Name: Class:
A Matter of Prejudice By Kate Chopin 1894
Kate Chopin (1850-1904) was an American author and a forerunner of many twentieth-century feminist writers. “A Matter of Prejudice,” takes place in an upper class neighborhood of the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. As you read, take notes on how Madame Carambeau is described, and what drives her opinions. Who is prejudiced in this story, and why?
[1] Madame Carambeau wanted it strictly understood that she was not to be disturbed by Gustave's birthday party. They carried her big rocking-chair from the back gallery, that looked out upon the garden where the children were going to play, around to the front gallery, which closely faced the green levee1 bank and the Mississippi2 coursing almost flush with the top of it.
The house — an old Spanish one, broad, low and completely encircled by a wide gallery — was far down in the French quarter of New Orleans. It "Garden District Home" by Danielle Bauer is licensed under CC BY- stood upon a square of ground that was covered NC 2.0 thick with a semi-tropical growth of plants and flowers. An impenetrable3 board fence, edged with a formidable4 row of iron spikes, shielded the garden from the prying glances of the occasional passer-by.
Madame Carambeau's widowed daughter, Madame Cécile Lalonde, lived with her. This annual party, given to her little son, Gustave, was the one defiant act of Madame Lalonde's existence. She persisted in it, to her own astonishment and the wonder of those who knew her and her mother.
For old Madame Carambeau was a woman of many prejudices — so many, in fact, that it would be difficult to name them all. She detested dogs, cats, organ-grinders,5 white servants and children's noises. She despised Americans, Germans and all people of a different faith from her own. Anything not French had, in her opinion, little right to existence.
[5] She had not spoken to her son Henri for ten years because he had married an American girl from Prytania street. She would not permit green tea to be introduced into her house, and those who could not or would not drink coffee might drink tisane of fleur de Laurier6 for all she cared.
1. Here, a “levee” refers to a riverbank that has been raised in order to prevent flooding. 2. The Mississippi River stretches over 2,000 miles from Minnesota all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. 3. Here, “impenetrable” means impossible to pass through with the eyes, i.e. impossible to see beyond. 4. Formidable (adjective): causing fear or awe, often due to great size, power, or difficulty to overcome 5. An organ-grinder is a street musician who plays a barrel organ. 6. an herbal tea, consumed especially for its medicinal properties 1 Nevertheless, the children seemed to be having it all their own way that day, and the organ-grinders were let loose. Old madame, in her retired corner, could hear the screams, the laughter and the music far more distinctly than she liked. She rocked herself noisily, and hummed "Partant pour la Syrie."7
She was straight and slender. Her hair was white, and she wore it in puffs on the temples. Her skin was fair and her eyes blue and cold.
Suddenly she became aware that footsteps were approaching, and threatening to invade her privacy — not only footsteps, but screams! Then two little children, one in hot pursuit of the other, darted wildly around the corner near which she sat.
The child in advance, a pretty little girl, sprang excitedly into Madame Carambeau's lap, and threw her arms convulsively8 around the old lady's neck. Her companion lightly struck her a "last tag," and ran laughing gleefully away.
[10] The most natural thing for the child to do then would have been to wriggle down from madame's lap, without a "thank you" or a "by your leave," after the manner of small and thoughtless children. But she did not do this. She stayed there, panting and fluttering, like a frightened bird.
Madame was greatly annoyed. She moved as if to put the child away from her, and scolded her sharply for being boisterous9 and rude. The little one, who did not understand French, was not disturbed by the reprimand,10 and stayed on in madame's lap. She rested her plump little cheek, that was hot and flushed, against the soft white linen of the old lady's gown.
Her cheek was very hot and very flushed. It was dry, too, and so were her hands. The child's breathing was quick and irregular. Madame was not long in detecting these signs of disturbance.
Though she was a creature of prejudice, she was nevertheless a skillful and accomplished nurse, and a connoisseur11 in all matters pertaining to health. She prided herself upon this talent, and never lost an opportunity of exercising it. She would have treated an organ-grinder with tender consideration if one had presented himself in the character of an invalid.12
Madame's manner toward the little one changed immediately. Her arms and her lap were at once adjusted so as to become the most comfortable of resting places. She rocked very gently to and fro. She fanned the child softly with her palm leaf fan, and sang "Partant pour la Syrie" in a low and agreeable tone.
[15] The child was perfectly content to lie still and prattle a little in that language which madame thought hideous. But the brown eyes were soon swimming in drowsiness, and the little body grew heavy with sleep in madame's clasp.
7. French for “Departing for Syria” — a French song inspired by Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign 8. moving in an irregular way, often with sudden spasms 9. Boisterous (adjective): noisy, energetic, or wild 10. Reprimand (noun): a scolding 11. Connoisseur (noun): an expert in a particular subject 12. someone who is sick with a disease or a serious medical condition 2 When the little girl slept Madame Carambeau arose, and treading carefully and deliberately, entered her room, that opened near at hand upon the gallery. The room was large, airy and inviting, with its cool matting upon the floor, and its heavy, old, polished mahogany13 furniture. Madame, with the child still in her arms, pulled a bell-cord;14 then she stood waiting, swaying gently back and forth. Presently an old black woman answered the summons. She wore gold hoops in her ears, and a bright bandanna knotted fantastically on her head.
"Louise, turn down the bed," commanded madame. "Place that small, soft pillow below the bolster. Here is a poor little unfortunate creature whom Providence15 must have driven into my arms." She laid the child carefully down.
"Ah, those Americans! Do they deserve to have children? Understanding as little as they do how to take care of them!" said madame, while Louise was mumbling an accompanying assent that would have been unintelligible to any one unacquainted with the negro patois.16
"There, you see, Louise, she is burning up," remarked madame; "she is consumed. Unfasten the little bodice17 while I lift her. Ah, talk to me of such parents! So stupid as not to perceive a fever like that coming on, but they must dress their child up like a monkey to go play and dance to the music of organ-grinders.
[20] "Haven't you better sense, Louise, than to take off a child's shoe as if you were removing the boot from the leg of a cavalry18 officer?" Madame would have required fairy fingers to minister to the sick. "Now go to Mamzelle Cécile, and tell her to send me one of those old, soft, thin nightgowns that Gustave wore two summers ago."
When the woman retired, madame busied herself with concocting19 a cooling pitcher of orange-flower water, and mixing a fresh supply of eau sédative20 with which agreeably to sponge the little invalid.
Madame Lalonde came herself with the old, soft nightgown. She was a pretty, blonde, plump little woman, with the deprecatory21 air of one whose will has become flaccid22 from want of use. She was mildly distressed at what her mother had done.
"But, mamma! But, mamma, the child's parents will be sending the carriage for her in a little while. Really, there was no use. Oh dear! oh dear!"
If the bedpost had spoken to Madame Carambeau, she would have paid more attention, for speech from such a source would have been at least surprising if not convincing. Madame Lalonde did not possess the faculty23 of either surprising or convincing her mother.
13. a reddish-brown wood 14. a cord that rings a bell when pulled (often for summoning a servant) 15. “Providence” is a term that can refer to God or to the guidance believed to be provided by God. 16. a regional dialect or jargon 17. the upper part of a dress 18. troops mounted on horseback 19. Concoct (verb): to make a food or drink by combining various ingredients 20. a medicinal balm or lotion, used for curing migraines, rheumatisms, etc. 21. Deprecatory (adjective): seeking to avoid disapproval, often by apologizing frequently 22. lacking strength or force 23. the ability or power to do something 3 [25] "Yes, the little one will be quite comfortable in this," said the old lady, taking the garment from her daughter's irresolute24 hands.
"But, mamma! What shall I say, what shall I do when they send? Oh, dear; oh, dear!"
"That is your business," replied madame, with lofty indifference.25 "My concern is solely with a sick child that happens to be under my roof. I think I know my duty at this time of life, Cécile."
As Madame Lalonde predicted, the carriage soon came, with a stiff English coachman driving it, and a red-checked Irish nurse-maid seated inside. Madame would not even permit the maid to see her little charge. She had an original theory that the Irish voice is distressing to the sick.
Madame Lalonde sent the girl away with a long letter of explanation that must have satisfied the parents; for the child was left undisturbed in Madame Carambeau's care. She was a sweet child, gentle and affectionate. And, though she cried and fretted a little throughout the night for her mother, she seemed, after all, to take kindly to madame's gentle nursing. It was not much of a fever that afflicted26 her, and after two days she was well enough to be sent back to her parents.
[30] Madame, in all her varied experience with the sick, had never before nursed so objectionable a character as an American child. But the trouble was that after the little one went away, she could think of nothing really objectionable against her except the accident of her birth, which was, after all, her misfortune; and her ignorance of the French language, which was not her fault.
But the touch of the caressing baby arms; the pressure of the soft little body in the night; the tones of the voice, and the feeling of the hot lips when the child kissed her, believing herself to be with her mother, were impressions that had sunk through the crust of madame's prejudice and reached her heart.
She often walked the length of the gallery, looking out across the wide, majestic river. Sometimes she trod the mazes of her garden where the solitude was almost that of a tropical jungle. It was during such moments that the seed began to work in her soul — the seed planted by the innocent and undesigning27 hands of a little child.
The first shoot that it sent forth was Doubt. Madame plucked it away once or twice. But it sprouted again, and with it Mistrust and Dissatisfaction. Then from the heart of the seed, and amid the shoots of Doubt and Misgiving, came the flower of Truth. It was a very beautiful flower, and it bloomed on Christmas morning.
As Madame Carambeau and her daughter were about to enter her carriage on that Christmas morning, to be driven to church, the old lady stopped to give an order to her black coachman, François. François had been driving these ladies every Sunday morning to the French Cathedral for so many years — he had forgotten exactly how many, but ever since he had entered their service, when Madame Lalonde was a little girl. His astonishment may therefore be imagined when Madame Carambeau said to him:
24. Irresolute (adjective): uncertain how to act or proceed 25. Indifference (noun): a lack of interest, concern, or sympathy 26. Afflict (verb): to cause pain or suffering 27. without hidden or selfish motives 4 [35] "François, to-day you will drive us to one of the American churches."
"Plait-il, madame?"28 the negro stammered, doubting the evidence of his hearing.
"I say, you will drive us to one of the American churches. Any one of them," she added, with a sweep of her hand. "I suppose they are all alike," and she followed her daughter into the carriage.
Madame Lalonde's surprise and agitation were painful to see, and they deprived her of the ability to question, even if she had possessed the courage to do so.
François, left to his fancy, drove them to St. Patrick's Church on Camp street. Madame Lalonde looked and felt like the proverbial29 fish out of its element as they entered the edifice.30 Madame Carambeau, on the contrary, looked as if she had been attending St. Patrick's church all her life. She sat with unruffled calm through the long service and through a lengthy English sermon, of which she did not understand a word.
[40] When the mass was ended and they were about to enter the carriage again, Madame Carambeau turned, as she had done before, to the coachman.
"François," she said, coolly, "you will now drive us to the residence of my son, M. Henri Carambeau. No doubt Mamzelle Cécile can inform you where it is," she added, with a sharply penetrating glance that caused Madame Lalonde to wince.
Yes, her daughter Cécile knew, and so did François, for that matter. They drove out St. Charles avenue — very far out. It was like a strange city to old madame, who had not been in the American quarter since the town had taken on this new and splendid growth.
The morning was a delicious one, soft and mild; and the roses were all in bloom. They were not hidden behind spiked fences. Madame appeared not to notice them, or the beautiful and striking residences that lined the avenue along which they drove. She held a bottle of smelling-salts to her nostrils, as though she were passing through the most unsavory31 instead of the most beautiful quarter of New Orleans.
Henri's house was a very modern and very handsome one, standing a little distance away from the street. A well-kept lawn, studded with rare and charming plants, surrounded it. The ladies, dismounting, rang the bell, and stood out upon the banquette,32 waiting for the iron gate to be opened.
[45] A white maid-servant admitted them. Madame did not seem to mind. She handed her a card with all proper ceremony, and followed with her daughter to the house.
28. a French phrase that means roughly “I beg your pardon, Madame?” 29. from a well-known saying or expression (here, the expression is most likely “a fish out of water”) 30. a building, especially a large and imposing one 31. Unsavory (adjective): unpleasant or morally offensive 32. a footbridge or foot path 5 Not once did she show a sign of weakness; not even when her son, Henri, came and took her in his arms and sobbed and wept upon her neck as only a warm-hearted Creole33 could. He was a big, good- looking, honest-faced man, with tender brown eyes like his dead father's and a firm mouth like his mother's.
Young Mrs. Carambeau came, too, her sweet, fresh face transfigured with happiness. She led by the hand her little daughter, the "American child" whom madame had nursed so tenderly a month before, never suspecting the little one to be other than an alien to her.
"What a lucky chance was that fever! What a happy accident!" gurgled Madame Lalonde.
"Cécile, it was no accident, I tell you; it was Providence," spoke madame, reprovingly,34 and no one contradicted her.
[50] They all drove back together to eat Christmas dinner in the old house by the river. Madame held her little granddaughter upon her lap; her son Henri sat facing her, and beside her was her daughter-in- law.
Henri sat back in the carriage and could not speak. His soul was possessed by a pathetic joy that would not admit of speech. He was going back again to the home where he was born, after a banishment of ten long years.
He would hear again the water beat against the green levee-bank with a sound that was not quite like any other that he could remember. He would sit within the sweet and solemn shadow of the deep and overhanging roof; and roam through the wild, rich solitude of the old garden, where he had played his pranks of boyhood and dreamed his dreams of youth. He would listen to his mother's voice calling him, "mon fils,"35 as it had always done before that day he had had to choose between mother and wife. No; he could not speak.
But his wife chatted much and pleasantly — in a French, however, that must have been trying to old madame to listen to.
"I am so sorry, ma mère,"36 she said, "that our little one does not speak French. It is not my fault, I assure you," and she flushed and hesitated a little. "It — it was Henri who would not permit it."
[55] "That is nothing," replied madame, amiably,37 drawing the child close to her. "Her grandmother will teach her French; and she will teach her grandmother English. You see, I have no prejudices. I am not like my son. Henri was always a stubborn boy. Heaven only knows how he came by such a character!"
"A Matter of Prejudice" by Kate Chopin (1894) is in the public domain.
33. Here, “Creole” refers to people of French ancestry who are born in Louisiana. 34. Reprove (verb): to scold gently or with kindly intent 35. French for “my son” 36. French for “my mother” 37. Amiable (adjective): having or displaying a friendly and pleasant manner 6 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. PART A: How is Madame Carambeau characterized in the beginning of the story? A. Wealthy and highly skilled B. Snobby and opinionated C. Nurturing and supportive D. Concerned with correctness
2. PART B: Which paragraph from the text provides the best support for the answer to Part A? A. Paragraph 1 B. Paragraph 4 C. Paragraph 6 D. Paragraph 7
3. PART A: Why does the little girl make such an impression on Madame Carambeau? A. Madame Carambeau realizes that the girl had horrible parents B. Madame Carambeau believes that the child’s health was more important than her background C. Madame Carambeau realizes that she had been too hard on her own son D. Madame Carambeau was afraid of the child’s parents thinking she was the reason the little girl was sick
4. PART B: Which of the following quotations best illustrates Madame Carambeau’s change of heart as described in Part A? A. “Her arms and her lap were at once adjusted so as to become the most comfortable of resting places.” (Paragraph 14) B. “The child was perfectly content to lie still and prattle a little in that language which madame thought hideous.” (Paragraph 15) C. “When the little girl slept Madame Carambeau arose, and treading carefully and deliberately, entered her room” (Paragraph 16) D. “Madame, in all her varied experience with the sick, had never before nursed so objectionable a character as an American child.” (Paragraph 30)
7 5. PART A: How does the “flower of Truth” metaphor in paragraph 33 change the tone of the story?
6. PART B: Which paragraph most directly reinforces the tone created in paragraph 33? A. Paragraph 43 B. Paragraph 47 C. Paragraph 49 D. Paragraph 55
7. PART A: What effect did Madame Carambeau’s overall attitude have on her son, Henri? A. Henri married an American woman to spite his mother. B. Henri made sure to never be as close-minded as his mother. C. Henri distanced himself and his family from French culture and traditions. D. Henri refused to have contact with his mother for ten years.
8. PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A? A. “They all drove back together to eat Christmas dinner in the old house by the river.” (Paragraph 50) B. “He was going back again to the home where he was born, after a banishment of ten long years.” (Paragraph 51) C. “…in a French, however, that must have been trying to old madame to listen to.” (Paragraph 53) D. “It - it was Henri who would not permit it.” (Paragraph 54)
9. Which of the following best illustrates a theme of the story? A. Prejudice is often based in misunderstanding and stubbornness. B. Children are the best common ground for people with differences. C. Family bonds are stronger than disagreements over culture. D. Often, prejudiced people don’t realize they are prejudiced.
8 10. What is ironic about the last paragraph in the story, and how does this irony contribute to the story’s theme?
9 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. What are the effects of prejudice and discrimination? Use evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature or art to answer this question.
10 Name: Class:
A Respectable Woman By Kate Chopin 1894
Kate Chopin (1850-1904) was an American author of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. She is considered one of the leading feminist writers of the 20th-century. This story begins with a married woman’s disappointment over the visit of her husband’s friend. As you read, take notes on how Mrs. Baroda’s feelings develop over the course of the text.
[1] Mrs. Baroda was a little provoked to learn that her husband expected his friend, Gouvernail, up to spend a week or two on the plantation.1 They had entertained a good deal during the winter; much of the time had also been passed in New Orleans in various forms of mild dissipation.2 She was looking forward to a period of unbroken rest, now, and undisturbed tête-a-tête3 with her husband, when he informed her that Gouvernail was coming up to stay a week or two.
This was a man she had heard much of but never seen. He had been her husband’s college friend;
was now a journalist, and in no sense a society "20100506_0737 Oak Alley plantation bench" by dutchbaby is man or “a man about town,” which were, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. perhaps, some of the reasons she had never met him. But she had unconsciously formed an image of him in her mind. She pictured him tall, slim, cynical;4 with eye-glasses, and his hands in his pockets; and she did not like him. Gouvernail was slim enough, but he wasn’t very tall nor very cynical; neither did he wear eye-glasses nor carry his hands in his pockets. And she rather liked him when he first presented himself.
But why she liked him she could not explain satisfactorily to herself when she partly attempted to do so. She could discover in him none of those brilliant and promising traits which Gaston, her husband, had often assured her that he possessed. On the contrary, he sat rather mute and receptive before her chatty eagerness to make him feel at home and in the face of Gaston’s frank and wordy hospitality.5 His manner was as courteous toward her as the most exacting woman could require; but he made no direct appeal to her approval or even esteem.6
Once settled at the plantation he seemed to like to sit upon the wide portico7 in the shade of one of the big Corinthian pillars,8 smoking his cigar lazily and listening attentively to Gaston’s experience as a sugar planter.
1. a large farm or estate on which crops are cultivated 2. acts of self-indulgence 3. a French phrase referring to a private conversation between two people 4. Cynical (adjective): believing that people are generally selfish 5. Hospitality (noun): friendly and generous treatment of guests 6. Esteem (noun): the degree of respect or liking that one feels for another person 7. a structure consisting of a roof supported by columns, usually attached to a building as a porch 1 [5] “This is what I call living,” he would utter with deep satisfaction, as the air that swept across the sugar field caressed him with its warm and scented velvety touch. It pleased him also to get on familiar terms with the big dogs that came about him, rubbing themselves sociably against his legs. He did not care to fish, and displayed no eagerness to go out and kill grosbecs9 when Gaston proposed doing so.
Gouvernail’s personality puzzled Mrs. Baroda, but she liked him. Indeed, he was a lovable, inoffensive fellow. After a few days, when she could understand him no better than at first, she gave over being puzzled and remained piqued.10 In this mood she left her husband and her guest, for the most part, alone together. Then finding that Gouvernail took no manner of exception to her action, she imposed her society upon him, accompanying him in his idle11 strolls to the mill and walks along the batture.12 She persistently sought to penetrate the reserve in which he had unconsciously enveloped himself.
“When is he going — your friend?” she one day asked her husband. “For my part, he tires me frightfully.”
“Not for a week yet, dear. I can’t understand; he gives you no trouble.”
“No. I should like him better if he did; if he were more like others, and I had to plan somewhat for his comfort and enjoyment.”
[10] Gaston took his wife’s pretty face between his hands and looked tenderly and laughingly into her troubled eyes. They were making a bit of toilet13 sociably together in Mrs. Baroda’s dressing-room.
“You are full of surprises, ma belle,”14 he said to her. “Even I can never count upon how you are going to act under given conditions.” He kissed her and turned to fasten his cravat15 before the mirror.
“Here you are,” he went on, “taking poor Gouvernail seriously and making a commotion over him, the last thing he would desire or expect.”
“Commotion!” she hotly resented. “Nonsense! How can you say such a thing? Commotion, indeed! But, you know, you said he was clever.”
“So he is. But the poor fellow is run down by overwork now. That’s why I asked him here to take a rest.”
