaking countries. for six months. Gloomy at his pros-
Hubcaps, or wheel covers, come in thousands of different pects and still depressed from his
styles. While they are mostly for show, hubcaps do keep dirt and
moisture away from the wheel nuts and bearings in a car’s
Vocabulary mother’s death three years earlier,
wheel assembly. harass (hə ras) v. to bother or Luis encounters a young woman
annoy repeatedly; p. 221 Several who comes to the yard looking for a
Set Purposes for Reading times a day the bully would harass hubcap. Moved by both her beauty
Big Idea Life Transitions the children.
and her kindness, Luis experiences a
As you read ”Catch the Moon,“ ask yourself, How does a self- makeshift (mākshift́) adj. suit- flood of emotions that allow him to
centered young man learn the value of giving selflessly? able as a temporary substitute for
the proper or desired thing; grieve, love, and learn self-respect.
Literary Element Point of View p. 222 He used a tent as his make-
shift home.
Point of view is the standpoint from which a story is told. In a For summaries in languages other
third-person limited point of view, the narrator describes vintage (vintij) adj. character- than English, see Unit 1 Teaching
events as one character perceives them. This enables readers ized by enduring appeal; classic; Resources Book, pp. 243–248.
to learn a lot about this particular character’s thoughts and feel- p. 222 He drove a vintage
ings, though the information about other characters is much Model T car.
more limited. As you read, ask yourself, Why did Cofer choose Interactive Read
Read and
and Write
Write
decapitate (di kapə tāt́) v. to Interactive
to tell the story from the third-person limited point of view?
cut off the head of; p. 223 We Other options for teaching this
watched the hunter decapitate the selection can
selection can be
be found
found in
in
Reading Strategy Interpret Imagery
elk he had shot.
Writers use imagery, details that appeal to the senses, to help •• Interactive
Interactive Read
Read and
and Write
Write for
for
readers see, hear, smell, taste, or feel what the writer is relic (relik) n. an object that English Learners, pp. 000-000
51–66
has survived decay, destruction,
describing. As you read, ask yourself, What are examples of
or the passage of time and is val- •• Interactive
Interactive Read
Read and
and Write
Write for
for
imagery in this story? What do they signify? Approaching-Level
Approaching-Level Learners,
Learners,
ued for its historic interest;
p. 225 We saw a knight’s armor pp. 000-000
51–66
Tip: Take Notes Use a chart like the one below to record
instances of imagery and your interpretation of them. and other relics at the museum. •• Interactive
Interactive Read
Read and
and Write
Write for
for
On-Level Learners, pp.
On-Level Learners, pp. 51–66
000-000
Imagery Interpretation
p. 220 Here “steel jungle”
is used figuratively to
Vocabulary
“steel jungle of his
car junkyard” suggest a place that Connotation and Denotation
is hard and dense Explain that denotation is the literal
with debris.
meaning of a word and that con-
notation is the implied meaning of
J UD I TH O RTI Z C OFE R 219
a word. Say: Consider the mean-
English Learners ing of the following three words:
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
PM 0218_0219_U1P3_877979.indd 219 3/21/08 12:08:00 PM relic, ruin, and antique. Ask:
Which two words are closest in
Beginning English learners probably Discuss with students how the terms’ connotation? (relic and antique,
know the meaning of the words hall, meanings in context relate to the meanings or relic and ruin)
breaking, entering, and house, but they of the individual words.
may not understand the words’ meanings
in the context of this story. Define the fol-
lowing terms for English learners: custody,
juvenile hall, time, breaking and entering, For additional vocabulary practice,
house arrest. see Unit 1 Teaching Resources
Book, p 251.

219
Teach
Big Idea 1
Life Transitions Say: Keep
the following questions in mind
as you read. At the beginning
of the story, how does Luis feel
about working for his father?
What causes his opinions to
change by the end of the story?
(At the beginning of the story, Luis
is bored by the work at his father’s
junkyard and wonders “whether he
should have stayed in and done his
full time.” Meeting and talking with
Naomi helps Luis release emotions
that he has been holding in since
his mother’s death. He begins to
see the world differently and to
grow as a person.)

Reading Strategy 2 Judith Ortiz Cofer

Interpret Imagery Answer:
He may be unhappy about having uis Cintrón sits on top of a six-foot pile that have come in. Luis grunts and stands
to clean hubcaps, but he still has a of hubcaps and watches his father walk up on top of his silver mountain. He yells
away into the steel jungle of his car junk- at no one, “Someday, son, all this will be
sense of humor.
yard. Released into his old man’s custody yours,” and sweeps his arms like the Pope
after six months in juvenile hall—for break- blessing a crowd over the piles of car
ing and entering—and he didn’t even take sandwiches and mounds of metal parts
anything. He did it on a dare. that cover this acre of land outside the city.
But the old lady with the million cats was He is the “Son” of Jorge Cintrón & Son,
a light sleeper, and good with her aluminum and so far his father has had more than
For additional practice using the cane. He has a scar on his head to prove it. one reason to wish it was plain Jorge
reading skill or strategy, see Unit 1 Now Luis is wondering whether he Cintrón on the sign.
Teaching Resources Book, p. 250. 1 should have stayed in and done his full Luis has been getting in trouble since
time. Jorge Cintrón of Jorge Cintrón & Son, he started high school two years ago,
Auto Parts and Salvage, has decided that
For an audio recording of this Luis should wash and polish every hubcap
in the yard. The hill he is sitting on is only Interpret Imagery What does this image tell you about
selection, use Listening Library
Luis?
2
Audio CD-ROM. the latest couple of hundred wheel covers

220 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Reading Practice
Readability Scores 0220_0226_U1P3_877979.indd 220 12/10/07 9:20:32 AM

SPIRAL PARTNERSVerify Predictions Point role Naomi will play in the story. When
Dale-Chall: 7.5 REVIEW
out that readers make students have finished reading the story,
DRP: 59
Lexile: 930
predictions about what will have them meet with a partner and dis-
happen in a story based on the informa- cuss the accuracy of their predictions.
tion provided and their understanding of
people’s behavior. After students have
read the story through this page, have
them write what will happen to Luis next;
for example, he may get into trouble
again. After students have read through
the next two pages, have them predict the

220
 mainly because of the “social group” he
organized—a bunch of guys who were
one to go wrong was when he sent Kenny
Matoa to borrow some “souvenirs” out of Teach
into harassing the local authorities. Their Anita Robles’s locker. He got caught. It
thing was taking something to the limit seems that Matoa had been reading
on a dare or, better still, doing something Anita’s diary and didn’t hear her coming Big Idea 3
dangerous, like breaking into a house, down the hall. Anita was supposed to be
not to steal, just to prove that they could in the gym at that time but had copped Life Transitions Answer:
do it. That was Luis’s specialty, coming out with the usual female excuse of Luis agrees to put on a cultural
up with very complicated plans, like cramps. You could hear her screams all activity only to save his club, not
military strategies, and assigning the the way to Market Street. because he thinks that the club
“jobs” to guys who wanted to join She told the principal all she knew should change its ways.
the Tiburones.1 about the Tiburones, and Luis had to talk
Tiburón means “shark,” and Luis had fast to convince old Mr. Williams that the
gotten the name from watching an old club did put on cultural activities such as
movie2 about a Puerto Rican gang called the Save the Animals talent show. What
the Sharks with his father. Luis thought it Mr. Williams didn’t know was that the
was one of the dumbest films he had ever animal that was being “saved” with the
seen. Everybody sang their lines, and the ticket sales was Luis’s pet boa, which
guys all pointed their toes and leaped in needed quite a few live mice to stay
the air when they were supposed to be healthy and happy. They kept E.S. (which
slaughtering each other. But he liked stood for “Endangered Species”) in Luis’s
their name, the Sharks, so he made it room, but she belonged to the club and it
Spanish and had it air-painted on his was the members’ responsibility to raise
black T-shirt with a killer shark under it, the money to feed their mascot. So last
jaws opened wide and dripping with year they had sponsored their first annual
blood. It didn’t take long for other guys Save the Animals talent show, and it had
in the barrio to ask about it. been a great success. The Tiburones had
Man, had they had a good time. The come dressed as Latino Elvises and did a
girls were interested too. Luis outsmarted grand finale to “All Shook Up” that made
everybody by calling his organization a the audience go wild. Mr. Williams had
social club and registering it at Central smiled while Luis talked, maybe remem-
High. That meant they were legal, even let bering how the math teacher, Mrs. Laguna,
out of last-period class on Fridays for their had dragged him out in the aisle to
“club” meetings. It was just this year, after rock-and-roll with her. Luis had gotten
a couple of botched3 jobs, that the teachers out of that one, but barely.
had started getting suspicious. The first His father was a problem too. He objected
to the T-shirt logo, calling it disgusting and
vulgar. Mr. Cintrón prided himself on his
1. Tiburones (tḗboo rōnās) own neat, elegant style of dressing after
2. [old movie…] The narrator is describing the feature film work, and on his manners and large vocabu-
West Side Story, a 1961 musical based on Shakespeare’s
play Romeo and Juliet, set in the youth gang atmosphere
lary, which he picked up by taking corre-
of New York City in the late 1950s. spondence courses in just about everything.
3. Botched means “badly or clumsily done.”

Vocabulary
Life Transitions Do you think that Luis feels any remorse
harass (hə ras) v. to bother or annoy repeatedly for the actions of the Tiburones at this point? Explain. 3

J UD I TH O RTI Z C OFE R 221

English Learners
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
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Intermediate A shift in tense within a to indicate that one action ends before
sentence signals when one event comes another action begins.
before or after another event. When read-
ing and writing, remember the following
two rules:
• When two or more events occur at the
same time, writers use the same verb
tense to describe each event.
• When two events have occurred at differ-
ent times in the past, writers shift tense

221
Teach Luis thought that it was just his way of
staying busy since Luis’s mother had died,
it will not be an easy match. Come look on
this side.”
almost three years ago, of cancer. He had Luis tossed a wrench he’d been holding
never gotten over it. into a toolbox like he was annoyed, just to
Literary Element 1 All this was going through Luis’s head make a point about slave labor. Then he fol-
as he slid down the hill of hubcaps. The lowed his father, who knelt on the gravel and
Point of View Answer: Even
tub full of soapy water, the can of polish, began to point out every detail of the hubcap.
though Luis may seem like a and the bag of rags had been neatly placed Luis was hardly listening. He watched the
troublemaker, he can also be in front of a makeshift table made from girl take a piece of paper from her handbag.
insightful and thoughtful. two car seats and a piece of plywood. Luis “Señor Cintrón, I have drawn the hubcap
heard a car drive up and someone honk for you, since I will have to leave soon. My
their horn. His father emerged from inside home address and telephone number are
Reading Strategy 2 a new red Mustang that had been totaled. here, and also my parents’ office number.”
He usually dismantled every small feature She handed the paper to Mr. Cintrón,
Interpret Imagery Answer: by hand before sending the vehicle into who nodded.
Her beauty is a stark contrast to the cementerio,4 as he called the lot. Luis “Sí, señorita, very good. This will help
watched as the most beautiful girl he had my son look for it. Perhaps there is one in
the pile of wrecked cars.
ever seen climbed out of a vintage white that stack there.” He pointed to the pile of
A P P ROAC H I N G To guide students Volkswagen Bug. She stood in the sunlight caps that Luis was supposed to wash and
in understanding the imagery, point in her white sundress waiting for his polish. “Yes, I’m almost certain that there is
out the contrast that Cofer creates father, while Luis stared. She was like a a match there. Of course, I do not know if
between the white of Naomi’s car smooth wood carving. Her skin was it’s near the top or the bottom. You will
and sundress, and the setting of mahogany, almost black, and her arms and give us a few days, yes?”
legs were long and thin, but curved in Luis just stared at his father like he was
the junkyard.
places so that she did not look bony and crazy. But he didn’t say anything because
hard—more like a ballerina. And her ebony the girl was smiling at him with a funny
hair was braided close to her head. Luis let expression on her face. Maybe she thought
his breath out, feeling a little dizzy. He had he had X-ray eyes like Superman, or
forgotten to breathe. Both the girl and his maybe she was mocking him.
father heard him. Mr. Cintrón waved him “Please call me Naomi, Señor Cintrón.
over. You know my mother. She is the director of
“Luis, the señorita here has lost a wheel the funeral home. . . .” Mr. Cintrón seemed
Literary Element 3 cover. Her car is twenty-five years old, so surprised at first; he prided himself on
having a great memory. Then his friendly
Point of View Answer: Luis 4. Cementerio (se men tā́rē ō ) is Spanish for “cemetery.” expression changed to one of sadness as he
probably thinks that his father is recalled the day of his wife’s burial. Naomi
Point of View What does this sentence tell you about
asking him to do the impossible. 1 Luis?
did not finish her sentence. She reached
over and placed her hand on Mr. Cintrón’s
Interpret Imagery How would you interpret the descrip- arm for a moment. Then she said “Adiós”
2 tion of the beautiful girl in the midst of the junkyard? softly, and got in her shiny white car.
She waved to them as she left, and her
Vocabulary gold bracelets flashing in the sun nearly
makeshift (mākshift́) adj. suitable as a temporary blinded Luis.
substitute for the proper or desired thing
vintage (vintij) adj. characterized by enduring
appeal; classic Point of View Why do you think Luis reacts this way? 3
222 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Writing Practice
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SPIRAL
REVIEW
Research Latin American science, economics, or politics. Have
Accomplishments The fic- students write several paragraphs discuss-
tional character Jorge Cintrón, a ing their findings and the impact of these
hardworking Puerto Rican immigrant, will accomplishments on a global scale. Then,
never be featured in the national press, ask students to give brief oral reports
but many real life Latinos have achieved about their articles.
stardom in their adopted countries.
Have students locate magazine or news-
paper articles celebrating the accomplish-
ments of Latin Americans in literature,

222
 she escorted family members to the viewing
room and brought flowers in. Could it be Teach
that the skinny girl in a frilly white dress
had been Naomi? She didn’t act like she had
recognized him today, though. Or maybe she Big Idea 4
thought that he was a jerk.
Luis grabbed the drawing from his father. Life Transitions Answer:
The old man looked like he wanted to walk The way Luis throws the hubcaps,
down memory lane. But Luis was in no heedless of where they might end
mood to listen to the old stories about his up, demonstrates his immaturity
falling in love on a tropical island. The world and lack of focus. On the other
they’d lived in before he was born wasn’t his hand, his growing pride in his work
world. No beaches and palm trees here. Only
and desire to please his father
junk as far as he could see. He climbed back
up his hill and studied Naomi’s sketch. reflect an increasing maturity.
It had obviously been done very carefully. It
was signed “Naomi Ramirez” in the lower
right-hand corner. He memorized the
telephone number.
Luis washed hubcaps all day until his
hands were red and raw, but he did not S
September 16, c. 1955. René Magritte. Oil on canvas, come across the small silver bowl that would Answer: The tree appears to
14 x 107/8 in. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. ©ARS, NY. fit the VW. After work he took a few practice have caught the moon in its
René Magritte, a Belgian Surrealist painter, Frisbee shots across the yard before showing
often includes elements of mystery, comedy, and danger in branches. The painting conveys a
his rows and rows of shiny rings drying in
his art. In what ways does this painting express the title and romantic and magical mood.
mood of the story? the sun. His father nodded and showed him
the bump on his temple where one of Luis’s René Magritte (1890–1967), a
flying saucers had gotten him. “Practice Belgian artist, is remembered for
Mr. Cintrón shook his head. “How about makes perfect, you know. Next time you’ll surreal images that hover between
that,” he said as if to himself. “They are the probably decapitate me.” Luis heard him
comedy and nightmare, such as a
Dominican owners of Ramirez Funeral struggle with the word decapitate, which
Home.” And, with a sigh, “She seems like Mr. Cintrón pronounced in syllables. fish with human legs.
such a nice young woman. Reminds me of Showing off his big vocabulary again, Luis
your mother when she was her age.” thought. He looked closely at the bump,
Hearing the funeral parlor’s name, Luis though. He felt bad about it.
remembered too. The day his mother died, he “They look good, hijo.”5 Mr. Cintrón made
had been in her room at the hospital while a sweeping gesture with his arms over the
his father had gone for coffee. The alarm had yard. “You know, all this will have to be
gone off on her monitor and nurses had
come running in, pushing him outside. After 5. Hijo (ḗhō ) is Spanish for “son.”
that, all he recalled was the anger that had
Life Transitions Does this passage show a change in
made him punch a hole in his bedroom wall. Luis’s attitude? Explain. 4
And afterward he had refused to talk to
anyone at the funeral. Strange, he did see a Vocabulary
black girl there who didn’t try like the others decapitate (di kapə tāt́) v. to cut off the head of
to talk to him, but actually ignored him as

J UD I TH O RTI Z C OFE R 223

Approaching Level
8 AM DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
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Established Explain that writers don’t consider what this sentence reveals about
always directly state what they want you Mr. Cintrón’s character. (He is making an
to understand. Point out that writers may effort to expand his vocabulary and edu-
use character descriptions or dialogue to cate himself, though it is difficult for him.)
give subtle clues. Readers must combine
those clues with their own background
and knowledge to infer what the writer
means. Say: Review the line “Luis
heard him struggle with the word
decapitate, which Mr. Cintrón pro-
nounced in syllables.” Ask students to
223
Teach “Home by ten. She did say something
about a curfew, Luis.” Mr. Cintrón had
stopped smiling and was looking upset. It
had always been hard for them to talk more
Literary Element 1 than a minute or two before his father got
offended at something Luis said, or at
Point of View Answer: his sarcastic tone. He was always doing
Mr. Cintrón would probably say something wrong.
that he is trying to protect Luis, not Luis threw the rag down on the table
accuse him of wrongdoing. and went to sit in his father’s ancient
Buick, which was in mint condition. They
A DVA N C E DAsk: Do you think
drove home in silence.
Luis is taking his punishment After sitting down at the kitchen table
seriously? Have students discuss with his father to eat a pizza they had
their impressions of Luis to this Scrap Merchant, 1983. Reg Cartwright. Oil on canvas, picked up on the way home, Luis asked to
point in the story. Remind them 91.4 x 76.2 cm. Private collection. borrow the car. He didn’t get an answer
Reg Cartwright is a British painter and illustrator then, just a look that meant “Don’t bother
to support their ideas with details whose work is influenced by Cubism. What might this painting
from the story. suggest about how Luis might feel while working in his father’s
me right now.”
junkyard? Before bringing up the subject again, Luis
put some ice cubes in a Baggie and handed
it to Mr. Cintrón, who had made the little
classified. My dream is to have all the parts bump on his head worse by rubbing it. It
divided by year, make of car, and condition. had guilty written on it, Luis thought.
Maybe now that you are here to help me, “Gracias, hijo.” His father placed the bag
this will happen.” on the bump and made a face as the ice
“Pop . . .” Luis put his hand on his touched his skin.
S father’s shoulder. They were the same They ate in silence for a few minutes
Answer: The man in the painting height and build, about five foot six and more; then Luis decided to ask about the
seems lost among the assorted muscular. “The judge said six months car again.
of free labor for you, not life, okay?” “I really need some fresh air, Pop. Can I
scraps in the foreground. Some
Mr. Cintrón nodded, looking distracted. It borrow the car for a couple of hours?”
students may say that Luis feels was then that Luis suddenly noticed how “You don’t get enough fresh air at the
overwhelmed and fatigued by gray his hair had turned—it used to be shiny yard? We’re lucky that we don’t have to sit in
the enormous pile of hubcaps he black like his own—and that there were deep a smelly old factory all day. You know that?”
must sort and polish. lines in his face. His father had turned into “Yeah, Pop. We’re real lucky.” Luis always
an old man and he hadn’t even noticed. felt irritated that his father was so grateful to
Reginald Ainsley Cartwright
“Son, you must follow the judge’s own a junkyard, but he held his anger back
(b. 1938) uses the abstract form and just waited to see if he’d get the keys
instructions. Like she said, next time you
of cubism to emphasize qualities get in trouble, she’s going to treat you like without having to get in an argument.
in his subject matter. an adult, and I think you know what that “Where are you going?”
means. Hard time, no breaks.” “For a ride. Not going anywhere. Just out
“Yeah, yeah. That’s what I’m doing, for a while. Is that okay?”
right? Working my hands to the bone
instead of enjoying my summer. But listen,
Point of View Do you think Mr. Cintrón would agree
Language History S she didn’t put me under house arrest,
right? I’m going out tonight.”
with Luis’s perception? 1
Curfew The word curfew refers
to a regulation requiring certain 224 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

people to be off the streets by a Grammar Practice

certain hour. Curfew comes from 0220_0226_U1P3_877979.indd 224 3/14/08 4:14:10
an Old French term that meant SPIRAL Adjective Clauses Write Have students work in small groups to
REVIEW SMALL GROUP
“cover the fire.” In medieval times, the following sentence locate adjective clauses on this page
curfew was a regulation that on the board: In the front and identify the noun that each clause
required people to put out their yard was an oak tree that Luis remem- modifies. (Examples: where most of them
fires in the evening. Ask: Does bered having climbed. Underline the lived, El Building; his father had bought,
your town have a curfew? Has section from the word that to the end. Ask home)
it ever affected your schedule students how these five words function.
or plans? Have students discuss (They modify the noun oak.) Point out
curfews in your area and whether that clauses beginning with that, which,
they think curfews are a good idea. who, whom, whose, where, and when
often function as adjectives, modifying the
nouns or pronouns they follow.
224
 His father didn’t answer, just handed
him a set of keys, as shiny as the day they
He had just meant to ride around his
old barrio, see if any of the Tiburones Teach
were manufactured. His father polished were hanging out at El Building, where
everything that could be polished: door- most of them lived. It wasn’t far from the
knobs, coins, keys, spoons, knives, and single-family home his father had bought Reading Strategy 2
forks, like he was King Midas counting his when the business started paying off: a
silver and gold. Luis thought his father must house that his mother lived in for three Interpret Imagery Answer:
be really lonely to polish utensils only he months before she took up residence at It is his way of honoring her and
used anymore. They had been picked out St. Joseph’s Hospital. She never came keeping her alive in his memory.
by his wife, though, so they were like relics. home again. These days Luis wished he
Nothing she had ever owned could be still lived in that tiny apartment where
thrown away. Only now the dishes, forks, there was always something to do, some-
and spoons were not body to talk to. Cultural History S
used to eat the yellow Instead Luis found himself parked in According to Greek mythology,
rice and red beans, the front of the last place his mother had King Midas had the ability to turn
fried chicken, or the gone to: Ramirez Funeral Home. In the
ordinary things into gold simply by
mouth-watering sweet front yard was a huge oak tree that Luis
plantains that his remembered having climbed during the touching them. This power was
Visual Vocabulary
A plantain mother had cooked for funeral to get away from people. The tree a gift from the god Dionysis. The
(plantən) is a them. They were just looked different now, not like a skeleton, expression “Midas touch” refers
tropical fruit similar
to a banana that
kept in the cabinets as it had then, but green with leaves. The to individuals who seem to have
must be cooked that his father had branches reached to the second floor of good luck in whatever they do.
before eating. turned into a museum the house, where the family lived.
for her. Mr. Cintrón For a while Luis sat in the car allowing
could cook as well as his wife, but he didn’t the memories to flood back into his brain.
have the heart to do it anymore. Luis thought He remembered his mother before the
that maybe if they ate together once in a illness changed her. She had not been
while things might get better between them, beautiful, as his father told everyone; she
but he always had something to do around had been a sweet lady, not pretty but not
dinnertime and ended up at a hamburger ugly. To him, she had been the person who
joint. Tonight was the first time in months always told him that she was proud of him
they had sat down at the table together. and loved him. She did that every night
Luis took the keys. “Thanks,” he said, when she came to his bedroom door to say
walking out to take his shower. His father good-night. As a joke he would sometimes
kept looking at him with those sad, patient ask her, “Proud of what? I haven’t done
eyes. “Okay. I’ll be back by ten, and keep anything.” And she’d always say, “I’m just
the ice on that egg,” Luis said without proud that you are my son.” She wasn’t
looking back. perfect or anything. She had bad days
when nothing he did could make her
Interpret Imagery Why do you think Mr. Cintrón takes
smile, especially after she got sick. But he
2 such good care of his wife’s belongings? never heard her say anything negative
about anyone. She always blamed
Vocabulary el destino, fate, for what went wrong. He
relic (relik) n. an object that has survived decay, missed her. He missed her so much.
destruction, or the passage of time and is valued for
its historic interest

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Approaching Level
0 AM DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
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AAVE Approaching-level students who at El Building.” To emphasize that this activ-

use African American Vernacular English ity is typical, students could add an adverb:
(AAVE) may pair the verb be with the “They usually hang out at El Building.” Help
present tense of a verb to indicate habitual students practice this concept by having
action. For example, to describe the Tibu- them answer the following questions in
rones’ usual activity, a user of this vernacu- complete sentences that demonstrate
lar might say, “They be hanging out at El Standard Academic English conventions.
Building.” Remind students that in standard What do you usually do on Friday night?
English construction, the simple present What activities do you typically do with
tense has no helping verb: “They hang out your friends?

