Resources
Reading Group Guide from the publisher (Vintage)
A Tale of Two Cities Here's a study guide (warning: it's a 32-page PDF)
Background Information
Causes of the French Revolution
The Three Estates
Letters de Cachet
The Citizeness Knitters
Key Historic Events Highlighted in the Novel
Themes of Resurrection and Redemption
Literary Conventions and Plot Devices
Causes of the French Revolution
The causes of the French Revolution were more complex than the oversimplified
“cruelty of the aristocracy.” Poor economic policies, war, and the impossibility
of social mobility all contributed to the overthrow of the royal family and the
establishment of the First Republic.
• Resentment toward absolute monarchy:
Other nations (especially England) had already begun to limit the power of the
monarchy and establish parliamentary bodies that, to varying degrees,
represented the common people’s interests and rights. A rising middle class
(bourgeoisie) found itself gaining economic power, but was heavily taxed and
denied political power.
• Resentment toward seigneurialism by peasants, wage-earners, and the
bourgeoisie:Just as other nations were beginning to change the structure of
their governments, so, too, were they shedding the remnants of feudal economic
and political control. In France, however, the rural countryside was still
divided into manors or seigneurs in which serfs who lived on the land owed full
allegiance and obedience to the lord of the manor who owned the land. As the
economy shifted from a rural, agrarian economy to an urban commercial and
pre-industrial economy, those whose incomes did not depend on the land resented
the fact that they remained bound to the land as serfs.
• The rise of Enlightenment ideals: Europe had already produced a
generation of writers and philosophers who asserted the equality of humankind
and the existence of certain basic rights belonging to all humans, regardless of
birth, race, or class. In France, writers like Voltaire, Denis Diderot, de
Montesquieu, de Condorcet, and Jean Jacques Rousseau challenged the economic,
political, and social status quo.
• Tremendous national debt, and a grossly inequitable system of taxation:
France’s involvement in the Seven Years’ War (a multi-nation European war that
included the last of the American French and Indian Wars) caused King Louis XVI
to inherit tremendous debt from his grandfather (Louis XV). While early in his
reign, Louis XVI was eager to reform France’s economy and tax system, he met
with very strong resistance from his advisors (members of the untaxed First and
Second Estates—see below) and from his wife Marie Antoinette. Thus, France’s
mounting debt, a succession of years with poor crops, and the fact that only the
poorest people in the nation could legally be taxed led to a desperate economy.
• A failing economy, partly due to France’s involvement and aid in the
American Revolution: Because France had fought against England in the Seven
Years’ War and had been England’s largest rival in the colonization of America,
she supported the colonies in the Revolutionary War with both financial and
military assistance. This served only to increase France’s national debt, along
with no reform of the tax structure.
• Food scarcity in the months immediately before the Revolution: A harsh
winter in 1787, heavy rains in the spring, and then a severe drought in the
summer of 1788 led to a poor harvest. Of course, the first two estates claimed
the “first fruits” of the harvest. Grain was in short supply—leading to a
shortage of bread. When confronted with the hunger of the peasantry, government
minister Joseph-François Foulon insisted that, since grass was good enough for
his cattle, the peasants could also eat grass. This same famine was the occasion
for Marie Antoinette’s infamous quip, “let them eat cake.”
• Resentment at noble privilege and dominance in public life by the ambitious
professional classes: There was a growing bourgeoisie that recognized its
importance to France’s economy and were often courted by impoverished
aristocrats (think of how Darnay’s inherited estate is described as
debt-ridden), but who themselves enjoyed no political privilege, or even
protection, from abuses of the Second Estate’s noble privilege. Think of how
Doctor Manette—a professional member of the bourgeoisie—was subject to
imprisonment at the whim of the Evremonde brothers.
• Influence of the American Revolution: In 1776, the English colonies in
America had rebelled against their “parent country,” had succeeded, and had
founded a democratic republic based upon Enlightenment principles. France had
assisted the colonies in their revolution; and now the bourgeoisie and
intellectuals were poised to follow in the United States’ footsteps and replace
their government with one that would protect their inalienable rights.
There were two parties involved in the French Revolution. The Girondins were the moderate republicans and controlled the Legislative Assembly from late 1791 to late 1792. They were ultimately ousted by the radical Jacobins, led by the infamous Maximilien Robespierre. The Jacobins were the party responsible for the Reign of Terror. Clearly, the Defarges are members of this radical party, and it is a Jacobin newspaper that Carton reads when he visits the Defarges’ wine shop the night before Darnay’s scheduled execution. Many historians consider this French Revolution to be a “failed” revolution because it resulted in the restoration to the throne of the same royal family that had been in power before the formation of the First Republic. Others see the French Revolution as the prototype of all later revolutions, especially the Russian Revolution in the early twentieth century.
A remnant of medieval feudalism, the three estates were:
• the clergy, "those who prayed," or "those who ministered with the word of God;
• the aristocracy, originally knights, "those who ministered with the sword;" and
• everyone else. In the Middle Ages, this body would consist mostly of rural peasants, serfs, who were tied to the land and essentially owned by the landowner. With the rise of the bourgeoisie, the middle class, however, the first two estates’ treatment of the third estate became increasingly intolerable. In meetings of Estates General, each estate voted as a body. Thus, if the First and Second Estates banded together, they controlled two thirds of the vote, even though they represented less than two-thirds of the populace. This is how the upper estates eventually exempted themselves from taxation, placing the full burden of national finance on the impoverished Third Estate.
Lettres de cachet may be defined as letters signed by the King of France, countersigned by one of his ministers, and closed with the royal seal (cachet).
The most famous lettres de cachet were punitive in nature, by which the King sentenced a subject to prison without trial and without an opportunity to hear the charges filed against him or the chance to defend himself.
Obviously, the lettres de cachet had many potential abuses. They could be used by the police to arrest and imprison "undesirables." Heads of families could use them to lock away sons whose behavior was questionable, thus "protecting" the family "honor." Wives could have husbands imprisoned, and husbands could have their wives put away. The fact is that the Secretary of State issued them at will, and in most cases, the king was completely unaware of their issue. In the 18th century, the letters were often issued without the name of the targeted person. The name was filled in when the poor subject was arrested.
The citoyennes tricoteuses, citizeness knitters, are famous in French Revolution lore. There are dozens of historical and psychological interpretations of their acts of unemotional knitting at the foot of the guillotine. Dickens clearly wants to portray them as heartless, like their leader, Madame Defarge.
Key Historic Events Highlighted in the Novel
Book I, Chapter 1:
• In 1766, the Chevalier de la Barre was accused of acting disrespectfully to a religious procession. De la Barre had not removed his hat when he passed within 30 yards of a procession bearing a crucifix. He was condemned to have his tongue cut out, his right hand cut off, and afterwards to be burned alive. His sentence was later "softened" to decapitation prior to burning.
Book I, Chapter 4:
• In pre-Revolutionary France, the lettres de cachet, authorized a person’s arrest and imprisonment—without benefit of trial or appeal—at the pleasure of the monarch. These lettres de cachet were sometimes sold, with blanks to be fi lled in by the purchaser. Thus the monarch had no knowledge of who was being imprisoned under his seal, and anyone with enough money to buy a lettre could imprison anyone he wanted for any reason.
Book II, Chapter 15:
• In addition to being a leader of the Revolution in her own right, Madame Defarge is one of the famous citoyennes tricoteuses (knitting citizens) of revolutionary Paris, who would, during the Reign of Terror, take their knitting with them to watch the executions at the guillotine.
Book II, Chapter 21:
• The former fortress and prison known as the Bastille was stormed by the peasants of Paris on July 14, 1789. The storming of the Bastille marked the beginning of the French Revolution. This day is still celebrated as Bastille Day.
• The practice of hanging offenders from street lamps in Paris came to represent the revenge of the citizens of the Republic against the abuses of the fallen monarchy and aristocracy. • When the Bastille was taken on July 14, 1789, there were only seven prisoners in it.
Book II, Chapter 22:
• The red cap worn by Defarge and his associates is called a "Phrygian cap" and was worn by French patriots during the Revolution. The Phrygians were an ancient Asian people, living in what is now Turkey; their cone-shaped caps became "caps of liberty" when the style was adopted by freed Roman slaves to symbolize their freedom. These red caps were worn especially by the vengeful and violent Jacobin party which was responsible for the Reign of Terror.
• Joseph-François Foulon was a government minister under Louis XVI. On July 22, 1789, it was discovered that Foulon, who had pretended to be dead and staged his own funeral to escape the growing wrath of the French peasantry, was betrayed by a household servant and seized by the mob, "tried," and killed—with grass in his mouth, as it was believed that he had once said the hungry peasants should eat grass since it was good enough for his cattle. Book II, Chapter 24: • On August 10, 1792, the royal family were besieged in the Palais des Tuileries, where they had been confined after trying to escape Paris in June. On August 13, 1792, they were taken to the Temple Prison. Royalty in France was abolished, and the King suspended from office. Book III, Chapter 1: • The "dawning Republic One and Indivisible" is the official establishment of the French Republic on September 22, 1792. It is this Republic that officially replaced the monarchy in France, which had been abolished on September 21, 1792.• After the King’s power of veto was suspended in early August 1792, laws were passed allowing the State to confiscate the property of emigrants.
• When King Louis XVI was imprisoned in the Temple on August 13, 1792, foreign ambassadors in France did begin to leave Paris—indicating the refusals of the other European nations to formally and offi cially recognize the new government in France. Following the execution of Louis XVI early in the following year, England expelled the French ambassador and officially became an "Enemy of the Republic."