[15] “You used to say he was a man of ideas,” she retorted, unconciliated.16 “I expected him to be interesting, at least. I’m going to the city in the morning to have my spring gowns fitted. Let me know when Mr. Gouvernail is gone; I shall be at my Aunt Octavie’s.”
8. slender and elaborate pillars in a Greek architectural style 9. a type of finch 10. irritated or resentful 11. Idle (adjective): not busy, working, or active 12. a river bed that has been elevated 13. getting ready or making oneself presentable to go outside 14. French for “my beautiful one” 15. a necktie 16. still angry or distrustful 2 That night she went and sat alone upon a bench that stood beneath a live oak tree at the edge of the gravel walk. She had never known her thoughts or her intentions to be so confused. She could gather nothing from them but the feeling of a distinct necessity to quit her home in the morning.
Mrs. Baroda heard footsteps crunching the gravel; but could discern17 in the darkness only the approaching red point of a lighted cigar. She knew it was Gouvernail, for her husband did not smoke. She hoped to remain unnoticed, but her white gown revealed her to him. He threw away his cigar and seated himself upon the bench beside her; without a suspicion that she might object to his presence.
“Your husband told me to bring this to you, Mrs. Baroda,” he said, handing her a filmy, white scarf with which she sometimes enveloped her head and shoulders. She accepted the scarf from him with a murmur of thanks, and let it lie in her lap.
He made some commonplace observation upon the baneful18 effect of the night air at that season. Then as his gaze reached out into the darkness, he murmured, half to himself:
“‘Night of south winds — night of the large few stars!
Still nodding night —’”19
[20] She made no reply to this apostrophe20 to the night, which indeed, was not addressed to her.
Gouvernail was in no sense a diffident21 man, for he was not a self-conscious one. His periods of reserve were not constitutional, but the result of moods. Sitting there beside Mrs. Baroda, his silence melted for the time.
He talked freely and intimately in a low, hesitating drawl that was not unpleasant to hear. He talked of the old college days when he and Gaston had been a good deal to each other; of the days of keen and blind ambitions and large intentions. Now there was left with him, at least, a philosophic acquiescence22 to the existing order — only a desire to be permitted to exist, with now and then a little whiff of genuine life, such as he was breathing now.
Her mind only vaguely grasped what he was saying. Her physical being was for the moment predominant. She was not thinking of his words, only drinking in the tones of his voice. She wanted to reach out her hand in the darkness and touch him with the sensitive tips of her fingers upon the face or the lips. She wanted to draw close to him and whisper against his cheek — she did not care what — as she might have done if she had not been a respectable woman.
The stronger the impulse grew to bring herself near him, the further, in fact, did she draw away from him. As soon as she could do so without an appearance of too great rudeness, she rose and left him there alone.
17. Discern (verb): to detect or distinguish with the eyes 18. harmful 19. These lines are a quote from a poetry collection by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) titled Leaves of Grass. 20. As a literary term, “apostrophe” refers to moments in which a speaker addresses an absent or imaginary character. 21. Diffident (adjective): modest or shy because of a lack of self-confidence 22. Acquiescence (noun): a reluctant acceptance of something without protest 3 [25] Before she reached the house, Gouvernail had lighted a fresh cigar and ended his apostrophe to the night.
Mrs. Baroda was greatly tempted that night to tell her husband — who was also her friend — of this folly23 that had seized her. But she did not yield to the temptation. Beside being a respectable woman she was a very sensible one; and she knew there are some battles in life which a human being must fight alone.
When Gaston arose in the morning, his wife had already departed. She had taken an early morning train to the city. She did not return till Gouvernail was gone from under her roof.
There was some talk of having him back during the summer that followed. That is, Gaston greatly desired it; but this desire yielded to his wife’s strenuous24 opposition.
However, before the year ended, she proposed, wholly from herself, to have Gouvernail visit them again. Her husband was surprised and delighted with the suggestion coming from her.
[30] “I am glad, chère amie,25 to know that you have finally overcome your dislike for him; truly he did not deserve it.”
“Oh,” she told him, laughingly, after pressing a long, tender kiss upon his lips, “I have overcome everything! you will see. This time I shall be very nice to him.”
“A Respectable Woman” (1894) by Kate Chopin is in the public domain.
23. foolishness 24. Strenuous (adjective): very energetic, or requiring great energy 25. French for “dear friend” 4 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. PART A: Which of the following statements best identifies the theme of the text? A. Social expectations influence how people behave, but individuals choose how much they follow them. B. The ability for a person to follow their head over their heart is a sign of strong character. C. The love shared by a married couple grows stronger when it encounters and overcomes obstacles. D. Men are not held to the same social standards as women, and they are able to get away with scandalous behavior more easily.
2. PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A? A. “Gouvernail’s personality puzzled Mrs. Baroda, but she liked him. Indeed, he was a lovable, inoffensive fellow.” (Paragraph 6) B. “‘Here you are,’ he went on, ‘taking poor Gouvernail seriously and making a commotion over him, the last thing he would desire or expect.’” (Paragraph 12) C. “She wanted to draw close to him and whisper against his cheek — she did not care what — as she might have done if she had not been a respectable woman. (Paragraph 23) D. “Mrs. Baroda was greatly tempted that night to tell her husband — who was also her friend — of this folly that had seized her.” (Paragraph 26)
3. What can the reader infer about Mr. Baroda from his conversation with Mrs. Baroda in paragraphs 7-15? A. He believes his wife is a bad hostess and that she brings embarrassment to their family. B. He cares about being considerate to his friend and believes that his wife is worried for no reason. C. He thinks his wife is too straight-forward in her interactions with others. D. He is suspicious of his wife’s feelings towards Gouvernail, and he wants her to leave for the city.
4. What is the effect of the author’s description of Mrs. Baroda’s dress in paragraph 17? A. It emphasizes Mrs. Baroda’s wealth and riches. B. It shows that Mrs. Baroda can no longer hide her feelings for Gouvernail. C. It depicts Mrs. Baroda’s commitment to her husband as unwavering. D. It draws attention to Mrs. Baroda’s virtue and propriety.
5 5. What is the effect of the author choosing to conclude the story with Mrs. Baroda’s suggestion that Gouvernail visit?
6 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. Do you think Mrs. Baroda has overcome her feelings for Gouvernail? Why or why not?
2. In your opinion, do the Barodas have a good marriage? Why or why not?
3. In the context of the text, what drives a person to betray? Do you think Mrs. Baroda betrayed her husband in any way? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
4. In the context of the text, how do we define the roles of men and women? What characteristics does Mrs. Baroda associate with being a woman? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
5. In the context of the text, how does love emerge? Why is Mrs. Baroda attracted to Gouvernail and how do these feelings develop? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
7 Name: Class:
After Twenty Years By O. Henry 1905
William Sydney Porter (1862-1910) was an American writer better known by his pen name, O. Henry. “After Twenty Years,” published in 1908, is one of his better known short stories that shows how complicated friendship can be. As you read, take notes on the imagery used in the story.
[1] The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators1 were few. The time was barely 10 o'clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well nigh depeopled the streets.
Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace. The vicinity was one that kept early hours. Now and then you might see the lights of a cigar store or of an all-night lunch counter; but the majority of the doors belonged to business places that had long since been closed.
When about midway of a certain block the policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned, with an unlighted cigar in his mouth. As the policeman walked up to him the man spoke up quickly.
"It's all right, officer," he said, reassuringly. "I'm "Night Walk" by Matthias Ripp is licensed under CC BY 2.0 just waiting for a friend. It's an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little funny to you, doesn't it? Well, I'll explain if you'd like to make certain it's all straight. About that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands — 'Big Joe' Brady's restaurant."
[5] "Until five years ago," said the policeman. "It was torn down then."
1. Spectator (noun): someone who looks on or watches (a performance or other public event) 1 The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarfpin was a large diamond, oddly set.
"Twenty years ago to-night," said the man, "I dined here at 'Big Joe' Brady's with Jimmy Wells, my best chum, and the finest chap in the world. He and I were raised here in New York, just like two brothers, together. I was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty. The next morning I was to start for the West to make my fortune. You couldn't have dragged Jimmy out of New York; he thought it was the only place on earth. Well, we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time, no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our destiny worked out and our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be."
"It sounds pretty interesting," said the policeman. "Rather a long time between meets, though, it seems to me. Haven't you heard from your friend since you left?"
"Well, yes, for a time we corresponded," said the other. "But after a year or two we lost track of each other. You see, the West is a pretty big proposition,2 and I kept hustling around over it pretty lively. But I know Jimmy will meet me here if he's alive, for he always was the truest, stanchest3 old chap in the world. He'll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door to-night, and it's worth it if my old partner turns up."
[10] The waiting man pulled out a handsome watch, the lids of it set with small diamonds.
"Three minutes to ten," he announced. "It was exactly ten o'clock when we parted here at the restaurant door."
"Did pretty well out West, didn't you?" asked the policeman.
"You bet! I hope Jimmy has done half as well. He was a kind of plodder,4 though, good fellow as he was. I've had to compete with some of the sharpest wits going to get my pile. A man gets in a groove in New York. It takes the West to put a razor-edge on him."
The policeman twirled his club and took a step or two.
[15] "I'll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Going to call time on him sharp?"
"I should say not!" said the other. "I'll give him half an hour at least. If Jimmy is alive on earth he'll be here by that time. So long, officer."
"Good-night, sir," said the policeman, passing on along his beat, trying doors as he went.
2. Proposition (noun): something (such as a plan or offer) that is presented to a person or group of people to consider 3. Perhaps a form of "staunch," meaning of strong construction or conviction. 4. a person who works in a slow, uninspired manner; a person who plods 2 There was now a fine, cold drizzle falling, and the wind had risen from its uncertain puffs into a steady blow. The few foot passengers astir in that quarter hurried dismally5 and silently along with coat collars turned high and pocketed hands. And in the door of the hardware store the man who had come a thousand miles to fill an appointment, uncertain almost to absurdity, with the friend of his youth, smoked his cigar and waited.
About twenty minutes he waited, and then a tall man in a long overcoat, with collar turned up to his ears, hurried across from the opposite side of the street. He went directly to the waiting man.
[20] "Is that you, Bob?" he asked, doubtfully.
"Is that you, Jimmy Wells?" cried the man in the door.
"Bless my heart!" exclaimed the new arrival, grasping both the other's hands with his own. "It's Bob, sure as fate. I was certain I'd find you here if you were still in existence. Well, well, well! — twenty years is a long time. The old restaurant's gone, Bob; I wish it had lasted, so we could have had another dinner there. How has the West treated you, old man?"
"Bully; it has given me everything I asked it for. You've changed lots, Jimmy. I never thought you were so tall by two or three inches."
"Oh, I grew a bit after I was twenty."
[25] "Doing well in New York, Jimmy?"
"Moderately. I have a position in one of the city departments. Come on, Bob; we'll go around to a place I know of, and have a good long talk about old times."
The two men started up the street, arm in arm. The man from the West, his egotism enlarged by success, was beginning to outline the history of his career. The other, submerged in his overcoat, listened with interest.
At the corner stood a drug store, brilliant with electric lights. When they came into this glare each of them turned simultaneously6 to gaze upon the other's face.
The man from the West stopped suddenly and released his arm.
[30] "You're not Jimmy Wells," he snapped. "Twenty years is a long time, but not long enough to change a man's nose from a Roman to a pug."
"It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one," said the tall man. "You've been under arrest for ten minutes, 'Silky' Bob. Chicago thinks you may have dropped over our way and wires us she wants to have a chat with you. Going quietly, are you? That's sensible. Now, before we go on to the station here's a note I was asked to hand you. You may read it here at the window. It's from Patrolman Wells."
5. Dismal (adjective): showing or causing sadness; very bad or poor 6. Simultaneously (adverb): happening at the same time 3 The man from the West unfolded the little piece of paper handed him. His hand was steady when he began to read, but it trembled a little by the time he had finished. The note was rather short.
"Bob: I was at the appointed place on time. When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago. Somehow I couldn't do it myself, so I went around and got a plain clothes man to do the job. JIMMY."
"After Twenty Years" by O. Henry (1905) is in the public domain.
4 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. PART A: What does the word “stalwart” most closely mean as it is used in paragraph 2? A. Loyal and dedicated B. Rude and arrogant C. Threatening and scary D. Awkward and rigid
2. PART B: Which of the following phrases from paragraph 2 best supports the answer to Part A? A. "Trying doors as he went, twirling his club" B. “with many intricate and artful movements” C. “cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare” D. “a fine picture of a guardian of the peace”
3. PART A: Which of the following best describes a central theme of the text? A. Those who fight for justice will always be rewarded. B. Loyalty is absolute and must allow no room for disagreement. C. The decision between loyalty and doing what is right is a hard one to make. D. Money can help one make new friends, but not old.
4. PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A? A. “The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few.” (Paragraph 1) B. “But I know Jimmy will meet me here if he's alive, for he always was the truest, stanchest old chap in the world. He'll never forget.” (Paragraph 9) C. “The man from the West, his egotism enlarged by success, was beginning to outline the history of his career.” (Paragraph 27) D. “When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago. Somehow I couldn't do it myself, so I went around and got a plain clothes man to do the job.” (Paragraph 33)
5 5. Consider the imagery used in the story around darkness and light. Why is this imagery important?
6 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. Is this a strong friendship? How do you know?
2. How can morality (doing the right thing) complicate friendship?
3. Would you have done with Jimmy did to Bob? Why or why not?
4. In the context of this story, what is a friend? Use evidence from this text, your own experience, and other art, literature, or history in your answer.
7 Name: Class:
A Nation Divided: North vs. South By USHistory.org 2016
The American Civil War was fought within the United States from 1861 to 1865. The election of President Abraham Lincoln in 1860 increased tension between the North and South. Lincoln's political party was interested in stopping the spread of slavery, which was a central institution in the South. By May 1861, 11 Southern states had withdrawn from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America; the remaining Northern states was known as the Union. What followed was one of the bloodiest wars in American history. As you read, take notes on how the views of the North and South differed.
The Power of the North
[1] Within days of the fall of Fort Sumter,1 four more states joined the Confederacy: Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas.2 The battle lines were now drawn.
On paper, the Union outweighed the Confederacy in almost every way. Nearly 21 million people lived in 23 Northern states. The South claimed just 9 million people — including 3.5 million slaves — in Confederate states. Despite the North’s greater population, however, the South "Union soldiers before Marye’s Heights, Second Fredericksburg" by Andrew J. Russell is in the public domain. had an army almost equal in size during the first year of the war.
The North had an enormous industrial advantage as well. At the beginning of the war, the Confederacy had only one-ninth the industrial capacity of the Union. But that statistic was misleading. In 1860, the North manufactured 97 percent of the country’s firearms, 96 percent of its railroad locomotives, 94 percent of its cloth, 93 percent of its pig iron, and over 90 percent of its boots and shoes. The North had twice the density of railroads per square mile. There was not even one rifleworks3 in the entire South.
All of the principal ingredients of gunpowder were imported.4 Since the North controlled the navy, the seas were in the hands of the Union. A blockade5 could suffocate the South. Still, the Confederacy was not without resources and willpower.
1. The Battle of Fort Sumter was the first battle of the American Civil War. 2. 11 Southern slave-states made up the Confederacy; the original seven were South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. 3. a factory that produces rifles 4. to bring goods or services into a country from abroad for sale 5. A “blockade” is an act or means of sealing off a place to prevent good or people from entering or leaving. 1 The Subtle Strength of the South
[5] The South could produce all the food it needed, though transporting it to soldiers and civilians was a major problem. The South also had a great nucleus6 of trained officers. Seven of the eight military colleges in the country were in the South.
The South also proved to be very resourceful. By the end of the war, it had established armories7 and foundries in several states. They built huge gunpowder mills and melted down thousands of church and plantation bells for bronze to build cannons.
The South’s greatest strength lay in the fact that it was fighting on the defensive in its own territory. Familiar with the landscape, Southerners could harass Northern invaders.
The Uncertainties of War
The military and political objectives of the Union were much more difficult to accomplish. The Union had to invade, conquer, and occupy8 the South. It had to destroy the South’s capacity and will to resist — a formidable9 challenge in any war.
Southerners enjoyed the initial advantage of morale:10 The South was fighting to maintain its way of life, whereas the North was fighting to maintain a union. Slavery did not become a moral cause of the Union effort until Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.11
[10] When the war began, many key questions were still unanswered. What if the slave states of Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and Delaware had joined the Confederacy? What if Britain or France had come to the aid of the South? What if a few decisive early Confederate victories had turned Northern public opinion against the war?
Indeed, the North looked much better on paper. But many factors undetermined at the outbreak of war could have tilted the balance sheet toward a different outcome.
"A Nation Divided: North vs. South" by USHistory.org (2016) is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
6. a great mass or core 7. An “armory” is a place where weapons are kept. 8. to take control or possession of hostile territory 9. Formidable (adjective): causing fear or awe, often due to great size, power, or difficulty to overcome 10. Morale (noun): the feelings of enthusiasm and loyalty that a person or group has about a task or job 11. The Emancipation Proclamation was an Executive Order issued on September 22, 1862, which promised to begin freeing slaves in the Confederate states that remained in rebellion against the Union on January 1, 1863. 2 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. PART A: Which statement identifies the central idea of the text? A. The North was more powerful than the South and was always going to be the victor of the Civil War. B. Despite the obvious strength of the North, the outcome of the war was unpredictable at the time. C. The United States underestimated the strength of the South, giving it the upper hand. D. The sole cause of the Civil War was the South’s desire to preserve slavery in the United States.
2. PART B: Which quote from the text best supports the answer to Part A? A. “The North had an enormous industrial advantage as well.” (Paragraph 3) B. “The South’s greatest strength lay in the fact that it was fighting on the defensive in its own territory.” (Paragraph 7) C. “The South was fighting to maintain its way of life, whereas the North was fighting to maintain a union.” (Paragraph 9) D. “When the war began, many key questions were still unanswered.” (Paragraph 10)
3. PART A: What is a “foundry,” as discussed in paragraph 6? A. Fortress B. Metal factory C. Weaponry workshop D. Military workshop
4. PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A? A. “Seven of the eight military colleges in the country were in the South.” (Paragraph 5) B. “By the end of the war, it had established armories” (Paragraph 6) C. “melted down thousands of church and plantation bells for bronze to build cannon.” (Paragraph 6) D. “The South’s greatest strength lay in the fact that it was fighting on the defensive in its own territory.” (Paragraph 7)
3 5. How does paragraph 5 contribute to the development of ideas in the text?
4 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. Based on the information revealed in the text, what do you think was the ultimate reason the South lost to the North? What was their greatest weakness? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
2. In the context of the text, how has America changed over time? Do you still see America as a nation divided? Why or why not? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
5 Name: Class:
Censorship: For the People, or for Controlling the People? By Jessica McBirney 2016
Censorship has, and continues to be, a highly debated topic. Some people believe that in order to secure the safety of citizens, information should be closely censored. However, many other people believe that this is a violation of Americans’ rights. In this piece, Jessica McBirney identifies different forms of censorship, as well its benefits and disadvantages. As you read, pay close attention to the different types of censorship and consider the pros and cons of each.
[1] Have you ever been told not to say something? It is very common for families to have rules about what can or cannot be said at home, but as it turns out, governments do the very same thing. When a government passes a law restricting what people or organizations can say, it is called censorship.
Governments can censor anything, including spoken words, public or private written "Newtown Mural" by Miredforlego is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 communication, communication via the internet, art, movies and entertainment, news media, and even advertising. Censorship is an extremely controversial issue, and each country usually has its own reasons for passing these laws. However, there are a few core reasons why a government would want to restrict communication.
Types of Censorship
Moral Censorship
Moral censorship occurs when a government wants to protect its citizens from something it considers morally wrong or deplorable.1 For example, while the United States cannot censor hate speech because it is protected as “free speech” under the First Amendment, it can censor threatening language that could provoke violence. The government also requires television companies to “bleep” bad words from TV shows so the audience does not hear them.
Military Censorship
This type of censorship occurs when the government eliminates words from letters and newscasts about the military’s location or strategy during a war. This is to prevent enemies from intercepting2 any information that lets them know what the military is up to.
1. Deplorable (adjective): deserving strong disapproval or even punishment 2. Intercept (verb): to stop and take someone or something that is going from one place to another place before that person or thing gets there 1 [5] The United States practiced military censorship frequently in World War I and World War II. When a soldier sent a letter to his family, the government would first look through it and black out any words that might give away where he was, what he was doing, and any future plans he had heard. Similarly, the government monitored journalists and newscasters to make sure they did not give away any important information that might be useful to the enemy.
Political Censorship
Political censorship is when someone in power restricts others from voicing opposing ideas. A political leader or party might do this to maintain their top position and keep the public from learning about ways they might be wrong.
For example, the Communist Party in the Soviet Union3 during the late 1900s enforced severe political censorship. Inspectors from the party monitored journalists, writers, and artists to ensure they said nothing negative about the party or the Soviet Union itself. Weather reporters were not even allowed to predict that it might be raining on a holiday!