225
Teach Suddenly a flood of tears that had been
building up for almost three years started
busy all the time. Doing something that
had a beginning, a middle, and an end did
pouring from his eyes. Luis sat in his something to your head. It was like the sat-
father’s car, with his head on the steering isfaction Luis got out of planning “adven-
Reading Strategy 1 wheel, and cried, “Mami, I miss you.” tures” for his Tiburones, but there was
When he finally looked up, he saw that another element involved here that had
Interpret Imagery Answer: he was being watched. Sitting at a large nothing to do with showing off for others.
Luis releases his grief, and it window with a pad and a pencil on her lap This was a treasure hunt. And he knew
comes as an overwhelming tor- was Naomi. At first Luis felt angry and what he was looking for.
rent, like a flood. embarrassed, but she wasn’t laughing at Finally, when it seemed that it was a
him. Then she told him with her dark eyes hopeless search, when it was almost mid-
that it was okay to come closer. He walked night and Luis’s hands were cut and
Literary Element 2 to the window, and she held up the sketch bruised from his work, he found it. It was
pad on which she had drawn him, not the perfect match for Naomi’s drawing,
Point of View Answer: crying like a baby, but sitting on top of a the moon-shaped wheel cover for her car,
The passage grants the reader mountain of silver disks, holding one up Cinderella’s shoe. Luis jumped off the
access to some of Luis’s thoughts. over his head. He had to smile. small mound of disks left under him and
It does not tell the reader what is The plate-glass window was locked. It shouted, “Yes!” He looked around and
going on inside the minds of other had a security bolt on it. An alarm saw neat stacks of hubcaps that he would
characters. system, he figured, so nobody would wash the next day. He would build a
steal the princess. He asked her if he display wall for his father. People would
could come in. It was soundproof too. be able to come into the yard and point to
He mouthed the words slowly for her to whatever they wanted.
Big Idea 3 read his lips. She wrote on the pad, “I Luis washed the VW hubcap and pol-
can’t let you in. My mother is not home ished it until he could see himself in it. He
Life Transitions Answer: tonight.” So they looked at each other used it as a mirror as he washed his face
Luis has come to realize how and talked through the window for a and combed his hair. Then he drove to the
his behavior has affected those little while. Then Luis got an idea. He Ramirez Funeral Home. It was almost
around him. signed to her that he’d be back, and pitch-black, since it was a moonless night.
drove to the junkyard. As quietly as possible, Luis put some
Luis climbed up on his mountain of gravel in his pocket and climbed the oak
hubcaps. For hours he sorted the wheel tree to the second floor. He knew he was in
Cultural History S covers by make, size, and condition, front of Naomi’s window—he could see
Cinderella If any students are stopping only to call his father and tell him her shadow through the curtains. She was
where he was and what he was doing. The at a table, apparently writing or drawing,
unfamiliar with the story of Cin-
old man did not ask him for explanations, maybe waiting for him. Luis hung the
derella, give a brief synopsis of the and Luis was grateful for that. By lamppost silver disk carefully on a branch near the
plot. Luis uses Naomi’s drawing to light, Luis worked and worked, beginning window, then threw the gravel at the glass.
find the right hubcap, just as the to understand a little why his father kept Naomi ran to the window and drew the
prince in “Cinderella” uses Cinder- curtains aside while Luis held on to the thick
ella’s shoe to find the right woman. branch and waited to give her the first good
Interpret Imagery What does the imagery of a flood thing he had given anyone in a long time. m
1 suggest about Luis’s emotional response?

To check students’ understanding

Point of View How does this passage demonstrate the Life Transitions What do you think the last sentence of
of the selection, see Unit 1 Teaching 2 third-person limited point of view? the story means? 3
Resources Book, p. 254.

226 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Literary Element Practice

0220_0226_U1P3_877979.indd 226 12/10/07 9:21:04 AM

Understand Point of View Remind Why? (Answers will vary, but students may
students that third-person limited point of say that they relate better to Luis and so
view reveals the perceptions of a single find his point of view more interesting.)
character. Ask: Which character’s percep- Have students write a paragraph that
tions does the narrator reveal in this uses third-person limited narration from
story? (The narrator reveals Luis’s percep- Naomi’s point of view, perhaps of the
tions.) Ask: Would you find this story scene when she sees Luis crying outside
more or less interesting if it were told her window.
from the point of view of Luis’s father?

226
 After You Read After You Read
Respond and Think Critically
Respond and Interpret 6. Explain how Luis also gives a gift to his father as
Assess
1. (a)Were you surprised by Luis’s actions at the he searches for the hubcap. 1. (a) Yes, because Luis has rarely
end of the story? Explain. (b)How did your feel- shown such selfless effort. (b)
ings about Luis change as you read the story? Connect
Students may grow to like Luis
2. Why does Luis work at his father’s junkyard? 7. Big Idea Life Transitions The story begins more as he matures and acts
with Luis sitting on a pile of hubcaps and ends
3. (a)Describe the relationship between Luis and
with him hanging a hubcap in a tree. What
more respectfully.
his father. (b)Do you think there is a chance for
kind of character transition has Luis made by 2. It is a condition of his release.
Luis and his father to build a better relationship?
the end of the story?
Use details from the story to support your answer. 3. (a) Luis and his father have
8. Connect to the Author As a child, Judith Ortiz trouble communicating. They
4. (a)What does Luis leave in the tree for Naomi?
Cofer spoke both English and Spanish but strug-
(b)What do you think Luis discovers about him- both miss Luis’s mother. (b) Yes.
gled with each. In the story, Luis’s father is
self as he searches for his gift to Naomi? Luis organizes the hubcaps and
enrolled in a correspondence class to improve
Analyze and Evaluate his vocabulary. Why is it important to the father plans a display wall. He better
to have a good vocabulary? Do you think the understands his father.
5. In what ways can Naomi be compared with
author has the same beliefs? Explain.
Luis’s mother? 4. (a) He leaves a hubcap.
(b) That giving is rewarding
Literary Element Point of View Plot and Setting 5. She is loving and kind.
The third-person limited narrator of “Catch the Plot is the series of events that make up a story. 6. He organizes the hubcaps.
Moon” describes events as only Luis perceives Setting is the time and place in which the story
them. Readers hear Luis’s thoughts as he takes place. As you learned on pages 8–9, a key 7. He has changed from defiant
describes his gang activities and comments on his feature of the plot is exposition, which introduces and self-absorbed to hardwork-
father and Naomi. Readers have to judge whether the story’s characters, setting, and situation. ing and sacrificing.
Luis’s comments are fair and infer what his
thoughts reveal about his character. Readers also
Partner Activity Meet with a classmate to discuss 8. Some may say that the father
what the exposition of the story reveals about Luis, wants to be a positive influence
should be alert to dramatic irony in the story: a
specifically regarding the setting he is in and why
contrast between what Luis thinks and what the
he is there. Working with your partner, create a
on his son. Cofer recognizes
reader knows is true. the value and importance of
chart similar to the one below and fill it with details
1. The narrator does not reveal Naomi’s opinion of about Luis, the setting, and his situation. learning and strong language
Luis. After she leaves the junkyard, Luis worries skills. She once struggled with
Details About Luis Setting Details Situation Details
if “maybe she thought that he was a jerk.” How
accurate is Luis’s concern? gang leader junkyard released into language, so she can offer an
custody of empathetic portrayal of the chal-
2. The narrator reveals Luis’s pride in his gang
activities. Contrast Luis’s feelings about his gang
his father lenges facing the father as he
activities with your own perspective on gangs. tries to expand his vocabulary.
What dramatic irony do you notice?
Progress Check
Can students understand
point of view?

J UD I TH O RTI Z C OFE R 227 If No ➔ See Unit 1 Teaching

Resources Book, p. 249.

0227_0228_U1CL_877979.indd 227 3/14/08 4:15:33 AM

Literary Element Review: Plot and Setting For additional assessment, see
Assessment Resources,
1. Naomi was friendly and smiling. She Details About Luis: T-shirt with sharks pp. 71–72.
would not be so if he were a jerk. logo; deceives teachers; arrested for
2. Luis is proud of his actions; students housebreaking; on six months’ probation
may say that he is immature and Details About Setting: piles of hub-
deceitful. caps; disorganized car parts; “social club”
at Central High; pet boa in Luis’s room
Details About Situation: Luis polishing
hubcaps; conflicts with father over work
and clothes; mother’s death three years
earlier; father preoccupied with grief
227
After You Read Reading Strategy Interpret Imagery Write with Style
SAT Skills Practice

Assess 1. The contrast between the way Luis and his

father eat in the story and the food that Mrs.
Apply Point of View
Assignment Use the first person and Luis’s diction
Cintrón used to cook (page 225) highlights to retell the last two paragraphs of the story from
Reading Strategy (A) Luis’s anger with his father Luis’s point of view.
(B) a loss of intimacy in the family Get Ideas Make a sequence chain to list the events
1. The image of the hubcap recurs
(C) that neither Luis nor his father can cook that take place in the last two paragraphs, and for
in the story as a connection each event, write a comment that Luis himself might
(D) Luis’s love for his mother
between Luis and his father and make. Base your word choices on the words and
(E) that the junkyard is at last making a profit
between Luis and Naomi. The phrasing that Luis uses elsewhere in the story.
hubcap also reflects the moon Event Luis’s comment
in the title of the story; both Vocabulary Practice
Luis finally finds Just when I figured I was never gonna find it, I
objects are elusive and seem- Practice with Denotation and Connotation the matching saw this hubcap shaped like the moon and I
hubcap. knew it was the matching one. It was perfect.
ingly impossible to grasp. Denotation is the literal, or dictionary, meaning
of a word. Connotation is the implied, or cul-
2. Luis and his father rarely eat
tural, meaning of a word. For example, the Luis washes and
together at home; Luis eats words fib and lie have a similar denotation, a polishes the
in fast food restaurants. The “mistruth,” but they have different connotations: hubcap.

change reflects a loss of inti- Weaker Stronger

macy in the family since Luis’s fib lie Luis drives to
the funeral
mother died. Each of the vocabulary words is listed with a home.
word that has a similar denotation. Choose the
word that has a stronger connotation. Give It Structure Narrate the events in the order
Vocabulary 1. harass bother
in which they occur. Use transitions that signal
chronological order where they are needed.
Vocabulary word: harass 2. makeshift temporary
Look at Language Remember to use the pro-
Similar word: bother 3. vintage classic noun I only as a subject and the pronoun me only
Explanation: Harass has the stron- 4. relic artifact as an object. For example, Luis might say, “I am
ger connotation. Harass implies into cars” or “My friends and I are into cars.” He
Academic Vocabulary could also say “Cars are cool to me” or “Cars are
more harm than bother does. cool to me and my friends.” In the first pair of
Vocabulary word: makeshift Naomi helps Luis realize that there is an sentences, I is the subject. In the second pair of
alternative to the life he is living. sentences, Cars is the subject and me is the object.
Similar word: temporary
Be sure each word that Luis speaks in the narrative
Explanation: Makeshift has the Alternative is an academic word. In casual conver- reflects not only his perspective but also his charac-
sation, someone might refer to an alternative teristic speech patterns.
stronger connotation. Makeshift
school or alternative medicine. These adjectives
implies that something is haphaz- suggest the meaning of the noun alternative.
ard as well as temporary. What alternative might you consider to the way
Literature Online
Vocabulary word: vintage you usually spend your after-school time? Why?
Selection Resources For Selection Quizzes, eFlashcards,
Similar word: classic For more on academic vocabulary, see pages and Reading-Writing Connection activities, go to
52 and 53. [Link] and enter QuickPass code GL59794u1.
Explanation: Classic has the stron-
ger connotation. Classic implies
228 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY
unchanging good taste. Vintage
implies rarity and monetary value
more than enduring good taste. 0227_0228_U1CL_877979.indd 228 3/20/08 1:32:35 P

Vocabulary word: relic Academic Vocabulary Write with Style

Similar word: artifact Answers will vary. Sample response: Students’ retellings should:
Explanation: Relic has the stronger An alternative would be finding a part- • recast information from the last two
connotation. Relic implies some- time job or participating in a school club paragraphs of the story from Luis’s
thing special and sacred, whereas or sport. point of view
artifact suggests a broad range of • be written in the first person
remains, including a broken piece For grammar practice, see Unit 1 • employ Luis’s characteristic diction
of a common pot or dish. Teaching Resources Book, p. 253. • follow chronological order
• include transitions that signal time
order as needed
• use subject and object pronouns correctly
228
 Learning Objectives Grammar Workshop
Grammar Workshop In this workshop, you will
focus on the following Sentence Fragments
objective:
Sentence Fragments Grammar: Understanding
how to avoid sentence

Literature Connection A fragment is an incomplete part of some-

thing. A sentence fragment is a word or group of words that is only part
fragments.
Focus
of a sentence. People often use sentence fragments in conversation, as Write on the board:
in the quotation from “Catch the Moon.”
Gave an unusual gift. A runner on
“‘Home by ten. She did say something about a curfew, Luis.’
the team. Because he delayed.
Mr. Cintrón had stopped smiling and was looking upset.’’
—Judith Ortiz Cofer, from “Catch the Moon” Vocabulary Terms
Ask: What makes these sen-
A sentence is a group of tence fragments? Have students
Although the fragment Home by ten lacks both a verb and a subject. Luis
words that expresses a supply a subject for the first frag-
understands that Mr. Cintrón is reminding him of his curfew. Sometimes, complete thought. A sentence
however, a fragment that leaves out important information can be ment, a verb for the second, and
fragment does not express a
confusing. complete thought and often an independent clause to com-
Problem 1 Word group missing a subject, a verb, or both lacks a subject, a verb, or both. plete the third.
Needs a new hubcap. [lacks a subject] Tip
Only three hubcaps on the car. [lacks a verb] When writing for a test, check

Solution Add the missing subject and/or verb.

carefully to make sure that
each sentence has a subject
and a verb and conveys a
Teach
The car needs a new hubcap.
complete thought. Subordinate Clause Have
The car only has three hubcaps.
Language Handbook
students list the conjunctions that
Problem 2 Subordinate clause that does not express a complete thought For more on sentence begin subordinate clauses, such as
Because the judge sentenced him to work in the junkyard. fragments, see the Language although, since, and when.
Handbook p. R47.
Solution A Join the subordinate clause to a main clause.
Sentence Fragments for
Luis was helping his father because the judge sentenced him to
work in the junkyard.
Effect
At times a sentence fragment
can be used to create a
Assess
Solution B Remove the subordinating conjunction at the beginning of dramatic effect. In such an Possible Rewrites:
the clause. instance, what is left unsaid Luis and his father had not gotten
The judge sentenced him to work in the junkyard. can be as effective as what is
said—in a wry observation, for along since his mother’s death.
example, or an exclamation. He often got into trouble and was
Consider the following: An
Proofread Use the strategies shown above to correct the sen- punished. Luis saw Naomi, the
impossible situation. or Under
tence fragments in this paragraph. no circumstances! most beautiful girl in the world, at
Luis and his father had not gotten along. Since his mother’s the junkyard. He worked hard to
death. Often got into trouble and was punished. Luis saw Literature Online find a match for her missing hub-
Naomi at the junkyard. The most beautiful girl in the world. cap. He memorized her telephone
Grammar For more grammar
Worked hard to find a match for her missing hubcap. He practice, go to [Link]
memorized her telephone number. Had written on the and enter QuickPass code
number, which he had written on
paper with her drawing of the hubcap. GL59794u1. the paper with her drawing.

GRAMMAR WO RKS HOP 229

English Learners
U NFIVER
DI F ER
0229_U1GW_877979.indd229ESAL
NTIATED
ACCESS
I N STR UCTION 3/20/08 1:33:15 PM

Intermediate Explain to students that the fragments. Then have them rewrite the
conversational English often includes sen- fragments as complete sentences.
tence fragments, and so do some novels
and advertisements. However, sentence
fragments are not acceptable in formal
writing. Have students select a piece of their
own writing from a previous assignment
and edit it for sentence fragments. Help
students identify the missing elements in

229
 Before You Read
World Literature
Before You Read Chile

Focus And of Clay Are We Created

Bellringer Options Meet Isabel Allende

(born 1942)
Selection Focus
Transparency 14

F
or most of her life, Isabel Allende
Daily Language Practice (ēsäbel ä yeńdā) has felt like a wan-
Transparency 19 derer. Although she is Chilean, she was
born in Lima, Peru, where her father held a
Or have students define natural diplomatic post. Her parents divorced when
disaster and create a list of natural she was young, and she lived with her grand-
disasters. (Responses: tornadoes, parents for several years in Santiago, Chile.
When her mother remarried, Allende moved
earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.) with her mother and stepfather, also a
Ask: What natural disasters In 1959 Allende started working for the
diplomat, to La Paz, Bolivia.
United Nations Food and Agricultural
have you experienced or heard Life in Chile From Bolivia, the family was Organization in Santiago, first as a secretary,
about? Have students discuss next stationed in Beirut, Lebanon, and then then as an editor and a press officer. She later
the impact of natural disasters. moved on to Europe. The threat of war in the became a broadcast journalist and wrote for
Middle East returned Allende back to her and edited a feminist magazine.
Ask them to consider the public’s grandfather’s house in Chile. She was fifteen
reaction to disasters. Exile Isabel Allende’s life changed forever on
years old and wanted to put down roots. Her
September 11, 1973, when the president of
grandfather provided Allende with an inten-
Chile, Salvador Allende, was killed and a
sive education in Chilean history and geogra-
brutal military dictatorship took over. The
phy, which deepened her love for her country.
murdered president had been Isabel’s beloved
Trips that she and her grandfather took to dif-
uncle. Within a few years, it was no longer
ferent parts of Chile fueled this love, as did
safe for Allende and her family to stay in
her reading of great Chilean poets, including
Chile, so they went into exile in Venezuela.
Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral.
Allende could not find a job in journalism in
Venezuela and worked as a teacher for several
years. In 1981 she began writing a letter to her
“I write to preserve memory. I write grandfather, who was almost 100 years old
what should not be forgotten.” and in poor health, and continued working on
it for an entire year. The letter became the
—Isabel Allende manuscript for her first novel, The House of
the Spirits.

Allende’s grandfather also gave her gifts that Since 1982 Allende has written nearly a dozen
she would later call upon as a writer. He enter- books, most of them novels.
tained her with folk tales and admonished her
with proverbs. He told her fascinating accounts Literature Online
of strange characters in their family and recited Author Search For more about Isabel Allende, go to
lengthy poems from memory. [Link] and enter QuickPass code GL59794u1.

230 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Selection Skills
0230_0231_U1P3_877979.indd 230 3/20/08 1:34:31 P

Literary Elements
• Persona (SE pp. 231, 233–234,
And of Clay Are Listening/Speaking/Viewing Skills
We Created • Analyze Art (SE pp. 234, 240)
237, 238, 241, 243) • Dramatization (TE p. 236)
• Voice (SE p. 243)
• Allusions (TE p. 240)
Writing Skills/Grammar
Reading Skills Vocabulary Skills • Expository Essay (SE p. 244)
• Analyze Sensory Details (SE • Analogies (SE p. 243) • Respond to Mood (TE p. 234)
pp. 231–232, 234–241, 243) • Academic Vocabulary (SE p. 243) • Compound Subjects (TE p. 238)
• Identify Cause and Effect (TE p. 232) • Synonyms (TE p. 231) • Revise (TE p. 244)
230
 Literature and Reading Preview
Learning Objectives
Before You Read
For pages 230–243
Connect to the Story
Focus
In studying this text, you will
focus on the following
What are some different factors that might influence how you
objectives:
would respond during a natural disaster? List some internal and
Literary Study: Analyzing
external factors that might influence how you respond in a cri-
sis situation.
persona. Summary
Reading: Analyzing sensory
details. After a volcanic eruption, a mudslide
Build Background
kills many people. Television crews
This story is based on an event that occurred in the South
American country of Colombia. In November 1985, an active,
are sent to the scene. A reporter
snow-covered volcano erupted. Heat from the eruption melted films volunteers who have discov-
snow and ice and sent a monstrous mudslide crashing into the ered a young girl alive but trapped.
valley. 25,000 people and 15,000 animals perished in the disas- Vocabulary The reporter struggles to free the girl
ter, and thousands of people were injured or left homeless.
presentiment (pri zentə mənt) n. and must face his own past.
Set Purposes for Reading a feeling that something is about
to happen; p. 233 Although the For summaries in languages other
Big Idea Life Transitions scientists had no monitoring equip- than English, see Unit 1 Teaching
As you read, ask yourself, How does Allende use the mud ment, they had a presentiment that Resources Book, pp. 257–262.
as a device to hold the lives of the three main characters in the volcano would soon erupt.
suspension?
equanimity (ēḱwə nimə tē) n.
the ability to remain calm and
Vocabulary
Literary Element Persona
assured; p. 233 The equanimity of Synonyms Tell students to
The persona is the voice an author creates to tell a story. Even the mayor helped calm the hurricane
if the story is told from a first-person point of view, as is “And of use a thesaurus to find synonyms
survivors.
Clay Are We Created,” the narrator is not the author. As you for each of the vocabulary words.
read, ask yourself, What are the characteristics of the first-person fortitude (fôrtə tō ō ̄ ̄d́) n. firm
courage or strength of mind in the
Have students work in pairs to
narrator in the story?
face of pain or danger; p. 233 Relief use the synonyms to replace the
Reading Strategy Analyze Sensory Details workers often show fortitude when vocabulary words in the example
they aid people during a disaster. sentences. Students should deter-
Sensory details are highly descriptive words and phrases that
appeal to one or more of the senses: hearing, sight, smell, pandemonium (pańdə mōnē əm) mine whether the change alters
taste, and touch. As you read, ask yourself, Where does Allende n. wild disorder and uproar; p. 235 the meaning of the sentence.
appeal to each of these five senses? Pandemonium broke out as looters
smashed grocery store windows.
For additional vocabulary practice,
Tip: Take Notes Use a chart to record sensory details in
tribulation (trib́yə lāshən) n. see Unit 1 Teaching Resources
this story.
great misery or distress; suffering; Book, p. 265.
p. 239 A natural disaster nearly
Sense Detail from the story always brings tribulation, but it some-
times brings people together as well. For additional context, see Glencoe
touch p. 239 “her silk hair against Interactive Vocabulary CD-ROM.
his cheek”

I S ABE L AL L E ND E 231

English Learners
DI F F ER E NTIATED
PM 0230_0231_U1P3_877979.indd 231 I N STR UCTION 3/20/08 1:34:45 PM

Intermediate Have English learners look Advanced To help students understand

up the word transition in the dictionary. how transitions can lead to major life
Point out some transitions that students changes, discuss some events that could
often make, such as changing schools, lead someone to a life-changing transition.
moving, and making new friends. Ask stu-
dents to share transitions they have faced.

231
Teach
Reading Strategy 1
Analyze Sensory Details
Answer: Answers include senses
of smell, sight, sound. Have
students predict what might
happen later.
E NG LI S H LE A R N ERS
Check to
make sure that English learners
can recognize sensory details. Help
them identify the words that relate
to these senses. List the words on
the board.

Isabel Allende
For additional practice using the Translated by
reading skill or strategy, see Unit 1 Margaret Sayers Peden
Teaching Resources Book, p. 264.

