(Glencoe McGraw-Hill) Read and Write Course 5 AP (B-Ok - Xyz)

Read and
Write
A10C5_Nat_ANCA_IRW_SE_TP_RD10.in1 1 2/14/08 6:32:48 PM

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 005 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
Contents
Why Use This Book? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
An Astrologer’s Day • R. K. Narayan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Tuesday Siesta • Gabriel Garcia Marquez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine • Jhumpa Lahiri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Catch the Moon • Judith Ortiz Cofer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Living Well. Living Good. • Maya Angelou . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
The Tucson Zoo • Lewis Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Straw into Gold: The Metamorphosis

of the Everyday • Sandra Cisneros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
TIME: What I See in Lincoln’s Eyes • Barack Obama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Cinderella’s Stepsisters • Toni Morrison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Ode to My Socks • Pablo Neruda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
The Print of the Paw

To An Aged Bear • N. Scott Momaday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
iii
Contents (continued)
Three Haiku • Matsuo Basho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
After great pain, a formal feeling comes—

Heart, we will forget him! • Emily Dickinson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
I Am Offering This Poem • Jimmy Santiago Baca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Horses Graze • Gwendolyn Brooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
miss rosie • Lucille Clifton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
TIME: We Are Family • Chang-Rae Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Comparing Literature
Dream Boogie
Motto • Langston Hughes
Dizzie Gillespie, Explorer of New Sounds,
from Giants of Jazz • Studs Terkel
Playing Jazz • Wynton Marsalis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 1 • William Shakespeare . . . . . . . 205
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act IV, Scene 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
The Stealing of Thor’s Hammer • Brian Branston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
iv
Contents (continued)
Where the Girl Rescued Her Brother • Joseph Bruchac and Gayle Ross
John Henry • Zora Neale Hurston
A Song of Greatness • Chippewa Traditional Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
What I Have Been Doing Lately • Jamaica Kincaid
People at Night • Denise Levertov
The Dream • Anna Akhmatova . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Functional Documents: Lesson 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Functional Documents: Lesson 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Additional Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Pronunciation Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
My Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
v
Why Use This Book?
Read for Fun and Read to Learn!

The notes and features of Read and Write will help you read and understand each
literature and nonfiction selection. As you use these notes and features, you practice
the skills and strategies that good readers use when they read.
Before You Read
Before You Read

Connect
Before you read, think about
The Cask of Amontillado
your own experiences. Share Connect to the Story
What kind of injury would make someone want to take revenge? If you think revenge
your knowledge and opinions. is never an option, explain why.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Circle the number of the response that is closest to your own.
1. If someone does terrible things to you, you should be able to take revenge.
2. Revenge is pointless; it cannot really make up for anything.

Build Background
Build on what you know about
Build Background
the selection topic. ■ At carnival time, people often wear costumes.
■ The story takes place in an Italian palazzo, or mansion.
■ The mansion has catacombs, which are underground burial chambers.
■ Catacombs could be reached by climbing down narrow staircases.
■ The catacombs were lined with hollowed-out nooks where the remains of the
dead were put.
■ A cask of Amontillado is a barrel of Spanish wine.
Now, write a short summary of the facts you just read.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Set Purposes for Reading ____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Set your purpose for reading,
so you can plan how you’ll Set Purposes for Reading
In this short story, one man exacts a horrible revenge on another who he feels has
read. injured him. Ask yourself what could have offended him so deeply that he needed to
take such revenge. Try to find the reasons in the text as you read.
001-014_G9_APP_Amontillado.indd 2 2/13/08 3:27:11 PM
vi
Literary Element and
Reading Strategy
Learning about literary
Literary Element Mood
Mood is the overall feeling or emotion that a literary text creates for readers. A writer’s elements helps you to learn
diction, or choice of words, helps to create mood. Knowing that the story is set in
a catacomb and involves revenge, what type of mood would you predict the writer about important features of
wants to create? Write your answer on the line below.
literature. Reading skills help
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
you develop good strategies to
understand what you read.
Reading Strategy Paraphrase
Paraphrasing is putting a text into your own words. Unlike a summary, a paraphrase
does not highlight the main points of the text. It restates a passage to make it clearer.
As you read, make a chart like the one below on a separate sheet of paper to help
paraphrase difficult sentences with unfamiliar vocabulary in your own words. A sample
paraphrase has been done for you.
Author’s Words Paraphrase

A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its A wrong isn’t righted if the avenger gets
redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to caught. The object of the revenge must
make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. know who is taking revenge and why. Vocabulary
Learning new vocabulary
Vocabulary Context Clues
A word’s context is the sentence or paragraph in which the word Vocabulary
helps prepare you to read.
appears. Often the context can help a reader understand the
meanings of difficult words. Some common context clues include preclude (pri kloodʼ) v. to prevent; to make
impossible
the following:
➤ definitions or synonyms impunity (im pŪʼ nə tē) n. freedom from
➤ examples punishment, harm, or bad consequences
➤ contrast clues (opposite meanings) accost (ə kôstʼ) v. to approach and speak to,
➤ descriptions especially in an aggressive manner
➤ modifying words or phrases explicit (eks plisʼ it) adj. definitely stated, clearly
expressed
In the following example, study the underlined part of the passage
implore (im plorʼ) v. to ask earnestly, to beg
from the text. Identify how this context relates to the boldfaced
vocabulary word. Then write what type of context clue it is on the
line below.
“I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when
retribution overtakes the redresser.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Cask of Amontillado 3
vii
Read, Respond, Interact
Notes support you as you read. Interact with and respond to the
text by answering questions and reading information.
During Reading

Read and Discuss boxes give you
The thousand injuries of Fortunato1 I had borne as I best
Reading Strategy
Paraphrase Rephrase this
could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. a chance to share your thoughts
You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose,
highlighted sentence in your own
words. To whom might Montresor
be speaking?
however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be
avenged; this was a point definitively settled—but the very
and opinions with a partner.
definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea of
risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong
_______________________________
is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is
_______________________________ equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt
as such to him who has done the wrong.2
_______________________________ It must be understood, that neither by word nor deed had
I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good-will. I continued, as
_______________________________
was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that
_______________________________
my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.3
He had a weak point—this Fortunato—although in other
regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He
prided himself on his connoisseurship4 in wine. Few Italians
Vocabulary have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm
preclude (pri kloodʼ) v. to
prevent; to make impossible
is adopted to suit the time and opportunity—to practice
imposture upon the British and Austrian millionnaires. In Vocabulary appears on the same
painting and gemmary Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a
impunity (im pŪʼ nə tē) n.
freedom from punishment,
quack—but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this
respect I did not differ from him materially: I was skillful in the
page as the new word.
harm, or bad consequences
Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.
Vocabulary Skill
Word Parts The word impunity is
related to the word punishment.
The prefix im- adds a negative or
opposite meaning to the root pun-,
so that impunity means “safe from
punishment.” On the lines below,
rewrite the sentence in which the
word impunity appears in your
own words.
______________________________ The Cask of Amontillado

1. Fortunato (fôrˊ too nä̈ʼ tō)̄
______________________________ 2. [A wrong is . . . done the wrong.] These sentences might be rephrased this way:
“A wrong is not avenged if the avenger either is punished for taking revenge or does
______________________________ not make the wrongdoer aware that he is taking revenge.”
3. Here, immolation means “death or destruction.”
It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness Vocabulary
4. Connoisseurship is expert knowledge that qualifies one to pass judgment in a of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted
accost (ə kôstʼ) v. to approach
particular area. me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The and speak to, especially in an
man wore motley.5 He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, aggressive manner
and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was
4 so pleased to see him, that I thought I should never have done
wringing his hand.
001-014_G9_APP_Amontillado.indd 4 2/13/08
I said to him: “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How
3:27:35 PM
Read and Discuss
remarkably well you are looking today! But I have received a
pipe of what passes for Amontillado,6 and I have my doubts.” With a partner, read the
“How?” said he. “Amontillado? A pipe? Impossible! And in dialogue between Fortunato
and Montresor aloud. Discuss
the middle of the carnival!”
why you think Montresor
“I have my doubts,” I replied; “and I was silly enough to pay
Questions about the Reading Strategy the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter.
You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain.”
repeatedly refuses to take
Fortunato into the vaults.
allow you to practice this feature. “Amontillado!”

“I have my doubts.”
____________________________
____________________________
“Amontillado!”
“And I must satisfy them.” ____________________________
“Amontillado!”
“As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi.7 If anyone
has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me——”
“Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.”
“And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for
your own.”
“Come, let us go.”
“Whither?”
“To your vaults.”
“My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I
perceive you have an engagement. Luchesi—”
“I have no engagement;—come.”
“My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe
cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are
insufferably damp. They are encrusted with niter.”8
“Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing.
Amontillado! You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchesi,
he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado.”
5. Motley is the multicolored costume of a court jester or clown.
Footnotes define terms in the text. 6. A pipe is a wine barrel that holds 126 gallons. Amontillado is a kind of pale, dry
sherry from Spain.
7. Luchesi (loo kāˊ sē)
8. Niter is a salt-like substance found in cool, damp places.
viii
Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a Literary Element
long row of its fellows that lay upon the mold.
“Drink,” I said, presenting him the wine. Mood What mood does Poe
He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to create for the reader in this scene?
Put a check in the box next to your
me familiarly, while his bells jingled.
“I drink,” he said, “to the buried that repose13 around us.”
“And I to your long life.”
answer below.
■ The reader feels hopeful about Questions about the Literary Element
Fortunato’s recovery.
■ The reader wonders what will
He again took my arm, and we proceeded.
“These vaults,” he said, “are extensive.” happen when Fortunato tastes allow you to practice this feature.
“The Montresors,” I replied, “were a great and numerous the Amontillado.
family.” ■ The reader believes that

something bad will happen to
“I forget your arms.”14 Fortunato.
“A huge human foot d’or, in a field azure;
the foot crushes a serpent rampant15 whose
fangs are imbedded in the heel.”
“And the motto?”
“Nemo me impune lacessit.”16
coat of arms
“Good!” he said.
The wine sparkled in his eyes and the
bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc.
We had passed through walls of piled bones, with casks and
puncheons17 intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the
catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize
Fortunato by an arm above the elbow.
13. To repose is to lie at rest either sleeping or in death.

14. Arms is short for “coat of arms,” an arrangement of figures and symbols on or
around a shield that, along with a motto, represents one’s ancestory.
15. The Montresor family’s coat of arms includes a golden foot on a sky-blue
background and a snake rising up.
16. The motto is Latin for “Nobody provokes me with impunity.”
17. Casks and puncheons are large containers for storing liquids.
While you read, Reading Check boxes
READING CHECK
Summarize help you to check your comprehension.

Do you understand what is happening in the first part of
this story? Read as far as the sentence beginning “Be it so.”
Summarize the beginning part of the story in your own words.
What has happened so far?
______________________________________________________
That One Man’s Profit Is Another’s Loss
______________________________________________________ Note Taking
______________________________________________________
Reread the text on the left. Then record your answers to the items below.
______________________________________________________
1. Montaigne believes that if someone is condemned for profiting from someone’s loss, then
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
This is because _______________________________________________________________________________ .
2. According to Montaigne, if you look within yourself you will see ____________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
3. As I read this page, one thing I learned that I didn’t know before is _________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
4. Recap, or write in your own words, what you learned by reading this page. __________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Summarize below what you have learned thus far by reading this page. _____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
You can respond to and interact

with nonfiction text on special
Note Taking pages. That One Man’s Profit Is Another’s Loss 95
091-098_G9_APP_ThatOneMan'sProfi95 95 2/10/08 2:45:48 PM
ix
Show What You Know
After reading activities help you focus your understanding of the text.
Here, you apply the skills and strategies you practiced during reading.
After Reading Connect, Literary Element, and

Reading Strategy allow you to
check your responses that you
After You Read
The Cask of Amontillado gave before reading to see if your
Connect to the Story
Look back at the possible reasons for revenge that you suggested on page 2.
thoughts or opinions have changed
The chart below lists two facts from the story. Write down a possible reason for
revenge that corresponds to each fact.
after reading.
Detail from the Story Possible Reasons For Revenge
Fortunato considers himself knowledgeable
about wines.
Fortunato is rich.
Vocabulary shows how well you

In what way does the mood of Poe’s story contribute to the story’s effect on the
reader? On the lines below, indicate how each detail contributes to the story’s mood.
learned the new vocabulary.
Detail Mood Created
Niter grows on the vault’s walls.

▲
The two men walk ever deeper into

▲
the vaults.
Reading Strategy Paraphrase After You Read

The chart below contains quotations from the story. Paraphrase the quotations
and indicate why they are important to the plot of “The Cask of Amontillado.”
Vocabulary
Quotation Paraphrase What it means
“And yet some fools will have it that his
impunity preclude explicit accost implore
taste is a match for your own.”
“Its walls had been lined with human

remains piled to the vault overhead, in the A. Word Meaning Use the boldfaced vocabulary words to fill in the blanks in
fashion of the great catacombs of Paris.” the following paragraph.
“The noise lasted for several minutes, 1. Montresor should realize he cannot kill with ______________ because the
during which, that I might hearken to it
with the more satisfaction, I ceased my law could catch up with him.
labors and sat down upon the bones.”
2. Police officers could be waiting outside his palazzo to ______________ him.
3. As the story’s narrator, Montresor is ______________ with the reader about
12 his plans to harm Fortunato.
4. Montresor thought that the servants’ presence in the house might

______________ his plans for Fortunato.
5. Why didn’t Fortunato ______________ Montresor to spare his life?
After You Read B. Context Clues Underline the context clues in each of the following sentences
that help you to determine the meaning of the boldfaced word. Then explain
The Cask of Amontillado your choices on the lines below.
1. Wanting the lead role, the aggressive actor made plans to accost the
Sensory Details Chart director of the school play on his way home.
Sometimes a chart can help you organize facts or details from a text. Sensory Explanation: ______________________________________________________________________________
details are words and phrases an author uses to help create mood and bring to
mind the five senses—seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting. Sensory 2. Some students felt that Jake’s bad grades should preclude him from
details make writing come alive and help the reader imagine what is being being considered for the lead role.
described. For each of the senses named below, add details from the story that
Explanation: ______________________________________________________________________________
appeal to that sense. An example has been done for you.
3. The director had left no doubt in his students’ minds about his
Sight Niter like moss on walls requirements; he had been explicit about them.
Explanation: ______________________________________________________________________________
4. Jake was eager to play the part of Montresor in The Cask of Amontillado.
In fact, he implored the director to give me the part.
Explanation: ______________________________________________________________________________
Sound
Touch 001-014_G9_APP_Amontillado.indd 13 2/13/08 3:28:07 PM
Taste Activities help you to organize what

you learned about the selection.
Smell
Many other activities also appear

14
in the back of your book.
x
Learning Objectives
For pages 1–12

In studying this text, you
will focus on the following
objectives:
Literary Study: Analyzing
mood.
Reading: Analyzing cultural
context.
An Astrologer’s Day
by R. K. Narayan
An Astrologer's Day 1
Before You Read
Connect to the Short Story
In “An Astrologer’s Day,” R. K. Narayan presents an experience that overtakes a fortune-
teller who practices his trade in a city marketplace. The following words and phrases list
key elements from the beginning of the story in the order in which they occur.
• astrologer
• city marketplace
• fled village
• shrewd guesswork
• careful listening
• human nature
Work with a partner to brainstorm possible ways to connect this chain of clues. Then
write a one-paragraph version of what they reveal about the character of the astrologer.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Build Background
• R. K. Narayan enjoyed writing stories that both entertain and inform readers.
• Most of his stories, including “An Astrologer’s Day,” take place in a make-believe
Indian village.
• Many of these stories are comical accounts about individuals who are trying to
find peace in a restless world.
• Astrology is a type of fortune telling. Some astrologers claim that they can predict
a person’s future.
Now, use information from Connect to the Story and Build Background to make a
prediction about what might happen in the story.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Set Purposes for Reading

In this short story, Narayan’s fortune-teller must think quickly when he is suddenly
confronted by someone from his past. Read to find out how closely your prediction
matches what happens in the story.
2
Mood is the atmosphere that a writer creates in a story. The mood that the writer
creates helps readers identify with the emotions that the characters experience as
they react to their surroundings. Writers use language, subject matter, setting, diction,
and tone to help convey a particular mood.
What situations in everyday life put you in a happy, sad, angry, nervous, or other
mood? What words or phrases would you use to describe your feelings and behavior
during such times? Work with a partner to make a list of verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
that describe your mood in a variety of situations.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Analyze Cultural Context

When you analyze cultural context, you pay attention to the details that reveal the
setting, dress, speech, mannerisms, and behaviors of a particular group of people at a
particular time in history. “An Astrologer’s Day” takes place in a village in India during
the 1940s. What do you already know about the people and customs of India during
this period? What would you like to learn? Create a chart like the one shown below
to record your thoughts. You can complete the third column of the chart after reading
the story.
What I Know What I Want to Learn What I Learned
Vocabulary Word Origins

The origin and history of a word is called its etymology. You can
Vocabulary
find a word’s etymology in a dictionary, usually at the beginning
or end of an entry. For the vocabulary word enhance, write its enhance (en hansʼ) v. to make greater, as in
definition on the line after it. Then find the word’s etymology in a beauty or value
dictionary. Write the word’s origin and its meaning on the line after impetuous (im pechʼ oō əs) adj. rash
the word from.
paraphernalia (parʼ ə fər nālʼ yə) n. things used in
enhance ________________ from _____________________ a particular activity; equipment
piqued (pēkt) adj. aroused in anger; offended
incantation (inʼ kan tāʼ shən) n. words spoken in

casting a spell
Punctually at midday he opened his bag and spread out his
professional equipment, which consisted of a dozen cowrie1
shells, a square piece of cloth with obscure mystic charts on
it, a notebook and a bundle of palmyra writing. His forehead
was resplendent with sacred ash and vermilion,2 and his eyes
sparkled with a sharp abnormal gleam which was really an
outcome of a continual searching look for customers, but which
Vocabulary his simple clients took to be a prophetic light and felt comforted.
enhance (en hansʼ) v. to make The power of his eyes was considerably enhanced by their
greater, as in beauty or value position—placed as they were between the painted forehead and
the dark whiskers which streamed down his cheeks: even a half-
wit’s eyes would sparkle in such a setting. To crown the effect
he wound a saffron-colored3 turban around his head. This color
Read and Discuss scheme never failed. People were attracted to him as bees are
attracted to cosmos or dahlia stalks. He sat under the boughs of
Read the opening of the story a spreading tamarind tree which flanked a path running through
out loud with a partner, up to the Town Hall Park. It was a remarkable place in many ways: a
and including the sentence surging crowd was always moving up and down this narrow
that begins “People were road morning till night. A variety of trades and occupations was
attracted to him.” As you read,
represented all along its way: medicine-sellers, sellers of stolen
underline details that describe
the astrologer. Then discuss with
hardware and junk, magicians and, above all, an auctioneer of
your partner why people would cheap cloth, who created enough din all day to attract the whole
be attracted to him. How does town. Next to him in vociferousness4 came a vendor of fried
the way he presents himself— groundnuts, who gave his ware a fancy name each day, calling
his features and the clothes he
wears—suit his profession? Write
your answer on the lines below.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
1. A cowrie (kauʼ rē) is a small snail commonly found in warm, shallow waters of the
Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Reading Strategy 2. Here, obscure means “difficult to understand” and mystic means “having hidden
or secret meanings.” Palmyra (pal mı̄ʼ ra) refers to paper made from the leaves of
Analyze Cultural Context the palmyra tree. The man’s forehead is full of splendor (resplendent) in that it is
Underline the words and phrases painted with dark ash and a red pigment called vermilion.
in the highlighted passage that 3. Saffron is an orange-yellow color.
help you picture the marketplace. 4. Vociferousness (vō sifʼ ər əs nəs) means “noise outcrying.”
4
it Bombay Ice Cream one day, and on the next Delhi Almond, Reading Strategy
and on the third Raja’s Delicacy, and so on and so forth, and
people flocked to him. A considerable portion of this crowd Analyze Cultural Context What
dallied before the astrologer too. The astrologer transacted his kind of life would the astrologer
have led if he had remained in his
business by the light of a flare which crackled and smoked up
village? Write your answer on the
above the groundnut5 heap nearby. Half the enchantment of lines below.
the place was due to the fact that it did not have the benefit of
municipal lighting. The place was lit up by shop lights. One
_______________________________
or two had hissing gaslights, some had naked flares stuck on
poles, some were lit up by old cycle lamps and one or two, like _______________________________
the astrologer’s, managed without lights of their own. It was a
bewildering criss-cross of light rays and moving shadows. This _______________________________
suited the astrologer very well, for the simple reason that he had
_______________________________
not in the least intended to be an astrologer when he began life;
and he knew no more of what was going to happen to others _______________________________
than he knew what was going to happen to himself next minute.
He was as much a stranger to the stars as were his innocent _______________________________
customers. Yet he said things which pleased and astonished
everyone: that was more a matter of study, practice and shrewd
guesswork. All the same, it was as much an honest man’s labor
as any other, and he deserved the wages he carried home at the
end of a day.
He had left his village without any previous thought or plan.
If he had continued there he would have carried on the work of
his forefathers—namely, tilling the land, living, marrying and
ripening in his cornfield and ancestral home. But that was not to
be. He had to leave home without telling anyone, and he could Literary Element
not rest till he left it behind a couple of hundred miles. To a Mood The description of the
villager it is a great deal, as if an ocean flowed between. marketplace setting at the
He had a working analysis of mankind’s troubles: marriage, beginning of the story creates a
money and the tangles of human ties. Long practice had positive, festive mood. Now you
sharpened his perception. Within five minutes he understood learn that the astrologer had to
what was wrong. He charged three pice6 per question and flee his village without telling
anyone. How does this information
never opened his mouth till the other had spoken for at least ten affect that mood? Write your
minutes, which provided him enough stuff for a dozen answers answer on the line below.
and advices. When he told the person before him, gazing at his
palm, “In many ways you are not getting the fullest results for _______________________________
your efforts,” nine out of ten were disposed to agree with him.
Or he questioned: “Is there any woman in your family, maybe _______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
5. Groundnuts are peanuts.

6. A pice is a coin of India of very small value.
even a distant relative, who is not well disposed7 towards you?”

Or he gave an analysis of character: “Most of your troubles are
Vocabulary due to your nature. How can you be otherwise with Saturn where
impetuous (im pechʼ oo əs) adj. he is? You have an impetuous nature and a rough exterior.” This
rash endeared him to their hearts immediately, for even the mildest of
us loves to think that he has a forbidding exterior.
The nuts-vendor blew out his flare and rose to go home.
This was a signal for the astrologer to bundle up too, since it
left him in darkness except for a little shaft of green light which
strayed in from somewhere and touched the ground before
Vocabulary him. He picked up his cowrie shells and paraphernalia and was
paraphernalia (parʼ ə fər nālʼ yə̄) putting them back into his bag when the green shaft of light was
n. things used in a particular blotted out; he looked up and saw a man standing before him.
activity; equipment He sensed a possible client and said: “You look so careworn. It
will do you good to sit down for a while and chat with me.” The
other grumbled some vague reply. The astrologer pressed his
invitation; whereupon the other thrust his palm under his nose,
Literary Element
saying: “You call yourself an astrologer?” The astrologer felt
Mood Underline the clues in the challenged and said, tilting the other’s palm towards the green
highlighted passage that suggest shaft of light: “Yours is a nature . . .” “Oh, stop that,” the other
something serious is about to said. “Tell me something worthwhile. . . .”
take place.
Our friend felt piqued. “I charge only three pice per question,
and what you get ought to be good enough for your money. . . .”
At this the other withdrew his arm, took out an anna and flung it
Vocabulary out to him, saying, “I have some questions to ask. If I prove you
piqued (pēkt) adj. aroused in are bluffing, you must return that anna to me with interest.”
anger; offended “If you find my answers satisfactory, will you give me
five rupees?”
“No.”
Vocabulary Skill “Or will you give me eight annas?”8
Word Origins Pique comes from “All right, provided you give me twice as much if you are
a French word meaning “to prick wrong,” said the stranger. This pact was accepted after a little
or sting.” In what sense does the further argument. The astrologer sent up a prayer to heaven as
astrologer feel stung? Circle the the other lit a cheroot.9 The astrologer caught a glimpse of his
best answer below.
face by the matchlight. There was a pause as cars hooted on
He feels flattered. the road, jutka10 drivers swore at their horses and the babble of
He feels insulted. the crowd agitated the semi-darkness of the park. The other sat
He feels ignored
down, sucking his cheroot, puffing out, sat there ruthlessly. The
astrologer felt very uncomfortable. “Here, take your anna back.
I am not used to such challenges. It is late for me today. . . .”
7. In this paragraph, disposed is used twice with slightly different meanings. The first
time, you might substitute likely or inclined. The second time, substitute favorable
for the phrase “well disposed.”
8. The anna is a former coin of India that was equal to four pice. The rupee is a coin
equal to sixteen annas.
9. A cheroot (shə rootʼ) is a cigar cut square at both ends.
10. A jutka (jootʼ kə) is a two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle.
6
He made preparations to bundle up. The other held his wrist

and said, “You can’t get out of it now. You dragged me in while
I was passing.” The astrologer shivered in his grip; and his
voice shook and became faint. “Leave me today. I will speak to
you tomorrow.” The other thrust his palm in his face and said,
“Challenge is challenge. Go on.” The astrologer proceeded with Literary Element
his throat drying up. “There is a woman . . .”
Mood When the astrologer
“Stop,” said the other. “I don’t want all that. Shall I succeed catches a glimpse of the stranger
in my present search or not? Answer this and go. Otherwise in the match light, he becomes
I will not let you go till you disgorge11 all your coins.” The uncomfortable. What details in this
astrologer muttered a few incantations and replied, “All description heighten the mood
right. I will speak. But will you give me a rupee if what I say of discomfort? List them on the
lines below.
is convincing? Otherwise I will not open my mouth, and you
may do what you like.” After a good deal of haggling the other
agreed. The astrologer said, “You were left for dead. Am I right?” _______________________________
“Ah, tell me more.”

_______________________________
“A knife has passed through you once?” said the astrologer.
“Good fellow!” He bared his chest to show the scar. _______________________________
“What else?”
“And then you were pushed into a well nearby in the field. _______________________________
You were left for dead.”
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
11. Here, disgorge means “to give up or hand over.”

Vocabulary
incantation (inʼ kan tāʼ shən) n.
READING CHECK words spoken in casting a spell
Question
Why do you think the astrologer becomes uncomfortable and
tries to leave after he has caught a glimpse of the stranger’s face?
Write your answer on the lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
“I should have been dead if some passerby had not chanced

Read and Discuss
to peep into the well,” exclaimed the other, overwhelmed by
enthusiasm. “When shall I get at him?” he asked, clenching
Read out loud the advice that
the astrologer gives to Guru his fist.
Nayak. Then discuss these “In the next world,” answered the astrologer. “He died
questions with a partner: How four months ago in a far-off town. You will never see any
is it possible that the astrologer more of him.” The other groaned on hearing it. The astrologer
knows the stranger’s name? proceeded.
Why do you think he advises
“Guru Nayak—”
Guru Nayak to return to his
village immediately and never “You know my name!” the other said, taken aback.12
come back? Write your answers “As I know all other things. Guru Nayak, listen carefully to
on the lines below. what I have to say. Your village is two days’ journey due north of
this town. Take the next train and be gone. I see once again great
____________________________ danger to your life if you go from home.” He took out a pinch of
sacred ash and held it out to him. “Rub it on your forehead and
____________________________
go home. Never travel southward again, and you will live to be
____________________________ a hundred.”
“Why should I leave home again?” the other said
____________________________ reflectively.13 “I was only going away now and then to look for
him and to choke out his life if I met him.” He shook his head
____________________________
regretfully. “He has escaped my hands. I hope at least he died as
____________________________ he deserved.”“Yes,” said the astrologer. “He was crushed under
a lorry.”14 The other looked gratified to hear it.
____________________________ The place was deserted by the time the astrologer picked up
his articles and put them into his bag. The green shaft was also
____________________________ gone, leaving the place in darkness and silence. The stranger
had gone off into the night, after giving the astrologer a handful
of coins.
It was nearly midnight when the astrologer reached home.
His wife was waiting for him at the door and demanded an
Reading Strategy explanation. He flung the coins at her and said, “Count them.
Analyze Cultural Context What One man gave all that.”
details of Indian culture are “Twelve and a half annas,” she said, counting. She was
mentioned on this page? Write overjoyed. “I can buy some jaggery15 and coconut tomorrow. The
some examples on the lines below. child has been asking for sweets for so many days now. I will
prepare some nice stuff for her.”
_______________________________ “The swine has cheated me! He promised me a rupee,” said
the astrologer. She looked up at him. “You look worried. What
_______________________________
is wrong?”
_______________________________ “Nothing.”
_______________________________
_______________________________ 12. The expression taken aback means “suddenly surprised or startled.”
13. Here, reflectively (ri flekʼ tiv lē) means “in a way that shows serious and careful
consideration.”
14. Here, a lorry is a long, flat, horse-drawn wagon.
15. Jaggery is unrefined sugar made from palm tree sap.
8
After dinner, sitting on the pyol,16 he told her, “Do you know
a great load is gone from me today? I thought I had the blood of
a man on my hands all these years. That was the reason why I
ran away from home, settled here and married you. He is alive.”
She gasped, “You tried to kill!”
“Yes, in our village, when I was a silly youngster. We drank, Literary Element
gambled and quarreled badly one day—why think of it now?
Mood What change in mood
Time to sleep,” he said, yawning, and stretched himself on occurs at the end of the story?
the pyol. Write your answer on the lines
below.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
16. A pyol (pı̄ʼ ôl) is a low bench.
READING CHECK
Summarize
Why is the astrologer relieved and at ease at the end of the
story? Write your answer on the lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
After You Read
Review the paragraph you prepared for the activity on page 2. Does your
description of the astrologer’s character match the story’s description? If not,
rewrite your paragraph on the lines below to reflect what you learned about him.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mood helps readers imagine the feeling of being in a scene and experiencing the
events as the characters do. The mood in “An Astrologer’s Day” changes several
times in the course of the story. What mood is created at the beginning of the
story? On the lines below, list some words or phrases that convey this mood.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
How does the mood change when the astrologer encounters Guru Nayak?
What details convey this change?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
How does the mood change again at the end of the story?
What details convey this change?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Use information you learned from the story to fill in the last column of the chart
that you began at the start of this lesson. What details about life in India during
the 1940s are different from life in America today?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
What details are similar to your experiences today?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
10
After You Read
Vocabulary
A. Word Meaning Circle the answer that best fits the meaning of the boldfaced
vocabulary word in each sentence.
1. The cook added seasoning to the soup to enhance its flavor.
a weaken c make greater
b slightly change d sweeten
2. The impetuous camper ate all his rations before he realized there would
be none left for the next day.
a rash c experienced
b thoughtful d uninformed
3. The photographer arrived early in order to set up the paraphernalia she

would need for the photo shoot.
a pictures c furniture
b equipment d partitions
4. The boy’s disruptive behavior in class piqued the teacher.

a embarrassed c alarmed
b amused d offended
5. The priest chanted an incantation to rid the child of the evil spirits that
possessed her.
a a spoken spell c a stern warning
b a soothing lullaby d a brief sermon
B. Word Origins Match each origin word listed below with its correct meaning.
Write the letter of the origin word on the line next to its meaning. Then
complete each sentence with the vocabulary word that is derived from the
origin word.
a. enhauncen b. impetus c. parapherne d. piquer e. incantare
1. to sting ______________ The audience was ______________ by the

speaker’s rude comments.
2. bride’s property beyond dowry ______________ The athlete’s exercise

______________ occupied more than half of her bedroom.
3. to enchant ______________ The tribe’s holy man delivered an

______________ to bring rain.
After You Read
Web Diagram
Web diagrams provide a simple, visually helpful way to organize a variety of
details that illustrate a single subject. Review the information you have learned
about Indian culture in “An Astrologer’s Day.” Then fill in the three ovals in the
web diagram below with descriptive details of the marketplace, the astrologer’s
appearance, and other aspects of Indian life.
Cultural Details in “An Astrologer’s Day”
Marketplace Astrologer’s Other aspects

appearance of Indian life
Narayan’s use of details of Indian culture ______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
12
Learning Objectives
For pages 13–26

objectives:
Library Study: Analyzing
implied theme.
Reading: Making inferences
about theme.
Tuesday Siesta
by Gabriel García Márquez
Tuesday Siesta 13
Before You Read
Tuesday Siesta
A death usually prompts mourning and sadness. What other experiences and emotions
might follow a death? For example, a person might be worried about money to pay for
the funeral, or troubled with regrets about the person who has died. In the left column
of the chart below, record either a real or imaginary situation involving a death. In the
right column note some emotions that such a situation might prompt.
Experience I might feel that . . .
Build Background
• Latin American author Gabriel García Márquez was raised by his grandparents,
who gave him a love of folktales and storytelling.
• His grandfather also helped his grandson understand how poor people suffer
under oppressive leaders.
• García Márquez wrote newspaper articles attacking government corruption.
Based on the information above, which of the following types of story would you
expect “Tuesday Siesta” to be? Place a check in the box next to your answer.
■ a science fiction story set on Mars?
■ an adventure story about explorers in the Arctic?
■ a realistic story about everyday people in Latin America?
Underline words and phrases in the Build Background statements above that support
your answer.

In “Tuesday Siesta,” García Márquez describes how a woman and her daughter travel
to a town where the woman’s son has recently died. They are clearly mourning a lost
loved one, but their situation involves other issues and emotions besides sadness too.
Read to learn how this poor family confronts tragedy, both in the aftermath of a death
and in the time that led up to the death. Look for surprises and unexpected truths
about people as the story unfolds.
14
Literary Element Implied Theme
The theme is the central idea an author wants people to understand when reading
a story. It often reveals something true about life. Writers rarely state the theme in so
many words. Instead, they imply, or hint, the theme using setting, characters, plot, and
dialogue. As you read, an understanding of the implied theme may come to you. To
help this process, pause once on each page at an important point and ask yourself
one of the following questions:
• Why does this character do or say this?
• Why did the author decide to describe this?
Reading Strategy Make Inferences About Theme

To infer is to make a reasonable guess about what something means, using
the information available and your own knowledge. As you read and collect the
questions and answers described above, keep in mind that your own knowledge and
experiences can help you draw conclusions about the story’s meaning.
Vocabulary Word Parts

Read the vocabulary words and definitions out loud. Remember Vocabulary
that prefixes, suffixes, and roots are the building blocks of words
and can help you figure out what unfamiliar words mean. In this interminable (in turʼ mi nə bəl) adj. endless, or at
least seeming to last forever
vocabulary list, two words share the same prefix, two share the
same suffix, and two share the same root. Write down the shared serenity (sə renʼ ə tē) n. calmness; peacefulness
word parts, along with what each means. Use a dictionary to help
you if necessary. scrutinize (skrootʼ ən ı̄zˊ) v. to examine carefully
and in detail
words: inscrutable (in skrooʼ tə bəl) adj. impossible to

understand or interpret
shared prefix: ________ prefix meaning: ________________
skeptical (skepˊ ti kəl) adj. doubtful; suspicious
words:
shared suffix: ________ suffix meaning: ________________________
words:
shared root: ________ root meaning: ________________________
Tuesday Siesta 15
Tuesday Siesta
Vocabulary The train emerged from the quivering tunnel of sandy
rocks, began to cross the symmetrical, interminable banana
interminable (in turʼ mi nə bəl)
adj. endless, or at least seeming
plantations, and the air became humid and they couldn’t feel the
to last forever sea breeze any more.
A stifling blast of smoke came in the car window. On the
narrow road parallel to the railway there were oxcarts loaded
with green bunches of bananas. Beyond the road, in uncultivated
Read and Discuss spaces set at odd intervals there were offices with electric fans,
red-brick buildings, and residences with chairs and little white
Working with a partner, take tables on the terraces among dusty palm trees and rosebushes. It
turns reading the first two
was eleven in the morning, and the heat had not yet begun.
paragraphs of the story aloud.
When you read, take care to
“You’d better close the window,” the woman said. “Your
speak slowly and clearly. When hair will get full of soot.”
you listen, visualize the scene The girl tried to, but the shade wouldn’t move because of
being described. Think not the rust.
only of the sights (such as the They were the only passengers in the lone third-class car.
symmetrical rows of banana
Since the smoke of the locomotive kept coming through the
trees) but also of the sounds
(of the train) and details having
window, the girl left her seat and put down the only things
to do with touch (such as the they had with them: a plastic sack with some things to eat and
humid air). a bouquet of flowers wrapped in newspaper. She sat on the
opposite seat, away from the window, facing her mother. They
were both in severe and poor mourning clothes.
The girl was twelve years old, and it was
the first time she’d ever been on a train. The
Reading Strategy woman seemed too old to be her mother,
because of the blue veins on her eyelids and her
Make Inferences About small, soft, and shapeless body, in a dress cut
Theme What does this suggest
like a cassock. She was riding with her spinal
about the characters’ lives and
column braced firmly against the back of cassock
their state of mind? Write your
answer on the lines below. What
words in the sentence support
your ideas? Underline them in
the text.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
16
Tuesday Siesta
the seat, and held a peeling patent-leather handbag in her lap Vocabulary
with both hands. She bore the conscientious serenity of someone
serenity (sə renʼ ə tē) n. calmness;
accustomed to poverty.
peacefulness
By twelve the heat had begun. The train stopped for ten
minutes to take on water at a station where there was no
town. Outside, in the mysterious silence of the plantations,
the shadows seemed clean. But the still air inside the car
smelled like untanned leather. The train did not pick up
speed. It stopped at two identical towns with wooden houses
painted bright colors. The woman’s head nodded and she sank
into sleep. The girl took off her shoes. Then she went to the
washroom to put the bouquet of flowers in some water.
When she came back to her seat, her mother was waiting
to eat. She gave her a piece of cheese, half a corn-meal pancake,
and a cookie, and took an equal portion out of the plastic sack
for herself. While they ate, the train crossed an iron bridge very
slowly and passed a town just like the ones before, except that
in this one there was a crowd in the plaza. A band was playing a
lively tune under the oppressive sun. At the other side of town
the plantations ended in a plain which was cracked from the
drought.
The woman stopped eating.
“Put on your shoes,” she said. Literary Element
The girl looked outside. She saw nothing but the deserted
Implied Theme What do the
plain, where the train began to pick up speed again, but she woman and girl do as the train
put the last piece of cookie into the sack and quickly put on her ride comes to an end? Underline
shoes. The woman gave her a comb. the words that tell you what they
“Comb your hair,” she said. do. Why do you think they do this?
The train whistle began to blow while the girl was combing Put a check in the box next to the
best answer below.
her hair. The woman dried the sweat from her neck and wiped
the oil from her face with her fingers. When the girl stopped ■ They are in a happy mood.
combing, the train was passing the outlying houses of a town ■ They want to look more
respectable.
larger but sadder than the earlier ones.
■ They are going to a party.
“If you feel like doing anything, do it now,” said the woman. ■ They got messy as they ate.
“Later, don’t take a drink anywhere even if you’re dying of
thirst. Above all, no crying.”
The girl nodded her head. A dry, burning wind came in the
window, together with the locomotive’s whistle and the clatter
of the old cars. The woman folded the plastic bag with the rest
of the food and put it in the handbag. For a moment a complete
picture of the town, on that bright August Tuesday, shone in
Tuesday Siesta 17
Tuesday Siesta
the window. The girl wrapped the flowers in the soaking-wet

newspapers, moved a little farther away from the window,
and stared at her mother. She received a pleasant expression in
return. The train began to whistle and slowed down. A moment
later it stopped.
There was no one at the station. On the other side of the
street, on the sidewalk shaded by the almond trees, only the
pool hall was open. The town was floating in the heat. The
woman and the girl got off the train and crossed the abandoned
station—the tiles split apart by the grass growing up between—
and over to the shady side of the street.
It was almost two. At that hour, weighted down by
Reading Strategy drowsiness, the town was taking a siesta. The stores, the town
Make Inferences About
offices, the public school were closed at eleven, and didn’t
Theme The siesta, or midday reopen until a little before four, when the train went back. Only
rest, is a common part of the the hotel across from the station, with its bar and pool hall, and
daily routine in Latin American the telegraph office at one side of the plaza stayed open. The
countries, so the woman would houses, most of them built on the banana company’s model,
have known that her visit would
had their doors locked from inside and their blinds drawn. In
take place while the town was
quiet and at rest. What can
some of them it was so hot that the residents ate lunch in the
you infer about the woman’s patio. Others leaned a chair against the wall, in the shade of the
intentions? almond trees, and took their siesta right out in the street.
Complete the sentence frame
Keeping to the protective shade of the almond trees, the
below. woman and the girl entered the town without disturbing the
siesta. They went directly to the parish house.1 The woman
The woman plans to arrive during
the siesta and leave before it ends
scratched the metal grating on the door with her fingernail,
because waited a moment, and scratched again. An electric fan was
humming inside. They did not hear the steps. They hardly heard
_______________________________
the slight creaking of a door, and immediately a cautious voice,
right next to the metal grating: “Who is it?” The woman tried to
_______________________________ see through the grating.
“I need the priest,” she said.
_______________________________ “He’s sleeping now.”
“It’s an emergency,” the woman insisted.
_______________________________
Her voice showed a calm determination.
_______________________________ The door was opened a little way, noiselessly, and a plump,
older woman appeared, with very pale skin and hair the color of
_______________________________ iron. Her eyes seemed too small behind her thick eyeglasses.
“Come in,” she said, and opened the door all the way.
_______________________________
1. A parish is the district (often a town) served by a church. The parish house is
where the priest at that local church lives.
18
Tuesday Siesta
They entered a room permeated with an old smell of

flowers. The woman of the house led them to a wooden bench
and signaled them to sit down. The girl did so, but her mother
remained standing, absent-mindedly, with both hands clutching
the handbag. No noise could be heard above the electric fan.
The woman of the house reappeared at the door at the
far end of the room. “He says you should come back after
three,” she said in a very low voice. “He just lay down five
minutes ago.”
“The train leaves at three-thirty,” said the woman.
It was a brief and self-assured reply, but her voice remained Literary Element
pleasant, full of undertones.2 The woman of the house smiled for
Implied Theme Why do you think
the first time. the woman would finally smile at
“All right,” she said. this point? Write your answer on
When the far door closed again, the woman sat down next the lines below.
to her daughter. The narrow waiting room was poor, neat, and
clean. On the other side of the wooden railing which divided the _______________________________
room, there was a worktable, a plain one with an oilcloth cover,
and on top of the table a primitive typewriter next to a vase of _______________________________
flowers. The parish records were beyond. You could see that it
_______________________________
was an office kept in order by a spinster.3
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
2. In this sense, undertones are meanings that are implied by the way someone says _______________________________
something.
3. In a literal sense, a spinster is a woman who spins thread to make cloth. Often, as _______________________________
here, it is used to mean a woman who has never been married.
READING CHECK
Question
Review the page above to remind yourself what the woman
does when she gets to the door of the parish house and write
the answer below.
______________________________________________________
How does her action fit in with what you have learned so far
about the woman? Explain your ideas on the lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Tuesday Siesta 19
Tuesday Siesta
Reading Strategy The far door opened and this time the priest appeared,
cleaning his glasses with a handkerchief. Only when he put
Make Inferences About Theme them on was it evident that he was the brother of the woman
Why would it be easier to infer the
who had opened the door.
family resemblance after the priest
puts on his glasses? Write your “How can I help you?” he asked.
answer on the lines below. “The keys to the cemetery,” said the woman.
The girl was seated with the flowers in her lap and her feet
_______________________________ crossed under the bench. The priest looked at her, then looked at
the woman, and then through the wire mesh of the window at
_______________________________ the bright, cloudless sky.
“In this heat,” he said. “You could have waited until the sun
_______________________________ went down.”
The woman moved her head silently. The priest crossed to
_______________________________
the other side of the railing, took out of the cabinet a notebook
covered in oilcloth, a wooden penholder, and an inkwell, and
sat down at the table. There was more than enough hair on his
Vocabulary
hands to account for what was missing on his head.
scrutinize (skrootʼ ən ı̄zˊ) v. to “Which grave are you going to visit?” he asked.
examine carefully and in detail “Carlos Centeno’s,” said the woman.
“Who?”
“Carlos Centeno,” the woman repeated.
Read and Discuss The priest still did not understand.
“He’s the thief who was killed here last week,” said the
This paragraph includes woman in the same tone of voice. “I am his mother.”
description of all three people The priest scrutinized her. She stared at him with quiet self-
in the room. Reread it carefully. control, and the Father blushed. He lowered his head and began
What does each of them do,
to write. As he filled the page, he asked the woman to identify
and what might that action
reveal about the character? For herself, and she replied unhesitatingly, with precise details, as
example, the priest stares at the if she were reading them. The Father began to sweat. The girl
woman and blushes, because unhooked the buckle of her left shoe, slipped her heel out of it,
he may be embarrassed. Discuss and rested it on the bench rail. She did the same with the right one.
your ideas with a partner. It had all started the Monday of the previous week, at three
in the morning, a few blocks from there. Rebecca, a lonely
widow who lived in a house full of odds and ends, heard above
the sound of the drizzling rain someone trying to force the front
door from outside. She got up, rummaged around in her closet
for an ancient revolver that no one had fired since the days of
Colonel Aureliano Buendía,4 and went into the living room
without turning on the lights. Orienting herself not so much by
4. Aureliano Buendía (ou rā lyä nō bwan dē ä) is a character in García Márquez’s
famous novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.
20
Tuesday Siesta
the noise at the lock as by a terror developed in her by twenty- Literary Element
eight years of loneliness, she fixed in her imagination not only
the spot where the door was but also the exact height of the lock. Implied Theme To contradict
She clutched the weapon with both hands, closed her eyes, and means to introduce something that
is inconsistent with what might be
squeezed the trigger. It was the first time in her life that she had expected. Authors sometimes use
fired a gun. Immediately after the explosion, she could hear contradictions to hint at the theme
nothing except the murmur of the drizzle on the galvanized roof. by showing that a situation is not
Then she heard a little metallic bump on the cement porch, and what it seems on the surface. What
a very low voice, pleasant but terribly exhausted: “Ah, Mother.” facts in this sentence contradict
The man they found dead in front of the house in the morning, your expectations of what a thief
is like? Write your answer on the
his nose blown to bits, wore a flannel shirt with colored stripes, lines below.
everyday pants with a rope for a belt, and was barefoot. No one
in town knew him.
_______________________________
“So his name was Carlos Centeno,” murmured the Father
when he finished writing. _______________________________
“Centeno Ayala,”5 said the woman. “He was my only boy.”
The priest went back to the cabinet. Two big rusty keys _______________________________
hung on the inside of the door; the girl imagined, as her mother
had when she was a girl and as the priest himself must have
imagined at some time, that they were Saint Peter’s keys.6 He What might this imply about the
theme? Write your answer on the
took them down, put them on the open notebook on the railing,
lines below.
and pointed with his forefinger to a place on the page he had
just written, looking at the woman. _______________________________
“Sign here.”
The woman scribbled her name, holding the handbag under _______________________________
her arm. The girl picked up the flowers, came to the railing
_______________________________
shuffling her feet, and watched her mother attentively.
The priest sighed.
“Didn’t you ever try to get him on the right track?”
The woman answered when she finished signing.
“He was a very good man.” Literary Element
The priest looked first at the woman and then at the girl, and Implied Theme What is surprising
realized with a kind of pious7 amazement that they were not about this statement? Considering
about to cry. The woman continued in the same tone: what you have learned about the
“I told him never to steal anything that anyone needed to mother so far, are you inclined to
eat, and he minded me. On the other hand, before, when he used believe her when she says this? Write
to box, he used to spend three days in bed, exhausted from being
punched.”
_______________________________
5. [Ayala] The young man’s full name was Carlos Centeno Ayala (sen tāʼnō ä yaʼ lə). In _______________________________
Spanish-speaking countries, a person’s name consists of the first name, the father’s
last name, and the mother’s maiden name (her last name before she married). The
_______________________________
person’s official last name is still considered to be the father’s name, even though it
comes second to last in the full name.
6. Saint Peter’s keys refers to a scene in the Bible in which Jesus says he will give _______________________________
Saint Peter the keys to the gates of heaven. Often in Christian artwork Saint Peter is
shown holding a key or receiving it from Jesus. _______________________________
7. The word pious (pı̄ʼ əs) means religious or godly, although sometimes it is used to
describe fake expressions of religious devotion. _______________________________
Tuesday Siesta 21
Tuesday Siesta
Reading Strategy “All his teeth had to be pulled out,” interrupted the girl.
“That’s right,” the woman agreed. “Every mouthful I ate
Making Inferences About those days tasted of the beatings my son got on Saturday nights.”
Theme In this sentence, the
“God’s will is inscrutable,” said the Father.
mother describes how she felt
eating food that had been paid But he said it without much conviction, partly because
for with money her son earned experience had made him a little skeptical and partly because
fighting. What can you infer from of the heat. He suggested that they cover their heads to guard
her statement? On the lines below, against sunstroke. Yawning, and now almost completely asleep,
make a list of as many ideas as he gave them instructions about how to find Carlos Centeno’s
you can.
grave. When they came back, they didn’t have to knock. They
Possible answer: should put the key under the door; and in the same place, if they
could, they should put an offering for the Church. The woman
_______________________________ listened to his directions with great attention, but thanked him
without smiling.
_______________________________ The Father had noticed that there was someone looking
inside, his nose pressed against the metal grating, even before he
_______________________________
opened the door to the street. Outside was a group of children.
_______________________________ When the door was opened wide, the children scattered.
Ordinarily, at that hour there was no one in the street. Now there
_______________________________ were not only children. There were groups of people under the
almond trees. The Father scanned the street swimming in the
_______________________________
heat and then he understood. Softly, he closed the door again.
_______________________________ “Wait a moment,” he said without looking at the woman.
His sister appeared at the far door with a black jacket over
_______________________________ her nightshirt and her hair down over her shoulders. She looked
silently at the Father.
_______________________________ “What was it?” he asked.
“The people have noticed,” murmured his sister.
_______________________________
_______________________________
Vocabulary
inscrutable (in skrooʼ tə bəl) adj.
impossible to understand or
interpret
Vocabulary
skeptical (skepʼ ti kəl) adj.
doubtful; suspicious
22
Tuesday Siesta
“You’d better go out by the door to the patio,” said

the Father.
“It’s the same there,” said his sister. “Everybody is at
the windows.”
The woman seemed not to have understood until then. She
tried to look into the street through the metal grating. Then she
took the bouquet of flowers from the girl and began to move
toward the door. The girl followed her.
“Wait until the sun goes down,” said the Father. Reading Strategy
“You’ll melt,” said his sister, motionless at the back of the
Making Inferences About
room. “Wait and I’ll lend you a parasol.” Theme In this passage, the
“Thank you,” replied the woman. “We’re all right this way. author introduces a contradiction
She took the girl by the hand and went into the street. between what the sister says
and her actions. What is the
contradiction? What might this
suggest about her intentions? Write
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK _______________________________
Summarize
On the lines below, write a brief summary of this story.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Tuesday Siesta 23
After You Read
Tuesday Siesta
Look back at the chart you created on page 14. Now that you know more about
the woman’s son, imagine that you are in her place. What emotions would you
feel as you traveled to visit his grave? Write your answer on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Imagine that you are the son. Why might you have made the same choices in
life? Write your answer on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Implied Theme