Religious Censorship
This type of censorship occurs when the dominant religion in a country does not allow people from other religions to share their beliefs. Usually when this is the case, the dominant religion is tied to the government in some way, which gives them the power to enforce these rules. They do this to maintain the unity and power of their religion in society, and to keep their own power intact.
One famous example of religious censorship happened right around 1600, when Galileo Galilei4 proved that the sun does not revolve around the earth, but that the earth revolves around the sun. This was directly against the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church at the time, and the Church worked hard to prevent him from spreading his discovery. They eventually forced him to lie and say he had been wrong about the whole thing, and he was sentenced to live out the rest of his life confined5 to his home.
Corporate Censorship
[10] Corporate censorship is when a company warns its employees not to say anything that might put the company in a negative light. This kind of censorship is a little different from the others, because it usually does not involve the government or any laws; instead, it might be the company’s own policy that employees feel they must follow so they don’t lose their job. For example, about 40% of reporters say they sometimes avoid writing a newsworthy story because it might say something bad about the company that owns their newspaper.
3. The founding and ruling political party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1991 4. An Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, and mathematician responsible for several scientific discovers throughout the 17th century 5. Confine (verb): to limit or restrict, often in a place 2 Pros and Cons
Censorship does have some benefits. It can protect people from slander6 or violent threats. It can strengthen national security by keeping information away from enemies. Some people believe it can make a society more unified or moral. Others support it because it can benefit certain groups in a country, such as the main political party or the main religion (although this is often at the expense of others).
However, there are also many downsides to these kinds of restrictions of communication. The government’s decision about what to censor can be random or unfair. Censorship also limits individual freedom to speak openly, and protest things that are not right. Suppressing7 opposing views can also hold back social progress and restrict people’s ability to learn more about the world and other people.
© 2016. Censorship: For the People, or for Controlling the People? by CommonLit is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
6. Slander (verb): intentionally making a false accusation against someone in order to hurt their reputation 7. Suppress (verb): to end or stop (something) by force 3 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. PART A: Which statement best identifies the central idea of the text? A. All forms of censorship identified in the article are violations of human rights and have no benefits. B. The censorship discussed in the article is only employed when necessary and for the benefit of the public. C. The article presents a complicated debate, in which censoring content is neither clearly right or wrong. D. It would be great to live in a world where information didn't need to be censored, but that's simply impossible.
2. PART B: Which detail best supports the answer to Part A? A. "Censorship is an extremely controversial issue, and each country usually has its own reasons for passing these laws." (Paragraph 2) B. “Governments can censor anything,” (Paragraph 2) C. “a government wants to protect its citizens” (Paragraph 3) D. “Censorship does have some benefits.” (Paragraph 11)
3. PART A: In the context of the passage, what does “controversial” mean as it is used in paragraph 2? A. Likely to cause disagreement B. Inspiring anger C. Agreeable D. Certain of something
4. PART B: Which statement from the text best supports the answer to Part A? A. “It is very common for families to have rules about what can or cannot be said at home,” (Paragraph 1) B. "Governments can censor anything, including spoken words, public or private written communication, communication via the internet, art, movies and entertainment, news media, and even advertising." (Paragraph 2) C. “there are a few core reasons why a government would want to restrict communication.” (Paragraph 2) D. “the United States cannot censor hate speech” (Paragraph 3)
4 5. How does paragraph 3 contribute to the overall central idea of the text?
5 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. Have you ever felt censured? How did it make you feel? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
2. In your opinion, when is censorship a good thing? When it is a bad thing? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
3. In the context of the text, which is more important: freedom or security? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
6 Name: Class:
Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls By Susan Stamberg 2010
The following article is a production of National Public Radio (NPR), written by Susan Stamberg. During WWII, a shortage of male pilots in the United States led to the formation of a group called WASP — the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Stamberg reports on this relatively little-known group, and its struggle for national and military recognition. As you read, take notes on the challenges these women faced as pilots and after their time in the program.
[1] In 1942, the United States was faced with a severe1 shortage of pilots, and leaders gambled on an experimental program to help fill the void: train women to fly military aircraft so male pilots could be released for combat duty overseas.
The group of female pilots was called the Women Airforce Service Pilots — WASP for short. In 1944, during the graduation ceremony for the last WASP training class, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces, Henry “Hap” Arnold, said that when the program started, he wasn’t sure “whether a slip of a girl could fight the controls of a B-17 in heavy weather.” "Group of Women Airforce Service Pilots and B-17 Flying Fortress" by U.S. Air Force is in the public domain. “Now in 1944, it is on the record that women can fly as well as men,” Arnold said.
A few more than 1,100 young women, all civilian2 volunteers, flew almost every type of military aircraft — including the B-26 and B-29 bombers3 — as part of the WASP program. They ferried new planes long distances from factories to military bases and departure points across the country. They tested newly overhauled planes. And they towed targets to give ground and air gunners training shooting — with live ammunition. The WASP expected to become part of the military during their service. Instead, the program was canceled after just two years.
[5] They weren’t granted military status until the 1970s. And now, 65 years after their service, they will receive the highest civilian honor given by the U.S. Congress. Last July, President Obama signed a bill awarding the WASP the Congressional Gold Medal. The ceremony will take place on Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
1. Severe (adjective): very great or intense; harsh or strict 2. describing someone not in the military or police force 3. A bomber is a combat aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry, firing torpedoes or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. 1 Women with Moxie
Margaret Phelan Taylor grew up on a farm in Iowa. She was 19, had just completed two years of college and was ready for adventure in 1943 when a Life magazine cover story on the female pilots caught her eye. Her brother was training to be a pilot with the Army. Why not her? She asked her father to lend her money for a pilot’s license — $500, a huge amount then.
“I told him I had to do it,” Taylor says. “And so he let me have the money. I don’t think I ever did pay it back to him either.”
But there was a problem. She was half an inch shorter than the 5-foot-2-inch requirement.
“I just stood on my tiptoes,” she says. When she arrived at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, where most of the WASP were trained, “Well, there were a lot of other short ones just like me, and we laughed about how we got in.”
[10] Short, tall, slim, wide, they all came in knowing how to fly. The military trained male pilots from scratch, but not the female civilian volunteers.
“They didn’t want to bring in a bunch of girls who didn’t know how to fly an airplane,” says Katherine Sharp Landdeck, associate professor of history at Texas Woman’s University, who’s writing a book about the WASP, tentatively4 called Against Prevailing Winds: The Women Airforce Service Pilots and American Society. “So you have women who are getting out of high school and taking every dime they had to learn how to fly so they could be a WASP.”
A Dangerous Job
Once when Taylor was ferrying an aircraft cross-country, somewhere between Arizona and California, she saw smoke in the cockpit. Taylor was trained to bail out if anything went wrong. “But the parachutes were way too big. They weren’t fitted to us,” she says. “The force of that air and that speed and everything, why that just rips stuff off you. You’d slip right out.”
So her plane was smoking and Taylor faced a defining moment.
“I thought, ‘You know what? I’m not going until I see flame. When I see actual fire, why, then I’ll jump.’”
[15] Was she scared? “No. I was never scared. My husband used to say, ‘It’s pretty hard to scare you.’”
The plane’s problem turned out to be a burned-out instrument.
But 38 female pilots did lose their lives serving their country. One was 26-year-old Mabel Rawlinson from Kalamazoo, Mich.
“I’ve always known of her as the family hero,” says Rawlinson’s niece, Pam Pohly, who never knew her aunt. “The one we lost too soon, the one that everyone loved and wished were still around.”
4. Tentative (adjective): without confidence or certainty 2 Rawlinson was stationed at Camp Davis in North Carolina. She was coming back from a night training exercise with her male instructor when the plane crashed. Marion Hanrahan, also a WASP at Camp Davis, wrote an eyewitness account:
I knew Mabel very well. We were both scheduled to check out on night flight in the A-24. My time preceded5 hers, but she offered to go first because I hadn’t had dinner yet. We were in the dining room and heard the siren that indicated a crash. We ran out onto the field. We saw the front of her plane engulfed in fire, and we could hear Mabel screaming. It was a nightmare.
[20] It’s believed that Rawlinson’s hatch malfunctioned, and she couldn’t get out. The other pilot was thrown from the plane and suffered serious injuries. Because Rawlinson was a civilian, the military was not required to pay for her funeral or pay for her remains to be sent home. So — and this is a common story — her fellow pilots pitched in.
“They collected enough money to ship her remains home by train,” says Pohly. “And a couple of her fellow WASP accompanied her casket.”
And, because Rawlinson wasn’t considered military, the American flag could not be draped over her coffin. Her family did it anyway.
The Program Is Pulled
The head of the WASP program was Jacqueline Cochran, a pioneering aviator. (After the war, she became the first woman to break the sound barrier.)6 Cochran’s goal was to train thousands of women to fly for the Army, not just a few dozen integrated7 into the men’s program. She wanted a separate women’s organization and believed militarization would follow if the program was a success. And it was. The women’s safety records were comparable and sometimes even better than their male counterparts doing the same jobs.
But in 1944, historian Landdeck says, the program came under threat. “It was a very controversial time for women flying aircraft. There was a debate about whether they were needed any longer,” Landdeck says.
[25] By the summer of 1944, the war seemed to be ending. Flight training programs were closing down, which meant that male civilian instructors were losing their jobs. Fearing the draft8 and being put into the ground Army, they lobbied for the women’s jobs.
“It was unacceptable to have women replacing men. They could release men for duty — that was patriotic — but they couldn’t replace men,” Landdeck says.
5. Precede (verb): to come before 6. “Breaking the sound barrier” refers to the point at which a vehicle or aircraft goes beyond the speed at which sound travels. 7. Integrate (verb): to make part of a larger unit or group 8. “The draft” refers to military conscription, in which people are made to enlist into military service instead of volunteer. 3 And so, Arnold announced the program would disband by December 1944, but those who were still in training could finish. The Lost Last Class, as it was dubbed, graduated, but served only 2 ½ weeks before being sent home on Dec. 20, along with all the other WASP.
Lillian Yonally served her country for more than a year as a WASP. When she was dismissed from her base in California, there was no ceremony. “Not a darn thing. It was told to us that we would be leaving the base. And we hopped airplanes to get back home.” Home for Yonally was across the country in Massachusetts.
That was a familiar story, but Landdeck says there were some bases that did throw parties or had full reviews for their departing WASP.
Riling The WASP’s Nest
[30] The women went on with their lives.
A few of them got piloting jobs after the war, but not with any of the major airlines. And some of them stayed in the air as airline stewardesses. In those days, no major commercial airline would hire these experienced women as pilots. Like many World War II veterans, most WASP never talked about their experiences.
And according to Taylor, they never expected anything either.
“We were children of the Depression.9 It was root hog or die. You had to take care of yourself. Nobody owed us anything,” she says.
The WASP kept in touch for a while. They even formed a reunion group after the war. But that didn’t last long. Then, in the 1960s, they began to find each other again. They had reunions. They started talking about pushing for military status. And then something happened in 1976 that riled the whole WASP’s nest.
[35] “The Air Force comes out and says that they are going to admit women to their flying program,” Landdeck says. An Air Force statement says “it’s the first time that the Air Force has allowed women to fly their aircraft.”
Thirty years later, that comment still upsets former WASP Yonally.
“It was impossible for anybody to say that. That wasn’t true. We were the first ones,” Yonally says.
The fact that the WASP were forgotten by their own Air Force united the women. They lobbied Congress to be militarized. And they persuaded Sen. Barry Goldwater to help. He ferried planes during the war, just as the WASP did. And then, in 1977, the WASP were finally granted military status.
9. The Great Depression (1929-39) was the longest-lasting economic downturn in the 20th century in the Western world. 4 Over the years it has been reported that the WASP records were sealed, stamped classified and unavailable to historians who wrote histories about WWII. According to archivists at the National Archives, military records containing reports about the WASP were treated no differently from other records from the war, which generally meant the WASP records weren’t open to researchers for 30 years. But unlike other stories from the war, the WASP story was rarely told or reported until the 1970s.
[40] "It’s hard to understand that they would be forgotten and difficult to believe that they would be left out of those histories. But even they forgot themselves for a while,” Landdeck says.
In 1992, to preserve their history, the WASP designated Texas Woman’s University in Denton as their official archives.
Yonally is proud to be honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, 65 years after her service, but she’s sad that fewer than 300 of her 1,100 fellow WASP are alive to receive it.
“I’m sorry that so many girls have passed on. It’s nice the families will receive it, but it doesn’t make up for the gals who knew what they did and weren’t honored that way,” Yonally says.
Taylor is also excited about the medal. She served her country out of loyalty, she says. That was certainly part of it. But the other reason? “I did it for the fun. I was a young girl and everybody had left and it was wartime. You didn’t want to get stuck in a hole in Iowa; you wanted to see what was going on.”
©2010 National Public Radio, Inc. News report titled “Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls” was originally broadcast on NPR’s Morning Edition on March 9, 2010 and is used with the permission of NPR. Any unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.
5 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. Summarize the central ideas of the text in no more than two sentences.
2. Which statement best explains why women were needed as pilots during WWII? A. There was a shortage of male pilots in the United States, so women were trained to fill those positions. B. Women replaced the shortage of male pilots, allowing the male pilots to enter combat. C. The burden of WWII finally convinced the U.S. to accept female pilots into the military. D. A larger production of planes needed a greater increase of trained pilots to fly them, so women were called to fill these roles.
3. PART A: What does the phrase “root, hog, or die” mean as used in paragraph 33? A. It is a term expressing self-reliance. B. It is a term expressing persistence. C. It is a term expressing eventual failure. D. It is a term expressing surprise.
4. PART B: Which of the following phrases best supports the answer to Part A? A. "never expected anything” B. "children of the Depression” C. "you had to take care of yourself” D. "nobody owed us”
5. Which of the following statements best summarizes the purpose of this article? A. To notify readers about an upcoming event that will honor the WASP women B. To spread awareness about a forgotten or little known part of women’s history C. To explore double standards or discrimination against women in the military D. To encourage today’s military leaders to enlist more women in the air force
6 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. What is the historical relationship between women and the military, at least in the United States? Consider reasons why women weren’t allowed to serve and/or the circumstances which allowed them to contribute or fight in conflicts. Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
2. Is it more acceptable for women to serve in the military today? Why or why not?
3. Why do you think was it acceptable for women to serve for men as pilots, but not to replace them?
4. How do we define the roles of men and women? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
5. In the context of this article, what makes a hero? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
6. In the context of this article, how are communities formed? What brought the female pilots together and what kept them together? How did their community help them receive recognition? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
7 Name: Class:
The Harlem Renaissance By Jessica McBirney 2017
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, social, and artistic movement that took place in Harlem, New York during the 1920s. This informational text further discusses how the movement developed, as well as its impact on culture in America. As you read, take notes on what events led up to the Harlem Renaissance and how they contributed to it.
[1] The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic and cultural explosion among African Americans living in Harlem, New York in the 1920s. It produced some of the greatest Americans artists, musicians, and writers of all time, and expanded the identity and culture of a group that had been marginalized1 for hundreds of years.
Why Harlem?
After the Civil War ended and slavery was abolished2 in 1865, many African Americans remained in southern states where their families had once been slaves on plantations. Most found jobs as farm laborers – doing essentially the same work they had done as slaves, but now for a meager wage. Over the next few decades, even though the federal government made some attempts to give African Americans a decent life, segregation, as well as racist attitudes and racial violence, kept freed slaves and their families from improving their own circumstances. The "Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club 1943" by Gordon Parks is governments of southern states often ignored licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 the hardships faced by African Americans.
In the early 1900s African Americans began moving north where they could find better paid jobs working in city factories instead of on farms. This movement was known as The Great Migration. Neighborhoods that were mostly black popped up in cities all over the North, including Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City. It was originally built for a white, upper middle class population, but in 1910 a group of African American realtors purchased several blocks in the area, and opened the neighborhood to the new black migrants from the south. Not only did African Americans settle there, but dark-skinned immigrants from the Caribbean also came to seek a better life. These immigrants, often former slaves as well, also faced discrimination and oppression3 in their home countries.
1. Marginalize (verb): to assign someone to a powerless or unimportant position within a society or group 2. Abolish (verb): to get rid of or outlaw 3. Oppression (noun): the cruel or unfair treatment of a group of people 1 Art Confronting Racism
Even though the north did not have as much overt and institutionalized racism4 as the south, African Americans still faced some level of discrimination and encountered stereotypes5 about their people and culture. One of the most common stereotypes was that they were primitive, wild people still closely connected to the “jungle roots” of their origins in Africa.
[5] The first major cultural event of the Harlem Renaissance, a 1917 theater production called “Three Plays for a Negro Theater,” tore down these stereotypes for its viewers. It was written by the white playwright Ridgely Torrence and cast African Americans to portray complex human events and emotions. Two years later poet Claude McKay published the sonnet “If We Must Die.” Although the poem never addressed race directly, African-American readers found its message of defiance6 inspiring as they continued to hear about racially motivated violence around the country. Literature in the Harlem Renaissance portrayed African Americans as complex human beings with intelligence and emotions, just like any other person. It provided insight into the everyday life of African Americans. These ideas were revolutionary for many white spectators7 because they countered the typical, stereotypical depictions of African Americans in popular culture.
The Harlem Renaissance did not promote a specific political viewpoint or artistic style. Rather, it was a chance for a variety of African American artists to use their own form of art to express racial pride and identity. Artists held the belief that through intellect, literature, art, and music, their work could challenge racism and enable African Americans to better integrate8 into American society as a whole.
Literature and Music
Literature dominated the Harlem Renaissance and was one of the most powerful tools African Americans used to develop their own culture. The most famous writer to emerge from the period was Langston Hughes, a poet who decided to ignore many of the conventional rules for poetry in favor of a more rhythmic approach, drawn from traditional and new African American music like spirituals and the blues. He wrote about the many struggles African Americans faced, but a theme of hope and overcoming hardship ran through many of his books.
Writers at the time popularized the concept of the “New Negro.” This was an identity they hoped all African Americans would embrace, one of assertiveness and a refusal to submit to the old racial prejudice and segregation that had plagued9 them for so long.
4. “Overt racism” refers to racial discrimination that is openly expressed, and “institutionalized racism” refers to racism specifically in social and political institutions, like the government and organizations. 5. Stereotype (noun): a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a person 6. Defiance (noun): boldness, rebellion 7. Spectator (noun): someone who looks on or watches (a performance or other public event) 8. Integrate (verb): to make part of a larger unit or group 9. Plague (verb): to cause continual trouble or distress 2 Music became another central component in Harlem. As jazz continued to grow in popularity everywhere during the 1920s, musicians in Harlem put their own spin on the music: the Harlem Stride Style. They added piano to the brass instruments of jazz. Many famous jazz musicians rose to stardom during this period, including Duke Ellington. Music in Harlem also included elements from old black spiritual songs and the blues. White artists began to take notice of black musicians, and they incorporated some of this new culture into their own music.
A Deep and Lasting Impact
[10] Not only did the Harlem Renaissance produce new and exciting art and music, it also helped to define a new part of the African American identity. Since African Americans had been enslaved and oppressed for so long, it was important to create a cultural heritage of which they could be proud. It also made the larger American culture take African Americans more seriously, and it laid important groundwork for the Civil Rights movement that would come several decades later.
“The Harlem Renaissance” by Jessica McBirney. Copyright © 2017 by CommonLit, Inc. This text is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
3 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. PART A: Which of the following identifies the central idea of the text, regarding the Harlem Renaissance? A. It encouraged African Americans to leave the South to pursue work in Harlem, where African Americans were considered equals. B. It worked to change white citizens’ perceptions of African Americans as primarily laborers C. It provided African Americans an opportunity to create a new identity by using art to express their feelings and experiences. D. It reminded white citizens that African Americans continued to suffer unjust treatment because of their race.
2. PART B: Which section from the text best supports the answer to Part A? A. “In the early 1900s African Americans began moving north where they could find better paid jobs working in city factories instead of on farms.” (Paragraph 3) B. “One of the most common stereotypes was that they were primitive, wild people still closely connected to the ‘jungle roots’ of their origins in Africa.” (Paragraph 4) C. “Although the poem never addressed race directly, African-American readers found its message of defiance inspiring as they continued to hear about racially motivated violence around the country.” (Paragraph 5) D. “Artists held the belief that through intellect, literature, art, and music, their work could challenge racism and enable African Americans to better integrate into American society as a whole.” (Paragraph 6)
3. PART A: How does the text describe the connection between racial inequality in the South and the development of the Harlem Renaissance? A. African Americans were forced to leave the South and go to Harlem because of the violence they experienced in the South. B. African Americans were tired of unfair treatment in the South and wanted to forge a new path for themselves in Harlem. C. African Americans were too afraid to establish an identity in the South because of the history of slavery there. D. African Americans were not permitted to work as anything but laborers in the South and heard of the artistic opportunities in the North.
4. PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A? A. “Most found jobs as farm laborers – doing essentially the same work they had done as slaves, but now for a meager wage.” (Paragraph 2) B. “The governments of southern states ignored the hardships of the African American community and continued to care mainly about white citizens.” (Paragraph 2) C. “in the early 1900s African Americans began moving north where they could find better paid jobs working in city factories instead of on farms.” (Paragraph 3) D. “These immigrants, often former slaves as well, also faced discrimination and oppression in their home countries.” (Paragraph 3)
4 5. How does the inclusion of details about specific artists from the Harlem Renaissance contribute to the development of ideas in the text?