Volcano, 1999. Sally Elliott. Watercolor on paper, 27.9 x 38.1 cm. Private collection.
Big Idea 2
Life Transitions Answer:
Questions should reflect curiosity hey discovered the girl’s head pro- The television cameras transmitted so
truding from the mudpit, eyes wide often the unbearable image of the head
about something Rolf might have
open, calling soundlessly. She had a budding like a black squash from the
lost thirty years before. First Communion name, Azucena.1 Lily. clay that there was no one who did not
In that vast cemetery where the odor of recognize her and know her name. And
death was already attracting vultures every time we saw her on the screen,
For an audio recording of this from far away, and where the weeping of right behind her was Rolf Carlé,2 who
selection, use Listening Library orphans and wails of the injured filled had gone there on assignment, never
Audio CD-ROM. the air, the little girl obstinately clinging suspecting that he would find a fragment
to life became the symbol of the tragedy. of his past, lost thirty years before.

Readability Scores
Dale-Chall: 6.8 1. Azucena (ä zōō kḗnä) 2. Rolf Carlé (rälf cär lā)
DRP: 64
Analyze Sensory Details Which senses do these details Life Transitions What questions does this passage
Lexile: 1240 1 appeal to? prompt for you? 2

232 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Reading Practice
0232_0241_U1P3_877979.indd 232 3/14/08 4:29:44

SPIRAL
REVIEW
Identify Cause and Effect Most External Conflict, Challenge, Consequence,
students will be able to identify the Internal Conflict, Challenge, Consequence.
external conflict that Rolf faces: the Discuss the challenge and consequence
struggle to free Azucena, the trapped girl. that Rolf faces in each kind of problem or
However, some students may have difficulty conflict.
identifying the internal conflict that he faces.
To help students identify the internal conflict,
write these headings and subheadings on
the board:

232
 First a subterranean3 sob rocked the
cotton fields, curling them like waves of
When the station called before dawn,
Rolf Carlé and I were together. I crawled Teach
foam. Geologists had set up their seismo- out of bed, dazed with sleep, and went to
graphs4 weeks before and knew that the prepare coffee while he hurriedly dressed.
mountain had awakened again. For some He stuffed his gear in the green canvas Literary Element 3
time they had predicted that the heat of backpack he always carried, and we said
the eruption could detach the eternal ice goodbye, as we had so many times before. Persona Answer: The narrator
from the slopes of the volcano, but no one I had no presentiments. I sat in the and Rolf Carlé are married or
heeded their warnings; they sounded like kitchen, sipping my coffee and planning lovers.
the tales of frightened old women. The the long hours without him, sure that he
towns in the valley went about their daily would be back the next day.
life, deaf to the moaning of the earth, He was one of the first to reach the scene,
until that fateful Wednesday night in because while other reporters were fighting
November when a prolonged roar their way to the edges of that morass8 in S
announced the end of the world, and jeeps, bicycles, or on foot, each getting there Sally Elliott, a contemporary Ameri-
walls of snow broke loose, rolling in an however he could, Rolf Carlé had the advan-
can painter, uses her dreams and
avalanche of clay, stones, and water that tage of the television helicopter, which flew
descended on the villages and buried him over the avalanche. We watched on our surroundings to create symbolism.
them beneath unfathomable5 meters of screens the footage captured by his assistant’s Contemporary art embodies many
telluric6 vomit. As soon as the survivors camera, in which he was up to his knees in artistic practices that connect the
emerged from the paralysis of that first muck, a microphone in his hand, in the midst natural world to social perception.
awful terror, they could see that houses, of a bedlam9 of lost children, wounded survi- Ask: In what way does Elliott’s
plazas, churches, white cotton plantations, vors, corpses, and devastation. The story
art (page 232) reflect the agony
dark coffee forests, cattle pastures—all came to us in his calm voice. For years he
had disappeared. Much later, after had been a familiar figure in newscasts, of letting a loved one go? (The
soldiers and volunteers had arrived to reporting live at the scene of battles and volcano symbolizes the explosive
rescue the living and try to assess the catastrophes with awesome tenacity. Nothing power of love and heartache and
magnitude of the cataclysm, it was calcu- could stop him, and I was always amazed at liberation from self-obsession.)
lated that beneath the mud lay more than his equanimity in the face of danger and
twenty thousand human beings and an suffering; it seemed as if nothing could shake
indefinite number of animals putrefying his fortitude or deter his curiosity. Fear
in a viscous soup. Forests and rivers had
also been swept away, and there was
nothing to be seen but an immense desert 8. A morass (mə ras) is any difficult, confused, or entangling
condition or situation.
of mire.7
9. Here, bedlam refers to the noisy uproar and confusion of
the situation.

Persona Summarize what you learn about the narrator

from this excerpt. 3
3. Something subterranean is beneath the earth’s surface.
4. Seismographs are scientific instruments that record the
Vocabulary
intensity and duration of earthquakes.
5. Here, unfathomable (un fathəm ə bəl) means presentiment (pri zentə mənt) n. a feeling that
“immeasurable.” something is about to happen
6. Telluric (te loorik) means “coming or rising from the equanimity (ēḱwə nimə tē) n. the ability to remain
earth.” calm and assured
7. The decaying (putrefying) corpses are buried in the
fortitude (fô rtə tōō ̄̄ d́) n. firm courage or strength of
muddy slime, a thick, syrupy (viscous) soup; the landscape
mind in the face of pain or danger
has become a wasteland of mud (mire).

I S ABE L AL L E ND E 233

English Learners
4 AM DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
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Beginning In the story, government offi- countries. Students should respond in

cials, the armed forces, the media, and reli- complete sentences.
gious leaders come together to offer aid,
provide information, and look for solutions.
Ask English learners to discuss the kinds
of aid and comfort that would be offered,
and by whom these would be offered, if
a natural disaster occurred in their native

233
Teach
Literary Element 1
Persona Answer: The narrator
has a close, emotional connection
to Rolf.
For students having
A P P ROAC H I N G
difficulty with this concept, discuss
what makes a person qualified to
do a task.

Reading Strategy 2
Analyze Sensory Details Landscape (Camaldoli), 1928. Arthur Bowen Davies. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY.
Answer: He seems somewhat In this painting, the sleepy countryside of Camaldoli, Italy, sits in the shadow of
detached about the entire situa- an active volcano. How must the people in the town, such as Azucena, have felt the moment
they realized that the slumbering volcano nearby had suddenly erupted? Explain.
tion, given that he can discuss the
smell of corpses as easily as he
seemed never to touch him, although he had face, her large desolate eyes, the plastered-
describes the temperature. At first,
confessed to me that he was not a coura- down tangle of her hair. The mud was
Rolf treats the girl as he would geous man, far from it. I believe that the lens like quicksand around her, and anyone
any important story he needed to of the camera had a strange effect on him; it attempting to reach her was in danger of
report. was as if it transported him to a different sinking. They threw a rope to her that she
time from which he could watch events with- made no effort to grasp until they shouted
out actually participating in them. When I to her to catch it; then she pulled a hand
knew him better, I came to realize that this from the mire and tried to move, but
S fictive distance seemed to protect him from immediately sank a little deeper. Rolf
Answer: Answers will vary. his own emotions. threw down his knapsack and the rest
Rolf Carlé was in on the story of of his equipment and waded into the
Student responses should focus
Azucena from the beginning. He filmed the quagmire, commenting for his assistant’s
on the shock and fear the people volunteers who discovered her, and the microphone that it was cold and that one
would experience upon realizing first persons who tried to reach her; his could begin to smell the stench of corpses.
that their entire lives might be camera zoomed in on the girl, her dark
destroyed. Analyze Sensory Details At this point in the story,

1
Persona From what you already know about the narrator,
why is she qualified to give this information?
what is Rolf Carlé’s attitude about the mudslide? What is
his attitude about the young girl he is approaching?
2

234 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Writing Practice
0232_0241_U1P3_877979.indd 234 12/10/07 9:34:59 AM

Respond to Mood Point out to created in the reader by a literary work.

students that personal opinions and reac- After students describe the mood, direct
tions to literature should always be sup- them to find examples in the literature
ported by examples from the text. Have that support their descriptions. Have stu-
students write a brief description of the dents write a paragraph in which they use
mood at the point in the story when the textual evidence to support their descrip-
doctor arrives to examine the girl. Remind tions of mood.
students that mood refers to the emotion

234
 “What’s your name?” he asked the
girl, and she told him her flower name.
During those first hours Rolf Carlé
exhausted all the resources of his ingenu- Teach
“Don’t move, Azucena,” Rolf Carlé ity to rescue her. He struggled with poles
directed, and kept talking to her, without and ropes, but every tug was an intoler-
a thought for what he was saying, just to able torture for the imprisoned girl. It Big Idea 3
distract her, while slowly he worked his occurred to him to use one of the poles
way forward in mud up to his waist. as a lever but got no result and had to Life Transitions Answer:
The air around him seemed as murky abandon the idea. He talked a couple of Azucena’s idea may reveal the
as the mud. soldiers into working with him for a level of grief, and possibly guilt,
It was impossible to reach her from the while, but they had to leave because so she is experiencing because she
approach he was attempting, so he many other victims were calling for help. has survived the mudslide while
retreated and circled around where there The girl could not move, she barely could her siblings have died.
seemed to be firmer footing. When finally breathe, but she did not seem desperate,
he was close enough, he took the rope and as if an ancestral resignation allowed her
tied it beneath her arms, to accept her fate. The
so they could pull her reporter, on the other
out. He smiled at her
with that smile that The girl could not hand, was determined
to snatch her from
crinkles his eyes and move, she barely death. Someone
makes him look like a brought him a tire,
little boy; he told her could breathe, but which he placed
that everything was fine,
that he was here with
she did not seem beneath her arms like a
life buoy, and then laid
her now, that soon they desperate . . . a plank near the hole to
would have her out. He hold his weight and
signaled the others to allow him to stay closer
pull, but as soon as the cord tensed, the to her. As it was impossible to remove the
girl screamed. They tried again, and her rubble blindly, he tried once or twice to
shoulders and arms appeared, but they dive toward her feet, but emerged frus-
could move her no farther; she was trated, covered with mud, and spitting
trapped. Someone suggested that her legs gravel. He concluded that he would have
might be caught in the collapsed walls of to have a pump to drain the water, and
her house, but she said it was not just radioed a request for one, but received in
rubble, that she was also held by the return a message that there was no avail-
bodies of her brothers and sisters clinging able transport and it could not be sent
to her legs. until the next morning.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of “We can’t wait that long!” Rolf Carlé
here,” Rolf promised. Despite the shouted, but in the pandemonium no one
quality of the transmission, I could hear stopped to commiserate.10 Many more
his voice break, and I loved him more
than ever. Azucena looked at him, but 10. No one stopped to show or express sympathy—to
said nothing. commiserate (kə mizə rāt́).

Vocabulary
Life Transitions What does Azucena’s idea about why
pandemonium (pańdə mōnē əm) n. wild disorder
3 she cannot move tell you about her feelings concerning
the situation? and uproar

I S ABE L AL L E ND E 235

Approaching Level
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
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Emerging Help students understand why quality of the transmission, I could hear
the author’s choice of narrator is impor- his voice break. . . .” Have students identify
tant to the reader’s understanding of Rolf. other phrases or sentences that show the
Because the narrator loves Rolf, she knows importance of the narrator’s knowledge of
him well and can see and hear things that and love for Rolf.
a different narrator might miss. Allende
has the narrator say that “in spite of the

235
 Teach hours would go by before he accepted that
time had stagnated and reality had been
Many miles away, I watched Rolf Carlé
and the girl on a television screen. I could
irreparably distorted. not bear the wait at home, so I went to
A military doctor came to examine the National Television, where I often spent
Big Idea 1 girl, and observed that her heart was entire nights with Rolf editing programs.
functioning well and that if she did not There, I was near his world, and I could at
Life Transitions Answer: get too cold she could survive the night. least get a feeling of what he lived through
The mood appears upbeat, given “Hang on, Azucena, we’ll have the during those three decisive days. I called
that Azucena’s heart is functioning pump tomorrow,” Rolf Carlé tried to con- all the important people in the city, sena-
well, that she is revived by a warm sole her. tors, commanders of the armed forces, the
beverage, and that Rolf thinks “Don’t leave me alone,” she begged. North American ambassador, and the pres-
“No, of course I won’t leave you.” ident of National Petroleum, begging them
things will end well. However, the
Someone brought him coffee, and he for a pump to remove the silt, but obtained
word premature indicates that helped the girl drink it, sip by sip. The warm only vague promises. I began to ask for
things might not actually end so liquid revived her and she began telling him urgent help on radio and television, to see
well. about her small life, about her family and if there wasn’t someone who could help us.
E NG LI S H LE A R N ERS English learn- her school, about how things were in that Between calls I would run to the newsroom
ers may not understand the word little bit of world before the volcano had to monitor the satellite transmissions that
erupted. She was thirteen, and she had periodically brought new details of the
optimism. Ask students to deter-
never been outside her village. Rolf Carlé, catastrophe. While reporters selected
mine the meaning of optimism buoyed by a premature optimism, was con- scenes with most impact for the news
from the context of the sentence vinced that everything would end well: the report, I searched for footage that featured
by identifying the words that pro- pump would arrive, they would drain the Azucena’s mudpit. The screen reduced the
vide clues. water, move the rubble, and Azucena would disaster to a single plane and accentuated
be transported by helicopter to a hospital the tremendous distance that separated me
where she would recover rapidly and where from Rolf Carlé; nonetheless, I was there
he could visit her and bring her gifts. He with him. The child’s every suffering hurt
thought, She’s already too old for dolls, and me as it did him; I felt his frustration, his
I don’t know what would please her; maybe impotence. Faced with the impossibility of
a dress. I don’t know much about women, communicating with him, the fantastic idea
he concluded, amused, reflecting that came to me that if I tried, I could reach him
although he had known many women in his by force of mind and in that way give him
lifetime, none had taught him these details. encouragement. I concentrated until I was
To pass the hours he began to tell Azucena dizzy—a frenzied and futile activity. At
about his travels and adventures as a news- times I would be overcome with compas-
hound, and when he exhausted his memory, sion and burst out crying; at other times, I
he called upon imagination, inventing things was so drained I felt as if I were staring
he thought might entertain her. From time to through a telescope at the light of a star
time she dozed, but he kept talking in the dead for a million years.
darkness, to assure her that he was still there I watched that hell on the first morning
and to overcome the menace of uncertainty. broadcast, cadavers of people and animals
That was a long night. awash in the current of new rivers formed
overnight from the melted snow. Above the
Life Transitions What is the mood at this point in the mud rose the tops of trees and the bell tow-
1 story? What hint does the author give that things are likely ers of a church where several people had
to change?
taken refuge and were patiently awaiting

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Listening and Speaking Practice

0232_0241_U1P3_877979.indd 236 12/18/07 11:43:11 AM

SPIRAL
REVIEW SMALL GROUP
Dramatization Divide • Practice reading the dialogue as the
students into small groups characters would say it.
to discuss tips and sugges- • Decide what props, if any, are needed.
tions for presenting a dramatization of a Ask students to work in groups to drama-
story event. Possible tips and suggestions tize a scene from the story. Provide time
include these: for students to prepare and practice their
• Decide how many people will speak. scenes. Then ask them to present their
• Write dialogue for each person or choose dramatizations to the class.
dialogue from the story to read.

236
 rescue teams. Hundreds of soldiers and
volunteers from the Civil Defense were
his assistant’s but those of other reporters
who had appropriated Azucena, bestowing Teach
clawing through rubble searching for sur- on her the pathetic responsibility of
vivors, while long rows of ragged specters embodying the horror11 of what had
awaited their turn for a cup of hot broth. happened in that place. With the first light Reading Strategy 2
Radio networks announced that their Rolf tried again to dislodge the obstacles
phones were jammed with calls from fami- that held the girl in her tomb, but he had Analyze Sensory Details
lies offering shelter to orphaned children. only his hands to work with; he did not Answer: They give a sense of
Drinking water was in scarce supply, along dare use a tool for fear of injuring her. He the desperate activity of the rescue
with gasoline and food. Doctors, resigned fed Azucena a cup of the cornmeal mush workers, the appearance and
to amputating arms and legs without and bananas the Army was distributing, but attitude of the survivors, and their
anesthesia, pled that at she immediately vomited dire need.
least they be sent serum it up. A doctor stated
and painkillers and anti- that she had a fever, but Say: Natural disasters often
biotics; most of the added that there was lit- bring out the best in people.
roads, however, were “The sky is tle he could do: antibiot- Ask: Why do you think strang-
weeping,” Azucena
impassable, and worse ics were being reserved ers would be so willing to help
were the bureaucratic for cases of gangrene. A
people in desperate need?
obstacles that stood in murmured . . . priest also passed by and
the way. To top it all, the blessed her, hanging a
clay contaminated by medal of the Virgin
decomposing bodies around her neck. By
threatened the living evening a gentle, persist- Literary Element 3
with an outbreak of epidemics. ent drizzle began to fall.
Azucena was shivering inside the tire “The sky is weeping,” Azucena mur- Persona Answer: Rolf is now
that held her above the surface. Immobility mured, and she, too, began to cry. so focused on saving the life of his
and tension had greatly weakened her, but “Don’t be afraid,” Rolf begged. “You new friend that he has forgotten
she was conscious and could still be heard have to keep your strength up and be calm. that he came to the scene as a
when a microphone was held out to her. Everything will be fine. I’m with you, and
newscaster.
Her tone was humble, as if apologizing for I’ll get you out somehow.”
all the fuss. Rolf Carlé had a growth of Reporters returned to photograph
beard, and dark circles beneath his eyes; he Azucena and ask her the same questions,
looked near exhaustion. Even from that which she no longer tried to answer. In the
enormous distance I could sense the quality meanwhile, more television and movie Writer’s Technique S
of his weariness, so different from the teams arrived with spools of cable, tapes, Personification Remind students
fatigue of other adventures. He had com- film, videos, precision lenses, recorders, that personification is a literary
pletely forgotten the camera; he could not sound consoles, lights, reflecting screens,
device in which nonhuman or
look at the girl through a lens any longer. auxiliary motors, cartons of supplies,
The pictures we were receiving were not electricians, sound technicians, and camera- inanimate things are given human
men: Azucena’s face was beamed to millions qualities. Allende uses personifica-
of screens around the world. And all the tion in several places to emphasize
Analyze Sensory Details How do these sensory details while Rolf Carlé kept pleading for a pump. the power of nature. Ask: Can
2 enliven the activities of the disaster area?
you find an example of personi-
Persona Based on what you know about Rolf, why would 11. [appropriated . . . horror] In other words, the reporters fication on page 237? (The sky
3 his decision not to use the camera be significant?
are using televised images of Azucena’s situation, making
is weeping.)
her a living symbol of the tragedy.

I S ABE L AL L E ND E 237

English Learners
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Advanced Students may need help in uses the words to describe the erupting
recognizing that the volcanic volcano. Have students use the words in
eruption described by the author is an phrases that describe the volcano.
example of extended personification and
is not meant to be taken literally. List these
words on the board and ask students to
guess what they describe: sob, awakened,
moaning, vomit. Explain that the author

237
Teach The improved technical facilities bore
results, and National Television began
china? How could he tell this dying child
about ovens and gallows? Nor did he
receiving sharper pictures and clearer mention the night that he had seen his
sound; the distance seemed suddenly com- mother naked, shod in stiletto-heeled red
Literary Element 1 pressed, and I had the horrible sensation boots, sobbing with humiliation. There
that Azucena and Rolf were by my side, was much he did not tell, but in those
Persona Answer: Students separated from me by impenetrable glass. I hours he relived for the first time all the
may say that the narrator feels the was able to follow events hour by hour; I things his mind had tried to erase. Azucena
pain of her inability to help Rolf knew everything my love did to wrest the had surrendered her fear to him and so,
directly or that she misses him. girl from her prison and help her endure without wishing it, had obliged Rolf
her suffering; I overheard fragments of to confront his own. There, beside that
what they said to one another and could hellhole of mud, it was impossible for
guess the rest; I was present when she Rolf to flee from himself any longer, and
taught Rolf to pray, and when he distracted the visceral12 terror he had lived as a boy
Big Idea 2 her with the stories I had told him in a suddenly invaded him. He reverted to the
thousand and one nights beneath the white years when he was the age of Azucena,
Life Transitions Answer: mosquito netting of our bed. and younger, and, like her, found himself
Both are trapped—Azucena in the When darkness came on the second day, trapped in a pit without escape, buried in
mud, Rolf in the terror of the past. Rolf tried to sing Azucena to sleep with old life, his head barely above ground; he saw
Both are facing their fears and are Austrian folk songs he had learned from before his eyes the boots and legs of his
in a time of transition in their lives. his mother, but she was far beyond sleep. father, who had removed his belt and was
They spent most of the night talking, each whipping it in the air with the never-
A P P ROAC H I N G Some students
in a stupor of exhaustion and hunger, forgotten hiss of a viper coiled to strike.
may have difficulty understanding and shaking with cold. That night, imper- Sorrow flooded through him, intact and
that Rolf is figuratively trapped but ceptibly, the unyielding floodgates that had precise, as if it had lain always in his mind,
that Azucena is physically trapped. contained Rolf Carlé’s past for so many waiting. He was once again in the armoire
Point out that Rolf is terrified of years began to open, and the torrent of all where his father locked him to punish him
facing the past even though he is that had lain hidden in the deepest and for imagined misbehavior, there where for
most secret layers of memory poured out, eternal hours he had crouched with his
in no physical danger.
leveling before it the obstacles that had eyes closed, not to see the darkness, with
blocked his consciousness for so long. his hands over his ears, to shut out the
He could not tell it all to Azucena; she beating of his heart, trembling, huddled
perhaps did not know there was a world like a cornered animal. Wandering in the
beyond the sea or time previous to her mist of his memories he found his sister
own; she was not capable of imagining Katherina, a sweet, retarded child who
Europe in the years of the war. So he could spent her life hiding, with the hope that
not tell her of defeat, nor of the afternoon her father would forget the disgrace of her
the Russians had led them to the concen- having been born. With Katherina, Rolf
tration camp to bury prisoners dead from crawled beneath the dining room table,
starvation. Why should he describe to and with her hid there under the long
her how the naked bodies piled like a
mountain of firewood resembled fragile
12. Here, visceral means “emotional or instinctive rather
than intellectual.”