Look over the questions and answers you compiled as you read “Tuesday Siesta.”
Are you still satisfied with your original answers? If the ending of the story has
changed your ideas, adjust your answers.
Reading Strategy Making Inferences About Theme

Working with another student, share your lists of questions and discuss your
answers.
• Did your partner ask some of the same questions? If so, were their answers the
same? Talk about the similarities and differences and see if you can agree on
the most reasonable answer.
• What about the questions our partner asked that were different from yours? Do
you agree with the answers? Why or why not?
24
After You Read
Tuesday Siesta
Vocabulary
interminable serenity scrutinize inscrutable skeptical
A. Word Meaning Each phrase that follows can be associated with one of the
vocabulary words above. The phrases are not the same as a definition of the
word, but they are related. Match the phrases and words and then write a
sentence that includes both the vocabulary word and the phrase. The first one
has been completed for you as an example:
inscrutable
secret code ______________
Sentence: I____________________________________________________________________________________
write my diary in secret code, so it will be inscrutable to anyone who finds it.
1. quiet forest ______________
Sentence: __________________________________________________________________________________
2. period of time ______________
Sentence: __________________________________________________________________________________
3. opinionated person ______________
Sentence: __________________________________________________________________________________
4. tiny flaw ______________
Sentence: __________________________________________________________________________________
B. Word Parts Changing the suffix on a word can change its part of speech. For
example, the word interminable is an adjective, but you can change its suffix to
create the adverb interminably. An example of a sentence using interminably
would be: “It took an interminably long time for me to finish my book report
last night.”
Change the words below into the part of speech indicated and then use the
new word in a sentence.
1. Change the noun serenity into an adjective: ______________
Sentence: __________________________________________________________________________________
2. Change the verb scrutinize into a noun: ______________
Sentence: __________________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday Siesta 25
After You Read
Tuesday Siesta
Cluster Diagram
A cluster diagram can be a helpful way to show how many different details can
all contribute to one central idea. Review your questions and answers relating to
details and events from the story and how they might contribute to the implied
theme. Choose the most meaningful details and create a cluster diagram,
grouping them around a central box that contains your idea of the story’s theme.
Story Detail #1 Story Detail #2
Implied Theme
Story Detail #3 Story Detail #4
26
Learning Objectives
For pages 27–50

objectives:
theme.
Reading: Comparing and
contrasting characters.
When Mr. Pirzada

Came to Dine by Jhumpa Lahiri
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine 27

Before You Read When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
Imagine that you are safe and secure with friends while your family is in danger in
a distant country. Before you read the story, think about the following questions and
write your responses on the lines below each one.
1. How would you feel in this situation? ______________________________________________________________
2. How would you act around friends who knew you were worried? _______________________________________
3. How much of your feelings would you reveal to your friends? __________________________________________
Build Background
• When British rule ended in India in 1947, India was divided along religious lines
into two countries, India (for Hindus) and Pakistan (for Muslims).
• East Pakistan and West Pakistan were on separate sides of the Indian
subcontinent. Part of India was between them.
• In 1971, when this story takes place, East Pakistan and West Pakistan were at war
because East Pakistan wanted to be independent.
• West Pakistan invaded East Pakistan, causing millions of East Pakistanis to flee
to India.
• India got involved, bringing a rapid end to the war. East Pakistan became the
independent state of Bangladesh.
Write a two-sentence summary of what you just read.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

In this story, a war in his distant homeland leaves a visitor to the United States
uncertain about the fate of his wife and daughter. Read to see how different
characters in the story react to his situation.
28
Literary Element Theme
A theme is the central message of a literary work. Usually, the theme is not stated
directly by the author. Rather, it is revealed gradually, through plot events and
characters’ observations. A literary work can have more than one theme. Discuss with
a partner the theme or themes of a story you have both read recently. Answer the
following questions, writing your answers on the lines below each one.
• What is the most important theme of the story?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
• How does the plot help reveal the theme?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
• How do the characters’ observations help reveal the theme?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Does the story have any minor themes? If so, what are they?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Compare and Contrast Characters

When you compare and contrast characters, you note what is alike about them and
what is different. Comparing and contrasting characters gives you a better understanding of
why they act as they do. To practice comparing and contrasting characters, complete a Venn
diagram. In the middle section, write what is alike about you and a friend of yours. In the
side sections, write what is special about each one of you. Later, you can complete a Venn
diagram about characters in the story.
Vocabulary
ascertaining (asʼ ər tānʼ ing) v. finding out for sure
austere (ôs tērʼ) adj. without decoration; very

Vocabulary Context Clues simple
When you come across an unfamiliar word, use context clues—the
words and phrases surrounding the word—to determine its meaning. impeccably (im pekʼ ə ble) adv. without error or
flaw; perfectly
Look at the definitions and parts of speech for the words in the
minor column of this page. Say each word. Then write it on the imperceptible (imʼ pər sepʼ tə bəl) adj. not able to
blank in the sentence. Circle the words in the sentence that provide be seen or sensed
context clues about the meaning of the word.
intimidation (in timʼ ə dä shən) n. the act of
making one feel afraid or discouraged
word sentence
ascertaining The detective was ______________ who committed the crime by talking to witnesses.
austere Helen’s ______________ dress was plain gray, with no trim.
impeccably Don’s manners were so ______________ correct that he put everyone at ease.
imperceptible The snake’s movement in the grass was ______________ , so we did not see it.
intimidation When the bully used ______________ against him, Frank reported it to the principal.

When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
Vocabulary In the autumn of 1971 a man used to come to our house,
bearing confections1 in his pocket and hopes of ascertaining
ascertaining (asʼ ər tānʼ ing) v.
finding out for sure
the life or death of his family. His name was Mr. Pirzada, and
he came from Dacca, now the capital of Bangladesh, but then a
part of Pakistan. That year Pakistan was engaged in civil war.
Context Clues The eastern frontier, where Dacca was located, was fighting
Look at the way the word for autonomy2 from the ruling regime3 in the west. In March,
ascertaining is used in the Dacca had been invaded, torched, and shelled by the Pakistani
highlighted text. Circle the context army. Teachers were dragged onto streets and shot, women
clues that help you determine its dragged into barracks and raped. By the end of the summer,
meaning. three hundred thousand people were said to have died. In Dacca
Mr. Pirzada had a three-story home, a lectureship in botany
at the university, a wife of twenty years, and seven daughters
between the ages of six and sixteen whose names all began
Literary Element
with the letter A. “Their mother’s idea,” he explained one day,
Theme A theme in a story can producing from his wallet a black-and-white picture of seven
often develop out of contrasts in girls at a picnic, their braids tied with ribbons, sitting cross-
settings. How would you describe legged in a row, eating chicken curry4 off of banana leaves.
life in Dacca? Complete the
“How am I to distinguish? Ayesha, Amira, Amina, Aziza, you
following sentence frame:
see the difficulty.”
Because of the war, life in Dacca Each week Mr. Pirzada wrote letters to his wife, and sent
had become
comic books to each of his seven daughters, but the postal
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
1. Confections are sweets, such as candy or jam.

2. To have autonomy is to have the right to self-rule.
3. A regime (rə zhēmʼ) is a system of government.
4. Chicken curry is chicken cooked with various spices. These spices can include
curry powder, ginger, and turmeric.
30
When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
system, along with most everything else in Dacca, had collapsed,

and he had not heard word of them in over six months.
Mr. Pirzada, meanwhile, was in America for the year, for he
had been awarded a grant from the government of Pakistan to
study the foliage5 of New England. In spring and summer he
had gathered data in Vermont and Maine, and in autumn he
moved to a university north of Boston, where we lived, to write
a short book about his discoveries. The grant was a great honor,
but when converted into dollars it was not generous. As a result,
Mr. Pirzada lived in a room in a graduate dormitory,6 and did
not own a proper stove or a television set of his own. And so he
came to our house to eat dinner and watch the evening news.
At first I knew nothing of the reason for his visits. I was ten
years old, and was not surprised that my parents, who were from
India, and had a number of Indian acquaintances at the university,
should ask Mr. Pirzada to share our meals. It was a small campus,
with narrow brick walkways and white pillared buildings, located
on the fringes of what seemed to be an even smaller town. The
supermarket did not carry mustard oil,7 doctors did not make
house calls, neighbors never dropped by without an invitation,
and of these things, every so often, my parents complained. In
search of compatriots,8 they used to trail their fingers, at the start
of each new semester, through the columns of the university
directory, circling surnames9 familiar to their part of the world. It
was in this manner that they discovered Mr. Pirzada, and phoned Read and Discuss
him, and invited him to our home.
I have no memory of his first visit, or of his second or his Read this paragraph aloud
third, but by the end of September I had grown so accustomed with a partner. As you read,
underline details that reveal
to Mr. Pirzada’s presence in our living room that one evening,
information about Lilia’s
as I was dropping ice cubes into the water pitcher, I asked my parents. Then discuss with
mother to hand me a fourth glass from a cupboard your partner what these details
still out of my reach. She was busy at the stove, suggest about them. Write your
presiding over a skillet of fried spinach with responses on the lines below.
radishes, and could not hear me because of the
____________________________
drone of the exhaust fan and the fierce scrapes
of her spatula.10 I turned to my father, who was ____________________________
leaning against the refrigerator, eating spiced
spatula
cashews11 from a cupped fist. ____________________________
“What is it, Lilia?”
“A glass for the Indian man.” ____________________________
5. Foliage (fōʼ lē ij) is the leaves on a tree or other plant. ____________________________
6. A dormitory is a building, as at a school or college, with many rooms for sleeping.
7. Mustard oil is made from mustard seeds. It is used in cooking Indian foods. ____________________________
8. Compatriots are people from one’s home country.
9. A surname is a person’s family name.
10. A spatula is a cooking item. It has a broad flexible blade that is used to spread or
mix food.
11. Cashews are nuts from the cashew tree.

When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
Reading Strategy “Mr. Pirzada won’t be coming today. More importantly, Mr.
Pirzada is no longer considered Indian,” my father announced,
Compare and Contrast brushing salt from the cashews out of his trim black beard. “Not
Characters Why does Lilia think
since Partition.12 Our country was divided. 1947.”
that Mr. Pirzada is an Indian man?
Write your answer on the lines
When I said I thought that was the date of India’s
below. Then, underline phrases in independence from Britain, my father said, “That too. One
this paragraph that give you this moment we were free and then we were sliced up,” he
information. explained, drawing an X with his finger on the countertop, “like
a pie. Hindus here, Muslims there. Dacca no longer belongs to
_______________________________ us.” He told me that during Partition Hindus and Muslims had
set fire to each other’s homes. For many, the idea of eating in the
_______________________________ other’s company was still unthinkable.
It made no sense to me. Mr. Pirzada and my parents spoke
_______________________________
the same language, laughed at the same jokes, looked more or
_______________________________ less the same. They ate pickled mangoes13 with their meals, ate
rice every night for supper with their hands. Like my parents,
_______________________________ Mr. Pirzada took off his shoes before entering a room, chewed
fennel14 seeds after meals as a digestive, drank no alcohol, for
_______________________________
dessert dipped austere biscuits into successive cups of tea.
_______________________________
Nevertheless my father insisted that I understand the difference,
and he led me to a map of the world taped to the wall over his
desk. He seemed concerned that Mr. Pirzada might take offense
if I accidentally referred to him as an Indian, though I could not
Vocabulary really imagine Mr. Pirzada being offended by much of anything.
austere (ôs tērʼ) adj. without
“Mr. Pirzada is Bengali, but he is a Muslim,” my father informed
decoration; very simple me. “Therefore he lives in East Pakistan, not India.” His finger
trailed across the Atlantic, through Europe, the Mediterranean,
the Middle East, and finally to the sprawling orange diamond
Vocabulary Skill that my mother once told me resembled a woman wearing a
Word Origins Point out to sari15 with her left arm extended. Various cities had been circled
students that the word austere with lines drawn between them to indicate my parents’ travels,
comes from a Greek word, and the place of their birth, Calcutta, was signified by a small
austeros, meaning “making the
silver star. I had been there only once and had no memory of
tongue dry and rough, (hence)
severe, harsh.” Ask: How might
the trip. “As you see, Lilia, it is a different country, a different
the ancient meaning of austeros color,” my father said. Pakistan was yellow, not orange. I noticed
be related to the modern meaning that there were two distinct parts to it, one much larger than
of austere? (Perhaps austere food the other, separated by an expanse of Indian territory; it was as
made the tongue dry and rough if California and Connecticut constituted a nation apart from
because it had no honey or oil.)
the U.S.
12. Partition refers to the creation of independent countries out of parts of the British
Empire. Partition created India and Pakistan.
13. Mangoes are a sweet fruit. They come from the tropical mango tree.
14. Fennel is a tall plant with yellow flowers. Its seeds are used to flavor foods in
cooking.
15. A sari (särʼ ē) is a piece of clothing worn by Hindu women. It is a single long piece
of cloth. One end is wrapped around the waist to form a skirt. The other end is
thrown over the shoulder or head.
32
When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
My father rapped his knuckles on top of my head. “You

are, of course, aware of the current situation? Aware of East
Pakistan’s fight for sovereignty?”
I nodded, unaware of the situation.
We returned to the kitchen, where my mother was draining
a pot of boiled rice into a colander.16 My father opened up the
can on the counter and eyed me sharply over the frames of his
glasses as he ate some more cashews. “What exactly do they
teach you at school? Do you study history? Geography?”
“Lilia has plenty to learn at school,” my mother said. “We live
here now, she was born here.” She seemed genuinely proud of the Literary Element
fact, as if it were a reflection of my character. In her estimation, I
Theme Why do you think Lilia’s
knew, I was assured a safe life, an easy life, a fine education, every mother seems proud of this fact?
opportunity. I would never have to eat rationed food, or obey Check all the reasons that apply.
curfews, or watch riots from my rooftop, or hide neighbors in ■ She is happy that she and her
water tanks to prevent them from being shot, as she and my father husband have moved to the
had. “Imagine having to place her in a decent school. Imagine United States.
her having to read during power failures by the light of kerosene ■ She thinks that American
schools are too hard.
lamps. Imagine the pressures, the tutors, the constant exams.” She ■ She is glad that her daughter
ran a hand through her hair, bobbed17 to a suitable length for her is safe.
part-time job as a bank teller. “How can you possibly expect her to ■ She is happy about her
know about Partition? Put those nuts away.” daughter’s educational
opportunities.
Reading Strategy
Compare and Contrast
Characters Why are Mr. Pirzada
and Lilia’s parents so much alike,
16. A colander is a bowl-shaped kitchen item. It has holes in the bottom for
draining liquids. even though they are not from the
17. Bobbed means “cut short.” same country? Underline the best
answer below.
READING CHECK • They have similar incomes.
• They come from an area that

Predict was one country when they
Do you think Lilia will learn about Partition? If so, who will teach were born.
her? Write your prediction on the lines below. • They practice the same religion.
• They are immigrants.

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
Literary Element “But what does she learn about the world?” My father
rattled the cashew can in his hand. “What is she learning?”
Theme Why do you think Lahiri We learned American history, of course, and American
includes this detail? To answer this
geography. That year, and every year, it seemed, we began by
question, complete the following
sentence frame: This detail studying the Revolutionary War. We were taken in school buses
emphasizes how well Lilia knows on field trips to visit Plymouth Rock, and to walk the Freedom
Trail, and to climb to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument. We
_______________________________ made dioramas18 out of colored construction paper depicting
George Washington crossing the choppy waters of the Delaware
______________________________ , River, and we made puppets of King George wearing white
tights and a black bow in his hair. During tests we were given
but not _______________________ blank maps of the thirteen colonies, and asked to fill in names,
dates, capitals. I could do it with my eyes closed.
_______________________________
The next evening Mr. Pirzada arrived, as usual, at six
______________________________ . o’clock. Though they were no longer strangers, upon first
greeting each other, he and my father maintained the habit of
shaking hands.
Vocabulary “Come in, sir. Lilia, Mr. Pirzada’s coat, please.”
impeccably (im pekʼ ə blē) adv. He stepped into the foyer,19 impeccably suited and scarved,
without error or flaw; perfectly with a silk tie knotted at his collar. Each evening he appeared in
ensembles20 of plums, olives, and chocolate browns. He was a
compact man, and though his feet were perpetually splayed,21
and his belly slightly wide, he nevertheless maintained an efficient
posture, as if balancing in either hand two suitcases of equal
weight. His ears were insulated by tufts22 of graying hair that
seemed to block out the unpleasant traffic of life. He had thickly
lashed eyes shaded with a trace of camphor, a generous mustache
Reading Strategy that turned up playfully at the ends, and a mole shaped like a
flattened raisin in the very center of his left cheek. On his head he
wore a black fez23 made from the wool of Persian lambs, secured
Characters Why do you think
Mr. Pirzada calls himself another
by bobby pins, without which I was never to see him. Though my
refugee on Indian territory? Before father always offered to fetch him in our car, Mr. Pirzada preferred
you answer, review the Build to walk from his dormitory to our neighborhood, a distance of
Background on page 28. Then, about twenty minutes on foot, studying trees and shrubs on his
complete these sentence frames: way, and when he entered our house his knuckles were pink with
the effects of crisp autumn air.
When West Pakistan invaded East “Another refugee, I am afraid, on Indian territory.”
“They are estimating nine million at the last count,” my
Pakistan, millions of East Pakistani
father said.
_______________________________
Like these people, Mr. Pirzada is has 18. Dioramas are three-dimensional exhibits. They have lifelike figures in the
foreground. A painted scene forms the background.
also found shelter with ___________ 19. A foyer (foiʼ ər) is an entrance room or hall.
20. Here, ensembles (än sämʼ bəls) are clothes of matching colors.
_______________________________ 21. Splayed feet are spread out in an awkward way.
22. Tufts are short clumps or clusters.
_______________________________ 23. A fez is a tall felt hat, usually red. It has a black tassel hanging from the crown.
34
When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
Mr. Pirzada handed me his coat, for it was my job to hang

it on the rack at the bottom of the stairs. It was made of finely
checkered gray-and-blue wool, with a striped lining and horn
buttons, and carried in its weave the faint smell of limes. There
were no recognizable tags inside, only a hand-stitched label with
the phrase “Z. Sayeed, Suitors” embroidered on it in cursive
with glossy black thread. On certain days a birch or maple leaf
was tucked into a pocket. He unlaced his shoes and lined them
against the baseboard; a golden paste clung to the toes and heels,
the result of walking through our damp, unraked lawn. Relieved
of his trappings, he grazed my throat with his short, restless
fingers, the way a person feels for solidity behind a wall before
driving in a nail. Then he followed my father to the living room,
where the television was tuned to the local news. As soon as
they were seated my mother appeared from the kitchen with a
plate of mincemeat kebabs with coriander chutney.24 Mr. Pirzada
popped one into his mouth.
“One can only hope,” he said, reaching for another, “that
Dacca’s refugees are as heartily fed. Which reminds me.” He
reached into his suit pocket and gave me a small plastic egg
Vocabulary
filled with cinnamon hearts. “For the lady of the house,” he said
with an almost imperceptible splay-footed bow. imperceptible (imʼ pər sepʼ tə bəl)
“Really, Mr. Pirzada,” my mother protested. “Night after adj. not able to be seen or
sensed
night. You spoil her.”
“I only spoil children who are incapable of spoiling.”
It was an awkward moment for me, one which I awaited
in part with dread, in part with delight. I was charmed by the Read and Discuss
presence of Mr. Pirzada’s rotund25 elegance, and flattered by
the faint theatricality of his attentions, yet unsettled by the With a partner, read this
superb ease of his gestures, which made me feel, for an instant, paragraph aloud. Underline
words and phrases that tell how
like a stranger in my own home. It had become our ritual, and
Lilia felt about Mr. Pirzada and
for several weeks, before we grew more comfortable with one his gifts of candy. Then discuss
another, it was the only time he spoke to me directly. I had no how you would feel if you
response, offered no comment, betrayed no visible reaction to were in Lilia’s place. Write your
the steady stream of honey-filled lozenges, the raspberry truffles, response on the lines below.
the slender rolls of sour pastilles. I could not even thank him,
____________________________
for once, when I did, for an especially spectacular peppermint
lollipop wrapped in a spray26 of purple cellophane, he had ____________________________
demanded, “What is this thank-you? The lady at the bank
thanks me, the cashier at the shop thanks me, the librarian ____________________________
____________________________
24. Mincemeat . . . chutney is a mixture of chopped apples, raisins, and meat

skewered and broiled and served with a relish made with the pleasant-smelling herb
coriander.
25. Rotund means “plump.”
26. Here, spray means that the cellophane has been shaped or twisted to look like
a flower.

When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
thanks me when I return an overdue book, the overseas operator

Literary Element thanks me as she tries to connect me to Dacca and fails. If I am
buried in this country I will be thanked, no doubt, at my funeral.”
Theme Why do you think Mr.
Pirzada makes such an outburst
It was inappropriate, in my opinion, to consume the
when Lilia thanks him for the candy Mr. Pirzada gave me in a casual manner. I coveted each
candy? Put a check next to all evening’s treasure as I would a jewel, or a coin from a buried
statements below that you think kingdom, and I would place it in a small keepsake box made
may apply to him. of carved sandalwood beside my bed, in which, long ago in
■ He feels Americans say “thank India, my father’s mother used to store the ground areca27 nuts
you” too much.
she ate after her morning bath. It was my only memento of a
■ People in his country don’t act
this way. grandmother I had never known, and until Mr. Pirzada came
■ He is angry with Lilia because to our lives I could find nothing to put inside it. Every so often
she never gives him anything before brushing my teeth and laying out my clothes for school
in return. the next day, I opened the lid of the box and ate one of his treats.
■ His worry about his family That night, like every night, we did not eat at the dining
makes him edgy.
table, because it did not provide an unobstructed view of the
television set. Instead we huddled around the coffee table,
without conversing, our plates perched on the edges of our
knees. From the kitchen my mother brought forth the succession
of dishes: lentils with fried onions, green beans with coconut,
fish cooked with raisins in a yogurt sauce. I followed with the
water glasses, and the plate of lemon wedges, and the chili
peppers, purchased on monthly trips to Chinatown and stored
by the pound in the freezer, which they liked to snap open and
crush into their food.
Before eating Mr. Pirzada always did a curious thing.
He took out a plain silver watch without a band, which he
kept in his breast pocket, held it briefly to one of his tufted
ears, and wound it with three swift flicks of his thumb and
Reading Strategy
forefinger. Unlike the watch on his wrist, the pocket watch, he
had explained to me, was set to the local time in Dacca, eleven
Compare and Contrast hours ahead. For the duration of the meal the watch rested on
Characters How does winding the his folded paper napkin on the coffee table. He never seemed to
pocket watch make Mr. Pirzada
consult it.
different from Lilia’s family?
Underline sections in the text that Now that I had learned Mr. Pirzada was not an Indian, I
help you answer this question. began to study him with extra care, to try to figure out what
Then, complete the sentence made him different. I decided that the pocket watch was
frames below. one of those things. When I saw it that night, as he wound it
and arranged it on the coffee table, an uneasiness possessed
Mr. Pirzada keeps his watch set to me; life, I realized, was being lived in Dacca first. I imagined
Mr. Pirzada’s daughters rising from sleep, tying ribbons in their
the local time in _____________.
Thus, he is constantly aware of life
in _____________________________
unlike Lilia’s family.

27. Areca nuts come from the betel palm, a type of tall palm tree.
36
When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
hair, anticipating breakfast, preparing for school. Our meals,

our actions, were only a shadow of what had already happened
there, a lagging ghost of where Mr. Pirzada really belonged.
At six-thirty, which was when the national news began, my
father raised the volume and adjusted the antennas. Usually I
occupied myself with a book, but that night my father insisted
that I pay attention. On the screen I saw tanks rolling through
dusty streets, and fallen buildings, and forests of unfamiliar trees
into which East Pakistani refugees had fled, seeking safety over
the Indian border. I saw boats with fan-shaped sails floating on
wide coffee-colored rivers, a barricaded university, newspaper
offices burnt to the ground. I turned to look at Mr. Pirzada; the
images flashed in miniature across his eyes. As he watched Literary Element
he had an immovable expression on his face, composed but Theme How does the information
alert, as if someone were giving him directions to an unknown in this paragraph contribute to
destination. the central message of the story?
below. Then, underline the phrases
that help you understand why Mr.
Pirzada is so worried about his
family back home.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK _______________________________
Question _______________________________
If you could talk to Mr. Pirzada, what question would you like
to ask him? Write your question on the lines below. Then, write
what you think Mr. Pirzada would say.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
During the commercial my mother went to the kitchen to get

more rice, and my father and Mr. Pirzada deplored the policies
Reading Strategy of a general named Yahyah Khan.28 They discussed intrigues
I did not know, a catastrophe I could not comprehend. “See,
Characters Why do you think Lilia
children your age, what they do to survive,” my father said as
cannot understand how serious he served me another piece of fish. But I could no longer eat.
the situation in East Pakistan is? I could only steal glances at Mr. Pirzada, sitting beside me in
Underline the two best responses his olive green jacket, calmly creating a well in his rice to make
below. room for a second helping of lentils. He was not my notion
• She has not lived in the areas of a man burdened by such grave concerns. I wondered if the
that are now at war. reason he was always so smartly dressed was in preparation
• She is uninterested in world to endure with dignity whatever news assailed29 him, perhaps
events.
even to attend a funeral at a moment’s notice. I wondered, too,
• She is unfamiliar with the
politics and geography involved.
what would happen if suddenly his seven daughters were to
appear on television, smiling and waving and blowing kisses to
Mr. Pirzada from a balcony. I imagined how relieved he would
be. But this never happened.
That night when I placed the plastic egg filled with
cinnamon hearts in the box beside my bed, I did not feel the
ceremonious satisfaction I normally did. I tried not to think
about Mr. Pirzada, in his lime-scented overcoat, connected to the
unruly, sweltering world we had viewed a few hours ago in our
bright, carpeted living room. And yet for several moments that
was all I could think about. My stomach tightened as I worried
whether his wife and seven daughters were now members of
the drifting, clamoring crowd that had flashed at intervals on
the screen. In an effort to banish30 the image I looked around my
room, at the yellow canopied31 bed with matching flounced32
curtains, at framed class pictures mounted on white and violet
papered walls, at the penciled inscriptions by the closet door
where my father recorded my height on each of my birthdays.
But the more I tried to distract myself, the more I began to
convince myself that Mr. Pirzada’s family was in all likelihood
dead. Eventually I took a square of white chocolate out of the
box, and unwrapped it, and then I did something I had never
done before. I put the chocolate in my mouth, letting it soften
until the last possible moment, and then as I chewed it slowly,
I prayed that Mr. Pirzada’s family was safe and sound. I had
never prayed for anything before, had never been taught or told
28. Yahyah Khan, or Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, was a West Pakistan general. He
led troops into East Pakistan.
29. Assailed means “attacked” or “assaulted.”
30. Banish means “to drive away” or “force to leave.”
31. A canopy is a cloth covering hung over a bed.
32. Flounced means “gathered” or “pleated.”
38
When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
to, but I decided, given the circumstances, that it was something Reading Strategy
I should do. That night, when I went to the bathroom I only
pretended to brush my teeth, for I feared that I would somehow Compare and Contrast
Characters What does this
rinse the prayer out as well. I wet the brush and rearranged the
passage reveal about how
tube of paste to prevent my parents from asking any questions, Lilia is changing? How is she
and fell asleep with sugar on my tongue. different now than she was at the
No one at school talked about the war followed so faithfully beginning of the story? To answer
in my living room. We continued to study the American these questions, complete the
Revolution, and learned about the injustices of taxation without sentence frames below.
representation, and memorized passages from the Declaration Lilia is becoming more aware of
of Independence. During recess the boys would divide in two
groups, chasing each other wildly around the swings and _______________________________
seesaws, Redcoats against the colonies. In the classroom our
_______________________________
teacher, Mrs. Kenyon, pointed frequently to a map that emerged
like a movie screen from the top of the chalkboard, charting She wants to help Mr. Pirzada, and
the route of the Mayflower, or showing us the location of the
Liberty Bell. Each week two members of the class gave a report she decides that ________________
on a particular aspect of the Revolution, and so one day I was
______________________________ .
sent to the school library with my friend Dora to learn about
the surrender at Yorktown. Mrs. Kenyon handed us a slip of
paper with the names of three books to look up in the card
catalogue. We found them right away, and sat down at a low Read and Discuss
round table to read and take notes. But I could not concentrate.
I returned to the blond-wood shelves, to a section I had noticed With a partner, read this
labeled “Asia.” I saw books about China, India, Indonesia, paragraph aloud. As you read,
Korea. Eventually I found a book titled Pakistan: A Land and Its underline words that tell what
Mrs. Kenyon wants the class
People. I sat on a footstool and opened the book. The laminated
to study. Circle words that
jacket crackled in my grip. I began turning the pages, filled with tell what Lilia wants to study.
photos of rivers and rice fields and men in military uniforms. Then talk about whether you
There was a chapter about Dacca, and I began to read about its think Lilia should have been
rainfall, and its jute33 production. I was studying a population given more information about
chart when Dora appeared in the aisle. Pakistan during her history
class. Write your response on
“What are you doing back here? Mrs. Kenyon’s in the
the lines below.
library. She came to check up on us.”
I slammed the book shut, too loudly. Mrs. Kenyon emerged, ____________________________
the aroma of her perfume filling up the tiny aisle, and lifted the
book by the tip of its spine as if it were a hair clinging to my ____________________________
sweater. She glanced at the cover, then at me.
____________________________
“Is this book a part of your report, Lilia?”
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
33. Jute is a fiber from the jute plant. It is used to make rope, burlap, or sacks. ____________________________

When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
“No, Mrs. Kenyon.”

Literary Element “Then I see no reason to consult34 it,” she said, replacing it in
the slim gap on the shelf. “Do you?”
Theme Why do you think Lahiri
chose to include this scene? Write As weeks passed it grew more and more rare to see any
your answer on the lines below. footage35 from Dacca on the news. The report came after the first
set of commercials, sometimes the second. The press had been
_______________________________ censored, removed, restricted, rerouted. Some days, many days,
only a death toll was announced, prefaced by a reiteration36 of
_______________________________ the general situation. More poets were executed, more villages
set ablaze. In spite of it all, night after night, my parents and
_______________________________ Mr. Pirzada enjoyed long, leisurely meals. After the television
was shut off, and the dishes washed and dried, they joked,
_______________________________
and told stories, and dipped biscuits in their tea. When they
_______________________________ tired of discussing political matters they discussed, instead, the
progress of Mr. Pirzada’s book about the deciduous37 trees of
_______________________________ New England, and my father’s nomination for tenure, and the
peculiar eating habits of my mother’s American coworkers at
_______________________________
the bank. Eventually I was sent upstairs to do my homework,
_______________________________ but through the carpet I heard them as they drank more tea, and
listened to cassettes of Kishore Kumar,38 and played Scrabble on
the coffee table, laughing and arguing long into the night about
the spellings of English words. I wanted to join them, wanted,
above all, to console Mr. Pirzada somehow. But apart from
Reading Strategy eating a piece of candy for the sake of his family and praying for
Compare and Contrast their safety, there was nothing I could do. They played Scrabble
Characters What draws Mr. until the eleven o’clock news, and then, sometime around
Pirzada and Lilia’s parents midnight, Mr. Pirzada walked back to his dormitory. For this
together? Put a check next to the reason I never saw him leave, but each night as I drifted off to
answers below that apply.
sleep I would hear them, anticipating the birth of a nation on the
■ They have similar interests.
■ They want to put a business other side of the world.
deal together. One day in October Mr. Pirzada asked upon arrival, “What
■ They enjoy a cultural familiarity are these large orange vegetables on people’s doorsteps? A type
with a foreign country. of squash?”
“Pumpkins,” my mother replied. “Lilia, remind me to pick
one up at the supermarket.”
“And the purpose? It indicates what?”
“You make a jack-o’-lantern,” I said, grinning ferociously.
“Like this. To scare people away.”
“I see,” Mr. Pirzada said, grinning back. “Very useful.”
34. Here, consult means “to get information from.”

35. Here, footage refers to a segment of film from a newsreel.
36. Reiteration is repeating or saying over again.
37. Deciduous trees lose their leaves each year.
38. Kishore Kumar was a famous actor and singer in Indian films.
40
When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
The next day my mother bought a ten-pound pumpkin, Literary Element

fat and round, and placed it on the dining table. Before supper,
while my father and Mr. Pirzada were watching the local news, Theme Why do you think Mr.
Pirzada decides not to watch
she told me to decorate it with markers, but I wanted to carve it
the news? Check all the answers
properly like others I had noticed in the neighborhood. below that apply.
“Yes, let’s carve it,” Mr. Pirzada agreed, and rose from the ■ He has stopped caring about
sofa. “Hang the news tonight.” Asking no questions, he walked what is happening in East
into the kitchen, opened a drawer, and returned, bearing a long Pakistan.
serrated39 knife. He glanced at me for approval. “Shall I?” ■ He chooses to enjoy carving a
pumpkin.
I nodded. For the first time we all gathered around the
■ He thinks the news reports are
dining table, my mother, my father, Mr. Pirzada, and I. While untrue.
the television aired unattended we covered the tabletop with ■ He may need some relief from
newspapers. Mr. Pirzada draped his jacket over the chair behind the news.
him, removed a pair of opal40 cuff links, and rolled up the
starched sleeves of his shirt.
“First go around the top, like this,” I instructed, Reading Strategy
demonstrating with my index finger.
He made an initial incision41 and drew the knife around. Compare and Contrast
Characters Why does Mr. Pirzada
When he had come full circle he lifted the cap by the stem; it
not know about jack-o’-lanterns?
loosened effortlessly, and Mr. Pirzada leaned over the pumpkin Write your answer on the lines
for a moment to inspect and inhale its contents. My mother below.
gave him a long metal spoon with which he gutted the interior
until the last bits of string and seeds were gone. My father, _______________________________
meanwhile, separated the seeds from the pulp and set them out
to dry on a cookie sheet, so that we could roast them later on. I _______________________________
drew two triangles against the ridged surface for the eyes, which
Mr. Pirzada dutifully carved, and crescents for eyebrows, and _______________________________
another triangle for the nose. The mouth was all that remained,
_______________________________
and the teeth posed a challenge. I hesitated.
“Smile or frown?” I asked. _______________________________
“You choose,” Mr. Pirzada said.
_______________________________
39. Serrated means “having a sawlike edge.”

_______________________________
40. Opal is a type of mineral. It is used as a gemstone.
41. Initial incision means the “first cut.”
_______________________________
READING CHECK
Clarify
Why does Mr. Pirzada take off his jacket and cufflinks and roll up
his shirt sleeves? What is he planning to do? Write your answers
on the lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
Vocabulary As a compromise I drew a kind of grimace,42 straight across,

neither mournful nor friendly. Mr. Pirzada began carving,
intimidation (in timʼ ə dä shən) n.
the act of making one feel afraid
without the least bit of intimidation, as if he had been carving
or discouraged jack-o’-lanterns his whole life. He had nearly finished when the
national news began. The reporter mentioned Dacca, and we all
turned to listen: An Indian official announced that unless the
Context Clues world helped to relieve the burden of East Pakistani refugees,
Context Clues Look at the way the India would have to go to war against Pakistan. The reporter’s
word intimidation is used in context. face dripped with sweat as he relayed the information. He did
Underline the context clues that not wear a tie or a jacket, dressed instead as if he himself were
help you determine its meaning.
about to take part in the battle. He shielded his scorched face
as he hollered things to the cameraman. The knife slipped from
Mr. Pirzada’s hand and made a gash dipping toward the base of
Literary Element
the pumpkin.
Theme Is there more than one “Please forgive me.” He raised a hand to one side of his face,
reason why Mr. Pirzada feels he as if someone had slapped him there. “I am—it is terrible. I will
needs to be forgiven? Discuss this buy another. We will try again.”
question with a partner. Fill out
“Not at all, not at all,” my father said. He took the knife
the following sentence frames to
get started: Mr. Pirzada is sorry for from Mr. Pirzada, and carved around the gash, evening it
what he just did, out, dispensing altogether with43 the teeth I had drawn. What
resulted was a disproportionately large hole the size of a lemon,
______________________________ . so that our jack-o’-lantern wore an expression of placid44
astonishment, the eyebrows no longer fierce, floating in frozen
He may also feel sorry for
surprise above a vacant, geometric gaze.
_______________________________ For Halloween I was a witch. Dora, my trick-or-treating
partner, was a witch too. We wore black capes fashioned from
_______________________________ dyed pillowcases and conical hats with wide cardboard brims.
We shaded our faces green with a broken eye shadow that
belonged to Dora’s mother, and my mother gave us two burlap
sacks that had once contained basmati rice,45 for collecting
Reading Strategy candy. That year our parents decided that we were old enough
to roam the neighborhood unattended. Our plan was to walk
Compare and Contrast from my house to Dora’s, from where I was to call to say I had
Characters How does the
arrived safely, and then Dora’s mother would drive me home.
highlighted detail point out the
difference between children’s lives in My father equipped us with flashlights, and I had to wear my
Boston and in East Pakistan? Write watch and synchronize it with his. We were to return no later
your answer on the lines below. than nine o’clock.
When Mr. Pirzada arrived that evening he presented me
_______________________________ with a box of chocolate-covered mints.
“In here,” I told him, and opened up the burlap sack. “Trick
_______________________________ or treat!”
_______________________________
_______________________________
42. A grimace (grim´ is) is a twisting of the face into an ugly or painful smile.
43. Dispensing . . . with means “getting rid of.”
_______________________________
44. Placid means “calm, undisturbed.”
45. Basmati rice is a kind of long-grain rice grown in India.
42
When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
“I understand that you don’t really need my contribution

Read and Discuss
this evening,” he said, depositing the box. He gazed at my green
face, and the hat secured by a string under my chin. Gingerly he Read the second full paragraph
lifted the hem of the cape, under which I was wearing a sweater out loud with a partner. Then
and a zipped fleece jacket. “Will you be warm enough?” discuss the author’s description
I nodded, causing the hat to tip to one side. of the events. In your
He set it right. “Perhaps it is best to stand still.” discussion, answer questions
like these: Does the author do
The bottom of our staircase was lined with baskets of
a good job of describing the
miniature candy, and when Mr. Pirzada removed his shoes events? Does the reader get a
he did not place them there as he normally did, but inside the good visual image of the scene?
closet instead. He began to unbutton his coat, and I waited to What details help the reader
take it from him, but Dora called me from the bathroom to say imagine that Halloween night?
that she needed my help drawing a mole on her chin. When Write your responses on the
lines below.
we were finally ready my mother took a picture of us in front
of the fireplace, and then I opened the front door to leave. Mr. ____________________________
Pirzada and my father, who had not gone into the living room
yet, hovered in the foyer. Outside it was already dark. The air ____________________________
smelled of wet leaves, and our carved jack-o’-lantern flickered
impressively against the shrubbery by the door. In the distance ____________________________
came the sounds of scampering feet, and the howls of the older
____________________________
boys who wore no costume at all other than a rubber mask, and
the rustling apparel of the youngest children, some so young ____________________________
that they were carried from door to door in the arms of their
parents. ____________________________
“Don’t go into any of the houses you don’t know,” my father
____________________________
warned.
Mr. Pirzada knit his brows together. “Is there any danger?’ ____________________________
“No, no,” my mother assured him. “All the children will be
out. It’s a tradition.”
“Perhaps I should accompany them?” Mr. Pirzada
suggested. He looked suddenly tired and small, standing there
in his splayed, stockinged feet, and his eyes contained a panic Reading Strategy
I had never seen before. In spite of the cold I began to sweat
inside my pillowcase.
Characters Notice the different
“Really, Mr. Pirzada,” my mother said, “Lilia will be attitudes of Mr. Pirzada and Lilia’s
perfectly safe with her friend.” mother concerning the girls’ safety
“But if it rains? If they lose their way?” as they go trick-or-treating. Why do
“Don’t worry,” I said. It was the first time I had uttered those you think Mr. Pirzada is so worried
words to Mr. Pirzada, two simple words I had tried but failed to about it? Underline the best
answer below.
tell him for weeks, had said only in my prayers. It shamed me
now that I had said them for my own sake. • He has heard about children
being hurt on Halloween.
• He has been so worried about
his own girls, and the feeling
carries over.
• He does not think the girls
can see well enough in their
costumes.