5 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. How can art be a form of protest? Why was art a successful means for African Americans to challenge discrimination and offensive stereotypes during this time?
2. In the context of the text, how has America changed over time? How does the text explore ways in which America has changed since the abolition of slavery? How did the accomplishments of the Harlem Renaissance allow future change to take place?
3. In the context of the text, how are communities formed? How did the Harlem Renaissance contribute to the establishment of an African American culture and identity in America? How do you think this community benefited the Civil Rights Movement decades later?
6 Name: Class:
The Story of Ida B. Wells By Shannon Moreau 1999
Ida Bell Wells (1862-1931) was an African-American journalist, editor, suffragist, sociologist, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement. The following is a short biography of Ida B. Wells and the personal tragedy she experienced that pushed her to raise national awareness about violence and discrimination against African Americans. As you read, take notes on the examples of prejudice and discrimination that Wells experienced, and how she worked towards ending them.
[1] Ida B. Wells, the young journalist from Memphis, Tennessee, stepped out of the Natchez, Mississippi church with a smile on her face. She had just signed up twenty new subscribers for Free Speech, the black newspaper she owned with her business partner, J. L. Fleming. Since she had begun traveling up and down the Mississippi Valley seeking new subscriptions, the Memphis weekly’s readership had more than doubled.
The minister of the church walked up to Ida with a newspaper in his hand. “Miss Wells, something bad’s happened in Memphis.”
A bolt of fear shot through Ida. Her hand shook slightly as she took the 10 March 1892 edition of the Memphis Commercial.
The night before, a mob of white men had seized three black grocery store owners, dragged them down to the railroad tracks, and shot them to death. One of the store owners, Thomas Moss, had begged for his life for the sake of his wife, daughter, and unborn child. When he realized he was going to die, he said, “Tell my people to go "Ida B. Wells Barnett" by Mary Garrity is in the public domain. West—there is no justice for them here.”
[5] Ida’s heart nearly stopped. She looked up into the minister’s solemn face.
“It can’t be!” Ida’s eyes welled with tears. “Thomas Moss and his wife are my good friends. I’m godmother to their daughter, Maurine. This can’t have happened to him!”
Ida caught the next train back to Memphis. During the trip, she battled feelings of anger, shock, and grief. This was not the first time she had been touched by tragedy. Nor was it the first time she had experienced the injustices against blacks in the post-Civil War South.
1 Ida was born the daughter of slaves in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1862, three years before the end of the Civil War. After emancipation,1 her father worked as a carpenter. He built the house in which he and his wife raised their eight children. As a child, Ida attended the elementary school at Rust College, which had been founded in 1866 by Methodist missionaries from the North.
Many white Southerners rebelled against citizenship for former slaves. Ida remembered hearing about midnight raids by the Ku Klux Klan, a terrorist group bent on maintaining white supremacy. Ida’s mother used to pace the floor at night, waiting for her husband to come home from his political meetings.
[10] In 1878 a yellow fever epidemic swept through Holly Springs. Both of Ida’s parents and her baby brother perished. At age sixteen, she quit school to take care of her six brothers and sisters.
In 1883, when Ida was twenty-one, she packed up and moved herself and her two youngest sisters to Memphis, Tennessee, to live with a widowed aunt. She accepted a teaching position in a rural school in Woodstock and commuted to and from work by train. That same year the Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which prohibited segregation2 in transportation and public places, was unconstitutional.3 Southern legislatures had already passed laws that barred blacks from voting. Now the way was paved for a rigid system of segregation, beginning with the railroads.
In May 1884, Ida was traveling from Memphis to Woodstock when the conductor approached her. “I can’t take your ticket here,” he told her. “You’ll have to move to the smoking car.”
“I have a first-class ticket,” Ida replied. “This is my rightful seat.”
The conductor disappeared. A few minutes later he returned with two baggage clerks. The three men dragged Ida from her seat while the white passengers clapped. Ida refused to go into the smoking car; instead she got off the train at the next station. Although she hired a lawyer and sued the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad for discrimination,4 she lost her case in 1887.
[15] Now, riding from Natchez back to Memphis, Ida was about to face the third test in her life.
Ida arrived in Memphis too late to attend Thomas Moss’s funeral, but she went straight to comfort his pregnant widow, Betty, and their daughter, Maurine. She later wrote: “I have no power to describe the feeling of horror that possessed every member of the race.” Brutal killings of blacks in the South were on the rise, and they were going unpunished by the law.
“Betty,” Ida said to the tearful widow, “I’ll never forget the talks Thomas and I had when he delivered mail to the Free Speech every day. He believed that we should defend the cause of right and fight wrong wherever we saw it.”
Ida fought injustice against blacks in the best way she knew how—with her pen. The first article she’d ever published had been about her incident with the railroad. Subsequent stories dealt with education and religion. She was now about to tackle the biggest issue of her career.
1. referring to the historical abolishment of slavery and freeing of slaves following the Civil War 2. the separation of races, classes, or ethnic groups 3. not according or consistent with the constitution; what is or is not deemed constitutional is dependent on the judgement of a certain group (i.e. the Supreme Court) 4. Discrimination (noun): the unjust or unfair treatment of people based upon race, gender, religion, age, etc. 2 The Free Speech published Ida’s editorial. It said in part:
The city of Memphis has demonstrated that neither character nor standing avails the Negro if he dares to protect himself against the white man or become his rival.... There is therefore only one thing left that we can do; save our money and leave a town which will neither protect our lives and property, nor give us a fair trial in the courts, but takes us out and murders us in cold blood when accused by white persons.
[20] After Betty Moss gave birth to a son, Thomas Moss Jr., the widow moved her family to Indiana. Many other black citizens were packing up and leaving Memphis as well. This exodus got the attention of the white businessmen and city officials. They were losing labor and the money of the black people. The daily papers printed editorials urging black citizens to stay. Ida countered with her own articles describing the new lives people were making for themselves in Oklahoma Territory.
Those who remained in Memphis boycotted the newly opened streetcar line. Two officials from the City Railway Company came to the Free Speech office and asked Ida to tell her people to ride the streetcars again. In her next article for the Free Speech, she told her readers to keep up the boycott.
Ida was trying to decide where she herself wanted to go. A few years before, she had met T. Thomas Fortune, a New York newspaper editor, at a press convention. Fortune wrote Ida and asked her to come look at New York City before she decided where to settle down. Ida had already planned to attend an African Methodist Episcopal conference in Philadelphia. From there she took a train east to visit New York.
Fortune met her at the train station. “Well, I’ve been trying for a long time to get you to New York,” he said, “but now that you are here, I’m afraid you’ll have to stay.”
Ida said, “I don’t understand what you mean.”
[25] “That ruckus you kicked up in Memphis. When I heard about it, I knew it had to be you because it sounded so like you.”
Ida was totally bewildered. “What are you talking about?”
“Haven’t you seen the morning newspaper?” Fortune asked.
“No.”
He handed her a copy of the New York Sun.
[30] A group of Memphis citizens had stormed the offices of the Free Speech during the night. They had destroyed all the equipment and run Ida’s business partner, J. L. Fleming, out of town. They left a note among the ruins: anybody who tried to publish the paper again would be punished by death.
Alarmed, Ida sent a telegram to her lawyer to find out if her partner was safe. Friends sent letters and telegrams back to her. Fleming had escaped Memphis unharmed. Her friends begged her not to return, since white men with guns were watching the train stations and her house. They had orders to kill her on sight.
3 Ida B. Wells never went home. She stayed on in New York, then moved to Chicago where she married Ferdinand Barnett, a lawyer and journalist. Ida devoted the rest of her life to investigating, reporting, and lecturing on the growing numbers of lynchings5 of black citizens. She toured England twice and became famous in America and England for her anti-lynching crusade.
Her speeches raised the consciousness of the nation. Condemnation from the North as well as England forced Southerners first to justify lynching, then publicly to deplore it. Between 1893 and 1898, several Southern states passed anti-lynching laws.
The day that Ida B. Wells heard the terrible news about her friend Thomas Moss was a day that changed her life forever. Experience had taught her strength and courage. She needed both for her tireless and fearless work, telling the nation about crimes against black citizens and asking U.S. Courts to punish the perpetrators. Change came slowly. It wasn’t until decades after her death in 1931 that lynchings of black people almost completely stopped. In 1942 a Gallup poll showed that a majority of Americans favored making lynching a federal crime. Ida launched the movement that changed public sentiment and led to the time when the atrocities would end. Personal tragedy inspired Ida B. Wells to work heroically to bring about justice for her people.
“The Story of Ida B. Wells”, © 1999, Shannon Moreau. Reprinted with permission, all rights reserved.
5. an informal public execution, usually by a mob and often by hanging, in order to punish an accused person or to intimidate a minority group 4 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. PART A: Which of the following statements best describes a central idea of the text? A. Ida B. Wells was an amazing journalist and should be better appreciated. B. Escaping a problem doesn’t solve it, even if it keeps you safe. C. Post-Civil War United States, especially in the South, was an unjust place for former slaves. D. Ida B. Wells faced discrimination and, spurred by tragedy, spoke out against it.
2. PART B: Cite a piece of evidence from the text that supports the answer to Part A.
3. How does the train scene contribute to the author’s explanation of Ida B. Wells’ lifetime? A. The scene illustrates the unfair treatment and hostility people of color faced and against which Ida B. Wells fought. B. The scene serves as the last straw, motivating Ida B. Wells to speak out against injustice. C. The scene on the train illustrates the heightening tensions between blacks and whites during Wells’ life. D. The scene on the train provides an example of the daily injustice of segregation in transportation, which, according to the text, was just starting at this time in Wells’ life.
4. PART A: What does the term "exodus" most closely mean as used in paragraph 20? A. Freedom (from enslavement) B. Mass movement or immigration C. Decrease in money or income D. A story of a long, departing journey
5. PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A? A. “the widow moved her family to Indiana” B. “Many other black citizens were packing up and leaving” C. “losing labor and the money of the black people” D. “the new lives people were making for themselves”
5 6. Although this text is non-fiction, much of it is told like a story. What is the author’s most likely purpose for writing the text in this way?
6 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. In the context of this passage, what are the effects of prejudice? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
2. In the context of this passage, how has America changed over time? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
3. In the context of this passage, how do people create change? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
4. In the context of this article, what makes a hero? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
7 Name: Class:
Invictus By William Ernest Henley 1875
William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) was an English poet, critic, and editor. The following poem, published in 1875, is his best known work, which he wrote just after the amputation of his foot due to tuberculosis.1 As you read, take notes on the poem's form and how it contributes to the tone of the speaker.
[1] Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable2 soul.
[5] In the fell3 clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings4 of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath5 and tears [10] Looms6 but the Horror of the shade, 7 "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" by And yet the menace of the years Aristocrats-hat is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait8 the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, [15] I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.
Invictus by William Ernest Henley is in the public domain.
1. a disease caused by bacterial infection 2. Unconquerable (adjective): unable to be defeated 3. fierce, cruel, or terrible 4. beatings 5. Wrath (noun): violent anger 6. Loom (verb): to appear in a large, strange, or frightening form 7. Menace (noun): a threat 8. narrow (archaic) 1 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. Which of the following best describes a central theme of the text? A. Identity is important to building self-confidence. B. Independence means refusing to follow anyone else’s rules or laws. C. Resilience is the ability to keep going and to refuse to give up. D. Sacrifice is necessary to make someone a hero.
2. How does the poem’s use of darkness in its imagery contribute to the text’s overall meaning? A. The poem describes night covering the earth from “pole to pole” (line 2), suggesting that the speaker’s outlook on the world is very bleak and hopeless. B. The poem describes “night” (line 1) covering the speaker, symbolic of the adversity and/or suffering he faces. C. The poem describes “the Horror of the shade” (line 10), suggesting that the speaker’s hard times are only temporary. D. The poem describes a dark “place of wrath and tears” (line 9), implying that the speaker is overcome by his depression.
3. PART A: Given the context of the poem, what does the title word “Invictus” most likely mean? A. Careless B. Lucky C. Unfortunate D. Undefeated
4. PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A? A. “I thank whatever gods may be / For my unconquerable soul.” (Lines 3-4) B. “In the fell clutch of circumstance / ….Under the bludgeonings of chance” (Lines 5-7) C. “Beyond this place of wrath and tears / Looms but the Horror of the shade” (Lines 9-10) D. “It matters not how strait the gate, / How charged with punishments the scroll” (Lines 13-14)
2 5. How does the poem’s rhyme scheme and meter develop the tone?
3 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. How do you think the author would feel about receiving help from others? Cite the text in your answer.
2. In the context of this poem, how does a person overcome adversity? Cite evidence from this poem, your own experience, and other literature or art in your answer.
3. Do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing to rely on others in the face of adversity?
4. Can we ever truly be independent? Explain your answer.
5. There seems to be some tension in this text: the author claims to control his own life, yet he is subjected to the cruelty of chance and feels threatened by the future. Discuss this tension. According to the author, how can we be the “master of our fate” when there are circumstances beyond our control?
6. Do you believe that people can truly be "the master of [their] fate"? Is there really no such thing as destiny? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
4 Name: Class:
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi By Rudyard Kipling 1893
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. Kipling’s most popular work is his collection of short stories titled The Jungle Book. “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” is a short story from The Jungle Book about the adventures of a young mongoose. As you read, take notes on how the characters react to danger during the story.
At the hole where he went in Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin. Hear what little Red-Eye saith:1 “Nag, come up and dance with death!”
Eye to eye and head to head, (Keep the measure, Nag.) This shall end when one is dead; (At thy pleasure, Nag.) Turn for turn and twist for twist — (Run and hide thee, Nag.) Hah! The hooded Death has missed! (Woe2 betide3 thee, Nag!)
[1] This is the story of the great war that Rikki-tikki- tavi fought single-handed, through the bath-
rooms of the big bungalow in Segowlee "Yellow Mongoose" by Colin Frankland is licensed under CC BY-NC 4 cantonment. Darzee, the tailor-bird, helped him, 2.0. and Chuchundra, the musk-rat, who never comes out into the middle of the floor, but always creeps round by the wall, gave him advice; but Rikki-tikki did the real fighting.
He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits. His eyes and the end of his restless nose were pink; he could scratch himself anywhere he pleased, with any leg, front or back, that he chose to use; he could fluff up his tail till it looked like a bottle-brush, and his war-cry, as he scuttled through the long grass, was: “Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!”
One day, a high summer flood washed him out of the burrow where he lived with his father and mother, and carried him, kicking and clucking, down a roadside ditch. He found a little wisp of grass floating there, and clung to it till he lost his senses. When he revived, he was lying in the hot sun on the middle of a garden path, very draggled5 indeed, and a small boy was saying: “Here’s a dead mongoose. Let’s have a funeral.”
1. said 2. great sorrow 3. happen to 4. “Cantonment” refers to a military garrison or camp. 1 “No,” said his mother; “let’s take him in and dry him. Perhaps he isn’t really dead.”
[5] They took him into the house, and a big man picked him up between his finger and thumb, and said he was not dead but half choked; so they wrapped him in cotton-wool, and warmed him, and he opened his eyes and sneezed.
“Now,” said the big man (he was an Englishman who had just moved into the bungalow); “don’t frighten him, and we’ll see what he’ll do.”
It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because he is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity. The motto of all the mongoose family is “Run and find out”; and Rikki-tikki was a true mongoose. He looked at the cotton-wool, decided that it was not good to eat, ran all around the table, sat up and put his fur in order, scratched himself, and jumped on the small boy’s shoulder.
“Don’t be frightened, Teddy,” said his father. “That’s his way of making friends.”
“Ouch! He’s tickling under my chin,” said Teddy.
[10] Rikki-tikki looked down between the boy’s collar and neck, snuffed at his ear, and climbed down to the floor, where he sat rubbing his nose.
“Good gracious,” said Teddy’s mother, “and that’s a wild creature! I suppose he’s so tame because we’ve been kind to him.”
“All mongooses are like that,” said her husband. “If Teddy doesn’t pick him up by the tail, or try to put him in a cage, he’ll run in and out of the house all day long. Let’s give him something to eat.”
They gave him a little piece of raw meat. Rikki-tikki liked it immensely, and when it was finished he went out into the verandah6 and sat in the sunshine and fluffed up his fur to make it dry to the roots. Then he felt better.
“There are more things to find out about in this house,” he said to himself, “than all my family could find out in all their lives. I shall certainly stay and find out.”
[15] He spent all that day roaming over the house. He nearly drowned himself in the bath-tubs, put his nose into the ink on a writing table, and burnt it on the end of the big man’s cigar, for he climbed up in the big man’s lap to see how writing was done. At nightfall he ran into Teddy’s nursery to watch how kerosene-lamps were lighted, and when Teddy went to bed Rikki-tikki climbed up too; but he was a restless companion, because he had to get up and attend to every noise all through the night, and find out what made it. Teddy’s mother and father came in, the last thing, to look at their boy, and Rikki-tikki was awake on the pillow. “I don’t like that,” said Teddy’s mother; “he may bite the child.” “He’ll do no such thing,” said the father. “Teddy’s safer with that little beast than if he had a bloodhound to watch him. If a snake came into the nursery now – ”
But Teddy’s mother wouldn’t think of anything so awful.
5. Draggle (verb): to make wet and dirty by dragging 6. a roofed, open-aired porch, often partly enclosed by a railing 2 Early in the morning Rikki-tikki came to early breakfast in the verandah riding on Teddy’s shoulder, and they gave him banana and some boiled egg; and he sat on all their laps one after the other, because every well-brought-up mongoose always hopes to be a house-mongoose some day and have rooms to run about in, and Rikki-tikki’s mother (she used to live in the General’s house at Segowlee) had carefully told Rikki what to do if ever he came across white men.
Then Rikki-tikki went out into the garden to see what was to be seen. It was a large garden, only half cultivated7 with bushes as big as summer-houses of Marshal Niel roses, lime and orange trees, clumps of bamboos, and thickets of high grass. Rikki-tikki licked his lips. “This is a splendid hunting-ground,” he said, and his tail grew bottle-brushy at the thought of it, and he scuttled up and down the garden, snuffing here and there till he heard very sorrowful voices in a thorn-bush.
It was Darzee, the tailor-bird, and his wife. They had made a beautiful nest by pulling two big leaves together and stitching them up the edges with fibres, and had filled the hollow with cotton and downy fluff. The nest swayed to and fro, as they sat on the rim and cried.
[20] “What is the matter?” asked Rikki-tikki.
“We are very miserable,” said Darzee. “One of our babies fell out of the nest yesterday, and Nag ate him.”
“H’m!” said Rikki-tikki, “that is very sad — but I am a stranger here. Who is Nag?”
Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering, for from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss – a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-tikki jump back two clear feet. Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread hood of Nag, the big black cobra, and he was five feet long from tongue to tail. When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground, he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion-tuft balances in the wind, and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake’s eyes that never change their expression, whatever the snake may be thinking of.
“Who is Nag?” said he. ‘‘I am Nag. The great god Brahm put his mark upon all our people when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the sun off Brahm as he slept. Look, and be afraid!”
[25] He spread out his hood more than ever, and Rikki-tikki saw the spectacle-mark on the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part of a hook-and-eye fastening. He was afraid for the minute; but it is impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time, and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before, his mother had fed him on dead ones, and he knew that all a grown mongoose’s business in life was to fight and eat snakes. Nag knew that too, and at the bottom of his cold heart he was afraid.
“Well,” said Rikki-tikki, and his tail began to fluff up again, “marks or no marks, do you think it is right for you to eat fledglings8 out of a nest?”
7. Cultivate (verb): to prepare and use land for crops or gardening 8. A “fledgling” is a young bird that is just learning to fly. 3 Nag was thinking to himself, and watching the least little movement in the grass behind Rikki-tikki. He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to get Rikki-tikki off his guard. So he dropped his head a little, and put it on one side.
“Let us talk,” he said. “You eat eggs. Why should not I eat birds?”
“Behind you! Look behind you!” sang Darzee.
[30] Rikki-tikki knew better than to waste time in staring. He jumped up in the air as high as he could go, and just under him whizzed by the head of Nagaina, Nag’s wicked wife. She had crept up behind him as he was talking, to make an end of him; and he heard her savage hiss as the stroke missed. He came down almost across her back, and if he had been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return-stroke of the cobra. He bit, indeed, but did not bite long enough, and he jumped clear of the whisking tail, leaving Nagaina torn and angry.
“Wicked, wicked Darzee!” said Nag, lashing up as high as he could reach toward the nest in the thornbush; but Darzee had built it out of reach of snakes, and it only swayed to and fro.
Rikki-tikki felt his eyes growing red and hot (when a mongoose’s eyes grow red, he is angry), and he sat back on his tail and hind legs like a little kangaroo, and looked all round him, and chattered with rage. But Nag and Nagaina had disappeared into the grass. When a snake misses its stroke, it never says anything or gives any sign of what it means to do next. Rikki-tikki did not care to follow them, for he did not feel sure that he could manage two snakes at once. So he trotted off to the gravel path near the house, and sat down to think. It was a serious matter for him.