Persona What do you infer the narrator might be feeling Life Transitions How are Rolf and Azucena now in a
1 as she witnesses these interactions? Explain. similar situation? 2

238 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Grammar Practice
0232_0241_U1P3_877979.indd 238 12/10/07 9:35:11 AM

SPIRAL
REVIEW
Identify Compound Subjects expand each sentence by using a com-
Write this sentence on the board, pound subject. Possible answers are
underlining the words shown: shown.
Immobility and tension had taken their 1. Water (and clay) raced into the valley.
toll on the girl. Explain that the underlined 2. Medicines (and food) were needed.
words are an example of a compound
3. Azucena (and Rolf) endured the chilly
subject (two or more simple subjects
night.
joined with a conjunction). Write each
sentence on the board. Ask students to

238
 white tablecloth, two children forever
embraced, alert to footsteps and voices.
The third day in the valley of the cata-
clysm began with a pale light filtering Teach
Katherina’s scent melded with his own through storm clouds. The President of
sweat, with aromas of cooking, garlic, the Republic visited the area in his
soup, freshly baked bread, and the unex- tailored safari jacket to confirm that this Reading Strategy 3
pected odor of putrescent clay. His sister’s was the worst catastrophe of the century;
hand in his, her frightened breathing, her the country was in mourning; sister Analyze Sensory Details
silk hair against his cheek, the candid gaze nations had offered aid; he had ordered a Answer: The narrator gives this
of her eyes. Katherina . . . Katherina mate- state of siege; the Armed Forces would be detail to show that the president’s
rialized before him, floating on the air like merciless, anyone caught stealing or com- visit is staged. His clothes are
a flag, clothed in the white tablecloth, now mitting other offenses would be shot on carefully considered to fit the cir-
a winding sheet, and at last he could weep sight. He added that it was impossible to cumstances; but they are tailored,
for her death and for the guilt of having remove all the corpses or count the thou-
indicating that they are not really
abandoned her. He understood then that sands who had disappeared; the entire
all his exploits as a reporter, the feats that valley would be declared holy ground, meant for emergency, hands-on
had won him such recognition and fame, and bishops would come to celebrate a recovery, or expedition work.
were merely an attempt to keep his most solemn mass for the souls of the victims.
ancient fears at bay, a stratagem13 for tak- He went to the Army field tents to offer
ing refuge behind a lens to test whether relief in the form of vague promises to
reality was more tolerable from that per- crowds of the rescued, then to the impro-
spective. He took excessive risks as an vised hospital to offer a word of encour-
exercise of courage, training by day to con- agement to doctors and nurses worn
quer the monsters that tormented him by down from so many hours of tribulations.
night. But he had come face to face with Then he asked to be taken to see Azucena,
the moment of truth; he could not continue the little girl the whole world had seen.
to escape his past. He was Azucena; he was He waved to her with a limp statesman’s
buried in the clayey mud; his terror was hand, and microphones recorded his
not the distant emotion of an almost for- emotional voice and paternal14 tone as he
gotten childhood, it was a claw sunk in his told her that her courage had served as an
throat. In the flush of his tears he saw his example to the nation. Rolf Carlé inter-
mother, dressed in black and clutching her rupted to ask for a pump, and the
imitation-crocodile pocketbook to her President assured him that he personally
bosom, just as he had last seen her on the would attend to the matter. I caught a
dock when she had come to put him on the glimpse of Rolf for a few seconds kneeling
boat to South America. She had not come beside the mudpit. On the evening news
to dry his tears, but to tell him to pick up a broadcast, he was still in the same position;
shovel: the war was over and now they
must bury the dead.
“Don’t cry. I don’t hurt anymore. I’m 14. Here, paternal means “fatherly.”

fine,” Azucena said when dawn came. Analyze Sensory Details What point is the writer
“I’m not crying for you,” Rolf Carlé smiled. making by including this detail about how the president
3
“I’m crying for myself. I hurt all over.” was dressed?

Vocabulary
tribulation (trib́yə lāshən) n. great misery or
13. A stratagem is a trick or scheme for achieving some distress; suffering
purpose.

I S ABE L AL L E ND E 239

Approaching Level
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
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Emerging Ask a volunteer to locate a

sentence containing the conjunction and
and another containing the conjunction
but. Discuss the different functions of the
conjunctions. Provide, or have students
provide, several example sentences dem-
onstrating the use of each word. Discuss
the added sense of hopelessness and
failure that Allende’s repeated choice of but
rather than and conveys.

239
Teach

S
Answer: Students should say that
the natural disaster represents
total destruction for the town and
for Azucena but also represents
a new beginning for Rolf Carlé.
Many Russian landscape artists
of the nineteenth century
created images of a road or path
as metaphors for the difficult
choices people have to make
in life. Alexei Savrasov used the
theme of the road to reflect his
emotions towards nature and
people and their interconnection
with each other.

Country Road, 1813. Alexei Savrasov.

The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
Alexei Savrasov’s landscapes, like this one that shows the aftermath of a storm,
have been praised for their lyrical yet realistic depiction of the awakening of the natural world.
Do you think the natural disaster in Allende’s story represents total destruction, a new beginning,
or some combination of the two? Explain.

240 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Literary Element Practice

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SPIRAL
REVIEW
Make Allusions Tell students the story to the words sometimes used
that an allusion is a reference to in Christian funeral services: “Ashes to
a well-known character, place, or ashes. Dust to dust.” Ask students what
situation from history, music, art, or other the expression means. (We all die and
literature. Explain that in some creation ultimately return to the earth, usually by
stories, the first human was made from being buried.) Also, help students see that
the dust of the ground. Relate the title of the title emphasizes our shared humanity.

240
 and I, glued to the screen like a fortune-
teller to her crystal ball, could tell that
saved from despair, how they were freed
from the clay, how they rose above the Teach
something fundamental had changed in vultures and helicopters, how together
him. I knew somehow that during the they flew above the vast swamp of corrup-
night his defenses had crumbled and he tion and laments. How, finally, they were
Big Idea 1
had given in to grief; finally he was able to accept death. Rolf Carlé prayed in
vulnerable. The girl had touched a silence that she would die quickly, because
Life Transitions Answer:
part of him that he himself had no such pain cannot be borne. Azucena’s simple innocence may
access to, a part he had never shared By then I had obtained a pump and was have reminded Rolf of his sister.
with me. Rolf had wanted to console her, in touch with a general who had agreed to Her acceptance may have set an
but it was Azucena who had given him ship it the next morning on a military example for him as he knew he
consolation. cargo plane. But on the night of that third must deal with his own past.
I recognized the precise moment at day, beneath the unblinking focus of quartz
which Rolf gave up the fight and surren- lamps and the lens of a hundred cameras,
dered to the torture of watching the girl Azucena gave up, her eyes locked with
die. I was with them, three days and two those of the friend who had sustained her
nights, spying on them from the other side to the end. Rolf Carlé removed the life Literary Element 2
of life. I was there when she told him that buoy, closed her eyelids, held her to his
in all her thirteen years no boy had ever chest for a few moments, and then let her Persona Answer: Possible
loved her and that it was a pity to leave go. She sank slowly, a flower in the mud. answers may include the idea that
this world without knowing love. Rolf Rolf and the narrator were not
assured her that he loved her more than You are back with me, but you are not the simply lovers, but life-long com-
he could ever love anyone, more than he same man. I often accompany you to the
panions. The narrator has very
loved his mother, more than his sister, station and we watch the videos of
Azucena again; you study them intently, strong empathy for both Rolf and
more than all the women who had slept
in his arms, more than he loved me, his looking for something you could have Azucena.
life companion, who would have given done to save her, something you did not
anything to be trapped in that well in her think of in time. Or maybe you study them
place, who would have exchanged her life to see yourself as if in a mirror, naked. Reading Strategy 3
for Azucena’s, and I watched as he leaned Your cameras lie forgotten in a closet; you
down to kiss her poor forehead, consumed do not write or sing; you sit long hours Analyze Sensory Details
by a sweet, sad emotion he could not before the window, staring at the moun- Answer: Both Rolf and Azucena
name. I felt how in that instant both were tains. Beside you, I wait for you to com- may have felt stuck in the “clay”
plete the voyage into yourself, for the old
of sorrow and hopelessness, but
wounds to heal. I know that when you
return from your nightmares, we shall they are freed by love and hope.
Life Transitions From what you have learned about
again walk hand in hand, as before. m Azucena’s death frees her from
1 Azucena, how might she have helped Rolf make this
transition? further fear and pain.
ENGLIS H LE A R N E R S English learn-
Persona What do you learn about the narrator here? Analyze Sensory Details In what ways were Azucena
2 Does this detail surprise you? Why or why not? and Rolf stuck in, then freed from, the clay? Explain. 3 ers may have difficulty interpreting
this passage. Point out that the
passage should be taken figura-
tively, not literally.

To check students’ understanding

of the selection, see Unit 1 Teaching
I S ABE L AL L E ND E 241 Resources Book, p. 268.
Approaching Level
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
0232_0241_U1P3_877979.indd 241 12/10/07 9:35:25 AM

Established Tell students that in works

of literature, names often have symbolic
meanings. Remind students that Azucena’s
name means “lily.” Have students reread
the description of her as a “flower in the
mud.” Have students discuss in groups the
importance of this image and how a flower
symbolizes, or represents, Azucena.

241
After You Read After You Read

Assess Respond and Think Critically

5. What do you think the title of this story means?
Respond and Interpret
1. Students may cite Azucena, Rolf, In your opinion, is it an appropriate title? Why or
1. Which character in the story do you admire the
or the narrator. Their reasons most? Why?
why not?
will vary. 6. One critic wrote that Allende is capable of mov-
2. (a)What are Azucena’s circumstances at the
2. (a) Azucena is trapped in the ing “between the personal and the political,
beginning of the story? (b)What did she come
between reality and fantasy.” Do these observa-
mud. (b) Courage and patience to symbolize as the story progressed?
tions apply to this story? Why or why not?
3. (a) The survivors were patient 3. (a)What attitude did you notice among the
and undemanding. (b) Fatalism people who survived the disaster? (b)What Connect
does this indicate about their culture?
or acceptance 7. Big Idea Life Transitions In what ways do

Analyze and Evaluate Rolf and Azucena exchange roles in this story?
4. (a) Television stations could get
4. Irony is a contrast between appearance and 8. Connect to the Author Allende worked as a
equipment to the spot where
reality. (a)What ironic situations did you notice broadcast journalist and as an editor of a femi-
Azucena was trapped, but no one nist magazine. Where in the story does Allende
in this story? (b)How do you think these ironies
could get a pump to the scene furthered the main message of the story? Explain. use the knowledge she gained in these two
to rescue the girl. (b) The irony endeavors to create a more believable story?
might show that there are greater
ways to help people than simply
by saving lives. If the message is
about the cruelty of fate, the irony
might indicate that government
action (or inaction) is a part of life
that must be accepted. Visual Literacy
5. We all die and return to the Put Events in Time Order Group Activity Share your timeline with your
earth. The title is appropriate classmates. Then discuss the following ques-
Make a timeline like the one below. Reread
tions, referring to your timelines. Look back at
because the word clay has sev- “And of Clay Are We Created,” filling in the
the story to resolve any disagreements about
eral meanings, including the clay timeline as you read. Above the timeline,
the sequence of events.
include external events relating to the mudslide
in which the girl is trapped and and the rescue operation. Below the timeline, 1. Summarize the different efforts Rolf makes
the earth to which we all return. include what is happening to Rolf Carlé inter- to save Azucena.
nally as he participates in the disaster.
6. This story is personal and 2. How does Rolf’s attitude toward Azucena
External change as the story progresses? Find spe-
focuses on what happens Events cific evidence from the story to support
between Azucena and Rolf. The your answer.
inept behavior of the govern- 3. Why do you think Rolf tries so hard to
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
ment in responding to the disas- save Azucena? Support your answer with
ter makes it a political statement Internal two or more reasons.
Events
as well. The story includes real- (for Rolf)

istic and fantastic situations.

7. She begins to console him.
242 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY
8. Students should cite details
about the broadcast journalism
profession and details that show 0242_0244_U1P3_877979.indd 242 12/10/07 9:37:37 AM

Allende’s feminist beliefs. 3. Rolf knows what makes a good news

Visual Literacy story. He also comes to care for Azu-
1. He tries to pull Azucena out with cena as a human being. He may be
ropes and poles, and then with a grateful to her for helping him face
lever; he works with soldiers to free his past.
her; he dives down to remove rubble
and begs for a pump.
For additional assessment, see
2. First, he sees her as a victim of
Assessment Resources, pp. 73–74.
the disaster; then as an innocent
young girl; finally, as a friend who
has helped him face difficulties and
242 whom he wants to comfort.
 Literary Element Persona Reading Strategy Analyze Sensory
After You Read
A persona is the person created by the author to Details
tell a story. Adopting a persona allows an author to Allende uses sensory details to make the setting Literary Element
distance himself or herself from the reader. It is and characters more vivid and to evoke a strong
like slipping on a mask, or a different personality. emotional reaction in the reader. Refer to the chart 1. Like Allende, the narrator is a
The attitudes and beliefs expressed by the narrator of sensory details that you began on page 231. well-traveled woman of action
may not be the same as those of the author. who is a journalist and lives in
1. Which details do you think are the strongest?
1. Reread the information about Isabel Allende on Do some appeal to more than one sense? Europe.
page 230. What do the unnamed narrator and
2. Skim the story for more sensory details to add 2. Readers get a personal and
Allende have in common? How might Allende
have drawn on her own life to create both the to your chart. Try to add at least one more to empathetic view of Rolf. This
narrator and Rolf? each row. Explain why you think each one viewpoint is similar to watch-
evokes an emotional reaction.
2. Why do you think Allende chose the persona of ing events unfold on televi-
someone not at the scene of the action? How Vocabulary Practice sion—which is an important part
would the story have been different if Rolf Carlé Practice with Analogies Choose the word of the story. If Rolf had been the
had been the narrator? that best completes each analogy. narrator, readers might not have
3. Even though Allende distances herself from the 1. ecstasy : celebrant :: tribulation : seen the larger picture of the
reader through a persona, her narrator is never- a. surveyor b. victim c. participant
theless affected by the action of the story. What
disaster—only the scene close
consequences does the narrator face as a result 2. hostility : unfriendliness :: pandemonium : to Azucena.
of Rolf’s attempt to save Azucena? a. simplicity b. insecurity c. confusion
3. The narrator loses her closeness
3. fortitude : weakness :: bedlam :
a. peace b. cruelty c. uproar
with Rolf. He is “not the same
Review: Voice 4. dream : pleasure :: presentiment :
man” at the end of the story.
As you learned on page 185, voice is the distinc- a. danger b. discomfort c. change
tive use of language that conveys the author’s or
5. equanimity : serenity :: obscurity :
Review: Voice
the narrator’s personality in a literary work. Voice is
determined by elements of style, such as word
a. insensitivity b. uneasiness c. vagueness Possible answers include these:
choice, imagery, figurative language, and tone. Imagery:
Academic Vocabulary
Partner Activity In this story, the narrator’s tone p. 233 “he was up to his knees in
is grimly realistic when describing the details of Allende makes a link between the mud or clay muck”; p. 232 “the odor of death
the mudslide’s devastation. Work with a classmate in which Azucena is mired and a metaphorical was already attracting vultures”
to analyze the language the narrator uses to mud or clay out of which life is created.
achieve this dark tone. Create a web diagram simi- Simile: p. 233 “a subterranean sob
Link is an academic word. More familiar words
lar to the one below, in which you list examples of rocked the cotton fields, curling
with similar meanings are connection, bond, and
imagery and figurative language that contribute to
relationship. To study this word further, fill out them like waves of foam”;
the narrator’s tone.
the graphic organizer below. p. 238 “huddled like a cornered
definition sentence animal”
➞

Tone
link
Metaphor: p. 241 “She sank
➞
➞

slowly, a flower in the mud.”

➞

➞
➞

imagery: metaphor:
in the valley of the unfathomable meters of antonyms image p. 241 “spying on them from the
cataclysm, p. 239 simile: telluric vomit, p. 233
head budding like a For more on academic vocabulary, see pages other side of life”
black squash, p. 232 52 and 53.

I S ABE L AL L E ND E 243

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Reading Strategy Vocabulary Practice

1. Students should choose the sensory 1. b 2. c 3. a 4. a 5. c antonyms—break, dissociation, divide
details they find the strongest and image—Students may show a part of a
identify those that appeal to more chain, an equal sign, or another image
than one sense.
Academic Vocabulary
of connection.
2. Answers will vary. Students should Answers will vary. Sample response:
focus on the emotion evoked definition—a connection or connecting
by each detail, such as fear or element
tenderness. sentence—Was there a link between the
two crimes?

243
After You Read Learning Objectives

Respond Through Writing In this assignment, you will

focus on the following

Assess Expository Essay

objectives:
Writing: Writing an expository
essay.

Respond Analyze Imagery “And of Clay Are We Created“ relies heavily on sen-
Grammar: Paragraphing.

Through Writing sory details to create both the narrative present and the past. In an essay,
analyze how Allende uses sensory details to create powerful imagery in
Students’ essays should: this story and how that imagery results in nuances or ambiguity. Support
• present a thesis about what imag- your ideas with evidence from the story.
Grammar Tip
ery adds to the story
Paragraphing
• use a separate paragraph for each Understand the Task
Begin each body paragraph
supporting point • To analyze is to examine how parts of the work, such as the setting
with a topic sentence that
or symbols, help create the work as a whole.
• present a topic sentence at the presents the main idea. Be
beginning of each body paragraph
• A nuance is a subtle distinction or a shade of meaning.
sure the main idea relates
• Ambiguity is lack of certainty. It results from details that suggest
directly to your thesis.
• quote evidence from the story to unclear or contradictory interpretations.
Example:
support each topic sentence Prewrite As you read, look back at the chart you made in which you
• analyze and explain shades of recorded sensory details. Expand the chart to help you analyze imagery. Thesis: Allende uses clay as
a metaphor for life itself.
meaning, multiple meanings,
Sense Story Detail Effect of the Nuances/ Topic Sentence 1: The clay
or contradictions in the quoted Image Ambiguity
is a metaphor for something
evidence touch “her silk hair against creates feelings of Two strangers that can change, shape, or
• relate topic sentences to the his cheek” softness, closeness, become like father mold life experience.
intimacy and daughter
thesis clearly Topic Sentence 2: The clay
Draft State your thesis in the opening paragraph. Structure the body of is a metaphor for how two
your essay by creating a separate paragraph for each supporting point. lives are molded together.
Begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence that relates to, sup- Topic Sentence 3: The clay
A student who meets all of these
ports, or explains your thesis. Follow the topic sentence with quoted is a metaphor for how life can
criteria should receive the equiva- evidence from the story, which you might introduce in this way: appear or disappear, as if out
lent of a 4-point response of mud.
For example, the image of is ambiguous.
A student who fully meets 3–4 or
Follow each example with your analysis of the shades of meaning,
partially meets 5–6 of these crite- multiple meanings, or contradictions that the quoted evidence suggests.
ria should receive the equivalent of Conclude your essay by restating your thesis in a fresh way.
a 3-point response
Revise Exchange essays with a classmate. Identify each other’s thesis
A student who fully meets 1–2 or statement and supporting ideas. Offer suggestions for increased, more
partially meets 3–4 of these crite- detailed, or more specific references to the text. Discuss your suggestions
ria should receive the equivalent of and revise as needed.
a 2-point response Edit and Proofread Proofread your paper, correcting any errors in
A student who partially meets 1–2 grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Use the Grammar Tip in the side
column to help you with relating your topic sentences to your thesis.
of these criteria should receive the
equivalent of a 1-point response
244 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Writing Practice
0242_0244_U1P3_877979.indd 244 3/20/08 1:37:11 P

SPIRAL
REVIEW
Revise When students are ready hear some of their errors. Have students
to revise, have them read their correct any mistakes they find before part-
essays aloud to themselves before ners share their essays. Students should
working with a partner. Tell students to be also mark any questions they have about
sure to read the words on the page, not their own grammar and usage and ask
what they remember writing. Point out for feedback from their partner regarding
that as they read, students may be able to proper usage.

244
 Before You Read Before You Read
Lullaby Focus
Meet Leslie Marmon Silko Bellringer Options
(born 1948)
Selection Focus
Transparency 15

I
suppose at the core of my writing is the
attempt to identify what it is . . . to grow Daily Language Practice
up neither white nor fully traditional Transparency 20
Indian,” Leslie Marmon Silko has written.
Silko, who is of Laguna Pueblo, Mexican, and Or write comforts on the
white descent, grew up on the Laguna Pueblo chalkboard.
Reservation. Although her writing focuses on
Native American identity, Silko does not
Ask: What are some things that
claim to represent Native Americans in gen- comfort you when you are feel-
Silko attended the University of New Mexico,
eral. Silko has written, “I am only one human
where she studied English and creative writing.
ing sad?
being, one Laguna woman.”
While there, her first short story, “The Man to Have students discuss some of
Send Rain Clouds,” was published. In 1974 the things that comfort them when
she went on to publish several additional
“I was never afraid or lonely though I short stories in a Native American anthology, they are feeling sad. Some pos-
as well as Laguna Woman, a collection of sibilities include a favorite movie,
was high in the hills, many miles from
poetry. After moving to Ketchikan, Alaska, a particular song, or a fun activity.
home—because I carried with me the Silko began writing the novel Ceremony,
Write these on the board.
feeling I’d acquired from listening to which was published in 1977. She returned
to the Southwest and has since published In the discussion, encourage
the old stories.” novels, poetry, and short stories. students to be as specific as
—Leslie Marmon Silko Other Artistic Pursuits Silko has also been possible, reminding them to
involved in the visual arts of filmmaking and use sensory details to describe
photography and has published photographs
Steeped in Tradition Leslie Marmon Silko was in acclaimed arts magazines as well as in her the items that comfort them.
born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her father own literary works. Her fiction and poetry Students should explain what
was a professional photographer and manager collection Storyteller, published in 1981, fea- makes these items soothing and
of the Marmon Trading Post in Old Laguna, tures photos of her family and childhood
environment. Silko founded the Laguna Film
reassuring.
the small village where Leslie and her two
sisters grew up. Silko’s extended family con- Project and filmed Arrowboy and the Witches,
tributed to the rich culture and historical legacy an hour-long version of her story “Estoy-eh-
of Old Laguna. Silko credits her family’s love of moot and the Kunideeyahs.”
books and storytelling as instrumental to the
development of her own creativity and interest
in literature. She also notes that the physical
and social landscape surrounding her home- Literature Online
town provide the setting and background for
Author Search For more about Leslie Marmon Silko, go
much of her writing. to [Link] and enter QuickPass code GL59794u1.

L E S L I E MARMON S I L KO 245
Selection Skills
0245_0246_U1P3_877979.indd 245 3/22/08 10:23:18 AM

Literary Elements Listening/Speaking/Viewing Skills

• Style (SE pp. 246, 249, 251, 254, • Analyze Art (SE pp. 251, 253; TE p.
256, TE pp. 248, 252)
Lullaby 247)
• Flashback (TE p. 250) • Performance (TE p. 257)
• Narrator (SE p. 256)

Reading Skills Vocabulary Skills

• Evaluate Characters (SE pp. 246– • Word Origins (SE p. 257, TE p. 246) Writing Skills/Grammar
249, 251, 255, 257, TE p. 252) • Academic Vocabulary (SE p. 257) • Write a Dialogue (SE p. 257)
• Question (TE p. 248) • Analyze Style (TE p. 252)
245
Before You Read Literature and Reading Preview
Learning Objectives

For pages 245–257

Connect to the Story
Focus
In studying this text, you will
focus on the following
Why do you think memories are so powerful? Freewrite for a
objectives:
few minutes about one of your fondest or strongest memories.
Literary Study: Analyzing style.
Summary Build Background Reading: Evaluating character.

An elderly Navajo woman remem- “Lullaby” takes place in west central New Mexico, near the
bers her happy childhood, and Cañoncito (Navajo) Reservation. In the 1950s, U.S. govern-
ment health agencies began testing Navajos for pulmonary
the loss of her children to war and tuberculosis, also known as TB. Infected people were sent
poverty. She thinks about the dif- away—sometimes against their will—to special hospitals, called Vocabulary
ficulties of her present life. When sanatoriums, for long-term care.
arroyo (ə roiō) n. a dry gully
her husband dies, she sings a song or stream bed; p. 248 The thirsty
Set Purposes for Reading
about her losses. horse did not find water as it can-
Big Idea Life Transitions tered along the arroyo.
For summaries in languages other As you read, ask yourself, How does Silko use the experiences
crevice (krevis) n. a narrow
than English, see Unit 1 Teaching of death, loss, and change to portray life in transition?
crack into or through something;
Resources, pp. 270–275 p. 251 Mark watched his father fill
Literary Element Style
in the crevice in the wall.
The author’s choice and arrangement of words make up the
sparse (spärs) adj. thinly spread
Vocabulary style of a literary work. Style can reveal the author’s purpose and
or distributed; p. 254 The berries
attitude toward his or her subject, characters, and audience. As
Word Origins Say: Many you read, ask yourself, How does Silko’s choice and arrangement were so sparse that we could not
gather enough to make a pie.
words in English come from of words help her to create her particular style?
different languages and cultures. distortion (dis tôrshən) n. an
Reading Strategy Evaluate Characters appearance of being twisted or
In this story, the author uses bent out of shape; p. 255 The
Characters are the people portrayed in a literary work. When you
Spanish and Native American evaluate characters, you make judgments or form opinions crack in the mirror caused a distor-
words from the culture of the about them. Such evaluations help the reader develop a frame- tion in my reflection.
American Southwest. The word work for explaining a character’s actions, statements, thoughts,
arroyo, for example, is Spanish and feelings. As you read, ask yourself, Where does Silko provide
opportunities for the reader to evaluate different characters?
in origin. Encourage students to
create lists as they read Spanish Tip: Ask Questions Use a chart like the one shown to record
and Native American words from details from the story that help you form opinions about Ayah.
the story. Discuss as a class the
words’ origins and meanings. Detail Opinion About Ayah
“She smiled at the She is at home in
snow which was nature.
trying to cover her
little by little.”