When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
Literary Element He placed one of his stocky fingers on my cheek, then pressed
it to the back of his own hand, leaving a faint green smear. “If the
Theme Why do you think Lilia lady insists,” he conceded, and offered a small bow.
tells Mr. Pirzada not to worry at
We left, stumbling slightly in our black pointy thrift-store
this point, instead of earlier in the
story? Write your answer on the shoes, and when we turned at the end of the driveway to wave
lines below. good-bye, Mr. Pirzada was standing in the frame of the doorway,
a short figure between my parents, waving back.
_______________________________ “Why did that man want to come with us?” Dora asked.
“His daughters are missing.” As soon as I said it, I wished I
_______________________________ had not. I felt that my saying it made it true, that Mr. Pirzada’s
daughters really were missing, and that he would never see
_______________________________ them again.
“You mean they were kidnapped?” Dora continued. “From a
_______________________________
park or something?”
_______________________________ “I didn’t mean they were missing. I meant, he misses them.
They live in a different country, and he hasn’t seen them in a
_______________________________ while, that’s all.”
We went from house to house, walking along pathways
_______________________________
and pressing doorbells. Some people had switched off all their
_______________________________ lights for effect, or strung rubber bats in their windows. At the
McIntyres’ a coffin was placed in front of the door, and Mr.
_______________________________ McIntyre rose from it in silence, his face covered with chalk, and
deposited a fistful of candy corns into our sacks. Several people
_______________________________ told me that they had never seen an Indian witch before. Others
performed the transaction without comment. As we paved our
_______________________________
way with the parallel beams of our flashlights we saw eggs
cracked in the middle of the road, and cars covered with shaving
cream, and toilet paper garlanding46 the branches of trees. By
the time we reached Dora’s house our hands were chapped
from carrying our bulging burlap bags, and our feet were sore
and swollen. Her mother gave us bandages for our blisters and
served us warm cider and caramel popcorn. She reminded me to
call my parents to tell them I had arrived safely, and when I did I
could hear the television in the background. My mother did not
seem particularly relieved to hear from me. When I replaced the
phone on the receiver it occurred to me that the television wasn’t
on at Dora’s house at all. Her father was lying on the couch,
46. A garland is a wreath, usually of flowers or leaves. Here, the garland is toilet paper
strewn through the branches.
44
When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
reading a magazine, with a glass of wine on the coffee table, and Reading Strategy
there was saxophone music playing on the stereo.
After Dora and I had sorted through our plunder, and Compare and Contrast
Characters Why are Dora’s
counted and sampled and traded until we were satisfied, her
parents not watching the news?
mother drove me back to my house. I thanked her for the ride, To answer this question, complete
and she waited in the driveway until I made it to the door. In this sentence on the lines below:
the glare of her headlights I saw that our pumpkin had been Unlike Lilia’s parents and Mr.
shattered, its thick shell strewn in chunks across the grass. Pirzada, Dora’s parents
I felt the sting of tears in my eyes, and a sudden pain in my
throat, as if it had been stuffed with the sharp tiny pebbles that _______________________________
crunched with each step under my aching feet. I opened the
door, expecting the three of them to be standing in the foyer, _______________________________
waiting to receive me, and to grieve for our ruined pumpkin, but
_______________________________
there was no one. In the living room Mr. Pirzada, my father, and
mother were sitting side by side on the sofa. The television was _______________________________
turned off, and Mr. Pirzada had his head in his hands.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK
Question
What does Lilia notice when she gets back home? Why do you
think she is she so upset about it? Write your answer on the lines
below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
What they heard that evening, and for many evenings after
that, was that India and Pakistan were drawing closer and closer
to war. Troops from both sides lined the border, and Dacca was
insisting on nothing short of independence. The war was to be
waged on East Pakistani soil. The United States was siding with
West Pakistan, the Soviet Union with India and what was soon
to be Bangladesh. War was declared officially on December 4,
and twelve days later, the Pakistani army, weakened by having
to fight three thousand miles from their source of supplies,
surrendered in Dacca. All of these facts I know only now, for
they are available to me in any history book, in any library.
But then it remained, for the most part, a remote mystery with
haphazard47 clues. What I remember during those twelve days
of the war was that my father no longer asked me to watch the
news with them, and that Mr. Pirzada stopped bringing me
candy, and that my mother refused to serve anything other than
boiled eggs with rice for dinner. I remember some nights helping
my mother spread a sheet and blankets on the couch so that Mr.
Pirzada could sleep there, and high-pitched voices hollering in
the middle of the night when my parents called our relatives in
Calcutta to learn more details about the situation. Most of all
Reading Strategy I remember the three of them operating during that time as if
they were a single person, sharing a single meal, a single body, a
Compare and Contrast single silence, and a single fear.
Characters What has happened
In January, Mr. Pirzada flew back to his three-story home in
that has finally given all the adults
the same sense of fear? Underline
Dacca, to discover what was left of it. We did not see much of
the sentence earlier in this him in those final weeks of the year; he was busy finishing his
paragraph that helps you answer manuscript, and we went to Philadelphia to spend Christmas
this question. Then, complete the with friends of my parents. Just as I have no memory of his first
following sentence frames. visit, I have no memory of his last. My father drove him to the
airport one afternoon while I was at school. For a long time we
________________ has become did not hear from him. Our evenings went on as usual, with
dinners in front of the news. The only difference was that Mr.
involved in the war, along with
Pirzada and his extra watch were not there to accompany us.
West and East ________________.
According to reports Dacca was repairing itself slowly, with
a newly formed parliamentary government. The new leader,
Now all of the adults Sheikh Mujib Rahman, recently released from prison, asked
countries for building materials to replace more than one million
_______________________________ houses that had been destroyed in the war. Countless refugees
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
47. Haphazard means “random, happening by chance.”
46
When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
returned from India, greeted, we learned, by unemployment and Reading Strategy

the threat of famine.48 Every now and then I studied the map
above my father’s desk and pictured Mr. Pirzada on that small Compare and Contrast
Characters Why do you think that
patch of yellow, perspiring heavily, I imagined, in one of his
this is the first time Lilia feels Mr.
suits, searching for his family. Of course, the map was outdated Pirzada’s absence? Discuss this
by then. question with a partner, and then
Finally, several months later, we received a card from Mr. write your answer on the lines
Pirzada commemorating49 the Muslim New Year, along with below.
a short letter. He was reunited, he wrote, with his wife and
children. All were well, having survived the events of the past _______________________________
year at an estate belonging to his wife’s grandparents in the
mountains of Shillong.50 His seven daughters were a bit taller, _______________________________
he wrote, but otherwise they were the same, and he still could
_______________________________
not keep their names in order. At the end of the letter he thanked
us for our hospitality, adding that although he now understood _______________________________
the meaning of the words “thank you” they still were not
adequate to express his gratitude. To celebrate the good news _______________________________
my mother prepared a special dinner that evening, and when we
_______________________________
sat down to eat at the coffee table we toasted our water glasses,
but I did not feel like celebrating. Though I had not seen him _______________________________
for months, it was only then that I felt Mr. Pirzada’s absence. It
was only then, raising my water glass in his name, that I knew _______________________________
what it meant to miss someone who was so many miles and
hours away, just as he had missed his wife and daughters for so _______________________________
many months. He had no reason to return to us, and my parents

predicted, correctly, that we would never see him again. Since
January, each night before bed, I had continued to eat, for the
sake of Mr. Pirzada’s family, a piece of candy I had saved from
Halloween. That night there was no need to. Eventually, I threw Literary Element
them away.
Theme Why does Lilia decide to
throw the candy away? Underline
the correct answer.
48. Famine is an extreme lack of food, leading to starvation.
49. Commemorating means “honoring the memory of.” • The candy has become stale.
50. Shillong is a part of India. It is north of East Pakistan (Bangladesh).
• Lilia has gone on a health kick.
• Mr. Pirzada and his family

READING CHECK are safe.
Summarize
On the lines below, write a one-sentence summary of the
contents of the letter that Lilia’s family received from Mr. Pirzada.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

After You Read When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine
Look back at the statements you made on page 28. Now that you have read the
story, would you change any of those statements? Explain why or why not.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Theme

Look back to page 29, where you described the theme or themes of a story you
recently read. Answer the same questions about the story you have just read.
Write your answers on the lines below each question.
1. What is the most important theme of the story?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. How does the plot help reveal the theme?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. How do the characters’ observations help reveal the theme?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Does the story have any minor themes? If so, what are they?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Compare and Contrast Characters

Look over the Venn diagram you made from page 29 to compare yourself and a
friend. Make another Venn diagram to compare Lilia’s father and Mr. Pirzada.
48
Came to Dine
Vocabulary
A. Word Meaning Circle the letter of the answer that best fits the meaning of
the boldfaced vocabulary word in each sentence.
1. For her research paper, Carmen was busy ascertaining facts.
a writing c checking
b wondering about d listing
2. Dylan enjoyed his austere meals of rice and tea.

a simple c rich
b fancy d non-fattening
3. Sylvia was groomed impeccably, not a hair out of place.

a poorly c perfectly
b carelessly d half-heartedly
4. The tree grew at an imperceptible rate each day.

a rapid c surprising
b very slight d negative
5. Bullies use intimidation to control other people.

a charm c strength
b bad manners d scare tactics
B. Context Clues Underline the context clues in the following sentences that
help you determine the meaning of each boldfaced vocabulary word. Then
explain your choices.
1. Fingerprints at the scene help the detective in ascertaining who
committed the crime.
Explanation: _____________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Unlike her sister, who prefers austere clothing, Clara loves frills,
decorations, and ruffles.
Explanation: _____________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. The ice skater performed impeccably and earned the top score of 10.
Explanation: _____________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Came to Dine
K-W-L Chart
Making a K-W-L chart is a good way to keep track of what you have learned.
Review the Build Background information on page 28. Then fill out the first
column of the K-W-L chart below, telling what you already knew before you
started reading the story. Then complete the second column, telling what you
wanted to find out. Finally, complete the third column, telling what you learned by
reading the story.
What I Already Knew What I Wanted to Find Out What I Learned
50
Learning Objectives
For pages 51–66

objectives:
point of view.
Reading: Interpreting
imagary.
Catch the MO O N by Judith Ortiz Cofer
Catch the Moon 51

MOON
Before You Read
Catch the
When was the last time you did something really nice for another person without
asking for or expecting anything in return? Before you read the story, freewrite for a
few minutes about the following questions:
• Why might someone suddenly do something special for another person?
• Why does gift giving make the giver feel good?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Build Background
• A barrio is a neighborhood in a city. Most of the people who live in a barrio are of
Hispanic heritage and speak Spanish. Some may have been born in the United
States, while others may have come from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, or countries
in South America.
• Hubcaps are covers for car wheels that keep dirt and water away from the inner
parts of the wheel.
• Hubcaps for very old cars are hard to get. They can cost a lot of money to replace
and take a long time to find.
Now, without looking at what you have just read, describe a barrio and explain what
hubcaps are for.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

As you read, notice how a self-centered young man named Luis changes when he
learns the value of giving.
52
Literary Element Point of View
Point of view refers to the perspective from which a story is told. In a story that is
told from a third-person limited point of view:
• The narrator uses he, she, and they to tell the story.
• The narrator focuses on the actions, thoughts, and emotions of one character.
• The reader learns a lot about that character, but not about other characters.
Work with a partner to describe yourselves using the third-person limited point of
view. Try to imagine your partner’s thoughts and mindset. Use sentences such as: Jon
walked toward his partner. He smiled, wondering what she was thinking.
Reading Strategy Interpret Imagery

Writers use imagery, or details that appeal to the reader’s sense of sight, hearing,
smell, taste, or touch, to create an emotional response in the reader. As a reader, you
must use your own experiences to figure out the deeper meaning or idea the imagery
suggests. Look at the chart below. How might you interpret the imagery from this line
from the story? Write your ideas in the chart.
Imagery Sense/Senses What It Suggests

“steel jungle of his car junkyard” sight, touch
Vocabulary Denotation and Connotation

Writers choose words based on their denotations and Vocabulary
connotations. Denotation is the dictionary meaning of a word.
Connotation is its cultural meaning—the feelings, thoughts, harass (hə rasʼ) v. to bother or annoy over and
over again
or ideas connected with the word. A word can have positive,
negative, or neutral connotations. For example, the word makeshift makeshift (mākʼ shiftʼ) adj. suitable as a
has negative connotations, suggesting that something has been temporary substitute for the proper or desired
hastily made or thrown together. thing
vintage (vinʼ tij) adj. old but still appealing or

With a partner, discuss the denotations and connotations of the
valuable
words below. Circle the word with the most positive connotations.
Cross out the word with the most negative connotations. decapitate (di kapʼ ə tātʼ) v. to cut off the head
relic (relʼ ik) n. an object that has been around

club gang social group fellowship
for a long time and that is valued for its historic
interest
Catch the Moon 53

Catch the MO O N
Reading Strategy Luis Cintrón sits on top of a six-foot pile of hubcaps and
watches his father walk away into the steel jungle of his car
Interpret Imagery Imagine junkyard. Released into his old man’s custody after six months
you are watching Luis. What
in juvenile hall—for breaking and entering—and he didn’t even
senses do these lines appeal to?
_________________ What does the take anything. He did it on a dare.
image of Luis yelling atop a “silver But the old lady with the million cats was a light sleeper,
mountain” suggest about Luis? and good with her aluminum cane. He has a scar on his head to
prove it.
_______________________________ Now Luis is wondering whether he should have stayed in
and done his full time. Jorge Cintrón of Jorge Cintrón & Son,
_______________________________ Auto Parts and Salvage, has decided that Luis should wash
and polish every hubcap in the yard. The hill he is sitting on is
_______________________________
only the latest couple of hundred wheel covers that have come
_______________________________ in. Luis grunts and stands up on top of his silver mountain.
He yells at no one, “Someday, son, all this will be yours,” and
_______________________________ sweeps his arms like the Pope blessing a crowd over the piles of
car sandwiches and mounds of metal parts that cover this acre
_______________________________ of land outside the city. He is the “Son” of Jorge Cintrón & Son,
and so far his father has had more than one reason to wish it was
plain Jorge Cintrón on the sign.
Luis has been getting in trouble since he started high
Vocabulary school two years ago, mainly because of the “social group” he
harass (hə rasʼ) v. to bother or organized—a bunch of guys who were into harassing the local
annoy over and over again authorities. Their thing was taking something to the limit on a
dare or, better still, doing something dangerous, like breaking
into a house, not to steal, just to prove that they could do it. That
was Luis’s specialty, coming up with very complicated plans,
Read and Discuss
With a partner, read aloud what

the narrator shares about Luis
and his “social group.” Then
discuss your reaction to this
information.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
54
Catch the Moon
like military strategies, and assigning the “jobs” to guys who

wanted to join the Tiburones.1
Tiburón means “shark,” and Luis had gotten the name from
watching an old movie2 about a Puerto Rican gang called the
Sharks with his father. Luis thought it was one of the dumbest Literary Element
films he had ever seen. Everybody sang their lines, and the
Point of View What do you learn
guys all pointed their toes and leaped in the air when they were about Luis from the narrator’s
supposed to be slaughtering each other. But he liked their name, account of his reaction to West
the Sharks, so he made it Spanish and had it air-painted on his Side Story? Underline the words
black T-shirt with a killer shark under it, jaws opened wide and that best complete the sentence
dripping with blood. It didn’t take long for other guys in the below.
barrio to ask about it.

Man, had they had a good time. The girls were interested Luis is a (tough/sensitive) guy
too. Luis outsmarted everybody by calling his organization a
who (does/does not) know how
social club and registering it at Central High. That meant they
were legal, even let out of last-period class on Fridays for their to appreciate or interpret the
“club” meetings. It was just this year, after a couple of botched3
jobs, that the teachers had started getting suspicious. The first performances.
one to go wrong was when he sent Kenny Matoa to borrow
some “souvenirs” out of Anita Robles’s locker. He got caught.
It seems that Matoa had been reading Anita’s diary and didn’t
hear her coming down the hall. Anita was supposed to be in
the gym at that time but had copped out with the usual female
excuse of cramps. You could hear her screams all the way to
Market Street.
She told the principal all she knew about the Tiburones,
and Luis had to talk fast to convince old Mr. Williams that the
club did put on cultural activities such as the Save the Animals Literary Element
talent show. What Mr. Williams didn’t know was that the animal Point of View With a partner,
that was being “saved” with the ticket sales was Luis’s pet boa, talk about why the author chose
which needed quite a few live mice to stay healthy and happy. to have the narrator share
They kept E.S. (which stood for “Endangered Species”) in Luis’s information about the Save the
room, but she belonged to the club and it was the members’ Animals talent show. Record your
ideas on the lines below.
responsibility to raise the money to feed their mascot. So last
year they had sponsored their first annual Save the Animals
talent show, and it had been a great success. The Tiburones had _______________________________
come dressed as Latino Elvises and did a grand finale to “All
_______________________________
Shook Up” that made the audience go wild. Mr. Williams had
smiled while Luis talked, maybe remembering how the math _______________________________
teacher, Mrs. Laguna, had dragged him out in the aisle to rock-
and-roll with her. Luis had gotten out of that one, but barely. _______________________________
_______________________________
1. Tiburones (tēʼ boo rōʼ nās) _______________________________

2. [old movie . . .] The narrator is describing the feature film West Side Story, a 1961
musical based on Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. West Side _______________________________
Story is set in a working class neighborhood of New York City in the late 1950s.
3. Botched means “badly or clumsily done.”
Catch the Moon 55

Catch the Moon
His father was a problem too. He objected to the T-shirt logo,

Read and Discuss
calling it disgusting and vulgar. Mr. Cintrón prided himself on
his own neat, elegant style of dressing after work, and on his
Read aloud Luis’s thoughts
with your partner. Talk about manners and large vocabulary, which he picked up by taking
what you learn about Luis correspondence courses in just about everything. Luis thought
and his relationship with his that it was just his way of staying busy since Luis’s mother had
father. How would you rate the died, almost three years ago, of cancer. He had never gotten
communication between the over it.
two men?
All this was going through Luis’s head as he slid down
the hill of hubcaps. The tub full of soapy water, the can of
____________________________ polish, and the bag of rags had been neatly placed in front
of a makeshift table made from two car seats and a piece of
____________________________
plywood. Luis heard a car drive up and someone honk their
____________________________ horn. His father emerged from inside a new red Mustang that
had been totaled. He usually dismantled every small feature by
____________________________ hand before sending the vehicle into the cementerio,4 as he called
the lot. Luis watched as the most beautiful girl he had ever seen
____________________________
climbed out of a vintage white Volkswagen Bug. She stood in
____________________________ the sunlight in her white sundress waiting for his father, while
Luis stared. She was like a smooth wood carving. Her skin was
mahogany, almost black, and her arms and legs were long and
thin, but curved in places so that she did not look bony and
Vocabulary
hard—more like a ballerina. And her ebony hair was braided
makeshift (mākʼ shiftʼ) adj. close to her head. Luis let his breath out, feeling a little dizzy. He
suitable as a temporary
had forgotten to breathe. Both the girl and his father heard him.
substitute for the proper or
desired thing
Mr. Cintrón waved him over.
“Luis, the señorita here has lost a wheel cover. Her car is
twenty-five years old, so it will not be an easy match. Come look
Vocabulary on this side.”
Luis tossed a wrench he’d been holding into a toolbox like
vintage (vinʼ tij) adj. old but still
he was annoyed, just to make a point about slave labor. Then he
appealing or valuable
followed his father, who knelt on the gravel and began to point
out every detail of the hubcap. Luis was hardly listening. He
Vocabulary Skill watched the girl take a piece of paper from her handbag.
Denotation and Connotation
“Señor Cintrón, I have drawn the hubcap for you, since I will
Circle the words that you associate have to leave soon. My home address and telephone number are
with vintage. Then discuss with a here, and also my parents’ office number.” She handed the paper
partner what the girl’s car suggests to Mr. Cintrón, who nodded.
about her. “Sí, señorita, very good. This will help my son look for it.
run-down shiny unreliable Perhaps there is one in that stack there.” He pointed to the pile
like-new classy high quality
4. Cementerio (se men tāʼ rē ō) is Spanish for “cemetery.”
56
Catch the Moon
of caps that Luis was supposed to wash and polish. “Yes, I’m
almost certain that there is a match there. Of course, I do not
know if it’s near the top or the bottom. You will give us a few
days, yes?”
Luis just stared at his father like he was crazy. But he didn’t Literary Element
say anything because the girl was smiling at him with a funny Point of View The narrator
expression on her face. Maybe she thought he had X-ray eyes describes only what Luis sees and
like Superman, or maybe she was mocking him. feels. What might be the reason
“Please call me Naomi, Señor Cintrón. You know my mother. for the girl’s “funny expression”?
She is the director of the funeral home. . . .” Mr. Cintrón seemed Underline any reasons that apply.
surprised at first; he prided himself on having a great memory. a. She likes Luis.
Then his friendly expression changed to one of sadness as he b. She is mocking Luis.
recalled the day of his wife’s burial. Naomi did not finish her
sentence. She reached over and placed her hand on Mr. Cintrón’s c. She thinks he looks foolish.
arm for a moment. Then she said “Adiós” softly, and got in her d. She is amused by Luis’s reaction
shiny white car. She waved to them as she left, and her gold to her.
bracelets flashing in the sun nearly blinded Luis.
Mr. Cintrón shook his head. “How about that,” he said as if
to himself. “They are the Dominican owners of Ramirez Funeral
Home.” And, with a sigh, “She seems like such a nice young Reading Strategy
woman. Reminds me of your mother when she was her age.”
Interpret Imagery Underline the
words in the story on page 56 that
help you picture the girl. How does
the comparison with a ballerina
help you imagine her?
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK _______________________________
Predict
Do you think Luis will find the hubcap that Naomi wants? Explain
your answer on the lines below. Support your answer with
information from the story.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Catch the Moon 57

Catch the Moon
Hearing the funeral parlor’s name, Luis remembered too.

The day his mother died, he had been in her room at the hospital
Literary Element
while his father had gone for coffee. The alarm had gone off
Point of View The narrator on her monitor and nurses had come running in, pushing him
describes Luis’s memories of his outside. After that, all he recalled was the anger that had made
mother’s death and funeral. Name him punch a hole in his bedroom wall. And afterward he had
one detail that Luis might have left
refused to talk to anyone at the funeral. Strange, he did see a
out if he was telling his own story.
black girl there who didn’t try like the others to talk to him,
but actually ignored him as she escorted family members to
_______________________________
the viewing room and brought flowers in. Could it be that the
_______________________________
skinny girl in a frilly white dress had been Naomi? She didn’t
act like she had recognized him today, though. Or maybe she
_______________________________ thought that he was a jerk.
Luis grabbed the drawing from his father. The old man
_______________________________ looked like he wanted to walk down memory lane. But Luis was
in no mood to listen to the old stories about his falling in love on
_______________________________
a tropical island. The world they’d lived in before he was born
_______________________________ wasn’t his world. No beaches and palm trees here. Only junk
as far as he could see. He climbed back up his hill and studied
_______________________________ Naomi’s sketch. It had obviously been done very carefully. It
was signed “Naomi Ramirez” in the lower right-hand corner. He
_______________________________
memorized the telephone number.
Luis washed hubcaps all day until his hands were red
and raw, but he did not come across the small silver bowl that
would fit the VW. After work he took a few practice Frisbee
shots across the yard before showing his rows and rows of shiny
rings drying in the sun. His father nodded and showed him
the bump on his temple where one of Luis’s flying saucers had
Vocabulary gotten him. “Practice makes perfect, you know. Next time you’ll
decapitate (di kapʼ ə tātʼ) v. to cut probably decapitate me.” Luis heard him struggle with the word
off the head decapitate, which Mr. Cintrón pronounced in syllables. Showing
off his big vocabulary again, Luis thought. He looked closely at
the bump, though. He felt bad about it.
“They look good, hijo.”5 Mr. Cintrón made a sweeping
gesture with his arms over the yard. “You know, all this will
Read and Discuss have to be classified. My dream is to have all the parts divided
by year, make of car, and condition. Maybe now that you are
Read Mr. Cintrón’s words aloud here to help me, this will happen.”
with a partner. Do you think the
father’s dream will come true?
Discuss this question with your
partner.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
5. Hijo (ēʼ hō) is Spanish for “son.”
58
Catch the Moon
“Pop . . .” Luis put his hand on his father’s shoulder.

They were the same height and build, about five foot six and
muscular. “The judge said six months of free labor for you, not
life, okay?” Mr. Cintrón nodded, looking distracted. It was then
that Luis suddenly noticed how gray his hair had turned—it
used to be shiny black like his own—and that there were deep
lines in his face. His father had turned into an old man and he
hadn’t even noticed.
Literary Element
“Son, you must follow the judge’s instructions. Like she
said, next time you get in trouble, she’s going to treat you like Point of View Through the
an adult, and I think you know what that means. Hard time, narrator, you learn that Luis feels
no breaks.” he is “always doing something
wrong.” What does this tell you
“Yeah, yeah. That’s what I’m doing, right? Working my
about him?
hands to the bone instead of enjoying my summer. But listen,
she didn’t put me under house arrest, right? I’m going out
_______________________________
tonight.”
“Home by ten. She did say something about a curfew, Luis.” _______________________________
Mr. Cintrón had stopped smiling and was looking upset. It had
always been hard for them to talk more than a minute or two _______________________________
before his father got offended at something Luis said, or at his
sarcastic tone. He was always doing something wrong. _______________________________
Luis threw the rag down on the table and went to sit in his
_______________________________
father’s ancient Buick, which was in mint condition. They drove
home in silence. _______________________________
After sitting down at the kitchen table with his father to
eat a pizza they had picked up on the way home, Luis asked to _______________________________
borrow the car. He didn’t get an answer then, just a look that
meant “Don’t bother me right now.”
Before bringing up the subject again, Luis put some ice cubes
in a Baggie and handed it to Mr. Cintrón, who had made the
little bump on his head worse by rubbing it. It had guilty written Reading Strategy
on it, Luis thought. Interpret Imagery What does the
“Gracias, hijo.” His father placed the bag on the bump and image of a bump displaying the
made a face as the ice touched his skin. word GUILTY suggest about Luis?
They ate in silence for a few minutes more; then Luis Circle any answers that apply.
decided to ask about the car again. Luis is sorry for hurting his father.
“I really need some fresh air, Pop. Can I borrow the car for a
Luis is clever and persuasive.
couple of hours?”
“You don’t get enough fresh air at the yard? We’re lucky Luis is beginning to understand
that his actions have
that we don’t have to sit in a smelly old factory all day. You
consequences.
know that?”
Catch the Moon 59

Catch the Moon
“Yeah, Pop. We’re real lucky.” Luis always felt irritated that
his father was so grateful to own a junkyard, but he held his
Vocabulary
anger back and just waited to see if he’d get the keys without
relic (relʼ ik) n. an object that having to get in an argument.
has been around for a very long “Where are you going?”
time and that is valued for its
“For a ride. Not going anywhere. Just out for a while. Is
historic interest
that okay?”
His father didn’t answer, just handed him a set of keys, as
Vocabulary Skill shiny as the day they were manufactured. His father polished
Denotation and Connotation
everything that could be polished: doorknobs, coins, keys,
How does the author’s use of the spoons, knives, and forks, like he was King Midas counting his
word relics connote, or suggest, silver and gold. Luis thought his father must be really lonely to
how Mr. Cintrón feels toward polish utensils only he used anymore. They had been picked out
his wife? by his wife, though, so they were like relics. Nothing she had
ever owned could be thrown away. Only now
______________________________
the dishes, forks, and spoons were not used
______________________________ to eat the yellow rice and red beans, the fried
chicken, or the mouth-watering sweet plantains
______________________________ that his mother had cooked for them. They
were just kept in the cabinets that his father plantain
______________________________
had turned into a museum for her. Mr. Cintrón
______________________________
could cook as well as his wife, but he didn’t
have the heart to do it anymore. Luis thought that maybe if they
ate together once in a while things might get better between
them, but he always had something to do around dinnertime
and ended up at a hamburger joint. Tonight was the first time in
Literary Element months they had sat down at the table together.
Luis took the keys. “Thanks,” he said, walking out to take
Point of View What does the
narrator’s account of Luis’s his shower. His father kept looking at him with those sad,
thoughts hint will happen? Share patient eyes. “Okay. I’ll be back by ten, and keep the ice on that
your ideas with a partner. egg,” Luis said without looking back.
He had just meant to ride around his old barrio, see if any
_______________________________ of the Tiburones were hanging out at El Building, where most
of them lived. It wasn’t far from the single-family home his
_______________________________ father had bought when the business started paying off: a house
that his mother lived in for three months before she took up
_______________________________
residence at St. Joseph’s Hospital. She never came home again.
_______________________________ These days Luis wished he still lived in that tiny apartment
where there was always something to do, somebody to talk to.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
60
Catch the Moon
Instead Luis found himself parked in front of the last place

his mother had gone to: Ramirez Funeral Home. In the front
yard was a huge oak tree that Luis remembered having climbed
during the funeral to get away from people. The tree looked
different now, not like a skeleton, as it had then, but green with
leaves. The branches reached to the second floor of the house,
where the family lived.
For a while Luis sat in the car allowing the memories to
flood back into his brain. He remembered his mother before the
illness changed her. She had not been beautiful, as his father told
everyone; she had been a sweet lady, not pretty but not ugly. To
him, she had been the person who always told him that she was
proud of him and loved him. She did that every night when she
came to his bedroom door to say good-night. As a joke he would
sometimes ask her, “Proud of what? I haven’t done anything.”
And she’d always say, “I’m just proud that you are my son.” She
wasn’t perfect or anything. She had bad days when nothing he
did could make her smile, especially after she got sick. But he
never heard her say anything negative about anyone. She always
blamed el destino, fate, for what went wrong. He missed her. Reading Strategy
He missed her so much. Suddenly a flood of tears that had been
Interpret Imagery What does the
building up for almost three years started pouring from his eyes. image of a “flood of tears” suggest
Luis sat in his father’s car, with his head on the steering wheel, about Luis’s changing feelings?
and cried, “Mami, I miss you.” Write your answer below.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK _______________________________
Clarify _______________________________
On the lines below, explain the change that has taken place
_______________________________
within Luis as he sits in the car.
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Catch the Moon 61

Catch the Moon
Literary Element When he finally looked up, he saw that he was being
watched. Sitting at a large window with a pad and a pencil on
Point of View The narrator her lap was Naomi. At first Luis felt angry and embarrassed, but
reports Luis’s thoughts as he looks
she wasn’t laughing at him. Then she told him with her dark
at Naomi’s window. Complete
the sentence frames below to eyes that it was okay to come closer. He walked to the window,
explain the significance of his and she held up the sketch pad on which she had drawn him,
observations. not crying like a baby, but sitting on top of a mountain of silver
Luis refers to Naomi as “the disks, holding one up over his head. He had to smile.
princess” because The plate-glass window was locked. It had a security bolt
on it. An alarm system, he figured, so nobody would steal the
_______________________________ princess. He asked her if he could come in. It was soundproof
too. He mouthed the words slowly for her to read his lips. She
_______________________________ wrote on the pad, “I can’t let you in. My mother is not home
tonight.” So they looked at each other and talked through the
_______________________________ window for a little while. Then Luis got an idea. He signed to
her that he’d be back, and drove to the junkyard.
_______________________________
Luis climbed up on his mountain of hubcaps. For hours he
_______________________________ sorted the wheel covers by make, size, and condition, stopping
only to call his father and tell him where he was and what he
_______________________________ was doing. The old man did not ask him for explanations, and
Luis was grateful for that. By lamppost light, Luis worked
_______________________________
and worked, beginning to understand a little why his father
_______________________________ kept busy all the time. Doing something that had a beginning,
a middle, and an end did something to your head. It was like
the satisfaction Luis got out of planning “adventures” for his
Tiburones, but there was another element involved here that had
nothing to do with showing off for others. This was a treasure
Reading Strategy hunt. And he knew what he was looking for.
Finally, when it seemed that it was a hopeless search, when
Interpret Imagery Complete the
it was almost midnight and Luis’s hands were cut and bruised
sentence frame below to explain
how the hubcap is like Cinderella’s from his work, he found it. It was the perfect match for Naomi’s
shoe. drawing, the moon-shaped wheel cover for her car, Cinderella’s
shoe. Luis jumped off the small mound of disks left under him
Just as the prince used a glass shoe
to find the woman he desired, Luis and shouted, “Yes!” He looked around and saw neat stacks of
uses Naomi’s drawing to hubcaps that he would wash the next day. He would build a
display wall for his father. People would be able to come into the
_______________________________ yard and point to whatever they wanted.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
62
Catch the Moon
Luis washed the VW hubcap and polished it until he could

see himself in it. He used it as a mirror as he washed his face and
combed his hair. Then he drove to the Ramirez Funeral Home. It
was almost pitch-black, since it was a moonless night. As quietly
as possible, Luis put some gravel in his pocket and climbed the
oak tree to the second floor. He knew he was in front of Naomi’s
window—he could see her shadow through the curtains. She
was at a table, apparently writing or drawing, maybe waiting
for him. Luis hung the silver disk carefully on a branch near the
window, then threw the gravel at the glass. Naomi ran to the
window and drew the curtains aside while Luis held on to the Literary Element
thick branch and waited to give her the first good thing he had Point of View What do you think
given anyone in a long time. the last sentence in the story
means?
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK _______________________________
Summarize
Describe the change that takes place in Luis as a result of the
events in the story.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Catch the Moon 63

Catch the MOON
After You Read

Look back at your responses to the questions on page 52. Consider what Luis
learns about himself as he searches for his gift to Naomi, and what Naomi and
Mr. Cintrón offer Luis. On the lines below, explain how Luis’s experiences have
influenced your ideas about giving to others.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Point of View

The point of view an author chooses can influence your reaction to the characters.
Why might Cofer have chosen to tell this story from third-person limited point of
view? Underline all that apply.
So the narrator could reveal information none of the characters know.
So the narrator could reveal the main character’s inner thoughts and feelings
honestly and objectively.
So the narrator could focus on the growth or change in one character.
So readers will connect with or put themselves in the place of the narrator.

Authors use imagery to add meaning to a story and to help readers understand
characters’ feelings. Imagery can also reveal how the author feels about a situation
or character. Consider the title of the story. What image did “Catch the Moon”
create for you before you read the story? How has your understanding of the title
changed? Explain your answer, using the chart below.
Before Reading After Reading
“Catch
the Moon”
64
Catch the MOON
After You Read
Vocabulary
harass makeshift vintage decapitate relic
A. Word Meaning Read each sentence. Write the missing word in the
corresponding space in the crossword puzzle.
Across
1. The boys did not have a tent, so they created a ________________ one
from old blankets.
2. Reveal the secret, or I will ________________ you until you tell it to me.
3. Sarah treated her great-grandmother’s diary like a valuable ____________.
Down
4. My little brother uses his toy sword to ________________ the snowmen in our yard.
5. At the antique shop, Maria found a lovely, ________________ dress for the dance.
4. 5.
1.
2.
3.
B. Denotation and Connotation Reread in the story the sentence that contains
each word below. Write the connotative meanings the word has for you.
1. harassing
Connotations: ______________________________________________________________________________
2. makeshift
Connotations: ______________________________________________________________________________
3. vintage
Connotations: ______________________________________________________________________________
4. decapitate
Connotations: ______________________________________________________________________________
Catch the Moon 65

Catch the MOON
After You Read
Three-Column Chart
In “Catch the Moon, ” the narrator reveals a great deal of information about Luis,
but not as much about the other characters. How would “Catch the Moon” be
different if one of the characters told the story from his or her point of view? What
would Luis share about his thoughts and feelings? What would you learn from Mr.
Cintrón? What would Naomi say in her version of the story? A three-column chart
can help you organize and compare this type of information.
Reread the scene in which Luis, Mr. Cintrón, and Naomi meet in the junkyard.
Then use the chart below to record what each character might reveal if he or she
were telling the story. Remember to use the words I, me, my, we, or us when you
refer to the character in the first person.
Details that Luis Reveals Details that Mr. Cintrón Reveals Details that Naomi Reveals
66
Learning Objectives
For pages 67–76

objectives:
memoir.
Reading: Drawing
conclusions about author’s
beliefs.
Living Well. Living Good. by Maya Angelou
Living Well. Living Good. 67

Before You Read
Living Well. Living Good.

Connect to the Essay
Some people believe that the more money and possessions they have, the happier
they will be. Other people believe that all the money in the world can’t buy happiness
or love. Think about what makes people happy. Then answer the following questions.
Write your answers on the lines below.
1. I am happiest when I am ________________________________________________________________________
2. I think the key to happiness is ____________________________________________________________________
3. Money is ________________ important to me because _______________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Build Background
• Maya Angelou spent much of her childhood being raised by her grandmother in
Stamps, Arkansas. She overcame a difficult early life to become one of the most
influential African American women of her time.
• Angelou traveled the world, working as an actress, singer, dancer, journalist, and
lecturer. When she returned to the United States, she decided to write about her
family and growing up in the South.
• African Americans have many traditions that were brought to the United States by
enslaved African peoples. One tradition, sometimes called “soul food,” combines
African and European cooking methods. In this excerpt, Angelou’s aunt cooks a
meal of pigs’ feet, greens, and fried chicken, all of which would be considered
“soul food.”
Summarize what you just read about Angelou and her life in the South. Write your
answer on the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Read to learn the conclusions the author draws about what is most important in life.
68
Literary Element Memoir
A memoir is a type of narrative nonfiction that describes an event or memory from
the author’s life. A memoir is usually written in the first person (using I, my, and me)
and shares a specific personal experience. Some writers also reveal why that event
or memory was important to them and how it affected them. If you were writing a
memoir, what facts, details, and memories would you include? On a separate sheet of
paper, make a list of events in your life. For each item, note why you would include it
or how it affected you.
Reading Strategy Draw Conclusions About Author’s Beliefs

Most authors don’t directly state their beliefs. Instead, they give you clues about them.
Finding these clues and using them to draw conclusions about the author’s
beliefs will help you understand the text. As you read, pay attention to the details
that help you draw conclusions about what Angelou believes. Use the chart below to
track the details and your conclusions.
Details from “Living Well. Living Good.” My Conclusions

• Angelou writes about her Aunt Tee. • Family is important to Angelou.
Vocabulary Analogies
An analogy shows a relationship between two things. The
Vocabulary
type of analogy you might see on a test compares two sets of
relationships. You will be given a pair of words that are related in meticulous (mi tikˊ yə ləs) adj. very concerned
some way. You have to figure out the relationship, and then choose about details
the pair of words that has a similar relationship. For example: commodious (kə mōˊ dē əs) adj. having or
containing a lot of space; spacious
loud : quiet :: happy : sad
convivial (kən vivˊ ē əl) adj. fond of parties with
good company; sociable
Read this example as “Loud is to quiet as happy is to sad.” In this
example, the words in each pair are antonyms (opposites). Now scenario (si nārʼ ē ōˊ) n. an outline or model of a
look at this analogy: series of events
inhibit (in hibʼ it) v. to hold back one’s natural

car : drive :: fork : eat impulses; restrain
What is the relationship between the words in the analogy? Circle

your answer.
Part to whole
Object to use
Synonyms

Aunt Tee was a Los Angeles member of our extended
Literary Element family.1 She was seventy-nine when I met her, sinewy,2 strong,
Memoir Angelou begins her and the color of old lemons. She wore her coarse, straight hair,
memoir with the first time she met which was slightly streaked with gray, in a long braided rope
her aunt. Then she gives a detailed across the top of her head. With her high cheekbones, old gold
description of her aunt. Complete skin, and almond eyes, she looked more like an Indian chief
the sentence:
than an old black woman. (Aunt Tee described herself and any
Angelou describes her aunt favored member of her race as Negroes. Black was saved for
because it helps the reader those who had incurred her disapproval.)
She had retired and lived alone in a dead, neat ground-floor
_______________________________ apartment. Wax flowers and china figurines sat on elaborately
embroidered and heavily starched doilies. Sofas and chairs
_______________________________
were tautly upholstered. The only thing at ease in Aunt Tee’s
_______________________________
apartment was Aunt Tee.
I used to visit her often and perch on her uncomfortable
_______________________________ sofa just to hear her stories. She was proud that after working
thirty years as a maid, she spent the next thirty years as a live-
_______________________________ in housekeeper, carrying the keys to rich houses and keeping
meticulous accounts.
_______________________________
“Living in lets the white folks know Negroes are as neat and
clean as they are, sometimes more so. And it gives the Negro
maid a chance to see white folks ain’t no smarter than Negroes.
Just luckier. Sometimes.”
Literary Element
Memoir Underline the word in the
highlighted passage that gives you
a clue that this work of literature is
a memoir.
Vocabulary
meticulous (mi tikˊ yə ləs) adj.
characterized by great or
excessive concern about detail
1. Parents and their children make up what is called the nuclear family. One’s
extended family includes other relatives who are related by blood or marriage,
such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
2. Here, sinewy (sinʼ Ū ē) could mean “physically powerful” or “energetically healthy.”
70
Aunt Tee told me that once she was housekeeper for a

couple in Bel Air,3 California, lived with them in a fourteen-
room ranch house. There was a day maid who cleaned, and a
gardener who daily tended the lush gardens. Aunt Tee oversaw
the workers. When she had begun the job, she had cooked and
served a light breakfast, a good lunch, and a full three- or four-
course dinner to her employers and their guests. Aunt Tee said
she watched them grow older and leaner. After a few years they
stopped entertaining and ate dinner hardly seeing each other
at the table. Finally, they sat in a dry silence as they ate evening
Vocabulary
meals of soft scrambled eggs, melba toast, and weak tea. Aunt
Tee said she saw them growing old but didn’t see herself aging commodious (kə mōˊ dē əs) adj.
having or containing ample
at all.
room; spacious
She became the social maven.4 She started “keeping
company” (her phrase) with a chauffeur down the street. Her
best friend and her friend’s husband worked in service5 only a
few blocks away.
On Saturdays Aunt Tee would cook a pot of pigs’ feet, a pot Read and Discuss
of greens, fry chicken, make potato salad, and bake a banana
pudding. Then, that evening, her friends—the chauffeur, the Read the description of
other housekeeper, and her husband—would come to Aunt Saturday nights at Aunt Tee’s
living quarters. As you read,
Tee’s commodious live-in quarters. There the four would eat
underline details that describe
and drink, play records and dance. As the evening wore on, they what Aunt Tee and her friends
would settle down to a serious game of bid whist.6 did. Then discuss with a partner
Naturally, during this revelry jokes were told, fingers what these details reveal about
snapped, feet were patted, and there was a great deal of laughter. Aunt Tee and her friends. What
Aunt Tee said that what occurred during every Saturday do you think they were like? Do
you think it would have been
party startled her and her friends the first time it happened.They
fun to be at these parties?
had been playing cards, and Aunt Tee, who had just won the
bid, held a handful of trumps. She felt a cool breeze on her back
____________________________
and sat upright and turned around. Her employers had cracked
her door open and beckoned to her. Aunt Tee, a little peeved, ____________________________
laid down her cards and went to the door. The couple backed
away and asked her to come into the hall, and there they both ____________________________
spoke and won Aunt Tee’s sympathy forever.
“Theresa, we don’t mean to disturb you . . .” the man ____________________________
whispered, “but you all seem to be having such a good time . . .”
____________________________
____________________________
3. Bel Air is one of the wealthiest, most fashionable communities in Los Angeles.
4. A maven is one who has special knowledge or experience and is an expert in a
given field.
5. Aunt Tee’s two friends in service are servants in another household.
6. Bid whist is a card game, somewhat like bridge, for two players or two teams of
two players each.

Reading Strategy The woman added, “We hear you and your friends laughing
every Saturday night, and we’d just like to watch you. We don’t
Draw Conclusions About
Author’s Beliefs How do you
want to bother you. We’ll be quiet and just watch.”
think Angelou feels about money? The man said, “If you’ll just leave your door ajar, your
Do you think she believes that friends don’t need to know. We’ll never make a sound.” Aunt
things make people happy? Write Tee said she saw no harm in agreeing, and she talked it over
your answers on the lines below. with her company. They said it was OK with them, but it
was sad that the employers owned the gracious house, the
_______________________________ swimming pool, three cars, and numberless palm trees, but had
no joy. Aunt Tee told me that laughter and relaxation had left the
_______________________________
house; she agreed it was sad.
_______________________________
That story has stayed with me for nearly thirty years, and
when a tale remains fresh in my mind, it almost always contains
_______________________________ a lesson which will benefit me.
My dears, I draw the picture of the wealthy couple standing
_______________________________ in a darkened hallway, peering into a lighted room where black
servants were lifting their voices in merriment and comradery,
_______________________________
and I realize that living well is an art which can be developed.
_______________________________ Of course, you will need the basic talents to build upon: They
are a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small
offerings, an assurance that the world owes you nothing and
that every gift is exactly that, a gift. That people who may
differ from you in political stance, sexual persuasion, and racial
Literary Element inheritance can be founts of fun, and if you are lucky, they can
Memoir Why does Angelou share become even convivial comrades.
this story with the reader? Why Living life as art requires a readiness to forgive. I do not
has she remembered it for so mean that you should suffer fools gladly, but rather remember
long? Circle the reason you think your own shortcomings, and when you encounter another with
Angelou included this story in her
flaws, don’t be eager to righteously seal yourself away from
memoir.
the offender forever. Take a few breaths and imagine yourself
It probably affected the way she having just committed the action which has set you at odds.
looked at life and tried to live her
own life.
It probably made her feel sorry

for the employers and other rich
people.
It probably made her want to be a

live-in housekeeper.
Vocabulary
convivial (kən vivˊ ē əl) adj. fond
of merriment and parties with
good company; sociable
72
Because of the routines we follow, we often forget that Vocabulary

life is an ongoing adventure. We leave our homes for work,
scenarios (si nārʼ ē ōˊ) n. an
acting and even believing that we will reach our destinations outline or model of an expected
with no unusual event startling us out of our set expectations. or imagined series of events
The truth is we know nothing, not where our cars will fail or
when our buses will stall, whether our places of employment
will be there when we arrive, or whether, in fact, we ourselves
will arrive whole and alive at the end of our journeys. Life is Reading Strategy
pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker
we will be able to treat life as art: to bring all our energies to
Author’s Beliefs Reread the last
each encounter, to remain flexible enough to notice and admit three paragraphs of the memoir.
when what we expected to happen did not happen. We need What do you think Angelou
to remember that we are created creative and can invent new believes about living and life?
scenarios as frequently as they are needed. Check all that apply.
Life seems to love the liver of it. Money and power can ■ Money and power will always
make you happy.
liberate only if they are used to do so. They can imprison and
■ You can have fun even if you
inhibit more finally than barred windows and iron chains. don’t have a lot of money.
■ You need to take pleasure in
small things.
■ You need to be able to forgive
and accept other people who
may be different.
■ You should always follow a
routine.
Vocabulary
inhibit (in hibʼ it) v. to hold back
one’s natural impulses; restrain
READING CHECK
Clarify
Why do you think Aunt Tee and her friends agree to let her
employers watch them every Saturday night? How do they feel
about her employers?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

After You Read
Look back at the answers you wrote on page 68. Did reading this memoir change
your attitude about happiness or about money? Would you change any of your
answers? Why or why not?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Memoir

Now that you have read this example of memoir, what do you think a good
memoir should include or be about? Complete the sentence.
A good memoir should be __________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Look back at the list of memories and events you were asked to make on page 69.
Which memory do you think would make the best memoir? Why?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
How do you think your memoir would compare to Angelou’s memoir?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Draw Conclusions About Author’s Beliefs

Look back over the Reading Strategy chart you made on page 69. Then use the
sentence frames below to summarize your conclusions about the memoir.
The description of how the meals Aunt Tee cooked for her employers changed
over the years shows that Angelou believes
________________________________________________________________________________________________ .
The comparison between the meals Aunt Tee makes for her employers and the
ones she makes for her friends shows that Angelou believes
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________ .
74
After You Read
Vocabulary
A. Word Meaning Think about the meaning of the boldface word as you read
the sentence. Does the vocabulary word make sense in the context of the
sentence? If it does, circle “true.” If not, circle “false.”
1. The meticulous housekeeper left piles of magazines and papers
everywhere.
true false
2. My sister moved out of our parents’ commodious house because there

wasn’t enough room for four people to live there.
true false
3. Our convivial grandfather prefers eating out with friends to eating at home alone.
true false
4. Becky gave a detailed scenario of everything that could possibly go wrong

with our plan.
true false
5. My parents always encourage us because they don’t want to inhibit us

from following our dreams.
true false
B. Analogies For each item below, decide what the relationship is between the
first pair of words. Then apply that relationship to complete the second pair
of words. Finally, explain how the two pairs are related. In each expression, “:”
means “is to” and “::” means “as.”
1. meticulous : perfectionist :: irritable : ________________
a happy c anger
b loveable d grouch
Relationship: _____________________________________________________________________________
2. commodious : cramped :: careful : ________________

a precise c sloppy
b caring d gigantic
Relationship: _____________________________________________________________________________
3. convivial : socialite :: victorious : ________________

a winner c loser
b careless d spacious
Relationship: _____________________________________________________________________________

After You Read
Main Idea and Details
Reread the last three paragraphs of the memoir. Here Angelou explains the
lessons she learned from Aunt Tee’s experience with her employers. For each
paragraph, circle the main idea. Then find at least three details that support that
main idea. In your own words, write the main ideas and details in the chart below.
Main Idea: Main Idea:
Detail: Detail:
Detail: Detail:
Detail: Detail:
Main Idea:
Detail:
Detail:
Detail:
76
Learning Objectives
For pages 77–88,

306–307
objectives:
structure.
Reading: Drawing
conclusions about meaning.
The Tucson Zoo by Lewis Thomas
The Tucson Zoo 77

Before You Read
The Tucson Zoo

“The Tucson Zoo” includes an author’s observations and reflections upon visiting a
zoo, where he finds himself having a strong reaction to some of the animals. Is there
any particular animal to which you have a strong reaction? Where have you seen this
animal? How does this animal make you feel? Fill in the sentence frame below to
make a statement about your reaction to this animal.
When I see a/an __________________________________________ at ________________________________________ ,
I feel _______________________________________________________________________________________________.
Build Background
Lewis Thomas was a renowned physician and research biologist who taught at some
of the top medical schools in the United States. In his essay, “The Tucson Zoo,”
Thomas uses many technical terms to discuss the human organism and the workings
of the brain’s two hemispheres.
• A brain’s cerebral cortex deals with the higher brain functions. It is composed of
two parts: the left and right hemispheres.
• The left hemisphere is in charge of analytical thinking and facts. It is responsible
for recognizing parts of a whole.
• The right hemisphere is the creative side and deals with emotions and feelings. It
distinguishes the whole of something from its parts.
• The corpus callosum, the nerve tissue that allows the left side and right sides of
the brain to communicate.
Now, write down a fact you would like to learn about the brain in the space provided. ____________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

As you read, think about how Thomas explores his encounter with the animals at the
Tucson Zoo, and how he interprets this encounter as a journey of human discovery.
78
Literary Element Structure
The order or pattern a writer uses to present ideas is referred to as structure.
Narratives usually follow a chronological order, but the structure of persuasive or
expository writing may vary. Work with a partner to list some other ways writers can
structure a text.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Draw Conclusions About Meaning