If you read the old books of natural history, you will find they say that when the mongoose fights the snake and happens to get bitten, he runs off and eats some herb that cures him. That is not true. The victory is only a matter of quickness of eye and quickness of foot, – snake’s blow against mongoose’s jump, – and as no eye can follow the motion of a snake’s head when it strikes, that makes things much more wonderful than any magic herb. Rikki-tikki knew he was a young mongoose, and it made him all the more pleased to think that he had managed to escape a blow from behind. It gave him confidence in himself, and when Teddy came running down the path, Rikki-tikki was ready to be petted.
But just as Teddy was stooping, something flinched a little in the dust, and a tiny voice said: “Be careful. I am death!” It was Karait, the dusty brown snakeling that lies for choice on the dusty earth; and his bite is as dangerous as the cobra’s. But he is so small that nobody thinks of him, and so he does the more harm to people.
[35] Rikki-tikki’s eyes grew red again, and he danced up to Karait with the peculiar rocking, swaying motion that he had inherited from his family. It looks very funny, but it is so perfectly balanced a gait that you can fly off from it at any angle you please; and in dealing with snakes this is an advantage. If Rikki-tikki had only known, he was doing a much more dangerous thing that fighting Nag, for Karait is so small, and can turn so quickly, that unless Rikki bit him close to the back of the head, he would get the return- stroke in his eye or lip. But Rikki did not know: his eyes were all red, and he rocked back and forth, looking for a good place to hold. Karait struck out. Rikki jumped sideways and tried to run in, but the wicked little dusty gray head lashed within a fraction of his shoulder, and he had to jump over the body, and the head followed his heels close.
4 Teddy shouted to the house: “Oh, look here! Our mongoose is killing a snake”; and Rikki-tikki heard a scream from Teddy’s mother. His father ran out with a stick, but by the time he came up, Karait had lunged out once too far, and Rikki-tikki- had sprung, jumped on the snake’s back, dropped his head far between his fore-legs, bitten as high up the back as he could get hold, and rolled away. That bite paralyzed Karait, and Rikki-tikki was just going to eat him up from the tail, after the custom of his family at dinner, when he remembered that a full meal makes a slow mongoose, and if wanted all his strength and quickness ready, he must keep himself thin.
He went away for a dust-bath under the castor-oil bushes, while Teddy’s father beat the dead Karait. “What is the use of that?” thought Rikki-tikki. “I have settled it all”; and then Teddy’s mother picked him up from the dust and hugged him, crying that he had saved Teddy from death, and Teddy’s father said that he was a providence,9 and Teddy looked on with big scared eyes. Rikki-tikki was rather amused at all the fuss, which, of course, he did not understand. Teddy’s mother might just as well have petted Teddy for playing in the dust. Rikki was thoroughly enjoying himself.
That night, at dinner, walking to and fro among the wine-glasses on the table, he could have stuffed himself three times over with nice things; but he remembered Nag and Nagaina, and though it was very pleasant to be patted and petted by Teddy’s mother, and to sit on Teddy’s shoulder, his eyes would get red from time to time, and he would go off into his long war-cry of “Rikk-tikk-tikki-tikki-tchk!”
Teddy carried him off to bed, and insisted on Rikki-tikki sleeping under his chin. Rikki-tikki was too well bred to bite or scratch, but as soon as Teddy was asleep he went off for his nightly walk round the house, and in the dark he ran up against Chuchundra, the muskrat, creeping round by the wall. Chuchundra is a broken-hearted little beast. He whimpers and cheeps all the night, trying to make up his mind to run into the middle of the room, but he never gets there.
[40] “Don’t kill me,” said Chuichundra, almost weeping. “Rikki-tikki, don’t kill me.”
“Do you think a snake-killer kills musk-rats?” said Rikki-tikki scornfully.
“Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes,” said Chuchundra, more sorrowfully than ever. “And how am I to be sure that Nag won’t mistake me for you some dark night?”
“There’s not the least danger,” said Rikki-tikki; “but Nag is in the garden, and I know you don’t go there.”
“My cousin Chua, the rat, told me –” said Chuchundra, and then he stopped.
[45] “Told you what?”
“H’sh! Nag is everywhere, Rikki-tikki. You should have talked to Chua in the garden.”
“I didn’t – so you must tell me. Quick Chuchundra, or I’ll bite you!”
Chuchundra sat down and cried till the tears rolled off his whiskers. “I am a very poor man,” he sobbed. “I never had spirit enough to run out into the middle of the room. H’sh! I musn’t tell you anything. Can’t you hear, Rikki-tikki?”
9. protective care provided by God(s) 5 Rikki-tikki listened. The house was as still as still, but he thought he could just catch the faintest scratch- scratch in the world, – a noise as faint as that of a wasp walking on a window-pane, – the dry scratch of a snake’s scales on brick-work.
[50] “That’s Nag or Nagaina,” he said to himself; “and he is crawling into the bath-room sluice.10 You’re right Chuchundra; I should have talked to Chua.”
He stole off to Teddy’s bath-room, but there was nothing there, and then to Teddy’s mother’s bathroom. At the bottom of the smooth plaster wall there was a brick pulled out to make a sluice for the bath-water, and as Rikki-tikki stole in by the masonry11 curb where the bath is put, he heard Nag and Nagaina whispering together outside in the moonlight.
“When the house is emptied of people,” said Nagaina to her husband, “he will have to go away, and then the garden will be our own again. Go in quietly, and remember that the big man who killed Karait is the first one to bite. Then come out and tell me, and we will hunt for Rikki-tikki together.”
“But are you sure that there is anything to be gained by killing the people?” said Nag.
“Everything. When there were no people in the bungalow, did we have any mongoose in the garden? So long as the bungalow is empty, we are king and queen of the garden; and remember that as soon as our eggs in the melon-bed hatch (as they may tomorrow), our children will need room and quiet.”
[55] “I had not thought of that,” said Nag. “I will go, but there is no need that we should hunt for Rikki-tikki afterward. I will kill the big man and his wife, and the child if I can, and come away quietly. The bungalow will be empty, and Rikki-tikki will go.”
Rikki-tikki tingled all over with rage and hatred at this, and then Nag’s head came through the sluice, and his five feet of cold body followed it. Angry as he was, Rikki-tikki was very frightened as he saw the size of the big cobra. Nag coiled himself up, raised his head, and looked into the bath-room in the dark, and Rikki could see his eyes glitter.
“Now, if I kill him here, Nagaina will know; and if I fight him on the open floor, the odds are in his favour. What am I to do?” said Rikki-tikki-tavi.
Nag waved to and fro, and then Rikki-tikki heard him drinking from the biggest water-jar that was used to fill the bath. “That is good,” said the snake. “Now, when Karait was killed, the big man had a stick. He may have that stick still, but when he comes in to bathe in the morning he will not have a stick. I shall wait here till he comes. Nagaina – do you hear me? – I shall wait here in the cool till daytime.”
There was no answer from outside, so Rikki-tikki knew Nagaina had gone away. Nag coiled himself down, coil by coil, round the bulge at the bottom of the water-jar, and Rikki-tikki stayed still as death. After an hour he began to move, muscle by muscle, toward the jar. Nag was asleep, and Rikki-tikki looked at his big back, wondering which would be the best place for a good hold. “If I don’t break his back at the first jump,” said Rikki, “he can still fight; and if he fights – O Rikki!” He looked at the thickness of the neck below the hood, but that was too much for him; and a bite near the tail would only make Nag savage.
10. A “sluice” is a sliding gate or other device for controlling the flow of water. 11. “Masonry” in this context refers to stonework. 6 [60] “It must be the head,” he said at last; “the head above the hood; and when I am once there, I must not let go.”
Then he jumped. The head was lying a little clear of the water-jar, under the curve of it; and, as his teeth met, Rikki braced his back against the bulge of the red earthenware12 to hold down the head. This gave him just one second’s purchase, and he made the most of it. Then he was battered to and fro as a rat is shaken by a dog – to and fro on the floor, up and down, and round in great circles; but his eyes were red, and he held on as the body cart-whipped13 over the floor, upsetting the tin dipper and the soap-dish and the flesh-brush, and banged against the tin side of the bath. As he held he closed his jaws tighter and tighter, for he made sure he would be banged to death, and, for the honour of his family, he preferred to be found with his teeth locked. He was dizzy, aching, and felt shaken to pieces when something went off like a thunderclap just behind him; a hot wind knocked him senseless, and red fire singed his fur. The big man had been wakened by the noise, and had fired both barrels of a shot-gun into Nag just behind the hood.
Rikki-tikki held on with his eyes shut, for now he was quite sure he was dead; but the head did not move, and the big man picked him up and said: “It’s the mongoose again, Alice; the little chap has saved our lives now.” Then Teddy’s mother came in with a very white face, and saw what was left of Nag, and Rikki-tikki dragged himself to Teddy’s bedroom and spent half the rest of the night shaking himself tenderly to find out whether he was really broken into forty pieces, as he fancied.
When morning came he was very stiff, but well pleased with his doings. “Now I have Nagaina to settle with, and she will be worse than five Nags, and there’s no knowing when the eggs she spoke of will hatch. Goodness! I must go and see Darzee,” he said.
Without waiting for breakfast, Rikki-tikki ran to the thorn-bush where Darzee was singing a song of triumph at the top of his voice. The news of Nag’s death was all over the garden, for the sweeper had thrown the body on the rubbish-heap.
[65] “Oh, you stupid tuft of feathers!” said Rikki-tikki angrily. “Is this the time to sing?”
“Nag is dead – is dead – is dead!” sang Darzee. “The valiant14 Rikki-tikki caught him by the head and held fast. The big man brought the bang-stick, and Nag fell in two pieces! He will never eat my babies again.”
“All that’s true enough; but where’s Nagaina?” said Rikki-tikki, looking carefully round him.
“Nagaina came to the bath-room sluice and called for Nag,” Darzee went on; “and Nag came out on the end of a stick – the sweeper picked him up on the end of a stick and threw him upon the rubbish-heap. Let us sing about the great, the red-eyed Rikki-tikki!” and Darzee filled his throat and sang.
“If I could get up to your nest, I’d roll all your babies out!” said Rikki-tikki. “You don’t know when to do the right thing at the right time. You’re safe enough in your nest there, but it’s war for me down here. Stop singing a minute, Darzee.”
12. “Earthenware” is pottery of baked or hardened clay. 13. A “cart whip” is a heavy short-handled horsewhip. 14. Valiant (adjective): possessing or showing courage or determination 7 [70] “For the great, the beautiful Rikki-tikki’s sake I will stop,” said Darzee. “What is it, O Killer of the terrible Nag?”
“Where is Nagaina, for the third time?”
“On the rubbish-heap by the stables, mourning for Nag. Great is Rikki-tikki with the white teeth.”
“Bother my white teeth! Have you ever heard where she keeps her eggs?”
“In the melon-bed, on the end nearest the wall, where the sun strikes nearly all day. She hid them there weeks ago.”
[75] “And you never thought it worthwhile to tell me? The end nearest the wall, you said?”
“Rikki-tikki, you are not going to eat her eggs?”
“Not eat exactly; no. Darzee, if you have a grain of sense you will fly off to the stables and pretend that your wing is broken, and let Nagaina chase you away to this bush. I must get to the melon-bed, and if I went there now she’d see me.”
Darzee was a feather-brained little fellow who could never hold more than one idea at a time in his head; and just because he knew that Nagaina’s children were born in eggs like his own, he didn’t think at first that it was fair to kill them. But his wife was a sensible bird, and she knew that cobra’s eggs meant young cobras later on; so she flew off from the nest, and left Darzee to keep the babies warm, and continue his song about the death of Nag. Darzee was very like a man in some ways.
She fluttered in front of Nagaina by the rubbish heap, and cried out, “Oh, my wing is broken! The boy in the house threw a stone at me and broke it.” Then she fluttered more desperately than ever.
[80] Nagaina lifted up her head and hissed, “You warned Rikki-tikki when I would have killed him. Indeed and truly, you’ve chosen a bad place to be lame15 in.” And she moved toward Darzee’s wife, slipping along over the dust.
“The boy broke it with a stone!” shrieked Darzee’s wife.
“Well! It may be some consolation16 to you when you’re dead to know that I shall settle accounts with the boy. My husband lies on the rubbish-heap this morning, but before the night the boy in the house will lie very still. What is the use of running away? I am sure to catch you. Little fool, look at me!”
Darzee’s wife knew better than to do that, for a bird who looks at a snake’s eyes gets so frightened that she cannot move. Darzee’s wife fluttered on, piping sorrowfully, and never leaving the ground, and Nagaina quickened her pace.
Rikki-tikki heard them going up the path from the stables, and he raced for the end of the melon-patch near the wall. There, in the warm litter about the melons, very cunningly hidden, he found twenty-five eggs, about the size of a bantam’s17 eggs, but with whitish skin instead of shell.
15. Lame (adjective): unable to move normally because of an injury 16. Consolation (noun): comfort received by a person after a loss or disappointment 8 [85] “I was not a day too soon,” he said; for he could see the baby cobras curled up inside the skin, and he knew that the minute they were hatched they could each kill a man or a mongoose. He bit off the tops of the eggs as fast as he could, taking care to crush the young cobras, and turned over the litter from time to time to see whether he had missed any. At last there were only three eggs left, and Rikki-tikki began to chuckle to himself, when he heard Darzee’s wife screaming:
“Rikki-tikki, I led Nagaina toward the house, and she has gone into the verandah, and – oh, come quickly – she means killing!”
Rikki-tikki smashed two eggs, and tumbled backward down the melon-bed with the third egg in his mouth, and scuttled to the verandah as hard as he could put foot to the ground. Teddy and his mother and father were there at early breakfast; but Rikki-tikki saw that they were not eating anything. They sat stone-still, and their faces were white. Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by Teddy’s chair, within easy striking-distance of Teddy’s bare leg, and she was swaying to and fro singing a song of triumph.
Teddy’s eyes were fixed on his father, and all his father could do was to whisper, “Sit still, Teddy. You mustn’t move. Teddy, keep still.”
Then Rikki-tikki came up and cried: “Turn round Nagaina; turn and fight!”
[90] “All in good time,” said she, without moving her eyes. “I will settle my account with you presently. Look at your friends, Rikki-tikki. They are still and white; they are afraid. They dare not move, and if you come a step nearer I strike.”
“Look at your eggs,” said Rikki-tikki, “in the melon-bed near the wall. Go and look, Nagaina.”
The big snake turned half round, and saw the egg on the verandah. “Ah-h! Give it to me,” she said.
Rikki-tikki put his paws one on each side of the egg, and his eyes were blood-red. “What price for a snake’s egg? For a young cobra? For a young king-cobra? For the last – the very last of the brood? The ants are eating all the others down by the melon-bed.”
Nagaina spun clear round, forgetting everything for the sake of the one egg; and Rikki-tikki saw Teddy’s father shoot out a big hand, catch Teddy by the shoulder, and drag him across the little table with the teacups, safe and out of reach of Nagaina.
[95] “Tricked! Tricked! Tricked! Rikk-tchk-tchk!” chuckled Rikki-tikki. “The boy is safe, and it was I – I – I that caught Nag by the hood last night in the bathroom.” Then he began to jump up and down, all four feet together, his head close to the floor. “He threw me to and fro, but he could not shake me off. He was dead before the big man blew him in two. I did it. Rikki-tikki-tchk-tchk! Come then, Nagaina, Come and fight with me. You shall not be a widow long.”
Nagaina saw that she had lost her chance of killing Teddy, and the egg lay between Rikki-tikki’s paws. “Give me the egg, Rikki-tikki. Give me the last of my eggs, and I will go away and never come back,” she said, lowering her hood.
17. a small breed of chicken 9 “Yes, you will go away, and you will never come back; for you will go to the rubbish-heap with Nag. Fight, widow! The big man has gone for his gun! Fight!”
Rikki-tikki was bounding all round Nagaina, keeping just out of reach of her stroke, his little eyes like hot coals. Nagaina gathered herself together, and flung out at him. Rikki-tikki jumped up and backward. Again and again and again she struck, and each time her head came with a whack on the matting of the verandah, and she gathered herself together like a watch-spring. Then Rikki-tikki danced in a circle to get behind her, and Nagaina spun round to keep her head to his head, so that the rustle of her tail on the matting sounded like dry leaves blown along by the wind.
He had forgotten the egg. It still lay on the verandah, and Nagaina came nearer and nearer to it, till at last, while Rikki-tikki was drawing breath, she caught it in her mouth, turned to the verandah steps, and flew like an arrow down the path, with Rikki-tikki behind her. When the cobra runs for her life, she goes like a whip-lash flicked across as horse’s neck.
[100] Rikki-tikki knew that he must catch her, or all the trouble would begin again. She headed straight for the long grass by the thorn-bush, and as he was running Rikki-tikki heard Darzee still singing his foolish little song of triumph. But Darzee’s wife was wiser. She flew off her nest as Nagaina came along, and flapped her wings about Nagaina’s head. If Darzee had helped they might have turned her; but Nagaina only lowered her hood and went on. Still, the instant’s delay brought Rikki-tikki up to her, and as she plunged into the rat-hole where she and Nag used to live, his little white teeth were clenched on her tail, and he went down with her – and very few mongooses, however wise and old they may be, care to follow a cobra into its hole. It was dark in the hole; and Rikki-tikki never knew when it might open out and give Nagaina room to turn and strike at him. He held on savagely, and struck out his feet to act as brakes on the dark slope of the hot, moist earth.
Then the grass by the mouth of the hole stopped waving, and Darzee said: “It is all over with Rikki-tikki! We must sing his death song. Valiant Rikki-tikki is dead! For Nagaina will surely kill him underground.”
So he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the minute, and just as he got to the most touching part the grass quivered again, and Rikki-tikki, covered with dirt, dragged himself out of the hole leg by leg, licking his whiskers. Darzee stopped with a little shout. Rikki-tikki shook some of the dust out of his fur and sneezed. “It is all over,” he said. “The widow will never come out again.” And the red ants that live between the grass stems heard him, and began to troop down one after another to see if he had spoken the truth.
Rikki-tikki curled himself up in the grass and slept where he was – slept and slept till it was late in the afternoon, for he had done a hard day’s work.
“Now,” he said, when he awoke, “I will go back to the house. Tell the Coppersmith, Darzee, and he will tell the garden that Nagaina is dead.”
[105] The Coppersmith is a bird who makes a noise exactly like the beating of a little hammer on a copper pot; and the reason he is always making it is because he is the town-crier to every Indian garden, and tells all the news to everybody who cares to listen. As Rikki-tikki went up the path, he heard his “attention” notes like a tiny dinner-gong; and then the steady “Ding-dong-tock! Nag is dead – dong! Nagaina is dead! Ding-dong-tock!” That set all the birds in the garden singing, and frogs croaking; for Nag and Nagaina used to eat frogs as well as little birds.
10 When Rikki got to the house, Teddy and Teddy’s mother (she still looked very white, for she had been fainting) and Teddy’s father came out and almost cried over him; and that night he ate all that was given him till he could eat no more, and went to bed on Teddy’s shoulder, where Teddy’s mother saw him when she came to look late at night.
“He saved our lives and Teddy’s life,” she said to her husband. “Just think, he saved all our lives!”
Rikki-tikki woke up with a jump, for all the mongooses are light sleepers.
“Oh, it’s you,” said he. “What are you bothering for? All the cobras are dead; and if they weren’t, I’m here.”
[110] Rikki-tikki had a right to be proud of himself; but he did not grow too proud, and he kept that garden as a mongoose should keep it, with tooth and jump and spring and bit, till never a cobra dared show its head inside the walls.
“Rikki Tikki Tavi” by Rudyard Kipling (1893) is in the public domain.
11 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. PART A: Which statement best expresses a theme of the story? A. With the support of friends and family, anything is possible. B. Acting courageously in the face of danger leads to rewards. C. Some relationships are doomed from the start. D. It takes some people longer to build trust than others.
2. PART B: Which TWO details from the story best support the answer to Part A? A. “Darzee, the tailor-bird, helped him, and Chuchundra, the musk-rat, who never comes out into the middle of the floor,”(Paragraph 1) B. “He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to get Rikki-tikki off his guard.” (Paragraph 27) C. “for he made sure he would be banged to death, and, for the honour of his family, he preferred to be found with his teeth locked.” (Paragraph 61) D. “and very few mongooses, however wise and old they may be, care to follow a cobra into its hole.” (Paragraph 100) E. Darzee said: “It is all over with Rikki-tikki! We must sing his death song. Valiant Rikki-tikki is dead! For Nagaina will surely kill him underground.” (Paragraph 101) F. “and that night he ate all that was given him till he could eat no more, and went to bed on Teddy’s shoulder” (Paragraph 107)
3. What is the relationship between the poem at the beginning and the rest of the story? A. The poem describes Nagaina’s inner thoughts before she is introduced as a character. B. The poem reveals that Rikki-tikki will be victorious in his fight against the cobras. C. The poem explains how cobras and mongooses get along in the wild when humans are not around. D. The poem shows how the cobras could have killed Rikki-tikki if they were quicker during the fight.