246 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

For additional context, see Glencoe Viewing Practice

Interactive Vocabulary CD-ROM. 0245_0246_U1P3_877979.indd 246 3/20/08 1:38:38 P

Analyze Art Discuss with students how when the authorities come for her children,
For additional vocabulary practice, the painting represents a theme about and she thinks of the hogan as her home.
see Unit 1 Teaching Resource the importance of living in harmony with Ayah also finds comfort in nature at some
Book, p. 278. nature. Point out that the human figure in of the most troubling moments of her life.
the painting seems to be living a simple For example, the sun calms Ayah when
life in the forest. Say: What details in she hides with her children in the hills, and
the story show that Ayah tries to live the snow and the stars reassure her when
a simple life in harmony with nature? Chato fades at the end of the story.)
(Students may note that Ayah tries to
maintain her traditional way of life. For
example, she is drying meat in her home

246
 Teach
Leslie Marmon Silko
Big Idea
Life Transitions Say: Keep
the following questions in mind
as you read. How is loss an
important part of the main
character, Ayah’s life? What life
changes are illustrated by Ayah’s
memories? (The loss of Ella and
Danny is important because Ayah
later blames her husband for
their departure. Jimmie’s death
is important because his life
represents happiness to Ayah.
Her memories illustrate Ayah’s
transition from a young, vibrant
woman to an elderly, embittered
woman.)

S
Stephan Daigle, a Canadian painter
and illustrator, uses geometric
patterns and images of nature to
create allegories. Ask: What story
might this picture be telling?
(Students might point out the
animals and the giant owl in
the sun, as well as the series of
moonlike objects arching across
the sky. Perhaps the story is about
how the sun nurtures life on Earth.)

For an audio recording of this

selection, use Listening Library
Owl Watching Over Wildlife. Stephan Daigle.
Audio CD-ROM.
L E S L I E MARMON S I L KO 247

English Learners
Readability Scores
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
PM 0247_0255_U1P3_877979.indd 247 12/10/07 7:29:59 AM
Dale-Chall: 5.6
DRP: 56
Intermediate Remind students that it close at hand as they read the story. If
Lexile: 900
is important to understand the meaning time allows, have students create mini-
of the words in a story so that they can dictionaries for their unfamiliar words.
better understand the story’s message. Tell
students to scan the story for any unfa-
miliar words and to list these words on a
sheet of paper.
Tell students to use a dictionary to dis-
cover the meanings of the words on their
lists. Encourage them to keep their lists

247
Teach T he sun had gone down but the snow ing and the way her mother had done it.
in the wind gave off its own light. It came On the tall wooden loom set into the sand
Literary Element 1 in thick tufts like new wool—washed under a tamarack4 tree for shade. She
before the weaver spins it. Ayah1 reached could see it clearly. She had been only a
Style Ask: What colors does out for it like her own babies had, and she little girl when her grandma gave her the
Silko use in describing the smiled when she remembered how she had wooden combs to pull the twigs and
yarn-making process? How does laughed at them. She was an old woman burrs from the raw, freshly washed wool.
Silko’s use of color affect the now, and her life had become memories. And while she combed the wool, her
She sat down with her back against the grandma sat beside her, spinning a
descriptions? (She uses the colors
wide cottonwood tree, feeling the rough silvery strand of yarn
silver, red, gold, and black. The bark on her back bones; she faced east and around the smooth
colors bring the descriptions to life listened to the wind and snow sing a high- cedar spindle. Her
and make them more vibrant and pitched Yeibechei2 song. Out of the wind mother worked at the
life-like.) she felt warmer, and she could watch the loom with yarns dyed 1
wide fluffy snow fill in her tracks, steadily, bright yellow and red
For additional literary element until the direction she had come from was and gold. She watched Visual Vocabulary
In yarn-making,
practice, see Unit 1 Teaching gone. By the light of the snow she could see them dye the yarn in
the spindle is a
Resources Book, p. 276. the dark outline of the big arroyo a few feet boiling black pots full round, tapered stick
away. She was sitting on the edge of of beeweed petals, juni- that is turned by
Cebolleta3 Creek, where in the springtime per berries, and sage. hand to twist wool
fibers into a thread
Reading Strategy 2 the thin cows would graze on grass already The blankets her of yarn.
chewed flat to the ground. In the wide deep mother made were soft
Evaluate Characters creek bed where only a trickle of water and woven so tight that
Answer: Ayah once had a signifi- flowed in the summer, the skinny cows rain rolled off them like birds’ feathers.
cant relationship with Jimmie, but would wander, looking for new grass along Ayah remembered sleeping warm on cold
winding paths splashed with manure. windy nights, wrapped in her mother’s
her memories of him cause her
Ayah pulled the old Army blanket over blankets on the hogan’s5 sandy floor.
pain. her head like a shawl. Jimmie’s blanket— The snow drifted now, with the northwest
A P P ROAC H I N G Ask: Why would the one he had sent to her. That was a wind hurling it in gusts. It drifted up
Ayah want to avoid thoughts long time ago and the green wool was around her black overshoes—old ones with
of Jimmie? (Ayah may associate faded, and it was unraveling on the little metal buckles. She smiled at the snow
edges. She did not want to think about which was trying to cover her little by little.
Jimmie with an unhappy event or
Jimmie. So she thought about the weav- She could remember when they had no
time.) black rubber overshoes; only the high buck-
1. Ayah (äyə)
skin leggings that they wrapped over their
2. The Yeibechei (yäbə chā) are masked Navajo dancers elkhide moccasins. If the snow was dry or
who sing in high-pitched voices. frozen, a person could walk all day and not
3. Cebolleta (sebō yä́tä) is also the name of a town in the get wet; and in the evenings the beams of
story.
the ceiling would hang with lengths of pale
Evaluate Characters What does this sentence reveal buckskin leggings, drying out slowly.
2 about Ayah?

4. Tamarack is another name for larch, a tree in the pine

Vocabulary family.
arroyo (ə roiō) n. a dry gully or stream bed 5. A hogan is a traditional Navajo dwelling made of wood
and covered with earth.

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Reading Practice
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SPIRAL Question Have students read Encourage students, as they read, to ask
REVIEW
the first eighteen lines of the themselves why Ayah takes particular
story. Encourage students to actions, both in her past and as an old
think about where Ayah is and what she woman in the present.
is doing. Ask: Where is the elderly
woman? Why do you think she is
there? (She is sitting outside in the snow.
There is no explanation at this point, but
clearly the woman is in a reflective mood.
She may have gone out to get away from
something or someone.)

248
 She felt peaceful remembering. She
didn’t feel cold any more. Jimmie’s blanket
straighter too. Chato didn’t explain why; he
just told the military man they could keep Teach
seemed warmer than it had ever been. And the body if they found it. The white man
she could remember the morning he was looked bewildered; he nodded his head and
born. She could remember whispering to he left. Then Chato looked at her and shook Reading Strategy 3
her mother, who was sleeping on the other his head, and then he told her, “Jimmie isn’t
side of the hogan, to tell her it was time coming home anymore,” and when he Evaluate Characters
now. She did not want to wake the others. spoke, he used the words to speak of the Answer: Chato is educated, or
The second time she called to her, her dead. She didn’t cry then, but she hurt inside he wants to share his skills with
mother stood up and pulled on her shoes; with anger. And she mourned him as the his wife. Ask: In what kind of
she knew. They walked to the old stone years passed, when a horse fell with Chato position or role does this put
hogan together, Ayah walking a step and broke his leg, and the white rancher told Chato in relation to Ayah? (It puts
behind her mother. She waited alone, them he wouldn’t pay Chato until he could
him in a care-giving role when it
learning the rhythms of the pains while her work again. She mourned Jimmie because
mother went to call the old woman to help he would have worked for his father then; comes to their dealings with the
them. The morning was already warm he would have saddled the big bay7 horse white people. It also puts him in a
even before dawn and Ayah smelled the and ridden the fence lines each day, with position of great responsibility and
bee flowers blooming and the young wire cutters and heavy gloves, fixing the power—he is Ayah’s sole represen-
willow growing at the springs. She could breaks in the barbed wire and putting the tative in the white world.)
remember that so clearly, but his birth stray cattle back inside again.
merged into the births of the other children She mourned him after the white doctors
and to her it became all the same birth. came to take Danny and Ella away. She
They named him for the summer morning was at the shack alone that day they came.
and in English they called him Jimmie. It was back in the days before they hired Literary Element 4
It wasn’t like Jimmie died. He just never Navajo women to go with them as inter-
came back, and one day a dark blue sedan preters. She recognized one of the doctors. Style Answer: Lizards eat flies.
with white writing on its doors pulled up in She had seen him at the children’s clinic at She is frightened by the preda-
front of the boxcar shack where the rancher Cañoncito8 about a month ago. They were tory way in which they look at her
let the Indians live. A man in a khaki uni- wearing khaki uniforms and they waved children. Silko uses this simile to
form trimmed in gold gave them a yellow papers at her and a black ball-point pen, convey Ayah’s fear of losing her
piece of paper and told them that Jimmie trying to make her understand their children.
was dead. He said the Army would try to English words. She was frightened by the
ENGLIS H LE A R N E R S Remind
get the body back and then it would be way they looked at the children, like the
shipped to them; but it wasn’t likely because lizard watches the fly. Danny was swinging students that a simile is a figure of
the helicopter had burned after it crashed. on the tire swing on the elm tree behind speech that uses like or as to com-
All of this was told to Chato6 because he the rancher’s house, and Ella was toddling pare unlike things. Tell students
could understand English. She stood inside around the front door, dragging the broom- that they should not take figures of
the doorway holding the baby while Chato stick horse Chato made for her. Ayah could
speech literally. For example, Silko
listened. Chato spoke English like a white see they wanted her to sign the papers, and
man and he spoke Spanish too. He was Chato had taught her to sign her name. It does not mean to suggest that the
taller than the white man and he stood men actually are lizards.
7. Here, bay is the horse’s color—a reddish brown.
6. Chato (chä tō ) 8. Cañoncito (kań yən sē tō ) is the name of the Navajo
reservation located in west central New Mexico.
Evaluate Characters What does this detail tell you
3 about Chato? Style What does this simile mean? 4
L E S L I E MARMON S I L KO 249

English Learners
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
0247_0255_U1P3_877979.indd 249 12/10/07 7:30:12 AM

Intermediate Throughout the story, from the experiences of others they know
there are many misunderstandings in which something in their culture led to
between the Navajo couple and the a misunderstanding with a person from
white people they come in contact with. another culture.
For example, when the Army officer says
that the Army will return Jimmie’s body
if it finds it, Chato tells him the Army can
keep it. The white people are bewildered.
Invite English language learners to share
instances from their own experience or

249
Teach was something she was proud of. She only
wanted them to go, and to take their eyes
with little pebbles and stones, pretending
they were birds’ eggs and then little rab-
away from her children. bits. Ella sat at her feet and dropped fist-
She took the pen from the man without fuls of dirt into the breeze, watching the
Big Idea 1 looking at his face and she signed the dust and particles of sand intently. Ayah
papers in three different places he watched a hawk soar high above them,
Life Transitions Answer: pointed to. She stared at the ground by dark wings gliding; hunting or only watch-
It was a pivotal day in Ayah’s life, their feet and waited for them to leave. ing, she did not know. The hawk was
so her memories of it are vivid. But they stood there and began to point patient and he circled all afternoon before
To guide approach-
A P P ROAC H I N G and gesture at the children. Danny he disappeared around the high volcanic
stopped swinging. Ayah could see his peak the Mexicans called Guadalupe.9
ing students to the answer, ask
fear. She moved suddenly and grabbed Late in the afternoon, Ayah looked down
them what causes Ayah to run into Ella into her arms; the child squirmed, at the gray boxcar shack with the paint all
the hills with her children. trying to get back to her toys. Ayah ran peeled from the wood; the stove pipe on the
with the baby toward Danny; she roof was rusted and crooked. The fire she
screamed for him to run and then she had built that morning in the oil drum stove
grabbed him around his chest and carried had burned out. Ella was asleep in her lap
him too. She ran south into the foothills now and Danny sat close to her, complain-
of juniper trees and black lava rock. ing that he was hungry; he asked when they
Behind her she heard the doctors running, would go to the house. “We will stay up
but they had been taken here until your father comes,” she told him,
Political History S by surprise, and as the “because those white men were chasing us.”
The Bureau of Indian Affairs hills became steeper and The boy remembered then and he nodded at
was formed in 1824 to handle the cholla cactus were her silently.
thicker, they stopped. If Jimmie had been there he could have
the United States’ dealings with
When she reached the read those papers and explained to her
Native American groups, including top of the hill, she what they said. Ayah would have known
Visual Vocabulary
protection, trade, and relocation A cholla (choiə) is a stopped to listen in case then, never to sign them. The doctors came
to reservations. Since 1996, the spiny, shrubby, or
they were circling back the next day and they brought a BIA10
treelike cactus.
Department has been embroiled around her. But in a few policeman with them. They told Chato
in a class-action lawsuit accusing minutes she heard a car they had her signature and that was all
the Bureau of mishandling Native engine start and they drove away. The they needed. Except for the kids. She lis-
children had been too surprised to cry tened to Chato sullenly; she hated him
American land trust accounts for
while she ran with them. Danny was when he told her it was the old woman
over a century. shaking and Ella’s little fingers were grip- who died in the winter, spitting blood; it
ping Ayah’s blouse. was her old grandma who had given the
She stayed up in the hills for the rest of children this disease. “They don’t spit
the day, sitting on a black lava boulder in blood,” she said coldly. “The whites lie.”
the sunshine where she could see for miles
all around her. The sky was light blue and
cloudless, and it was warm for late April. 9. Guadalupe (gwä́ də lōopā)
The sun warmth relaxed her and took the 10. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, or BIA, is the federal agency
in charge of administering government policies toward
fear and anger away. She lay back on the Native Americans.
rock and watched the sky. It seemed to her
that she could walk into the sky, stepping Life Transitions Why do you think Ayah remembers
even the smallest details of this day? 1
through clouds endlessly. Danny played

250 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Literary Element Practice

0247_0255_U1P3_877979.indd 250 3/14/08 4:33:10

SPIRAL
REVIEW
Identify Flashback Review with Danny and Ella to the white people.)
students that a flashback is a shift Mention that the flashback provides a
back in time to a memory of an great deal of information. Have students
event or events from the past, usually summarize the events of the flashback.
before the story’s beginning. It interrupts Then, have students share their summa-
the chronological sequence of the story, ries with the class.
but gives readers information or back-
ground that may help explain particular
events. Say: What event does Ayah
recall as part of the long flashback
on this page? (Ayah remembers losing

250
 Teach
Reading Strategy 2
Evaluate Characters
Answer: He understands Ayah’s
pain, but he also is resigned to
what is happening.

Big Idea 3
Life Transitions Answer:
Because her other children are
Monument Valley at Sunset. Robert McIntosh.
buried near her, she feels as
Monument Valley is located on the Navajo reservation on the border of southern
Utah and northern Arizona. Where in the story does Silko describe a setting or time that though they are with her; Danny
corresponds with the image in the painting? and Ella are being raised by
strangers. Ask: How is the pain
She held Ella and Danny close to her, ready and buried them in fine brown sand with she feels over Danny and Ella’s
to run to the hills again. “I want a medicine round quartz pebbles that washed down absence different from her
man first,” she said to Chato, not looking at the hills in the rain. She had endured it feelings about Jimmie’s death?
him. He shook his head. “It’s too late now. because they had been with her. But she
(Jimmie left and never came back;
The policeman is with them. You signed the could not bear this pain. She did not sleep
paper.” His voice was gentle. for a long time after they took her children. there was nothing she could do
It was worse than if they had died: to She stayed on the hill where they had fled about his death. In a way, he is
lose the children and to know that some- the first time, and she slept rolled up in the still alive in her mind. She feels
where, in a place called Colorado, in a blanket Jimmie had sent her. She carried she might have kept Danny and
place full of sick and dying strangers, her the pain in her belly and it was fed by Ella but failed.)
children were without her. There had been everything she saw: the blue sky of their
babies that died soon after they were born, last day together and the dust and pebbles
and one that died before he could walk. they played with; the swing in the elm tree Literary Element 4
She had carried them herself, up to the and broomstick horse choked life from her.
boulders and great pieces of the cliff that The pain filled her stomach and there was Style Answer: Ayah feels a
long ago crashed down from Long Mesa; no room for food or for her lungs to fill
pain in her belly that is made
she laid them in the crevices of sandstone with air. The air and the food would have
been theirs. worse by things that remind her
of the children. She feels as if she
Evaluate Characters What does this detail tell you about can’t eat or breathe.
2 Chato’s personality?
Life Transitions Why is the absence of Danny and Ella
more upsetting to Ayah than the deaths of her other
children?
3
Vocabulary
crevice (krevis) n. a narrow crack into or through Style How does the author describe Ayah’s feelings after
something losing her children? 4 S
Answer: Students should cite
L E S L I E MARMON S I L KO 251 details from the story that resem-
English Learners ble the image in the painting.
0 AM DI F F ER E NTIATED
0247_0255_U1P3_877979.indd 251 I N STR UCTION 3/14/08 4:33:12 AM
Ask: How does the mood of
the painting compare with the
Beginning Students may have difficulty Have students use Internet or print sources mood of the story? (Both have
understanding the vocabulary related to to find pictures of the words. Ask students an ominous mood.)
the story’s setting. Write the following to draw their own illustration of each word
words on the board: quartz, pebbles, elm beneath the definition they recorded.
tree, broomstick, barbed wire. Encourage students to refer to the illustra-
Tell students to use dictionaries to find the tions to aid their understanding of the words.
meanings of the words. Have students write
the meaning of each word on a separate
sheet of paper, and invite volunteers to share
the meanings with the rest of the class. Cor-
rect students’ understanding as necessary.
251
Teach She hated Chato, not because he let the
policeman and doctors put the screaming
up again, with the snow almost to her
knees, and she walked back to find Chato.
children in the government car, but It was hard to walk in the deep snow
because he had taught her to sign her and she felt the air burn in her lungs. She
Reading Strategy 1 name. Because it was like the old ones stopped a short distance from the bar to
always told her about learning their lan- rest and readjust the blanket. But this time
Evaluate Characters Say: guage or any of their ways: it endangered he wasn’t waiting for her on the bottom
What about Ayah might frighten you. She slept alone on the hill until the step with his old Stetson hat pulled down
the people in the bar? (She is middle of November when the first snows and his shoulders hunched up in his long
an elderly woman, probably not came. Then she made a bed for herself wool overcoat.
the type of person who usually where the children had slept. She did not She was careful not to slip on the wooden
frequents bars. They don’t know lie down beside Chato again until many steps. When she pushed the door open,
years later, when he was sick and shivering warm air and cigarette smoke hit her face.
how to act around her or what to
and only her body could keep him warm. She looked around slowly and deliberately,
think of her. Also, the bar owner The illness came after the white rancher in every corner, in every dark place that the
usually doesn’t allow Navajos into told Chato he was too old to work for him old man might find to sleep. The bar owner
the bar.) anymore, and Chato and his old woman didn’t like Indians in there, especially
should be out of the shack by the next Navajos, but he let Chato come in because
afternoon because the rancher had hired he could talk Spanish like he was one of
new people to work there. That had satis- them. The men at the bar stared at her, and
Writer’s Technique S fied her. To see how the white man repaid the bartender saw that she left the door
Chato’s years of loyalty and work. All of open wide. Snowflakes were flying inside
Sensory Descriptions Say:
Chato’s fine-sounding English talk didn’t like moths and melting into a puddle on the
The author uses sensory descrip- change things. oiled wood floor. He motioned to her to
tions to enhance the reading close the door, but she did not see him. She
experience. What senses does It snowed steadily and the luminous light held herself straight and walked across the
she appeal to in this section? from the snow gradually diminished into room slowly, searching
(touch/feeling (snow melting on the darkness. Somewhere in Cebolleta a the room with every
dog barked and other village dogs joined step. The snow in her
her forehead), vision (red flames
with it. Ayah looked in the direction she hair melted and she
in the stove), sound (Spanish had come, from the bar where Chato was could feel it on her fore-
polka music), smell (wet wool)) buying the wine. Sometimes he told her to head. At the far corner of
Visual Vocabulary
Mica is a mineral
go on ahead and wait; and then he never the room, she saw red (abundant in New
came. And when she finally went back flames at the mica win- Mexico) that can be
split into thin,
looking for him, she would find him dow of the old stove
strong, flexible
passed out at the bottom of the wooden door; she looked behind sheets. A sheet of
steps to Azzie’s Bar. All the wine would be the stove just to make colorless mica
gone and most of the money too, from the sure. The bar got quiet makes a decent,
inexpensive substi-
pale blue check that came to them once a except for the Spanish
tute for glass.
month in a government envelope. It was polka music playing on
then that she would look at his face and his the jukebox. She stood by
hands, scarred by ropes and the barbed the stove and shook the snow from her
wire of all those years, and she would blanket and held it near the stove to dry.
think, this man is a stranger; for forty years The wet wool smell reminded her of new-
she had smiled at him and cooked his born goats in early March, brought inside to
food, but he remained a stranger. She stood warm near the fire. She felt calm.

252 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Writing Practice
0247_0255_U1P3_877979.indd 252 12/10/07 7:30:26 AM
Analyze Style Remind students Tell students to write a brief essay analyz-
that an author’s style is his or her choice ing Silko’s writing style and how it mimics
and arrangement of words, which the the rich tradition of storytelling, providing
author can achieve through the use of examples from the story.
devices such as figurative and descriptive (In their essays, students should describe
language and dialect. Following the oral Silko’s style and cite details, such as
tradition of storytelling, Silko uses rich examples of imagery, figurative language,
images and similes throughout her story. and the use of flashback, that support
For example, she describes snowflakes their description.)
in great detail, comparing them to moths
“melting into a puddle on the oiled floor.”

252
 Teach
Big Idea 2
Life Transitions Answer:
The children were losing their
memories of their parents and
their home.

S
Answer: While some of the
characteristics of the vision quest
clearly do not apply to Ayah’s
story, Ayah does seem to be on an
individual quest to gain spiritual
Vision Quest, 1999. John Newcomb. power and knowledge.
Acrylic on canvas. Private collection.
John Newcomb’s acrylic paintings
A vision quest is a Native American ritual in which the participant, usually an
adolescent boy, seeks spiritual power and knowledge by communing with a guardian spirit
often feature landscapes rendered
animal through prayer, fasting, isolation, or other means. How might Ayah’s story be a sort of on large canvasses, some as large
vision quest?
as 3 feet by 4 feet. Many Native
American groups believe in the
In past years they would have told her clouds gather around the mountains; she vision quest, a traditional search for
to get out. But her hair was white now and was worrying about the unpaved road. spiritual guidance in other worldly
her face was wrinkled. They looked at her She was frightened by what she saw inside
forces.
like she was a spider crawling slowly too: the strips of venison drying on a rope
1 across the room. They were afraid; she across the ceiling and the children jabber-
could feel the fear. She looked at their faces ing excitedly in a language she did not
steadily. They reminded her of the first know. So they stayed for only a few hours.
time the white people brought her children Ayah watched the government car disap-
back to her that winter. Danny had been pear down the road and she knew they
shy and hid behind the thin white woman were already being weaned from these lava
who brought them. And the baby had not hills and from this sky. The last time they
known her until Ayah took her into her came was in early June, and Ella stared at
arms, and then Ella had nuzzled close to her the way the men in the bar were now
her as she had when she was nursing. The staring. Ayah did not try to pick her up;
blonde woman was nervous and kept she smiled at her instead and spoke cheer-
looking at a dainty gold watch on her
wrist. She sat on the bench near the small Life Transitions What does the author mean by this
window and watched the dark snow statement? 2

L E S L I E MARMON S I L KO 253
Approaching Level
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
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Emerging Have students create a charac- Explain that students should include in
terization chart for Ayah like the one shown their charts details about Ayah’s appear-
below. ance and actions and what others say or
Ayah’s Ayah’s think about her. Have students share their
Appearance Actions completed charts with the class. Lead a
discussion about what the details in the
story reveal about Ayah’s character traits.