Writers often tell you more than they say directly in their writing. When you draw
conclusions, you use various pieces of information to make a broad statement
about what the writer is telling you, using hints or clues in the text. This can help you
read “between the lines.” Use the chart below to list some of the conclusions you
draw in your everyday life. Write a brief description of the hints or clues that helped
you come to the conclusion.
Clues Conclusions
Note Taking
This selection will guide you to take notes, which will help you understand and
remember what you read. Taking notes while you read will help you perform better
on tests and use the knowledge you have gained in other settings as well. You will
use the following skills in taking notes during this selection.
Skill Description
Reread Look back over the page you have read.
Record Write down your answers to the questions you are given.
Recap Briefly review in your own words.
Summarize Briefly state the main points.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
elation (i lāʼ shən) n. a feeling of joy and pride;
Antonyms Many words in English have opposites. For example, ecstasy
look at the words tall and short. These words are known as
antonyms and have the exact opposite or nearly opposite intact (in tāktʼ) adj. undamaged in any way;
meaning. Antonyms are always the same part of speech. For whole; having all parts
example, the words hyper and calm are antonyms and are
exultation (egʼ zul tāʼ shən) n. a feeling of extreme
both adjectives. Which of the following words is an antonym for happiness
pleased? Underline your answer.
debasement (di bāsʼ mənt) n. the state of being
unhappy lowered in quality, character, or value
attribute (atʼ rə būt) n. a quality or characteristic

content of a person or object
The Tucson Zoo 79

The Tucson Zoo
Science gets most of its information by the process of
Read and Discuss
reductionism,1 exploring the details, then the details of the
details, until all the smallest bits of the structure, or the smallest
Reread the first paragraph in
small groups. Discuss with a parts of the mechanism, are laid out for counting and scrutiny.
partner why people would be Only when this is done can the investigation be extended to
worried about science’s use of encompass the whole organism or the entire system. So we say.
reductionism. Try to think of Sometimes it seems that we take a loss, working this
real world examples. way. Much of today’s public anxiety about science is the
apprehension that we may forever be overlooking the whole
by an endless, obsessive preoccupation with the parts. I had a
brief, personal experience of this misgiving one afternoon in
Tucson, where I had time on my hands and visited the zoo, just
outside the city. The designers there have cut a deep pathway
between two small artificial ponds, walled by clear glass, so
when you stand in the center of the path you can look into the
depths of each pool, and at the same time you can regard the
surface. In one pool, on the right side of the path, is a family of
otters; on the other side, a family of beavers. Within just a few
feet from your face, on either side, beavers and otters are at play,
underwater and on the surface, swimming toward your face and
then away, more filled with life than any creatures I have ever
seen before, in all my days. Except for the glass, you could reach
across and touch them.
1. Reductionism is a method of explaining complex processes or structures by

reducing them to more basic principles or units.
80
The Tucson Zoo
Note Taking
1. The most interesting word on this page is _______________ because ________________________________ .
2. One word that I didn’t know on this page is __________________. It means __________________________ .
3. One thing that I read on this page that I already knew was ________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
4. One thing I learned on this page that I didn’t know is _____________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
5. Recap, or write in your own words Thomas’s experience upon entering the pathway between the artificial
ponds created for otters and beavers. ___________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Summarize the process by which science gets most of its information. ______________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Most Interesting Word Most Difficult Word One Thing I Already Knew One Thing I Learned
The Tucson Zoo 81

The Tucson Zoo
Vocabulary I was transfixed. As I now recall it, there was only one
sensation in my head: pure elation mixed with amazement at
elation (i lāʼ shən) n. a feeling of
joy and pride; ecstasy
such perfection. Swept off my feet, I floated from one side to the
other, swiveling my brain, staring astounded at the beavers, then
at the otters. I could hear shouts across my corpus callosum,
Vocabulary Skill from one hemisphere to the other. I remember thinking, with
Antonyms Thomas uses the what was left in charge of my consciousness, that I wanted no
word elation to describe his initial part of the science of beavers and otters; I wanted never to know
emotion as he walked along the how they performed their marvels; I wished for no news about
path at the Tucson Zoo. Check
the physiology2 of their breathing, the coordination of their
all the words below that are
antonyms of elation.
muscles, their vision, their endocrine systems,3 their digestive
■ despair tracts. I hoped never to have to think of them as collections of
■ happiness cells. All I asked for was the full hairy complexity, then in front
■ unhappiness of my eyes, of whole, intact beavers and otters in motion.
■ misery It lasted, I regret to say, for only a few minutes, and then I was
■ contentment back in the late twentieth century, reductionist as ever, wondering
about the details by force of habit, but not, this time, the details of
otters and beavers. Instead, me. Something worth remembering
Vocabulary had happened in my mind, I was certain of that; I would have
intact (in tāktʼ) adj. undamaged put it somewhere in the brain stem; maybe this was my limbic
in any way; whole; having all system4 at work. I became a behavioral scientist, an experimental
parts
psychologist, an ethologist,5 and in the instant I lost all the
wonder and the sense of being overwhelmed. I was flattened.
But I came away from the zoo with something, a piece of
Reading Strategy news about myself: I am coded, somehow, for otters and beavers.
I exhibit instinctive behavior in their presence, when they are
Draw Conclusions About displayed close at hand behind glass, simultaneously below water
Meaning What does Thomas
and at the surface. I have receptors6 for this display. Beavers and
come to realize about himself after
watching the beavers and otters? otters possess a “releaser” for me, in the terminology of ethology,
and the releasing was my experience. What was released?
a. He doesn’t like being around
Behavior. What behavior? Standing, swiveling flabbergasted,
the beavers and otters.
feeling exultation and a rush of friendship. I could not, as the
b. He likes being by himself unlike result of the transaction, tell you anything more about beavers and
the beavers and otters.
otters than you already know. I learned nothing new about them.
c. He has an emotional connection
to the beavers and otters.
d. He enjoys living carefree like the

beavers and otters.
Underline the text that helped you 2. Physiology is the branch of biology that studies the functions of living organisms
draw this conclusion. and their parts.
3. The endocrine system consists of glands that secrete hormones into the
bloodstream, affecting such bodily processes such as growth and sexual
Vocabulary development.
exultation (egʼ zul tāʼ shən) n. a 4. The limbic system is a region of the brain that is involved in the control of
feeling of extreme happiness emotions and some types of behavior.
5. Ethology (eth olʼ ə jē) is the study of animal behavior, including instinctive, or
inherited, behavior.
6. Receptor refers to a sensory nerve cell that responds to a stimulus in the
environment and sends a message to the brain.
82
The Tucson Zoo
Note Taking
1. How does Thomas apply science’s use of reductionism to seeing beavers and otters at the zoo?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Why does Thomas lose the wonder and sense of being overwhelmed? _____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What behaviors does Thomas discover he is coded with? __________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Use the chart to summarize Thomas’s view of some of the key problems with reductionism.
Argument Your Evaluation
The Tucson Zoo 83

The Tucson Zoo
Only about me, and I suspect also about you, maybe about
Read and Discuss
human beings at large: we are endowed with genes which code
Reread the first paragraph.
out our reaction to beavers and otters, maybe our reaction to
Discuss with a partner why each other as well. We are stamped with stereotyped, unalterable
Thomas feels that it is human patterns of response, ready to be released. And the behavior
nature to feel affection towards released in us, by such confrontations, is, essentially, a surprised
others and towards animals. affection. It is compulsory behavior and we can avoid it only by
Underline the sentence that
straining with the full power of our conscious minds, making up
sums up his reasoning.
conscious excuses all the way. Left to ourselves, mechanistic and
autonomic,7 we hanker for friends.
Everyone says, stay away from ants. They have no lessons
for us; they are crazy little instruments, inhuman, incapable of
controlling themselves, lacking manners, lacking souls. When
they are massed together, all touching, exchanging bits of
Vocabulary information held in their jaws like memoranda, they become
debasement (di bāsʼ mənt) n. a single animal. Look out for that. It is a debasement, a loss of
the state of being lowered in individuality, a violation of human nature, an unnatural act.
quality, character, or value Sometimes people argue this point of view seriously and
with deep thought. Be individuals, solitary and selfish, is the
Vocabulary Skill message. Altruism,8 a jargon word for what used to be called
love, is worse than weakness, it is sin, a violation of nature. Be
Antonyms Thomas reasons that
altruism is considered a sin by
separate. Do not be a social animal. But this is a hard argument
those who argue for individuality. to make convincingly when you have to depend on language to
If this is the case, what would be make it. You have to print up leaflets or publish books and get
a better way to live? Circle the them bought and sent around, you have to turn up on television
correct answer. and catch the attention of millions of other human beings all
at once, and then you have to say to all of them, all at once, all
charity
collected and paying attention: be solitary; do not depend on
selfishness each other. You can’t do this and keep a straight face.
7. In psychology, compulsory means “arising from an irresistible, illogical urge.” Here,

mechanistic means physically or biologically determined, and autonomic means
involuntary and spontaneous.
8. In ethology, altruism is an animal’s self-sacrificing behavior that benefits another
animal or group of animals. Similarly, in humans, the term means “unselfish concern
for others.”
84
The Tucson Zoo
Note Taking
1. The most important word on this page is ________________ because _______________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. One word that I didn’t know on this page is ________________. It means ____________________________
3. One thing that I read on this page that I already knew ____________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Summarize what you’ve recorded in the chart below:
Most Important Word One Word I Didn’t Know One Thing I Already Knew One Thing I Learned
The Tucson Zoo 85

The Tucson Zoo
Vocabulary Maybe altruism is our most primitive attribute, out of

reach, beyond our control. Or perhaps it is immediately at
attribute (atʼ rə būt) n. a quality
hand, waiting to be released, disguised now, in our kind of
or characteristic of a person or
object
civilization, as affection or friendship or attachment. I don’t see
why it should be unreasonable for all human beings to have
strands of DNA coiled up in chromosomes, coding out instincts
for usefulness and helpfulness. Usefulness may turn out to be
Reading Strategy the hardest test of fitness for survival, more important than
aggression, more effective, in the long run, than grabbiness. If
Meaning What does Thomas think this is the sort of information biological science holds for the
about altruism’s place in “our kind future, applying to us as well as to ants, then I am all for science.
of civilization”? One thing I’d like to know most of all: when those ants have
made the Hill, and are all there, touching and exchanging, and
_______________________________ the whole mass begins to behave like a single huge creature, and
thinks, what on earth is that thought? And while you’re at it, I’d
_______________________________ like to know a second thing: when it happens, does any single
ant know about it? Does his hair stand on end?
How do you think he feels about

modern society? Fill out the
sentence frame below.
Thomas thinks modern society is
_______________________________
Vocabulary
debasement (di bāsʼ mənt) n.
the state of being lowered in
quality, character, or value
READING CHECK
Vocabulary Skill
Summarize
Antonyms Circle the word on this page What is Thomas curious to find out about ants’ interactions?
that is an antonym for rational.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
86
The Tucson Zoo
Note Taking
1. What does Thomas feel may be the most primitive attribute in humans? ____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
2. What, according to Thomas, may be the hardest test of fitness for survival? Why do you think this is?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Recap in your own words what Thomas thinks about human nature. _______________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Summarize Thomas’s thoughts on human nature prompted by his visit to the Tucson Zoo.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The Tucson Zoo 87

After You Read
The Tucson Zoo
After reading the essay, how would you revise the sentence frame you wrote
on page 78? Rewrite the sentence offering new insight into your reaction to the
animal you chose.
When I see a/an _______________________________________ at ________________________________________ ,
I feel ___________________________________________________________________________________________ .
Literary Element Structure

Look back at the list you created before you read “The Tucson Zoo.” What
structural tools from your list does Thomas use in his essay? Does he use
structural tools not covered in your list? Use the chart below to revise your list.
Record the structural tools Thomas used in the essay in the first column. Then
provide examples from the text in the second column.
Structure Examples
Examples that support “I had a brief personal experience of this misgiving one
argument afternoon . . .”

When you draw conclusions about meaning, you make an educated interpretation
about information and ideas presented in a reading. Drawing conclusions will help you
to better understand the theme or message of the author. Consider all the information
presented to you in “The Tucson Zoo.” Then answer the questions below.
1. Why does Thomas feel he had such a strong reaction to seeing the beavers and otters?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What does Thomas think about the fate of humanity? Explain.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
For more practice, see pages 306–307. ➡
88
Learning Objectives
For pages 89–98, 308

objectives:
thesis.
Reading: Analyzing text
structure.
Straw into Gold:

The Metamorphosis of the Everyday
by Sandra Cisneros
Straw into Gold: The Metamorphosis of the Everyday 89

Before You Read
Straw into Gold:
In this essay, Sandra Cisneros writes about how she became a writer. Cisneros feels
the hardships and joys she encountered growing up have made her the writer and
person she is today. Write for a few minutes about how life’s difficulties can help
someone achieve their goals.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Build Background
• Sandra Cisneros is a Mexican American author who was born in Chicago.
• During her childhood, she and her family often traveled to Mexico.
• Each time they returned to the United States, the family would settle in a
new location.
• Moving so often made it difficult for Cisneros to make friends.
• As a result, Cisneros became shy and often felt like an outsider.
Now, without looking at what you have just read, write one or two statements that
explain why Cisneros often writes about the difficulty of being an outsider.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Read to find out how Sandra Cisneros has done things in her life that she never
expected to do.
90
Literary Element Thesis
A thesis is the main idea in a work of nonfiction. In some works, the thesis is
stated directly. In other works, the thesis is suggested through details and examples.
Recognizing the thesis of a nonfiction work helps the reader to understand the
author’s purpose for writing a work. Make a list of three nonfiction works you have
read. Then briefly describe what you think is the thesis of each work.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Analyze Text Structure

Text structure is the order a writer uses to present ideas. A reflective essay is an
example of narrative writing. Some narratives follow a chronological order. However,
the structure of persuasive or expository writing may vary. Below are three major
events. Place them in chronological order by writing which came first, second,
and third.
______________ Graduating from college.
______________ Becoming a college professor.
______________ Winning a science fair in middle school.
Analogies are comparisons that show similarities between two
Vocabulary
things that are otherwise dissimilar. An analogy helps explain
something unfamiliar by comparing to something familiar. intuitively (in tooʼ ə tiv lē) adv. knowing, sensing,
Analogies use : to mean “is to” and :: to mean “as.” For example: or understanding instinctively
taboo (tə booʼ) n. a cultural or social rule that

computer : machine :: dog : animal forbids something
nomadic (nō madʼ ik) adj. moving from place to

This should be read as “computer is to machine as dog is to
place; wandering
animal.” This analogy describes an example and class relationship.
Now look at this analogy: nostalgia (nos talʼ jə) n. a longing for things or
people of the past
swarm : bee :: army : soldier
What is the relationship between the words in this analogy? Circle your answer.
Object/Use
Synonym/Antonym
Part/Whole
91
Straw into Gold:
Reading Strategy When I was living in an artists’ colony in the south of France,
some fellow Latin-Americans who taught at the university in
Analyze Text Structure With the Aix-en-Provence invited me to share a home-cooked meal with
two events listed below, check
them. I had been living abroad almost a year then on an NEA1
which one happened first.
■ Cisneros lived in the south of grant, subsisting mainly on French bread and lentils so that
France. my money could last longer. So when the invitation to dinner
■ Cisneros received an NEA grant. arrived, I accepted without hesitation. Especially since they had
promised Mexican food.
What I didn’t realize when they made this invitation was
Read and Discuss
that I was supposed to be involved in preparing the meal.
Read the highlighted section
I guess they assumed I knew how to cook Mexican food because
out loud with a partner. I am Mexican. They wanted specifically tortillas, though I’d
Underline details that show never made a tortilla in my life.
why the dinner hosts assumed It’s true I had witnessed my mother rolling the little armies
Cisneros could make tortillas. of dough into perfect circles, but my mother’s family is from
Then discuss with your partner
Guanajuato; they are provincianos, country folk. They only know
how you think Cisneros felt
about being in this situation.
how to make flour tortillas. My father’s family, on the other
hand, is chilango2 from Mexico City. We ate corn tortillas but we
____________________________ didn’t make them. Someone was sent to the corner tortilleria to
buy some. I’d never seen anybody make corn tortillas. Ever.
____________________________ Somehow my Latino hosts had gotten a hold of a packet of
corn flour, and this is what they tossed my way with orders to
____________________________
produce tortillas. Así como sea. Any ol’ way, they said and went
back to their cooking.
Vocabulary Why did I feel like the woman in the fairy tale who was
locked in a room and ordered to spin straw into gold? I had
intuitively (in tooʼ ə tiv lē) adv.
knowing, sensing, or the same sick feeling when I was required to write my critical
understanding instinctively essay for the MFA3 exam—the only piece of noncreative writing
necessary in order to get my graduate degree. How was I to
start? There were rules involved here, unlike writing a poem or
Vocabulary Skill story, which I did intuitively. There was a step by step process
Analogy Cisneros makes an needed and I had better know it. I felt as if making tortillas—
analogy between making tortillas or writing a critical paper, for that matter—were tasks so
and writing a critical paper. impossible I wanted to break down into tears.
Complete the following analogy
with the correct word that best
describes Cisneros’s feelings.
making tortillas : difficult :: writing

poetry : ______________
inappropriate hard 1. The NEA, or National Endowment for the Arts, is a public agency that supports
excellence in the arts through funding.
different intuitive
2. Chilango (chē länʼ gō) is a Mexican slang term that means “native to Mexico City.”
3. MFA stands for Master of Fine Art, which is an academic degree.
92
Straw into Gold: The
Metamorphosis of the Everyday
Somehow though, I managed to make tortillas—crooked and Literary Element

burnt, but edible nonetheless. My hosts were absolutely ignorant
when it came to Mexican food; they thought my tortillas were Thesis Remember that a thesis is
the main idea of a work. Underline
delicious. (I’m glad my mama wasn’t there.) Thinking back
the sentence on this page that
and looking at an old photograph documenting the three of clearly states the thesis of this
us consuming those lopsided circles I am amazed. Just as I am work.
amazed I could finish my MFA exam.
What examples does Cisneros give
I’ve managed to do a lot of things in my life I didn’t think to support her thesis?
I was capable of and which many others didn’t think I was
capable of either. Especially because I am a woman, a Latina,
_______________________________
an only daughter in a family of six men. My father would’ve
liked to have seen me married long ago. In our culture men _______________________________
and women don’t leave their father’s house except by way of
marriage. I crossed my father’s threshold with nothing carrying _______________________________
me but my own two feet. A woman whom no one came for and
_______________________________
no one chased away.
To make matters worse, I left before any of my six brothers
had ventured away from home. I broke a terrible taboo.
Somehow, looking back at photos of myself as a child, I wonder
if I was aware of having begun already my own quiet war. Vocabulary
I like to think that somehow my family, my Mexicanness, my
taboo (tə booʼ) n. a cultural
poverty, all had something to do with shaping me into a writer.
or social rule that forbids
I like to think my parents were preparing me all along for my something
life as an artist even though they didn’t know it. From my father
I inherited a love of wandering. He was born in Mexico City
but as a young man he traveled into the U.S. vagabonding. He
eventually was drafted and thus became a citizen. Some of the
stories he has told about his first months in the U.S. with little or
no English surface in my stories in The House on Mango Street as
well as others I have in mind to write in the future. From him I
inherited a sappy heart. (He still cries when he watches Mexican
soaps—especially if they deal with children who have forsaken
their parents.)
My mother was born like me—in Chicago but of Mexican
descent. It would be her tough streetwise voice that would
haunt all my stories and poems. An amazing woman who loves
to draw and read books and can sing an opera. A smart cookie.
93
When I was a little girl we traveled to Mexico City so much

Vocabulary I thought my grandparents’ house on La Fortuna, number 12,
nomadic (nō madʼ ik) adj. moving was home. It was the only constant in our nomadic ramblings
from place to place; wandering from one Chicago flat to another. The house on Destiny Street,
number 12, in the colonia Tepeyac would be perhaps the only
home I knew, and that nostalgia for a home would be a theme
Vocabulary
that would obsess me.
nostalgia (nos talʼ jə) n. a longing My brothers also figured greatly in my art. Especially the
for things or people of the past older two; I grew up in their shadows. Henry, the second oldest
and my favorite, appears often in poems I have written and
in stories which at times only borrow his nickname, Kiki. He
played a major role in my childhood. We were bunk-bed mates.
We were co-conspirators. We were pals. Until my oldest brother
came back from studying in Mexico and left me odd woman out
for always.
Literary Element What would my teachers say if they knew I was a writer
now? Who would’ve guessed it? I wasn’t a very bright student.
Thesis Do you think Cisneros’s
teachers thought that it was
I didn’t much like school because we moved so much and I
possible for Cisneros to become a was always new and funny looking. In my fifth-grade report
writer? Explain your answer. card I have nothing but an avalanche of C’s and D’s, but I don’t
remember being that stupid. I was good at art and I read plenty
_______________________________ of library books and Kiki laughed at all my jokes.At home I was
fine, but at school I never opened my mouth except when the
_______________________________ teacher called on me.
When I think of how I see myself it would have to be at
_______________________________
age eleven. I know I’m thirty-two on the outside, but inside
_______________________________
I’m eleven. I’m the girl in the picture with skinny arms and a
crumpled skirt and crooked hair. I didn’t like school because all
_______________________________ they saw was the outside me. School was lots of rules and sitting
with your hands folded and being very afraid all the time. I
_______________________________ liked looking out the window and thinking. I liked staring at the
girl across the way writing her name over and over again in red
_______________________________
ink. I wondered why the boy with the dirty collar in front of me
_______________________________ didn’t have a mama who took better care of him.
I think my mama and papa did the best they could to keep
us warm and clean and never hungry. We had birthday and
graduation parties and things like that, but there was another
hunger that had to be fed. There was a hunger I didn’t even have
a name for. Was this when I began writing?
94
In 1966 we moved into a house, a real one, our first real Reading Strategy
home. This meant we didn’t have to change schools and be the
new kids on the block every couple of years. We could make Analyze Text Structure Place
these sentences in chronological
friends and not be afraid we’d have to say goodbye to them and
order by writing which came first,
start all over. My brothers and the flock of boys they brought second, and third in Cisnero’s
home would become important characters eventually for my narrative.
stories—Louie and his cousins, Meme Ortiz and his dog with
________ “We could make friends
two names, one in English and one in Spanish. and not be afraid we’d have to
My mother flourished in her own home. She took books out say goodbye to them and start all
of the library and taught herself to garden—to grow flowers so over.”
envied we had to put a lock on the gate to keep out the midnight ________ “We had birthday and
flower thieves. My mother has never quit gardening. graduation parties and things like
This was the period in my life, that slippery age when you that, but there was another hunger
are both child and woman and neither, I was to record in The that had to be fed.”
House on Mango Street. I was still shy. I was a girl who couldn’t ________ “In 1966 we moved into
come out of her shell. a house, a real one, our first real
How was I to know I would be recording and documenting home.”
the women who sat their sadness on an elbow and stared out a
window? It would be the city streets of Chicago I would later
record, as seen through a child’s eyes.
Read and Discuss
Read Cisneros remembrance of

her family’s first house. Discuss
with a partner how having a
“real home” might change the
way the Cisneros family lived.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
READING CHECK
Summarize
What memories does Cisneros record from her childhood in her
stories and poems? Why does she pick them? Write your answer
in the lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
95
I’ve done all kinds of things I didn’t think I could do since

then. I’ve gone to a prestigious university, studied with famous
writers, and taken an MFA degree. I’ve taught poetry in schools
in Illinois and Texas. I’ve gotten an NEA grant and run away
with it as far as my courage would take me. I’ve seen the
bleached and bitter mountains of the Peloponnesus.4 I’ve lived
on an island. I’ve been to Venice twice. I’ve lived in Yugoslavia.
I’ve been to the famous Nice5 flower market behind the opera
house. I’ve lived in a village in the pre-Alps and witnessed the
daily parade of promenaders.
Literary Element I’ve moved since Europe to the strange and wonderful
country of Texas, land of Polaroid-blue skies and big bugs. I met
Thesis How do Cisnero’s travels
and encounters with reputable
a mayor with my last name. I met famous Chicana and Chicano
people relate to her thesis? Circle artists and writers and políticos.6
the correct answer. Texas is another chapter in my life. It brought with it the
a. She wants to go back home.
Dobie-Paisano Fellowship, a six-month residency on a 265-acre
ranch. But most important, Texas brought Mexico back to me.
b. She’s experiencing things she
In the days when I would sit at my favorite people-watching
never imagined before.
spot, the snakey Woolworth’s counter across the street from
c. She decides the nomadic life is the Alamo7 (the Woolworth’s which has since been torn down
right for her.
to make way for progress), I couldn’t think of anything else I’d
d. She questions her life choices. rather be than a writer. I’ve traveled and lectured from Cape
Cod to San Francisco, to Spain, Yugoslavia, Greece, Mexico,
France, Italy, and now today to Texas. Along the way there has
been straw for the taking. With a little imagination, it can be
spun into gold.
4. The Peloponnesus (pelʼə pə nēʼsəs) is the peninsula forming the southern part of
mainland Greece.
5. Nice (nēs) is a port city in southern France.
6. Políticos (pô lēʼ tē kôs) means “politicians” in Spanish.
7. The Alamo is a mission chapel in San Antonio, Texas. It was the site of a famous
battle in Texas’s war for independence from Mexico.
READING CHECK
Summarize
What does Cisneros enjoy most about Texas? Write your answer
in the lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
96
After You Read Straw into Gold:
Look back at your response on page 90. Use the chart below to connect the
hardships Cisneros encountered with how the experience benefits her later in life.
An example has been provided for you.
Hardships Benefit
Constantly moving as a child Later writes books about being an outsider
Literary Element Thesis

In the chart below, write what you think is the thesis of “Straw into Gold: The
Metamorphosis of the Everyday.” Then write three details from the essay that
support this thesis in the boxes below.
Thesis
Supporting Detail Supporting Detail Supporting Detail
Reading Strategy Analyze Text Structure

When you analyze any piece of writing, you are looking carefully at its parts.
Analyzing a text’s structure is looking at the organization of ideas present in the
text. In the essay, Cisneros is in the present looking back at her past. Why do you
think Cisneros tells her story this way? Explain.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
97
Vocabulary
each sentence. Circle the correct answer.
1. Cisneros mentioned that she felt nostalgia about traveling constantly
between Mexico and the United States.
true false
2. Cisneros experienced constant nomadic ramblings from one Chicago flat

to another.
true false
3. For Cisneros’s mother, working in a garden was taboo.

true false
4. Unlike making tortillas, Cisneros writes intuitively.

true false
B. Analogies An analogy is a comparison that is based on relationships between

objects or ideas. Some common types of relationships are: synonym, antonym,
item and characteristic, action to object, or degree of intensity. For each item
below, decide what the relationship is between the first pair of words. Then
apply that relationship to the second pair and circle your answer. The first one
has been completed for you.
1. lukewarm : scalding :: cool : freezing
a uncertain c freezing
b hot d fruit
Relationship: _____________________________________________________________________________
2. wandering : ________________ :: studying : studious

a nomadic c aimless
b academic d sleepy
Relationship: _____________________________________________________________________________
3. disapproval : praise :: legal : ________________

a excitement c taboo
b scold d police
Relationship: _____________________________________________________________________________
For more practice, see page 308. ➡

98
Learning Objectives
For pages 99–108, 309

objectives:
Reading: Analyzing a
visual image. Analyzing
informational text.
What I See in
Lincoln’s Eyes
by Barack Obama
What I See in Lincoln’s Eyes 99

Before You Read What I See in
Lincoln’s Eyes
Connect to the Personal Essay
Have you ever been moved by a portrait or a photograph of someone? In this essay,
Barack Obama describes a portrait of Abraham Lincoln that has special meaning to
him. Think about photographs or paintings you have seen of Lincoln. Which one
image do you think best captures his essence, or inner self? Freewrite about what
that picture shows about Lincoln and what it means to you. Share your ideas with
a partner.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Build Background
Read these facts about Lincoln. Underline three details that offer clues to Lincoln’s
personality.
• Abraham Lincoln was the tallest president and the first one to wear a beard.
• Abraham Lincoln was elected to two terms as president. He is considered by
many to be America’s greatest president.
• Lincoln worked hard to make a better life for himself and his country. His law
partner said that “His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest.”
• Lincoln loved to read, especially the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
• Lincoln may have struggled with depression and a preoccupation with death, but
with good reason. His mother died when he was ten years old. Three of his four
sons died young. Lincoln dreamed about of his own death just days before he
was assassinated.
• Walt Whitman’s poem “Oh Captain! My Captain!” was written as a tribute to
Lincoln in 1866.

Read the essay to learn about Barack Obama and his views of President Lincoln, both
as a political leader and as a source of inspiration.
100
Reading Strategy Analyze a Visual Image
When you analyze a visual image, you consider the significance of each part of the
image to better understand the effect of the image as a whole. In “What I See in
Lincoln’s Eyes,” Barack Obama shares his analysis of a photograph of Abraham Lincoln
taken shortly before Lincoln’s death.
As you read, notice how Obama uses imagery, figurative language, and precise, vivid
words to paint a verbal picture of Lincoln. What does his choice of words suggest
about his opinion of Lincoln? What kind of emotional response do these images
create in you, the reader? A chart like the one below can help you organize your
thoughts. Record your response to Obama’s description of Lincoln’s face.
Visual Image Emotional Response

“Lincoln’s face is as finely lined as a
pressed flower.”
Note Taking
This selection will guide you to take notes, which will help you to understand and
Skill Description
Reread Record Recap Summarize
Look back over the page Write down your answers to Briefly review the text Briefly state the main
you have read. the questions you are given. in your own words. points you recorded.

What I See in
Lincoln’s Eyes
Reading Strategy My favorite portrait of Abraham Lincoln comes from the
end of his life. In it, Lincoln’s face is as finely lined as a pressed
Analyze a Visual Image Underline flower. He appears frail, almost broken; his eyes, averted from
details that help you visualize
the camera’s lens, seem to contain a heartbreaking melancholy,
the portrait of Lincoln. Why
does Obama focus on Lincoln’s
as if he sees before him what the nation had so recently endured.
mouth last? It would be a sorrowful picture except for the fact that
Lincoln’s mouth is turned ever so slightly into a smile. The smile
_______________________________
doesn’t negate the sorrow. But it alters tragedy into grace. It’s as
if this rough-faced, aging man has cast his gaze toward eternity
_______________________________ and yet still cherishes his memories—of an imperfect world
and its fleeting, sometimes terrible beauty. On trying days, the
_______________________________ portrait, a reproduction of which hangs in my office, soothes me;
it always asks me questions.
_______________________________
What is it about this man that can move us so profoundly?
_______________________________ Some of it has to do with Lincoln’s humble beginnings, which
often speak to our own. When I moved to Illinois 20 years ago to
_______________________________ work as a community organizer, I had no money in my pockets
and didn’t know a single soul. During my first six years in the
_______________________________
state legislature, Democrats were in the minority, and I couldn’t
get a bill heard, much less passed. In my first race for Congress,
I had my head handed to me. So when I, an African American
man with a funny name, born in Hawaii of a father from Kenya
and a mother from Kansas, announced my candidacy for the
Reading Strategy
Analyze a Visual Image In the
highlighted text, Obama uses
personification to communicate
the effect this portrait of Lincoln
has on him. Explain the appeal of
this technique.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
102
What I See in Lincoln’s Eyes
Note Taking
1. This portrait of Lincoln is Barack Obama’s favorite because ________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
2. Obama states that in this portrait Lincoln appears “melancholy.” A context clue for the meaning of
melancholy is ________________________________________________________________________________ .
3. List at least two ways that Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama are similar. __________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
5. Recap, in your own words, what you learned by reading this page of the essay.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Summarize below what you’ve recorded:
The Word that Best Describes Lincoln How Lincoln Is Like Obama One Thing I Learned

Reading Strategy United States Senate, it was hard to imagine a less likely scenario
than that I would win—except, perhaps, for the one that allowed
Analyze a Visual Image In this a child born in the backwoods of Kentucky with less than a year
paragraph, underline four words or
of formal education to end up as Illinois’ greatest citizen and our
phrases that make Lincoln appear
heroic. Explain the effect Obama’s nation’s greatest President.
word choice has on your feelings In Lincoln’s rise from poverty, his ultimate mastery of
about Lincoln. language and law, his capacity to overcome personal loss and
remain determined in the face of repeated defeat––in all this, he
_______________________________ reminded me not just of my own struggles. He also reminded
me of a larger, fundamental element of American life—the
_______________________________ enduring belief that we can constantly remake ourselves to fit
our larger dreams.
_______________________________
A connected idea attracts us to Lincoln: As we remake
_______________________________ ourselves, we remake our surroundings. He didn’t just talk
or write or theorize. He split rail, fired rifles, tried cases, and
_______________________________ pushed for new bridges and roads and waterways. In his sheer
energy, Lincoln captures a hunger in us to build and to innovate.
_______________________________ It’s a quality that can get us in trouble; we may be blind at times
to the costs of progress. And yet, when I travel to other parts of
the world, I remember that it is precisely such energy that sets
us apart, a sense that there are no limits to the heights our nation
might reach.
Reading Strategy
Still, as I look at his picture, it is the man and not the
Analyze a Visual Image The icon that speaks to me. I cannot swallow whole the view of
highlighted text contains three Lincoln as the Great Emancipator. As a law professor and civil
metaphors. Explain the comparisons rights lawyer and as an African American, I am fully aware
Obama makes in these lines.
of his limited views on race. Anyone who actually reads the
Emancipation Proclamation knows it was more a military
_______________________________ document than a clarion call for justice. Scholars tell us too that
Lincoln wasn’t immune from political considerations and that
_______________________________
his temperament could be indecisive and morose.
_______________________________ But it is precisely those imperfections—and the painful self-
awareness of those failings etched in every crease of his face and
_______________________________ reflected in those haunted eyes—that make him so compelling.
For when the time came to confront the greatest moral challenge
_______________________________
this nation has ever faced, this all too human man did not pass
_______________________________
the challenge on to future generations. He neither demonized
the fathers and sons who did battle on the other side nor sought
_______________________________ to diminish the terrible costs of his war. In the midst of slavery’s
dark storm and the complexities of governing a house divided,
he somehow kept his moral compass pointed firm and true.
104
Note Taking
1. One word I didn’t know on this page is ______ It means __________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
2. One thing I learned on this page that I didn’t already know is ______________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
3. Lincoln was a complex man. Some of the positive and negative aspects of Lincoln’s personality discussed
on this page are:
Positive Traits Negative Traits
4. Recap in your own words what you learned by reading this page of the essay. _______________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Summarize below what you’ve recorded on this page.
A new word I learned is _______________________________________________________________________ .
I also learned that ____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
Lincoln was a ________________________________________________________________________________ .
At the same time, Lincoln could be _____________________________________________________________ .

What I marvel at, what gives me such hope, is that this man
could overcome depression, self-doubt, and the constraints of
biography and not only act decisively but retain his humanity.
Reading Strategy Like a figure from the Old Testament, he wandered the earth,
Analyze a Visual Image Obama
making mistakes, loving his family but causing them pain,
compares Lincoln to “a figure from despairing over the course of events, trying to divine God’s will.
the Old Testament.” What does this He did not know how things would turn out, but he did his best.
allusion suggest about Lincoln? A few weeks ago, I spoke at the commencement at Knox
Underline any statements that College in Galesburg, Illinois. I stood in view of the spot where
apply.
Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held one of their famous debates
a. He was a good man who cared during their race in 1858 for the U.S. Senate. The only way for
for people. Lincoln to get onto the podium was to squeeze his lanky frame
b. He communicated with his god. through a window, whereupon he reportedly remarked, “At last
c. He did the best he could to
I have finally gone through college.” Waiting for the soon-to-be
protect the nation and keep it graduates to assemble, I thought that even as Lincoln lost that
on a righteous path. Senate race, his arguments that day would result, centuries later,
d. He was lost in the wilderness
in my occupying the same seat that he coveted. He may not have
for much of his life. dreamed of that exact outcome. But I like to believe he would
have appreciated the irony. Humor, ambiguity, complexity,
compassion—all were part of his character. And as Lincoln called
once upon the better angels of our nature, I believe that he is
calling still, across the ages, to summon some measure of that
character, the American character, in each of us today.
Read and Discuss
Refer back to page 104 and

with a partner, read and discuss READING CHECK
Obama’s opinion on Lincoln
being viewed as “the Great Summarize
Emancipator.” Do you agree
Choose the sentence that best states the main idea of “What I
or disagree with Obama? Give
See in Lincoln’s Eyes.” Then explain your choice.
reasons for your answer.
a. Lincoln could be “indecisive and morose,” contrary to most
____________________________ people’s perceptions of him.
____________________________ b. Barack Obama admires Lincoln without question and gives

Lincoln direct credit for all of Obama’s political success.
____________________________
c. Lincoln remains an important and meaningful source of
inspiration to many people in the United States, including
____________________________
Obama, largely due to the story of his success and his actions
____________________________ as president.
____________________________ ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
106
Note Taking
1. When Obama says that Lincoln “retained his humanity,” he means that Lincoln _______________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
2. Record the traits that Obama believes define American character and tell in your own words what each
word means.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Recap in your own words the significance of the last two paragraphs. _______________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Use the sentence frames below to summarize what you recorded:
Lincoln was a complex man who _______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
Obama admires ______________________________________________________________________________ .
Obama believes ______________________________________________________________________________ .

After You Read What I See in
Lincoln’s Eyes
Connect to the Personal Essay
Review the freewriting that you completed before reading “What I See in Lincoln’s
Eyes.” In what ways have your views of Lincoln changed as a result of reading
this essay?
Before reading the essay, my impression of Lincoln was __________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________ .
After reading “What I See in Lincoln’s Eyes,” ____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________ .
Reading Strategy Analyze a Visual Image

Barack Obama uses imagery, figurative language, along with vivid verbs and
adjectives to create an image of Abraham Lincoln. Choose three examples of his
word choices that you find particularly effective and explain their appeal.
1. ______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________

108
Learning Objectives
For pages 109–116, 310

In studying this text, you will
focus on the following
objectives:
author’s purpose.
Reading: Analyzing text
structure.
Cinderella’s
Stepsisters
by Toni Morrison
Cinderella’s Stepsisters 109

Before You Read
Cinderella’s
Stepsisters
Connect to the Speech
In this college graduation address, Toni Morrison uses a classic fairy tale as a call to
action for today’s women. Recall your own memories of the story of Cinderella. Write
for a few minutes about the connections you see between the fairy tale and women’s
lives today.
Build Background
• Toni Morrison was the first African American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• Even though she focuses on the lives of African American women, her works are
popular with a variety of readers.
• Morrison uses the fairy tale of Cinderella to address the injustices women do to
each other.
Without looking at what you just read, summarize Toni Morrison’s appeal to her
readers.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

As you read the speech, predict how Morrison’s message might appeal to women of
every race and generation, not just the college graduates she addresses.
110
Literary Element Author’s Purpose
For a writer, purpose and audience are closely linked. What a writer tells her readers
and how the story is told depends on who those readers are and on what impression
she wants to leave with them. As you read, use the chart below to connect purpose
and audience with the ideas Toni Morrison wants to convey.
Detail from “Cinderella’s Stepsisters” Purpose of Detail Intended Audience
Reading Strategy Identify Problem and Solution

Identifying the problem in a selection helps you to see the complexity of an issue
that a writer presents. Identifying the solution helps you to think logically and
systematically. Work with a partner to read the selection and discuss these questions:
• What is the problem?
• Whose problem is it?
• What causes the problem?
• What are the effects of the problem?
• What solutions does the author suggest?
• Do you think any new problems could result from the solutions? Why or why not?
Vocabulary Context Clues

Context clues are the other words, punctuation marks, sentences, Vocabulary
and even paragraphs that surround an unfamiliar word and give
hints about its meaning. Read the vocabulary words and definitions fetish (fetʼ ish) n. object of abnormal attention or
devotion
on this page. For each of the sentences below, choose the best
word for each context and write it in the blank. dominion (də minʼ yən) n. control or the exercise
of control
1. England’s ________________ of colonial America was at first
larger than Spain’s. deflect (di flektʼ) v. to turn aside; bend or
deviate; to fend off
2. Packed with every kind of gadget imaginable, the office emanate (emʼə nat) v. to flow out; to come from
a source, sometimes invisibly
proved its owner’s technology ________________.
abstraction (ab strakʼ shən) n. an abstract idea or
3. Both heat and light will ________________ from a well-built term; a concept with no concrete example
fire in the fireplace.
4. Because it means different things to different people, the concept of love is

considered an ________________.
5. Interruptions from the audience can ________________ a speaker’s

concentration.

Cinderella’s
Stepsisters
Literary Element Let me begin by taking you back a little. Back before the
days at college. To nursery school, probably, to a once-upon-a-
Author’s Purpose Why do you time time when you first heard, or read, or, I suspect, even saw
think Morrison begins her speech
“Cinderella.” Because it is Cinderella that I want to talk about;
this way? Write your answer on the
lines below.
because it is Cinderella who causes me a feeling of urgency.
What is unsettling about that fairy tale is that it is essentially the
story of household—a world, if you please—of women gathered
_______________________________
together and held together in order to abuse another woman.
_______________________________ There is, of course, a rather vague absent father and a nick-of-
time prince with a foot fetish. But neither has much personality.
_______________________________ And there are the surrogate “mothers,” of course (god- and
step-), who contribute both to Cinderella’s grief and to her
_______________________________
release and happiness. But it is her stepsisters who interest me.
_______________________________
How crippling it must have been for those young girls to grow
up with a mother, to watch and imitate that mother, enslaving
another girl.
I am curious about their fortunes after the story ends. For
Reading Strategy contrary to recent adaptations,1 the stepsisters were not ugly,
clumsy, stupid girls with outsize feet. The Grimm collection
Identify Problem and describes them as “beautiful and fair in appearance.” When
Solution Underline the words and
we are introduced to them they are beautiful, elegant, women
phrases in the highlighted passage
that show how Morrison feels of status, and clearly women of power. Having watched and
about the story of Cinderella. What participated in the violent dominion of another woman, will
bothers her about the story? Put a they be any less cruel when it comes their turn to enslave other
check in the box next to the best children, or even when they are required to take care of their
answer below. own mother?
■ It is a fairy story that never It is not a wholly medieval problem. It is quite a
really happened.
■ It is about having unreal hopes contemporary2 one: feminine power when directed at other
for the future.
■ It is about women abusing
another woman.
Vocabulary
fetish (fetʼ ish) n. object of
abnormal attention or devotion;
fixation
Vocabulary
dominion (də minʼ yən) n. control
or the exercise of control
1. Adaptations are changes or adjustments made to something to meet new
conditions.
2. Contemporary means “current” or “modern.”
112
Cinderella’s Stepsisters
women has historically been wielded in what has been described

as a “masculine” manner. Soon you will be in a position to
do the very same thing. Whatever your background—rich or
poor—whatever the history of education in your family—five
generations or one—you have taken advantage of what has been
available to you at Barnard and you will therefore have both the
economic and social status of the stepsisters and you will have
their power.
I want not to ask you but to tell you not to participate in the Read and Discuss
oppression of your sisters. . . . Women who stop the promotion
of other women in careers are women, and another woman Read the highlighted sentence out
loud with a partner as you think
must come to the victim’s aid. Social and welfare workers
Morrison intended it to sound.
who humiliate their clients may be women, and other women Then discuss with your partner
colleagues have to deflect their anger. why Morrison put the words ask
I am alarmed by the violence that women do to each other: and tell in italic type. Write your
professional violence, competitive violence, emotional violence. answer on the lines below.
I am alarmed by the willingness of women to enslave other
____________________________
women. I am alarmed by a growing absence of decency on the
killing floor of professional women’s worlds. You are the women ____________________________
who will take your place in the world where you can decide who
shall flourish and who shall wither; you will make distinctions ____________________________
between the deserving poor and the undeserving poor; where
you can yourself determine which life is expendable3 and which
is indispensable. Since you will have the power to do it, you may
also be persuaded that you have the right to do it. As educated Reading Strategy
women the distinction between the two is first-order business.
Identify Problem and
I am suggesting that we pay as much attention to our
Solution Put a check in the box
nurturing sensibilities as to our ambition. You are moving in next to the statement that is not a
the direction of freedom and the function of freedom is to free part of Morrison’s discussion of the
somebody else. You are moving toward self-fulfillment, and problem here.
the consequences of that fulfillment should be to discover that ■ The problem is both old and
there is something just as important as you are and that just-as- new.
important thing may be Cinderella—or your stepsister. ■ Men often prevent women
from being promoted.
In your rainbow journey toward the realization of personal
■ Women have the power and
goals, don’t make choices based only on your security and your the duty to treat each other
safety. Nothing is safe. That is not to say that anything ever well.
was, or that anything worth achieving ever should be. Things
of value seldom are. It is not safe to have a child. It is not safe to
challenge the status quo.4 It is not safe to choose work that has
Vocabulary
deflect (di flektʼ) v. to turn aside;
to fend off
3. Expendable means “easily replaced.”

4. Status quo means “the existing condition or state of affairs.”

Reading Strategy not been done before. Or to do old work in a new way. There
will always be someone there to stop you. But in pursuing
Identify Problem and your highest ambitions, don’t let your personal safety diminish
Solution What is Morrison’s
the safety of your stepsister. In wielding the power that is
solution to the problem?
deservedly yours, don’t permit it to enslave your stepsisters. Let
your might and your power emanate from that place in you that
_______________________________
is nurturing and caring.
_______________________________ Women’s rights is not only an abstraction, a cause; it is also
a personal affair. It is not only about “us”; it is also about me and
_______________________________ you. Just the two of us.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
Vocabulary
emanate (emʼ ə nāt) v. to flow
from a source, often invisibly
Context Clues
Look at how the word emanate
is used in context. Underline the
context clues that help you to
determine its meaning.
Vocabulary READING CHECK

abstraction (ab strakʼ shən) n. an
Question
abstract idea or term; a concept
What does the author mean when she calls women’s rights “a
with no concrete example
personal affair”? Write your answer on the lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
114
After You Read
Connect to the Speech
Look back at the quickwrite you did on page 110 about how the fairy tale might
apply to women today. On the lines below, contrast your ideas about Cinderella
with Toni Morrison’s ideas.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Author’s Purpose

Look back at the chart you filled out for the details, intended audience, and
purpose on page 111. Why was Cinderella a good choice of a fairy tale for
Morrison’s audience of college graduates? Write your response on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Identify Problem and Solution

Look back at the reading strategy questions you and your partner answered on
page 111. Then use the sentence frames below to summarize the problem and
the solution in “Cinderella’s Stepsisters.”
The problem Morrison sees between women is that _____________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
As a solution, the author urges women to ______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

After You Read
Vocabulary
fetish dominion deflect emanate abstraction
A. Word Meaning Each of the following statements below describes how you
might use one of the vocabulary words. Write the correct word on the line
below each statement.
1. Each teacher in a school holds this over his or her classroom.

________________
2. Ideas like faith and hope may be categorized as this. ________________
3. Someone who surrounds himself with clocks, watches, and schedules

might be said to have this with time. ________________
4. You might use sunglasses or a hat to do this to the sun’s rays.

________________
5. A sweet scent is said to do this from a rose. ________________
B. Context Clues Underline the context clues in the following sentences that
help you determine the meaning of each boldfaced vocabulary word. Then on
the lines below explain what the sentence means in your own words.
1. The corner of the mitt deflected the ball from the catcher’s hands and
sent it into the stands.
Explanation: ______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Whenever Grandma bakes a pie, the odors of apple and cinnamon

emanate from the oven.
Explanation: ______________________________________________________________________________
3. The king’s dominion extends over this entire realm.

Explanation: ______________________________________________________________________________
4. Some people make a fetish out of cleaning, scrubbing floors on their

hands and knees and polishing tile with a toothbrush.
Explanation: ______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________ ➡
For more practice, see page 310.
116
Learning Objectives
For pages 117–124, 311

objectives:
free verse.
Reading: Monitoring
comprehension.
Ode to My Socks by Pablo Neruda
Ode to My Socks 117

Before You Read
Ode to My Socks
Connect to the Poem
In this poem, Pablo Neruda describes something that is very important to him.
While many people think only expensive or rare things have value, Neruda
praises something that is ordinary. Think about things that you value or things that
are important to you. How would you respond to the following statements about
what you value the most? Discuss your answers with a partner.
1. Can something that doesn’t cost a lot of money be valuable? Why or why not? _______________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
2. People value items because ________________________________________________________________ .
3. My most valuable possession is _____________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________ .
Build Background
As you read the facts about Pablo Neruda, underline the words that you think are
the most important.
• Pablo Neruda excelled at writing the ode. An ode is a long poem that usually
expresses the writer’s feelings.
• Most odes are written for very educated audiences and honor and praise
important events or people. Neruda’s odes were more personal and praised
ordinary objects.
• Neruda also preferred writing for the common person instead of an important
audience. Neruda wanted his poetry to be easily understood by everyone.
• Neruda often wrote about nature.