Book III, Chapter 4: • The bloodshed that Doctor Manette witnesses during the four days he is gone is the "September massacre" or "September massacres" of September 2-6, 1792. Parisian mobs stormed the Prisons of the Abbaye, La Force, Châtalet, and the Conciergerie, killing over 1,000 prisoners, most of whom had been arrested as royalist sympathizers, aristocrats, or emigrants, etc.• Following the establishment of the First Republic, the French developed a new calendar to reflect the "dawning of the New Era." Although it was not put into effect until 1793, this Calendar was backdated to the establishment of the Republic in 1792 and remained in use in France until January 1, 1806.
• The use of the guillotine on necklaces instead of the cross represented the secularization of France under the Republic. Before the Revolution, France had been a Catholic country, but abuses of the Church and clergy—who tended to live like aristocracy and sympathize with the monarchy—were among the grievances of the revolting peasants. The Republic officially recognized "no Religion but Liberty."• The "Twenty-two friends of high public mark" are the members of the moderate Girondin party, defeated by the Jacobin faction (of Danton, Robespierre, etc.) and guillotined on October 31, 1793.
Book III, Chapter 5: • On November 10, 1793, a vast number of Catholic priests and other Catholic clergy renounced the Church and embraced the "Religion of Liberty." This led to widespread celebration throughout France that lasted through the rest of November and into December. Citizens desecrated churches and crowded the streets, singing and dancing the Carmagnole.• The Carmagnole was a patriotic dance popular among the French revolutionists of 1793.
Book III, Chapter 12 • The Jacobins were members of the revolutionary faction that defeated and guillotined the more moderate Girondin party. They took control of the Republic in 1793 and ushered in the Reign of Terror. Marat, Danton and Robespierre are among the most famous Jacobins. Book III, Chapter 15 • Madame Roland, a prominent member of the Girondin party, asked for pen and paper as she approached the guillotine so that she could record the "strange thoughts that were rising" in her. Her request was initially denied, but she persisted, appealed to the Revolution’s claims to be establishing liberty, and was given her writing utensils.• The guillotine did, as Carlyle wrote, devour its own children. Not only were the royalty, nobles, and other alleged traitors to the Republic killed, but, eventually, the Girondin faction succumbed to the Jacobins. Then, when Georges Jacques Danton suggested that the fury of the guillotine be moderated, he fell to the accusations of his own party. Eventually Maximilien Robespierre himself , the architect of the Reign of Terror, was brought down and guillotined on July 28, 1794. His death put an end to the Reign of Terror.
Themes of Resurrection and RedemptionThe two main themes of A Tale of Two Cities are the possibility of creating a new life from seemingly hopeless circumstances (resurrection) and the possibility of redemption and renewal.
The theme of resurrection is first introduced in the title of Book One, "Recalled to Life," and begins to develop with Mr. Lorry’s imagined conversation with the man who has been buried eighteen years. The man is, of course Doctor Manette, who is indeed resurrected from the metaphoric grave of a cell in the Bastille.
The theme is developed further in Book Two when Charles Darnay is released from this charge of treason—a charge that would result in his death if he were convicted. Jerry Cruncher himself says he would understand the message "recalled to life" if it applied to Darnay.
We are also introduced to Jerry’s "honest trade" as a resurrectionist—a person who takes fresh corpses from their new graves and sells them to medical students and researchers. This theme of resurrection is finally brought to completion with Darnay’s condemnation in France, his certain death, and his rescue by Sydney Carton, who dies in his stead. The night before his death, Carton recites to himself the opening of the Church of England’s funeral ritual, "I am the resurrection and the life…" And Carton is indeed Darnay’s resurrection.
The theme of redemption is somewhat less developed, but is nonetheless important to the novel. Dr. Manette’s lost time in the Bastille is at least partially redeemed by his ability to assist Charles, and to keep him safe during his year’s imprisonment, ultimately effecting his first release.
Darnay is arrested in England on charges of treason while attempting to fi nd the family so terribly wronged by his father and his uncle and thus redeem his family’s name and honor.
Jerry’s participation in an illegal—and possibly immoral—trade is redeemed by his ability to use information he gained robbing an empty grave to "convince" Barsad to cooperate with Carton.
Mr. Lorry’s lonely life as a "man of business" is redeemed by his close friendship with the Manettes and Darnays.
Carton’s wasted life is redeemed by his sacrifice. He is remembered and loved for generations and at least two generations of successful, productive men bear his name. Finally, France herself, as we are told during Carton’s prophetic vision at the end of the book, is redeemed, and a beautiful republic finally established.
Literary Conventions and Plot DevicesAs in all of his novels, Charles Dickens employs certain conventions and devices that were popular with his Victorian audience.
Stock or Conventional Characters:
Miss Pross-type:
The blindly devoted nurse or governess, who has no life beyond the care of her charge and loves her charge, blindly, passionately, and possessively. Often, after the charge’s marriage, the governess meets a man and marries toward the end of the novel. Dickens’ readers may well have expected to see Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry marry at some point. Mr. Lorry-type: The "confirmed bachelor," the "man of business." As with the governess, Victorian novelists often had their confirmed bachelors fall in love and marry at the end of the story. Dickens challenges this convention, while also showing Mr. Lorry’s emotional side, even from his first meeting with Lucie. Jerry Cruncher-type: The hardworking, marginally honest (but loveable) representative of the lower class; uneducated, but wise; often harsh on the exterior but with a good heart; unwaveringly loyal. This is the character who helps the author supply comic relief through dialect or the expression of homespun reason. Lucie-type: Surprisingly, Lucie is not a fully developed, well-rounded character. She is the conventional daughter—obedient, loving, dutiful. Notice how it takes her no time at all to know and love her father and become his faithful servant. She is essentially weak (frequent crying and fainting spells) and always dependent on someone else. Plot Devices:The hidden and discovered letter:
Often this is a diary (and sometimes a missing will or deed), but this was a popular device for discovering the past or hearing a character’s innermost thoughts. Identical twins switching identities: This plot device—often a comic device—dates back at least to Roman comedy playwright Plautus. Renaissance playwrights Shakespeare and Marlowe used this device in a number of their plays. It is the basis of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper. Even today, the identical twins switched at birth, separated at birth, or the identical strangers who meet one another is a popular fi lm and television convention. Literary Coincidence: All literary plots are essentially contrived because they must work out the way the author intends them, and coincidence is an important force in many plots (think of the timing of Macbeth’s meeting the witches right after a successful battle or the fact that the separated twin sisters in Disney’s The Parent Trap just happen to be attending the same came at the same time). However, a Victorian audience demanded that all loose ends be connected at the end of the story. They particularly enjoyed revelations like the fact that:• John Barsad is actually Miss Pross’ brother Solomon;
• Madame Defarge just happens to be the remaining sister of the injured family;
• Madame Defarge just happens to have married the former servant of the doctor
summoned to help the sister and brother (remember, we are told that Defarge did not know his wife’s identity until the storming of the Bastille and his fi nding of the Doctor’s letter);
• the Doctor and Lucie meet the nephew (and son) of the Doctor’s tormentors on his journey to escape their torment;
• his daughter would actually marry into the family he has so vehemently denounced.
Scenes of comic relief: Largely a dramatic device, but also popular in novels, these scenes either follow or precede scenes of intense action or emotion. For example, the scene in Jerry Cruncher’s house follows the Doctor’s mysterious discovery and escape from France and precedes Charles Darnay’s trial for treason. The scene in which Miss Pross complains to Mr. Lorry about the "hundreds of people" who invade their quiet home foreshadows the hoards of people who will threaten the family’s peace and happiness. And the scene in which Miss Pross and Jerry are discussing leaving France follows the tension of Darnay’s trial and Carton’s plans to save him, and precedes Miss Pross and Madame Defarge’s fight.
Family and Place
Overview (1 page PDF)
Assignment Checklist (1 page PDF)
Detailed Assignment Guidesheet
Daily Assignment Schedule - 2-page table (PDF)
Quotes (PDF)
Quotes from the novel
More quotes from the novel
Images from the movie
Ning Space
Google Page Creator
Discussion Schedule (have the reading finished by these dates)
Tuesday, May 19 (1-20)
Wednesday, May 20 (21-48
Thursday, May 21 (48-63)
Friday, May 22 (64-79)
Tuesday, May 26 (80-95)
Wednesday, May 27 (96-104)
Writing and Performance Assignment Schedule (late work not accepted)
“Persuasive Essay” due June 1
Essay of Place draft due June 2
Finished Google Web site June 8
Essential Questions
What is “the chief end of man"--or, in other words, what is the purpose of life?
Why can we never leave our youth and childhood behind?
Can fly fishing, or any art, take the place of religion in a person’s life?
In what ways do men and women tend to differ? In what ways are they the same?
What should the relation between men and women be?
What is place? What role does it play in our lives?
What is “it” in “a river runs through it.”
Discussion Questions
A River Runs Through It, like Huckleberry Finn, features a river as a central image. In what ways are the rivers in these two novels similar? In what ways do they differ?
What does Norman get from fishing? Why does it matter to him?
Overview
First, create a Web page with four quotations from the book and four photographs that illustrate the quotations. These quotations each communicate a different piece of information about the novel:
- a quotation that shows the importance of place (the setting) in the novel
- a quotation that shows the relationship between two characters (e.g., for A River Runs Through It, the two brothers)
- a quotation that helps establish a metaphor explored in the book (e.g., for A River Runs Through It, the river or fly-fishing is a metaphor for life)
- the quote from the novel, the one passage or quotation that captures the essence, the true meaning, of the novel for you
Next, write two hyperlinked pieces: an essay of place, and a persuasive essay explaining the quotation you’ve chosen as the most important quotation of the book.While you’re reading, keep a response reading journal that collects quotations from your readings. Include these details for each journal entry:
- Date.