4. How does Rikki-tikki’s decision to destroy Nagaina’s eggs contribute to the story? A. Nagaina leaves the garden after she learns that her eggs have been destroyed, which makes the garden safe again. B. It makes the other animals turn on Rikki-tikki and refuse to help him defeat Nagaina. C. When Nagaina is about to bite Teddy, Rikki-tikki is able to distract her by telling her there is only one egg left. D. Rikki-tikki successfully prevents the birth of future cobras, and this makes family happy.
12 5. How does Rikki-tikki respond to the cobras, and what does this reveal about his character?
13 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. In your opinion, which character in the story was the bravest? What about their actions made them brave?
2. In the story, different characters face different fears. How does fear influence how we act? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer
14 Name: Class:
The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost 1916
Robert Frost (1874-1963) was one of the most popular and critically respected American poets in recent history. His poems often discuss rural scenes from the New England countryside. “The Road Not Taken” is one of Frost’s most frequently cited poems. As you read the poem, identify the imagery the speaker uses to describe the setting.
[1] Two roads diverged1 in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could [5] To where it bent in the undergrowth;2
Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted3 wear; Though as for that the passing there [10] Had worn them really about the same,
"The Enchanted Wood" by slimmer_jimmer is licensed under CC And both that morning equally lay BY-NC-ND 2.0. In leaves no step had trodden4 black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, [15] I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, [20] And that has made all the difference.
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost is in the public domain.
1. Diverge (verb): to separate from another route or go in a different direction 2. a dense growth of shrubs and other plants, especially under trees in woodland 3. lacked 4. Tread (verb): to walk or step 1 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. Using evidence from the text, explain what the “roads” symbolize in this poem.
2. Which statement best describes how the speaker’s thoughts in lines 9-12 affect the meaning of the poem? A. The speaker admits the roads are really the same, meaning he does not take the road less traveled but wants his choice to seem like it matters. B. The speaker admits the two roads are really the same, indicating that he will grow confused with age and forget his past choices. C. The speaker thinks both roads are actually heavily traveled, meaning that in the end both choices would have led to full lives. D. The speaker thinks he took the road less traveled, but is not sure if it has made any difference in his life.
3. Which statement best describes the significance of lines 13-15 on the meaning of the poem? A. The speaker is not worried he made the wrong choice because he can return to take the other road. B. The speaker is worried he took the more traveled road and will not be able to return to take the less traveled one. C. The speaker understands that taking one opportunity will likely prevent him from going back to take another. D. The speaker believes that he will be able to take all of the opportunities presented to him at some point in life.
4. Which of the following best describes a theme of the text? A. Sometimes one must make a choice without knowing if it will be best and live with the consequences. B. There will always be decisions in life, but one can return and make the decision differently if one makes a mistake. C. Following one’s heart is easier than following one’s head, but since decisions don't really matter it is best to follow one’s heart. D. Making the most common or popular decisions ensures that one will take the correct path through life.
2 5. Using evidence from the text, explain the impact of the speaker telling his story with a “sigh” in line 16.
3 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. In your opinion, is the speaker in the poem satisfied with his decision? Why or why not?
2. Do you think this is a poem about regret or appreciation? Explain.
3. What is an example of taking “the road less traveled”? Have you ever done this? Explain.
4. Do the decisions in your lifetime make you who you are? Can you change who you are by making different choices? Use evidence from this poem, your own experience, or other art and literature to answer this question.
5. In the context of this poem, can people control their own fate, or is it entirely up to destiny? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
4 Name: Class:
The Landlady By Roald Dahl 1959
Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, and poet. Dahl’s stories are known for having darkly comic or unexpected endings. In this short story, a young man in search of lodgings is taken in by a seemingly kind and gentle landlady. As you read, take notes on how the author characterizes the landlady.
[1] Billy Weaver had travelled down from London on the slow afternoon train, with a change at Swindon1 on the way, and by the time he got to Bath2 it was about nine o’clock in the evening and the moon was coming up out of a clear starry sky over the houses opposite the station entrance. But the air was deadly cold and the wind was like a flat blade of ice on his cheeks.
“Excuse me,” he said, “but is there a fairly cheap hotel not too far away from here?”
“Try The Bell and Dragon,” the porter3 answered, pointing down the road. “They might take you in. It’s about a quarter of a mile along on the other side.”
Billy thanked him and picked up his suitcase and set out to walk the quarter-mile to The Bell and Dragon. He had never been to Bath before. He didn’t know anyone who lived there. But Mr Greenslade at the Head Office in London had told him it was a splendid city. “Find your own lodgings,” he had said, “and then go along and report to the Branch Manager as soon as you’ve got yourself settled.” "The Linville River Farm bed and breakfast, no longer in operation" by Lindley Ashline is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. [5] Billy was seventeen years old. He was wearing a new navy-blue overcoat, a new brown trilby hat,4 and a new brown suit, and he was feeling fine. He walked briskly5 down the street. He was trying to do everything briskly these days. Briskness, he had decided, was the one common characteristic of all successful businessmen. The big shots up at Head Office were absolutely fantastically brisk all the time. They were amazing.
1. a large town in South West England 2. a region in the countryside in South West England 3. A “porter” is a person employed to carry luggage. 4. a soft felt hat with a narrow brim 5. Briskly (adverb): quick and active 1 There were no shops on this wide street that he was walking along, only a line of tall houses on each side, all them identical. They had porches and pillars and four or five steps going up to their front doors, and it was obvious that once upon a time they had been very swanky6 residences. But now, even in the darkness, he could see that the paint was peeling from the woodwork on their doors and windows, and that the handsome white façades7 were cracked and blotchy from neglect.
Suddenly, in a downstairs window that was brilliantly illuminated by a street-lamp not six yards away, Billy caught sight of a printed notice propped up against the glass in one of the upper panes. It said BED AND BREAKFAST. There was a vase of yellow chrysanthemums, tall and beautiful, standing just underneath the notice.
He stopped walking. He moved a bit closer.
Green curtains (some sort of velvety material) were hanging down on either side of the window. The chrysanthemums looked wonderful beside them. He went right up and peered through the glass into the room, and the first thing he saw was a bright fire burning in the hearth. On the carpet in front of the fire, a pretty little dachshund8 was curled up asleep with its nose tucked into its belly.
[10] The room itself, so far as he could see in the half-darkness, was filled with pleasant furniture. There was a baby-grand piano and a big sofa and several plump armchairs; and in one corner he spotted a large parrot in a cage. Animals were usually a good sign in a place like this, Billy told himself; and all in all, it looked to him as though it would be a pretty decent house to stay in. Certainly it would be more comfortable than The Bell and Dragon.
On the other hand, a pub would be more congenial9 than a boarding-house. There would be beer and darts in the evenings, and lots of people to talk to, and it would probably be a good bit cheaper, too. He had stayed a couple of nights in a pub once before and he had liked it. He had never stayed in any boarding-houses, and, to be perfectly honest, he was a tiny bit frightened of them. The name itself conjured10 up images of watery cabbage, rapacious11 landladies, and a powerful smell of kippers12 in the living-room.
After dithering13 about like this in the cold for two or three minutes, Billy decided that he would walk on and take a look at The Bell and Dragon before making up his mind. He turned to go. And now a queer14 thing happened to him. He was in the act of stepping back and turning away from the window when all at once his eye was caught and held in the most peculiar15 manner by the small notice that was there. BED AND BREAKFAST, it said. BED AND BREAKFAST, BED AND BREAKFAST, BED AND BREAKFAST. Each word was like a large black eye staring at him through the glass, holding him, compelling him, forcing him to stay where he was and not to walk away from that house, and the next thing he knew, he was actually moving across from the window to the front door of the house, climbing the steps that led up to it, and reaching for the bell.
6. Swanky (adjective): stylish and expensive 7. A “façade” is the face of a building, especially the front that looks on a street. 8. a type of dog with short legs and a long body 9. Congenial (adjective): pleasant and enjoyable 10. Conjure (verb): to produce or cause something to appear 11. Rapacious (adjective): aggressively greedy 12. a type of fish 13. to be indecisive 14. strange or odd 15. Peculiar (adjective): strange or odd; unusual 2 He pressed the bell. Far away in a back room he heard it ringing, and then at once — it must have been at once because he hadn’t even had time to take his finger from the bell-button — the door swung open and a woman was standing there.
Normally you ring the bell and you have at least a half-minute’s wait before the door opens. But this dame16 was a like a jack-in-the-box. He pressed the bell — and out she popped! It made him jump.
[15] She was about forty-five or fifty years old, and the moment she saw him, she gave him a warm welcoming smile.
“Please come in,” she said pleasantly. She stepped aside, holding the door wide open, and Billy found himself automatically starting forward into the house. The compulsion17 or, more accurately, the desire to follow after her into that house was extraordinarily strong.
“I saw the notice in the window,” he said, holding himself back.
“Yes, I know.”
“I was wondering about a room.”
[20] “It’s all ready for you, my dear,” she said. She had a round pink face and very gentle blue eyes.
“I was on my way to The Bell and Dragon,” Billy told her. “But the notice in your window just happened to catch my eye.”
“My dear boy,” she said, “why don’t you come in out of the cold?”
“How much do you charge?”
“Five and sixpence a night, including breakfast.”
[25] It was fantastically cheap. It was less than half of what he had been willing to pay.
“If that is too much,” she added, “then perhaps I can reduce it just a tiny bit. Do you desire an egg for breakfast? Eggs are expensive at the moment. It would be sixpence less without the egg.”
“Five and sixpence is fine,” he answered. “I should like very much to stay here.”
“I knew you would. Do come in.”
She seemed terribly nice. She looked exactly like the mother of one’s best school-friend welcoming one into the house to stay for the Christmas holidays. Billy took off his hat, and stepped over the threshold.18
[30] “Just hang it there,” she said, “and let me help you with your coat.”
16. “Dame” is another term for a woman. 17. Compulsion (noun): an irresistible urge to behave in a certain way 18. a point of entering 3 There were no other hats or coats in the hall. There were no umbrellas, no walking-sticks — nothing.
“We have it all to ourselves,” she said, smiling at him over her shoulder as she led the way upstairs.
“You see, it isn’t very often I have the pleasure of taking a visitor into my little nest.”
The old girl is slightly dotty,19 Billy told himself. But at five and sixpence a night, who gives a damn about that? — “I should’ve thought you’d be simply swamped20 with applicants,” he said politely.
[35] “Oh, I am, my dear, I am, of course I am. But the trouble is that I’m inclined to be just a teeny weeny bit choosy and particular — if you see what I mean.”
“Ah, yes.”
“But I’m always ready. Everything is always ready day and night in this house just on the off-chance that an acceptable young gentleman will come along. And it is such a pleasure, my dear, such a very great pleasure when now and again I open the door and I see someone standing there who is just exactly right.” She was half-way up the stairs, and she paused with one hand on the stair-rail, turning her head and smiling down at him with pale lips. “Like you,” she added, and her blue eyes travelled slowly all the way down the length of Billy’s body, to his feet, and then up again.
On the first-floor landing she said to him, “This floor is mine.”
They climbed up a second flight. “And this one is all yours,” she said. “Here’s your room. I do hope you’ll like it.” She took him into a small but charming front bedroom, switching on the light as she went in.
[40] “The morning sun comes right in the window, Mr Perkins. It is Mr Perkins, isn’t it?”
“No,” he said. “It’s Weaver.”
“Mr Weaver. How nice. I’ve put a water-bottle between the sheets to air them out, Mr Weaver. It’s such a comfort to have a hot water-bottle in a strange bed with clean sheets, don’t you agree? And you may light the gas fire at any time if you feel chilly.”
“Thank you,” Billy said. “Thank you ever so much.” He noticed that the bedspread had been taken off the bed, and that the bedclothes had been neatly turned back on one side, all ready for someone to get in.
“I’m so glad you appeared,” she said, looking earnestly21 into his face. “I was beginning to get worried.”
[45] “That’s all right,” Billy answered brightly. “You mustn’t worry about me.” He put his suitcase on the chair and started to open it.
“And what about supper, my dear? Did you manage to get anything to eat before you came here?”
19. “Dotty” means somewhat mad. 20. Swamp (verb): to overwhelm with an excessive amount of something 21. Earnest (adjective): serious and sincere 4 “I’m not a bit hungry, thank you,” he said. “I think I’ll just go to bed as soon as possible because tomorrow I’ve got to get up rather early and report to the office.”
“Very well, then. I’ll leave you now so that you can unpack. But before you go to bed, would you be kind enough to pop into the sitting-room on the ground floor and sign the book? Everyone has to do that because it’s the law of the land, and we don’t want to go breaking any laws at this stage in the proceedings, do we?” She gave him a little wave of the hand and went quickly out of the room and closed the door.
Now, the fact that his landlady appeared to be slightly off her rocker22 didn’t worry Billy in the least. After all, she was not only harmless — there was no question about that — but she was also quite obviously a kind and generous soul. He guessed that she had probably lost a son in the war, or something like that, and had never got over it.
[50] So a few minutes later, after unpacking his suitcase and washing his hands, he trotted downstairs to the ground floor and entered the living-room. His landlady wasn’t there, but the fire was glowing in the hearth, and the little dachshund was still sleeping in front of it. The room was wonderfully warm and cosy. I’m a lucky fellow, he thought, rubbing his hands. This is a bit of all right.
He found the guest-book lying open on the piano, so he took out his pen and wrote down his name and address. There were only two other entries above his on the page, and, as one always does with guest-books, he started to read them. One was a Christopher Mulholland from Cardiff. The other was Gregory W. Temple from Bristol. That’s funny, he thought suddenly. Christopher Mulholland. It rings a bell. Now where on earth had he heard that rather unusual name before?
Was he a boy at school? No. Was it one of his sister’s numerous young men, perhaps, or a friend of his father’s? No, no, it wasn’t any of those. He glanced down again at the book. Christopher Mulholland, 231 Cathedral Road, Cardiff. Gregory W. Temple, 27 Sycamore Drive, Bristol. As a matter of fact, now he came to think of it, he wasn’t at all sure that the second name didn’t have almost as much of a familiar ring about it as the first.
“Gregory Temple?” he said aloud, searching his memory. “Christopher Mulholland?…”
“Such charming boys,” a voice behind him answered, and he turned and saw his landlady sailing into the room with a large silver tea-tray in her hands. She was holding it well out in front of her, and rather high up, as though the tray were a pair of reins on a frisky23 horse.
[55] “They sound somehow familiar,” he said.
“They do? How interesting.”
“I’m almost positive I’ve heard those names before somewhere. Isn’t that queer? Maybe it was in the newspapers. They weren’t famous in any way, were they? I mean famous cricketers or footballers or something like that?”
22. a phrase that means insane 23. Frisky (adjective): playful and full of energy 5 “Famous,” she said, setting the tea-tray down on the low table in front of the sofa. “Oh no, I don’t think they were famous. But they were extraordinarily handsome, both of them, I can promise you that. They were tall and young and handsome, my dear, just exactly like you.”
Once more, Billy glanced down at the book.
[60] “Look here,” he said, noticing the dates. “This last entry is over two years old.”
“It is?”
“Yes, indeed. And Christopher Mulholland’s is nearly a year before that — more than three years ago.”
“Dear me,” she said, shaking her head and heaving a dainty24 little sigh. “I would never have thought it. How time does fly away from us all, doesn’t it, Mr Wilkins?”
“It’s Weaver,” Billy said. “W-e-a-v-e-r.”
[65] “Oh, of course it is!” she cried, sitting down on the sofa. “How silly of me. I do apologise. In one ear and out the other, that’s me, Mr Weaver.”
“You know something?” Billy said. “Something that’s really quite extraordinary about all this?”
“No, dear, I don’t.”
“Well, you see — both of these names, Mulholland and Temple, I not only seem to remember each one of them separately, so to speak, but somehow or other, in some peculiar way, they both appear to be sort of connected together as well. As though they were both famous for the same sort of thing, if you see what I mean — like … like Dempsey and Tunney, for example, or Churchill and Roosevelt.”
“How amusing,” she said. “But come over here now, dear, and sit down beside me on the sofa and I’ll give you a nice cup of tea and a ginger biscuit before you go to bed.”
[70] “You really shouldn’t bother,” Billy said. “I didn’t mean you to do anything like that.” He stood by the piano, watching her as she fussed about with the cups and saucers. He noticed that she had small, white, quickly moving hands, and red finger-nails.
“I’m almost positive it was in the newspapers I saw them,” Billy said. “I’ll think of it in a second. I’m sure I will.”
There is nothing more tantalising25 than a thing like this which lingers just outside the borders of one’s memory. He hated to give up.
“Now wait a minute,” he said. “Wait just a minute. Mulholland... Christopher Mulholland... wasn’t that the name of the Eton schoolboy who was on a walking-tour through the West Country, and then all of a sudden...”
24. Dainty (adjective): delicately small 25. Tantalize (verb): to torment or tease someone with something that is unobtainable 6 “Milk?” she said. “And sugar?”
[75] “Yes, please. And then all of a sudden...”
“Eton schoolboy?” she said. “Oh no, my dear, that can’t possibly be right because my Mr Mulholland was certainly not an Eton schoolboy when he came to me. He was a Cambridge undergraduate. Come over here now and sit next to me and warm yourself in front of this lovely fire. Come on. Your tea’s all ready for you.” She patted the empty place beside her on the sofa, and she sat there smiling at Billy and waiting for him to come over. He crossed the room slowly, and sat down on the edge of the sofa. She placed his teacup on the table in front of him.
“There we are,” she said. “How nice and cosy this is, isn’t it?”
Billy started sipping his tea. She did the same. For half a minute or so, neither of them spoke. But Billy knew that she was looking at him. Her body was half-turned towards him, and he could feel her eyes resting on his face, watching him over the rim of her teacup. Now and again, he caught a whiff of a peculiar smell that seemed to emanate26 directly from her person. It was not in the least unpleasant, and it reminded him — well, he wasn’t quite sure what it reminded him of. Pickled walnuts? New leather? Or was it the corridors of a hospital?
“Mr Mulholland was a great one for his tea,” she said at length. “Never in my life have I seen anyone drink as much tea as dear, sweet Mr Mulholland.”
[80] “I suppose he left fairly recently,” Billy said. He was still puzzling his head about the two names.
He was positive now that he had seen them in the newspapers — in the headlines.
“Left?” she said, arching her brows. “But my dear boy, he never left. He’s still here. Mr Temple is also here. They’re on the third floor, both of them together.”
Billy set down his cup slowly on the table, and stared at his landlady. She smiled back at him, and then she put out one of her white hands and patted him comfortingly on the knee. “How old are you, my dear?” she asked.
“Seventeen.”
[85] “Seventeen!” she cried. “Oh, it’s the perfect age! Mr Mulholland was also seventeen. But I think he was a trifle27 shorter than you are, in fact I’m sure he was, and his teeth weren’t quite so white. You have the most beautiful teeth, Mr Weaver, did you know that?”
“They’re not as good as they look,” Billy said.
“They’ve got simply masses of fillings28 in them at the back.”
26. Emanate (verb): to issue or spread out from a source 27. to some small degree 28. something used to fill a cavity 7 “Mr Temple, of course, was a little older,” she said, ignoring his remark. “He was actually twenty eight. And yet I never would have guessed it if he hadn’t told me, never in my whole life. There wasn’t a blemish on his body.”
“A what?” Billy said.
[90] “His skin was just like a baby’s.”
There was a pause. Billy picked up his teacup and took another sip of his tea, then he set it down again gently in its saucer. He waited for her to say something else, but she seemed to have lapsed29 into another of her silences. He sat there staring straight ahead of him into the far corner of the room, biting his lower lip.
“That parrot,” he said at last. “You know something? It had me completely fooled when I first saw it through the window from the street. I could have sworn it was alive.”
“Alas,30 no longer.”
“It’s most terribly clever the way it’s been done,” he said. “It doesn’t look in the least bit dead. Who did it?”
[95] “I did.”
“You did?”
“Of course,” she said. “And have you met my little Basil as well?” She nodded towards the dachshund curled up so comfortably in front of the fire. Billy looked at it. And suddenly, he realised that this animal had all the time been just as silent and motionless as the parrot. He put out a hand and touched it gently on the top of its back. The back was hard and cold, and when he pushed the hair to one side with his fingers, he could see the skin underneath, greyish-black and dry and perfectly preserved.
“Good gracious me,” he said. “How absolutely fascinating.” He turned away from the dog and stared with deep admiration at the little woman beside him on the sofa. “It must be most awfully difficult to do a thing like that.”
“Not in the least,” she said. “I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. Will you have another cup of tea?”
[100] “No, thank you,” Billy said. The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds,31 and he didn’t much care for it.
“You did sign the book, didn’t you?”
“Oh, yes.”
29. Lapse (verb): to revert to a previous state or behavior 30. an expression of grief or pity 31. The taste or smell of bitter almonds is an indication that something contains a deadly poison called cyanide. 8 “That’s good. Because later on, if I happen to forget what you were called, then I can always come down here and look it up. I still do that almost every day with Mr Mulholland and Mr... Mr...”