Read “Ode to My Socks” to learn why Pablo Neruda treasures a pair of socks. As
you read, pay attention to the ways in which Neruda makes an ordinary object
seem special.
118
Literary Element Free Verse
Free verse is poetry that does not follow a regular pattern of rhyme or line length.
Poets who write free verse use other techniques, such as the repetition of certain
sounds or words, to create rhythm. Have you ever written a poem in free verse? Can
you recall reading other poems written in free verse? Talk with a partner about ways in
which free verse might help a writer to express his or her feelings.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Monitor Comprehension

One way to keep track of how well you understand what you read is to paraphrase.
When you paraphrase, you say what you have read in your own words. Asking
yourself questions about the reading will also help you to figure out its meaning. As
you read, use the chart below to help you understand the text.
Stanza
Paraphrase
Question
Answer
Vocabulary Synonyms
Different words that mean the same thing or something very Vocabulary
similar are called synonyms. For example, immense and enormous
immense (i mensʼ) adj. vast; huge; so big that it
have almost the same meaning. One way to figure out whether
is difficult or impossible to measure
two words are synonyms is to substitute one for another in a
sentence. Read the vocabulary words and definitions in the side decrepit (di krepʼ it) adj. broken down or worn
column. As you come across these words in the selection, think out by age or illness
about other words that could replace the vocabulary words and not
change the meaning of the sentence. For example, in the sentence sacred (sāʼ krid) adj. holy; worthy of being
worshipped
“The decrepit farmhouse looked at least 100 years old,” the word
run-down could replace the word decrepit without changing the remorse (ri môrsʼ) n. feelings of guilt or regret
meaning of the sentence. because of past wrongdoing
Which word from the list could be a synonym for the underlined
word in the following sentence? Write your answer on the line below.
“The ancient site was considered holy by the native people in the region.” ______________________________________
Ode to My Socks 119

Ode to My Socks
Literary Element Maru Mori brought me
a pair
Free Verse How can you tell that of socks
the poet is writing in free verse
which she knitted herself
here?
5 with her sheepherder’s hands,
two socks as soft
_______________________________
as rabbits.
_______________________________
I slipped my feet
into them
_______________________________ 10 as though into
two
_______________________________ cases
knitted
_______________________________
with threads of
_______________________________ 15 twilight
and sheepskin.
Violent socks,
my feet were
Vocabulary two fish made
immense (i mensʼ) adj. vast; 20 of wool,
huge; so big that it is difficult or two long sharks
impossible to measure sea-blue, shot
through
by one golden thread,
Vocabulary Skill 25 two immense blackbirds,
two cannons:
Synonyms Underline the three
synonyms for immense that
my feet
appear in the definition above.
Then, with a partner, write two
more synonyms for immense on
the lines below. Use a dictionary if
you need to.
______________________________
______________________________
120
Ode to My Socks
were honored
in this way Reading Strategy
30 by
Monitor Comprehension Can
these socks honor something? What do
heavenly you think Neruda is trying to say in
socks. lines 27–33?
They were
35 so handsome _______________________________
for the first time
my feet seemed to me _______________________________
unacceptable
_______________________________
like two decrepit
40 firemen, firemen _______________________________
unworthy
of that woven _______________________________
fire,
of those glowing
45 socks.
Vocabulary
Nevertheless
I resisted decrepit (di krepʼ it) adj. broken
down or worn out by age or
the sharp temptation
illness
to save them somewhere
50 as schoolboys
keep
fireflies, Read and Discuss
as learned men
Can you tell what kind of
collect
person Neruda was from
55 sacred texts, reading this poem? Underline
I resisted words that give you clues about
the mad impulse what he was like. Discuss with
to put them a partner what Neruda’s words
into a golden tell you about him. On the
lines below, write three words
60 cage
that you believe describe his
and each day give them personality.
birdseed
and pieces of pink melon. ____________________________
Like explorers
65 in the jungle who hand ____________________________
over the very rare

____________________________
green deer
to the spit1 ____________________________
and eat it
Vocabulary
sacred (sāʼ krid) adj. holy; worthy
of being worshipped
1. A spit is a thin, pointed rod on which meat is roasted, often over a fire.
Ode to My Socks 121

Ode to My Socks
Vocabulary 70 with remorse,

I stretched out
remorse (ri môrsʼ ing) n. feelings
of guilt or regret because of past
my feet
wrongdoing and pulled on
the magnificent
75 socks
and then my shoes.
The moral
of my ode is this:
Literary Element
beauty is twice
80 beauty
Free Verse Circle the words that and what is good is doubly
appear more than once in lines good
79–85. Why do you think Neruda
when it is a matter of two socks
repeats these words? Put a check
mark next to the correct answer. made of wool
■ He can’t think of any other 85 in winter.
words to describe the socks.
■ He wants to emphasize how
beautiful and useful the socks
are.
■ He wants to impress the reader
by using fancy language.
READING CHECK
Question
What do you think is the most unusual thing about this poem?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
122
After You Read
Ode to My Socks
Connect to the Poem
Look back at the Connect to the Poem activity on page 118. Reread the answers
to your questions. Neruda wrote lovingly and vividly about a pair of socks. Have
your ideas about valuable and prized objects changed since reading the poem?
Would you select the same object or another? In what ways did the author cause
you to think and feel differently about your everyday objects? Write your answers
on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Free Verse

Writing in free verse allows Neruda to explore his subject without paying
attention to rules about how a poem should be organized. For example, he
can break lines in the middle of a sentence to emphasize certain words. With
a partner, choose an excerpt from the poem in which a one-word line helps to
emphasize an important image. Write your choice below. Explain why that word is
important to the poem’s overall meaning.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Neruda uses some surprising images to express his feelings. With the same
partner, make a list of all of the things Neruda compares his feet to.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Monitor Comprehension

Monitoring how well you are understanding an unusual poem like Neruda’s can
help you figure out its meaning. Paraphrasing and asking questions are tools that
will help you understand it. In your own words, write what happens in “Ode to
My Socks.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ode to My Socks 123

After You Read
Ode to My Socks
Vocabulary
1. The game would be played before thousands of people in a(n) immense
stadium.
a noisy c huge
b hidden d wide
2. The decrepit racecar could not complete a single lap around the track.
a broken-down c stylish
b expensive d hand-crafted
3. Musicians were allowed to perform only sacred music in the great

cathedral.
a ancient c beloved
b quiet d holy
4. Tanya felt great remorse after ridiculing a teammate who missed making a
goal.
a disappointment c insincerity
b guilt d meanness
B. Synonyms With a partner, match each boldfaced vocabulary word below with
its synonym. Use a dictionary or thesaurus to check your answers.
1 immense a mended
2 decrepit b revered
3 sacred c distress
4 remorse d anger
e ruined
f immeasurable

124
Learning Objectives
For pages 125–132

objectives:
speaker.
Reading: Applying
background knowledge.

To an Aged Bear
by N. Scott Momaday
The Print of the Paw and To an Aged Bear 125

Before You Read
To an Aged Bear
Connect to the Poems
In these poems, N. Scott Momaday describes his admiration of a wild bear—an
animal that many people would find frightening. Answer the following statements
based on your own opinions and experiences. For each item, circle True or False.
1. People and wild animals should be separated so they don’t harm each other.
True False
2. An ordinary part of nature, such as a paw print, can be beautiful and inspiring.
True False
3. Everything in nature is connected to everything else in nature.

True False
Build Background
• Navarre Scott Momaday learned about American Indian culture from his parents.
His father was an artist who belonged to the Kiowa tribe. His mother was a
writer of Cherokee and English descent. Both of them taught literature and art on
reservations in the Southwest.
• Momaday grew to love creative writing, classic literature, and traditional Native
American storytelling. He taught on a reservation and at several universities.
• Through his teaching and writing, Momaday has helped increase interest in the
lives, history, and various cultures of American Indians. His works often discuss the
conflict between nature and the modern world.
Without looking back at the background note, write a sentence that describes how
American Indian culture influenced Momaday’s writing.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

While reading the poems, notice how Momaday describes an animal that most
people fear in a way that is very sympathetic.
126
Literary Element Speaker
The speaker of a poem is the “voice” you “hear” when reading a poem. Like the
narrator in a story, the speaker describes his or her point of view or attitude toward
a subject. A poem’s speaker can be the poet, but it can also be a character the
poet created to represent a certain point of view. Work with a partner to answer this
question: If you were planning to write a poem about a bear, how would the poem
change if the speaker were a hunter, a scientist, an artist, or the bear itself? Discuss
your responses with the class.
Reading Strategy Apply Background Knowledge

When you apply background knowledge, you use what you already know to
better understand a literary work. Background knowledge can include details about
the writer’s life or the time and place the writer lived in. This information can help you
uncover new meanings in the work. For example, you already know some facts about
N. Scott Momaday’s life and career. This information will help you understand the two
poems you are about to read.
As you read, use the chart below. In the left column, write words or phrases from the
poem that you think indicate something about the poet’s background. In the right
column, explain why you think these words or phrases reveal something about the
author’s life.
Words or Phrases What They Reveal About the Poet’s Life
Vocabulary Word Origins

Word origins tell us where words come from and how they
Vocabulary
develop and change over time. Most dictionaries contain
word origins. For example, if you look up the word meticulous meticulous (mi tikʼ yə ləs) adj. precise; careful;
in a dictionary, you might see the following information: [L: worried about details
meticulosus]. This means that the modern word meticulous cipher (sı̄ʼ fər) n. a signifying figure; a number or
stems from the Latin word meticulosus, which means “fearful.” symbol
glyph (glif) n. a symbolic figure or picture
infirmity (in furʼ mə tē) n. a weakness or illness,

especially from old age
conflagration (konʼ flə grāʼ shən) n. a huge fire

Literary Element It lies among leaves. Indeed, a leaf, fast and broken, is
impressed in the heel’s deep hollow. The leaf is yellow and
Speaker Reread lines 5 and 6. brown, and brittle at the edges. The edges have been crushed;
What do the word choice and the
there is a fine dust of color, like pollen, in the mold. Deeper than
amount of detail tell you about the
speaker?
the heel’s hollow are the claw’s piercings. They are precisely
placed in the earth as if the great beast moved with meticulous
grace. The toes turn inward, perhaps to describe like a keel1 the
_______________________________
center of gravity upon which a great weight is balanced. Were
_______________________________ I to construct a model of this bear, based upon this single print,
it would turn out to be a mythic and wondrous thing. It would
be a cipher, a glyph, a huge shape emergent on the wall of a
cave, a full figure in polychrome2—splotches of red and yellow
Vocabulary in black outline. And I would be an artist of the first rank on
meticulous (mi tikʼ yə ləs) adj. this occasion, if on no other, for I should proceed directly, in the
precise; careful; worried about disinterested manner of a child, from this nearly perfect print
details of the paw. And all who should lay eyes upon my work would
know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, how much I love the bear
whose print this is.
Jemez Springs, 1997
Read and Discuss
How do you think the speaker

of this poem feels about
animals? Discuss this question
with a partner. Underline words
and phrases in the poem that
support your opinion.
1. A keel is the long piece of wood or steel along the bottom of a boat or ship that
helps keep it steady.
Vocabulary 2. Polychrome means “decorated in many colors.”
cipher (sı̄ʼ fər) n. a number or

symbol READING CHECK
glyph (glif) n. a symbolic figure
or picture Question
Why does the speaker love the bear? Write your answer on the
lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
128
To an Aged Bear
Hold hard this infirmity. Vocabulary
It defines you. You are old.
infirmity (in furʼ mə tē) n. a
weakness or illness, especially
Now fix yourself in summer, from old age
In thickets of ripe berries,
5 And venture toward the ridge Vocabulary

Where you were born. Await there conflagration (konʼ flə grāʼ shən) n.
a huge fire
The setting sun. Be alive
To that old conflagration
Vocabulary Skill
One more time. Mortality Word Origins Which Latin word
10 Is your shadow and your shade. did conflagration come from?
Check a dictionary. Then write the
Latin word and its meaning on the
Translate yourself to spirit; lines below.
Be present on your journey.
______________________________
Keep to the trees and waters.
Be the singing of the soil.
Santa Fe, 1995
Reading Strategy
Apply Background
Knowledge How do you think
the speaker feels about nature?
Review what you know about
Momaday’s life. What do you think
might have influenced him to
READING CHECK create this speaker? Discuss your
ideas with a partner.
Summarize
Explain the main message of this poem in your own words.
_______________________________
______________________________________________________ _______________________________
______________________________________________________ _______________________________
______________________________________________________ _______________________________
______________________________________________________ _______________________________
______________________________________________________ _______________________________

After You Read The Print of the Paw
To an Aged Bear
Look back at the answers you wrote on page 126. Did the poems you just read
make you think differently about nature? Would you change any of your answers?
On the lines below, explain why or why not.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Speaker

As you read the poems, what helped you identify the speaker and his or her point
of view? Write your answers on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Apply Background Knowledge

Look at the chart you made about Momaday’s background and his personal
connection with the poem. How did applying background knowledge help you
understand the poems?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
130
To an Aged Bear
Vocabulary
A. Word Meaning For each item, decide which word best matches the meaning
of the boldfaced word. Circle the letter of the correct answer.
1. In “The Print of the Paw,” the speaker describes a bear’s paw print in
meticulous detail.
a wild c ancient
b expressive d precise
2. The speaker also describes a mysterious cipher that could be painted on a

cave wall.
a fire c map
b symbol d color
3. The glyph on the cave wall would be painted in splotchy shades of red,
yellow, and black.
a bear c rock
b figure d spectrum
4. In the poem “To An Aged Bear,” the bear has a serious infirmity.
a weakness related to being old c connection with the natural
world
b desire to return to a birthplace d communication problem
5. The poet describes the setting sun as a conflagration.

a red ball c marker of time
b massive blaze d mysterious symbol
B. Word Origins For each item, describe how the meaning of the word’s origin
is related to the word’s current meaning.
1. meticulous (Latin root: meticulosus—“fearful”) ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________
2. infirmity (Latin root: infirmus—“weak, frail”) ______________________________________________________
3. conflagration (Latin root: conflagrare—“to burn up”) ______________________________________________
4. glyph (Greek root: glyph—“carved work”) ________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

To an Aged Bear
Venn Diagram
Reread “The Print of the Paw.” Think about the subject and the speaker of the
poem. The subject is a bear, and the speaker is a person who found the paw
print. Complete the Venn diagram, listing at least two characteristics that the bear
and the speaker share and at least three that they do not share.
Bear Both Speaker
132
Learning Objectives
For pages 133–138

objectives:
haiku.
imagery.
Three HAIKU by Matsuo Bashô
Three Haiku 133

Before You Read
Three HAIKU
Connect to the Haiku
The author of these three haiku offers some personal reflections on the changing of
the seasons. What images and sensations come to mind when you think of autumn
and spring? What thoughts do these seasons inspire in you? Work with a partner to
brainstorm images that you associate with these seasons. Write the images on the
lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Review the images that you and your partner brainstormed. What thoughts do these
images inspire? List them on the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Build Background
• Haiku is the shortest poetic form in the world.
• Early writers of haiku, including the seventeenth-century Japanese poet Matsuo
Bash, strove to place readers within an experience of nature that is described
simply and sparingly. They hoped their poems would inspire reflection and
enlightenment in their readers.
• After the death of his close friend Todo Yoshitada, who had a passion for poetry,
Bash dedicated his life to writing haiku.
• Bash eventually became a Zen priest. He gave up all his possessions and
traveled on pilgrimages with fellow priests and poets.
• The poems he wrote during his journeys explore themes of beauty, loneliness,
and suffering.
Working in small groups, discuss the information you learned in the Build Background
section. Based on this information, what insights might you expect to gain from the three
haiku you are about to read?

Read to learn about Bash’s observations and thoughts on the changing of seasons.
134
Literary Element Haiku
Japanese haiku is a poetic form consisting of one, three-line stanza. A line is the
basic unit of a poem. It consists of a row of words. The length of a line, which is
determined by the number of words and syllables in it, varies depending on the form
of poem that an author creates. A stanza is a group of lines that form a larger unit
within a poem. A poem may have one or more stanzas, depending on the poetic
form chosen. In a haiku, ideally, the first and third lines contain five syllables each, and
the second line contains seven—a total of seventeen syllables in the entire poem. The
goal of an author of haiku is to describe a scene simply and sparingly.
Translators of haiku try to match the intent and spirit of the original poem, but they do
not always follow the strict requirements of the form. As you read the three haiku that
follow, evaluate how closely each of them fulfills the requirements of the form.

Imagery refers to pictures that authors create to evoke emotional responses in their
readers. To create these pictures, authors use sensory details that appeal to sight,
sound, smell, taste, and touch. When you interpret imagery, you are using your
own knowledge of and reaction to sensory details to create meaning out of the
imagery that is presented in a piece of literature.
As you read the three haiku, try to visualize the scenes they depict. Use sensory
details—what you see, feel, hear, taste, or smell—to create a specific picture in your
mind. Record the picture in a graphic organizer like the one below. In the first column,
list an image from the haiku. In the second column, record what you visualize. Then,
in the third column, expand this visualization to a full scene that you picture in your
mind. One possibility for the first poem has been provided for you.
Line Visualization Expansion

It would melt in my hand. Frost is melting in someone’s I see a man outdoors. It is cold.
hand. He is bundled in warm clothing.
He has gathered a lump of frost
and is looking at it as it melts in
his hand.
Three Haiku 135

Three HAIKU
Reading Strategy It would melt
in my hand—
Interpret Imagery What scene do the autumn frost.
you picture in each poem? What
details convey this scene? Write
answers to these questions on the
First day of spring—
lines below. I keep thinking about
the end of autumn.
_______________________________
Spring!
_______________________________ a nameless hill
in the haze.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
Literary Element
Haiku Do you think the translator
READING CHECK
has succeeded in fulfilling the
goal of the haiku form? Why or
why not? Summarize
Review the three poems. What thoughts do you think were
on the speaker’s mind as he viewed the scenes he describes?
_______________________________
Summarize them briefly on the lines below.
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
136
After You Read
Three HAIKU
Connect to the Haiku
Review the images and thoughts you listed during the activity on page 134.
Are your examples similar to or different from the images and thoughts you
encountered in the haiku? How so? Write your answers on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Haiku

The goal of a haiku is to convey an idea or impression within a strict poetic form
using as few words as possible. The one-stanza, three-line, seventeen-syllable
form demands that the poet express his or her ideas without using unnecessary
words. In what ways do the translations meet the requirements of haiku? In what
ways do the translations deviate from the requirements?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Working in small groups, discuss the questions below to interpret the significance of
the imagery in the poems. Write your answers on the lines provided.
What images of autumn and spring appear in the haiku?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
What might these images represent symbolically?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Share the expanded visualizations you created for each poem with your group.
Which one, if any, did you find the most difficult to visualize? Why?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Do you imagine the speaker to be young, middle-aged, or older? Why?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Three Haiku 137

After You Read
Three HAIKU
Concept Map
Concept maps provide a simple, visually helpful way to organize information about
a subject. Review the information you’ve learned about haiku in this lesson. Then
fill in the boxes that surround the subject haiku. Some boxes have been started
or completed for you. Use the information in the first example box as a model for
guiding your thinking in creating entries for the remaining example boxes.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Definition Purpose or Goal Structure
A very brief poem, Japanese

in origin, which describes a
scene and/or experience in
nature.
Haiku
Example Example Example
In the first poem, the speaker In the second poem, In the third poem,
is reminded of death and
rebirth while looking at frost
melting.
138
Learning Objectives
For pages 139–146

In studying these texts, you
objectives:
personification.
Reading: Comparing and
contrasting tone.
After Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes

Heart! We Will Forget Him!
by Emily Dickinson
After Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes and Heart! We Will Forget Him! 139
Before You Read After Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes
In these two short poems, Emily Dickinson explores the physical and emotional pain
of grief and loss. How do people you know respond to personal adversity, such as
financial hardships, a serious illness or death in the family, a broken romance or
friendship, and the like? Do they express their feelings openly or bottle them up? Do
they seek support or retreat into their own worlds? Do they grieve for a long time or
resolve it and move on? Write your thoughts on the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Build Background
• Emily Dickinson never married. She lived a life of solitude in her family’s home.
• Little is known of Dickinson’s private life. Some scholars believe her self-imposed
solitude was the result of loneliness or lovesickness. Others think it is possible
she chose not to conform to social conventions of the time (which dictated that
women should marry and have children) because a solitary life better suited her
personality.
• Dickinson began writing poetry at an early age, but almost all of her poems were
published after she died. Her poems, which differ greatly from the sentimental
poetry of her female contemporaries, focus on questions about life, death, God,
and nature.
• Dickinson’s personal letters shed some light on events that may have inspired
some of her poems. “After Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes” was written at a
time when the danger of Civil War threatened many of Dickinson’s friends. Her
letters from the time she wrote “Heart! We Will Forget Him!” reveal the joy and
frustration associated with great love for a man.
Working with a partner, discuss the information you learned in Build Background and
study the titles of the two poems. Based on what you have learned about Dickinson,
what do you think each poem will be about? Write your predictions on the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Read to learn the insights Dickinson offers about dealing with grief and loss.
140
Literary Element Personification
Personification is a figure of speech in which nonliving objects or things are given
human characteristics. Recognizing a poet’s use of personification can help you
understand what he or she intended to communicate in a poem.
As you read these two poems, look for objects that Dickinson personifies.
Reading Strategy Compare and Contrast Tone

A poet’s tone is his or her attitude toward the subject matter. The tone may be happy,
sad, angry, amused, or any other attitude. Poets communicate tone through stylistic
elements such as word choice, sentence structures, punctuation, and figurative
language. Dickinson often uses a playful tone that belies the serious nature of her
subject matter. As you read, look for details that communicate tone. Fill in the last two
columns of the chart below with answers to the questions in the first column. Some
answers have been provided for you.
“After Great Pain, A Formal

Questions “Heart! We Will Forget Him”
Feeling Comes”
Who is the speaker? Someone who has suffered a
painful loss
Who does the speaker address? The speaker’s heart
What is the subject?
What is the overall tone of the

poem?
What stylistic elements help Word choices: forget, tonight, pray,

create the tone? straight, Haste; Personification:
Heart; Punctuation: Exclamation
marks add intensity. Dashes create
dramatic pauses.
Vocabulary Antonyms
Words that have opposite or nearly opposite meanings are called
Vocabulary
antonyms. For example, the words work and play are antonyms.
Read the vocabulary words and their definitions in the side column ceremonious (serʼ ə mōʼ nē əs) adj. careful to
out loud. Then, for each vocabulary word below, underline the word behave correctly; very formal or polite
beside it that is an antonym. recollect (rekʼ ə lektʼ) v. to remember
ceremonious: stuffy impolite stupor (stooʼ pər) n. a state of extreme tiredness,
recollect: forget recall as if unconscious
stupor: numbness alertness lag (lag) v. to fall behind; to move slowly
lag: go slowly progress
After Great Pain,
A Formal Feeling Comes
Vocabulary After great pain, a formal feeling comes —
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs —
ceremonious (serʼ ə mó nē əs) adj.
careful to behave correctly; very
The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,
formal or polite And Yesterday, or Centuries before?
5 The Feet, mechanical, go round —

Of Ground, or Air, or Ought1—
Literary Element A Wooden way
Regardless grown,
Personification Underline two
examples of personification in the A Quartz contentment, like a stone —
highlighted stanza.
10 This is the Hour of Lead —
Remembered, if outlived,
Reading Strategy As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow —
First — Chill — then Stupor — then the letting go —
Compare and Contrast Tone With
a partner, discuss these questions:
When feet move “mechanically”
in “a wooden way,” are they
moving slowly and stiffly or quickly
and smoothly? What kind of
“contentment” is “like a stone”?
Then, with your answers to these
questions in mind, place a box 1. Here, Ought means “anything,” and is an archaic alternative of aught.
around the set of adjectives below
that best describes the tone of this
stanza. READING CHECK
happy carefree contented
Summarize
numb dazed dispirited Review both poems. Then explain in your own words what each
upset angry outraged one is about.
______________________________________________________
Vocabulary
recollect (rekʼ ə lektʼ) v. to ______________________________________________________
remember
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Vocabulary
stupor (stooʼ pərʼ) n. a state ______________________________________________________
of extreme tiredness, as if
unconscious ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
142
Heart! We will forget him! Literary Element
You and I — tonight!
You may forget the warmth he gave — Personification Why do you think
the speaker addresses her heart?
I will forget the light!
below.
When you have done, pray tell me
That I may straight begin!
_______________________________
Haste! lest1 while you’re lagging
I remember him! _______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
Vocabulary
lag (lag) v. to fall behind; to
move slowly
Reading Strategy
Comparing and Contrasting Tone
What feeling is communicated
in this poem by the addition of
exclamation points? Write your
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
1. Here, lest means “in order to prevent any possibility that.”
Heart! We Will Forget Him! 143

After You Read After Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes
Were the feelings that were expressed in these poems familiar to you? Did you
identify with the attitudes conveyed toward grief and loss? Why or why not?
Review the answers you wrote down for the Connect activity on page 140. Then
answer the above questions on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Personification

Personification can take many different forms. Poets personify objects (Flowers
danced in the gentle breeze), forces of nature (Bolts of lightning announced the
storm’s arrival), and concepts or ideas (Truth won a hard-fought victory). Poets
use personification to present ideas in a creative, memorable way. What examples
of personification did you find in these two poems? What human attributes does
Dickinson give these things? Write your answers on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Compare and Contrast Tone

Share with a partner the answers you wrote down in the Reading Strategy chart
on page 141. Discuss the differences between your charts. Then incorporate your
partner’s insights in your chart, adding or editing the information in your chart as
needed. Use your revised charts to help answer the following questions: What is
the tone of each poem? What stylistic elements help convey the tone? Write your
answers on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
144
Vocabulary
A. Word Meaning Circle the answer that best states the meaning of the
boldfaced vocabulary word in each sentence.
1. The eulogy was given in a ceremonious manner befitting the occasion.
a lacking seriousness c observant of formalities
b casually indifferent d cleverly satirical
2. The child could not recollect where she had put her favorite toy.
a explain c remember
b divulge d reveal
3. A shattering personal tragedy would leave most people in a stupor.

a an angry state c a optimistic frame of mind
b a happy mood d a dazed condition
4. The discouraged candidate was aware that he was lagging in the polls.
a falling behind c making gains
b leading decisively d performing miserably
B. Antonyms On the line after each sentence, write the letter of the word that is
an antonym for the boldfaced vocabulary word.
1. Ticket sales for this season have lagged compared to last year. _________
a escalated c stabilized
b decreased d exceeded expectations
2. The Veterans Day memorial service was a ceremonious affair. _________

a splendid c solemn
b controversial d disrespectful
3. The woman couldn’t recollect the details of her nightmare. ____________

a recall c believe
b forget d contemplate
4. When the patient took the strong medicine, he fell into a stupor. ________
a coma c frenzy
b state of confusion d restful sleep
Pro-and-Con Chart
The chart below provides an opportunity for you to express your own opinions
about the poems you have just studied. It contains statements for you to
complete. Statements in the first column should be completed with opinions that
support some aspect of either or both of the poems. Statements in the second
column should be completed with opinions that criticize some aspect of either
or both of the poems. Complete each statement for which you hold an honest
opinion. If you disagree with or have no opinion about a statement, leave it blank.
After finishing the chart, share your opinions in a class discussion.
Pro Con
The tone of ______________ in _________________ Dickinson could have presented her ideas in
is appropriate for a poem about _______________ _______________________ more convincingly if she
because ______________________________________ had not ________________.
______________________________________________.
I can understand and sympathize with the I was not able to sympathize with the feelings
feelings expressed in __________________________ expressed in _____________________ because
because ______________________________________ ______________________________________________
______________________________________________. ______________________________________________.
I responded more favorably to the feelings I responded less favorably to the feelings
expressed in __________________________________ expressed in _________________________________
because ______________________________________ because ______________________________________
______________________________________________. ______________________________________________.
Dickinson’s use of ________________ in Dickinson’s use of _____________________________
_____________________________was a particularly in ____________________________ was a confusing
effective stylistic element because it ____________ stylistic element because it ____________________
______________________________________________. ______________________________________________.
146
Learning Objectives
For pages 147–154

objectives:
metaphor and simile.
Reading: Previewing and
reviewing.
i am offering this poem by Jimmy Santiago Baca
I Am Offering This Poem 147

Before You Read
i am offering this poem

Connect to the Poem
In the poem you are about to read, the speaker has few possessions and can give
little to others. The speaker believes, however, that the poem he or she is offering is a
precious gift that can feed the body and the spirit.
Though unable to give a tangible gift, the speaker offers something else: love. Would
you be content with such a gift, or would you prefer one that you can see, touch,
hear, smell, or taste? Complete the sentences below with your thoughts on the
advantages of both types of gift.
A gift of love is valuable to me because __________________________________________________________ .
I would prefer tangible gifts because ____________________________________________________________ .
Build Background
• American poet Jimmy Santiago Baca did not learn to read or write until he was
twenty-one.
• He taught himself to read while serving a five-year sentence in a maximum-
security prison.
• Baca explains, “In a place like prison where all sensory enjoyment was deprived,
language became more real, more tangible than bars or concrete.”
• Baca has Chicano and Apache heritage. In the poem you are about to read, he
uses the term hogan, which is a traditional Native American structure. It is a
windowless building that has a fire in the center and a hole in the roof for the
smoke to pass through.
Think about what you have just read here and in the “Connect to the Poem” section.
Now, on the lines below, write down your thoughts on how Baca’s environment may
have affected his poetry.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

As you read, think about the power that words can have. How would you express
your love to someone if you had nothing to give that person except words?
148
Literary Element Metaphor and Simile
You can compare two things by using a simile or a metaphor. A simile is a figure
of speech that connects two dissimilar objects or ideas using the words like or as.
A metaphor does the same thing, but without the words like or as. “My sister
screeched like an express train” is a simile; “My sister was a tornado of anger” is a
metaphor. In the next two minutes, think of a simile and a metaphor about the shoes
you are wearing. Write each on the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Preview and Review

Previewing is looking over a selection before you read it to see what you already
know and what you need to find out. Reviewing is going over what you have already
read to remember important points.
• When previewing a poem, ask yourself questions like these: How is the poem
arranged on the page? Are certain words or phrases repeated? If so, why might
they be important?
• When reviewing a poem, ask yourself questions like these: What is the main idea
of this poem? Who is the speaker of the poem? Do I understand all the words in
it? If I don’t, should I check a dictionary or ask for help?
Vocabulary Connotation and Denotation

When you look up a word in the dictionary, you find its Vocabulary
denotation, which means its literal meaning. Words also have
connotations, which are unspoken or unwritten meanings mature (mə choorʼ) adj. having reached a desired
state
associated with them that go beyond their literal meanings.
Connotations may be positive, negative, or neutral. Read the dense (dens) adj. thick
vocabulary words and definitions in the side column aloud. Then
complete the connotation chart below, supplying at least one
word for each space. Some answers have already been completed
for you.
Positive Neutral Negative
smell odor, stink, stench
mature, experienced aged
dense

Literary Element I am offering this poem to you,
since I have nothing else to give.
Metaphor and Simile In lines 1–10, Keep it like a warm coat
underline at least one simile and
when winter comes to cover you,
circle one metaphor. How do these
affect the message of the poem?
5 or like a pair of thick socks
the cold cannot bite through,
I love you,
_______________________________
I have nothing else to give you,
_______________________________ so it is a pot full of yellow corn
10 to warm your belly in winter,
_______________________________ it is a scarf for your head, to wear
over your hair, to tie up around your face,
_______________________________
I love you,
_______________________________
Keep it, treasure this as you would
15 if you were lost, needing direction,
_______________________________ in the wilderness life becomes when mature;
and in the corner of your drawer,
tucked away like a cabin or hogan
Vocabulary in dense trees, come knocking,
mature (mə choorˊ) adj. having
reached a desired state
Vocabulary
dense (dens) adj. thick
Read and Discuss
Discuss lines 1–13 with a

partner. Is the language in these
lines simple or complicated?
How does the language affect
the poet’s message?
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
150
I Am Offering This Poem
20 and I will answer, give you directions, Vocabulary Skill

and let you warm yourself by this fire,
Connotation and Denotation
rest by this fire, and make you feel safe,
Think of words that mean the
I love you, same thing as mature and that
It’s all I have to give, also have positive connotations.
25 and all anyone needs to live, Write at least two of these on the
and to go on living inside, lines below.
when the world outside
______________________________
no longer cares if you live or die;
remember, ______________________________
30 I love you.
______________________________
Reading Strategy
Preview and Review Reread lines
24 and 25. How do these change
the overall meaning of the poem?
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK
_______________________________
Summarize
State the main idea of the poem in your own words. _______________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

After You Read
Connect to the Poem
Go back to the Connect to the Poem activity that you completed on page 148.
Do you think the speaker of the poem you just read would agree with your
opinion? Why or why not? Use examples from the poem to support your answer.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Metaphor and Simile

Baca uses similes and metaphors throughout this poem to describe the speaker’s
love and concern. Think about how these figures of speech make the poem more
powerful. Then fill out the chart below.
Figure of Speech Simile or Metaphor? Reason It Is Powerful

“like a warm coat” simile The speaker wants to comfort and protect
the loved one.
Reading Strategy Preview and Review

Look back at the Reading Strategy section on page 149. Think about what you
learned by previewing and reviewing this poem. Complete the sentences below.
When I previewed the poem, I found out ______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
When I reviewed the poem, I remembered that _________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
152
After You Read
Vocabulary
A. Word Meaning Look back at pages 150–151 to find context clues for the
vocabulary words below. Record your findings in the charts. The first one has
been completed for you. Check your answers in a dictionary if you need to.
Word: Textual Clues: The poem mentions Meaning: a place

wilderness being lost and needing direction in the where nobody lives
wilderness. The word “wild” is part of
▲
▲
this word.
Word: mature Textual Clues: Meaning:

▲
▲
Word: dense Textual Clues: Meaning:
▲
B. Connotation and Denotation Remember that a word’s denotation is

its dictionary definition. A word’s connotation is the thoughts and feelings
associated with that word—positive, neutral, or negative. Read the pairs of
words below and explain whether each word has a positive, negative, or
neutral connotation. Give reasons for your answers.
1. wilderness wasteland
“Wasteland” has a more negative connotation than “wilderness” because “wasteland” sounds like a place
__________________________________________________________________________________________
where nothing useful can grow.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. mature ripe old
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. dense lush
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

After You Read
Simile and Metaphor Charts
The charts below can help you remember the difference between a simile and
a metaphor. Use examples from “I Am Offering This Poem” to complete both
charts. Then create your own examples of similes and metaphors.
Simile
▲ ▲ ▲
Dictionary Definition Examples from the Poem Examples I Created
Metaphor
▲ ▲ ▲
Dictionary Definition Examples from the Poem Examples I Created
154
Learning Objectives
For pages 155–162

objectives:
repetition.
Reading: Drawing
conclusions about meaning.
Horses Grazeby Gwendolyn Brooks
Horses Graze 155

Before You Read
Horses Graze
Connect to the Poem
What comes to your mind when you think about horses and cows? What words
would you use to describe them? Fill in the word web below with your thoughts
about cows and horses. Use your imagination. Expand the web by adding more
circles if you need more space.
Cows and Horses
Build Background
As you read the following information, underline the facts that you think are the
most important.
• Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
• Many of her poems are based on people who lived in her neighborhood on
Chicago’s South Side.
• The title of this poem refers to the way horses—and cows—eat grass and other
plants growing in the field.
• Horses and cows are hoofed, plant-eating mammals.
• Wild horses and cows appear in cave paintings from the Ice Age.
• For thousands of years, horses and cows have been domesticated, or tamed and
adapted to live with people.
• Humans have used horses in warfare, for farming, and for transportation.
• Humans have raised cows for their milk, meat, and hides.

In this poem, Gwendolyn Brooks gives her impressions of cows and horses. Read to
find out what she thinks we can learn about life by observing the animals around us.
156
Literary Element Repetition
Repetition is a literary device in which sounds, words, and phrases are repeated.
Writers use repetition to call attention to important ideas or to create rhythm.
Repetition can also increase the unity of a work. Read the poem aloud with a partner.
Notice the examples of repetition as you read. Discuss what ideas or points you think
Brooks is trying to emphasize through repetition.

When you draw a conclusion, you use several pieces of information to make a
general statement about people, places, events, and ideas. Drawing conclusions can
help you understand an author’s meaning. To draw conclusions, you need to pay
attention to the details in the author’s work. Then use those details to make a general
statement about what you think the author is trying to say. As you read, use the chart
below to record three important details from the poem. The first detail has been
completed for you. Leave the Conclusion rectangle blank until later.
Detail Detail Detail

Cows and horses graze
unaware.
▲ ▲ ▲
My Conclusion About Meaning
Vocabulary Usage
One way to understand the meaning of a new word is to think
Vocabulary
about its part of speech and how that part of speech is used in
sentences. Look at the definitions and parts of speech for the oblivion (ə bliʼ v ən) n. a lack of awareness or
words in the minor column of this page. Say each word aloud. memory
Then complete the sentences below with the correct word. Read
crest (krest) n. a peak or high point
each sentence carefully to understand how each word is used.
affirmation (a fər mʼ shən) n. a positive statement
She seemed to be in a state of ___________ about the or confirmation
upcoming exam.
The high-jumper was at the ___________ of her career when she

injured her knee.
The contract only required the ___________ of all participants before

it was finalized.
Horses Graze 157

Horses Graze
Cows graze.
Horses graze.
Literary Element They
eat
Repetition What does the
repetition of eat and bowed say 5 eat
about the animals in the poem? eat.
Why do you think Brooks is Their graceful heads
drawing attention to these words? are bowed
Check the box next to the best bowed
answer.
10 bowed
■ The words help to stress the
steady focus of the horses and in majestic1 oblivion.
cows. They are nobly oblivious
■ The words show that the to your follies,
animals are hungry and in your inflation,2
competition with each other 15 the knocks and nettles3 of administration.
for food.
They
■ The poet is mostly trying to
create rhythm with her words. eat
eat
eat.
20 And at the crest of their brute satisfaction,
Read and Discuss with wonderful gentleness, in affirmation,
they lift their clean calm eyes and they lie down
Read this section aloud with a and love the world.
partner. Reread the definition
They speak with their companions.
for the vocabulary word,
affirmation. Then discuss with
25 They do not wish that they were otherwhere.
your partner what you think Perhaps they know that creature feet may press
these lines tell you about only a few earth inches at a time,
the animals. What are they that earth is anywhere earth,
affirming? Write your response that an eye may see,
on the lines below.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
1. Here, majestic means “a quality of dignified greatness.”

2. Inflation is an economic term for rising prices. It can also mean “self-importance.”
3. A knock is a sharp blow. A nettle is a plant that releases a substance that irritates
the skin. It can also mean anything that irritates.
158
Horses Graze
30 wherever it may be,

the Immediate arc, alone, of life, of love.
In Sweden,
China,
Afrika,
35 in India or Maine
the animals are sane; Reading Strategy
they know and know and know
there’s ground below Meaning What do the details
and sky on this page tell you about the
up high. meaning of the poem? Write your
response on the lines below.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK
Clarify
What does the speaker mean by saying in line 25 that the
animals “do not wish that they were otherwhere”?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Horses Graze 159

After You Read
Horses Graze
Connect to the Poem
Look back at the Word Web on page 156. Add new circles to the Web, and write
about any new ideas or feelings you might have about horses and cows.
Literary Element Repetition

In a poem, repetition can stress the importance of certain words and phrases.
It also can add a musical quality to the poem by creating rhythm. In the chart
below, list three examples of repetition from the poem. Then explain what each
example added to the poem. Ask yourself if the repetition added to the overall
meaning of the poem.
Example of Repetition How it Adds to the Poem

When writers do not directly state the meaning of a work, you need to examine
details to help you come to your own conclusion. Look back over the Reading
Strategy Chart you made on page 157. Reread the important details you entered
in the chart. What conclusion about the poem can you draw from those details?
Fill in the “My Conclusion” part of the chart.
160
Horses Graze
After You Read
Vocabulary
A. Word Meaning Circle the letter of the answer that best fits the meaning of
the boldfaced vocabulary word in each sentence.
1. During the vacation, they enjoyed a pleasant oblivion about work.
a enthusiasm c forgetfulness
b fearfulness d awareness
2. It took a hard morning’s climb to reach the crest of the mountain.

a top c side
b base d shape
3. The witness’s affirmation of his alibi helped him prove his innocence.
a denial c study
b grasp d confirmation
B. Word Usage Respond to these statements to help you explore the meanings
of vocabulary words from the selection. Write your responses on the
lines below.
1. Recall a time when you found yourself in a state of oblivion.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Identify something that might cause problems if it reached a crest.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Explain one way a person might show affirmation.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Horses Graze 161

Horses Graze
After You Read
Word Web
A word web can help you to picture what an author is trying to say in a literary
work. Reread the poem, noticing how Brooks described horses and cows.
Then, in your own words, fill in each oval in the web below with a quality or
characteristic Brooks used to describe the animals. One oval has been filled in for
you. When you have completed your word web, use the sentence frame below
to sum up what you see as the speaker’s essential view of animals.
The speaker sees animals as _______________________________________________________________________.
noble
Animals
162
Learning Objectives
For pages 163–168

In studying the following
text, you will focus on the
following objectives:
alliteration.
Reading: Analyzing sensory
details.
Miss Rosie
by Lucille Clifton
Miss Rosie 163

Before You Read
Connect to the Poem

Miss Rosie
Before you read the poem, think about the clues you use to judge someone. What
makes you decide whether or not you think you will like someone when you first
meet? Respond to the following statements by circling your answer. Discuss your
responses with a partner.
1. A person’s physical appearance is just as important as what is on the inside.
agree disagree not sure
2. You can tell a person’s true identity by how they dress and talk.
3. Once you decide what someone is really like, you probably should not change
your opinion.
Build Background
• Lucille Clifton’s poems show how complex life can be. They often focus on the
struggles of people who live in the inner city.
• Clifton’s own family history as an African American was tragic. This helped her to
write about life’s painful experiences. She also offers hope about our ability to
survive and overcome.
• In her poems, Clifton examines the roles we have in life. We play roles as a friend,
employee, or volunteer. Some roles are chosen, and some are not. We cannot
choose our parents, for example, or where we are born.
• Clifton shows how our identities change as our roles change. In the poem, poverty
has given Miss Rosie a new identity.
Without rereading the above information, write down the main idea in your own
words on the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

In this poem, the author Lucille Clifton vividly describes the physical appearance
of someone she knows very well. As you read the poem, notice how Miss Rosie’s
identity has changed over time.
164
Literary Element Alliteration
Alliteration refers to the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
The third line of “Miss Rosie” is an example of alliteration because it repeats the
s sound.
“sitting surrounded by the smell”
Alliteration can stress the meaning of certain words and give the poem rhythm. It can
help you picture what an author is trying to say. With a partner, take turns reading the
poem aloud. Underline the repeated consonant sounds, and discuss with your partner
ways in which Clifton’s use of alliteration affects the poem.
Reading Strategy Analyze Sensory Details

Sensory details are words that appeal to a reader’s senses of taste, touch, sight,
hearing, and smell. These details stir memories of these senses in the reader. This
helps a reader picture what is being described. It also helps the reader connect to
a literary work, like a poem. As you read, ask yourself what sensory details Clifton is
using and the sense (or senses) they affect. Then use the chart below to record the
sensory details in the poem and the senses they appeal to. One detail has been filled
in for you.
Sensory Detail Sense(s)

“wrapped up like garbage” sight, smell
Miss Rosie 165

Miss Rosie when i watch you
Reading Strategy
wrapped up like garbage
Analyze Sensory Details To what sitting, surrounded by the smell
senses are the details in lines 1–4
of too old potato peels
directed? What is the overall effect
of these sensory details? Write your
5 or
answers on the lines below. when i watch you
in your old man’s shoes
_______________________________
with the little toe cut out
sitting, waiting for your mind
_______________________________ 10 like next week’s grocery
i say
_______________________________ when i watch you
you wet brown bag of a woman
_______________________________
who used to be the best looking gal in georgia
_______________________________ 15 used to be called the Georgia Rose
i stand up
_______________________________ through your destruction
i stand up
_______________________________
_______________________________
Literary Element
Alliteration How are lines 12–13 READING CHECK
an example of alliteration? Write
your answer on the line below. Predict
How do you think the speaker in this poem will handle problems
_______________________________ in her own life? What cue helps you to make this prediction?
Write your answers on the lines below.
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
166
After You Read
Connect to the Poem

Miss Rosie
Review your answers to the statements on page 164. How has your reading of
the poem affected your opinions? Write your response on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Alliteration

Alliteration is one way that poets can emphasize both sound and meaning.
What effect does Clifton’s use of alliteration have in this poem? Write your answer
on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Analyze Sensory Details

Look back at the Reading Strategy chart you created on page 165. Reread the
list of sensory details used by Clifton to describe Miss Rosie. What is the overall
effect on you of Clifton’s description of Miss Rosie? Write your answer using the
The overall effect of Clifton’s description of Miss Rosie is __________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Miss Rosie 167

After You Read
Conclusion Chart
Miss Rosie
When you draw a conclusion, you use several pieces of information to make a
general statement about people, places, events, and ideas. Drawing conclusions
can help you understand an author’s meaning. To draw conclusions, you need
to pay attention to the details in the author’s work. Then use those details to
make a general statement about what you think the author is trying to say. Use
the chart below to organize the details Clifton provides about Miss Rosie today
and Miss Rosie long ago. Then use these details to draw a conclusion about the
meaning of the poem.
Miss Rosie today Miss Rosie long ago

Details Details
My conclusion
168
Learning Objectives
For pages 169–184, 312

objectives:
Reading: Analyzing cultural
context.
Analyzing informational text.
We Are Family
by Chang-rae Lee
We Are Family 169

Before You Read
We Are Family
In this personal essay, author Chang-rae Lee discusses issues of identity. What factors
in your life influence your identity? Are you more sure of who you are now than you
were last year? How do you think your identity will evolve as you grow older? Write
your answers to these questions on the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Build Background
• Chang-rae Lee and his family emigrated to the United States from Korea in 1968.
• Despite his successful career in the United States as a writer and a teacher of
writing at Princeton, because of the stereotypes associated with Asian Americans,
Lee feels like an outsider in the country he has called home since he was nearly
three years old.
• Lee’s unfamiliarity with Korean traditions and difficulty with the language initially
make him feel that he was not truly connected to his Korean heritage.
Based on what you have just read, note on the lines below what made Chang-rae
Lee feel like an outsider in both the United States and in Korea.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Read the following article to discover how Chang-rae Lee discovered his identification
with his Korean family.
170
When you analyze cultural context you consider the customs, beliefs, values, arts,
and intellectual activities of a group of people. This knowledge is used to better
understand the theme or message an author wishes to present in a piece of literature.
For this selection, consider the cultural characteristics of the author’s experience in
both Korea and the United States to understand the essay’s cultural context.
To practice analyzing cultural contexts, record facts about a culture of which you are
a member—perhaps your family, your friends, or your heritage—in the web below.
Note which culture you are analyzing in the central circle, perhaps “my family” or “my
friends,” and in the surrounding circles write down examples of that culture’s customs,
beliefs, values, arts, and intellectual activities.
My Culture:
Note Taking
This selection will guide you to take notes, which will help you to understand and
Skill Description
Reread Look back over the page you have read
Record Write down your answers to the questions you

are given
Recap Briefly review in your own words
Summarize Briefly state the main points
We Are Family 171