- Two significant quotations from the day’s reading and the page number that they appeared on.
- Personal connections between your own life and events in the day’s reading.
- Two interesting questions you want to discuss further in class.
Assignment Guide Sheet
Assignment 1: Four quotations on your home page (using Google Page Creator) with explanatory paragraphs
Choose quotes from the novel and four photographs that illustrate the quotations. These quotations each communicate a different piece of information about the novel:* a quotation that shows the importance of place (the setting) in the novel
* a quotation that shows the relationship between two characters (e.g., for A River Runs Through It, the two brothers)
* a quotation that helps establish the metaphor explored in the book (e.g., for A River Runs Through It, the river or fly-fishing is a metaphor for life)
* the quote of the novel, the one passage or quotation that captures the essence, the true meaning, of the novel for youWrite a paragraph giving a “close reading” of each quote and post this below the quote.
Assignment sheet for quotations
Assignment 2: Essay of Place
Write a descriptive essay about a place that has had some special meaning in your life--a place that is still a part of you. Provide specific physical details about the place, and explain how this place helped form you into the person you are today.
As you get started, take a few minutes to think about how you want to order your essay: What will you summarize? What will you dramatize? Will you use chronological order or flashback?
Publish your essay of place on Ning then solicit comments on it. When it is finished, post a copy on your Google web page along with at least one photograph. Link the page to the quotation of place that you’ve chosen from your novel.
Here’s a complete unit I wrote for “Writing an Essay of Place.” It’s a larger process than I’m asking you to do, but it’s a good source of ideas.
Essay of Place Assignment Sheet (2 page PDF)
Essays of Place written by Montana high school studentsThe hunger for place is a hunger for orientation in a universe that cannot be known. Think of the consummate folly of attempting to go away from here when the constant endeavor should be to get nearer and nearer here.Here are all the friends I ever had or shall have, and as friendly as ever. . .A man dwells in his native valley like a corolla in its calyx, like an acorn in its cup.
Here, of course, is all that you love, all that you expect, all that you are.
Henry David Thoreau
Assignment 3: Persuasive essay arguing for your view of A River Runs Through It and including what you think is the quotation that best gets to the heart of the novel.
If you really want to get better at this sort of writing, read this little essay, ”Writing about an idea or a theme in a literary work,” very carefully. Underline things and think about them.
Assignment 4: Turn in your reading journal. It should include at least 5 entries, and each entry should include the following:
date
2 quotations with page number
notations making personal connections
2 interesting questions you want to discuss further in classAssignment 5: Participate meaningfully in class seminars on the novel, focusing on close reading of passages in the novel. Come prepared with your reading journal and with questions to discuss. These discussion may take place orally or they may take place online, using the Ning Forum.
Extra Credit:
1. 2. Original photography illustrating your “essay of place” and character sketch.
3. Best 3 Google Web pages: 40 bonus points (completeness, thoughtfulness and beauty)
Handouts and Notes
“Close Reading” from the Atlantic Monthly
Poem: “A Ritual to be Read to Each Other” by William Stafford
Planning sheet
Essays will be scored using this rubric
It’s tricky to get photos to school, since they’re blocked in email and flickr is also blocked. Try to insert your photos at home. If you can’t do this, you can upload photos to Mosaic, then download them at school so you can insert them into your webpage. See me for a demonstration.
From NCTE
F. Scott Fitzgerald
pagination from Wordsworth Classics edition PDF copy of Study Guide
Two Critical Essays: Use these as models for writing persuasive essays organized around a thesis: 2_critical_essays.pdf
People Like Us (PBS Film)
* The intro/opening segment
* How to Marry Rich
* Kitchenwares Tour
* WASP Lessons
* Gnomes Are Us
* Tammy’s Story
* Trouble in Paradise
* Friends in Low Places
* All You Need Is Cash
*Belles, Belles, Belles
* I can’t find the last one, “Most Likely to Succeed.” I show it because it reminds me of our high school a bit, but does not directly tie in to the novel.
Terminology: Describe the use in this book of the following literary and rhetorical devices:
| simile | personification | oxymoron | prologue |
| motif | irony | zeitgeist | caricature |
| hyperbole | asyndeton | analogy | denotation |
| metaphor | polysyndeton | connotation | dynamic character |
| foil | anaphora | alliteration | static character |
| satire | metonymy | prologue |
Chapter 1
1. What purpose do the first four paragraphs serve?
2. What advice does Nick’s father give him? Why does Fitzgerald have Nick share his father’s advice with the reader?
3. What other method does Fitzgerald use to persuade the reader that Nick is credible?
4. What does the statement “When I came back from the East last autumn...” tell you about the story to follow? (Pg. 3)
5. What importance is there in Nick’s statement that “My family have been prominent, well-to-do people…for three generations”? (Pg. 4)
6. What is the setting of the story?
7. Interpret the meaning of the simile on page 5: “They [books on investments and securities] stood like new money from the mint.”
8. How is West Egg different from East Egg?
9. What is the relationship between Nick and Daisy and Tom Buchanan?
10. Interpret the oxymoron on page 6: “two old friends whom I scarcely knew at all.”
11. Cite the device and the imagery that Fitzgerald uses on page 6 to make the Buchanan palace seem alive.
12. Describe Tom Buchanan. What tone does the author use in his description?
13. Analyze Fitzgerald’s method of creating mood inside the Buchanan’s palace.
14. Who is the other person in the Buchanan home?
15. Cite the anaphoras on page 8 and explain their use.
16. What is the author’s purpose in the use of the hyperbole on page 8?
17. What annoys Nick about Tom’s response to Nick’s employment?
18. What allusion is on page 10? What social issue does the allusion highlight?
19. Why does Miss Baker refer to California after the discussion of white supremacy?
20. What unflattering feature of Jordan Baker’s personality is revealed?
21. During the dinner conversation, Nick wanted to “look squarely at every one, and yet to avoid all eyes.” (Pg. 12) This statement is an example of what type of rhetorical device? What does this convey to the reader?
22. When the telephone rings, why does Nick say that no one “was able utterly to put this fifth guest’s shrill metallic urgency out of mind”? (Pg. 12)
23. Why is Nick’s instinct “to telephone immediately for the police”? (Pg. 12)
24. What is the reader left to think about Daisy’s emotional state and her relationship with Tom?
25. What did Daisy mean when she said of Pammy, “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” (Pg. 13)
26. When Nick starts the engine of his car, Daisy stops him by saying, “We heard you were engaged to a girl out West.” What does Nick’s answer reveal about his character? (Pg. 15)
27. As Nick drives away from their house, he experiences a number of conflicting emotions. Why does he feel touched? Why does he feel confused and disgusted?
28. How does Fitzgerald change the mood of the story in the last paragraph on page 15?
29. The green light that Gatsby is staring at is mentioned several more times and assumes symbolic significance. Where do you think the green light might be? What can it mean?
Chapter 2
1. In the first paragraph of chapter two, what device does Fitzgerald use to create a musical effect? Cite some examples.
2.On a literal level, what is the valley of ashes? What might it represent on a symbolic level?
3. What overlooks the valley of ashes? What might they symbolize?
4. Contrast Daisy with Myrtle, Tom’s mistress.
5. Analyze Nick’s statement “I think he’d tanked up a good deal at luncheon, and his determination to have my company bordered on violence.” (Pg. 17)
6. What method of character development does Fitzgerald employ to develop the character of Myrtle?
7. What is the significance of the name George Wilson?
8.How has Fitzgerald used colors to support the developing theme of the American dream?
9. Myrtle says of her sister, “She’s said to be very beautiful by people who ought to know.” (Pg. 19) What does this statement say about society?
10. On page 20, how does Fitzgerald emphasize the smallness of the apartment?
11. In what way is the party in the apartment different from the dinner at the Buchanan’s in Chapter 1? In what way is it similar?
12. The McKees appear only in chapter II. Why does Fitzgerald bring them into the story?
13. What does Fitzgerald convey through the use of an asyndeton on page 21?
14. What rumor does Nick hear about Gatsby?
15. Although Catherine comments that neither Tom nor Myrtle care about the one they married, how does the reader know that that isn’t true?
16. What seems to be the feeling towards divorce in the 1920s?
Chapter 3
1. What is the setting for chapter 3?
2. In what ways is chapter 2 like chapter 3?
3. Why is it that Fitzgerald waits until chapter III to introduce Gatsby?
4. There are at least two examples of a polysyndenton in chapter three. Identify one of them, and explain what it contributes to the impact of the chapter.
5. What does Nick’s twice insisting that he had “actually been invited” suggest?
6. Nick comments that the people at the party conduct “themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with an amusement park.” Analyze what is being conveyed by the comparison.
7.What metaphor does Fitzgerald use to convey the theme of hollowness in the upper class?
8. Explain the meaning of the statement Ӆthe scene had changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental, and profound.” (Pg. 31)
9. What do Gatsby and Nick have in common?
10. What does Fitzgerald subtly wish to convey about Gatsby when he has Nick say, ӅI was looking at an elegant young roughneck, …whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd. Some time before he introduced himself I’d got a strong impression that he was picking his words with care”? (Pg. 32)
11. Although there are many rumors regarding Gatsby, there is a clue given to the reader about what the nature of Gatsby’s work may be. What is the clue? What might it indicate is his work?