253
Teach fully to Danny. When he tried to answer
her, he could not seem to remember and he
when Chato finally hitched a ride into the
town and brought back brown boxes of
spoke English words with the Navajo. But rice and sugar and big tin cans of wel-
he gave her a scrap of paper that he had fare11 peaches. After that, at the first of the
Literary Element 1 found somewhere and carried in his month they went to Cebolleta to ask the
pocket; it was folded in half, and he shyly postmaster for the check; and then Chato
Style Answer: Ayah’s and looked up at her and said it was a bird. She would go to the bar and cash it. They did
Chato’s lives are silent, dry, and asked Chato if they were home for good this as they planted the garden every May,
empty, like the caves. this time. He spoke to the white woman not because anything would survive the
E NG LI S H LE A R N ERS and she shook her head. “How much summer dust, but because it was time to
To help
longer?” he asked, and she said she didn’t do this. The journey passed the days that
students identify the story’s mood, know; but Chato saw how she stared at the smelled silent and dry like the caves
ask them what feelings they boxcar shack. Ayah turned away then. She above the canyon with yellow painted
experience when reading the did not say good-bye. buffaloes on their walls.
description of the silent, dry caves.
She felt satisfied that the men in the bar He was walking along the pavement when
feared her. Maybe it was her face and the she found him. He did not stop or turn
way she held her mouth with teeth around when he heard her behind him.
clenched tight, like there was nothing any- She walked beside him and she noticed
one could do to her now. She walked north how slowly he moved now. He smelled
down the road, searching for the old man. strong of woodsmoke and urine. Lately he
She did this because she had the blanket, had been forgetting. Sometimes he called
and there would be no place for him except her by his sister’s name and she had been
with her and the blanket in the old adobe gone for a long time. Once she had found
barn near the arroyo. They always slept him wandering on the road to the white
there when they came to Cebolleta. If the man’s ranch, and she asked him why he
money and the wine were gone, she would was going that way; he laughed at her and
be relieved because then they could go said, “You know they can’t run that ranch
home again: back to the old hogan with a without me,” and he walked on deter-
dirt roof and rock walls where she herself mined, limping on the leg that had been
had been born. And the next day the old crushed many years before. Now he
man could go back to the few sheep they looked at her curiously, as if for the first
still had, to follow along behind them, time, but he kept shuffling along, moving
guiding them, into dry sandy arroyos slowly along the side of the highway. His
where sparse grass grew. She knew he did gray hair had grown long and spread out
not like walking behind old ewes when for on the shoulders of the long overcoat. He
so many years he rode big quarter horses wore the old felt hat pulled down over his
and worked with cattle. But she wasn’t ears. His boots were worn out at the toes
sorry for him; he should have known all and he had stuffed pieces of an old red
along what would happen. shirt in the holes. The rags made his feet
There had not been enough rain for
their garden in five years; and that was
11. The canned peaches came from a government welfare
program to help needy people.
Vocabulary
Style How does this description echo the mood of the
sparse (spärs) adj. thinly spread or distributed story at this point? 1

254 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Reading Practice
0247_0255_U1P3_877979.indd 254 12/10/07 7:30:43 AM

SPIRAL
REVIEW
Evaluate Throughout a selection, her life. Have students discuss how and
readers make evaluations about why their opinions about Ayah changed
many things—the characters and toward the end of the story. Tell students
the plot, for example. In “Lullaby,” the to support their evaluations with details
reader forms opinions or judgments about from the text.
Ayah. Sometimes those opinions or judg-
ments will change. Have students discuss
how they felt about Ayah at the beginning
of the story. Encourage them to compare
their evaluations of Ayah with those of the
white people she encountered throughout

254
 look like little animals up to their ears in
snow. She laughed at his feet; the snow
She could see it descend
out of the night sky: an icy Teach
muffled the sound of her laugh. He stillness from the edge of
stopped and looked at her again. The the thin moon. She recog-
wind had quit blowing and the snow was nized the freezing. It came Reading Strategy 2
falling straight down; the southeast sky gradually, sinking snow-
was beginning to clear and Ayah could flake by snowflake until
Visual Vocabulary
The constellation
Evaluate Characters
see a star. the crust was heavy and Orion contains Answer: Students may say that
two of the bright-
“Let’s rest awhile,” she said to him. deep. It had the strength she has relented somewhat now
est stars in the
They walked away from the road and up of the stars in Orion, and sky. In Greek that he is old and ill. She has
the slope to the giant boulders that had its journey was endless. mythology, Orion always taken care of him, even
tumbled down from the red sandrock mesa Ayah knew that with the is traditionally
depicted as a when she was angriest about los-
throughout the centuries of rainstorms and wine he would sleep. He hunter wearing a ing the children.
earth tremors. In a place where the boul- would not feel it. She belt with a sword
ders shut out the wind, they sat down with tucked the blanket around at his side.
their backs against the rock. She offered him, remembering how it
half of the blanket to him and they sat was when Ella had been Big Idea 3
wrapped together. with her; and she felt the rush so big inside
The storm passed swiftly. The clouds her heart for the babies. And she sang the Life Transitions Answer:
moved east. They were massive and full, only song she knew to sing for babies. She The lullaby seems to say that
crowding together across the sky. She could not remember if she had ever sung it family will remain. Also, it
watched them with the feeling of horses— to her children, but she knew that her was sung by her mother and
steely blue-gray horses startled across grandmother had sung it and her mother grandmother.
the sky. The powerful haunches pushed had sung it:
ENGLIS H LE A R N E R S
Tell students
into the distances and the tail hairs
streamed white mist behind them. The The earth is your mother, that they should not take the last
sky cleared. Ayah saw that there was she holds you. five lines of the song literally.
nothing between her and the stars. The The sky is your father,
Explain that even when family
light was crystalline.12 There was no he protects you.
Sleep,
members leave, part of them
shimmer, no distortion through earth haze.
She breathed the clarity of the night sky; sleep. always remains in the hearts and
she smelled the purity of the half moon Rainbow is your sister, memories of those left behind.
and the stars. He was lying on his side she loves you.
with his knees pulled up near his belly for The winds are your brothers,
they sing to you. To check students’ understanding
warmth. His eyes were closed now, and in
of the selection, see Unit 1 Teach-
the light from the stars and the moon, he Sleep,
ing Resources Book, p. 281.
looked young again. sleep.
We are together always
We are together always
12. Here, crystalline means “clear and pure as a crystal.”
There never was a time
Evaluate Characters Do Ayah’s actions indicate that she when this
2 has forgiven Chato? Explain. was not so. m
Vocabulary
distortion (dis tôrshən) n. an appearance of being Life Transitions Why do you think Ayah finds the lullaby
twisted or bent out of shape comforting? 3

L E S L I E MARMON S I L KO 255

Advanced Learners
DI F F ER ENTIATED I N STR U C T IO N
0247_0255_U1P3_877979.indd 255 12/10/07 7:30:44 AM

Research and Respond Music plays relate to Ayah’s struggle and the struggle
an important role in Navajo tradition. Have of Native Americans in general? (In their
students use library and Internet resources essays, students should note that the
to research the significance of song in United States government once prohibited
Native American culture. Instruct students the performance of Native American music
to write a brief essay in which they use their and dance. Ayah’s lullaby represents her
research to explain the significance of Ayah’s preservation of tradition and her refusal to
lullaby and answer the following questions: assimilate into the white culture.)
Why does Silko include the lullaby at the
end of the story? How does the lullaby

255
After You Read After You Read
Assess Respond and Think Critically
Respond and Interpret to prevent the doctors from taking their
1. Ayah; she suffered the most. children? Explain.
1. For which character did you have more sympathy,
2. (a) Snow reminds her of her Ayah or Chato? Explain. 6. (a)How have Ayah and Chato learned to cope
babies; blanket reminds her of with the hardships they have experienced?
2. (a)In the first three paragraphs of the story, what
Jimmie; black shoes remind her reminds Ayah of events in the past? (b)Why
(b)How have their ways of coping affected their
of buckskin leggings. (b) She relationship?
might Ayah’s thoughts turn so often to the past?
finds happiness in remembering. 3. (a)When Ayah finally finds Chato near the end Connect
3. (a) He looks confused and dirty. of the story, how does he look and act?
7. Big Idea Life Transitions Think about the
(b) He seems old and distant. (b)What do Chato’s appearance and actions
many obstacles and tragedies that have shaped
reveal about him?
4. The lullaby represents her great- Ayah and Chato’s lives. In your opinion, have
Analyze and Evaluate they triumphed over adversity, or has it
est loves, her children. defeated them? Explain.
4. Why do you think the author chose to title this
5. (a) He knows that he can- 8. Connect to the Author Silko founded the
story “Lullaby”?
not fight the system. (b) They Laguna Film Project and filmed an hour-long
5. (a)Why does Chato react as he does when the
could have refused to sign the version of one of her stories. If you were the
white doctors come to take Danny and Ella?
documents. casting director of a film version of ”Lullaby“,
(b)Could Chato and Ayah have done anything
which actors or people you know would you
6. (a) Ayah lives in the past; Chato cast as Ayah and Chato? Explain.
is an alcoholic. (b) They have
grown distant but still depend Literary Element Style Review: Narrator
on each other.
SAT Skills Practice As you learned on pages 184–185, the narrator is
7. They have endured the adver- the person who tells a story.
sity and, in that way, triumphed 1. What idea does Silko introduce in the opening
three sentences (page 248) that she contiunues Partner Activity With a classmate, discuss the
over it. Students may still narrator’s role in this story. Draw a chart as below
to use as a motif throughout the story?
believe Ayah’s and Chato’s atti- to help you think about the narrator’s relationship
(A) sunlight and darkness to the main characters. Then answer the questions.
tudes have defeated them.
(B) laughter and play
8. Answers will vary. Students (C) snow and rain
Narrator

should explain why the people (D) sheep and wool

they have chosen to play Ayah (E) weaving and blankets Ayah Chato
and Chato would work for those
2. In the last prose paragraph of the story
characters. (page 255) Silko speaks of ”the freezing,“ 1. What is the narrator’s relationship to the characters
by which she means in the story? Give reasons for your answer.
For additional assessment, see
(A) extreme cold 2. How would the story be different if Ayah were
Assessment Resources, pp. 75–76.
(B) the pain of old memories the narrator? If Chato were the narrator? Do you
(C) a deep sleep think Silko made the best choice of narrator for
Literary Element this story? Explain.
(D) death
(E) Ayah’s lost children
1. Ayah remembers her mother
and grandmother weaving blan- 256 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY
kets. She wraps herself and her
husband in blankets. Blankets
are symbols of security and 0256_0257_U1P3_877979.indd 256 3/22/08 10:33:29 AM

comfort. 2. Silko’s choice was best: no other nar-

rator would have been as impartial.
2. She loves her children.
3. Examples include descriptions of
the day Ayah hid her children and
Chato’s appearance later in life. Progress Check
Review: Narrator Can students evaluate
1. The narrator stands outside the characters?
story. She knows the characters’ If No ➔ See Unit 1 Teaching
thoughts and feelings. Resources Book, p. 277.

256
 After You Read
Evaluate Characters
Reading Strategy
Speaking and Listening
When you evaluate characters, you form opinions
and make judgments about them. Review your
chart from page 246 to help you answer the Performance Assess
following questions. Assignment With a partner, write a dialogue that
1. What is your opinion of Ayah? Give three details might take place between Ayah and a dear friend. Reading Strategy
from the story to provide support for your Perform it for the class.
answer. Prepare Write a dialogue that reflects one or more 1. Answers will vary.
2. How does your opinion of Ayah affect your parts of Ayah’s life and involves a sympathetic lis- 2. Students may say they enjoyed
enjoyment of the story? Explain. tener. Rehearse it until you are sure your dialogue the story more or less because of
and performance accurately and sympathetically
convey Ayah’s personality and perspective.
their opinion of Ayah.
Vocabulary Practice Perform As you perform, strive to re-create the
tone you hear as you read. Vary your volume and
Practice with Word Origins Studying the ety-
pitch according to the meaning you want to con-
Vocabulary Practice
mology, or origin and history, of a word can help
you better understand and explore its meaning. vey, use gestures and body language that comple- arroyo
Create a word map, like the one below, for each ment your dialogue, and adopt the postures of two
Definition Etymology
of these vocabulary words from the selection. friends who are earnestly engaged in each other’s
thoughts. Monitor the effect of your dialogue on a dry gully or borrowed Span-
arroyo crevice sparse distortion your audience, and adjust as needed: stream bed ish word, arroyo
:
Definition Etymology If the then— Sample sentence
moving from place Latin migrare means audience is— Only a few plants grew on the
to place “to move” parched land of the arroyo.
looking away make eye
migratory contact with them crevice
Sample sentence
Each year, flocks of migratory birds pass over doodling or bring up the vol- Definition Etymology
our home on their way to their winter home. fidgeting ume, or make a a narrow crack The Latin word
dramatic change in into or through crepare means
Academic Vocabulary posture or gestures
something “to crack.”
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of straining to slow down the pace,
follow or or speak more Sample sentence
the federal government.
understand clearly The climber viewed the crevices in
Federal is an academic word. It applies specifi-
cally to a government in which states have
the snow as warning signs.
individual powers but are governed collectively Evaluate After the performance, decide with your sparse
by a central authority. Federal is also often partner how successful your performance was and Definition Etymology
used to refer to anything related to or orga- how it might have been better. Use the tips on
nized by the national, rather than state, govern- page 1127 as a guide to writing your evaluation.
thinly spread or The Latin word
ment. Complete this sentence starter. Mr. distributed spargere means
Michaelson voted for federal “to scatter.”
because . Literature Online
Selection Resources For Selection Quizzes, eFlashcards,
Sample sentence
For more on academic vocabulary, see pages
and Reading-Writing Connection activities, go to By late winter, food for the deer is
52 and 53. [Link] and enter QuickPass code GL59794u1.
sparse.
L E S L I E MARMON S I L KO 257
distortion
Definition Etymology
an appearance Latin dis- +
0256_0257_U1P3_877979.indd 257 3/22/08 10:35:18 AM
of being twisted torquere mean-
in volume and pitch, that complement
Speaking and Listening the dialogue
out of shape ing “to twist”

• respond to audience cues Sample sentence

Students’ performances should:
• be followed up with a written The cheap camera created a distor-
• present a dialogue that might take place tion of people and objects in every
evaluation
between Ayah and a sympathetic friend
picture.
• accurately and with feeling convey
Ayah’s personality and perspective Academic Vocabulary
Vocabulary
• recreate the tone of the selection Sample response: Mr. Michaelson voted
• use nonverbal techniques, such as for federal educational testing because
gestures and body language, and he believed all states should have the
verbal techniques, such as variations same standards of education.
257
 Writing Workshop Learning Objectives

For pages 258–265 Writing Workshop

Literary Criticism In this workshop, you will

Literary Criticism
focus on the following
objectives:
Writing: Writing a literary
Focus criticism.
Grammar: Literature Connection In “A Californian’s Tale,” Mark Twain does
Understanding how to vary more than tell an entertaining story—he also presents historical facts.
sentence openers.
Bellringer Understanding how to correct
“Thirty-five years ago I was out prospecting on the
Stanislaus, tramping all day long with pick and pan and
run-on sentences.
Bring a globe to class and set it horn, and washing a hatful of dirt here and there, always
spinning. Have students point to expecting to make a rich strike, and never doing it.”
spots and identify them. Twain re-creates a real time and place and provides details about what
happened there. A writer of literary criticism can use those details in ana-
Say: What you read may have
Writing Process lyzing the story from a historical perspective. Study the rubric below to learn
special connections to certain about writing literary criticism based on biographical or historical details.
places in the world and cer- At any stage, you may think
of new ideas. Checklist
tain times in history. It may
also reveal something about Prewrite
Goals Strategies
a person’s life. Refer to a place Draft
✓
on how a
To comment
clear thesis or
Establish a
on the globe and ask students Revise
work is related to controlling impression
to think of stories or movies that
offer a historical perspective on
Focus Lesson:
a particular place ✓ Display a keen
Sentence Openers
that place, as Greek myths do Edit and Proofread To explain and develop ✓ Make accurateand detailed
about the ancient Greek world. ideas references to the text
Focus Lesson: Run-on
Sentences ✓ Demonstrate
Present/Publish awareness of the
Summary ✓ Use precise language and the active
To maintain a consistent
In this workshop, students will focus and tone voice
write literary criticism from a
To present organized, linked, ✓ Create a clear introduction, body,
historical or biographical perspec- and fluid ideas to the reader and conclusion
tive. Students will follow the stages ✓ Use each body paragraph to present
of the writing process, including and develop one main idea

prewriting, drafting, revising, and ✓ Use transitions

editing. Two lessons, on varying Literature Online

sentence openings and correcting
Writing and Research For
run-on sentences, are provided. prewriting, drafting, and revising
tools, go to [Link] and
enter QuickPass code
GL59794u1.

258 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Workshop Resources
0258_0265_U1WW_877979.indd 258 3/22/08 12:00:27 PM

Print Materials Technology

• Unit 1 Teaching Resources pp. 284–286 • Literature Online: Writing Resources and
• Writing Kit Grammar Resources, [Link]
• Success in Writing: Research and Reports • Online Essay Grader, [Link]
• Student Presentation Builder on Student-
Works Plus CD-ROM
• Media Workshop DVD
• Online Student Edition

258
 Exposition Writing Workshop
Assignment: Write Literary Criticism
Write an essay of literary criticism of at least 1,500 words. Use your Literary Criticism
essay to show how a literary work is related to themes and issues of
its historical period and to an individual’s life. As you work, keep your
audience and purpose in mind.
Real-World Connection Teach
Audience: your teacher Various writing tasks in the
Purpose: to explain and inform by analyzing how a work of literature workplace, from informative
is related to a real time, place, or person presentations to corporate Big Idea
publications, will require
you to use many of the Life Transitions Point out
same skills you use in writ-
that fiction frequently explores how
Analyze a Professional Model ing literary criticism: choos-
ing an appropriate and people, places, and events change.
In the literary criticism that follows, Paule Marshall presents biographical formal tone, maintaining a Ask: How can literary criticism
details that shed light on her short story “To Da-duh, in Memoriam.” The clear focus, and marshaling
relate to life transitions? (Writers
reader learns not only that Da-duh was a real person but also that she evidence in support of your
appears throughout Marshall’s works. As you read the criticism, ideas or claims. of literary criticism can comment
identify its features. Pay close attention to the comments in the margin: on the historical and biographi-
they point out features to include in your own literary criticism. cal perspectives in the literature.
Writers can analyze what the fiction
reveals about a person, place, or
Real-Life Story Behind “To Da-duh, time.) In preparation for writing
in Memoriam” by Paule Marshall literary criticism, advise students to
reread the selection they will write
Focus
This is the most autobiographical of stories, a reminiscence about, noting what it conveys about
Create and maintain a bio-
largely of a visit I paid to my grandmother (whose nick- graphical or historical focus.
a specific time, place, or person.
name was Da-duh) on the island of Barbados when I was AP P ROAC H I N G Help struggling

nine. Ours was a complex relationship—close, affectionate Formal Tone readers practice close reading by
Maintain a formal tone having them take notes as they
yet rivalrous. During the year I spent with her a subtle kind
throughout your paper. read. Tell students to write impor-
of power struggle went on between us. It was as if we both
tant details on a sheet of paper
knew, at a level beyond words, that I had come into the
and to pay special attention to the
world not only to love her and to continue her line but to ideas that they want to write about.
take her very life in order that I might live.
Purpose
Years later, when I got around to writing the story, I tried
Display a keen understand-
giving the contest I had sensed between us a wider meaning. ing of the work, including its
I wanted the basic theme of youth and old age to suggest subtle meanings or complex
Political History
ideas. Barbados Barbados is located
rivalries, dichotomies of a cultural and political nature, hav-
on the easternmost island in
ing to do with the relationship of western civilization and
the West Indies. A former British
the Third World.
colony, the state became inde-
WRI TI NG WO RKS HOP 259 pendent in 1966, and it is now
part of the British Commonwealth.
Approaching Level
Help students to find Barbados on
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a map. Remind students that Bar-
bados is the homeland of Paule
Emerging To clarify the definition of
Marshall’s parents.
literary criticism, call for volunteers to look
up the term. Elicit two main points: (a) it is
writing about literature; and (b) it is analyti-
cal in nature. Ask students to distinguish
between fact, analysis, and evaluation,
providing examples of each.

259
 Writing Workshop Organization
Apart from this story, Da-duh also appears in one form or
Present your main ideas in
another in my other work as well. She’s the old hairdresser,
Literary Criticism topic sentences and support
them in the body of each Mrs. Thompson, in Brown Girl, Brownstones, who offers
paragraph.
Selina total, unquestioning love. She’s Leesy Walkes and the

Teach Support
silent cook, Carrington, in The Chosen Place, the Timeless
People. She’s Aunt Vi in “Reena” and Medford, the old fam-
Use examples as evidence
and to support the points ily retainer in “British Guiana” from Soul Clap Hands and
you make.
Sing. And she’s Avey Johnson’s Great-aunt Cuney in
Literary History
Praisesong for the Widow. Da-duh turns up everywhere.
Paule Marshall Remind
She’s an ancestor figure, symbolic for me of the long line of
students that Paule Marshall
black women and men—African and New World—who made
(1929– ) is an award-winning
author of poems, short stories, and my being possible, and whose spirit I believe continues to ani-
Consistent Focus
novels. Ask: What new bio- mate my life and work. I wish to acknowledge and celebrate
Relate all details and explana-
graphical perspective does this tions to the thesis or control- them. I am, in a word, an unabashed ancestor worshipper.
essay give you on “To Da-duh, in ling impression.
Memoriam” on pages 150–159?
(It reveals that the character of
Da-duh is based on Marshall’s Reading-Writing Connection Think about the writing techniques
grandmother, and it illuminates that you have just encountered and try them out in the literary criticism
you write.
that relationship.)

Writing Skills
Analyze Biographical Context
Ask: In this piece, what does
Paule Marshall reveal about her
grandmother that informs her
fiction? (She reveals that many
characters in her fiction were
drawn from her real-life complex
and competitive relationship
with her grandmother. Marshall
describes her respect for her
grandmother, which carries over
into symbolic figures in her writ- Forsaken Treasures. Victor Collector. Oil on canvas.
Private collection.
ing.) Have students make a list of
the biographical details presented.
E NG LI S H LE A R N ERS Point out 260 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

to English learners that the use Vocabulary Practice

of informs in your question is a 0258_0265_U1WW_877979.indd 260 12/10/07 7:42:49 AM
specialized use of the word. It is a Word Origins Paule Marshall pays
synonym for influences. tribute to her grandmother, “whose spirit I
believe continues to animate my life.” Ani-
mate comes from the Latin word anima
for “life.” Animate means “to bring to life.”
Ask students for examples of other words
that derive from anima, such as animal,
animosity, and animated. Tell them to pay
attention to Latin and Greek roots when
they encounter new words.