We Are Family
Read and Discuss During a visit to his native South Korea, novelist
Read aloud Lee’s description
Chang-rae Lee learns that living abroad and
of the gravesite. As you read,
underline the details that give
losing his language are no barriers to belonging.
the site a “worn-out quality.”
The last time I stood before my grandfather’s grave, in the
spring of 1989, it had been newly dug. My uncle had driven my
father and me to Yong-In City, one hour south of Seoul, so that
we could pay our respects. I remember the fog burning off to
Reading Strategy reveal the new season bursting forth in blooms of wild cherry
Analyze Cultural Context How and persimmon all around us on the hillside. And yet, there was
does Lee react to his father’s a worn-out quality at the site. The burial ground was a three-
behavior at the grave? How might meter-wide amphitheater carved out of the steep face of the
this experience make him feel hillside. The fresh earth was laid bare, roughly cut roots jutting
removed from Korean culture?
out from the sheer wall of dirt. In the center of the dugout, the
mound beneath which my grandfather was buried showed the
_______________________________ first wispy strands of baby grass. There was no headstone as yet.
My father was on the verge of tears, finally seeing where
_______________________________
his father lay. I wanted to feel the same pinch of loss, the same
_______________________________ onrush of sadness. But I couldn’t. Our family left Korea for
America when I wasn’t yet three, and since then I’d spent
_______________________________ perhaps five hours total in my grandfather’s presence. All
I knew of him was that he’d lost his hardware business in
_______________________________
Pyongyang to the communists on the eve of the Korean War.
_______________________________ And when my father knelt low and bowed respectfully, the
image I saw of my grandfather’s face was drawn not from any
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
172
We Are Family
Note Taking
1. Three Korean cities mentioned on this page are ___________________________________________________ ,
_________________________________________ , and ________________________________________________ .
2. One word that I didn’t know on this page is _____________________________________________________ .
It means ____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
3. I learned that Koreans _______________________________________________________ as a sign of respect
to their deceased family members.
4. Recap in your own words Lee’s initial reaction to his father’s tears at his grandfather’s gravesite.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Summarize below what you’ve learned about Korea and Korean culture on this page.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
We Are Family 173

We Are Family
Reading Strategy memory of life but from the black-and-white picture of him that
hung prominently in my childhood home.
Analyze Cultural Context What I pictured that image once more when I visited his grave in
does Lee learn about Korean
May 2003. I was in Korea to visit my family, particularly to see
culture from the headstone? Why
does this seem so remarkable to
my ailing maternal grandmother, and to do some research for
Lee? my next novel. I had come once again with my uncle, a professor
of business, but this time with his two sons as well, one of whom
_______________________________
was just back from a year of language study in San Diego. Our
mood as we climbed up the hill was expansive and lighthearted,
_______________________________ and it seemed we were more on a picnicking hike than a dutiful
visit to our ancestral dead. But as we ascended the path to the
_______________________________ grave, the talk quieted.
Finally, at the end of a narrow deer path, there came an
_______________________________
opening, and we emerged onto the same burial landing I had
_______________________________ visited 14 years ago. To my surprise, there were two mounds
instead of one and now a black granite headstone centered
_______________________________ between, carved on the faces and sides with Chinese characters.
I asked about the second mound and my uncle said that my
_______________________________
grandmother and stepgrandmother had been unearthed from
_______________________________
their resting places in Seoul and moved here some years before
to join my grandfather.
“What is all the writing?” I asked. We were crouched by the
black slab of rock.
“It’s your grandfather’s name. Your grandmothers’ names
are here,” he said, pointing them out.
“And what about all these other characters?”
Read and Discuss
“These are his children. Here’s your father. Here are your
Discuss with a partner what the
other uncles, then me, and your aunt. And here are the names of
listing on the headstone means our spouses. This one is your mother’s.”
to Lee. Why is it important to “My mother’s?”
him? I touched the unfamiliar language sharply carved into the
stone, almost saying her name aloud. She died a few years after
____________________________
my grandfather did, of stomach cancer.
____________________________
“I didn’t know it was done this way.”
“Oh yes,” my uncle said. “Everyone is here.”
____________________________
____________________________ Learning to Belong

I kept thinking back on that phrase during the rest of my
____________________________
stay in Seoul: Everyone is here. As uttered by my uncle, it was
____________________________ a simple answer to a simple question, a matter of fact and a
literal record. And so it was. And yet, as I thought about the
____________________________ notion, it became more than just a straightforward record of my
____________________________
174
We Are Family
Note Taking
1. The most interesting fact I learned on this page is ________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. One word that I didn’t know on this page is _____________________________________________________
It means ____________________________________________________________________________________
3. One thing that I learned on this page is that Koreans use __________________________________________
______________________________________________________________ in addition to the Korean alphabet.
4. The most descriptive use word on this page is ___________________________________________________
Lee uses it to describe ________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
In this instance it means ______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Recap in your own words what you learned by reading this page of text. ____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Summarize below what you’ve recorded on this notes page:
Most Interesting Fact Unfamiliar Word Most Descriptive Word One Thing I Learned
We Are Family 175

We Are Family
ancestors. For I realized how differently than I my uncle and his

sons viewed that dark stone, how the names to them were just
an ordinary fact of their lives, like the ancient arrangement of
the planets. To me, raised away in the States, the listing seemed
more remarkable than that, a kind of supernatural alliance,
extraordinary and wonderful.
Reading Strategy For in our immigrant family of four, we were all we ever
had. In the town where we lived (a small northern suburb of
Analyze Cultural Context How
does Lee’s family react to feelings New York City), we were one of a handful of nonwhite families.
of being cultural outsiders during Every great once in a while, there would be an uncle or aunt
their first few years in America? passing through New York, and they’d stay with us a few days
Check all that apply. or a week. In the evenings, my parents would chatter at the
■ They often had people over for dinner table with special enthusiasm about all the reports from
dinner. Seoul. My parents were generally happy, easygoing people, but
■ They felt flustered. in their first years in America, I would say they didn’t always
allow themselves to experience many emotions, perhaps because
■ They didn’t allow themselves
they felt outside of and flustered by all the strangeness of their
to get emotional.
new world. And it was only when “home” made its return that
they seemed to truly liven up.
In later years, my parents considered America to be their
only home, and although they possessed the means to do so by
the time my mother died in 1991, our family had made only four
Read and Discuss visits to Korea in 23 years. Even as a serious teen, I didn’t mind
the summer trips we took as a family. Korea was a lot better
Discuss with a partner what than, say, a car trip to family friends, not so much because of any
the seating arrangement at the
reconnecting with the family but for the food.
family dinners shows about the
roles of men and women in Best of all, were the grand meals we’d have at our relatives’
Korean culture. cramped apartments or houses, the dozens of dishes completely
covering the low tables they’d set out for us—the men sitting
____________________________ at the main table, the women lodged at one nearer the kitchen.
In the fog of my jet-lagged mind, the only things that made
____________________________
sense to me amid the superfast talk, which I mostly couldn’t
____________________________ understand, were all the bracing flavors, the radish kimchi and
marinated raw crab and sesame-leaf pancakes. Even my father
____________________________ seemed somewhat overwhelmed by the rush of native language,
occasionally asking people to repeat what they’d said.
____________________________ And this is how I found myself on my recent trip, out
with my father’s side of the family at a popular barbecue
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
176
We Are Family
Note Taking
1. The most interesting word on this page is _______________________________________________________
because _____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
2. One word that I didn’t know on this page is _____________________________________________________
It is ________________________________________________________________________________________ .
3. One thing that I learned on this page is that _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
4. Recap in your own words what you learned about the immigrant experience during the early years in a
new country.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Summarize the experience of the traditional Korean meals Lee experienced.
Food Seating Location

• radish kimchi • low tables
We Are Family 177

We Are Family
restaurant, straining to understand everyone’s questions

about my family and work. I could say only a few words in
response, my speaking ability in Korean not as developed as
my aural comprehension. After the initial assurances that I
could tolerate spicy food and a recounting of the names and
ages of my daughters, I naturally retreated into the customary
table rituals of the barbecue. I attended to grilling the meat and
whole cloves of garlic, readying the bean paste and the fragrant
shoots of chrysanthemum, cupping the fresh lettuce leaf to wrap
all of it in. While the others ate heartily and engaged in their
lively conversations, I was happy for their company and just as
pleased simply to sit there and eat, gleaning what talk I could.
There was no awkwardness due to the differences of our
language or the brief time we’d spent together during our lives.
Somehow all was fine. They were family. There was a certain
ease in the gathering that I have rarely felt in my life. There was
a level of comfort drawn, I think, from not having to explain
Reading Strategy myself in the customary ways. I wasn’t defined by the cultural
and personal stereotypes that are part of my “regular” existence
Analyze Cultural Context How
does Lee feel he is viewed in as a teacher and writer and maybe (if there really is such a
American society? How is it person) as an Asian American.
different from how he is viewed by I kept thinking how plainly, deeply satisfying it was to be
his family? back among my cousins and aunts and uncles. With them, at
least, I was not a provisional “I,” not an ethnic, or outsider, or an
_______________________________ artist or intellectual, but simply someone whose connections to
others were clear and traceable and real.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK
_______________________________ Clarify
What positive memories does Lee have of his visits to Korea as
_______________________________ a teen?
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
178
We Are Family
Note Taking
1. Lee discusses some of the foods that he eats on his trips to Korea. Fill out the web with some of the
different foods he mentions.
Korean Foods
2. The meal Lee has when he visits Korea as an adult is different than those he remembers from his
childhood because ___________________________________________________________________________
3. Recap in your own words the customary rituals of the Korean barbecue.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Summarize below what you’ve learned in the article thus far:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
We Are Family 179

We Are Family
Keep the Family Together

The next night, I went to my maternal aunt’s house south of
the Han River, where my grandmother Halmoni was staying.
She was my only living grandparent, in her late 80s, and from
recent reports, not doing terribly well. Her back was finally
giving way, and she wasn’t very mobile; my cousin told me she
sometimes crawled to the bathroom rather than ask anyone
for help.
I was nervous about seeing Halmoni in a bad state, not only
for the sadness of such a sight but for the sake of her own pride.
I almost wished I could have simply telephoned her my wishes
of good health and love. When I rang the bell of my aunt’s
house, a young cousin greeted me and led me inside. My two
aunts were busy back in the kitchen making final preparations
for dinner. My cousin and I sat down in the living room. Before I
could say anything, my aunts came out, both wiping their hands
on their aprons. We all hugged each other, then my younger
aunt asked her son where Halmoni was.
Reading Strategy My cousin said he’d go look for our grandmother upstairs,
Analyze Cultural Context Based
but then Halmoni cleared her throat in the next room, effectively
on Lee’s account, how do Koreans announcing herself. She came in, not crawling at all but walking
care for elderly family members? with slowed, careful steps, her hunched back bent down almost
How is this different from how the to 90 degrees. She wrapped her arms around me, her face
elderly are cared for in the United pressed into my chest, hardly taller now with her fallen posture
States? than my six-year-old daughter. I could smell the faint almondy
oiliness of her hair. And as much as I didn’t want to think of her
_______________________________ as frail, she most clearly was, her hold of me like the cling of
someone straining to grab on more than to hug. Soon enough,
_______________________________
we were sitting together on the sofa, her hands cupping mine,
_______________________________ gently kneading them just as she had often done to my sister
and me as children.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
180
We Are Family
Note Taking
1. Lee’s grandmother, ___________________ , lives __________________________________________________
2. On this page, Lee discusses seeing his grandmother after many years. Fill out the chart below with
examples of Lee’s grandmother’s actions and what they show about her character.
Action Characteristic
She will crawl to the bathroom instead of asking
for help.
She has physical challenges, but struggles to

remain active.
3. What are Lee’s concerns for his grandmother?
4. Summarize Lee’s experiences on his most recent trip to Korea up to this point. Explain how these
experiences affect him.
We Are Family 181

We Are Family
“It’s too far for you to come,” she said. “It’s good you didn’t
try to bring your family. You yourself shouldn’t have bothered.”
“It’s no bother.”
My cousin piped in, “Halmoni, he came over to see you,
you know.”
“Even more reason,” she said, though half-smiling. She
asked earnestly, “Are you tired?”
“I’m fine.”
“You must be hungry.”
“Not so much.”
She called out to the kitchen, telling her daughters that I
needed to eat right away. My younger aunt came out and said
she could set the table, that we didn’t have to wait for the men to
arrive (which was of course possible, though an impossibility).
“Really,” I told her. “I want to wait.”
She nodded and went back to the kitchen. Halmoni made
Reading Strategy a raspy sound in her throat at me, a distinctive Korean mother-
style scold, the sound of which contains just the pitch to make
Analyze Cultural Context Lee one feel at once guilty and beloved.
says that the sound Halmoni “Are you feeling well these days?” I asked, having practiced
makes is distinctly Korean. What the phrase (in Korean) on the subway ride.
is this sound intended to do? Can “Sometimes I have a little trouble with my back. But not
you think of a sound or gesture today. Your father is in good health?”
from your own culture that has a “Yes.”
similar intention? “You visit him regularly?”
“I try to.”
_______________________________ “You must do so always,” she said, tapping my hand for
emphasis. “Keep the family together.” She paused. “And your
_______________________________ stepmother, she is well, too?”
“Yes.”
_______________________________ Halmoni nodded.
“That’s good,” she said. “It’s how it should be.”
_______________________________ She was staring right into my eyes, gazing, I’m sure, at
the remnants of her first child, my mother, the only one, with
_______________________________ any mercy, who would precede her to the grave. I pictured my
mother’s black granite headstone back in New York, and then,
_______________________________ too, my paternal grandfather’s stone, and then Halmoni’s and
my father’s and even my own, all the written names, cast wide.
_______________________________
_______________________________ READING CHECK

_______________________________
Clarify
During his 2003 trip to South Korea, Lee learned many things about
_______________________________
his family and what it means to be part of a family. How did Lee’s
interaction with Halmoni solidify the lessons he learned?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
182
We Are Family
Note Taking
1. What did Lee feel was an impossibility even though his aunt suggested it?
2. Use the chart to list the order of events during Lee’s trip to Korea in 2003.
Lee visits his grandfather’s grave with his uncle and cousin.
3. Recap, in your own words, Halmoni’s directives to Lee.
4. Use the sequence chart above to write a brief summary of what Lee realizes on his trip to Korea.
We Are Family 183

After You Read
We Are Family
Look back at the sentences you wrote on page 170 about the factors that
influence identity. Now write about the factors that influenced Chang-rae Lee’s
identity in the United States versus those that influenced it in Korea.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Recognizing the cultural context of a text can help you to better understand the
theme or message of the author. Consider the cultural context in “We Are Family.”
Then answer the questions below.
1. Why do you think Lee is more comfortable in the company of his Korean
relatives than he might feel in the United States?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Lee comments that he does not have to explain himself to his relatives. Why
do you think he feels the need to explain himself in the United States?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. How does Lee describe family meals in Korea versus family meals in America?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

184
Learning Objectives
For pages 185–204, 313

objectives:
Literary Study: Comparing
across genres. Analyzing
rhyme and rhyme scheme.
about theme.
Dream Boogie and Motto

by Langston Hughes
—Dizzy Gillespie—
Explorer of New Sounds from Giants of Jazz
by Studs Terkel
Playing Jazz by Wynton Marsalis
Dream Boogie and Motto/Dizzy Gillespie, Explorer of New Sounds from Giants of Jazz/Playing Jazz 185
Comparing Literature Dream Boogie and Motto
Dizzy Gillespie—Explorer of New Sounds from Giants of Jazz
Playing Jazz
Connect to the Selections
In the selections that follow, you will explore three unique perspectives on the world
of jazz music. Two poems by Langston Hughes use jazz as a springboard to reflect
on the relationship between music and life. A piece of literary nonfiction profiles jazz
great Dizzy Gillespie. Finally, contemporary jazz artist and educator Wynton Marsalis
reflects on his musical craft in a letter to a student. Think about the questions below,
then quickwrite a response to each.
1. What do you know about jazz? ___________________________________________________________________
2. How is jazz music, or other musical forms, similar to poetry? ___________________________________________
Build Background
Read each bulleted entry below. Think about a question you would like to find the
answer to as you read. Jot down your questions on a separate piece of paper.
• Poet Langston Hughes portrayed the African American experience in the
mid-1900s. In his poetry, Hughes expressed his thoughts in a style that displays
a distinctively African American musical quality.
• Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie was celebrated for his co-creation of the popular jazz
style known as bebop.
• Wynton Marsalis began performing jazz when he was just eight years old. Today,
Marsalis is a leading jazz musician, promoter, and educator.

Read to compare how three different writers, working in three different forms,
approach the many worlds of jazz.
Comparing how a similar topic is treated in different literary forms and genres can
provide a broader understanding of the topic. Different forms and genres use diverse
literary elements to convey meaning. As you read, refer back to the following table,
and think about how the three authors use the following features of their genres to
convey different themes about jazz music.
Selection Genre/Form Feature

“Dream Boogie” and “Motto” Poetry Rhyme, Rhythm, and Repetition
“Dizzy Gillespie: Explorer of New Sounds” Literary Nonfiction Facts, Dialogue, Creative Descriptions
“Playing Jazz” Letter Personal Thoughts and Perspectives
186
Literary Element Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme
Rhyme is the repetition of the same sound in two or more words, usually at the
ends of lines in poetry. Rhyme scheme is the pattern that an end rhyme, a rhyme
occurring at the end of a line, forms. End rhymes are typically designated by letters. A
different letter from the alphabet, starting with the letter A, signals each new rhyme.
In a poem with the rhyme scheme designated as ABCB, the second and fourth lines
rhyme. Read the short poem below. On the lines that follow, use letters to designate
the rhyme scheme.
I greeted the day, ____________________________________________________________________________________
With a laugh and a smile. ______________________________________________________________________________
Folks along the way, __________________________________________________________________________________
Heard my laugh from a mile. ___________________________________________________________________________

To make inferences about theme means using your experience and reason to
guess the meaning, or theme, of a literary work based on the text and your own
knowledge. Making inferences, or “reading between the lines,” can increase your
understanding of poems, articles, and other literary forms. You can create a chart
similar to the one below to help you make inferences about theme.
Information From Text What I Know Inference Theme Statement
Vocabulary Usage
One way to understand the meaning of a new word is to think Vocabulary
deferred (di furdʼ) adj. put off, postponed
sentences. Look at the definition and part of speech for the word
in the side column. Read the word and its definition aloud. Then motto (motʼ ō) n. statement of purpose or
write the word on the blank in the sentence below. Reread the personal belief
sentence to understand how the word is used in context.
reason (rēʼ zən) n. purpose for doing something
word What I Know
deferred My ______________ is “work hard, play hard.”

motto The ______________ project would have to be finished later.
reason The ______________ we didn’t play was because we wanted to listen.
Dream Boogie
Good morning, daddy!
Ain’t you heard
Vocabulary The boogie-woogie rumble
deferred (di furdʼ) adj. put off, Of a dream deferred?
postponed
5 Listen closely:
You’ll hear their feet
Beating out and beating out a—
Reading Strategy You think

It’s a happy beat?
Theme Why do you think the
speaker asks if the reader hears a 10 Listen to it closely:
“happy beat,” then goes on to ask Ain’t you heard
if there is “something underneath” something underneath
the beat? like a
_______________________________ What did I say?

_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
Read and Discuss
Read this section of the poem

aloud with a partner. As you
read, underline words and
phrases that strike you as
interesting. Then discuss why
you found the lines interesting.
188
Dream Boogie
15 Sure,
I’m happy!
Take it away!
Hey, pop! Literary Element

Re-bop!1
Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme What
20 Mop! rhyme scheme do you find in this
highlighted section?
Y-e-a-h!
_______________________________
Explain your answer on the lines

below.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
1. Re-bop is another term for “bebop,” a style of jazz characterized by a staccato

two-note phrase that was the music’s trademark.
READING CHECK
Summarize
What is the speaker’s relationship with the music by the end of
the poem?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Dream Boogie 189

Motto
Vocabulary I play it cool
And dig1 all jive2
reason (rēʼ zən) n. purpose for
doing something
That’s the reason
I stay alive.
5 My motto,
Literary Element As I live and learn,
is:
Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme What Dig And Be Dug
are the end rhymes of the second
In Return.
and fourth lines?
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
Vocabulary
motto (motʼ ō) n. statement of
purpose or personal belief
1. Dig is slang for “to like.”

2. Jive may refer to swing music and the dancing performed to it, or the slang hipsters
use in conversations.
Read and Discuss
READING CHECK
Read the second stanza out
loud with a partner. Discuss Summarize
what you think the speaker’s
Explain in your own words the main idea or message of this
motto means. Then, create your
poem.
own personal motto that you
try to live by.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
190
—Dizzy Gillespie—
Explorer of New Sounds from Giants of Jazz
John Birks Gillespie was a lively, impish little boy.
“John Birks! John Birks!” his harried mother called out.
“Where in the world is that child?” Of her nine children, this
youngest one was the most irrepressible.
From the parlor came the sound of a pounding piano. She
peered into the room, chuckled softly to herself, and shook her Comparing Literature
head. The four-year-old had clambered up on the high stool and
What conclusion can you draw
was furiously stabbing at the keyboard with his pudgy little about the young boy’s interest in
fingers. He gloried in the making of loud sounds. music?
All kinds of instruments were strewn about the Gillespie
household, in Cheraw, South Carolina. The father was a _______________________________
bricklayer by day and an amateur musician by night. As leader
of the local band, he was the guardian of the other members’ _______________________________
instruments.
The small boy quickly tired of the piano and scurried toward _______________________________
a clarinet that lay upon the table. He tooted into it a few times.
_______________________________
His large, luminous eyes wandered to the nearby mandolin.
Curious, he plucked at the strings. Now a huge instrument _______________________________
loomed up before him. It rested in a corner, against the wall. It
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
Underline the text that helped you

draw this conclusion.
Dizzy Gillespie, Explorer of New Sounds from Giants of Jazz 191

Dizzy Gillespie, Explorer of New
Sounds from Giants of Jazz
was a bass viol.1 He approached it cautiously. With all his might,

he plucked at a thick, taut string. The vibrating sound startled
him. He jumped back. Soon he was at the piano again, blithely
pounding away. Here he could make the most noise with the
least effort. John Birks Gillespie was acquainting himself with
musical instruments. All kinds. . . .
[At the age of fourteen, John’s] idol was a trumpet player.
There was a radio at the Harringtons. Each week it was a ritual
to listen to the broadcast from New York’s Savoy Ball Room.2
Roy Eldridge’s trumpet was featured with the band of Teddy
Hill. Young Gillespie listened intently to the solos of Eldridge.
This man had his own special style; his horn had an amazingly
wide range, rich colors, and a sharp bite.
“Little Jazz,” as Eldridge was called, had gone beyond the
New Orleans trumpet style as perfected by Louis Armstrong.
Comparing Literature He had discovered in the trumpet its own special quality. He
How does Gillespie explore his
added a new dimension to its playing. Young Gillespie sensed
interests in making music now that this and determined to simulate the style of Eldridge as closely
he is older? as possible. He began to teach himself the technique of this horn
with thoroughness and persistence. At times it was an ordeal
_______________________________ for his mother in her search for peace and quiet. She was not the
only one who moaned, “That noise is driving me crazy.”
_______________________________ The members of the school band practiced wherever they
could. As soon as they were kicked out of one home, they
_______________________________ paraded into another. When the last weary mother cried, “Out,
_______________________________
children. I can’t hear myself think,” they played in the open
field. They blew loudly, joyously, and often off-key.
_______________________________ John Gillespie had a good ear. Soon he was considered the
best trumpet player around. But he had one trouble. He could
_______________________________ play in only one key: B-flat. It was his best-kept secret. That
is, till the day Sonny Matthews returned to town. Sonny was
_______________________________
Cheraw’s best piano player. During his absence, Gillespie had
gained his fine reputation as a trumpeter.
“Where’s this John Birks I been hearin’ about?” Sonny asked
on his first day back. He invited Gillespie to his house for a two-
man jam session.
“What do you wanna play, man?” asked the host.
“Anything. I don’t care,” replied the cocky young trumpeter.
This is an example of literary “Okay, let’s make it ‘Nagasaki.’”
nonfiction. Check off the features
you have noted so far that are
characteristic of literary nonfiction
in this selection.
■ Personal perspectives
■ Rhymes
■ Dialogue
■ Creative descriptions 1. A viol is a stringed instrument with a flat back that is played with a curved bow.
■ Autobiography 2. The Savoy Ball Room, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, was where
many big bands played.
192
Sonny struck up a few chords on the piano. No sound came

from the horn. John Birks Gillespie was mortified. Matthews was
playing in the key of C!
From that moment on, an embarrassed young man with a
horn vowed to learn every key. . . .
Lottie Gillespie moved her family to Philadelphia in 1935.
Though it was a new world for John, he wasn’t one bit afraid. He Read and Discuss
was confident and saucy. Hat cocked to one side, eyes twinkling
mischievously, he was ready for any kind of prank. Here his fun- Read this page out loud with
loving ways earned him the nickname of Dizzy. It stuck. . . . a partner. Talk about the main
In his constant quest for a new style on the trumpet, he idea of the passage, then
identify details that support the
heard a sound that intrigued him. It was 1939. He was working
main idea you choose.
for Edgar Hayes at the World’s Fair in New York. Hayes’s
clarinet player, Rudy Powell, was playing a riff, a repeated ____________________________
phrase, of changing chords. Dizzy rushed to the piano.
“I always go to the piano when I want to try out something ____________________________
new. You see, you can skip around on the piano so easily. You
____________________________
can pick out chords, skip notes, jump intervals. Then you
transpose it for the trumpet.” ____________________________
He played the arrangement over and over. He was excited.
An idea was taking form in his mind. “I realized there could be ____________________________
so much more in music than what everybody else was playing.”
Gillespie knew now there must be some new way of playing ____________________________
the trumpet.
____________________________
Late in 1939, he joined the orchestra of Cab Calloway. There
were some excellent musicians in the band. Among them were ____________________________
Chu Berry at the tenor sax, Hilton Jefferson at the alto, Cozy
Cole at the drums, and Milt Hinton at the bass. During his two ____________________________
years with Calloway, Dizzy recorded more than fifty sides. More
important, it was his period of groping for new ways to express
himself. There were difficulties. Some of the band’s veterans
were irritated by Gillespie’s unorthodoxies.
“What’s he trying to do anyway?” Comparing Literature
“Why doesn’t he stick to the arrangements?” What kind of identity is Gillespie
“The guy’s a ‘character.’” creating through his love of jazz
Calloway himself was not too happy with Dizzy’s didoes.3 music? Circle your answer.
Occasionally during his musical explorations Dizzy would get a. troublemaker
lost. When he’d miss the final high note, after a long-range
b. jokester
c. innovator
d. slacker
Underline the veteran players’

reactions to Gillespie’s actions.
3. A dido is a mischievous prank.

progression, the leader angrily muttered, “All right now!

Enough of that! No more of that Chinese music!”
There were others in the band who sensed the pioneer in
young Gillespie. Gently they encouraged him.
Read and Discuss “Come here, kid,” said Milt Hinton, the bass player, during
an intermission. “Let’s go on the roof and practice.”
Read the dialogue between During the Calloway engagement at New York’s Cotton
Milt Hinton and Dizzy Gillespie Club, the two men were often on the roof, quietly working
aloud with a partner. What
together. Hinton walked the bass, while Gillespie tried different
features of jazz are present in
this conversation? Discuss with chords and melodic patterns on his trumpet.
a partner. “I like what you’re trying to do,” said Hinton. “Keep it
up, kid.”
____________________________ Dizzy did keep it up, thanks to the opening of a little
nightclub in Harlem. It was called Minton’s Play House. Teddy
____________________________
Hill managed it. He encouraged young musicians to gather here
____________________________ after hours, to play exactly as they felt.
Gillespie became a regular habitué, together with Thelonious
____________________________ Monk, a pianist, and Kenny Clarke, a drummer. Clarke was
experimenting as a drummer as Dizzy was as a trumpeter. His
rhythm was implied rather than emphasized. He varied his
punctuation, instead of steadily pounding away at the drum at
four-to-the-bar. Here, too, Charlie Christian often came, after his
Comparing Literature regular stint with Goodman.
The author introduces a number Another young musician seeking a new avenue in jazz
of individuals on this page. What frequented Minton’s. He was an alto-sax player in the swing
does this tell the reader?
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________ READING CHECK
_______________________________ Question
Why was Minton’s Play House important to Dizzy Gillespie as a
_______________________________
musican?
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
194
band of Jay McShann, recently arrived from Kansas City.

His name was Charlie Parker. Later, Dizzy and he were to
really cross paths and become the two major figures in the
development of the jazz known as “bop.”
At Minton’s, Dizzy’s closest associate was Thelonious Monk.
“Monk and I would work on an idea,” remembers Dizzy. Comparing Literature
“Then I’d try it out the next night with Calloway. Cab didn’t like
it. It was too strange for him.” What do you think the author
means when he describes
The word spread quickly among musicians. Minton’s was
Gillespie and Parker as “not
the place to visit for exciting jam sessions and new approaches. seeking mimics”?
Soon the place was packed with players, many of whom had
limited talents. The regulars had to find some way to keep the
_______________________________
mediocre ones off the bandstand.
“What’re we going to do about those cats who can’t blow _______________________________
at all, but it takes them seven choruses to prove it?” asked the
perplexed Gillespie. “By the time they get off, the night’s shot.” _______________________________
“Let’s practice in the afternoon,” suggested Monk. “We’ll
_______________________________
work out variations so complex it’ll scare ’em away.”
That’s how it began. Bewildered musicians of lesser talents _______________________________
shook their heads and walked off the stand. Gradually Dizzy
and his colleagues became more and more interested in what _______________________________
they were doing. They explored more deeply. And a new jazz
style was evolving. . . . _______________________________
When Dizzy and Parker played, the music had drive and
_______________________________
humor and warmth. Many of their imitators lacked this, because
they lacked musicianship. These two artists were not seeking
mimics, but colleagues. In the years that followed, numerous
young musicians came into prominence. They were happily
equipped with the attributes Gillespie and Bird sought—good
craftsmanship, imagination, and daring. Hundreds of records
were cut, originals as well as standards. Young musicians were Read and Discuss
developing new melodic lines based on chord sequences of
Reread this page with a partner.
popular jazz numbers. New recording companies came into
Discuss what brought modern
being, scores of them. jazz into the music scene.
Modern jazz was here to stay.
In Europe as in America the impact was felt. Though ____________________________
Gillespie’s 1948 tour through Scandinavia was a financial flop,
it was not due to the music. The band was mismanaged. Dizzy’s ____________________________
later appearances in Europe were enthusiastically received.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________

Perhaps the highlight of Dizzy Gillespie’s career was his tour

of the Middle East in 1956. Under the auspices of the U.S. State
Department, he led a big band into such lands as India, Iraq,
Turkey, and Lebanon. These were places where most people had
never heard live jazz, let alone American artists. These concerts
were divided into two parts. The first half dealt with origins,
ranging from the African drums and spirituals to big band
classics. The second half consisted of modern jazz.
Comparing Literature Dizzy Gillespie was a wonderful ambassador of goodwill.
Why do you think Gillespie’s music
He and his music won over these people immediately.
was recognized in places that were “I have never seen these people let themselves go like this,”
suspicious of jazz? observed an American official at Damascus.4 He himself had
been suspicious of jazz.
_______________________________ In Ankara, Dizzy refused to play at an important gathering
until the little ragamuffins outside the wall were let in.
_______________________________ “Man, we’re here to play for the people.”
Dizzy called a young native trumpeter to the stage. The boy
_______________________________ was so moved he could hardly speak. Gillespie handed him his
_______________________________
cigarette case. Engraved on it were the words: “In token of the
brotherhood of jazz.”
_______________________________ Does it matter what label is given to jazz? Be it traditional or
be it modern, if a talented man plays it with joy and love, that’s
_______________________________ all that matters.
Says Dizzy Gillespie: “I’m playing the same notes, but it
_______________________________
comes out different. You can’t teach the soul. You got to bring
_______________________________ out your soul on those valves.”
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________ 4. Damascus is the capital of Syria.
READING CHECK
Clarify
What did Dizzy Gillespie do during his tour of the Middle East?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
196
Playing Jazz
July 18, 2003
Dear Anthony,
How are you, man? Glad to hear you got something from
my last letter. Don’t just read that stuff and lock it away in your
head. Figure out how to apply it.
Tours go on and on. We just out here, from one city to the
next. I just head where they tell me. So excuse the distance
between these notes. I try to write when I can.
Man, last night we played a small, intimate club inside a
Boston hotel. Can’t complain at all; gig just felt good. Small
places, man. The people all around you, making all kind of noise
and grooving. It just inspires the band. Folks in the audience let
the sound wash all over them, especially when our drummer,
Herlin,1 gets sanctified on the tambourine in 5/4.
After the gig, someone brought us a full-course meal—
black-eyed peas, corn bread, barbecued ribs, mashed potatoes,
even had the nerve to have some corn pudding. People cook
for you when you sound good and have good manners. In all
seriousness, though, no matter how often something like that
happens, and it happens a lot, the love and generosity of spirit
that we feel out here is always humbling. And it makes missing
your family a bit more tolerable. But boy, if you don’t like
people, you’ll have a lonely time out here.
I wanted to rap with you about playing. Yes, that simply, Comparing Literature
that essentially—what it takes to play jazz music. Playing
Marsalis says that he was to “rap”
covers four essential bases: the expansion of your musical about playing. Make an inference
to explain his purpose for writing
this letter, based on what you’ve
read so far.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
1. Herlin is Wynton Marsalis’s longtime drummer Herlin Riley.
Playing Jazz 197

Playing Jazz
vocabulary, employing charisma in your sound, locating your

personal objective, and embracing swing. Let’s spend some time
chopping all four up.
First, the more vocabulary you know, the more you can
play. It’s just like talking. A person can know twenty words
very well and communicate successfully. But there’s gonna be a
whole pile of things that he or she never talks about. You need
to have vocabulary on all aspects of jazz—melodies, harmonies,
rhythms, and personal effects. It’s always best to start with
what you should know—things from your region, then national
things. In other words, if you’re from Kansas City, you need to
know what the Kansas City blues sounds like. Then you need
to know American themes and tunes. And today you need to
know more music, especially in the global sense. All over the
Read and Discuss world, styles of music have specific objectives. Learning those
objectives will serve you well, allowing you to incorporate a
With a partner, identify and greater breadth of material into your own vocabulary. Musicians
discuss Marsalis’ use of in the Latin tradition always complain that the jazz musicians
metaphor in this section. Discuss don’t know any of their music. Study and learn whatever music
whether the metaphor help catches your fancy from around the world with people who
Marsalis bring his points across.
know it and can play it. The enhancement to your own music
____________________________
will be invaluable. Studying the vocabulary of music is like
etymology.2 If they’re interested in romance languages, people
____________________________ will study Latin, from which all those languages descend. In
the same manner, most groove music comes from the African
____________________________ 6/8 rhythm—the claves3 in Cuban music to the shuffle of the
Mississippi blues. But if you don’t know your own language,
____________________________
your own vocabulary, forget about learning someone else’s.
Second, always bring charisma to your sound. People want
to hear some music. They don’t come out to see robots toot
horns. They want to be uplifted, amazed, and enlightened.
Comparing Literature Infuse your sound with charisma. What you do when playing
for the public isn’t much different from any stage-based
Why does Marsalis say you should
“always bring charisma to your
performance. Imagine the actor who trots out onstage only to
sound”? deliver lines in bland fashion with no regard to distinguishing
his or her craft. Would that make you enthusiastic? You have
a. People want to see dull
musicians.
to understand and locate your distinct approach to the music,
and then infuse your playing with that sentiment. Whatever
b. People want to be moved by
music.
c. People hate listening to music.
d. People naturally enjoy jazz.
2. Etymology means the history of a word.

3. Claves is a two-bar syncopated pattern of music.
198
Playing Jazz
your approach turns out to be, deliver it with force, power, and
conviction. With fun, man. This is playing.
But while you’re up on that bandstand blowing with force
and power, keep in mind that playing jazz is like anything
else in life: When you start a thing off, you’re much more
enthusiastic than when you get to the middle. If you’re running
a race, you shoot out like Jesse Owens reborn. Playing ball?
That enthusiasm might make you think you’re Joe Montana.4
Then after a couple of interceptions the thrill is gone. This
happens in almost every activity in the world. So when you
play, don’t get carried away or burned out by the importance of
your own effort. Start good. Finish good. Sound good. No more
complicated than that. And when I say sound good, I mean
sounding good enough to get a job. Because when you sound
good, people will hire you; when you sound good, people will
be calling.
Of course, sounding good also goes beyond the marketplace;
it goes right to the heart of your personal objectives—our third
base of playing. Although objectives vary, depending on the
individual, there exists a central, common point: What do you Comparing Literature
want to give to people? Let me lay this on you. Once I asked What literary device does Marsalis
Sweets Edison,5 “Why is it that you always sound good, from use on this page?
the first note that you play?”
a. assonance
“There’s only one way to play, baby boy,” Sweets answered.
“There ain’t but one way to do it.” b. rhyme
Sweets means that you project your way with the ultimate c. allusion
feeling all the time, whether you’re playing in a sad band, d. sound devices
a great band, for elementary school students, at someone’s
birthday party at their house, or ’cause someone fixed a meal for
you. When you pull your horn out, you should play as if that’s
the most important moment in your life. If it’s not, make it be.
Remember when you were a kid and you really, really
wanted something? It could have been the most trivial thing.
Remember the way you begged and pleaded for it? Imagine
playing with that passion, that desire, as if this was the most
needed thing in your life. When we get older, we learn how
to temper our wanting, our desire. Well, tap back into that
childhood fervor and freedom of expression. That’s what you
have to have when you play. That thing you wanted the most
and the way you were willing to sacrifice any speck of pride or
dignity to obtain it. Remember how you wanted it; remember
4. Joe Montana is a former professional football player.

5. Sweets Edison is the late jazz trumpeter Harry “Sweets” Edison.
Playing Jazz 199

Playing Jazz
how you cried when you didn’t get it? What about the girl who
couldn’t stand you? Or who liked you until Amos came around?
Play with that passion.
Comparing Literature Realize that the fundamentals of jazz help you develop your
Underline the sentence that best
individuality, help you find that passion. Don’t say, “I’m not
explains what happens when you going to really play blues,” or “I’m not going to address swing.”
do not play jazz with passion. Don’t run from you. Running carries a cost. Have you ever
noticed that when you hear a contemporary Latin band play
and juxtapose it with a jazz band, the Latin music almost always
sounds better? You wonder why that’s the case? Just look at the
bandstand. You’ll see that the Latin musicians appear invested
and involved; they believe in the integrity of their groove. Now
look at the jazz band: not accepting the swing, trying to find
some quasi-funk groove or, even worse, that sad jazz quasi-Latin
Read and Discuss groove. You can practically hear them muttering to themselves—
“Swing is dead; let’s try something else.” They take detours
Read this page out loud with a to avoid sounding bad and run right into what they flee. The
partner. Discuss with a partner fourth and perhaps most important facet of playing jazz, swing
the way Marsalis describes a
and swinging.
Latin contemporary band to a
jazz band.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
READING CHECK
Question
Why does Marsalis say a contemporary Latin band plays better
than a jazz band?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
200
Playing Jazz
You may hear about “quintessentially American” things.

Well, what makes a thing quintessential is that it reflects the
values of the thing it is supposed to be quintessentially about. In
the case of an art form, it not only reflects the values, it embodies
them, it ennobles them, and it emboldens them. That’s why
people study art forms with such intensity, because the artist
channels the spirit of the nation. In the case of the swing, no
one person created it; democracy is a collective experience. And
swing is a democratic and quintessentially American concept.
Swing is supreme coordination under the duress of time.
Swing is democracy made manifest; it makes you constantly
adjust. At any given time, what’s going to go on musically
may not be to your liking. You have to know how to maintain
your equilibrium and your balance, even if things are changing
rapidly. Swing is designed for you to do that. Why? Each
musician has a different concept of time. Sometimes I tell my
students, “I want you all to stand up when a minute is over.”
And some people get up after twenty seconds. Some get up after
a minute and a half. That shows the variance between individual
concepts of time. As a player you have to, of your own volition, Comparing Literature
come to a conclusion about how you approach time. How does being a professional
But swing has a hierarchy, like a government. The president musician influence Marsalis’s
of the swing is the drummer. The drummer has the loudest advice in the letter? Fill out the
instrument and the cymbal is in the highest register. In African sentence frame below.
music it’s called the bell rhythm. It’s always the high rhythm,
because you can hear that rhythm. In jazz, the bell rhythm is on As a musician, Marsalis is able
the cymbal. You follow the bell rhythm. to give
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
Playing Jazz 201

Playing Jazz
But, like a government, swing also has checks and balances,

because if the drummer rushes, the bass player might bring the
time back. Sometimes the president of the swing is whoever
has the best time. When Charlie Parker played, his time was so
good that the bell rhythm would follow him. So you have that
Comparing Literature possibility. This is also a democratic proposition. If you have
a weak president, man, you might need a strong legislative
How does Marsalis use simile in
this part of the letter? branch, or a stronger judiciary—checks and balances.
Swing ties in with the heart of the American experience: You
make your way; you invent your way. In jazz, that means you
_______________________________
challenge the time, and you determine the degree of difficulty of
_______________________________ the rhythms you choose to play. You could play quarter notes,
which are difficult to play in time. Or any type of impossible, fun
_______________________________ syncopations. Or you could just play strings of eighth notes. You
try to maintain your equilibrium with style, and work within the
_______________________________
flow. That’s what the swing offers.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK
Clarify
What are some of the tips Marsalis shares with his student?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
202
After You Read Dream Boogie and Motto
Playing Jazz
Look back at your quickwrites. How would you respond differently to each
question after having read the three selections? If you would not change your
answers, explain why.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
The selections you read explored jazz music in different literary forms or genres:
poetry, literary nonfiction, and a letter. On the lines below, explain how reading
the selections as a group provided you with a fuller understanding of the topic.
Would what you have learned about jazz been different if you had only read one
of the selections? Explain.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme

Langston Hughes used rhyme and rhyme scheme to convey his portrayals of the
African American experience. Use the space below to create a stanza that conveys
your own thoughts or past experiences, by using rhyme and rhyme scheme.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

When you make inferences, you are using clues you found in the text to draw a
conclusion about the overall meaning of a literary work. After reading Langston
Hughes’ two poems “Dream Boogie” and “Motto,” what would you say is the
theme? Use the chart below to help you determine the theme through clues you
found in the texts. Record details from the text in the first column. Write down
your inferences in the second column.
The theme of Langston Hughes’ two poems is _________________________________________________________
Clue Inference
Playing Jazz
Vocabulary
A. Word Meaning For each of the boldfaced vocabulary words below, choose
the sentence that best represents the meaning of the vocabulary word.
1. deferred
a We can now move forward to achieve our next goal.
b We will have to wait awhile to move on to our next goal.
2. motto
a These are words I use in my new song.
b These are words I live my life by.
3. reason
a That explains why you seem so happy.
b I still can’t figure out why you seem so happy.
B. Usage Complete the following statements to help you explore the meanings
of the boldfaced vocabulary words.
1. The fact that the reward was deferred made me feel ______________.
2. _____________________________ is not a good reason for your

assignment being late.
3. The girls’ soccer team voted on a new motto: _________________________

204
Learning Objectives
For pages 205–234

objectives:
monologues, soliloquies,
and asides.
Reading: Analyzing cause-
and-effect relationships.
The Tr agedy of
Julius Caesar Act 2 Scene 1
by William Shakespeare
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act 2 Scene 1 205

Before You Read
The Tr agedy of
Connect to the Play

What makes a good leader? Who is the best leader that you have known or that
you know about? A leader may be anyone—from the head of an informal group to
the head of a nation. Think about leaders you have known and then complete the
following sentence frames.
1. A good leader is one who ___________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. The best leader I know about is ______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. This leader is best because __________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Build Background
Read these events that lead up to the time of the play. Then answer the question
that follows.
• At the time of the play, Rome controlled great territories, including most of the
countries on the Mediterranean Sea.
• Julius Caesar contributed to Rome’s territory by conquering parts of what are now
Spain and France.
• Caesar defeated his major rival, Pompey, who was murdered soon afterwards.
• Caesar then made himself dictator, or absolute ruler, of Rome.
• As dictator, Caesar undertook widespread and popular social and political reforms.
• A group of politicians became fearful of Caesar’s popularity and power, and
conspired, or plotted, to get rid of him.
How do you think these politicians will “get rid of” Julius Caesar? Write your answer on
the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

In Act 1 of his play, Shakespeare presents the start of a conspiracy against Caesar. In
Act 2, read to find out how the conspirators persuade Brutus to join them in their plot
against Caesar and how he actually persuades himself.
206
Literary Element Monologues, Soliloquies, and Asides
In addition to dialogue (conversations involving two or more characters), dramatists
make use of other types of speeches:
• A monologue (mon´ ə lôg´ -log´) is a long speech by a character.
• A soliloquy (sə lil´ ə kwe) is a monologue delivered while a character is alone on
stage. In a soliloquy, a character speaks his or her thoughts out loud.
• An aside is a comment that a character makes to the audience.
Discuss with a partner about what sorts of things a character might talk about out loud
when there is no one around to hear. Write your response on the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Analyze Cause-and-Effect Relationships

One action often leads to another. What happens is an effect, and what makes it
happen is a cause. A cause may have more than one effect, and an effect may have
more than one cause.
1. What might cause a person to go out of control and use his or her power to harm
others? Write your answer on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What effect might such a misuse of power have upon others? Write your answer
on the lines below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Vocabulary Usage
Read each word and its definition at the right. Then use these Vocabulary
words to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.
interim (inʼ tər im) n. the space of time that
1. Clouds began to build up, but then a strong wind came along exists between events
commend (kə mendʼ) v. to speak highly of; to

to ________________ them.
praise
2. The principal took the stage to ________________ all the disperse (dis pursʼ) v. to break up and send in
different directions; to scatter
participants in the spelling bee.
3. In the ________________ between acts, playgoers eagerly
gathered in the lobby to discuss the play.

The Tr agedy of
Character Key
Characters in Julius Caesar
julius caesar (joolʼ yəs sēʼ zər) military leader and politician;
the most powerful man in Rome
Brutus’s Household
brutus (brooʼ təs) a senator of Rome
portia (pôrʼ shə) Brutus’s wife
lucius (looʼ shəs) Brutus’s young servant
Conspirators Against Caesar

Reading Strategy
caius cassius (kı̄ʼ əs kaʼ shəs) a senator, and Brutus’s
Analyze Cause-and-Effect brother-in-law
Relationships What you can casca (kasʼ kə) a senator
guess about the political situation decius brutus (desʼ ē əs brooʼ təs) a senator
in the play, based on this character
cinna (sinʼ nə) a senator
key? Write your answer on the
lines below. metellus cimber (met əlʼ əs simʼ bər) a senator
trebonius (tre bōnʼ ē əs) a senator
caius ligarius (kı̄ʼ əs lı̄ gärʼ ē əs) a senator
_______________________________
_______________________________
The Second Triumvirate, Rulers of Rome
_______________________________ after Caesar’s death
_______________________________
mark antony (märk anʼ tə nē) friend of Caesar
octavius caesar (äk tāvʼ ē əs sēʼ zər) Caesar’s grandnephew
_______________________________ and political heir
lepidus (lepʼ ə dəs) Caesar’s lieutenant
_______________________________
cicero (sisʼ ə rōʼ), senator
_______________________________
_______________________________
208
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar,
Act 2 Scene 1
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Act 2 Scene 1
It is early in the morning on March 15, 44 b.c. The day before, a

soothsayer, or prophet, called out to Julius Caesar as he passed
in the street, “Beware the ides (the 15th) of March!” Caesar
ignored him. Soon after, a group of senators met to discuss
their fears that the Senate would make Caesar a king. If that
happened, they were sure Caesar would not be able to resist
the temptation to misuse his power, making them little better
than slaves. The only way to prevent this, they decided, is to
kill Caesar. They want to bring Brutus to their cause, however,
because he is “noble” and so popular that the people will believe
that whatever he does, he does for the good of Rome. They plan
to send Brutus a number of anonymous letters and then go to
visit him. That night, a terrible storm rages, and people report
all sorts of omens—meteors, lightning, men on fire, and a lion
walking the streets—all signs of evil to come.
ACT 2
SCENE 1. BRUTUS’S garden. The ides of March.