12.In what way is Gatsby’s behavior at his party quite unlike the behavior of most of his guests?
13. Explain the symbolism of the simile, on page 34Ӆat intervals she appeared suddenly at his side like an angry diamond, and hissed: ‘You promised!’ into his ear.”
14. What is the significance of the phone calls that Gatsby receives? How does it add to the development of his character? What does the lack of calls to Buchanan demonstrate?
15. What does the author do to convey the idea that the gentleman driving the car is drunk?
16. The first three chapters span what time period?
17. In the final paragraph on page 37, how does the viewpoint change? How is this accomplished? What is the purpose?
18. What purpose does the character of Jordan Baker fulfill?
19. What is the second ugly character .aw revealed about Jordan? How does this affect the reader?
20. What do you think Fitzgerald wishes to convey about Gatsby’s parties through the incident with the drunks and the car, and the husbands and wives arguing?
21. What is revealed about Nick’s character?
22. How does the motif of geography in the novel help shape its themes and characters?
Chapter 4
1. What is the significance of the date on the timetable?
2. How does Fitzgerald’s use of names further the motif of geography?
3. What symbol does Fitzgerald use as the outward manifestation of Gatsby’s wealth? What theme does this reinforce?
4. Describe Gatsby’s car.
5. What causes Nick to think that Gatsby cannot be telling the truth? What changes his mind?
6. Gatsby fills Nick in on the details of his life for what reason?
7. At the bottom of page 44, how does Fitzgerald further the mood and reinforce the theme of the Roaring Twenties?
8. Where do Gatsby and Nick go for lunch? Whom do they meet?
9. Analyze the techniques used to develop the character of Wolfsheim.
10. What do the characters of Buchanan and Wolfsheim represent?
11. What government act extended the activities of the underworld?
12. Explain Gatsby’s statement: “Miss Baker’s a great sportswoman, you know, and she’d never do anything that wasn’t all right.” (Pg. 46)
13. What matter does Jordan speak to Nick about? How does she know this information?
14. Jordan informs the reader that Daisy was 18 when she and Gatsby consummated their love. What significance does her age have?
15. Why is Daisy so upset on her wedding day?
16. Interpret the metaphor “He [Gatsby] came alive to me [Nick], delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor.” (Pg. 51)
17. Why is it important to Gatsby that Daisy see his house?
18. What symbolism is there in the name Daisy Fay?
19. What overall purpose do the three events in chapter 4 accomplish?
20. What part of Freytag’s pyramid does the description of the parties fill?
Chapter 5
1. When Nick comes home to West Egg that night, what does he find unusual? How does this description contribute to the mood?
2. Why does Gatsby suggest that he and Nick “go to Coney Island,” or “take a plunge in the swimming-pool”? (Pg. 52)
3. How does Gatsby show that he is grateful to Nick for his agreeing to call Daisy?
4. Throughout Chapter V, how does Fitzgerald use weather to reinforce the mood? On the morning of the meeting, the climax of this part of the story, it is pouring.
5. Cite the hyperbole, on page 54, and explain the effects created.
6. How does Daisy’s agreeing to come to Nick’s house without Tom contribute to the theme of changing moral values?
7. Explain how the ambiguous metaphor on page 54, about Daisy’s voice, is appropriate.
8. How does Fitzgerald show the changes in Gatsby?
9. What literary purpose does the broken clock serve?
10. What makes Gatsby sound like Tom?
11. What arouses Nick’s suspicions about Gatsby’s past? What suspicion does this apparent lie reinforce?
12. What changes take place in Gatsby during Daisy’s visit?
13. Analyze the passage “He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock.” (Pg. 59)
14. Why does Daisy cry about the shirts?
15. As the three of them look across the bay toward Daisy’s house, the narrator states, “Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy, it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.” (Pg. 60) What does Fitzgerald mean by:
A. “Compared to the great distance” between Gatsby and Daisy?
B. “Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.”
16. Explain the statement on page 61, “Daisy tumbled short of his dreams.”
17. Cite and explain the metaphor on page 62.
18. Who is the protagonist: Gatsby or Nick?
Chapter 6
1. What is the purpose of chapter 6?
2. In what sense does this chapter epitomize the American dream?
3. What purpose does the biblical allusion on page 63: “He was a son of God…and he must be about His Father’s business” serve?
4. Who is Jay Gatsby?
5. What is the meaning of the statement Ӆthey [reveries] were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy’s wing”? (Pg. 63)
6. Analyze the meaning of the name Dan Cody.
7. How long was Gatsby employed by Cody?
8. Why does Gatsby not drink?
9. Describe Tom’s first visit to Gatsby’s home.
10. Knowing Tom, how can one account for his comment about being “old-fashioned” and “women run[ning] around too much these days to suit [him]”? (Pg. 66)
11. What does the word choice “menagerie” help Fitzgerald convey?
12. Explain Gatsby’s expectations of Daisy. Are they realistic?
13. On page 71, Nick narrates the event of Daisy’s and Gatsby’s first kiss. He says that Gatsby knows that, after kissing Daisy, Ӆhis mind would never romp again like the mind of God.” What does this mean?
Chapter 7
1.What allusion does Trimalchio represent?
2. Identify and explain the personification at the bottom of page 71.
3. What foreshadows trouble at the Gatsby mansion?
4. Why did Gatsby replace his servants?
5. What is the meaning of Gatsby’s statement to Tom, “I’m right across from you”? (Pg. 75)
6. What does Daisy mean when she says Ӆeverything’s so confused”? (Pg. 75)
7. What alerts Tom that his wife has other interests? What is Tom’s response?
8. Interpret the metaphor “Her voice is full of money.” (Pg. 76)
9. Identify the oxymorons that describe the expressions that pass by Gatsby’s face. Explain their importance.
10. On page 77, Tom insists on driving Gatsby’s car. Why? How does Daisy respond? How does Gatsby respond?
11. Does Tom like Gatsby’s car?
12. What causes Mr. Wilson’s sickness?
13. Why do you suppose that Tom decides to let Wilson finally have the car he has been promising him?
14. How does the news about the Wilson’s leaving affect Tom?
15. Who sees Tom driving the yellow car besides Mr. Wilson? What is their response?
16. What do Tom and Wilson have in common? How does each respond?
17. What is Gatsby’s explanation of his being at Oxford? Why is it important to Tom to expose the Oxford-man lie?
18. Reread the paragraph that begins at the bottom of page 82. What theme is supported by Tom’s argument?
19. When Gatsby confronts Tom with the comments “Your wife doesn’t love you. She’s never loved you. She loves me.” (Pg. 83) What is Gatsby’s meaning?
20. What is Tom’s response to his wife’s infidelity?
21. Describe the emotions that Daisy goes through as Tom and Gatsby argue.
22. How has Gatsby gotten some of his money? What does Tom say that startles Gatsby?
23.What is the outcome of the argument in the hotel room?
24. Analyze the significance of Nick’s statement Ӆ ‘I just remembered that today’s my birthday.’ I was thirty.” (Pg. 86)
25. How does Fitzgerald foreshadow what is about to happen?
26. Analyze the statement “So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.” (Pg. 87)
27. How does Myrtle die?
28. Why is Myrtle running out of the garage towards the car?
29. How do Tom, Jordan, and Nick find out about the accident?
30. What is Wilson’s response to Myrtle’s death? Tom’s response? Gatsby’s response?
31. What does Fitzgerald convey to the reader by choosing the word “conspiring” in the description of Tom and Daisy in their kitchen?
32. Why does Gatsby loiter outside of the Buchanans’ house? How does Fitzgerald let the reader know there is nothing for Gatsby to wait for?
Chapter 8
1. How is the tone set for Chapter 8?
2. Interpret the simile ӒJay Gatsby’ had broken up like glass against Tom’s hard maliceŔ (Pg. 94)
3. On page 96, how does Fitzgerald capture the 1920s?
4. Summarize the beginning of Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship, five years ago.
5. Why does Daisy give up on Gatsby? How does Gatsby learn of the relationship between Daisy and Tom?
6. In what ways can the letter from Daisy be considered Gatsby’s salvation?
7. After all that has taken place, how does Nick say he feels about Gatsby? What does he mean? Is he sincere?
8. In general, what is Nick’s attitude toward Gatsby?
9. What does Jordan do the morning following the accident?
10. What clues give Wilson the idea there is another man?
11. What conclusion does Wilson come to regarding his wife’s death?
12. Whom does Wilson associate with the yellow car?
13. What motif reappears in Chapter 8? What meaning is attributed to it?
14. Where does Wilson spend the day following Myrtle’s death?
15. Where do you think Wilson gets the information to track the car to Gatsby? Use evidence from the text.
16. Analyze the technique that Fitzgerald uses in the second paragraph, on page 103, to indicate that Gatsby is no longer living in a dream and to foreshadow who his killer may be.