260
 Exposition Writing Workshop
Prewrite
Literary Criticism
Find the Work and Decide Your Approach The work of literature
A Working Thesis
you choose must contain enough biographical or historical details for a
You need not worry if you
successful essay. Always “test” the work before you begin writing to see
whether it will work for a biographical or historical approach. cannot come up with a per-
fect thesis during the prewrit-
Teach
To write a biographical criticism, first identify the life you will focus ing stage. As you develop
on. Organize details that illustrate the life in a list or cluster diagram. your draft, the focus of your
To take a historical approach to literary criticism, begin by identify- paper will become clearer to Writing Skills
you. You can improve your Thesis
ing the time, the place, and the culture. Then find details in the story
thesis at any time during your
that show this historical world. Use a cluster diagram or make a list. Point out that a thesis must be
writing process.
Develop a Thesis Review your list of ideas or your cluster. Decide on narrow enough to be supported
a focus. That is, write a sentence or two that provides an overview of well. Ask: What keeps Marshall’s
what the details seem to say. This is your working thesis, which you can thesis narrow? (It is restricted
revise as you go along.
Working Thesis: Details in “Lullaby” show Navajo culture.
to one story and one relation-
ship.) Ask students to write three
Develop an Organizational Plan Your next step is to decide on the possible theses for their literary
main points to make in your essay. Either you can revise your thesis to Avoid Plagiarism criticism and to consult with a peer
show those main points and base your paragraph plan on it, or you can
Avoid the dishonest use of partner about which is best. Make
begin mapping out your body paragraphs and then revise your thesis. others’ ideas during this
Either way, follow these steps to create a plan for each body paragraph. sure that each student’s thesis is
task by relying on your own
Think of a main idea for the body paragraph. careful reading and insights approved as the writing process
alone. If a task does not continues.
List details, quotations, or examples from the story that illustrate or require the use of outside
support that main idea. sources, avoid using them AP P ROAC H I N G If some students

Add thoughts of your own about the main idea, as this plan shows. to shape your thinking or continue to have difficulty with the
your writing.
concept of a thesis, remind them
Body Paragraph Plan
that the thesis is the main point
Main Idea: Because she is Navajo and speaks a different language, that they want to make in an essay.
Ayah is suspicious of the English-speaking doctors.

Details from the Story: The doctors looked at the children “like the
lizard watches the fly.”
Writing Skills
Support Evidence
My Thoughts: This simile shows Ayah’s fear. It shows how alien the
doctors are to her. After, Ayah goes to the foothills to find comfort. Emphasize that each paragraph
of an essay should present details
Talk About Your Ideas Meet with a partner. Refer to your working the-
to support the main point of that
ses and paragraph plans as you discuss the focus of your papers so far
and the main ideas you will present to support them. Ask your partner for paragraph. Discuss how Marshall
suggestions on how to revise your thesis and make sure that your main develops her thesis. Ask: How
ideas relate to it. Then talk about your writing voice. For this assignment, does Marshall support her the-
you want to sound objective, not personal. Ask your partner to comment
sis? (Her main points are that “To
on how objective, formal, and impersonal your plan is so far.
Da-duh, in Memoriam” is about
her grandmother and that others
WRI TI NG WO RKS HOP 261
of her stories expand upon this
English Learners relationship and present similar
DI F F ER E NTIATED
0258_0265_U1WW_877979.indd 261 I N STR UCTION 3/14/08 4:46:43 AM characters. These characters
symbolize Marshall’s respect for
Advanced An essay should be well her elders.)
organized, with a clear beginning, middle,
and end. Some students may benefit from
determining the organization of success-
ful essays. Help English learners to focus
on organization by creating diagrams to
outline the model essays in this workshop.
Suggest that students use outlines to plan
an effective organization for their writing as
well.

261
 Writing Workshop
Draft
Literary Criticism
Integrate Questions Introduce quoted evidence with transitional
phrases, such as, “The [main character] reflects/thinks…” Transition to

Teach your own explanation with phrases such as “These words show…”

Analyze a Workshop Model

Writing Skills Here is a final draft of an essay that takes a historical approach to literary
criticism. Read the essay and answer the questions in the margin. Use
Sequence Words the answers to these questions to guide you as you write.
As a class, brainstorm transitional
words that students can use to
indicate sequence in their writing. Lullaby
Ask: What transitional words Tone
The short story “Lullaby” by Leslie Marmon Silko is about
do writers use to indicate a What is the author’s tone?
Give examples of choices Ayah, an aging Navajo woman who waits for, looks for, and
sequence of events? (first, then,
the writer makes to create finally takes care of her husband, Chato. While she waits for
next, last, finally, before, after, the tone.
later) and then searches for Chato, Ayah reflects on her memories,
E NG LI S H LE A R N ERS Some stu- both happy and painful. She remembers her childhood and
dents may be unaccustomed to her children. She recalls how one child died and two were
using transitional words or phrases taken from her because they had tuberculosis. She thinks
in their native language. Point out about the difficulties and indignities that her husband, Chato,
that transitions should be used endured while working for the white men. In “Lullaby” Silko
only when readers need a signal conveys aspects of Navajo culture—a deep connection with
that they will encounter a new step
nature, strong ties to family, reliance on tradition—and dem-
or idea. Thesis
onstrates how these cultural elements affect Ayah. Silko
What is the thesis? How is it
related to history? reflects Navajo culture in her story through unusual similes
Writing Skills and through beautifully crafted descriptions.
Tone For example, in the story’s first paragraph, Silko uses a
Support
Answer: The tone of the essay, simile to show how Ayah sees the world symbolically
What main idea does this
with an absence of slang and evidence support? How through the tradition of weaving: “the snow in the wind
contractions, is formal. does the evidence relate to
gave off its own light. It came in thick tufts like new wool—
the thesis of the paper?
washed before the weaver spins it.”
Thesis Silko then uses description to show how the tradition of
Answer: The thesis— weaving is handed down from one generation to the next.
”Silko reflects Navajo culture in Ayah thinks “about the weaving and the way her mother
her story”—is related to history
through its descriptions of Navajo
culture and traditions. 262 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Writing Practice
Support 0258_0265_U1WW_877979.indd 262 3/14/08 4:46:43

Answer: Ayah sees the world Organization Point out that an effective consult with their peers about which is
symbolically through the tradition introduction grabs readers’ attention and more effective.
of weaving. The examples deal- makes them want to continue reading. In
ing with traditional crafts relate to literary criticism, an effective introduction
Navajo history. also states the thesis—the author’s main
idea. A lively quotation, a well-chosen
anecdote, or a thought-provoking question
can engage readers in an introduction. Ask
students to write two alternative introduc-
tions for their literary criticisms and to

262
 Exposition Writing Workshop
[did] it. . . . She could see it clearly. She had been only a little
Historical Focus
girl. . . . And while she combed the wool, her grandma sat
How does this analysis shed Literary Criticism
beside her, spinning, . . . Her mother worked at the loom. . . . light on a time or place?
” These lines show that strong family ties are important to
Ayah. She comforts herself with pleasant family memories
such as this when she does not want to think about more
Teach
painful memories, such as those of her dead son, Jimmie.
Details about the natural world provide insights into
Organization Writing Skills
What is the main idea of Historical Focus
Ayah’s life. For example, the yarn for weaving is dyed in this paragraph? How do the
“boiling black pots full of beeweed petals, juniper berries, details explain and support Answer: The author analyzes
it? how skills were once passed
and sage.” This detail is followed by a beautiful, haunting
down—not through formal edu-
simile: “The blankets her mother made were soft and woven
cation but from generation to
so tight that rain rolled off them like birds’ feathers.”
generation.
Consistent Focus
The vivid details that Silko uses to describe Ayah’s memories
How are these ideas consis-
reflect Ayah’s connection to nature and tradition. Ayah remem- tent with the ideas pre-
bers the “high buckskin leggings that they wrapped over their sented earlier? Organization
elkhide moccasins” when she was young. She recalls how she Answer: The main idea is
that the natural world provides
walked “a step behind her mother” when they “walked to the
insights into the woman that Ayah
old stone hogan together” when Ayah was ready to give birth.
became. The detail about natural
In her house, strips of venison are hung up to dry.
dyes confirms that those who live
Through description, the author also shows the reader close to nature depend on it.
how Ayah and her family face the challenges and conse-
quences of generations of poverty. Their cows are “skinny.”
Consistent Focus
Their house is a “boxcar shack.” Ayah grew up in an “old
Answer: The details throughout
hogan with a dirt roof and rock walls.” They live in an area
the essay show Ayah’s connection
of “dry sandy arroyos where sparse grass grew.”
Purpose to nature and ancient traditions.
At the end of the story, Ayah sings Chato a traditional lul-
How does the writer dem-
laby that likens earth, sky, rainbow, and wind to mother, father, onstrate a thorough under-
Purpose
sister, and brother. Thus, Silko’s ending reinforces her use of standing of the work,
including complex and sub- Answer: The essay is organized
beautiful descriptive and figurative language to reflect the tle ideas? chronologically: from Ayah’s early
deep connection with nature, family, and tradition that charac-
life close to nature to her move-
terizes Navajo culture. Despite the many deep troubles that ment into the modern world.
Ayah has endured, she—like many Navajo—is able to take Restatement of the original thesis
comfort in her cultural heritage and to derive strength from it. shows that Ayah’s life even now is
connected to history and her early
traditions.
WRI TI NG WO RKS HOP 263

Approaching Level
3 AM DI F F ER E NTIATED
0258_0265_U1WW_877979.indd 263 I N STR UCTION 3/14/08 4:46:48 AM

Established Point out that this essay for a conclusion. Have them apply these
has an effective conclusion. It ties all the pointers to their own writing.
threads of the literary analysis together and
draws the essay to a close. The second
sentence of the paragraph restates the
thesis in a new way. Finally, the conclusion
leaves the reader with a thought-provoking
idea: “she—like many Navajo—is able to
take comfort in her cultural heritage.” Ask
students to create a list of dos and don’ts

263
 Writing Workshop
Traits of Strong Writing
Revise
Literary Criticism Include these traits of strong
writing to express your ideas Peer Review Ask a classmate to read your draft to identify your thesis
effectively. and the main ideas that support it. Ask your reviewer to review the traits

Teach Ideas message or theme

and the details that
of strong writing too; then think about how they apply to your work. Use
any comments to guide you as you revise. Use the checklist below to
help you evaluate and strengthen each other’s writing.
develop it
Organization arrange-
Writing Process ment of main ideas and
Checklist
supporting details ✓ Do you show how a work relates to a time, place, culture, or life?
Revise Voice writer’s unique way ✓ Do you present a clear thesis or controlling impression?
Remind students that asking these of using tone and style
Word Choice vocabulary
✓ Do you maintain a consistent focus and tone?
questions both before and after
a writer uses to convey ✓ Do you make accurate and detailed references to the work?
they write will help them write a meaning
more thorough analysis. Sentence Fluency
✓ Do you use precise language and the active voice?
rhythm and flow of ✓ Do you demonstrate a thorough understanding of the work,
sentences including its most complex or subtle ideas?
Edit and Proofread Conventions correct
spelling, grammar, usage,
After students edit and proofread and mechanics
Focus Lesson
their own work, have them trade Presentation the way
papers with a partner. Partners words and design ele- Vary Sentence Openers
ments look on a page Avoid beginning consecutive sentences with it, the, or a noun or
should check each other’s writing
pronoun. Instead, vary your openers. You can begin with a descriptive
for errors in grammar, punctuation, See also pages R28–R30 word (such as suddenly or inside); a phrase (such as in the shadows
and mechanics. Have students pre- or having seen enough); or a clause (such as when the man spoke
pare a checklist for this purpose. or because it was Saturday).
Word Choice
A P P ROAC H I N G If students are Draft:
This academic vocabulary
having difficulty keeping track of word appears in the student
model: Silko uses a graphic simile to illustrate Ayah’s past fears of what the
errors in their writing, suggest that English-speaking doctors would do to her children: “She was
they use highlighters or pens with element (elɘ mɘnt) n. frightened by the way they looked at the children, like the lizard
contrasting ink to mark the trouble- 1. a part; 2. a factor deter- watches the fly.” Ayah fled with her children in to the comfort of
mining the outcome of a nature, into the “foothills of juniper trees and black lava rock” where
some parts of the writing so that process; 3. Chemistry: a “the sun warmth relaxed her and took the fear and anger away.”
they can be easily found. substance consisting of a
single type of atom; a
substance that cannot be Revision:
separated into smaller
substances. Silko demon-
Later,1 Silko uses a graphic simile to illustrate Ayah’s past fears of what
strates how these cultural
the English-speaking doctors would do to her children: “She was
elements affect Ayah. Try frightened by the way they looked at the children, like the lizard
to use academic vocabu- watches the fly.” Seeking comfort,2 Ayah fled with her children into
lary when it will nature, into the “foothills of juniper trees and black lava rock” where
strengthen your writing. “the sun warmth relaxed her and took the fear and anger away.”
See the complete list on 1: Opens with a Descriptive Word 2: Opens with a Phrase
pages R80–R82.

264 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Reading Practice
0258_0265_U1WW_877979.indd 264 3/14/08 4:46:53

SPIRAL
REVIEW
Recognize Figurative
Language The essay refers to
Silko’s use of figurative language.
Help students to recognize language that
is not literal. Give examples of familiar
idioms that express a truth beyond the lit-
eral level (for example, “catch one’s eye”).
Then have students practice using figura-
tive language by creating their own idioms.

264
 Exposition Writing Workshop
Edit and Proofread
Literary Criticism
Get It Right When you have completed the final draft of your literary
criticism, proofread it for errors in grammar, usage, mechanics, and spell-
ing. Refer to the Language Handbook, pages R40–R59, as a guide.
Peer Review Tips
When reviewing a class-
Teach and
Focus Lesson

Correct Run-on Sentences

mate’s literary criticism, read
slowly, writing notes as you
read for constructive feed-
Assess
back. Use the following
Be sure that all the sentences in your essay are complete. Avoid run-
on sentences, which present two or more independent clauses
questions to get started: Writing Process
(groups of words that could stand alone as sentences) without the Does the criticism deepen Present
correct punctuation. Below is an example of a problem with run-on your own understanding of
sentences and possible solutions from the Workshop Model. the work? Encourage students to view their
Does the writer maintain
finished work as publishable. They
the flow of ideas when pro- may present their analyses in dif-
Problem: The following is a run-on sentence. viding quoted evidence? ferent ways. A student who wishes
Their cows are “skinny,” their house is a “boxcar shack.” Does the writer’s tone to make a copy for the library or for
match the content and pur- class circulation, for instance, might
pose of the essay?
Solution A: Create two sentences. select a cover that is both suited
Word-Processing
Their cows are “skinny.” Their house is a “boxcar shack.” to the topic and likely to attract
Select a readable, conserva-
readers. Illustrations in an analysis
tive font like one you might
Solution B: Use a semicolon to separate the two independent see in a major newspaper. related to Navajo culture could
clauses. Reserve cursive and other feature colors, patterns, or symbols
ornamental fonts for less for-
Their cows are “skinny”; their house is a “boxcar shack.” mal purposes, such as per-
associated with the Southwest.
sonal letters. 12-point is an On the back of the booklet might
Solution C: Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction to join ideal size for most essays. be a brief synopsis of the work or
the independent clauses.
bulleted questions on the topic to
Their cows are “skinny,” and their house is a “boxcar shack.” arouse interest.
Writer’s Portfolio A DVA N C E D Advanced students
Place a copy of your may enjoy doing some “market-
literary criticism in
your portfolio to
ing research.” They could conduct
Present/Publish review later. a survey to find out what sorts of
book covers classmates like and
Follow Conventional Style Do not strive to give your essay an origi- then use software programs to
nal or creative look. Instead, be sure to follow the guidelines your
Literature Online make covers that will attract their
teacher sets for page formats, fonts, and spacing. Also eliminate under-
lining and exclamation marks used only for emphasis. Your words, not Writing and Research For
target group.
your formatting, should create all the emphasis you need. editing and publishing tools, go
to [Link] and enter
QuickPass code GL59794u1.

WRI TI NG WO RKS HOP 265

Approaching Level
3 AM DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
0258_0265_U1WW_877979.indd 265 3/22/08 10:51:51 AM

Established For students who need the will be most useful when the writer must
most help in writing, increase opportunities make revisions.
for peer review. Students benefit from the
feedback of readers telling them what they
understood, saying what parts they liked
most and least, and offering suggestions
for improvement.
Remind students that the critique is meant
to provide helpful feedback to the writer.
Clear comments and specific suggestions

265
Speaking, Listening, Learning Objectives
and Viewing Workshop For pages 266–267 Speaking, Listening,
In this workshop, you will

Literary Criticism focus on the following

objective:
and Viewing Workshop
Speaking and Listening:
Delivering a literary criticism. Literary Criticism
Focus Literature Connection Leslie Marmon Silko, the author of “Lullaby,”
Summary was raised in a culture in which all knowledge was once passed along
In this workshop, students will orally. In this culture, she says, “All information, scientific, technological,
historical, religious, is put into narrative form. It is easier to remember
learn techniques for planning and that way.” In this workshop, you will deliver your literary criticism orally.
rehearsing an oral literary criticism
and presenting it to the class. Assignment Adapt your literary criticism to create an oral
report and present it to the class.

Teach
Speaking Skills Plan Your Presentation
Use Visual Aids Give students
time to rehearse their presentations Your goal is to present your literary criticism in an interesting and
informative way. Follow these guidelines to plan your presentation.
with their visual aids so that they
become confident about incor- • Focus on your thesis. This is the most important idea in your presen-
porating the visual elements into tation: be sure that you make it clear. Plan to state it and to restate it.
their speeches. Students should • Create a clear and engaging introduction that includes your thesis, a
body that presents your main ideas, and a conclusion that restates or
test computer slides or overhead summarizes your most important points.
transparencies ahead of time. • Support each main idea you present with details from the literature.
Add your own explanations to link those details to your thesis.
• Show how well you understand the work. Identify aspects of the
author’s style and tell how you respond to them. Note subtle shifts in
meaning, apparent contradictions, and other aspects of the work that
make it rich and complex. Tell how they affect you as a reader.
Speaking Skills
Get Started
Avoid Stage Fright Help
students ease nervousness about • Work with a classmate to identify main ideas in your literary criticism.
speaking in front of the class by Discuss which details belong in your presentation and which, if any,
to omit.
providing the following tips:
• Discuss ways to make the introduction and the conclusion more inter-
• Be well prepared and familiar esting or lively for listeners. Consider adding a quotation or anecdote.
with your content. • Work alone to create an outline or another plan for your presentation.
• Have note cards as reminders.
• Imagine yourself speaking to sup-
portive friends.
• Take your time and make eye 266 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY
contact. Vocabulary Practice
E NG LI S H LE A R N ERS Tell students
0266_0267_U1SLV_877979.indd 266 3/20/08 2:09:59 P
that stage fright is normal. Some SPIRAL
REVIEW
Transitions Remind students of
speakers claim that being nervous
the importance of transitions in a
actually helps them focus on their
speech to help listeners identify the
topic.
main points. Have the class brainstorm
For help with creating presentations, effective transitional words, such as first,
see Student Presentation Builder second, more important, and in conclu-
on StudentWorks Plus. sion. Tell students to make sure that they
include transitions in their speeches to sig-
nal new ideas or the connections between
ideas. Advise them to circle the transitions
in their speeches.

266
 Speaking, Listening,
Create Slides or Posters and Viewing Workshop
Make Visual Connections
Be sure that your visuals
To help your listeners follow your presentation, create slides on the
computer, overhead transparencies, or posters that present your thesis
and your oral presentation Literary Criticism
work together. As you
and main points. Your visuals should be easy to view, presented in the
deliver your thesis and your
same font or handwriting, and spaced for maximum legibility. main points, point to them

The tradition of weaving is

handed down.
Ayah is connected to nature
and tradition.
on your visuals.

Speaking Frames
Teach
Descriptive details and story Descriptive details and story
Consider using the following Viewing Skills
frames in your oral
evidence evidence
presentation of your literary
View Visual Aids Remind
• “she combed the wool” • “their elk hide moccasins” criticism: students to pay special attention
• “her grandma sat beside her • hanging up strips of venison to
One detail from the story
to the ideas presented on slides,
spinning” dry
that supports this idea is posters, or overhead sheets, as
_____. these are usually key points in
Rehearse Let’s return for a moment to
an oral presentation. At the same
my thesis, which is _____. time, advise students to keep in
Rehearse your presentation several times by yourself, making sure that your Presentation Tips mind how the visual elements
words and your graphic aids are working together. Then present in front of a Use the following checklist relate to what a presenter is saying.
family member or a classmate. Ask for comments, as well as for any to evaluate your oral
questions your listener might have. This will help you anticipate questions presentation.
your audience might ask later. Finally, keep these verbal and nonverbal
techniques in mind.
✓ Did you create interest
at the beginning, state
and restate your thesis,
Techniques for Delivering an Oral Presentation of and conclude effec-
Literary Criticism tively?

✓ Did you support your

Verbal Techniques Nonverbal Techniques ideas with accurate and
Listening Skills
✓ Volume Speak loudly ✓ Display Be sure that your
detailed references to
enough that everyone can audience can see your
the work? Take Notes Ask students to take
hear you. slides or posters. Consider ✓ How well did you use notes on other students’ presenta-
using an easel for posters. volume, tone, gestures, tions. Suggest that they sharpen
✓ Repetition Some ✓ Eye Contact As you point posture, and other
their listening skills by writing the
techniques to create
repetition is good. For out your posters or slides, presenters’ theses prominently and
interest and convey your
example, you could restate look at them. As you make
your thesis as you state other points, look at your
meaning? listing supporting points under-
each main point. audience. neath. At the same time, ask them
✓ Tone This is a formal ✓ Gestures Use natural Literature Online
to jot down questions they have
presentation. Your tone hand gestures as you about each student’s ideas. These
should be formal speak. Do your best to Speaking, Listening,
Viewing For project ideas, will come in handy for postpresen-
throughout. avoid nervous fidgeting.
templates, and presentation tips, tation discussion.
✓ Pronunciation Speak ✓ Posture Stand up straight go to [Link] and enter
each word clearly. and hold your head up.
QuickPass code GL59794u1. AP P ROAC H I N G Ask speakers to
suggest an outline or graphic
S P E A K I N G , L I S TE NI NG, AND V I E WI NG WO RKS HOP 267 organizer format that would help
students follow the presentation.
English Learners Approaching Level
Duplicate the outline or organizer
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
PM 0266_0267_U1SLV_877979.indd 267 DI F F ER ENTIATED I N STR UCTION 3/22/08 11:36:22 AM for students who may have dif-
ficulty taking notes.
Early Advanced Have students prac- Emerging Advise readers to use high-
tice their speeches for you ahead of time, lighters to mark up their written speeches,
outside class. Coach students on pronun- indicating main points and words to
ciations of words they hesitate over and emphasize. Encourage them to use these
suggest that they mark these pronuncia- visual cues as reminders of what to stress
tions on their note cards. as they repeatedly rehearse their speech.

267
Independent
Reading Independent Reading

Focus Short Stories and Novels

I
n only a few pages, short stories do it all: they introduce characters, setting, and the
Summary first events of the plot; they build up tension or suspense and rise to a climax; they de-
velop characters; they present a theme; and they deliver a satisfying ending. For more
The purpose of this feature is short stories with a variety of themes, try the two suggestions below. For novels that
incorporate the Big Ideas of Encountering the Unexpected, Making Choices, and Life
to interest students in reading
Transitions, try the titles from the Glencoe Literature Library on the next page.
additional short stories by writers
represented in this unit or about
the Big Ideas of this unit: Encoun-
tering the Unexpected, Making
Choices, and Life Transitions. The
diversity and history of the short
story are represented by this sam-
pling of grade-appropriate short
story anthologies.

Literary History S
Sandra Cisneros (1954–) The House on Mango Street Calling the Wind: Twentieth
Born in Chicago, Sandra Cisneros Sandra Cisneros Century African-American
is a Mexican American author This collection of related short stories Short Stories
whose work has become part of details the life of Esperanza, a Mexican edited by Clarence Major
American girl. Like Sandra Cisneros, who
the literary canon, the academi- often uses her life experiences as subjects in
This collection of fifty-nine short stories begins
cally accepted list of outstanding with a tale written by Charles Chestnutt in
both her fiction and nonfiction, Esperanza
1899 and ends with Terry McMillan’s short
works. Her most famous books, Cordero lives in a Spanish-speaking
story “Quilting on the Rebound,” written in
community in Chicago. Esperanza’s hopes,
The House on Mango Street and 1991. In between are stories by some of the
joys, and fears are explored in a series of
Woman Hollering Creek, are col- greatest authors of the twentieth century,
short vignettes, each of which focuses on a
including Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison,
lections of short stories that are seemingly minor incident, such as an
Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Ernest
widely taught in English courses. interaction with a mean boy or a troubling
Gaines, Toni Morrison, and Jamaica Kincaid.
episode at school. The stories in The House
The tales often center on Mexican on Mango Street can stand individually, or
In his introduction, Major explains that the
American women who rise above collection sets out, among other things, to
the book can be read as a novel.
deny readers the chance for racial
their circumstances. stereotyping.