[Enter BRUTUS in his orchard.]
brutus. What, Lucius, ho!
I cannot, by the progress° of the stars,
Give guess how near to day. Lucius, I say!
I would it were my fault° to sleep so soundly.
5 When, Lucius, when? Awake, I say! What, Lucius!
[Enter LUCIUS.]
lucius. Call’d you, my lord?
brutus. Get me a taper° in my study, Lucius.
Literary Element
When it is lighted, come and call me here.
lucius. I will, my lord.
Monologues, Soliloquies, and [Exit LUCIUS.]
Asides In line 10 Brutus begins a 10 brutus. It must be by his death;° and for my part,
long speech. Draw a bracket that
I know no personal cause to spurn° at him,
shows where this speech ends
and what lines are in it. What kind But for the general.° He would be crown’d:
of speech is it? How can you tell? How that might change his nature, there’s the question.
Write your answer on the lines It is the bright day that brings forth the adder,°
below. 15 And that craves° wary walking. Crown him that,°
And then I grant we put a sting in him
_______________________________ That at his will he may do danger with.
Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins
_______________________________ Remorse from power;° and, to speak truth of Caesar,
20 I have not known when his affections° sway’d
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
210
Act 2 Scene 1
2 progress: position.
4 I would . . . fault: I wish it were my weakness.
7 taper: candle.
10 his death: Caesar’s death.

11 spurn: strike out.
12 the general: the public good.
14 adder: poisonous snake.

15 craves: demands. Crown him that: If we crown him.
18–19 Th’ abuse . . . power: Greatness is misused when it separates mercy from power.
20 affections: feelings, desires.

Act 2 Scene 1
Reading Strategy More than his reason. But ’tis a common proof°
That lowliness° is young ambition’s ladder,
Analyze Cause-and-Effect Whereto the climber upward turns his face;
Relationships Brutus describes
But when he once attains the upmost round,°
a person climbing the ladder of
success. What is often the effect
25 He then unto the ladder turns his back,
when that person reaches the top? Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
Write your answer on the lines By which he did ascend. So Caesar may;
below. Then lest he may, prevent.° And since the quarrel
Will bear no color for the thing he is,
_______________________________ 30 Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities;°
_______________________________ And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg,
Which hatch’d, would as his kind grow mischievous,
_______________________________
And kill him in the shell.
_______________________________ [Enter LUCIUS.]
35 lucius. The taper burneth in your closet,° sir.
_______________________________ Searching the window for a flint, I found
This paper thus seal’d up, and I am sure
_______________________________
It did not lie there when I went to bed.
[Gives him the letter.]
brutus. Get you to bed again, it is not day.
40 Is not tomorrow, boy, the [ides] of March?
Reading Strategy lucius. I know not, sir.
Analyze Cause-and-Effect brutus. Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
Relationships Brutus fears that lucius. I will, sir. [Exit.]
Caesar may behave like a serpent, brutus. The exhalations° whizzing in the air
or dangerous snake. What action 45 Give so much light that I may read by them.
does he think is necessary to
[Opens the letter and reads.]
prevent this effect? Write your
answer on the lines below. “Brutus, thou sleep’st; awake, and see thyself!
Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike, redress!”°
“Brutus, thou sleep’st; awake.”
_______________________________
Such instigations° have been often dropp’d
_______________________________ 50 Where I have took them up.
“Shall Rome, etc.” Thus must I piece it out:°
_______________________________ Shall Rome stand under one man’s awe? What, Rome?
My ancestors did from the streets of Rome
_______________________________
The Tarquin° drive when he was call’d a king.
_______________________________ 55 “Speak, strike, redress!” Am I entreated
To speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise,
_______________________________ If the redress will follow, thou receivest
Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!°
[Enter LUCIUS.]
212
Act 2 Scene 1
21 a common proof: a common occurrence.

22 lowliness: humility.
24 upmost round: top rung.
28 Then lest . . . prevent: Let us act in advance to prevent it.

28–31 since the quarrel . . . extremities: Since our complaints are not supported
by Caesar’s present behavior, we will have to put our case the following way: if Reading Strategy
given more power, Caesar’s nature would lead him to such and such extremes.
Analyze Cause-and-Effect
Relationships What is the cause
of Brutus’s being able to read the
letter in the darkness of night?
35 closet: small private room. below.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
44 exhalations: meteors.
_______________________________
47 redress: correct a wrong.

Reading Strategy
49 instigations: letters urging action.
Relationships What effect have
51 piece it out: fill in the gaps in meaning. the anonymous letters had upon
Brutus? Write your answer on the
lines below.
54 Tarquin (tärʼ kwin): the last king of Rome, driven out by Lucius Junius Brutus.
55–58 Speak, strike . . . Brutus: Brutus vows that Rome’s petition for redress will be _______________________________
granted if it can be done through his words and actions.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________

Act 2 Scene 1
lucius. Sir, March is wasted fifteen days.

[Knock within.]
60 brutus. ’Tis good. Go to the gate, somebody knocks.
[Exit LUCIUS.]
Since Cassius first did whet° me against Caesar,
I have not slept.
Vocabulary Between the acting of a dreadful thing
interim (inʼ tər im) n. the space of And the first motion,° all the interim is
time that exists between events 65 Like a phantasma,° or a hideous dream.
The Genius and the mortal instruments°
Vocabulary Skill Are then in council, and the state of a man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
Usage Brutus says that the
interim between an idea and its
The nature of an insurrection.°
action is like a bad dream. Many [Enter LUCIUS.]
actions in life contain some sort of 70 lucius. Sir, ’tis your brother° Cassius at the door,
interim. What are some examples Who doth desire to see you.
from your daily life of actions brutus. Is he alone?
that contain interims? Write your
lucius. No, sir, there are moe° with him.
brutus. Do you know them?
______________________________ lucius. No, sir; their hats are pluck’d about their ears,
And half their faces buried in their cloaks,
______________________________ 75 That by no means I may discover° them
By any mark of favor.°
______________________________
brutus. Let ’em enter.
______________________________
[Exit LUCIUS.]
They are the faction. O Conspiracy,
______________________________ Sham’st thou° to show thy dang’rous brow by night,
When evils are most free? O then, by day
80 Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough
To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, Conspiracy;
Hide it in smiles and affability;
For if thou path, thy native semblance° on,
Not Erebus° itself were dim enough
85 To hide thee from prevention.°
[Enter the conspirators, CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, CINNA, METELLUS, and
TREBONIUS.]
cassius. I think we are too bold upon° your rest.
Good morrow,° Brutus, do we trouble you?
brutus. I have been up this hour, awake all night.
Know I these men that come along with you?
90 cassius. Yes, every man of them; and no man here
But honors you; and every one doth wish
214
Act 2 Scene 1
61 whet: incite. Read and Discuss
With a partner, read aloud

64 motion: prompting. Brutus’s soliloquy in lines
65 phantasma: nightmare. 61–69. Talk about how Brutus
feels “between the acting of
66 Genius . . . instruments: the mental and physical powers that allow someone to
take action. a dreadful thing” and the first
idea of doing it. Share with your
67–69 the state . . . insurrection: Brutus compares his conflicted state of mind to a
partner how you feel in the
kingdom paralyzed by civil unrest.
time after you know you have
to do something difficult and
70 brother: brother-in-law. (Cassius is married to Brutus’s sister, Junia.) the time you actually do it. Why
do you think people feel this
way? Write your answer on the
lines below.
72 moe: more.
____________________________
____________________________
75 discover: identify.
____________________________
76 favor: appearance.
____________________________
____________________________
78 Sham’st thou: Are you ashamed?
83 path . . . semblance: go about undisguised.

84 Erebus (erʼ ə bəs): in classical mythology, the dark place through which the dead
pass on their way to Hades, the underworld.
85 prevention: discovery.
86 too bold upon: intruding upon.
87 morrow: morning.

Act 2 Scene 1
You had but that opinion of yourself

Which every noble Roman bears of you.
This is Trebonius.
brutus. He is welcome hither.
95 cassius. This, Decius Brutus.
brutus. He is welcome too.
cassius. This, Casca; this, Cinna; and this, Metellus Cimber.
brutus. They are all welcome.
What watchful cares do interpose themselves
Betwixt your eyes and night?°
Reading Strategy 100 cassius. Shall I entreat a word?
[They whisper.]
Relationships During lines decius. Here lies the east; doth not the day break here?
101–111, Cassius and Brutus have casca. No.
a private conversation. Analyze cinna. O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon gray lines
the cause and effect of this That fret° the clouds are messengers of day.
conversation by completing the 105 casca. You shall confess that you are both deceiv’d.
sentence frames below.
Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises,
Which is a great way growing on the south,
Cassius takes Brutus aside to talk Weighing the youthful season of the year.
because _______________________ Some two months hence, up higher toward the north
110 He first presents his fire, and the high east
______________________________ . Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.°
brutus. Give me your hands all over,° one by one.
The effect of their private talk is
that ___________________________
______________________________ .
READING CHECK
Clarify
Brutus has now decided to join the conspiracy. Earlier, in line
80–85, how does he feel that conspirators should act to conceal
their purpose? Write your answer on the lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
216
Act 2 Scene 1
98–99 What watchful . . . night: What cares keep you awake?
104 fret: interlace.
106–111 Here, as I . . . directly here: Casca insists that in the early spring the sun
rises south of the spot pointed out by Decius and Cinna; it will rise farther
north in about two months.
112 all over: all of you.

Act 2 Scene 1
cassius. And let us swear our resolution.

Read and Discuss brutus. No, not an oath. If not the face of men,
115 The sufferance of our souls, the time’s abuse—
With a partner, reread what If these be motives weak, break off betimes,°
Brutus has to say about the And every man hence to his idle bed.
conspirators’ taking an oath.
Discuss why people swear
So let high-sighted° tyranny range on
oaths to each other or to Till each man drop by lottery.° But if these
causes. What should happen to 120 (As I am sure they do) bear fire° enough
people who break oaths they To kindle cowards and to steel with valor
have taken? The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen,
What need we any spur but our own cause
____________________________
To prick° us to redress? What other bond
____________________________ 125 Than secret Romans that have spoke the word
And will not palter?° and what other oath
____________________________ Than honesty to honesty engag’d
That this shall be, or we will fall for it?°
____________________________ Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous,°
130 Old feeble carrions,° and such suffering souls
That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt; but do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprise,
Nor th’ insuppressive mettle of our spirits,
135 To think that or our cause or our performance
Did need an oath;° when every drop of blood
That every Roman bears, and nobly bears,
Is guilty of a several bastardy,°
If he do break the smallest particle
140 Of any promise that hath pass’d from him.°
cassius. But what of Cicero? Shall we sound him?°
I think he will stand very strong with us.
casca. Let us not leave him out.
cinna. No, by no means.
metellus. O, let us have him, for his silver hairs
145 Will purchase us a good opinion,
And buy men’s voices to commend our deeds.
It shall be said his judgment rul’d our hands;
Our youths and wildness shall no whit° appear,
But all be buried in his gravity.°
150 brutus. O, name him not! Let us not break with him,°
For he will never follow anything
That other men begin.
cassius. Then leave him out.
218
Act 2 Scene 1
Vocabulary
114–116 If not . . . betimes: The sadness in people’s faces, the suffering of our souls,
the corruption of our age—if these are weak motives, let’s give up at once. commend (kə mendʼ) v. to speak
highly of; to praise
118 high-sighted: arrogant.

119 drop by lottery: die by chance (at Caesar’s whim).
Vocabulary Skill
120 bear fire: are spirited.
Usage Metellus thinks it is
important that people commend
what they do. Write a statement in
which you commend something
124 prick: spur.
that a classmate has done. Write
126 palter: waver; deceive.
126–128 what other oath . . . for it: What other oath is needed than that of honest
______________________________
men who have pledged to each other that they will prevail or die trying?
129 cautelous: wary; crafty. ______________________________

130 carrions: men no better than corpses.
______________________________
132–136 do not stain . . . oath: Do not insult the steadfast virtue of our undertaking ______________________________
or the indomitable courage of our spirits to think that either our cause or our
actions require an oath. ______________________________
136–140 every drop . . . from him: Brutus claims that no one of true Roman blood
would break a promise.
138 Is guilty . . . bastardy: is illegitimate.

Reading Strategy
141 sound him: find out his feelings. Analyze Cause-and-Effect

Relationships What type of
person is Cicero? Do you agree
with Brutus’s advice to the
conspirators not to include Cicero
in their plot? Write your answer on
the lines below.
_______________________________
148 no whit: not in the least. _______________________________

149 gravity: dignity.
_______________________________
150 break with him: reveal our plot to him.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________

Act 2 Scene 1
casca. Indeed, he is not fit.

decius. Shall no man else be touch’d but only Caesar?
Reading Strategy 155 cassius. Decius, well urg’d. I think it is not meet
Analyze Cause-and-Effect Mark Antony, so well belov’d of Caesar,
Relationships Why does Cassius Should outlive Caesar; we shall find of him
think they ought to kill Mark A shrewd contriver; and you know, his means,°
Antony too? Write your answer on If he improve them,° may well stretch so far
the lines below.
160 As to annoy us all; which to prevent,
Let Antony and Caesar fall together.
_______________________________ brutus. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,
To cut the head off and then hack the limbs––
_______________________________
Like wrath in death and envy afterwards;°
_______________________________ 165 For Antony is but a limb of Caesar.
Let’s be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
_______________________________ We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar,°
And in the spirit of men there is no blood.
_______________________________
O that we then could come by° Caesar’s spirit,
_______________________________
170 And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,
Caesar must bleed for it. And, gentle friends,
_______________________________ Let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds;
175 And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants° to an act of rage,
And after seem to chide ’em. This shall make
Literary Element Our purpose necessary, and not envious;
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
Monologues, Soliloquies, and
Asides Is Cassius’s speech
180 We shall be call’d purgers, not murderers.
beginning “Yet I fear him . . .” And for Mark Antony, think not of him;
(lines 183–184) a monologue? For he can do no more than Caesar’s arm
Check one box, and then explain When Caesar’s head is off.
your answer on the lines below. cassius. Yet I fear him,
■ Yes For in the ingrafted° love he bears to Caesar—
■ No 185 brutus. Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him.
If he love Caesar, all that he can do
_______________________________
Is to himself—take thought and die° for Caesar.
_______________________________ And that were much he should,° for he is given
To sports, to wildness, and much company.
_______________________________ 190 trebonius. There is no fear in him;° let him not die,
For he will live and laugh at this hereafter.
_______________________________ [Clock strikes.]
_______________________________
_______________________________
220
Act 2 Scene 1
Reading Strategy
Relationships Sometimes an
158 means: abilities. effect has more than one cause.
159 improve them: uses them fully. What does Brutus claim is the
effect of these causes? Write your
answer in the box labeled “Effect.”
Cause:
164 Like wrath . . . afterwards: as if the killings were motivated by anger and malice.
Antony likes sports.
167 the spirit of Caesar: what Caesar represents.
169 come by: get possession of.
Cause:
Antony likes wild living.
176 servants: hands.
Cause:
Antony likes company.
184 ingrafted: deep-rooted.
187 take thought and die: die from grief.

188 that were much he should: It is unlikely that he would do such a thing.
Effect:
190 no fear in him: nothing to fear from him.

Act 2 Scene 1
brutus. Peace, count the clock.

Read and Discuss
cassius. The clock hath stricken three.
trebonius. ’Tis time to part.
Decius’s speech in lines cassius. But it is doubtful yet
202–211 about how he intends Whether Caesar will come forth today or no;
to persuade Caesar. Why does 195 For he is superstitious grown of late,
Decius take this approach? Do Quite from the main opinion° he held once
you think most people would Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies.°
react in a similar way? Why or
It may be these apparent prodigies,
why not? Write your answers on
the lines below. The unaccustom’d terror of this night,
200 And the persuasion of his augurers°
____________________________ May hold him from the Capitol today.
decius. Never fear that. If he be so resolv’d,
____________________________ I can o’ersway him; for he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betray’d with trees,
____________________________
205 And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,
____________________________ Lions with toils, and men with flatterers;°
But when I tell him he hates flatterers
____________________________ He says he does, being then most flattered.
Let me work;
____________________________
210 For I can give his humor the true bent,°
____________________________ And I will bring him to the Capitol.
cassius. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.
____________________________ brutus. By the eight hour; is that the uttermost?°
cinna. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then.
____________________________ 215 metellus. Caius Ligarius doth bear Caesar hard,°
Who rated° him for speaking well of Pompey.
Vocabulary I wonder none of you have thought of him.
brutus. Now, good Metellus, go along by him.
disperse (dis pursʼ) v. to break up
He loves me well, and I have given him reasons;
and send in different directions;
to scatter
220 Send him but hither, and I’ll fashion° him.
cassius. The morning comes upon ’s; we’ll leave you,
Brutus.
Vocabulary Skill And, friends, disperse yourselves; but all remember
Usage Cassius tells the other What you have said, and show yourselves true Romans.
conspirators that they should brutus. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily;
disperse themselves. What does he 225 Let not our looks put on our purposes,
want them to do and why?
But bear it as our Roman actors do,
______________________________ With untir’d spirits and formal constancy.°
And so good morrow to you every one.
______________________________ [They exit. BRUTUS remains.]
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
222
Act 2 Scene 1
196 Quite from the main opinion: contrary to the strong opinion.
197 ceremonies: omens.
200 augurers: religious officials who interpreted omens to predict future events.
203–206 for he loves . . . flatterers: Decius refers to legends that the mythical
unicorn could be tricked into charging a tree and getting its horn stuck, and
that bears can be lured by mirrors. He also refers to trapping elephants in pits
and using nets to catch lions, and tricking men with flattery.
210 give his . . . bent: put him in the right mood.
213 uttermost: latest.
215 bear Caesar hard: strongly resents Caesar.

216 rated: rebuked.
220 fashion: persuade.
224–227 look fresh . . . constancy: Brutus warns the others not to let their serious
expressions show their intentions; they should carry out their plot appearing at
ease and dignified.

Act 2 Scene 1
Boy! Lucius! Fast asleep? It is no matter,

230 Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber.
Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies,
Which busy care draws in the brains of men;
Literary Element Therefore thou sleep’st so sound.
[Enter PORTIA.]
Asides Beginning in line 230, portia. Brutus, my lord!
Brutus talks to Lucius as if he were brutus. Portia! what mean you? wherefore rise you now?
there. According to Brutus, why is 235 It is not for your health thus to commit
Lucius able to sleep so soundly? Your weak condition to the raw cold morning.
portia. Nor for yours neither. Y’have ungently,° Brutus,
below.
Stole from my bed; and yesternight at supper
You suddenly arose and walk’d about,
_______________________________
240 Musing and sighing, with your arms across;°
_______________________________
And when I ask’d you what the matter was,
You star’d upon me with ungentle looks.
_______________________________ I urg’d you further; then you scratch’d your head,
And too impatiently stamp’d with your foot.
_______________________________ 245 Yet I insisted, yet you answer’d not,
But with an angry wafter° of your hand
_______________________________
Gave sign for me to leave you. So I did,
Fearing to strengthen that impatience
Which seem’d too much enkindled, and withal°
250 Hoping it was but an effect of humor,°
READING CHECK
Summarize
These men are planning to murder their ruler. How does Brutus
tell them they should behave as they are doing it? Write your
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
224
Act 2 Scene 1
237 ungently: discourteously. Literary Element

Asides Portia begins a speech in
240 across: folded. line 237. What kind of speech is
it? How can you tell? Write your
_______________________________
246 wafter: waving. _______________________________
_______________________________
249 withal: also. _______________________________

250 but an . . . humor: only a passing mood.

Act 2 Scene 1
Which sometimes hath his° hour with every man.

It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep,
And could it work so much upon your shape
As it hath much prevail’d on your condition,
255 I should not know you Brutus.° Dear my lord,
Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.
Reading Strategy brutus. I am not well in health, and that is all.
portia. Brutus is wise and, were he not in health,
Relationships When Portia asks He would embrace the means to come by it.
Brutus why he is acting strangely, 260 brutus. Why, so I do. Good Portia, go to bed.
what does he say is the cause? portia. Is Brutus sick, and is it physical°
Why do you think he says this? To walk unbraced and suck up the humors
Write your answers on the lines
Of the dank morning?° What, is Brutus sick,
below.
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,
265 To dare the vile contagion of the night,
_______________________________
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air°
_______________________________
To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus;
You have some sick offense° within your mind,
_______________________________ Which by the right and virtue of my place,°
270 I ought to know of; and upon my knees
I charm you, by my once commended beauty,
By all your vows of love, and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
275 Why you are heavy, and what men tonight
Have had resort to you; for here have been
Some six or seven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.
brutus. Kneel not, gentle Portia.
portia. I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
280 Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted I should know no secrets
That appertain to you? Am I your self
But, as it were, in sort or limitation,°
To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
285 And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs°
Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,
Portia is Brutus’ harlot, not his wife.
brutus. You are my true and honorable wife,
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
290 That visit my sad heart.
226
Act 2 Scene 1
251 his: its.

253–255 And could . . . Brutus: And if it could change your appearance as much as it
has changed your state of mind, I would not recognize you as Brutus.
261 physical: healthy.

Reading Strategy
262–263 humors . . . morning: damp morning mist.
Relationships Portia doesn’t
accept his answer. What does she
say is wrong instead? Put a check
266 tempt the . . . air: risk the damp and impure air. (It was believed that the night
in the box next to the best answer
air was dangerous to breathe because it wasn’t purified by the sun’s rays.)
below.
268 sick offense: harmful disorder.
■ He does not respect her.
269 by the right . . . place: as your wife. ■ He has some great worry in his
mind.
■ His illness makes it painful for
him to talk.
■ He is afraid of being overheard.
Read and Discuss

Portia’s argument in lines
279–302. Brutus should tell her
his problems, she says, because
she is his wife. Discuss whether
you think that is a good reason.
That is, should a person share
283 in sort or limitation: after a fashion or within limits. everything with a husband
or wife just because they are
married? Write your response
285 suburbs: outskirts. on the lines below.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________

Act 2 Scene 1
portia. If this were true, then should I know this secret.

I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife.
I grant I am a woman; but withal
295 A woman well reputed, Cato’s daughter.°
Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so father’d and so husbanded?
Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose ’em.
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
300 Giving myself a voluntary wound
Here, in the thigh;° can I bear that with patience,
And not my husband’s secrets?
brutus. O ye gods!
Literary Element Render me worthy of this noble wife! [Knock.]
Hark, hark, one knocks. Portia, go in a while,
Asides To whom does Brutus 305 And by and by thy bosom shall partake
make this aside? Write your answer The secrets of my heart.
on the lines below. All my engagements I will construe° to thee,
All the charactery of my sad brows.°
_______________________________ Leave me with haste.
[Exit PORTIA.]
_______________________________ Lucius, who’s that knocks?
[Enter LUCIUS and CAIUS LIGARIUS.]
_______________________________
310 lucius. Here is a sick man that would speak with you.
brutus. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of.
Boy, stand aside. [Exit LUCIUS.] Caius Ligarius, how?°
caius. Vouchsafe° good morrow from a feeble tongue.
brutus. O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius,
315 To wear a kerchief!° Would you were not sick!
caius. I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand
Any exploit worthy the name of honor.
brutus. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,
Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.
320 caius. By all the gods that Romans bow before,
I here discard my sickness!
Soul of Rome!
Brave son, deriv’d from honorable loins!
Thou, like an exorcist,° hast conjur’d up
My mortified° spirit. Now bid me run,
325 And I will strive with things impossible,
228
Act 2 Scene 1
295 Cato’s daughter: Portia’s father, Marcus Porcius Cato, killed himself rather than
submit to Caesar’s rule after Pompey was defeated.
299–301 I have made . . . thigh: Portia reveals that she intentionally cut her thigh
before approaching Brutus to show her strong determination.
Reading Strategy
307 construe: explain. Relationships What is Brutus
308 charactery of . . . brows: what is written in my sad brows (the reasons I am sad). telling Portia here? Why do you
think he tells her this? Write your
answers on the lines below.
_______________________________
_______________________________
312 how: how are you?

_______________________________
313 Vouchsafe: Please accept.
_______________________________
315 kerchief: a scarf (wrapped around an ill person’s head to protect against drafts).
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
323 exorcist: one who summons up spirits.

324 mortified: deadened.

Act 2 Scene 1
Reading Strategy Yea, get the better of them. What’s to do?

brutus. A piece of work that will make sick men whole.
Analyze Cause-and-Effect caius. But are not some whole that we must make sick?
Relationships What effect does
brutus. That must we also. What it is, my Caius,
Caius claim Brutus has had upon
him? Write your answer on the
330 I shall unfold to thee, as we are going
lines below. To whom it must be done.°
caius. Set on your foot.°
_______________________________
And with a heart new-fir’d I follow you,
To do I know not what; but it sufficeth
_______________________________ That Brutus leads me on.
[Thunder.]
_______________________________ brutus. Follow me, then. [They exit.]
READING CHECK
Clarify
In lines 331–334, Caius tells Brutus that he will follow him. Does
Caius know what Brutus is leading him to? Why does Caius say
he will follow Brutus? Write your answer on the lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
230
Act 2 Scene 1
Reading Strategy
Relationships According to
Brutus, what will be the effect of
330–331 I shall . . . done: They are going to Caesar’s house to escort him to the Capitol.
the “piece of work” that they will
331 Set on your foot: Go ahead.
do? Write your answer on the lines
below.
_______________________________
_______________________________
According to Caius, what is

another effect of that same “piece
of work”? What does he mean?
below.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________

After You Read The Tr agedy of
Connect to the Play

Julius Caesar is a play about power—who has it, and who wants it. Use the
sentence frames below to describe two examples of power in the play.
1. The conspirators are afraid that Caesar
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
2. The conspirators feel that Brutus’s influence with the people
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ .
Literary Element Monologues, Soliloquies, and Asides

How do monologues, soliloquies, and asides differ? Use the sentence frames
below to give your answers.
A monologue is directed to _________________________________________________________________________ .
A soliloquy is delivered when _______________________________________________________________________ .
An aside is directed to _____________________________________________________________________________ .
Reading Strategy Analyze Cause-and-Effect Relationships

Remember that an effect may have more than one cause. What causes contribute
to the effect shown? Write them in the three boxes labeled “Cause.”
Cause
Effect
The conspirators plan to kill Caesar.
Cause
Cause
232
Vocabulary
interim commend disperse
A. Word Meaning Think about the meaning of the boldface vocabulary word as
you read each sentence. Then circle the letter of the best answer to complete
the statement.
1. In our house we like to play board games in the interim between
Thanksgiving dinner and dessert. We play games
a before dinner b during dinner c after dinner
2. The teacher thought that to commend her students often gave them
strong motivation to work hard. The teacher gave her students
a criticism b praise c extra assignments
3. The arrival of police cars at the accident scene caused the crowd of
onlookers to disperse quickly. The crowd grew
a restless b larger c smaller
B. Word Usage Complete each of the following sentences to help you explore
the meaning of the boldfaced vocabulary words.
1. One way to fill the interim between two halves of a football game is to
__________________________________________________________________________________________ .
2. As president of the service club, I want to commend all the members who
__________________________________________________________________________________________ .
3. When the kitchen becomes smoky from burned food, you can disperse
the smoke by
__________________________________________________________________________________________ .

Character Web
Although the play is titled Julius Caesar, the main character in this scene is Brutus.
We learn about characters from what they think, say, and do, and from the way
other characters act toward them. Complete the character web below by filling
in the ovals with details from the play. (You can tell what Brutus thinks from his
soliloquies.) You can add more ovals if you need to.
What he thinks What he says
Character:
Brutus
How other characters

act toward him
What he does
234
Before You Read
The Tr agedy of
Connect to the Play

By this point in the play, Caesar is dead, but the outcome has not been what Brutus
hoped. Three of Caesar’s allies have taken power in his place. Suppose you were in
a position to lead a country. Sharing power with you will be two other people. What
qualities do you think would be important in your co-leaders? Think of three qualities
that are important in leading and write these in the blanks below. Then explain why
each quality is important in a leader.
Quality: ______________________________________________________ because ______________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Quality: ______________________________________________________ because ______________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Quality: ______________________________________________________ because ______________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Build Background
Read the events that happen between Act 2 Scene 1, and Act 4:
• Following their plan, Brutus and the other conspirators murder Caesar, stabbing
him to death outside the Senate building.
• Brutus speaks at Caesar’s funeral, trying to convince the people that they had
acted for the good of Rome.
• Mark Antony speaks after Brutus and reminds the people of all the good that
Caesar had done for them.
• The crowd turns on the conspirators, forcing them to leave Rome in fear for
their lives.
• Mark Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus form a committee of three, called the Second
Triumvirate, to rule Rome.
Now go back through the Build Background and underline the details that you think
will be most important to what follows.

Read The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 1 to find out what conflicts develop
under the rule of the Second Triumvirate.
236
Literary Element Foil
A foil is a character who provides contrast with another character. A foil helps
readers see the strengths and weaknesses of another character. For example, two
sisters might be foils to each other if one were quiet, had no sense of humor, and
loved math, while the other were outgoing, funny, and spent her time playing sports.
Imagine a character named Lenny who is honest, loyal to his friends, and thinks that
the best way to succeed is through cooperation. Now imagine a foil to Lenny. Use the
sentence from below to describe this character.
A foil to Lenny might be _______________________________________________________________________________.
Reading Strategy Make and Verify Predictions

When you read, you can make informed guesses about what will happen next. This
will help you read with more attention. You can change your predictions as you read
and get more information. Based on your reading of Act 2, Scene 1 and the Building
Background above, how do you predict the members of the Second Triumvirate will
act toward the conspirators and their allies? Write your prediction on the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Vocabulary Denotations and Connotations

A word’s denotation is its literal meaning that you can find in Vocabulary
a dictionary. However, a word can also have different “shades
of meaning”—either positive or negative A word’s connotation barren (barʼ ən) adj. empty and dreary; without
life; desolate
is its suggested or implied meaning that goes beyond its
dictionary meaning. For example, aspiring and driven all share covert (kōʼ vərt) adj. secret; hidden
a common meaning of “ambitious.” However, aspiring has
positive connotations; driven has negative connotations. Decide
whether each of the following words has a positive or negative or
connotation. Then write it under the correct heading in the chart.
power-hungry purposeful determined pushy
Positive Connotation Negative Connotation

The Tr agedy of
A year and a half has passed since Caesar’s death. Mark Antony,
Octavius, and Lepidus, now rulers of Rome, meet in Antony’s
house to plan their next actions.
ACT 4
SCENE 1. Antony’s house in Rome. A year and a half after

Caesar’s death.
[Enter ANTONY, OCTAVIUS, and LEPIDUS.]
antony. These many then shall die, their names are
prick’d.°
octavius. Your brother too must die, consent you,
Lepidus?°
lepidus. I do consent—
octavius. Prick him down, Antony.
lepidus. Upon condition Publius shall not live,
Literary Element 5 Who is your sister’s son, Mark Antony.
antony. He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.
Foil In this scene, does Lepidus
But, Lepidus, go you to Caesar’s house;
serve as a foil to either Octavius
or Mark Antony? Check the box Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine
for your answer; then explain your How to cut off some charge in legacies.°
reason. 10 lepidus. What? shall I find you here?
■ Yes octavius. Or here or at the Capitol.
■ No [Exit LEPIDUS.]
Reason: antony. This is a slight unmeritable man,
Meet° to be sent on errands; is it fit,
_______________________________ The threefold world° divided, he should stand
15 One of the three to share it?
_______________________________ octavius. So you thought him,
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
238
Act 4 Scene 1
1 prick’d: marked down on a list.

2 Your brother . . . Lepidus: Lepidus’s brother was a prominent politician who sided
with the conspirators after Caesar’s assassination.
9 cut off . . . legacies: reduce the amount of money left to the people in Read and Discuss
Caesar’s will.
Antony’s argument with
Octavius in lines 12–27. Discuss
whether Mark Antony shows
respect and loyalty for his
13 Meet: fit.
fellow rulers. How can you tell?
14 threefold world: three parts of the Roman world. (In the autumn of 43 ,
Antony, Octavius Caesar, and Lepidus formed a triumvirate—a committee of
____________________________
three—to rule Rome. They divided up among themselves territory that the Romans
had conquered.)
____________________________
15–17 So you . . . proscription: Octavius wonders why Antony asked Lepidus to
name people who should be sentenced to death if he had so poor an opinion
of him. ____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________

Act 4 Scene 1
And took his voice who should be prick’d to die

In our black sentence and proscription.°
antony. Octavius, I have seen more days than you,
And though we lay these honors on this man
20 To ease ourselves of divers sland’rous loads,°
He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold,
To groan and sweat under the business,
Either led or driven, as we point the way;
And having brought our treasure where we will,
25 Then take we down his load, and turn him off
(Like to the empty ass) to shake his ears
Literary Element And graze in commons.°
octavius. You may do your will;
Foil Summarize Octavius’s
But he’s a tried and valiant soldier.
speeches by completing the
first two sentences below. Then antony. So is my horse, Octavius, and for that
complete the third sentence to 30 I do appoint him store of provender.°
describe Octavius as a foil to Mark It is a creature that I teach to fight,
Antony. To wind,° to stop, to run directly on,
His corporal° motion govern’d by my spirit;
When you took Lepidus’s advice And in some taste° is Lepidus but so.
about who should be sentenced to 35 He must be taught, and train’d, and bid go forth;
die, you seemed to think that he A barren-spirited fellow; one that feeds
was __________________________ On objects, arts, and imitations,
______________________________ . Which, out of use and stal’d by other men,
Begin his fashion.° Do not talk of him
Do as you think best, but
remember that Lepidus is _______
______________________________ .
In this scene, when Mark Antony is
acting ________________________ .
Octavius shows that he is a foil by
acting ________________________ .
240
Act 4 Scene 1
20 divers sland’rous loads: the burden of accusations for our various actions.
24–27 And having . . . commons: When Lepidus has brought our treasure where we
want it, we will send him off to shake his ears and graze on public land like an
unburdened donkey.
30 appoint . . . provender: allot him a supply of food.
32 wind: turn.
33 corporal: bodily.
34 taste: degree.
Vocabulary
36–39 A barren-spirited . . . fashion: a man with no originality, one who indulges in barren (barʼ ən) adj. empty and
curiosities, tricks, and fashions, which he takes up only after they have become dreary; without life; desolate
outmoded.
Vocabulary Skill
Denotations and Connotations
Replace the word barren in
the sentence below with a
synonym that has more positive
connotations. Use a dictionary or
thesaurus if you need help.
The explorer loved the barren

___________ plains of the arctic,
with their endless distances and
harsh light.
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________

Act 4 Scene 1
40 But as a property.° And now, Octavius,

Listen great things. Brutus and Cassius
Are levying powers; we must straight make head;
Therefore let our alliance be combin’d,
Our best friends made, our means stretch’d;
Vocabulary 45 And let us presently go sit in council,
covert (kōˊ vərt) adj. secret; How covert matters may be best disclos’d,
hidden And open perils surest answered.°
octavius. Let us do so; for we are at the stake,
Vocabulary Skill And bay’d about with many enemies,°
50 And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear,
Denotations and Connotations
Would you describe the
Millions of mischiefs. [They exit.]
connotations of covert in the
following sentence below as
positive or negative? Put a check
in the box next to your answer
and give your reason on the
lines below.
He demanded that the club’s

meetings remain covert.
■ Positive
■ Negative
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________ READING CHECK

______________________________ Summarize
The conspirators killed Caesar, so they said, because they feared
he would misuse his power. Does anyone else misuse power, in
your opinion? Explain your answer on the lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
242
Act 4 Scene 1
40 a property: a mere tool.

41–47 Listen great . . . answered: Listen to important matters. Brutus and Cassius
are raising armies; we must press forward immediately. Therefore let us become
united, choose our allies, and make the most of our resources. And let us decide
at once how hidden threats may be uncovered and open dangers most safely
confronted.
48–49 we are . . . enemies: Octavius’s metaphor refers to bear-baiting, a popular

entertainment in which bears were tied to stakes and surrounded by
vicious dogs.
Reading Strategy
Make Predictions Who do you
predict will win, the conspirators
or Rome’s new rulers? Why? Write
your prediction on the lines below.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________

Connect to the Play

At this point, Rome has three rulers. Look back at the qualities of a ruler you
named on page 236. So far, does either Mark Antony or Octavius seem to be
acting like a good leader? Check the box for your answer; then give your reasons
in the lines that follow.
Antony
■ good ■ bad ■ mixed
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Octavius
■ good ■ bad ■ mixed
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Foil

Fill in the following sentence frame to describe the use of character foils in this
scene.
Octavius acts as a foil to _________________________________ by behaving ___ _____________________________
to Lepidus while Mark Antony is behaving _____________________________________________________________ .
Reading Strategy Make and Verify Predictions

What will happen to Rome next? Make a prediction by checking one of the boxes
below; then explain your reasons on the lines that follow.
■ Rome will have peace when Brutus yields power to Mark Antony.
■ Rome will have war when Brutus fights Mark Antony.
■ Rome will have peace when Mark Antony yields power to Brutus.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
244
Vocabulary
barren covert
each sentence. Check the box for the best answer.
1. The field of grain was barren after the grasshoppers fed on the growing
wheat.
■ valuable
■ enlarged
■ destroyed
2. Mr. Lewellen accused Kate and Lisa of sending each other covert text
messages during class.
■ private
■ funny
■ lengthy
3. The eruption of the volcano left the forested hills for miles around it a
barren wilderness.
■ desolate
■ picturesque
■ protected
4. She had conducted covert operations for the U.S. government in many
parts of the world.
■ dangerous
■ secret
■ exciting
B. Denotations and Connotations Connotation is the meaning of a word that

goes beyond the dictionary definition. The words below present connotations
for the vocabulary words. Under each vocabulary word, write the connotation
that is the most negative and the connotation that is the most positive.
concealed clean unproductive blighted confidential sneaky
1. barren
most negative ________________ most positive ________________
2. covert
most negative ________________ most positive ________________

Reasoning Map
1. In this scene, Mark Antony tries to persuade Octavius to agree with him about
Lepidus. Read his conclusion in the box at the right. Then, in the boxes at the
left, write three reasons he gives to support his conclusion.
Reason 1
Reason 2 Conclusion
Lepidus doesn’t deserve to rule
Rome with us.
Reason 3
2. To what two animals does Mark Antony compare Lepidus in order to prove his
reasoning? Write your answer on the lines below.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
246
Learning Objectives
For pages 247–258

objectives:
plot pattern archetype.
about characters.
The Stealing of Thor’s Hammer

by Brian Branston
The Stealing of Thor's Hammer 247

Before You Read

Connect to the Myth
Characters in myths are usually larger-than-life, and engage in heroic acts and
ambitious undertakings. The problems they encounter, however, can be similar to
problems encountered in our daily lives. In the myth that follows, the main character
discovers that something very important to him is missing. What would you do if you
found that something very important to you was missing? Respond to the following
questions, writing your answers on the lines below.
1. How would you respond if you found out that the item had been stolen? If you found out who had stolen it,
would you want to confront them?
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
2. How would you go about getting the item back? Would you use force, or trickery? Explain.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Build Background
As you read the following statements, underline the facts that you think provide
information you will need to read the myth.
• Norse mythology is drawn from the history and traditions of the four Scandinavian
countries: Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
• The Norse god Thor is the main character of the myth that follows.
• Thor is known as the strongest of the gods, but he is far from the smartest.
• Thor is armed with a hammer, which he uses to defend the Norse gods.
• When Thor throws his hammer, it creates lightning and then magically returns to
his hand.

In the following myth, Thor loses the hammer with which he defends the Norse gods
from their enemies. Read to find out how he uses trickery to recover it and how he
revenges himself on the thief. As you read, notice the role of humor in this myth.
248
Literary Element Plot Pattern Archetypes
An archetype is a character, an image, or a plot pattern that appears frequently in
art and literature of different periods and different cultures. An evil magician is and
example of a character archetype; a magic ring is an example of an image archetype.
A plot pattern archetype is a story that is found in many different times and
cultures. The familiar story of a hero’s quest is a plot pattern archetype. In the chart
below, place each of the following items in the correct category of archetype. Then
use the chart to note archetypes you encounter in reading “The Stealing of Thor’s
Hammer.”
magical weapon strongman
trickster theft of fire
journey to another world enchanted castle
Character Archetype Image Archetype Plot Pattern Archetype
Reading Strategy Make Inferences About Characters

Making inferences about characters means making reasonable assumptions about
characters based on how they are described and on what they say and do. As you
read, use a chart to keep track of details about the description, speech, and actions of
the characters Thor and Loki. Use these details as clues to make an inference about
each of them.
Vocabulary Usage
One way to understand the meaning of a new word is to think Vocabulary
disdainful (dis dā̄nˊ fəl) adj. scornful; mocking
sentences. Look at the definitions and parts of speech for the
words in the side column. Read each word and its definition aloud. aggrieved (ə grēvdˊ) adj. disturbed; upset
Then write each word on the blank in the correct sentence below.
Reread the sentences to understand how each word is used guile (gı̄l) n. cunning
in context.
deliberation (di libˊ ə rāˊ shən) n. an official
meeting or consultation
Thor returned home ________________ after retrieving his
jubilantly (jooˊ bə lənt lē) adv. joyfully or happily
hammer.
The gods sat in ________________ to decide what to do.
He was bothered by King Loki’s ________________ treatment of him.
Sif was ________________ at being thrown out of bed.
Loki suggested the use of ________________ rather than a direct attack.

Vocabulary The god Thor always resented the disdainful way he had
been treated by King Loki of Outgard.1 He was quite determined
disdainful (dis dānˊ fəl) adj.
scornful; mocking
that one day he would get his own back. Then a dreadful thing
happened which made him fear that revenge might prove
impossible: his hammer was stolen!
Vocabulary Skill One evening he had retired as usual after a hearty supper in
Usage What part of speech is his palace of Bilskirnir and in an unusually tidy mood he placed
the word disdainful? Why does his shoes together neatly, folded his clothes and laid his hammer
Branston use this word here? Write on the table next to his pillow before getting into bed beside Sif.2
Daylight was squeezing through the gaps in the shutters
and the dawn chorus of birdsong was pealing in from the
______________________________ countryside when Thor awoke from a disturbing dream. He
fancied in his sleep that a thief had crept into the bedroom and
______________________________
had stolen the one sure protection the gods had against the
______________________________ giants—his hammer. Half awake, he fumbled a hand out of the
sheets and felt along the top of the bedside table. It was empty.
______________________________ He sat up in bed with such a jolt that his wife Sif was shot
out onto the floor. Before she could open her mouth to protest,
______________________________
Thor was yelling, “My hammer! My hammer’s been stolen!
Æsir!3 Elves! Quick! Wait! No! Yes! Who’s stolen my hammer?
LOKI! LOKEE…!” and his red hair and beard tossed about in all
directions as he wrathfully dragged on his clothes. He absent-
Literary Element mindedly picked the aggrieved Sif off the floor and put her back
into bed, by which time Loki4 had come running up panting.
Plot Pattern Archetypes Seeking
revenge is a plot element common
to many works of literature.
Underline the words and phrases
in the first paragraph that indicate
Thor is seeking revenge against
King Loki.
Vocabulary
aggrieved (ə grēvdˊ) adj.
disturbed; upset, especially as
the result of an injury
1. King Loki (lōʼ kē) is the king of the giants in Norse mythology. Outgard is the
name of his home. King Loki is not to be confused with Loki, the fire god.
2. Sif (sif) is the wife of Thor and the Norse goddess of fertility and crops.
3. Æsir (aʼ zir) is another name for the group made up of the major Norse gods.
4. Here, Loki refers to the fire god, not King Loki.
250
“You had anything to do with this, Loki?” bellowed Thor.

Read and Discuss
“What, what…?” gasped Loki as Thor gripped him by
the scruff.
Read the conversation
“My hammer—have you stolen it?” between Thor and Loki out
“No, no, no,” stammered Loki. “Only one lot dare do that, loud with a partner. As you
and you don’t need me to tell you who they are. The giants!” read, put one line under details
“Come on then!” cried Thor, “My chariot—you are coming that help you understand Thor;
with me to Jotunheim5 to get it back!” and he started to drag put two lines under details that
help you understand Loki.
Loki downstairs to the stables.
“Stop!” shouted Loki. “Do have the sense to stop! Can’t
you see that’s just what the giants want? Without your hammer
you’d be killed. We need stealth here. We need guile.” Reading Strategy
“Well, you’re the one for that,” replied Thor, simmering
down, “What do you suggest?” Make Inferences About
Characters Based on what you
The upshot was that Loki volunteered to borrow Freya’s6
have read so far, what inference
feather coat and fly as a hawk into Jotunheim to find out if can you make about Thor’s
possible what had happened to Thor’s hammer. He winged his character? What details are you
way swiftly over the ocean to the shores of Jotunheim and across basing this inference on? Write
the tops of the towering forest trees towards the mountains and your answers on the lines below:
the stronghold of King Loki. Inference:
From a distance he saw the king sitting on the gravemound
of his ancestors just outside the city walls. There was a rune- ____________________________
carved stone commemorating the dead giants who were sitting
upright in their high seats below in the mound waiting for the ____________________________
Ragnarok.7 Loki flew to the top of the tall stone and perched
there. King Loki of Outgard was amusing himself plaiting8 gold
leashes for his hunting dogs and trimming the manes of his Details:
horses. He glanced up.

“It’s Loki, isn’t it?” he asked. ____________________________
“Yes,” replied the hawk, “you are quite right, of course.”
____________________________
“How goes it with the Æsir, and how with the elves? Very
well, I trust?” ____________________________
“The elves are upset and the Æsir worse.”
“Someone has stolen Thor’s hammer.” ____________________________
“And who’s the culprit?” asked King Loki of Outgard.
“You are, your gigantic majesty,” answered the Mischief ____________________________
Maker at which the giant let out such an exploding guffaw

____________________________
of cruel laughter that his horses shied in fear and his hounds
cringed in terror.
Vocabulary
guile (gı̄l) n. cunning
5. Jotunheim (yô toon hāmʼ) is one of the nine worlds in Norse mythology and the
home of the giants. Jotun is another word for giant.
6. Freya (frāʼ ə) is the Norse goddess of love and beauty.
7. Ragnarok is the final battle between the gods and their enemies in Norse mythology.
8. Plaiting (plātʼ ing) means “braiding.”