17. How is Gatsby’s body discovered?
18. Why does no one find Gatsby earlier?
19. What do you suspect happened to Wilson?
20. Cite examples of the motif that nature reflects life.
Chapter 9
1. How does Catherine respond during the trial?
2. Why is it important to Catherine that her story seem true?
3. When it is time for the funeral, what becomes of Gatsby’s friends?
4. Describe Gatsby’s father.
5. Mr. Gatz compares his son, Jay Gatsby, to James J. Hill. Explain the significance of this allusion.
6. What irony is found in the fourth paragraph on page 108?
7. Where is Gatsby buried?
8. What is Nick’s fantastic dream? How does Nick view the East?
9. What becomes of Jordan and Nick’s relationship?
10. Explain the analogy on page 113 comparing drivers with relationships.
11. When does Nick head west?
12. Describe Nick and Tom’s final meeting.
13. Summarize the final message of the epilogue.
14. From what viewpoint is The Great Gatsby told?
15. What events constitute the rising action, climax, and falling action?
Student Companion (12-page PDF)
literary terms and Freytag’s triangle
Citizenship, Work Ethic, Goals
Cut each essay to 200 words. Move the file to Word and save on the server where you will be able to find it next year. Proofread meticulously, using the checklist I provided. Late essays will lose 1 letter grade per day.
Tuesday: Citizenship
Wednesday: Work Ethic
Thursday: Personal Goals
PROOFREADING CHECKLIST
Ideas and Organization
□ My essay states its main point clearly at the beginning.
□ I write in paragraphs, and each paragraph has one purpose
□ My ending fits the rest of the essay
Style
□ I speak in my own voice, saying what I think and giving examples from my real life.
□ I avoid vague platitudes and cliches.
□ I have no Google copy and paste blah blah blah
Conventions
□ Each sentence is a complete thought, with a subject and a verb.
□ My point of view is consistent (first person–no slipping to second person)
□ I have checked that I am using the right word (their, there, they’re; to, too; were, where; then, than; its, it’s; etc)
□ My pronouns have clear antecedents
□ My pronouns agree with their antecedents (singular with singular, plural with plural)
□ I use both possessive apostrophes and apostrophes in contractions
□ I use no comma splices (joining two independent clauses with only a comma)
□ I set off introductory phrases and clauses with a comma
□ I join two independent clauses with a conjunction and a comma
□ I set off apposatives (non-essential interrupting phrases) with commas
You cannot plough a field by turning it over in yo
You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.
Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more. ~Edward H. Harriman
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. ~Thomas Jefferson
Character is what emerges from all the little things you were too busy to do yesterday, but did anyway. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, 1966
I’ve got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end. ~Larry Bird
Men are made stronger on realization that the helping hand they need is at the end of their own arm. ~Sidney J. Phillips
He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work. ~George Bernard Shaw
Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success. ~Swami Sivananda
There’s nothing like biting off more than you can chew, and then chewing anyway. ~Mark Burnett
Some people dream of success… while others wake up and work hard at it. ~Author Unknown
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators. ~Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. ~Will Rogers
Gift, like genius, I often think only means an infinite capacity for taking pains. ~Jane Ellice Hopkins
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. ~Emile Zola
Many people think they want things, but they don’t really have the strength, the discipline. They are weak. I believe that you get what you want if you want it badly enough. ~Sophia Loren
Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still. ~Chinese Proverb
Senior Portfolio Assignments
1. What is citizenship?
2. What are my personal goals and/or commitments, in regards to being a member of this democracy?
Things to think about:
“Citizenship consists in the service of the country”—Jawaharlal Nehru
“Man is at the bottom an animal, midway, a citizen, and at the top, divine. But the climate of this world is such that few ripen at the top.”—Henry Ward Beecher
The punishment which the wise suffer, who refuse to take part in government, is to live under the government of worse men.—Plato
“A generation that acquires knowledge without ever understanding how that knowledge can benefit the community is a generation that is not learning what it means to be citizens in a democracy.”—Elizabeth L. Hollander
“The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight.” --Theodore Roosevelt
“As citizens of this democracy, you are the rulers and the ruled, the law-givers and the law-abiding, the beginning and the end.”—Adlai E. Stevenson
“Gardens, scholars say, are the first sign of commitment to a community. When people plant corn they are saying, let’s stay here. And by their connection to the land, they are connected to one another.”—Anne Raver
“Citizenship is what makes a republic; monarchies can get along without it”—Mark Twain
“A passive and ignorant citizenry will never create a sustainable world.”—Andrew Gaines
“Citizenship consists in the service of the country”—Jawaharlal Nehru
“Citizens have the natural right and the common sense duty to protect themselves, their families, their communities, and their property...guns are the equalizing tools of self-protection, utopian lamentations notwithstanding.”—Edgar A. Suter
“Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in bonds of fraternal feeling." -- Abraham Lincoln
“Good government is no substitute for self-government.”—Mohandas Gandhi
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”—Margaret Mead
“If you look back in history, you will find the core mission of public education in America was to create places of civic virtue for our children and for our society. As education undergoes the rigors of re-examination and the need for reinvention, it is cruicial to remember that the key role of public schools is to preserve democracy and, that as battered as we might be, our mission is central to the future of this county.”—Paul D. Houston
Study Guide
Historical Background for Wind from an Enemy Sky
1812: Canadian trapper David Thompson reaches Flathead Lake
1841: Jesuits (blackrobes) establish mission in this region
1846: Fort Connah (Hudson Bay Company) established
1855: Hellgate Treaty
1882: Railroad right-ot-way agreement for Northern Pacific
1891: Removal of Charlo and his Salish band from the Bitterroot
1910: Opening of the Reservation to homesteaders
Flier published by Great Northern Railroad advertising the opening of the Reservation
1. First whites in area were fur traders and trappers. Angus McDonald built Fort Conah. This was part of the Hudson Bay Company, which was a Canadian company.The fort, which can be seen to the east of Highway 93 on Post Creek Hill, was closed after the northern border of the U.S.A. was established.
Angus was married to Catherine, a Nez Perce woman. Many fur traders and trappers married Indian women, for the usual reasons of companionship but also for business reasons.
2. The Blackfeet in mid-19th century were powerful and had access to rifles from traders in Canada. They worked at suppressing access to trade among the Flatheads. The Flatheads had heard of the Jesuits whom they called “Blackrobes” and they wanted their power. So they sent two delegations to St. Louis to ask the Blackrobes to come. This led to Father DeSmet coming west and establishing a mission at St. Mary’s in the Bitterroot.
3. The discovery of gold at Alder Gulch in Montana in the 1860s triggered a burst of whites entering the state. The presence of gold camps created a market for agriculture.
4. The Treaty of 1855 at Council Grove west of Missoula established the Flathead Reservation. It was one of several “Stevens” treaties negotiated at about the same time in the Pacific Northwest. Governor Isaac Stevens was sent to this area to establish peace between various tribes and the increasing numbers of settlers by formalizing the territory of each tribe.
5. For decades after the 1855 treaty, the Salish continued living in the Bitterroot. James Garfield came and negotiated an agreement that the Reservation would be established in the Flathead, but Chief Charlo claimed his “mark” had been forged on that negotiation and he continued living in the Bitterroot with his followers, until near starvation forced him to move. His rival was Chief Arlee, who forged better relations with the U.S. Government.
6. The Dawes Act of 1887 allowed reservations to be divided into individual alotments and the surplus land to be opened to nontribal homesteaders. This took affect on the Flathead Reservation in 1910. Before that happened, the free roaming herds of cattle, bison, and horses needed to be rounded up.
Rep. Joseph Dixon (Missoula attorney and owner of the Missoulian) argued in Congress that Article 6 of the 1855 Hellgate Treaty allowed dividing the Flathead Reservation. This is the language of the treaty: “The President may from time to time, at his discretion, cause the whole or such portion of such reservation as he may thing proper to be surveyed into lots, and assign the same to such individuals or families of the said confederated tribes as are willing to avail themselves of the privilege and will locate on the same permanent home.”
Dixon had relatives and business associates on the Reservation. Hundreds of letters of support from Montana businessmen were received. Tribal leaders fought the allotment policy every way they could.
A new roll of the confederated Flatheads was completed in anticipation of Allotment. It listed 2,133 persons entitled to allotments, including 640 Pend Oreilles (242 full bloods, 387 mixed, 7 adopted Indians, and 4 adopted whites); 557 Flatheads (233 fullbloods, 305 mixed, 16 adopted Indians, and 3 adopted whites); 556 Kutenais (210 fullbloods, 342 mixed, 2 adopted Indians, and 2 adopted whites); 197 Lower Pend Oreilles (161 fullbloods, 35 mixed, and 1 adopted white); 135 Spokanes (55 fullbloods, 80 mixed); and 48 other tribes (14 fullbloods and 34 mixed). Based on the enrollment, Indians were allowed allotments of 80 acres of farmland or 160 acres of grazing land. Except for further reserves for such things as townsites, a bison range, and power installations, the remaining lands were to be sold with the money to be used for the benefit of the tribes.
The Place of Falling Waters
Notes, part 1
Notes, part 2
Notes, part 3
The Author
D’Arcy McNickle, an enrolled Salish Kootenai on the Flathead Reservation, became one of the most prominent twentieth-century American Indian activists. He was born on January 14, 1904, to an Irish father, William McNickle, and a one-quarter Cree Métis mother, Philomene Parenteau. He grew up on the Flathead Reservation in St. Ignatius and went to mission and non-reservation boarding schools. In 1925 McNickle sold his land allotment on the Flathead Reservation so that he could raise the money necessary to study abroad at Oxford University. After returning to the United States, McNickle lived in New York City until he was hired by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1936.
McNickle’s narrative is set in the fictionalized territory of the Little Elk Indians, presumably modelled after his own experiences on the Salish-Kootenai (Flathead) reservation in Mission Valley, Montana. As an adopted member of this tribe, with a Metis or mixed-blood Cree ancestry, McNickle moved easily between New York City and the Flathead reservation. Passing as white in New York City, McNickle provided a unique perspective on Western culture as well as a complex, or hybrid, vision of life with the Salish-Kootenai.