“Temple,” Billy said. “Gregory Temple. Excuse my asking, but haven’t there been any other guests here except them in the last two or three years?”
[105] Holding her teacup high in one hand, inclining her head slightly to the left, she looked up at him out of the corners of her eyes and gave him another gentle little smile.
“No, my dear,” she said. “Only you.”
"The Landlady" from The Best of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl. Copyright © 1959 by David Hingham Associates Limited. Used by permission of Vintage. All rights reserved.
9 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. Which of the following statements best identifies a theme of the text? [RL.2] A. People should get to know each other first before resorting to judgment. B. Strangers can be more dangerous than they initially appear. C. Loneliness can drive people to behave strangely towards others. D. Kindness and hospitality are difficult to find among strangers.
2. PART A: What does the word “compelling” mean as used in paragraph 12? [RL.4] A. to urge someone to do something B. to think deeply about something C. to become slightly interested in something D. to scare someone into doing something
3. PART B: Which quote from paragraph 12 best supports the answer to Part A? [RL.1] A. “After dithering about like this in the cold for two or three minutes” B. “when all at once his eye was caught and held in the most peculiar manner” C. “Each word was like a large black eye staring at him through the glass” D. “forcing him to stay where he was and not to walk away from that house”
4. PART A: What can the reader infer about the landlady from her conversation with [RL.3] Billy in the sitting room? A. She was a doctor or likely had some medical training, as evidenced by her ability to stuff her pets. B. She is a lonely old woman who lost her son in the war and tries to replace him with her particular tenants. C. She may have witnessed something terrible and suffers memory problems because she cannot recall Billy’s name correctly. D. She may be more threatening than she appears because her words suggest she was involved in the two men’s disappearances.
5. PART B: Which of the following details from the text best support the answer to Part [RL.1] A? A. “He guessed that she had probably lost a son in the war, or something like that, and had never got over it.” (Paragraph 49) B. “‘Left?’ she said, arching her brows. ‘But my dear boy, he never left. He’s still here. Mr Temple is also here.’” (Paragraph 82) C. “he caught a whiff of a peculiar smell... he wasn’t quite sure what it reminded him of. Pickled walnuts? New leather? Or was it the corridors of a hospital?” (Paragraph 78) D. “‘if I happen to forget what you were called, then I can always come down here and look it up. I still do that almost every day with Mr Mulholland and Mr... Mr...’” (Paragraph 103)
10 6. How do the reader’s and Billy’s contrasting points of view affect the text? [RL.6]
7. How does the shift in the physical description of the landlady throughout the [RL.4] passage impact the story’s meaning?
11 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. In this text, Roald Dahl never outright states the landlady’s dark secret or reveals the fate of Billy and the other boys – what is the effect of this? How does it contribute to the suspense of the story?
2. In the context of the short story, how do people face death? The landlady hints at her sinister intentions throughout the text – do you think Billy should have realized her plans? Was he in denial of his own fate? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
3. In the context of the short story, what can we learn about fate from tragedy? In your opinion, what does this story teach readers about avoiding tragedy? What could Billy have done differently? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
12 Name: Class:
The Last Leaf By O. Henry 1907
William Sydney Porter (1862-1910) was an American writer better known by his pen name, O. Henry. “The Last Leaf,” published in 1907, is a story about a young girl named Johnsy who gets pneumonia and is given a 1 in 10 chance of surviving. As you read, take notes on the literary devices the author uses to describe Johnsy's condition and the vine outside her window. How do these details contribute to your reading of the text?
[1] In a little district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called "places." These "places" make strange angles and curves. One Street crosses itself a time or two. An artist once discovered a valuable possibility in this street. Suppose a collector with a bill for paints, paper and canvas should, in traversing this route, suddenly meet himself coming back, without a cent having been paid on account!
So, to quaint old Greenwich Village the art people soon came prowling, hunting for north windows and eighteenth-century gables and Dutch attics
and low rents. Then they imported some pewter "Last Autumn Leaves" by Lorenzo Tomada is licensed under CC BY- mugs and a chafing dish or two from Sixth NC-ND 2.0. Avenue, and became a "colony."
At the top of a squatty, three-story brick Sue and Johnsy had their studio. "Johnsy" was familiar for Joanna. One was from Maine; the other from California. They had met at the table d'hôte of an Eighth Street "Delmonico's," and found their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves so congenial that the joint studio resulted.
That was in May. In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers. Over on the east side this ravager strode boldly, smiting his victims by scores, but his feet trod slowly through the maze of the narrow and moss-grown "places."
[5] Mr. Pneumonia was not what you would call a chivalric1 old gentleman. A mite of a little woman with blood thinned by California zephyrs2 was hardly fair game for the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer. But Johnsy he smote; and she lay, scarcely3 moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small Dutch window-panes at the blank side of the next brick house.
1. referring to chivalry, the medieval code of conduct for knights that emphasized ideas like bravery, generosity, faithfulness, and courtesy to women 2. "Zephyr" is a mild wind. 3. Scarcely (adverb): barely, hardly 1 One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a shaggy, gray eyebrow.
"She has one chance in — let us say, ten," he said, as he shook down the mercury in his clinical thermometer. "And that chance is for her to want to live. Your little lady has made up her mind that she's not going to get well. Has she anything on her mind?"
"She — she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day." said Sue.
"Paint? — bosh! Has she anything on her mind worth thinking twice — a man for instance?"
[10] "A man?" said Sue, with a jew's-harp twang in her voice. "Is a man worth — but, no, doctor; there is nothing of the kind."
"Well, it is the weakness, then," said the doctor. "I will do all that science, so far as it may filter through my efforts, can accomplish. But whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 percent from the curative power of medicines. If you will get her to ask one question about the new winter styles in cloak sleeves I will promise you a one-in-five chance for her, instead of one in ten."
After the doctor had gone Sue went into the workroom and cried a Japanese napkin to a pulp. Then she swaggered into Johnsy's room with her drawing board, whistling ragtime.
Johnsy lay, scarcely making a ripple under the bedclothes, with her face toward the window. Sue stopped whistling, thinking she was asleep.
She arranged her board and began a pen-and-ink drawing to illustrate a magazine story. Young artists must pave their way to Art by drawing pictures for magazine stories that young authors write to pave their way to Literature.
[15] As Sue was sketching a pair of elegant horseshow riding trousers and a monocle of the figure of the hero, an Idaho cowboy, she heard a low sound, several times repeated. She went quickly to the bedside.
Johnsy's eyes were open wide. She was looking out the window and counting — counting backward.
"Twelve," she said, and little later "eleven"; and then "ten," and "nine"; and then "eight" and "seven", almost together.
Sue looked solicitously4 out of the window. What was there to count? There was only a bare, dreary yard to be seen, and the blank side of the brick house twenty feet away. An old, old ivy vine, gnarled and decayed at the roots, climbed half way up the brick wall. The cold breath of autumn had stricken its leaves from the vine until its skeleton branches clung, almost bare, to the crumbling bricks.
"What is it, dear?" asked Sue.
4. Solicitous (adjective): showing great attention to or concern for another 2 [20] "Six," said Johnsy, in almost a whisper. "They're falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. It made my head ache to count them. But now it's easy. There goes another one. There are only five left now."
"Five what, dear? Tell your Sudie."
"Leaves. On the ivy vine. When the last one falls I must go, too. I've known that for three days. Didn't the doctor tell you?"
"Oh, I never heard of such nonsense," complained Sue, with magnificent scorn. "What have old ivy leaves to do with your getting well? And you used to love that vine so, you naughty girl. Don't be a goosey. Why, the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon were — let's see exactly what he said — he said the chances were ten to one! Why, that's almost as good a chance as we have in New York when we ride on the street cars or walk past a new building. Try to take some broth now, and let Sudie go back to her drawing, so she can sell the editor man with it, and buy port wine for her sick child, and pork chops for her greedy self."
"You needn't get any more wine," said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window. "There goes another. No, I don't want any broth. That leaves just four. I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. Then I'll go, too."
[25] "Johnsy, dear," said Sue, bending over her, "will you promise me to keep your eyes closed, and not look out the window until I am done working? I must hand those drawings in by to-morrow. I need the light, or I would draw the shade down."
"Couldn't you draw in the other room?" asked Johnsy, coldly.
"I'd rather be here by you," said Sue. "Beside, I don't want you to keep looking at those silly ivy leaves."
"Tell me as soon as you have finished," said Johnsy, closing her eyes, and lying white and still as fallen statue, "because I want to see the last one fall. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of thinking. I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves."
"Try to sleep," said Sue. "I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old hermit5 miner. I'll not be gone a minute. Don't try to move 'til I come back."
[30] Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath them. He was past sixty and had a Michael Angelo's Moses beard curling down from the head of a satyr6 along with the body of an imp. Behrman was a failure in art. Forty years he had wielded the brush without getting near enough to touch the hem of his Mistress's robe. He had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it. For several years he had painted nothing except now and then a daub in the line of commerce or advertising. He earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists in the colony who could not pay the price of a professional. He drank gin to excess, and still talked of his coming masterpiece. For the rest he was a fierce little old man, who scoffed terribly at softness in any one, and who regarded himself as especial mastiff-in-waiting to protect the two young artists in the studio above.
5. someone who lives alone, often in a place far removed from others 6. a mythological creature with the top half of a man and the legs, horns, ears, and tail of a goat 3 Sue found Behrman smelling strongly of juniper berries7 in his dimly lighted den below. In one corner was a blank canvas on an easel that had been waiting there for twenty-five years to receive the first line of the masterpiece. She told him of Johnsy's fancy, and how she feared she would, indeed, light and fragile as a leaf herself, float away, when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker.
Old Behrman, with his red eyes plainly streaming, shouted his contempt8 and derision9 for such idiotic imaginings.
"Vass!" he cried. "Is dere people in de world mit der foolishness to die because leafs dey drop off from a confounded vine? I haf not heard of such a thing. No, I will not bose as a model for your fool hermit- dunderhead. Vy do you allow dot silly pusiness to come in der brain of her? Ach, dot poor leetle Miss Yohnsy."
"She is very ill and weak," said Sue, "and the fever has left her mind morbid and full of strange fancies. Very well, Mr. Behrman, if you do not care to pose for me, you needn't. But I think you are a horrid old — old flibbertigibbet."
[35] "You are just like a woman!" yelled Behrman. "Who said I will not bose? Go on. I come mit you. For half an hour I haf peen trying to say dot I am ready to bose. Gott! dis is not any blace in which one so goot as Miss Yohnsy shall lie sick. Some day I vill baint a masterpiece, and ve shall all go away. Gott! yes."
Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs. Sue pulled the shade down to the window-sill, and motioned Behrman into the other room. In there they peered out the window fearfully at the ivy vine. Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking. A persistent, cold rain was falling, mingled with snow. Behrman, in his old blue shirt, took his seat as the hermit miner on an upturned kettle for a rock.
When Sue awoke from an hour's sleep the next morning she found Johnsy with dull, wide-open eyes staring at the drawn green shade.
"Pull it up; I want to see," she ordered, in a whisper.
Wearily Sue obeyed.
[40] But, lo! after the beating rain and fierce gusts of wind that had endured through the livelong night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf. It was the last one on the vine. Still dark green near its stem, with its serrated edges tinted with the yellow of dissolution and decay, it hung bravely from the branch some twenty feet above the ground.
"It is the last one," said Johnsy. "I thought it would surely fall during the night. I heard the wind. It will fall to-day, and I shall die at the same time."
"Dear, dear!" said Sue, leaning her worn face down to the pillow, "think of me, if you won't think of yourself. What would I do?"
7. Juniper berries are strong scented fruits used to flavor gin, a type of alcohol. 8. Contempt (noun): a feeling of disrespect or disapproval 9. Derision (noun): ridicule or mockery 4 But Johnsy did not answer. The lonesomest thing in all the world is a soul when it is making ready to go on its mysterious, far journey. The fancy seemed to possess her more strongly as one by one the ties that bound her to friendship and to earth were loosed.
The day wore away, and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall. And then, with the coming of the night the north wind was again loosed, while the rain still beat against the windows and pattered down from the low Dutch eaves.
[45] When it was light enough Johnsy, the merciless, commanded that the shade be raised.
The ivy leaf was still there.
Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it. And then she called to Sue, who was stirring her chicken broth over the gas stove.
"I've been a bad girl, Sudie," said Johnsy. "Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was. It is a sin to want to die. You may bring a me a little broth now, and some milk with a little port in it, and — no; bring me a hand-mirror first, and then pack some pillows about me, and I will sit up and watch you cook."
And hour later she said:
[50] "Sudie, some day I hope to paint the Bay of Naples."
The doctor came in the afternoon, and Sue had an excuse to go into the hallway as he left.
"Even chances," said the doctor, taking Sue's thin, shaking hand in his. "With good nursing you'll win. And now I must see another case I have downstairs. Behrman, his name is — some kind of an artist, I believe. Pneumonia, too. He is an old, weak man, and the attack is acute. There is no hope for him; but he goes to the hospital to-day to be made more comfortable."
The next day the doctor said to Sue: "She's out of danger. You won. Nutrition and care now — that's all."
And that afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay, contentedly knitting a very blue and very useless woollen shoulder scarf, and put one arm around her, pillows and all.
[55] "I have something to tell you, white mouse," she said. "Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia to-day in the hospital. He was ill only two days. The janitor found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold. They couldn't imagine where he had been on such a dreadful night. And then they found a lantern, still lighted, and a ladder that had been dragged from its place, and some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it, and — look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece — he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."
"The Last Leaf" by O. Henry (1907) is in the public domain.
5 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. How does the personification of “Mr. Pneumonia” contribute to the story's meaning?
2. PART A: What do the doctor’s comments in paragraphs 5-11 reveal about his point of view regarding Johnsy’s illness and recovery? A. He is confident in his own medicine. B. He is discouraging about Johnsy’s health. C. He is skeptical about Johnsy’s will to live. D. He is hopeful about Johnsy’s recovery.
3. PART B: Which of the following quotations best illustrates the doctor’s point of view in Part A? A. “She has one chance in – let us say, ten” (Paragraph 7) B. “‘Paint? - bosh! Has she anything on her mind worth thinking twice - a man for instance?’” (Paragraph 9) C. “‘Well, it is the weakness, then,’ said the doctor. ‘I will do all that science, so far as it may filter through my efforts, can accomplish.’” (Paragraph 11) D. “whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 percent from the curative power of medicines.” (Paragraph 11)
4. PART A: How does the description of the ivy vine in paragraph 18 contribute to the tone of the passage? A. It reflects Sue’s determination to keep Johnsy alive. B. It shows the hopelessness of being fragile. C. It shows the run-down environment where Sue and Johnsy live. D. It reflects the narrator’s sense of optimism.
5. PART B: Which paragraph most directly reinforces the tone created in paragraph 18? A. Paragraph 25 B. Paragraph 28 C. Paragraph 36 D. Paragraph 37
6 6. What does Johnsy’s dialogue in paragraph 48 reveal about her attitude? A. She has given up on life. B. She has changed her mind about dying. C. She feels guilty about feeling sick. D. She is willing to fight, even though it is hopeless.
7. Explain how the leaf contributes to the extended metaphor and the theme in this story.
8. Which of the following details from the text best foreshadows the story’s conclusion? A. “He was past sixty and had a Michael Angelo's Moses beard curling down from the head of a satyr along with the body of an imp.” (Paragraph 30) B. “he was a fierce little old man, who scoffed terribly at softness in any one” (Paragraph 30) C. “regarded himself as especial mastiff-in-waiting to protect the two young artists in the studio above.” (Paragraph 30) D. “Vy do you allow dot silly pusiness to come in der brain of her? Ach, dot poor leetle Miss Yohnsy.” (Paragraph 33)
7 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. Put yourself in Johnsy’s position. Can you empathize with her attitude throughout the story? Why or why not?
2. What does this text teach us about the nature of resilience?
3. How do people overcome adversity? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature or art in your answer.
8 Name: Class:
The Stolen Party By Liliana Heker 1982
Lilian Heker (b. 1943) is an Argentine author who has been writing professionally since she was 17. In this short story, Heker explores social class differences through a story about a young girl who attends the birthday party of a friend whose family employs her mother as their housekeeper. As you read, take notes on how different characters view Rosaura’s attendance at the party.
[1] As soon as she arrived she went straight to the kitchen to see if the monkey was there. It was: what a relief. She wouldn’t have liked to admit that her mother had been right. Monkeys at a birthday? Her mother had sneered. Get away with you, believing any nonsense you’re told! She was cross, but not because of the monkey, the girl thought; it’s just because of the party.
“I don’t like you going,” she told her. “It’s a rich people’s party.”
"Happy birthday wishes" by Just go is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 “Rich people go to Heaven too,” said the girl, who studied religion at school.
“Get away with Heaven,” said the mother. “The problem with you, young lady, is that you like to fart higher than your a—.”1
[5] The girl didn’t approve of the way her mother spoke. She was barely nine, and one of the best in her class.
“I’m going because I’ve been invited,” she said. “And I’ve been invited because Luciana is my friend. So there.”
“Ah yes, your friend,” her mother grumbled. She paused. “Listen, Rosaura,” she said at last. “That one’s not your friend. You know what you are to them? The maid’s daughter, that’s what.”
Rosaura blinked hard: she wasn’t going to cry. Then she yelled: “Shut up! You know nothing about being friends!”
Every afternoon she used to go to Luciana’s house and they would both finish their homework while Rosaura’s mother did the cleaning. They had their tea in the kitchen and they told each other secrets. Rosaura loved everything in the big house, and she also loved the people who lived there.
1. Rosaura’s mother uses an expression that includes a curse word. 1 [10] “I’m going because it will be the most lovely party in the whole world, Luciana told me it would. There will be a magician, and he will bring a monkey and everything.”
The mother swung around to take a good look at her child, and pompously2 put her hands on her hips.
“Monkeys at a birthday?” she said. “Get away with you, believing any nonsense you’re told!”
Rosaura was deeply offended.3 She thought it unfair of her mother to accuse other people of being liars simply because they were rich. Rosaura too wanted to be rich, of course. If one day she managed to live in a beautiful palace, would her mother stop loving her? She felt very sad. She wanted to go to that party more than anything else in the world.
“I’ll die if I don’t go,” she whispered, almost without moving her lips.
[15] She wasn’t sure whether she had been heard, but on the morning of the party she discovered that her mother had starched4 her Christmas dress. And in the afternoon, after washing her hair, her mother rinsed it in apple vinegar so that it would be all nice and shiny. Before going out, Rosaura admired herself in the mirror, with her white dress and glossy hair, and thought she looked terribly pretty. Señora Ines also seemed to notice. As soon as she saw her, she said: “How lovely you look today, Rosaura.”
Rosaura gave her starched skirt a slight toss with her hands and walked into the party with a firm step. She said hello to Luciana and asked about the monkey. Luciana put on a secretive look and whispered into Rosaura’s ear: “He’s in the kitchen. But don’t tell anyone, because it’s a surprise.”
Rosaura wanted to make sure. Carefully she entered the kitchen and there she saw it: deep in thought, inside its cage. It looked so funny that the girl stood there for a while, watching it, and later, every so often, she would slip out of the party unseen and go and admire it. Rosaura was the only one allowed into the kitchen. Señora Ines had said: “You yes, but not the others, they’re much too boisterous,5 they might break something.” Rosaura had never broken anything. She even managed the jug of orange juice, carrying it from the kitchen into the dining room. She held it carefully and didn’t spill a single drop. And Señora Ines had said: “Are you sure you can manage a jug as big as that?” Of course she could manage. She wasn’t a butterfingers,6 like the others. Like that blonde girl with the bow in her hair. As soon as she saw Rosaura, the girl with the bow had said: “And you? Who are you?”
“I’m a friend of Luciana,” said Rosaura.
“No,” said the girl with the bow, “you are not a friend of Luciana because I’m her cousin and I know all her friends. And I don’t know you.”
[20] “So what,” said Rosaura. “I come here every afternoon with my mother and we do our homework together.”
“You and your mother do your homework together?” asked the girl, laughing.
2. Pompous (adjective): having a high opinion of one’s own importance 3. Offend (verb): to cause someone to feel angry, hurt, or upset 4. to make a piece of clothing stiff by dipping it in starch 5. Boisterous (adjective): noisy, energetic, or wild 6. Someone who is “butterfingered” is careless and often drops objects. 2 “I and Luciana do our homework together,” said Rosaura, very seriously.
The girl with the bow shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s not being friends,” she said. “Do you go to school together?”
[25] “No.”
“So where do you know her from?” said the girl, getting impatient.
Rosaura remembered her mother’s words perfectly. She took a deep breath.
“I’m the daughter of the employee,” she said.
Her mother had said very clearly: “If someone asks, you say you’re the daughter of the employee; that’s all.” She also told her to add: “And proud of it.” But Rosaura thought that never in her life would she dare say something of the sort.
[30] “What employee?” said the girl with the bow. “Employee in a shop?”
“No,” said Rosaura angrily. “My mother doesn’t sell anything in any shop, so there.”