268 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Reading Practice
0268_0269_U2IND_877979.indd 268 3/14/08 4:52:39

Literary Response The editor of Call- a vivid and colorful way of understand-
ing the Wind promises “a wide range of ing everyday life.) Encourage students
metaphors for the way we live.” Remind to respond to what they read and to the
students that a metaphor is an implied way in which stories provide “metaphors”
comparison between two or more things. for their own lives. Encourage students to
Ask: How can a story be a metaphor keep journals of their responses to their
for a way of living? (A story can provide independent reading.

268
 Independent
Reading

GLENCOE
LITER AT URE
LIBR ARY C R I T IC S ’ CO R N E R Teach
The Friends “Poe assumed in his tales one crucial
condition: every mind is either half-mad or
by Rosa Guy capable of slipping easily into madness. He Literary History S
Encountering the was not so much concerned with precisely
Unexpected, the main what madness was but with the conditions Anthologies Say: Anthologies
character tries to and stages whereby madness came to exist can be collections of writings by
understand the and evidenced itself in otherwise average, various authors or collections of
problems that develop commonplace human beings.”
works by the same author. They
between her and her
best friend.
—Edward H. Davidson, Selected Writings of have been very significant in liter-
Edgar Allan Poe
ary history. Anthology comes from
a Greek word meaning “a gather-
Complete Stories and Poems ing of flowers.”
Nectar in a
of Edgar Allan Poe
Sieve
by Edgar Allan Poe
by Kamala
For more thrilling tales from
Markandaya
one of the earliest and greatest Write a Review
The process of masters of horror and
Making Choices to Students’ reviews should:
suspense, try this collection of
adapt to life’s his complete works. Popular • Reflect understanding of the
ordeals is recorded tales include “The Tell-Tale major themes in the chosen book
through the eyes of
a woman from a
Heart,” the story of a heart • Include personal reactions to the
that goes on beating after
small village death, as well as “The Murders in book
in India. the Rue Morgue,” a forerunner of the • Be shared with classmates
detective story genre. For a trip through
an underground cemetery and the horrors
My Ántonia of being buried alive, read “The Cask of Glencoe Literature
by Willa Cather Amontillado.” For a journey into the
world’s most famous haunted house,
Library
A novel about the
open to “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Glencoe Literature Library offers an
struggles and rewards
and Life Transitions of extensive collection of hardcover
pioneer life on the Great Write a Review books that help you encourage your
Plains in the nineteenth
century. Read one of the books shown and write a students to read independently.
review of it for your classmates. Be sure to Choose among the more than 120
explain why other students might enjoy the
book, or offer suggestions on how they might
full-length literary works—novels,
overcome difficulties in reading the book. novellas, plays, and nonfiction. Each
Present your review to the class. book includes related readings from
a broad range of genres. Go to www.
I ND E P E ND E NT RE AD I NG 269
[Link] for more information.
English Learners
DI F F ER E NTIATED I N STR UCTION
0268_0269_U2IND_877979.indd 269
9 AM 12/17/07 4:14:02 PM For access to all study guides for
the Glencoe Literature Library,
Advanced Have students read and reading Poe as they comment on whether see the Literature Library Teacher
Resources CD-ROM.
paraphrase the quotation from Edward H. they agree or disagree with the statement.
Davidson. Suggest that they begin by read-
ing the quotation as a whole to try to grasp
its meaning. They can then work on it
sentence by sentence. If necessary, instruct
them to use a dictionary to look up defini-
tions of words that are unfamiliar. Finally,
have students restate its central thought
as succinctly as possible. Have them recall

269
Assessment
English-Language Arts Assessment
English–Language Arts
Focus Reading: Fiction
Carefully read the following passages. Use context clues to help you define any words
with which you are unfamiliar. Pay close attention to story elements such as theme,
Bellringer Options voice, and tone. Then, on a separate sheet of paper, answer the questions on page 272.

Say: The best way to succeed

on a test is to prepare. Being
from “When the Buffalo Climbed a Tree” by Mark Twain
prepared means not only being line
familiar with the subject matter “Your saddle? Did you take your saddle up in the tree with you?”
“Take it up in the tree with me? Why, how you talk. Of course I didn’t. No man could do that. It
but also mastering an arsenal of
fell in the tree when it came down.”
effective test-taking strategies. “Oh—exactly.”
Have students brainstorm effec- 5 “Certainly. I unwound the lariat, and fastened one end of it to the limb. It was the very best green
tive strategies for test taking and raw-hide, and capable of sustaining tons. I made a slip-noose in the other end, and then hung it
invite them to share their most down to see the length. It reached down twenty-two feet—half way to the ground. I then loaded
every barrel of the Allen with a double charge. I felt satisfied. I said to myself, if he never thinks of
successful tips.
that one thing that I dread, all right—but if he does, all right anyhow—I am fixed for him. But don’t
10 you know that the very thing a man dreads is the thing that always happens? Indeed it is so. I
watched the bull, now, with anxiety—anxiety which no one can conceive of who has not been in

Teach such a situation and felt that at any moment death might come. Presently a thought came into the
bull’s eye. I knew it! Said I—if my nerve fails now, I am lost. Sure enough, it was just as I had
Assessment Explain to students dreaded, he started in to climb the tree—”
that this Assessment lesson is 15 “What, the bull?”
“Of course—who else?”
designed to develop test-taking
“But a bull can’t climb a tree.”
strategies as well as to test their “He can’t, can’t he? Since you know so much about it, did you ever see a bull try?”
mastery of the skills and vocabu- “No! I never dreamt of such a thing.”
lary covered in this unit. Students 20 “Well, then, what is the use of your talking that way, then? Because you never saw a thing
done, is that any reason why it can’t be done?”
will read two fiction selections and
“Well, all right—go on. What did you do?”
answer context, comprehension, “The bull started up, and got along well for about ten feet, then slipped and slid back. I breathed
and inference questions. Then they easier. He tried it again—got up a little higher—slipped again. But he came at it once more, and this
will complete ten grammar and 25 time he was careful. He got gradually higher and higher, and my spirits went down more and more.
writing questions. Finally they will Up he came—an inch at a time—with his eyes hot, and his tongue hanging out. Higher and higher—
hitched his foot over the stump of a limb, and looked up, as much as to say, ‘You are my meat, friend.’
write a short essay.
Up again—higher and higher, and getting more excited the closer he got. He was within ten feet of

270 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Reading Practice
0270_0275_U1TPP_877979.indd 270 3/25/08 3:57:58 P

Visualize Advise students that before ways to comprehend information in

they take a test on a work of fiction, fiction.
they must make sure they understand it.
Explain that a good way to comprehend
the Mark Twain excerpt is to visualize it.
Guide students to visualize the way the
rope supposedly hangs from the tree, for
example. Tell students that when they
visualize, they create a picture in their
mind. Say: Visualizing is one of the best

270
 Assessment
English-Language Arts

me! I took a long breath,—and then said I, ‘It is now or never.’ I had the coil of the lariat all ready; I
30 paid it out slowly, till it hung right over his head; all of a sudden I let go of the slack, and the slip-noose
fell fairly round his neck! Quicker than lightning I out with the Allen and let him have it in the face. It
was an awful roar, and must have scared the bull out of his senses. When the smoke cleared away,
Teach
there he was dangling in the air, twenty foot from the ground, and going out of one convulsion into
another faster than you could count! I didn’t stop to count, anyhow I shinned down the tree and shot Reading Strategy
35 for home.”
“Bemis, is all that true, just as you have stated it?” Verb Tenses Draw students’
“I wish I may rot in my tracks and die the death of a dog if it isn’t.”
attention to the mixture of past and
“The Unicorn in the Garden” by James Thurber present tenses in “The Unicorn in
line the Garden.” Say: James Thurb-
Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled er’s verbs in this story are not
eggs to see a white unicorn with a golden horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. The man
really inconsistent, even though
went up to the bedroom where his wife was still asleep and woke her. “There’s a unicorn in the gar-
den,” he said. “Eating roses.” She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him. “The unicorn is a both the present tense and the
5 mythical beast,” she said, and turned her back on him. The man walked slowly downstairs and out past tense appear throughout.
into the garden. The unicorn was still there; he was now browsing among the tulips. “Here, unicorn,” Why do you think that this is so?
said the man, and pulled up a lily and gave it to him. The unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart,
(The story as a whole is told in
because there was a unicorn in his garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife again. “The
unicorn,” he said, “ate a lily.” His wife sat up in bed and looked at him, coldly. “You are a booby,”
the past tense, but the ongoing
10 she said, “and I am going to have you put in the booby-hatch.” The man, who had never liked the dialogue within the story is in the
words “booby” and “booby-hatch,” and who liked them even less on a shining morning when there present tense.) Explain that certain
was a unicorn in the garden, thought for a moment. “We’ll see about that,” he said. He walked over combinations of verb tenses are
Resources for
to the door. “He has a golden horn in the middle of his forehead,” he told her. Then he went back
compatible, or work correctly
to the garden to watch the unicorn; but the unicorn had gone away. The man sat among the roses
15 and went to sleep. page 319 together: the past and past perfect
And as soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up and dressed as fast as tenses, for example, or present and
Use Key Reading Skills
she could. She was very excited and there was a gloat in her eye. She telephoned the police and present perfect tenses.
she telephoned the psychiatrist; she told them to hurry to her Transparency
house and bring11 in Read When
a strait-jacket.
ENGLIS H LE A R N E R S English learn-
the police and the psychiatrist arrived, they sat down in chairs Aloud, ThinkatAloud
and looked her, withtogreat
help
interest.
20 “My husband,” she said, “saw a unicorn this morning.” Thestudents police looked at the psychiatrist
practice identifying and the ers may benefit from a review of
psychiatrist looked at the police. “He told me it ate a lily,” she said. The psychiatrist looked at the
problems and solutions. verb tenses. Suggest that they make
police and the police looked at the psychiatrist. “He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of charts showing the past, present,
its forehead,” she said. At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police leaped from their chairs
and future tenses of a verb. Then
and seized the wife. They had a hard time subduing her, for she put up a terrific struggle, but they
25 finally subdued her. Just as they got her into the strait-jacket, the husband came into the house. show them how to complete the
“Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?” asked the police. “Of course not,” said the husband. chart by adding the past perfect,
“The unicorn is a mythical beast.” “That’s all I wanted to know,” said the psychiatrist. “Take her away. I’m present perfect, and future perfect
sorry sir, but your wife is as crazy as a jay bird.” So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and tenses of the same verb.
shut her up in an institution. The husband lived happily ever after.
30 Moral: don’t count your boobies until they are hatched.

AS S E S S ME NT 271

Approaching Level
PM 0270_0275_U1TPP_877979.indd 271
English Learners 3/25/08 3:58:22 PM

DI F F ER ENTIATED I N STR U C T IO N DI F F ER ENTIATED I N ST R UC T I O N

Emerging Encourage less proficient Advanced English learners may be unfa-

readers to take notes on test passages. miliar with words in the Twain passage.
One good technique is to outline or “map” Have them use context clues to define
a passage, noting the main points and lariat, raw-hide, slip-noose, Allen, double-
sequence of events. charge, and shinned.

271
Assessment
English-Language Arts
Items 1–7 apply to “When the Buffalo Items 8–12 apply to “The Unicorn in the
Climbed a Tree.” Garden.”

1. Which best describes the setting of Twain’s 8. Which best describes the tone of
Assess story?
A. Bemis is sitting in a tree.
Thurber’s story?
A. tragic
B. Bemis is relating a recent event. B. comic
1. B is the correct answer. Bemis
C. Bemis is telling a joke. C. mythical
is clearly relating the story of D. Bemis is lying to his friend. D. fictional
a recent event, although it is
humorous and not entirely 2. How far down did the lariat hang? 9. How many voices appear in Thurber’s
A. twenty feet story?
true. D OK 1 B. thirty feet A. one—the husband’s
2. D is the correct answer. Bemis C. to the ground B. one—the wife’s
states that the lariat extended D. halfway to the ground C. four—the husband’s, the wife’s, the
unicorn’s, and the psychiatrist’s
halfway down. D OK 1 3. Which of the following best describes the D. four—the husband’s, the wife’s, the
3. C is the correct answer. The lis- mood of the listener in Twain’s story? police officer’s, and the psychiatrist’s
A. jealous
tener interrupts Bemis several B. deceived 10. How many times does the husband go
times to point out the fantastic C. doubtful upstairs to tell his wife about the unicorn?
nature of the story. D OK 4 D. sincere A. twice
B. once
4. A is the correct answer. Bemis 4. In what manner does Bemis tell his story? C. three times
tells his story with apparent A. with assurance D. none
sincerity. Nothing suggests that B. with humor
C. with hesitancy 11. What does the word gloat, in line 17,
he is joking. Experience and suggest about the wife’s character?
D. with calmness
calmness are only partly rel- A. Locking her husband up would please
evant to the question. D OK 4 5. How many voices appear in Twain’s story? her.
A. three—Bemis’s, his listener’s, the bull’s B. Unicorns excite her.
5. B is the correct answer. The B. one—Bemis’s C. She cannot understand her husband.
story is a discussion between C. two—Bemis’s and his listener’s D. Confrontations between the two are
Bemis and his listener. D OK 2 D. one—the narrator’s common.
6. B is the correct answer. The 6. How would you best describe the character 12. From the ending, what do you conclude
listener’s reaction and com- of Bemis in the selection by Twain? that the husband, in line 12, is thinking
mon sense make clear that A. He is untrustworthy. about?
B. He is prone to exaggeration. A. He decides to return to watch the
Bemis is stretching the truth. C. He is believable. unicorn.
DOK 2 D. He is truthful. B. He becomes intent on proving his
7. D is the correct answer. The sanity.
7. Which best describes the selection by C. He plans to turn the tables on his wife.
other answers could all apply, Twain? D. He is determined to ignore his wife.
but the designation tall tale A. narration
best characterizes the story. B. fiction
C. drama
DOK 2
D. a tall tale
8. B is the correct answer. Both
options A and B relate to 272 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

tone, but the humor in the

tale makes comic the correct
0270_0275_U1TPP_877979.indd 272 3/25/08 3:58:46 P
choice. D OK 3 11. A is the correct answer. The wife clearly
9. D is the correct answer. These To create custom assessments online, go
enjoys tormenting her husband. DOK 2 to Progress Reporter Online Assessment.
four characters in the story 12. C is the correct answer. The husband
each speak at least once. remarks, “We’ll see about that”; later he
DOK 2 To create custom assessments using soft-
denies having seen the unicorn. DOK 3
10. C is the correct answer. We ware, use ExamView Assessment Suite.
learn that he went upstairs
“again” and no more. D OK 1

272
 Assessment
English-Language Arts
Vocabulary Skills: Sentence Completion
For each item, choose the word that best completes the sentence.

1. The courtroom anxiously awaited the

jury’s ______ verdict after hours of
6. The steep mountains presented a ______
barrier to an inexperienced climber.
Assess
deliberation. A. convoluted 1. Analysis: A is the correct
A. imminent B. decrepit answer. The context suggests
B. dire C. imperceptible
that the jury will soon end
C. cautious D. formidable
D. self-possessed their deliberations. DO K 1
7. The couple believed that counseling 2. Analysis: C is the correct
2. The mayor, as a(n) ______ elected official, could only ______ their already-close
worked comfortably with the support of relationship. answer. Duly means
the entire community. A. eradicate “properly.” DO K 1
A. impeccably B. assuage 3. Analysis: D is the correct
B. vaguely C. contend
C. duly D. enhance answer. The words strength
D. amiably and determination convey a
8. The principal had a ______ demeanor sense of bravery, or fortitude.
3. Rosa Parks, a famous civil rights figure, that conveyed dignity and calm.
DO K 1
carried herself with strength and A. sedate
determination; her ______ served as a B. furtive 4. Analysis: B is the correct
model for others. C. droll answer. As the first presi-
A. infirmity D. wanton
B. equanimity dent, Washington had no
C. vulnerability 9. The crisis demanded swift attention, so predecessor. DO K 1
D. fortitude the bystander ______ passersby for help.
5. Analysis: C is the correct
A. ascertained
4. Unlike those who followed him, George B. implored answer. Arroyo means “a
Washington had no ______ when he was C. harassed watercourse in an arid region.”
elected the first president. D. oppressed DO K 1
A. doctrine
B. predecessor 10. Investors who watch the stock market 6. Analysis: D is the cor-
C. obscurity with ______ fear that their investments rect answer. Formidible
D. prodigy will not do well.
means “causing fear or
A. credulity
5. Hiking alongside the ______ ensured that B. infirmity apprehension.” DO K 1
the traveler would always have water in C. pandemonium 7. Analysis: D is the correct
this desert area. D. presentiments
answer. Enhance means “to
A. solace
B. derision improve in value.” DO K 1
C. arroyo 8. Analysis: A is the correct
D. moor
answer. Sedate means “having
Literature Online a quiet, steady attitude.”
DO K 1
Assessment For additional test practice, go to
[Link] and enter QuickPass code GL59794u1. 9. Analysis: B is the correct
AS S E S S ME NT 273
answer. Implored means
“called earnestly.” DO K 1
10. Analysis: D is the correct
English Learners
PM 0270_0275_U1TPP_877979.indd 273 3/25/08 3:58:47 PM

answer. Trepidation means

DI F F ER ENTIATED I N STR U C T IO N “timorous uncertainty.” DO K 1
Intermediate English learners may con-
fuse words that sound alike. For example,
imminent may be confused with eminent.
Help students to distinguish between
sound-alike words with different mean-
ings, such as effect/affect, officious/official,
equanimity/equality.

273
Assessment
English-Language Arts
Grammar and Writing Skills: Paragraph
Improvement
Read carefully through the following draft of a student’s essay. Pay close attention to
word choice, content, and grammar, especially run-on and comma-splice errors. Also
Assess watch verb tense and punctuation. Then, on a separate sheet of paper, answer the
questions on pages 274–275.
1. D is the correct answer. There
are no punctuation errors in the
sentence. D OK 1 (1) Mark Twain, a great humorist of the American nineteenth century, is widely recognized as
2. B is the correct answer. Two one of the greatest American writers. (2) His stories are often humorous, the serious side of
independent clauses are sepa- them makes them more interesting. (3) He sometimes used darker humor, relying on satire and
rated by a comma. D OK 1 irony to make his points. (4) Often critical about human nature.
3. D is the correct answer. Options (5) His most famous novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn condemn the
A and C contain grammatical ethical practices, such as slavery, in the South. (6) It is about a boy named Huck and his friend
errors. Option B is verbose and Jim a slave. (7) The two are friends during their adventures.
unclear. D OK 1
(8) When Huck rejects society an important event for the story. (9) He is confused between
what he’s been taught and what he feels for Jim. (10) His friend Jim is a slave according to the rules
of society. (11) As a friend Huck has a problem with that. (12) He sees the human side of Jim.

(13) Twain tried to make people to look at themselves and change for the better. (14) It
is ironic that the people he made fun of were among his most devoted readers. (15) Twains
cynical view of human nature more seen in his later writing. (16) He influenced many other
writers, like James Thurber, who also went on to become a popular humorist.

1. Which is the best way to revise sentence 1? 3. Which of the following is the best revision
A. Insert a colon after is. of sentence 2?
B. Delete the comma after Twain. A. His stories, which are often humorous,
C. Insert a comma after recognized. the serious side of them makes them
D. Make no change. more interesting.
B. Although his stories are often
2. Which of the following grammatical errors humorous, there is a serious side to
appears in sentence 2? them that makes them more interesting.
A. sentence fragment C. Although his stories, which are often
B. comma splice humorous, the serious side of them
C. misplaced modifier makes them more interesting.
D. incorrect verb tense D. His stories are often humorous, but
they have a serious side, which makes
them more interesting.

274 U N IT 1 THE S HO RT S TO RY

Grammar Practice
0270_0275_U1TPP_877979.indd 274 3/25/08 3:58:48 P

Avoid Comma Splices Write on the Provide additional examples to correct.

board: Twain’s writing is humorous, Thurb-
er’s writing is funny too. Ask students what
is wrong with the sentence. Tell them that
a comma splice is the incorrect joining
of independent clauses (clauses that can
stand alone) with only a comma. Show
how a comma splice can be corrected by
inserting a conjunction such as and, by
replacing the comma with a semicolon, or
by making two sentences.

274
 Assessment
English-Language Arts
4. Which of the following revisions is the 6. Which of the following revisions is the
best way to combine sentences 3 and 4? best way to combine sentences 6 and 7?
A. His humor sometimes used satire and A. It is about a boy named Huck and
irony to make his points, often critical his friend Jim, a slave, and about
about human nature.
B. He sometimes used a darker humor,
how the two are friends during their
adventures.
Assess
using satire and irony to make his B. It is about a boy named Huck and 4. C is the correct answer. In
points critical about human nature. his friend Jim a slave, the two
C. His humor was sometimes dark, become friends during their option A, humor is said to
relying on satire and irony to make adventures. do what only a writer can. In
points often critical of human nature. C. It is a story about a boy named option B, the verb forms used
D. His humor was sometimes dark Huck and a slave named Jim, who
relying on satire and irony to make become friends through their
and using appear redundantly.
points often critical of human nature. adventures. Option D lacks a comma to
D. It is a story about a boy named set off a nonessential phrase.
5. Which of the following is the best revision Huck and his friend, a slave, Jim, DO K 1
of sentence 5? who become friends through their
A. His most famous novel, The adventures. 5. A is the correct answer. The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, book title should be italicized
condemns unethical practices, such as 7. Which of the following grammatical
slavery, in the South. errors appears in sentence 8? and set off with commas as a
B. His most famous novel The Adventures A. incorrect verb tense nonessential appositive. DO K 1
of Huckleberry Finn condemns B. run-on sentence 6. C is the correct answer. Option
unethical practices, such as slavery, in C. comma splice (fused sentence)
the South. D. sentence fragment
A changes the punctuation but
C. His most famous The Adventures of is still verbose. Option D is con-
Huckleberry Finn condemns the ethical 8. Which of the following is the best fusing because of the double
practices, such as slavery, in the revision for sentence 15?
A. Twain’s view of human nature
appositive phrase. Option
South.
D. His most famous book, The Adventures increased in his later writing. B contains a comma splice.
of Huckleberry Finn, condemns the B. Twain’s cynical view of human DO K 1
ethical practices, such as slavery, in nature is saw more and more in his
the South. later writing. 7. D is the correct answer. This
C. Twain’s cynical view of human ”sentence“ is only a modifying
nature seen more in his later writing. clause and a subject without a
D. Twain’s cynical view of human
verb. It is, therefore, a sentence
nature increased in his later writing.
fragment. DO K 1
8. D is the correct answer. Options
B and C contain verb-tense
Essay errors. Option A is grammatically
correct, but it lacks an important
Compare and contrast the two stories by Twain and Thurber. Discuss how the use of
descriptive element present in
humor, irony, or satire contributes to the meaning of each story. What effect do these
have on the reader? As you write, keep in mind that your essay will be checked for the original. DO K 1
ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and
presentation. Essay
AS S E S S ME NT 275
Evaluate essays for the following:
• a clearly stated thesis that
responds to the prompt
Approaching Level
PM 0270_0275_U1TPP_877979.indd 275 3/25/08 3:59:07 PM
• appropriate examples of the
use of humor, irony, and satire
DI F F ER ENTIATED I N STR U C T IO N
within the selections
Emerging Suggest that before students stories. Explain that students can use this • well-organized paragraphs
begin writing, they make a two-column material to construct their theses. They can with clear, well-supported
graphic organizer, one column for each also use the quotations and examples to topic sentences
selection. For each story, have students support the points they assert in their com- • effective voice, word choice,
write notes about how humor, irony, and positions. Inform students that this graphic and sentence variety
satire contribute to the meaning of the organizer is for their use alone; their essay • effective presentation, with
story and affect the reader. In each col- is the only part of the assignment that will attention to grammar and
umn, students should list their thoughts as be evaluated. spelling conventions DO K 4
well as quotations and examples from the
275