Set in the early 1900s, the novel represents the struggle over the construction of a dam on the Little Elk reservation as an allegorical--or dehistoricized--struggle between colonizer and colonized. Just as the names in the novel are fictionalized, so the time period is hard to determine, though certain cultural signifiers (like the emergence of the automobile) help the reader to loosely place the narrative in time. Overall, however, there is a certain timeless feel to the narrative, depicting a seemingly eternal struggle between two antagonists.
D’Arcy McNickle worked under Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier during the 1930s and 1940s. The Bureau of Indian Affairs first hired him as an administrative assistant, but by 1950 he had been appointed chief of the tribal relations branch, and he soon became an expert on Native American issues.
Study Guide
Chapter 1
1. What is Bull’s reaction to hearing that a dam has been built across the river?
2. From the side of the mountain, Bull gets a view of the valley, which is now “a white man’s world.” He says it is “a world he sometimes passed through but never visited.” What is the difference between “passing through” and “visiting”?
3. Where has Antoine been and what was his experience like?
4. Understanding the ideas of sacred and profane is important to understanding this story. The place where the dam has been built is sacred to Bull’s people. This means the building of the dam was profane.
It had been a holy place, this mountain-locked meadow. “Be careful what you do here,” the boy had been told by his relatives. “This is a place of power. Be careful of what you think. Keep your thoughts good.... Don’t have angry thoughts here,” he was told....
“How can a man do this?” He raised his head and stared at the far-away ribbon of white water leaping down the high rock from its glacial bed. That had not disappeared. The water tumbled its way over stony passages to the head of the forested basin--but the basin was no more. The place where anger was to be left out of men’s thoughts was drowned (5-6).
What do you imagine the dam meant to those who built it?
5. What does Bull do when he sees the dam? What effect does this have?
6. How does his reaction affect Antoine?
7. Compare what Bull believes his grandson is thinking at the dam with what Antoine was really thinking. What does this suggest about their relationship?
8. What detail about Bull do you remember most vividly from this chapter?
Chapter 2
1. How and where did the government men want Bull to live? Why do you think they wanted this?
2. Find at least one detail about both Basil and Louis. Explain how the men are related to Antoine, in both the white and tribal relationship.
3. Who is Two Sleeps and where did he come from?
4. Who is the man who comes into the camp at night singing? How do the other men feel toward him? Why has he come?
5. It has been 30 years since Bull and his brother have talked. Why? How has the land changed since the men’s earlier years when they got along?
6. What is Henry Jim’s plan, and how does Bull feel about it?
Chapter 3
1. Contrast the way Bull and Henry Jim relate to white men.
2. Who is Toby Rafferty and why has Henry Jim come to see him?
3. What are four of the things the “men from afar countries, from somewhere east of the mountains” tell the Indians to do? What effect did these things have on the Indian families?
Chapter 4
1. How would you rate Toby Raferty’s effectiveness on the Little Elk Reservation? Explain.
2. How does the Indian tradition of the “midsummer dances"affect their farming? What would you do about this dilemma if you worked for the BIA?
3. Who is Edwards and what kind of person is he?
4. What is Raferty’s opinion of the training Washington DC gives the people they send to work with the Indians?
5. Compare Raferty’s description of Henry Jim with the earlier description about him from the book? What is similar? Different? What do you think accounts for the variance?
Chapter 5
1. How are Pock Face and Theobold described? After being introduced, do you like these men or not? Explain.
2. What do Pock Face and Theobold do in this chapter, and how do they pull Bull into their actions? Do you think their actions are justifiable?
Chapter 6
1. How is Wells involved with the medicine bundle and how does he think the Little Elk people would have acted differently if they had never lost the bundle? Do you agree with his speculation? Why or why not?
2. What involvement did Henry Jim have with the bundle 30 years ago?
3. Why won’t Wells help Raferty get the bundle back? What is the right thing to do?
Chapter 7
1. Where is Henry Jim going on Red Son at the beginning of the chapter? Why?
2. How do all Henry Jim’s kinsmen react to the message he is bringing them?
3. Why is Henry Jimand--then everyone else--singing?
4. Why won’t the US Marshall let the group of Indians inside the agency?
5. Who is already inside the agency?
Chapter 8
1. What does Two Sleeps tell the women when he’s ask to decide what should be done about Pock Face and Theobold? How do the women react to his answer?
2. What happens with the whiskey? Why do you think this section is included in the book?
3. What did Bull do to fool Antoine as Antoine was trying to find him? According to Veronica, why does he do this?
4. How does Bull react when Pock Face tells him what he has done? How does this compare with what you would expect?
Chapter 9
1. After they find the body, what is the tension between Rafferty and Grant? How are they approaching the crime differently?
2. What do we learn about the man who was killed?
3. What seems to be Sid Grant’s opinion of the Indian community? Find specific examples to back up your opinion.
4. What does Antoine do as he translates?
Chapter 10
1. Who is The Boy? What do you think are the most important pieces of information we get about him in this chapter?
2. What is confusing to Rafferty about the situation with the murder and how Bull and his people are involved?
3. Who is singing in this chapter and what is the significance of that singing?
Chapter 11
1. Where are Bull and his men kept and why is this location chosen instead of the jail?
2. What does The Boy think working for the government does to an Indian man’s relationship with his own people? Why do you think he continues his job if he believes this?
3. What problem does Bull have with the white man’s law that is keeping him at the agency?
4. What does Pock Face tell his people when he decides to speak?
5. How does Pock Face’s dad, Louis, react to his son’s announcement?
6. How does Bull react?
Chapter 12
1. What do Catherine and Lucille have in common?
2. What are all the women in camp doing or getting ready for?
3. What is Marie Louise’s predicament and how does it turn out?
4. If you were a woman in camp, whose actions would probably most closely resemble your own? Why?
Chapter 13
1. Who arrives on the train?
2. Who is Adam Pell?
Chapter 14
1. Where does Antoine plan to go after leaving the women at his Uncle Jerome’s camp?
2. What plan for the Indians does the Long Armed man explain to Antoine at the boarding school?
3. Describe Antoine’s experience at boarding school.
4. What brings Antoine back to the Little Elk Reservation?
Chapter 15
1. What disturbs Antoine about Henry Jim’s place, and what does he see once he gets there that makes him feel better?
2. What is strange about Henry Jim lying on the ground? Why has Henry Jim moved out of his house? Does this make sense to you? Why or why not?
3. What did the government man tell Henry Jim that turned out not to be true?
4. How does Henry Jim seem to feel now about the decisions he’s made in his life?
Chapter 16
1. What is Edward’s evaluation of Henry Jim’s health?
2. What is Rafferty concerned about? What is the Boy’s advice when Rafferty questions him about how to proceed with the murder investigation?
3. What conclusion has Henry Jim come to about why his tribe just left him behind? Assuming his conclusion is correct, do you think they did the right thing?
4. How does Rafferty decide to handle the situation with Bull and the murder accusations as well the fact that Henry Jim needs his family near him as he is growing weaker?
Chapter 17
1. What happened many years ago that first caused Bull to become angry? What changed? How?
2. What types of things were the settlers doing at first that just made the natives laugh?
3. Initially, what did natives think would eventually happen to the settlers? How did things actually progress? What does Bull think his people’s mistake was in dealing with the settlers?
4. Explain Bull’s experience with the white school.
Chapter 18
1. What is the relationship between Adam Pell and Gen (or Ms. Thomas Hendricks Cook) and how is the boy who was murdered related to them?
2. What did Adam’s friend Carlos do with his family’s land, and how did people react?
3. What was Adam Pell’s promise to Carlos that caused him to miss his sister’s Christmas gathering to go to Cuno, Peru? What did living in Cuno make Adam begin to think about?
4. What decision does Thomas Cooke make after listening to Adam and how does Gen react?
Chapter 19
1. Why is the design of the dam impressive to the engineer? He uses the word “beautiful” in his description. What adjective would you use?
2. How did the US Marshal and his men find the gun? What two questions are still left unanswered even after the gun is discovered?
Chapter 20
1. What is the first thing Bull says to the group when he arrives at the agency? How is this received?
2. How are the settler’s laws and native ways of handling crimes different? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each system?
3. Why is Bull afraid of Sid Grant?
4. What are the contents of the two packages from Bull’s camp?
5. What two reasons does the Marshall give for his belief that Bull is not the murderer?
6. Who interrupts the meeting at the agency, and what is his message?
7. What stops Bull from rising to confront Adam Pell when he realizes he was the one responsible for the dam?
8. How does Thomas Cooke react to Pock Face’s declaration, and what does he recommend?
9. What realization has shocked Adam Pell? In what way, besides the trouble over the dam, is Adam Pell involved in the trouble on the Little Elk Reservation? After the discussion, what does he want to do and why?
Chapter 21
1. What story did Rafferty and Doc Edwards make up to explain to the government men at Henry Jim’s funeral who asked why his body was taken from a teepee and not his “elegant house,” and why they were taking his horse along to the burial?
2. What did Henry Jim’s burial service entail?
3. How long was Rafferty on the Little Elk Reservation before any natives actually started taking to him? Does this seem a long or short amount of time? Explain.
4. What does Henry Two Bits come to ask Rafferty? What does he have that surprises Rafferty?
5. How have things changed between The Boy and the rest of the Little Elk people?
6. What does Bull ask The Boy to do for him?
Chapter 22
1. How does it seem things are going to turn out for Pock Face? What leads you to this conclusion?
2. What behavior of Bull’s, in his younger days when he was still drinking, sometimes scared others? What ended Bull’s drinking days?