“So how come she’s an employee?” said the girl with the bow.
Just then Señora Ines arrived saying shh shh, and asked Rosaura if she wouldn’t mind helping serve out the hot dogs, as she knew the house so much better than the others.
“See?” said Rosaura to the girl with the bow, and when no one was looking she kicked her in the shin.
[35] Apart from the girl with the bow, all the others were delightful. The one she liked best was Luciana, with her golden birthday crown; and then the boys. Rosaura won the sack race, and nobody managed to catch her when they played tag. When they split into two teams to play charades, all the boys wanted her for their side. Rosaura felt she had never been so happy in all her life.
But the best was still to come. The best came after Luciana blew out the candles. First the cake. Señora Ines had asked her to help pass the cake around, and Rosaura had enjoyed the task immensely,7 because everyone called out to her, shouting “Me, me!” Rosaura remembered a story in which there was a queen who had the power of life or death over her subjects. She had always loved that, having the power of life or death. To Luciana and the boys she gave the largest pieces, and to the girl with the bow she gave a slice so thin one could see through it.
After the cake came the magician, tall and bony, with a fine red cape. A true magician: he could untie handkerchiefs by blowing on them and make a chain with links that had no openings. He could guess what cards were pulled out from a pack, and the monkey was his assistant. He called the monkey “partner.” “Let’s see here, partner,” he would say, “turn over a card.” And, “Don’t run away, partner: time to work now.”
7. very much or to a great degree 3 The final trick was wonderful. One of the children had to hold the monkey in his arms and the magician said he would make him disappear.
“What, the boy?” they all shouted.
[40] “No, the monkey!” shouted back the magician.
Rosaura thought that this was truly the most amusing party in the whole world.
The magician asked a small fat boy to come and help, but the small fat boy got frightened almost at once and dropped the monkey on the floor. The magician picked him up carefully, whispered something in his ear, and the monkey nodded almost as if he understood.
“You mustn’t be so unmanly, my friend,” the magician said to the fat boy.
The magician turned around as if to look for spies.
[45] “A sissy,”8 said the magician. “Go sit down.”
Then he stared at all the faces, one by one. Rosaura felt her heart tremble.
“You with the Spanish eyes,” said the magician. And everyone saw that he was pointing at her.
She wasn’t afraid, neither holding the monkey, nor when the magician made him vanish; not even when, at the end, the magician flung his red cape over Rosaura’s head and uttered a few magic words... and the monkey reappeared, chattering happily, in her arms. The children clapped furiously. And before Rosaura returned to her seat, the magician said: “Thank you very much, my little countess.”9
She was so pleased with the compliment that a while later, when her mother came to fetch her, that was the first thing she told her.
[50] “I helped the magician and he said to me, ‘Thank you very much, my little countess.’”
It was strange because up to then Rosaura had thought that she was angry with her mother. All along Rosaura had imagined that she would say to her: “See that the monkey wasn’t a lie?” But instead she was so thrilled that she told her mother all about the wonderful magician.
Her mother tapped her on the head and said: “So now we’re a countess!”
But one could see that she was beaming.
And now they both stood in the entrance, because a moment ago Señora Ines, smiling, had said: “Please wait here a second.” Her mother suddenly seemed worried.
[55] “What is it?” she asked Rosaura.
8. a person regarded as a coward 9. a woman of noble status 4 “What is what?” said Rosaura. “It’s nothing; she just wants to get the presents for those who are leaving, see?”
She pointed at the fat boy and at a girl with pigtails who were also waiting there, next to their mothers. And she explained about the presents. She knew, because she had been watching those who left before her. When one of the girls was about to leave, Señora Ines would give her a bracelet. When a boy left, Señora Ines gave him a yo-yo. Rosaura preferred the yo-yo because it sparkled, but she didn’t mention that to her mother. Her mother might have said: “So why don’t you ask for one, you blockhead?”10 That’s what her mother was like. Rosaura didn’t feel like explaining that she’d be horribly ashamed to be the odd one out. Instead she said: “I was the best-behaved at the party.”
And she said no more because Señora Ines came out into the hall with two bags, one pink and one blue.
First she went up to the fat boy, gave him a yo-yo out of the blue bag, and the fat boy left with his mother. Then she went up to the girl and gave her a bracelet out of the pink bag, and the girl with the pigtails left as well.
[60] Finally she came up to Rosaura and her mother. She had a big smile on her face and Rosaura liked that. Señora Ines looked down at her, then looked up at her mother, and then said something that made Rosaura proud:
“What a marvelous daughter you have, Herminia.”
For an instant, Rosaura thought that she’d give her two presents: the bracelet and the yo-yo. Señora Ines bent down as if about to look for something. Rosaura also leaned forward, stretching out her arm. But she never completed the movement.
Señora Ines didn’t look in the pink bag. Nor did she look in the blue bag. Instead she rummaged11 in her purse. In her hand appeared two bills.
“You really and truly earned this,” she said handing them over. “Thank you for all your help, my pet.”
[65] Rosaura felt her arms stiffen, stick close to her body, and then she noticed her mother’s hand on her shoulder. Instinctively she pressed herself against her mother’s body. That was all. Except her eyes. Rosaura’s eyes had a cold, clear look that fixed itself on Señora Ines’s face.
Señora Ines, motionless, stood there with her hand outstretched. As if she didn’t dare draw it back. As if the slightest change might shatter an infinitely delicate balance.
“The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker, © 1982, which appeared in Other Fires: Short Fiction by Latin American Women, edited and translated by Alberto Manguel, © 1985. Reprinted by permission of Westwood Creative Artists Ltd. and Schavelzon Graham Agencia Literaria (www.schavelzongraham.com).
10. a stupid person 11. Rummage (verb): to search by moving, turning, or looking through the contents of a container 5 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. PART A: Which statement identifies a theme of the text? A. Class differences are insignificant and people are usually able to look beyond them. B. Children are clueless to how cruel other people can be. C. Class differences can negatively impact the way people are treated. D. Adults are sometimes inexplicably cruel to children.
2. PART B: Which passage from the text best supports the answer to Part A? A. “'That one’s not your friend. You know what you are to them? The maid’s daughter, that’s what.’” (Paragraph 7) B. “They had their tea in the kitchen and they told each other secrets. Rosaura loved everything in the big house, and she also loved the people who lived there.” (Paragraph 9) C. “Rosaura remembered a story in which there was a queen who had the power of life or death over her subjects.” (Paragraph 36) D. “Rosaura didn’t feel like explaining that she’d be horribly ashamed to be the odd one out. Instead she said: ‘I was the best-behaved at the party.’” (Paragraph 57)
3. PART A: What is the meaning of “boisterous” in paragraph 17? A. overactive B. untrustworthy C. uncoordinated D. weak
4. PART B: Which detail from paragraph 17 best supports the answer to Part A? A. “Rosaura was the only one allowed into the kitchen.” B. “'they might break something.’” C. “She even managed the jug of orange juice,” D. “She wasn’t a butterfingers, like the others.”
5. PART A: How would you describe Rosaura’s mother? A. She is hateful towards people with money because she is jealous that she doesn’t have money. B. She is not trusting of people with money because she knows they spend it on unnecessary things. C. She is not trusting of people with money because she knows how they treat people without money. D. She is uncaring towards her daughter because she thinks her desires to be rich are silly.
6 6. PART B: Which quote from the text best supports the answer to Part A? A. “Monkeys at a birthday? Her mother had sneered. Get away with you, believing any nonsense you’re told!” (Paragraph 1) B. “'Get away with Heaven,’ said the mother. ‘The problem with you, young lady, is that you like to fart higher than your a**.’” (Paragraph 4) C. "'Listen, Rosaura,’ she said at last. ‘That one’s not your friend. You know what you are to them? The maid’s daughter, that’s what.’” (Paragraph 7) D. “The mother swung around to take a good look at her child, and pompously put her hands on her hips.” (Paragraph 11)
7. What is the “infinitely delicate balance” that the author refers to in paragraph 66?
8. How does the following sentence from paragraph 19 help develop the plot of the story: “you are not a friend of Luciana because I’m her cousin and I know all her friends. And I don’t know you”?
7 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. In your opinion, did Rosaura appear to be embarrassed by how much money her family had? Did this change as the story progressed?
2. In your opinion, was Rosaura’s mother a good mother? Was it right for her to discourage Rosaura from going to the party?
3. In the context of the text, what is a friend? Did Luciana view Rosaura as a friend? How did Rosaura’s treatment at Luciana’s party reinforce her belief that she was there as a guest? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
4. In the context of the text, what are the effects of prejudice? How was Señora Ines’s treatment of Rosaura an example of prejudice? How did this make Rosaura feel? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
5. In the context of the text, why should we value our youth? How did Rosaura’s age influence her perceptions of her relationship with Luciana, as well as her role at the party? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
6. In the context of the text, can you change your identity? Is the social class that Rosaura and her mother belong to a concrete part of their identities? Is it something that they could easily change, or should wish to change? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
8 Name: Class:
The Storyteller By Saki 1888
Hector Hugh Munro (1870-1916) was a British author who wrote under the pen name Saki and often satirized old Victorian values, such as what was considered “proper” behavior. In the following short story, a man on a train tells a story to three young children. As you read, take notes on the author's use of humor.
[1] It was a hot afternoon, and the railway carriage was correspondingly sultry,1 and the next stop was at Templecombe, nearly an hour ahead. The occupants of the carriage were a small girl, and a smaller girl, and a small boy. An aunt belonging to the children occupied one corner seat, and the further corner seat on the opposite side was occupied by a bachelor who was a stranger to their party, but the small girls and the small boy emphatically occupied the compartment. Both the aunt and the children were conversational in a limited, persistent way, reminding one of the attentions of a housefly that refuses to be "Kids on the Bus" by Chris Zerbes is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. discouraged. Most of the aunt's remarks seemed to begin with "Don't," and nearly all of the children's remarks began with "Why?" The bachelor said nothing out loud. "Don't, Cyril, don't," exclaimed the aunt, as the small boy began smacking the cushions of the seat, producing a cloud of dust at each blow.
"Come and look out of the window," she added.
The child moved reluctantly to the window. "Why are those sheep being driven out of that field?" he asked.
"I expect they are being driven to another field where there is more grass," said the aunt weakly.
[5] "But there is lots of grass in that field," protested the boy; "there's nothing else but grass there. Aunt, there's lots of grass in that field."
"Perhaps the grass in the other field is better," suggested the aunt fatuously.
"Why is it better?" came the swift, inevitable question.
"Oh, look at those cows!" exclaimed the aunt. Nearly every field along the line had contained cows or bullocks, but she spoke as though she were drawing attention to a rarity.
"Why is the grass in the other field better?" persisted Cyril.
1. Sultry (adjective): hot, humid 1 [10] The frown on the bachelor's face was deepening to a scowl. He was a hard, unsympathetic man, the aunt decided in her mind. She was utterly unable to come to any satisfactory decision about the grass in the other field.
The smaller girl created a diversion2 by beginning to recite "On the Road to Mandalay." She only knew the first line, but she put her limited knowledge to the fullest possible use. She repeated the line over and over again in a dreamy but resolute and very audible voice; it seemed to the bachelor as though some one had had a bet with her that she could not repeat the line aloud two thousand times without stopping. Whoever it was who had made the wager was likely to lose his bet.
"Come over here and listen to a story," said the aunt, when the bachelor had looked twice at her and once at the communication cord.
The children moved listlessly towards the aunt's end of the carriage. Evidently her reputation as a story- teller did not rank high in their estimation.
In a low, confidential3 voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questionings from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably4 uninteresting story about a little girl who was good, and made friends with every one on account of her goodness, and was finally saved from a mad bull by a number of rescuers who admired her moral character.
[15] "Wouldn't they have saved her if she hadn't been good?" demanded the bigger of the small girls. It was exactly the question that the bachelor had wanted to ask.
"Well, yes," admitted the aunt lamely, "but I don't think they would have run quite so fast to her help if they had not liked her so much."
"It's the stupidest story I've ever heard," said the bigger of the small girls, with immense conviction.5
"I didn't listen after the first bit, it was so stupid," said Cyril.
The smaller girl made no actual comment on the story, but she had long ago recommenced a murmured repetition of her favourite line.
[20] "You don't seem to be a success as a story-teller," said the bachelor suddenly from his corner.
The aunt bristled in instant defence at this unexpected attack.
"It's a very difficult thing to tell stories that children can both understand and appreciate," she said stiffly.
"I don't agree with you," said the bachelor.
"Perhaps you would like to tell them a story," was the aunt's retort.
2. Diversion (noun): a distraction 3. Confidential (adjective): indicating that what one says is private or secret 4. Deplorably (adverb): terrible; worthy of disapproval 5. Conviction (noun): a firmly held belief or opinion 2 [25] "Tell us a story," demanded the bigger of the small girls.
"Once upon a time," began the bachelor, "there was a little girl called Bertha, who was extra-ordinarily good."
The children's momentarily-aroused interest began at once to flicker; all stories seemed dreadfully alike, no matter who told them.
"She did all that she was told, she was always truthful, she kept her clothes clean, ate milk puddings as though they were jam tarts, learned her lessons perfectly, and was polite in her manners."
"Was she pretty?" asked the bigger of the small girls.
[30] "Not as pretty as any of you," said the bachelor, "but she was horribly good."
There was a wave of reaction in favour of the story; the word horrible in connection with goodness was a novelty that commended itself. It seemed to introduce a ring of truth that was absent from the aunt's tales of infant life.
"She was so good," continued the bachelor, "that she won several medals for goodness, which she always wore, pinned on to her dress. There was a medal for obedience, another medal for punctuality,6 and a third for good behaviour. They were large metal medals and they clicked against one another as she walked. No other child in the town where she lived had as many as three medals, so everybody knew that she must be an extra good child."
"Horribly good," quoted Cyril.
"Everybody talked about her goodness, and the Prince of the country got to hear about it, and he said that as she was so very good she might be allowed once a week to walk in his park, which was just outside the town. It was a beautiful park, and no children were ever allowed in it, so it was a great honour for Bertha to be allowed to go there."
[35] "Were there any sheep in the park?" demanded Cyril.
"No;" said the bachelor, "there were no sheep."
"Why weren't there any sheep?" came the inevitable question arising out of that answer.
The aunt permitted herself a smile, which might almost have been described as a grin.
"There were no sheep in the park," said the bachelor, "because the Prince's mother had once had a dream that her son would either be killed by a sheep or else by a clock falling on him. For that reason the Prince never kept a sheep in his park or a clock in his palace."
[40] The aunt suppressed a gasp of admiration.
"Was the Prince killed by a sheep or by a clock?" asked Cyril.
6. Punctuality (noun): being on time 3 "He is still alive, so we can't tell whether the dream will come true," said the bachelor unconcernedly; "anyway, there were no sheep in the park, but there were lots of little pigs running all over the place."
"What colour were they?"
"Black with white faces, white with black spots, black all over, grey with white patches, and some were white all over."
[45] The storyteller paused to let a full idea of the park's treasures sink into the children's imaginations; then he resumed:
"Bertha was rather sorry to find that there were no flowers in the park. She had promised her aunts, with tears in her eyes, that she would not pick any of the kind Prince's flowers, and she had meant to keep her promise, so of course it made her feel silly to find that there were no flowers to pick."
"Why weren't there any flowers?"
"Because the pigs had eaten them all," said the bachelor promptly. "The gardeners had told the Prince that you couldn't have pigs and flowers, so he decided to have pigs and no flowers."
There was a murmur of approval at the excellence of the Prince's decision; so many people would have decided the other way.
[50] "There were lots of other delightful things in the park. There were ponds with gold and blue and green fish in them, and trees with beautiful parrots that said clever things at a moment's notice, and humming birds that hummed all the popular tunes of the day. Bertha walked up and down and enjoyed herself immensely, and thought to herself: 'If I were not so extraordinarily good I should not have been allowed to come into this beautiful park and enjoy all that there is to be seen in it,' and her three medals clinked against one another as she walked and helped to remind her how very good she really was. Just then an enormous wolf came prowling into the park to see if it could catch a fat little pig for its supper."
"What colour was it?" asked the children, amid an immediate quickening of interest.
4 "Mud-colour all over, with a black tongue and pale grey eyes that gleamed with unspeakable ferocity. The first thing that it saw in the park was Bertha; her pinafore was so spotlessly white and clean that it could be seen from a great distance. Bertha saw the wolf and saw that it was stealing towards her, and she began to wish that she had never been allowed to come into the park. She ran as hard as she could, and the wolf came after her with huge leaps and bounds. She managed to reach a shrubbery of myrtle bushes and she hid herself in one of the thickest of the bushes. The wolf came sniffing among the branches, its black tongue lolling out of its mouth and its pale grey eyes glaring with rage. Bertha was terribly frightened, and thought to herself: 'If I had not been so extraordinarily good I should have been safe in the town at this moment.' However, the scent of the myrtle was so strong that the wolf could not sniff out where Bertha was hiding, and the bushes were so thick that he might have hunted about in them for a long time without catching sight of her, so he thought he might as well go off and catch a little pig instead. Bertha was trembling very much at having the wolf prowling and sniffing so near her, and as she trembled the medal for obedience clinked against the medals for good conduct and punctuality. The wolf was just moving away when he heard the sound of the medals clinking and stopped to listen; they clinked again in a bush quite near him. He dashed into the bush, his pale grey eyes gleaming with ferocity and triumph, and dragged Bertha out and devoured her to the last morsel. All that was left of her were her shoes, bits of clothing, and the three medals for goodness."
"Were any of the little pigs killed?"
"No, they all escaped."
[55] "The story began badly," said the smaller of the small girls, "but it had a beautiful ending."
"It is the most beautiful story that I ever heard," said the bigger of the small girls, with immense decision.
"It is the only beautiful story I have ever heard," said Cyril.
A dissentient7 opinion came from the aunt.
"A most improper story to tell to young children! You have undermined the effect of years of careful teaching."
[60] "At any rate," said the bachelor, collecting his belongings preparatory to leaving the carriage, "I kept them quiet for ten minutes, which was more than you were able to do."
"Unhappy woman!" he observed to himself as he walked down the platform of Templecombe station; "for the next six months or so those children will assail her in public with demands for an improper story!"
"The Storyteller" by Saki (1888) is in the public domain.
7. Dissentient (adjective): differing, especially from the majority opinion 5 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1. PART A: Which of the following best describes a theme of the story? [RL.2] A. Strangers can be more honest than family, and this makes them more trustworthy and morally good. B. Curiosity is an important part of childhood, but it should be restricted more and more as children grow. C. Children's understanding of what is good and what is bad can be influenced by the adults in their lives. D. Most of the time, bad people get what they deserve, but occasionally they are rewarded.
2. PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A? [RL.1] A. “Most of the aunt’s remarks seemed to begin with ‘Don't,’ and nearly all of the children’s remarks began with ‘Why?’” (Paragraph 1) B. “interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questionings from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably uninteresting story” (Paragraph 14) C. “It seemed to introduce a ring of truth that was absent from the aunt's tales of infant life.” (Paragraph 31) D. “‘A most improper story to tell to young children! You have undermined the effect of years of careful teaching.’” (Paragraph 59)
3. PART A: What impact does the phrase “horribly good” in paragraph 30 have in the [RL.4] text? A. “Horribly” emphasizes the girl’s goodness, but it is normally a negative definition that implies that the others in the story disliked her and were jealous of her. B. “Horribly” means that the girl was shockingly good, and this surprising meaning catches the children’s attention. C. “Horribly” emphasizes the girl’s goodness, but it is normally a negative definition that implies that there is something awful about being so good. D. “Horribly” means poorly done, which implies that the girl is not good at anything besides earning medals.
4. PART B: Which of the following details from the text best supports the answer to Part [RL.1] A? A. “the word horrible in connection with goodness was a novelty that commended itself. It seemed to introduce a ring of truth that was absent from the aunt's tales” (Paragraph 31) B. “‘She was so good... that she won several medals for goodness, which she always wore, pinned on to her dress.’” (Paragraph 32) C. “‘No other child in the town where she lived had as many as three medals, so everybody knew that she must be an extra good child.’” (Paragraph 32) D. “‘He said that as she was so very good she might be allowed once a week to walk in his park... It was a beautiful park, and no children were ever allowed in it’” (Paragraph 34)
6 5. At the end of the passage, what causes conflict between the aunt and the bachelor [RL.3] on the train? A. The aunt thinks that the content of the story was too graphic for the children, but the bachelor disagrees. B. The aunt is jealous that the children liked the bachelor’s story better than hers. C. The aunt thinks that the children will reject her lessons and learn bad behaviors from the bachelor's story. D. The aunt is angry with the bachelor for refusing to find a new compartment and distracting the children.
6. How do the children’s reactions to the bachelor’s story develop the passage’s humor? [RL.5]
7 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. Which story do you think is more realistic? Why?
2. What is Saki’s message about teaching morality to children? Consider the moral of the bachelor's story--is it the same as Saki's message? Explain.
3. In t he context of this story, what is good and how do we know? As you think about this question, consider what role good behavior plays in the outcome of the story. Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.
8