Chapter 23
1. What does Adam Pell realize American laws made legal that he feels is wrong (though none of his important friends seem to agree)? What did the law allow that Rafferty considered “thievery”? How does he think the white men who came to the reservation were also “exhorted”?
2. What two things resulted from the dam?
3. How does Adam react to the judge’s claim that these exploits against the Indians were “hasty and not well considered”?
Chapter 24
1. What happens to Two Sleeps?
Chapter 25
1. The Little Elk people always get together for storytelling and remembering in the winter, but there are some things different this winter from the last. What are they?
2. Describe the circumstances that led to Antoine going to a boarding school.
3. Describe how Celeste, Antoine, Veronica and Bull are related and how their relationships have changed over the years.
4. Why does Bull want to tell old stories “those his father knew” instead of telling stories from his own life? Do you think anything similar happens in today’s society?
5. Who is Featherboy really? What does he bring the Little Elk people and why is the bundle important, or why do the people need to protect it?
Chapter 26
1. Why does Adam Pell want to bring the Little Elk people a gift? What does he plan to give them? Where did this come from and why does he think it is a good gift? Do you think his gesture is appropriate? Explain.
Chapter 27
1. What messages does The Boy bring to Bull’s camp?
2. How does Louis feel about the current situation they are all in? What does he think they should do? What is Bull’s reply?
Chapter 28
1. How has the Little Elk Valley changed over the last few years? Which changes are positive? Which are negative?
2. What does Pock Face think they should do about the requests they receive? What does Louis think? What does he want to do?
Chapter 29
1. What problem does Adam Rafferty think would arise if all 2,000 Indians actually decided they wanted to farm, as the government wants them to?
2. How does Adam Pell feel about the government’s Indian policy now he is aware of it?
3. What do Doc Edwards and Rafferty want Pell to do instead of telling Bull what actually happened to the bundle? Why? Do you think their plan is wise? Explain.
4. Why does Adam think his object is a good substitute for the bundle?
Chapter 30
1. Where are Bull and his group going, and what makes Bull suspicious?
Chapter 31
1. Where is Veronica going?
2. What do Veronica and Two Sleeps end up doing?
3. What does Veronica see that Two Sleeps seems to miss?
4. What does Two Sleeps see and understand?
Chapter 32
1. What does Rafferty think of The Boy? Of Bull?
2. What does Rafferty confront Adam about, then then warn him about again a few pages later?
3. What chance does Rafferty think they’ve missed by telling the Little Elk people their sacred object is gone?
4. Why has Adam Pell brought Mr. Davis?
5. What does Adam Pell tell Bull and his men? How do Bull’s men react?
6. What does Louis do that effectively ends the meeting?
7. Whose acts would you say are noble in the end? How do you decide?
8. What do you think of the ending of the book? Is it strong or weak? Interesting? Regardless of whether your like or dislike it, does it seem appropriate? Why or why not?
9. Go back to the first sentence of the book: “The Indian named Bull and his grandson took a walk into the mountains to look at a dam built in a cleft of rock, and what began as a walk became a journey into the world."After finishing, what do you think this means?
10. What parts of the book seems to reflect historical events?
PDF Version of Study Guide (7 pages)
Introduction to narrative
Story: Background
Quests sometimes fail, are abandoned or dissipated into distractions; and human lives may in all these ways also fail. But the only criteria for success or failure in a human life as a whole are the criteria of success or failure in a narrated or to-be-narrated quest.
Alasdair MacIntyre
Reality is a story--not just a tale that is told but a story that is really so.
Robert P. Roth
Narrative talks about events unfold in time, as opposed to other ways of talking about things, such as analysis, which freezes time to examine relationships, as when we make a diagram of a toaster to see how all its parts work together. When historians analyze data, such as the number of people of different races incarcerated in a particular state during a given year, they are using quantitative analysis rather than narrative to find out how things really were.
I emphasize stories because, as societies and individuals, we are stories, and we understand and communicate our lives as stories. Since we not only live our stories but also tell them, we pass our experience around for others to think about. We are made to encode and decode meaning through stories.
All stories are narratives but not all narratives are stories. We transform narrative to story by find patterns that mean something. We have all had the experience of listening to someone talk who goes on and on without a point, and then this happened, and then I said this, and then he said that, and then this happened. We want to interrupt and ask, “What’s your point?” In other words, what’s the theme? The theme may not be stated explicitly, but we “get it” like the punch line of a joke.
Philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre tells us that
It is through hearing stories about wicked stepmothers, lost children, good but misguided kings, wolves that suckle twin boys, youngest sons who receive no inheritance but must make their own way in the world and eldest sons who waste their inheritance on riotous living and go into exile to live with the swine, that children learn or mislearn both what a child is and what a parent is, what the cast of characters may be in the drama into which they are born and what the ways of the world are. Deprive children of stories and you leave them unscripted, anxious stutterers in their actions as in their words.
Here’s Bud Cheff, Sr., a seventy-eight-year-old rancher from the Mission Valley in western Montana, chatting about his early life:
Whenever Adelle and I went somewhere, or when we were returning home, I always put the money I had left into a big jar I kept buried. When I got a chance to buy the land where the ranch now sits, I dug out my money cache, and got out the jug that I had buried. I poured it all out on a tarp and counted it; I had just enough money to pay cash for that piece of land, 160 acres. There were pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars, dollar bills, five, ten and twenty dollar bills.
I went into the house and had Adelle and all the kids come out to my shed to see what I had on my tarp, and they all just stared at it. Adelle knew I’d been saving money, but had no idea it amounted to that much and the kids were so excited because they had never seen that much money at one time. I let them each take a handful of small change and then I gathered it up, went to the courthouse in Polson, and paid for my land.
What interests me in this little story about what Bud wants, how he sets about getting it, and what consequences follow, is how effortlessly it encodes a host of values. Children who grow up immersed in such everyday narratives probably do not notice that Bud is teaching his understanding of the little secrets of being human: what the rules of life are, what roles are available, and how to get what is wanted. In a way that’s so natural it’s easy to miss seeing, Bud teaches perseverance, postponement of gratification, affection for spouse and children, delight in the chance to struggle for a dream.
Story Form Rubric
Six Stages of Story
Mrs. Kelly’s Monster
How to create a Google account and use Google Docs
1. Get a Google Account (google “Google Account”). Use the same user name and password you use to log on to the school server.
2. After you apply, Google will send you an email. Click the link in that email to activate your account.
3. Go to your Google Account and find “Google Docs.”
4. In Google Docs, click “New” then select “Presentation.”
5. When your new presentation open, in the upper right click “Share” then “Share with Others” then enter your partner’s email and click the “invite collaborators” button. (Be sure you are sharing as a “collaborator” and not just as a “viewer” or your partner will not be able to edit the presentation).
6. Go back to the “Share” button in the upper right corner and click it, but now choose “Publish ‘ Embed.” This will publish your presentation on the Internet, so anyone can view it. When it is your turn to present to the class, you will use my computer to go the address of your presentation. You won’t need to log on to your Google Account because the presentation is published on the Internet where anyone can see it.
7. Now, copy the URL of your presentation (from the navigation window at the top of the page in Internet Explorer, then paste it in an email addressed to my school email address: mumphrey “at” polson.k12.mt.us
8. In the subject line of the email put ONLY THIS: “YourName” Presentation
If you cannot create a Google Account or you are absent on the day you are called on to give a presentation, to get credit for this assignment you will need to turn in a two-page report, with citations, within 2 days.
Topic Assignments
| Intro to history of Jazz | Tom, Martin | Colin, Logan |
| Prohibition | Christa, Staci | Rob, Colter |
| Dance (with demonstration ofthe Charleston) | Melissa, Loni | |
| Bootlegging and Crime,including St. Valentines DayMasscre | Brian | Josh, Chastity |
| Flappers and Fashion | Olivia | Kaydee, Phyllicia |
| Automobiles and Technology | Derrick, Brock | Amanda, Rachel |
| Houdini | Josh, Devin | Sam, Matthew |
| Lindbergh | Cassie | Randy, James |
| Scopes (monkey) trial | Logan C | |
| Warren G. Harding, includingTeapot Dome and “return tonormalcy” | ||
| Calvin Coolidge, includinglaissez faire | ||
| Theodore Lothrop Stoddard’sThe Rising Tide of ColorAgainst White WorldSupremacy. | ||
| Kaiser Wilhelm | Caitlin, Angela | Scott, Taylor |
| “Black Sox” team of 1919and the fixing of the WorldSeries | Wes, Jayson, Trevor | Jayson, Jack |
Rubric for Scoring Powerpoints
Study Guide: The Great Gatsby
Reading Schedule
Chapter 1 pages 3-16
Chapter 2 pages 16-26
Chapter 3 pages 26-39
Chapter 4 pages 39-52
Chapters 5-6 pages 52-71
Chapter 7 pages 71-93
Chapter 8 pages 93-103
Chapter 9 pages 103-115
Topics for Presentations
1. 2-person teams
2. Do these on Google Presentations & make the document is shared so either person can get to it
3. Must be at least 5 minutes long
4. Must consist of at least 5 slides with at least 3 images
5. Very few words on slides: DO NOT READ YOUR SLIDES TO THE CLASS
1. Intro to history of Jazz, focusing on 1920s (with a couple musical examples)
2. Prohibition
3. Dance (with demonstration of the Charleston)
4. Bootlegging and Crime, including St. Valentines Day Masscre
5. Flappers and Fashion
6. Automobiles and Technology
7. Houdini
8. Lindbergh
9. Scopes (monkey) trial
10. Warren G. Harding, including Teapot Dome and “return to normalcy”
11. Calvin Coolidge, including laissez faire
12. Theodore Lothrop Stoddard’s The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy.
13. Kaiser Wilhelm
14. “Black Sox” team of 1919 and the fixing of the World Series
Vocabulary Chapters 1-2
1. epigram
2. supercilious
3. extemporizing
4. rotogravure
5. peremptory
6. oculist
7. contiguous
8. hauteu
Chapter 1
Study Questions
1. How does the narrator describe Gatsby?
2. From where did the narrator come and why?
3. Describe the narrator’s house.
4. Describe the Buchanans’ house.
5. How does Nick know Daisy and Tom?
6. Describe Tom. What is our impression of him in Chapter 1?
7. What kind of person is Daisy?
8. What did Miss Baker tell Nick about Tom?
9. When asked about her daughter, what does Daisy say?
10. How is Gatsby introduced into the novel?
Chapter 2
Study Questions
1. What is the “valley of ashes”?
2. What are the “eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg?
3. Who did Tom take Nick to meet?
4. Identify Myrtle and George Wilson.
5. What did Mrs. Wilson buy while she was out with Tom and Nick?
6. Where did they go? What was at 158th Street?
7. Identify Catherine and Mr. & Mrs. McKee.
8. What does Mr. McKee tell Nick about Gatsby?
9. What reason did Myrtle give for marrying George Wilson?
10. What did Tom do to Myrtle when she mentioned Daisy’s name?
Chapter 3 Vocabulary
1. omnibus
2. erroneous
3. innuendo
4. convivial
5. obstetrical
6. rivulets
7. caterwauling
8. affectations
9. subterfuges
Chapter 3
Study Questions
1. Describe Gatsby’s wealth. List some of the things that represent wealth.
2. What kind of people come to Gatsby’s parties?
3. Why did Nick Carraway go to the party?
4. How does Nick meet Gatsby?
5. What are some of the stories about Gatsby?
6. Is Gatsby a “phony”?
7. Describe Nick’s relationship with Jordan.
Chapter 4-5 Vocabulary
1. labyrinth
2. raja
3. somnambulatory
4. denizen
5. receptacles
6. corrugated
7. nebulous
Chapter 4
Study Questions
1. Who is Klipspringer?
2. What does Gatsby tell Nick about himself?
3. What “matter” did Gatsby have Jordan Baker discuss with Nick?
4. Who is Mr. Wolfshiem?
5. What does Mr. Wolfshiem tell Nick about Gatsby?
6. What does Jordan tell Nick about Daisy, Gatsby and Tom?
Chapter 5
Study Questions
1. Describe the meeting between Gatsby and Daisy. Why was he so nervous?
2. How long did it take Gatsby to make the money to buy the mansion?
3. Why did Gatsby want Daisy to see the house and his clothes?
4. What had the green light on the dock meant to Gatsby?
5. What had Gatsby turned Daisy into in his own mind?
Chapters 6-7 Vocabulary
1. meretricious
2. euphemisms
3. caravansary
4. contingency
5. inexplicable
6. libertine
7. expostulation
8. traversed
9. scrutiny
Chapter 6
Study Questions
1. What is Gatsby’s real history? Where is he from, and what is his name?
2. What did Dan Cody do for Gatsby?
3. What is Daisy’s opinion of Gatsby’s party? How does this affect him?
4. What does Gatsby want from Daisy?
Chapter 7
Study Questions
1. What was Gatsby’s reaction to Daisy’s child?
2. What did Wilson do to Myrtle? Why?
3. Why do the five drive into the city on such a hot afternoon?
4. What does Gatsby think about Daisy’s relationship with Tom?
5. What is Daisy’s reaction to both men?
6. What happens on the way home from New York?
7. How do these people react to Myrtle’s death:
a. Wilson:
b. Tom:
c. Nick:
d. Gatsby:
8. What is the true relationship between Daisy and Tom?
Chapters 8-9 Vocabulary
1. redolent
2. corroborate
3. pneumatic
4. amorphous
5. addenda
6. unpunctual
7. provincial
8. incoherent
9. pandered
10. commensurate
Chapter 8
Study Questions
1. What does Gatsby tell Nick about his past? Is it true?
2. What does Michaelis believe caused Myrtle to run?
3. Why did she run?
4. Why does Wilson believe that Gatsby killed Myrtle?
5. What does Wilson do?
Chapter 9
Study Questions
1. Why couldn’t Nick get anyone to come to Gatsby’s funeral?
2. Who is Henry C. Gatz?
3. What is the book Henry Gatz shows Nick? Why is it important to the novel?
4. What happens between Nick and Jordan Baker?
5. What does Nick say about people like Daisy and Tom?
Gatsby Study Guide (4 page PDF)
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The Great Gatsby •
Vocabulary Chapter 1-2
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The Great Gatsby •
The Red Badge of Courage
Fri, Mar 6 Chapters 1-2
Mon Mar 9 Chapters 3-5
Tue Mar 10 Chapters 6-9
Wed Mar 11 Chapters 10-13
Thur Mar 12 Chapters 14-17
Fri Mar 13 Chapters 18-21
Mon Mar 16 Chapters 22-24
A FEW NOTES ABOUT The Red Badge of Courage
I. Biography of Crane
-Born 1871 Newark, NJ.
-14th (and last) child in family.
-Father was Rev. Jonathan Crane, Methodist minister.
-Was noted for skepticism, kindness, and devotion to animals and sports.
-At college he focused on baseball, pool and poker.
-1893 published Maggie: A Girl of the Streets pseudonymously.
-1895 published The Red Badge of Courage as a book.
-1897-98 wrote “The Open Boat,” “ The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” and “The Blue Hotel.”
-Met Cora Howorth Stewart (or Cora Taylor) and enjoyed her company and conversation. They stayed together.
-Traveled as a reporter to Mexico, Greece, Cuba, Puerto Rico, among other places.
-March 1900 leaned over to pat a dog and found his mouth full of blood. Died 3 months later.
II. Conflicts in The Red Badge of Courage
-Man vs. Himself - Henry’s internal struggle
-Man vs. Nature - The soldiers out in the elements, in the forest; their physical needs for food, water, etc.
-Man vs. Man - the battle itself and the soldiers’ struggle among themselves arguing
-Romantic vs. Realistic - Henry’s romantic ideas of war and heroes versus the reality of a not-so-pretty nor so heroic war
III. Point of View
-Story is written from the omniscient point of view although we mostly see things from Henry’s perspective.
-There are lots of references to point of view in the novel, as if point of view were itself a theme
-perhaps that a person’s point of view determines their own reality.
-Some point of view references:
a. Chapter 8, ¶ 7 “Reflecting, he saw a sort of humor in the point of view of himself and his fellow during the late encounter.”
b. Chapter 14, ¶ 15 “Apparently, the other had now climbed a peak of wisdom from which he could perceive himself as a very wee thing.”
c. Chapter 22, ¶ 13 “He was deeply absorbed as a spectator.”
d. Chapter 24, ¶ 14 “From this present view point he was enabled to look upon them in spectator fashion and to criticize them with some correctness, for his new condition had already defeated certain sympathies.”
e. Chapter 24 ¶ 15 “He spent delightful minutes viewing the gilded images of memory.”
IV. Structure of the novel
Chapters 1 - 5 Henry as thoughtful youth vs. rowdy and common regiment
Chapters 6 - 12 Henry is introduced to death in war and nature
Chapters 13 - 16 Wilson has matured; Henry is still an adolescent
Chapters 17 - 23 Henry matures and joins the battle on Wilson’s level; they both join completely with the regiment.
Chapter 24 Henry reflects on his experiences and summarizes his thoughts.
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Red Badge Courage •
Wind From An Enemy Sky
Class Wiki for Wind from an Enemy Sky
Fri March 6 Chap 1-2 (1-25)
Mon, March 9 Chap 3-4 (26-39)
Tues, Mar 10 Chap 5-6 (40-52)
Wed, Mar 11 Chap 7-8 (53-65)
Thurs, Mar 12 Chap 9-10 (66-85)
Fri, Mar 13 Chap 11-12 (86-100)
Mon, Mar 16 Chap 13-14 (101-111)
Tues, Mar 17 Chap 15-16 (112 - 128)
Wed, Mar 18 Chap 17-18 (129-151)
Thurs, Mar 19 Chap 19-20 (152-173)
Fri, Mar 20 Chap 21-22 (174-187)
Mon, Mar 23 Chap 23-24 (188-198)
Tues, Mar 24 Chap 25-26 (199-215)
Wed, Mar 25 Chap 27-28 (216-226)
Thurs, Mar 26 Chap 29-30 (227-241)
Fri, Mar 27 Chap 31-32 (242-258)
Discussion Leader Guidelines
Summarizer Guidelines
Passage_Master Guidelines
Word_Reporter Guidelines
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Advanced Placement • Contemporary •
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Today's Assignments
Advanced English 11:
Fri, Jan 16
Assignment: Eng11: Read Martin Luther King
Watch video Part 3: Thoreau and Individualism
Read “Letter from Birmingham Jail” p. 256-257
English 11:
Fri, Jan 16Assignment: Eng11: Read Martin Luther King
Watch video Part 3: Thoreau and Individualism
Read “Letter from Birmingham Jail” p. 256-257
English 11 Cohort:
Montana Literature:
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