Literary Element “There’s no use pretending with a clever fellow like you,” he
said. “You are quite right. I have stolen Thor’s hammer; and the
Plot Pattern Archetypes Why Thundering Nuisance will only get it back on conditions.”
won’t force work to regain Thor’s
“What conditions?”
hammer? What exchange does
King Loki propose? Write your
“Don’t think the hammer can be regained by force. It can’t. I
answer on the lines below. have buried it deep in the earth, seven leagues9 down. Only one
thing will redeem it. You must bring me the goddess Freya to be
_______________________________
my wife!”
Loki made no reply but flew straight back to Asgard10 and
_______________________________ before he could alight Thor was asking him for news.
“Tell me at once, before you perch,” he cried, “have you
_______________________________ found out where my hammer is?”
The Mischief Maker explained precisely all he knew and
_______________________________
told the terms necessary for retrieving the hammer. He had
_______________________________ scarcely taken off the feather coat when Thor was dragging
him to Freya’s palace, bursting into it without any politeness
_______________________________ or ceremony.
“Here’s your feather coat, dear Freya,” said Thor, “thanks
_______________________________
for the loan of it. Now hurry up please and find yourself a
bride’s veil.”
“A bride’s veil?” asked Freya, surprised.
Vocabulary “Who’s getting married?”
“You are,” said Thor.
deliberation (di libˊ ə rāˊ shən) n.
an official meeting or
“I?” exclaimed Freya beginning to get angry, “to whom,
consultation pray? Or is it a secret?”
“It’s no secret,” said the simple Thor, “to Loki of Outgard,
of course.”
Vocabulary Skill Freya’s lovely breasts rose with such fury that her famous
Usage The noun deliberation is necklace Brisingamen snapped apart and the precious jewels
related to the verb deliberate. scattered across the marble floor. She picked up the nearest
On the lines below, rewrite the
weapon to hand, a distaff,11 and started to belabor12 Loki,
sentence from the selection that
contains the word deliberation, shouting, “I shan’t, I shan’t, I shan’t!” It was no use trying to
using the word deliberate instead. reason with her. She flatly refused to marry any giant even
Use a dictionary if you need help. though he was a king.
Such a serious situation had to be made known to Odin.13
______________________________ At once, he called a council meeting of all the Æsir and without
delay they sat in deliberation upon their judgement stools.
______________________________
“Who’s first with any ideas?” asked Odin.
______________________________ Tyr suggested an armed invasion of Jotunheim. Niord14
agreed, saying it should be an attack by sea and land and air
______________________________
______________________________
9. One league (lēg) is equal to about three miles or five kilometers.
10. Asgard (asʼ gärdʼ) is another of the nine worlds and the home of the gods.
______________________________
11. A distaff (disʼ taf) is a pole used to hold wool for spinning.
12. To belabor (bi lāʼ bər) is to strike or hit.
13. Odin is a Norse god of war. He is also the god of poets.
14. Niord is the Norse god of the sea.
252
with the Valkyries15 on their flying horses spear-heading the

aerial battalions.
Loki said, “I can tell you this: a direct attack will be useless.
Let me remind you of the magic spells employed by the
giant king to frustrate Thor in the past. Even if an attack was Literary Element
successful, the hammer would still lie hidden. There is only one
way to get it back and that is to trick King Loki of Outgard into Plot Pattern Archetypes What
producing it.” does Loki say they must do? Where
have you encountered trickery as
Heimdall,16 the whitest and sometimes the wisest of the
a narrative element in other myths
gods said he had an idea.
and folk tales? Write your answer
“If we were to dress Thor himself up as a bride and send on the lines below.
Loki disguised as a handmaid to do the talking, then once the
hammer is brought out Thor can snatch it up and—hey presto!—
heads will roll!” ____________________________
“Jumping Jormungander!”17 shouted Thor, foaming at
____________________________
the mouth. “Vexatious Vergelmir!18 Nobody dresses me up as
a woman!” ____________________________
But it was no use Thor’s continuing to protest. Heimdall’s
suggestion was voted best in the end and the Thunderer had to ____________________________
submit to being clothed in petticoats to hide his hairy legs and a
long-sleeved blouse stuffed out a bit in the appropriate places, ____________________________
topped by an embroidered tunic. Brooches were pinned onto his
false bust and a set of housewife’s keys was set to dangle from ____________________________
his girdle.19 To show he really was ‘Freya’, he had to wear the
goddess’s famous necklace, now repaired, Brisingamen. And ____________________________
____________________________
15. Valkyries (val kērʼ ēs) are Odin’s twelve handmaidens, who ride onto the battlefield
on winged horses to take the souls of the brave to Valhalla, Odin’s palace in Asgard.
____________________________
16. Heimdall (hı̄m dəl) is the watchman of the gods; he possesses keen eyesight,
hearing, and the ability to see the future.
17. The Jormungander (yôrʼ moon gänd ər) is Loki’s son, a mighty serpent that
encircles the Earth.
18. Vexatious (vek sāʼ shēs) means “troublesome.” Vergelmir (hwerʼ gel mir) is a spring
in Norse mythology that was instrumental in forming the first giants.
19. Thor’s female costume includes petticoats (petʼē kōtsʼ), which are decorative
feminine undergarments; a tunic (tooʼ nik), which is a long, loose shirt; and a
girdle (gurdʼəl), which here means “a wide belt.” He is also wearing a set of
housewife’s keys. Women in Scandinavian cultures ruled the household and,
therefore, held the keys to the house.
READING CHECK
Clarify
Who is Loki and who is King Loki? What different roles have these
two characters played so far? Write your answer on the lines below.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

to complete the disguise he was draped to the waist in a white

Literary Element bride’s veil. Loki in turn was dressed up as a woman, a rather
saucy20 lady’s maid.
Plot Pattern Archetypes Which
of the following best describes the
Thor’s goats21 were led from the stable and harnessed to
effect of this passage? Put a check the chariot.
in the box next to your answer. “Come on there, Toothgnasher! Gee up, Toothgrinder!” he
shouted and cracked his whip while the smile vanished from
■ suspense Loki’s lips as he nearly slipped out of the back. In a flash of
lightning they were halfway across the sky.
■ humor
In Jotunheim King Loki of Outgard heard the thunder of
■ realism the chariot wheels and he called out to his servants to strew the
carved wooden settles with cushions and goat skins to make
them comfortable, to broach the sparkling, foamy ale, to set up
the trestle tables and prepare the wedding feast for him and his
new bride the lovely, the delectable, the incomparable Freya.
He rubbed his gigantic hands with satisfaction as he thought of
all his possessions, of the gold-horned oxen with jet black hides
thronging his paddocks, of his horses and hounds, his hunting
hawks, of the gold and jewels in his iron-bound coffers;22 he
seemed to need only one thing to complete his happiness—the
goddess Freya.
Read and Discuss By the time the ‘bride’ and her ‘lady’s maid’ had arrived it
was early evening and the banquet was ready.
With a partner, discuss the plan The bride was placed on King Loki’s right hand and the
the gods came up with. Do you
maid on his left. The giant was very surprised when, during
think it will work? What is a major
drawback to the plan? Write your
the feasting, the bride had no difficulty in despatching a whole
answer on the lines below. ox, eight fine salmon and all the dainties intended for the lady
giants. He was even more astonished to see this mountain of
____________________________ food washed down with three firkins of mead—and a firkin
holds nine gallons! “I don’t think I ever saw a giant maiden with
____________________________
such a thirst or such an appetite,” he said. “It is unusual,” said
____________________________
the cunning lady’s maid, “but you have to remember that when
Freya knew she was going to marry you …“ and here Loki was
____________________________ forced to gulp as he thought of the thumping lie he was about to
tell, “she was so excited, your majesty, that she couldn’t eat for
____________________________ a week. Not a morsel passed her lovely lips. When we arrived
here she was ravenous.”23
____________________________
“You can say that again,” muttered King Loki.
He was getting impatient and wanted to steal a kiss from the
bride so he lifted a corner of her veil.
20. Saucy (sôʼ sē) means “spirited.”

21. Thor drove a chariot pulled by two goats.
22. Settles (setʼ əls) are large wooden benches or seats. Here, to broach (brōch)
means “to open.” Paddocks (padʼ ək) are fields where horses graze, and coffers
(kôʼ fərs) are chests or boxes used to store valuables.
23. Ravenous (ravʼ ə nəs) means “very hungry.”
254
Loki was petrified. And the giant king’s hair almost stood
on end at the sight of the flashing eyes he saw there in the lacy
shadows. Handmaid Loki hastened to tell him not to worry, Reading Strategy
Freya’s eyes were rather red because she had not been able to
sleep for a week before coming to Outgard. Characters How would you
At last King Loki of Outgard called for the marriage to be describe Loki based on what he
solemnized24 in the traditional way by the bride and groom does when the king tries to steal
swearing their vows on Thor’s hammer. The hammer was a kiss from his bride? Write your
fetched from its hiding-place and laid on the bride’s lap while answer on the lines below.
the happy pair placed their hands on it and swore to be true to
each other. _______________________________
Thor’s hand was underneath and when he felt
_______________________________
Mullicrusher25 within his grasp once more all his confidence
returned. He did not bother to throw off his veil. With one great _______________________________
lunge he felled his old enemy the giant king.
Then the pair of imposters strode out of the hall, mounted _______________________________
the chariot and rattled jubilantly back to Asgard again.
_______________________________
Vocabulary
jubilantly (jooˊ bə lənt lē) adv.
joyfully or happily
24. When a marriage is solemnized (solʼ əm nı̄zʼ d), it is formally established.
25. Mullicrusher (mə lēʼ crə shər) is the nickname the author uses for Thor’s hammer.
Vocabulary Skill
READING CHECK Usage Why do you think Branston
uses the word jubilantly rather
Summarize than a word or phrase such as
Retell in your own words what happens when Thor and Loki, happily or with pleasure?
disguised as the bride and her maid, sit down beside King Loki at
the wedding banquet. ______________________________
______________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

After You Read
Connect to the Myth
Look back at the answers you gave on page 248. Compare your reactions and
actions to how Thor reacted and what he did.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Plot Pattern Archetypes

Review the archetypes chart you filled out on page 249. On the lines below,
identify which of these archetypes you encountered in “The Stealing of Thor’s
Hammer” and what element in the myth represented each archetype.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Make Inferences About Character

Look back over the Reading Strategy chart you made. Then use the sentence
frames below to summarize the characters of Thor and Loki based on the
inferences you made.
Thor is __________________________________________________________________________________________
because of _______________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
and because of ___________________________________________________________________________________
Loki is ___________________________________________________________________________________________
because of _______________________________________________________________________________________
and because of ___________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
256
After You Read
Vocabulary
disdainful aggrieved guile deliberation jubilantly
1. After lengthy deliberation, the city council decided on a plan to revive the
downtown area.
a speeches c discussion
b argument d organization
2. The politician’s guile enabled her to outmaneuver her opponents.

a experience c trickery
b intelligence d honesty
3. The winning team jubilantly carried their coach off the field on their shoulders.
a secretly c proudly
b angrily d joyously
4. Wanting to participate only in organized sports, his attitude toward the

other children’s simple games was disdainful.
a sneering c fearful
b enjoying d admiring
5. Her refusal to do her share of the housework made her roommates feel
very aggrieved.
a exhausted c puzzled
b resentful d amused
B. Usage Choose the vocabulary word that best completes each of the following
sentences.
1. To become a success in show business, she needed as much

________________ as she did talent.
2. Everyone knew that what was needed to settle the dispute was calm
________________.
3. After the boss’s unexpected announcement of a large bonus, the staff

meeting concluded ________________.

After You Read
Problem and Solution Chart
A Problem and Solution Chart can help you keep track of essential story events,
specifically what problem a character confronts, what steps the character takes to
solve the problem, and what the solution is. Use the chart below to outline the
problem in “The Stealing of Thor’s Hammer, the steps the gods take to solve it,
and the solution.
Problem
Step
Step
Step
Solution
258
Learning Objectives
For pages 259–272, 314

objectives:
plot pattern archetype.
about characters.
Where the Girl Rescued Her Brother

by Joseph Bruchac and Gayle Ross
John Henry by Zora Neale Hurston
A Song of Greatness Chippewa Traditional
Where the Girl Rescued Her Brother/John Henry/A Song of Greatness 259
Comparing Literature Where the Girl Rescued Her Brother
John Henry
A Song of Greatness
The three selections you are about to read share the theme of heroism. Heroes are
people with courage and strength of spirit who face their fears and do what needs to be
done. Sometimes heroes become well known. At other times, they work quietly in the
background. Think about heroes you know or have read about. Choose one hero and
answer the following questions: What did the person do or contribute that qualifies him
or her as a hero? What qualities made this person heroic?
Build Background
The Native Americans and African Americans depicted in these works suffered at the
hands of whites. As you read each fact, write a sentence that explains how each event
may have shaped people into heroes.
• In the 1870s, the U.S. government promised Native Americans that their land
would always be theirs. When miners moved in looking for gold, the government
ordered the Native Americans to leave.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
• The story of John Henry is a tall tale, a folktale with a hero who is larger than
life. During the time that the tale takes place, many African Americans were seen
as inferior and made to do the hardest and most tiring work, such as driving steel
spikes for railroad tracks.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Native American mythology was passed down by storytellers. Native American

young people grew up hearing about heroes and heroic actions of their people.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Each of these works focuses on the theme of an individual’s power to change their world. As
you read, ask yourself how these works reveal common beliefs between different cultures.
The Cheyenne, African American, and Chippewa cultures from which these works
come all have oral traditions. This means that stories are passed from one generation
to the next by word of mouth. As you read, ask yourself, How does the form of each
selection shape the way the story is told? What would it be like to hear the selection
rather than read it?
260
Literary Element Suspense
Suspense is a feeling of curiosity, uncertainty, or tension about what will happen next
in a story. Suspense increases your interest in the outcome of a story by involving
your emotions. The title of “Where the Girl Rescued Her Brother” creates suspense
because it makes you wonder what will happen in the story. What question would
you ask after reading the title?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Synthesize

To synthesize is to combine and apply your knowledge of different subjects to your
reading. Synthesizing helps you connect what you read to your own life, to what
you’ve read before, or to the world in general. As you read, refer back to the following
table. Synthesize your knowledge of each factor with the story to make statements
about the theme of heroism in “Where the Girl Rescued Her Brother.”
Factor Statement About Heroism

Native American Culture In Native American culture, both women and men can
be heroes.
Gender Roles
U.S. History
Vocabulary Synonyms
Synonyms are words that are the same or similar in meaning. Vocabulary
To determine which words are synonyms, try substituting one
confront (kən fruntˊ) ) v. to come face-to face
word for another in context. For example, in the title “Where the
with; to oppose
Girl Rescued Her Brother,” the verb saved can replace rescued
without changing the meaning of the title. Synonyms are often vault (vôlt) v. to jump; spring
found in the definition of a word. Read the vocabulary words
and definitions in the side column and list one synonym for each strategic (strə tēˊ jik) adj. highly important to an
vocabulary word. If necessary, use the dictionary to locate other intended goal; planned
meanings and/or synonyms.
confront: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
vault: _______________________________________________________________________________________________
strategic: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Where the Girl
Rescued Her Brother
Read and Discuss It was the moon when the choke-cherries were ripe. A young
woman rode out of a Cheyenne camp with her husband and
In small groups, read the her brother. The young woman’s name was Buffalo Calf Road
second paragraph on this page. Woman. Her husband, Black Coyote, was one of the chiefs of the
Then think about gender roles Cheyenne, the people of the plains who call themselves Tsis-tsis-
in contemporary society. Do the
tas, meaning simply “The People.” Buffalo Calf Road Woman’s
wives or husbands of public
officials “share the weight of
brother, Comes-in-Sight, was also one of the Cheyenne chiefs,
their spouse’s responsibility”? and it was well-known how close he was to his sister.
Discuss your ideas with the Like many of the other young women of the Cheyenne,
group. Buffalo Calf Road Woman was respected for her honorable
nature. Although it was the men who most often went to war
____________________________
to defend the people—as they were doing on this day—women
____________________________
would accompany their husbands when they went to battle. If
a man held an important position among the Cheyenne, such as
____________________________ the keeper of the Sacred Arrows, then his wife, too, would have
to be of the highest moral character, for she shared the weight of
____________________________ his responsibility.
Buffalo Calf Road Woman was well aware of this, and as she
____________________________
rode by her husband she did so with pride. She knew that today
____________________________ they were on their way to meet their old allies, the Lakota.1 They
were going out to try to drive back the veho, the spider people
____________________________ who were trying to claim all the lands of the Native peoples.
Literary Element
Suspense Underline the details
on page 263 that describe how
the Native Americans saw the
white people. How do the details
increase suspense?
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
1. The Lakota were the largest group of Sioux (soo) people. They hunted in the
western Dakotas and Nebraska.
262
The Cheyenne had been worried about the veho, the white
Reading Strategy
people, for a long time. They had given them that name because,
like the black widow spider, they were very beautiful but it was Synthesize From your previous
dangerous to get close to them. And unlike the Cheyenne, they knowledge of U.S. history and
seemed to follow a practice of making promises and not keeping Native American history, was
Custer’s behavior expected or
them. Although their soldier chief Custer had promised to be
surprising to you? Explain.
friendly with the Cheyenne, now he and the others had come
into their lands to make war upon them.
_______________________________
Buffalo Calf Road Woman wore a robe embroidered with
porcupine quills. The clothing of her brother and her husband, _______________________________
Black Coyote, was also beautifully decorated with those quills,
which had been flattened, dyed in different colors, folded, and _______________________________
sewed on in patterns. Buffalo Calf Road Woman was proud
that she belonged to the Society of Quilters. As with the men’s _______________________________
societies, only a few women—those of the best character—could
_______________________________
join. Like the men, the women had to be strong, honorable, and
brave. Buffalo Calf Road Woman had grown up hearing stories
of how Cheyenne women would defend their families when the
men were away. The women of the Cheyenne were brave, and
those in the Society of Quilters were the bravest of all. Literary Element
Buffalo Calf Road Woman smiled as she remembered one Suspense Underline details in the
day when the women of the Society of Quilters showed such last two paragraphs that create
bravery. It was during the Moon of Falling Leaves. A big hunt suspense. Then write what you
had been planned. The men who acted as scouts had gone out think will happen next.
and located the great buffalo herd. They had seen, too, that there
were no human enemies anywhere near their camp. So almost _______________________________
none of the men remained behind.
_______________________________
On that day, when all the men were away, a great grizzly
bear came into the camp. Such things seldom happened, but _______________________________
this bear was one that had been wounded in the leg by a white
fur-trapper’s bullet. It could no longer hunt as it had before, and _______________________________
hunger brought it to the Cheyenne camp, where it smelled food
cooking. _______________________________
When the huge bear came walking into the camp, almost
everyone scattered. Some women grabbed their little children.
Old people shut the door flaps of their tepees, and the boys ran
to find their bows and arrows. Only a group of seven women
who had been working on the embroidery of an elk-skin robe
did not run. They were members of the Society of Quilters, and
Buffalo Calf Road Woman was among them. The seven women
Where the Girl Rescued Her Brother 263

put down their work, picked up the weapons they had close to
Vocabulary hand, and stood to face the grizzly bear.
confront (kən fruntˊ) v. to come Now of all of the animals of the plains, the only one fierce
face-to face with; to oppose enough and powerful enough to attack a human was the grizzly.
But confronted by that determined group of women, the grizzly
bear stopped in its tracks. It had come to steal food, not fight.
Vocabulary Skill
The head of the Society of Quilters stepped forward a pace and
Synonyms Which of the following
spoke to the bear.
words is a synonym for the word
confronted as it is used in the
“Grandfather,” she said, her voice low and firm, “we do
story? Circle your answer. not wish to harm you, but we will protect our camp. Go back to
your own home.”
stood
The grizzly shook its head and then turned and walked out
faced of the camp. The women stood and watched it as it went down
harmed through the cottonwoods and was lost from sight along the bend
scattered
of the stream.
Buffalo Calf Road Woman turned her mind away from
her memories. They were close to Rosebud Creek. The scouts
had told them that a great number of the veho soldiers would
Reading Strategy be there and that the Gray Fox, General George Crook, was in
command. The Cheyenne had joined up now with the Oglala,2
Synthesize Based on what you
know about Native American led by Crazy Horse. The Lakota people were always friends to
culture, why do you think the the Cheyenne, but this man, Crazy Horse, was the best friend of
woman calls the bear Grandfather all. Some even said that he was one of their chiefs, too, as well as
and talks to it as a person? being a war leader of his Oglala.
There were Crow and Shoshone3 scouts with Crook, and
_______________________________ the veho had many cannons. The Lakota and the Cheyenne were
outnumbered by the two thousand men in Crook’s command.
_______________________________ But they were prepared to fight. They had put on their finest
clothes, for no man should risk his life without being dressed
_______________________________
well enough so that if he died, the enemy would know a great
_______________________________ warrior had fallen. Some of the men raised their headdresses
three times, calling out their names and the deeds they had
_______________________________ done. Those headdresses of eagle feathers were thought to give
magical protection to a warrior. Other men busied themselves
_______________________________
painting designs on their war ponies.
_______________________________ Now they could hear Crook’s army approaching. The
rumble of the horses’ hooves echoed down the valley, and there
_______________________________ was the sound of trumpets. War ponies reared up and stomped
their feet. Many of the Cheyenne men found it hard to put on
Literary Element
Suspense Underline words and
phrases on this page that appeal
to the senses in order to create 2. The Oglala (ōg läʼ lə) were a group of Sioux people who lived in what is now South
suspense. Dakota.
3. The Crow and Shoshone (shə shōʼnē) peoples lived mainly in the Rocky Mountains.
264
the last of their paint as their hands shook from the excitement
of the coming battle. Vocabulary
Crazy Horse vaulted onto his horse and held up one arm. vault (vôlt) v. to jump; spring
“Hoka Hey,” he cried. “It is a good day to die.”
Buffalo Calf Road Woman watched from a hill as the two Vocabulary Skill
lines of men—the blue soldiers to one side, and the Lakota and
Synonyms Why do you think the
Cheyenne to the other—raced toward each other. The battle
authors use the word vaulted
began. It was not a quick fight or an easy one. There were brave rather than jumped or climbed
men on both sides. Two Moons, Little Hawk, Yellow Eagle, to describe the way Crazy Horse
Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse were only a few of the great mounted his horse?
warriors who fought for the Cheyenne and the Lakota. And
Crook, the Gray Fox general of the whites, was known to be a ______________________________
tough fighter and a worthy enemy.
______________________________
Buffalo Calf Road Woman’s husband, Black Coyote, and her
brother, Comes-in-Sight, were in the thick of the fight. The odds ______________________________
in the battle were almost even. Although the whites had more
soldiers and guns, the Lakota and the Cheyenne were better ______________________________
shots and better horsemen. Had it not been for the Crow and
______________________________
Shoshone scouts helping Crook, the white soldiers might have
broken quickly from the ferocity of the attack.
READING CHECK
Clarify
Why are the Cheyenne and Lakota fighting the veho?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

Literary Element From one side to the other, groups of men attacked and
retreated as the guns cracked, cannons boomed, and smoke
Suspense How does the filled the air. The war shouts of the Lakota and the Cheyenne
paragraph that begins with
were almost as loud as the rumble of the guns. The sun moved
the highlighted sentence build
suspense?
across the sky as the fight went on, hour after hour, while the
confusion of battle swirled below.
Then Buffalo Calf Road Woman saw something that
_______________________________
horrified her. Her brother had been drawn off to one side,
_______________________________ surrounded by Crow scouts. He tried to ride free of them, but
his pony went down, struck by a rifle bullet and killed. Now he
_______________________________ was on foot, still fighting. The Crow warriors were trying to get
close, to count coup4 on him. It was more of an honor to touch a
_______________________________
living enemy, so they were not firing their rifles at him. And he
_______________________________
was able to keep them away with his bow and arrows. But it was
clear that soon he would be out of ammunition and would fall to
_______________________________ the enemy.
Buffalo Calf Road Woman waited no longer. She dug her
_______________________________ heels into her pony’s sides and galloped down the hill. Her head
low, her braids streaming behind her, she rode into the heart
_______________________________
of the fight. Some men moved aside as they saw her coming,
for there was a determined look in her eyes. She made the long
howling cry that Cheyenne women used to urge on the warriors.
This time, however, she was the one going into the fight. Her
Reading Strategy voice was as strong as an eagle’s. Her horse scattered the ponies
Synthesize Think about what you
of the Crow scouts who were closing in on her brother, Comes-
know about people’s attitudes in-Sight. She held out a hand; her brother grabbed it and vaulted
toward courageous acts. Is it onto the pony behind her. Then she wheeled, ducking the
reasonable that soldiers from both arrows of the Crow scouts, and heading back up the hill.
sides would stop fighting and That was when it happened. For a moment, it seemed as
cheer Buffalo Calf Road Woman’s
if all the shooting stopped. The Cheyenne and the Lakota, and
actions? Explain.
even the veho soldiers, lowered their guns to watch this act of
great bravery. A shout went up, not from one side but from both,
_______________________________
as Buffalo Calf Road Woman reached the safety of the hilltop
_______________________________
again, her brother safe behind her on her horse. White men and
Indians cheered her.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
4. For some Native American peoples, to count coup (koo) meant to touch an enemy
and get away safely. This required both skill and courage.
266
So it was that Buffalo Calf Road Woman performed the act

for which the people would always remember her. Inspired by
her courage, the Cheyenne and Lakota drove back the Gray Vocabulary
Fox—Crook made a strategic withdrawal. strategic (strə téʼ jik) adj. highly
“Even the veho general was impressed,” said the Cheyenne important to an intended goal;
planned
people. “He saw that if our women were that brave, he would
stand no chance against us in battle.”
So it is that to this day, the Cheyenne and the Lakota people
do not refer to the fight as the Battle of the Rosebud. Instead, Reading Strategy
they honor Buffalo Calf Road Woman by calling the fight Where
the Girl Rescued Her Brother. Synthesize Think about the
names of famous battles, such as
those in the Revolutionary War,
Civil War, and the World Wars. How
does the way the Cheyenne and
Lakota named this battle differ
from the way battles are normally
named?
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK
Question
What questions would you ask to repair your comprehension of
what has happened in the story?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

John Henry
Comparing Literature 1 John Henry driving on the right hand side,
Steam drill1 driving on the left,
“Where the Girl Rescued Her Says, ’fore I’ll let your steam drill beat me down
Brother” is prose, while “John
I’ll hammer my fool self to death,
Henry” is poetry. How does this
affect the details that the authors
Hammer my fool self to death.
include about their heroes?
2 John Henry told his Captain,2
_______________________________
When you go to town
Please bring me back a nine pound hammer
_______________________________ And I’ll drive your steel on down,
And I’ll drive your steel on down.
_______________________________
3 John Henry told his Captain,
_______________________________
Man ain’t nothing but a man,
_______________________________ And ’fore I’ll let that steam drill beat me down
I’ll die with this hammer in my hand,
_______________________________ Die with this hammer in my hand.
_______________________________
4 Captain ast John Henry,
_______________________________
What is that storm I hear?
He says Cap’n that ain’t no storm,
‘Tain’t nothing but my hammer in the air,
Nothing but my hammer in the air.
Read and Discuss 5 John Henry told his Captain,

Bury me under the sills of the floor,
With a partner, discuss what So when they get to playing good old Georgy skin,3
you have learned about John Bet ’em fifty to a dollar more,
Henry’s character so far. Fifty to a dollar more.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
1. A steam drill is a steam-powered machine used to cut through rock. Human

workers had to hammer the rock by hand.
2. Here, the Captain is the boss of the railroad workers.
3. Georgy skin is slang for Georgia Skin, a card game.
268
John Henry
6 John Henry had a little woman,

The dress she wore was red,
Says I’m going down the track,
And she never looked back.
I’m going where John Henry fell dead,
Going where John Henry fell dead.
7 Who’s going to shoe your pretty li’l’ feet?

And who’s going to glove your hand?
Who’s going to kiss your dimpled cheek?
And who’s going to be your man?
Who’s going to be your man?
8 My father’s going to shoe my pretty li’l’ feet;

My brother’s going to glove my hand;
My sister’s going to kiss my dimpled cheek;
John Henry’s going to be my man, Comparing Literature
John Henry’s going to be my man. Do you think the woman in “John
Henry” shows courage? If so, is it
9 Where did you get your pretty li’l’ dress? the same kind of courage shown
The shoes you wear so fine? by Buffalo Calf Road Woman?
I got my shoes from a railroad man, Explain.
My dress from a man in the mine,
My dress from a man in the mine. _______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK _______________________________
Summarize _______________________________
In two sentences, summarize the story that the poem tells.
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
John Henry 269

A Song of Greatness
When I hear the old men
Telling of heroes,
Telling of great deeds
Of ancient days—
Comparing Literature 5 When I hear that telling,
How does the speaker in this
Then I think within me
selection differ from the narrators I, too, am one of these.
in “Where the Girl Rescued Her
Brother” and “John Henry”? When I hear the people
Praising great ones,
_______________________________ 10 Then I know that I too—
Shall be esteemed;
_______________________________ I, too, when my time comes
Shall do mightily
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK
Predict
What do you think will happen to the speaker of the poem as he
or she grows older?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
270
After You Read Where the Girl Rescued Her Brother
John Henry
A Song of Greatness
Look back at the Connect feature on page 260. Prepare a chart that gives the
heroic deeds and qualities of each of the characters in the three selections.
Name of Hero Heroic Deed Heroic Qualities

Buffalo Calf Road
Woman
John Henry
Speaker
Literary Element Suspense

In “Where the Girl Rescued Her Brother,” the authors use sensory details to draw
the reader into the story. Visualize the part of the story that seems the most
suspenseful to you. Describe the scene in your own words, using at least three
sensory details to heighten the suspense for the reader. Try to involve three
different senses.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Synthesize

Look back at the graphic organizer on page 261. How does synthesizing your
knowledge of historical events with events in “Where the Girl Rescued Her
Brother” deepen your understanding of the story?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
After You Read Where the Girl Rescued Her Brother
John Henry
A Song of Greatness
Vocabulary
A. Word Meaning For each of the following sentences, select the sentence that
has the same meaning.
1. Sheila confronted the woman who had told lies about her.
a Sheila asked the woman why she had told lies about her.
b Sheila came face to face with the woman who had told lies
about her.
2. As the dog chased me, I vaulted over the fence.

a As the dog chased me, I jumped over the fence.
b As the dog chased me, I climbed over the fence.
3. The candidate made a strategic move by refusing to debate his opponent.

a The candidate made a carefully planned move by refusing to debate
his opponent.
b The candidate made a complicated move by refusing to debate his
opponent.
B. Synonyms Replace each underlined word or phrase in the sentence with its
synonym.
confronted vaulted strategic
As part of Crazy Horse’s planned ______________________ attack, the
Cheyenne and Lakota horses and their riders hurdled
______________________ the bushes that concealed them and faced
______________________ the veho.

272
Learning Objectives
For pages 273–286

objectives:
stream of consciousness.
Comparing literature across
genres.
imagery.
What I Have Been Doing Lately

by Jamaica Kincaid
People at Night by Denise Levertov
The Dream by Anna Akhmatova
What I Have Been Doing Lately/People at Night/The Dream 273

Comparing Literature What I Have Been Doing Lately
People at Night The Dream
You are about to read a short story about a dream, a poem about searching in the
darkness, and a poem about a dream. Each contains parts of the outer world and
parts of the world inside the narrator or speaker. Think about events that happen in
dreams, such as being able to fly, being chased, or being lost. What events in the
outer world might these things represent? How do they connect with your life? Write
your answers on the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
As you read the author information below, imagine being each of the authors. In what
way might your writing reflect your experiences? Write one idea under each fact.
• Jamaica Kincaid was born on the Caribbean island of Antigua but wanted to live
elsewhere. Her relationship with her mother was difficult. After coming to the
United States, Kincaid wrote fiction about home and family.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Denise Levertov believed that poetry had the power to change people. Rainer
Maria Rilke, a German poet who wrote about separation and loneliness, was a
major influence on her.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
• During Stalin’s rule in the Soviet Union, Anna Akhmatova was forced to burn her
early writings. Her husband was killed and her son imprisoned. The month of
August was the anniversary of the worst events in her life.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

As you read, think about how your dreams can reflect and affect your life.
A description is a detailed portrayal of a person, place, object, or event. Writers use
rich sensory details to re-create experiences and sensations. As you read, look for
words and phrases that appeal to the senses.
274
Literary Element Stream of Consciousness
Stream of consciousness is a literary device that carries a reader along with a
character’s free-flowing thoughts, feelings, and memories. Ideas and feelings unfold
on the page in the same rambling way they occur in the character’s mind. To
experience stream of consciousness, think of a phrase, such as a sunny day. Write
the phrase at the top of your paper. Quickly write down something that the phrase
reminds you of. Let your mind wander freely as you write down one idea after
another for about a minute. Compare the first phrase with the last words you wrote.
Are they related in any way?

Interpreting imagery means looking carefully at sensory details, such as those that
describe what the narrator sees and hears. Then analyze what the imagery means
in relationship to the story. As you read, list in the chart the images you encounter.
Think about what they tell you about the setting, the events, or the narrator. Write your
interpretation in the second column.
Image Interpretation
An analogy is a comparison that is based on relationships Vocabulary
between words. For example:
verandah (və ranʼ də) n. a long porch, usually
with a roof, that extends along a house
condemn : praise :: insult : compliment
horizon (hə riʼ zən) n. the place where the earth
Read this as: Condemn is to praise as insult is to compliment. and the sky seem to meet
dutiful (dooʼ ti fəl) adj. careful to perform all

Relationship: The words in each pair are antonyms (opposites). tasks that are expected or required; willingly
obedient
Read the vocabulary words and definitions in the side column.
interlaced (inʼ tər lāstʼ) adj. connected or woven
Then work with a partner to identify the relationship between the
together
words in the following analogy.
verandah : covered :: horizon : distant
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Literary Element What I have been doing lately: I was lying in bed and the
doorbell rang. I ran down-stairs. Quick. I opened the door. There
Stream of Consciousness Is the was no one there. I stepped outside. Either it was drizzling or
statement about the boat logical?
there was a lot of dust in the air and the dust was damp. I stuck
Why or why not? How is this
statement an example of stream
out my tongue and the drizzle or the damp dust tasted like
of consciousness? Working with a government school ink. I looked north. I looked south. I decided
partner, write your answers on a to start walking north. While walking north, I noticed that I was
separate piece of paper. barefoot. While walking north, I looked up and saw the planet
Venus. I said, “It must be almost morning.” I saw a monkey in
a tree. The tree had no leaves. I said, “Ah, a monkey. Just look
at that. A monkey.” I walked for I don’t know how long before
Vocabulary
I came up to a big body of water. I wanted to get across it but
verandah (və ranˊ də) n. a long I couldn’t swim. I wanted to get across it but it would take me
porch, usually with a roof, that years to build a boat. I wanted to get across it but it would take
extends along a house
me I didn’t know how long to build a bridge. Years passed and
then one day, feeling like it, I got into my boat and rowed across.
When I got to the other side, it was noon and my shadow was
small and fell beneath me. I set out on a path that stretched out
Read and Discuss straight ahead. I passed a house, and a dog was sitting on the
verandah but it looked the other way when it saw me coming.
Both the dog and boy look I passed a boy tossing a ball in the air but the boy looked the
the other way when they see other way when he saw me coming. I walked and I walked
the narrator. What might these but I couldn’t tell if I walked a long time because my feet
images have represented in didn’t feel as if they would drop off. I turned around to see
the author’s life? Get together
with a partner and decide on
an interpretation. Write it on the
lines below.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
276
what I had left behind me but nothing was familiar. Instead of

the straight path, I saw hills. Instead of the boy with his ball, I Reading Strategy
saw tall flowering trees. I looked up and the sky was without
Interpret Imagery Does it make
clouds and seemed near, as if it were the ceiling in my house
sense that the narrator doesn’t
and, if I stood on a chair, I could touch it with the tips of my recognize anything she just walked
fingers. I turned around and looked ahead of me again. A deep past? Check one box.
hole had opened up before me. I looked in. The hole was deep ■ Yes
and dark and I couldn’t see the bottom. I thought, What’s down ■ No
there?, so on purpose I fell in. I fell and I fell, over and over, as if What is your interpretation of this
image? Write your response in the
I were an old suitcase. On the sides of the deep hole I could see
things written, but perhaps it was in a foreign language because
I couldn’t read them. Still I fell, for I don’t know how long. As The unfamiliar landscape means
I fell I began to see that I didn’t like the way falling made me that ___________________________
feel. Falling made me feel sick and I missed all the people I had
loved. I said, I don’t want to fall anymore, and I reversed myself. _______________________________
I was standing again on the edge of the deep hole. I looked at the
deep hole and I said, You can close up now, and it did. I walked
some more without knowing distance. I only knew that I passed Literary Element
through days and nights, I only knew that I passed through rain
Stream of Consciousness Reread
and shine, light and darkness. I was never thirsty and I felt no the section about the hole.
pain. Looking at the horizon, I made a joke for myself: I said, Underline words and phrases
“The earth has thin lips,” and I laughed. that show something not logical
Looking at the horizon again, I saw a lone figure coming that happens during stream of
toward me, but I wasn’t frightened because I was sure it was my consciousness.
mother. As I got closer to the figure, I could see that it wasn’t my

mother, but still I wasn’t frightened because I could see that it
Vocabulary
was a woman.
When this woman got closer to me, she looked at me hard horizon (hə riʼ zən) n. the place
where the earth and the sky
and then she threw up her hands. She must have seen me seem to meet
somewhere before because she said, “It’s you. Just look at that.
It’s you. And just what have you been doing lately?” dutiful (dooʼ ti fəl) adj. careful
I could have said, “I have been praying not to grow to perform all tasks that are
expected or required; willingly
any taller.”
obedient
I could have said, “I have been listening carefully to
my mother’s words, so as to make a good imitation of a interlaced (inʼ tər lāstʼ) adj.
dutiful daughter.” connected or woven together
I could have said, “A pack of dogs, tired from chasing each
other all over town, slept in the moonlight.”
Instead, I said, What I have been doing lately: I was lying Vocabulary Skill
in bed on my back, my hands drawn up, my fingers interlaced
Analogies Read the analogy and
circle the letter of the best answer.
horizon : sunset :: sky : ________
a. desert
b. astronomy
c. earth
d. stars
What I Have Been Doing Lately 277

Literary Element
lightly at the nape of my neck.1 Someone rang the doorbell. I
went downstairs and opened the door but there was no one
Stream of Consciousness What there. I stepped outside. Either it was drizzling or there was a lot
is happening at this point in the of dust in the air and the dust was damp. I stuck out my tongue
story? How is this part of the
and the drizzle or the damp dust tasted like government school
story an example of stream of
consciousness? ink. I looked north and I looked south. I started walking north.
While walking north, I wanted to move fast, so I removed the
shoes from my feet. While walking north, I looked up and saw
_______________________________
the planet Venus and I said, “If the sun went out, it would be
_______________________________ eight minutes before I would know it.” I saw a monkey sitting
in a tree that had no leaves and I said, “A monkey. Just look
_______________________________ at that. A monkey.” I picked up a stone and I threw it at the
monkey. The monkey, seeing the stone, quickly moved out of its
_______________________________
way. Three times I threw a stone at the monkey and three times
_______________________________ it moved away. The fourth time I threw the stone, the monkey
caught it and threw it back at me. The stone struck me on my
_______________________________ forehead over my right eye, making a deep gash. The gash
healed immediately but now the skin on my forehead felt false
_______________________________ to me. I walked for I don’t know how long before I came to a big
body of water. I wanted to get across, so when the boat came I
paid my fare. When I got to the other side, I saw a lot of people
sitting on the beach and they were having a picnic. They were
Reading Strategy the most beautiful people I had ever seen. Everything about
Interpret Imagery With a partner, them was black and shiny. Their skin was black and shiny. Their
complete this sentence frame. shoes were black and shiny. Their hair was black and shiny.
The narrator’s imagery about The clothes they wore were black and shiny. I could hear them
“government school ink” suggests laughing and chatting and I said, I would like to be with these
that her memories of school were people, so I started to walk toward them, but when I got up
close to them I saw that they weren’t at a picnic and they weren’t
____________ because __________ beautiful and they weren’t chatting and laughing. All around
me was black mud and the people all looked as if they had been
_______________________________
made up out of the black mud. I looked up and saw that the sky
_______________________________ seemed far away and nothing I could stand on would make me
able to touch it with my fingertips. I thought, If only I could get
_______________________________ out of this, so I started to walk. I must have walked for a long
time because my feet hurt and felt as if they would drop off. I
thought, If only just around the bend I would see my house
and inside my house I would find my bed, freshly made at that,
Read and Discuss
and in the kitchen I would find my mother or anyone else that
How does the mood of the
story change each time the
narrator describes the same
series of events?
____________________________
____________________________
1. The nape of my neck means “the back of my neck.”
278
I loved making me a custard. I thought, If only it was a Sunday Reading Strategy

and I was sitting in a church and I had just heard someone sing a
psalm. I felt very sad so I sat down. I felt so sad that I rested my Interpret Imagery What does the
narrator’s description of the people
head on my own knees and smoothed my own head. I felt so sad
turning to mud suggest about the
I couldn’t imagine feeling any other way again. I said, I don’t author’s experiences with people
like this. I don’t want to do this anymore. And I went back to in real life?
lying in bed, just before the doorbell rang.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
Literary Element
Stream of Consciousness
Underline words or phrases that
suggest that the narrator would
like to end her “adventures” in the
dream.
READING CHECK Reading Strategy

Interpret Imagery Complete the
Question sentence.
What questions do you have about the story that would help you
understand it better?
The last sentence in the story
______________________________________________________ makes me feel _________________
______________________________________________________ because _______________________.
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
_______________________________
______________________________________________________
What I Have Been Doing Lately 279

People at Night
Comparing Literature A night that cuts between you and you
and you and you and you
How does the author use word and me : jostles us apart, a man elbowing
spacing to enhance the meaning
through a crowd. We won’t
of the poem? How is this different
from the previous selection?
look for each other, either—
wander off, each alone, not looking
in the slow crowd. Among sideshows
_______________________________
under movie signs,
_______________________________ pictures made of a million lights,
giants that move and again move
_______________________________ again, above a cloud of thick smells,
franks, roasted nutmeats—
_______________________________
_______________________________
Or going up to some apartment, yours
or yours, finding
_______________________________ someone sitting in the dark:
who is it, really? So you switch the
_______________________________ light on to see: you know the name but
who is it?
_______________________________
280
People at Night
But you won’t see.

The fluorescent light flickers sullenly, a
pause. But you command. It grabs Comparing Literature
each face and holds it up How are the speaker’s feelings
by the hair for you, mask after mask. about people in this poem similar
You and you and you and I repeat to or different from the narrator’s
gestures that make do when speech feelings about people in “What I
has failed and talk Have Been Doing Lately”? Write
and talk, laughing, saying your answer on the lines below.
‘I’, and ‘I’,

meaning ‘Anybody’. _______________________________
_______________________________
No one.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
READING CHECK
Summarize
Write a summary that describes how the setting and mood of
“What I Have Been Doing Lately” and “People at Night” are
similar and different.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
People at Night 281

The Dream
Isn’t it sweet to have unearthly dreams?
—A. Blok1
This dream was prophetic or not prophetic…

Mars shone among the heavenly stars,
Becoming crimson, sparkling, sinister—
And that same night I dreamed of your arrival.
Comparing Literature It was in everything . . . in the Bach Chaconne,2

The speaker describes Mars
And in the roses, which bloomed in vain,
as “sparkling” and “sinister” And in the ringing of the village bells
and mentioned that the roses Over the blackness of ploughed fields.
“bloomed in vain.” How do these
images affect the mood of the And in the autumn, which came close
poem?
And suddenly, reconsidering, concealed itself.
Oh my August, how could you give me such news
_______________________________ As a terrible anniversary?
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
1. A. Blok is Alexander Blok. He was one of Russia’s most important poets before the
Communist era. Akhmatova admired him.
2. A Chaconne (shaʼ kônʼ) is a type of slow, elegant dance music.
282
The Dream
How can I repay this royal gift?

Where do I go and with whom do I celebrate?
And now I am writing, as before, no crossing out,
My poems in the burnt notebook.3 Comparing Literature
In what way is the mood of the
August 14, 1956 highlighted line similar to “What
Near Kolomna I Have Been Doing Lately” and
“People at Night”?
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
3. The burnt notebook refers to writings Akhmatova burned when Joseph Stalin
came to power. She was afraid that she would be jailed or executed if anyone in
the government read her work. By 1956, it was safe to write again because the next
Soviet leader criticized Stalin’s tactics.
READING CHECK
Predict
What do you predict the poems that the author writes in the
“burnt notebook” will be about?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
The Dream 283

After You Read What I Have Been Doing Lately
How do these selections compare or contrast with dreams you have had?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Think about how each author uses literary devices and text structures to give a
dreamlike quality to the selection. Name the device or structure. Then describe
how it adds to the dreamlike quality.
“What I Have Been Doing Lately”: ____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
“People at Night”: _________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
“The Dream”: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Literary Element Stream of Consciousness

Why do you think Jamaica Kincaid chose to write her story using the stream-of-
consciousness technique?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

From each selection, pick one image that helps you understand the message
of the work. Write the image in the second column of the chart. What does the
image symbolize? Write your answer in the third column.
Selection Image Interpretation

“What I Have Been Doing
Lately”
“People at Night”
“The Dream”
284
Vocabulary
A. Word Meaning Complete the following activity to explore the meaning of the
boldfaced vocabulary words.
verandah horizon dutiful interlaced
1. Circle the two words that describe something you might see when walking
through a town. ____________________
2. Place a star next to the word that describes objects that are connected or
woven together. ____________________
3. Underline the word that describes a person who acts out of a sense of
responsibility. ____________________
4. Draw an X next to a word that describes part of a house.

____________________
B. Analogies Choose the word pair that best completes each analogy. To
complete the analogy, decide on the relationship represented by the first pair
of words. Then locate another pair of words with the same relationship and
circle the letter next to that pair.
1. porch : verandah :: 3. horizon : divides ::
a bicycle : train a weather : forecasts
b painter : picture b carpenter : builds
c house : mansion c clouds : sunshine
2. dutiful : disobedient :: 4. interlaced : entwined ::

a plentiful : scarce a distinct : separate
b cautious : careful b apart : together
c confuse : mystify c link : divide

Order of Events Chart
“What I Have Been Doing Lately” is a dream narrative, so the order of events in
it can be confusing. Fill in the graphic organizer by adding events to the boxes
in the order in which they happened. In the final box, give your interpretation of
what is happening to the narrator at the end of the story.
First journey: “I was lying in bed and the doorbell rang.”
Second journey: “I was lying in bed on my back . . . ”
Third journey: “And I went back to lying in bed . . . ”
286
Learning Objectives
For pages 287–294, 315

Reading: Making
generalizations. Distinguishing
fact and opinion.
Functional DOCUMENTS
• E-mail
• Application
• Cover Letter
Functional Documents 287

Before You Read
Connect to the Functional Documents
You have probably encountered functional documents, such as e-mails, application
forms, or formal letters, in your everyday life. At some point, you may need to
communicate with a person who is in charge of deciding whether you will receive
a scholarship, job, or award. In such a case, knowing how to use these types of
documents effectively will be essential to your success.
Think about each of the types of documents listed in the chart below. Then write
down one thing you would like to find out about how to use each type of document.
Type of Document I Want to Find Out…

e-mail
application form
formal letter
Build Background
Read the facts below. Then answer the question that follows.
• Devin wanted to submit his graphic novel to a writing contest, so he visited the
website of the journal Golden Gate Comics.
• Devin sent an e-mail to the editor of the journal, asking about the contest
guidelines.
• He then downloaded an application form for the contest. He carefully reviewed
it. He filled it out neatly and checked it for grammatical, punctuation, and spelling
errors.
• Finally, Devin wrote a cover letter in which he discussed his familiarity with the
journal and his qualifications that related to the contest.
Why do you think it was important for Devin to carefully review the application form
before filling it out? Write your answer on the lines below.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

As you read, pay attention to the different parts of each type of document. Ask
yourself about the specific purpose served by each part. For example, why does an
e-mail always begin with subject line? Why does an application begin with lines for
the applicant’s name and address?
288
Reading Strategy Make Generalizations
When you make generalizations, you look at specific details or facts and try to
make a broad statement that would apply to an entire group of things. For example,
after reading several business letters that all included the date near the top of the
page, you might make the generalization that all business letters have the date near
the top of the page.
Read the three facts that follow. Then, on the lines below, write a generalization that
you could make from the three facts.
1. My old cat liked to sit on top of the refrigerator.
2. The cat I have now likes to sit on the top shelf of my bookcase.
3. My neighbor’s cat often perches in the tree in my front yard.
Generalization: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Distinguish Fact and Opinion

Facts are statements that can be proved or disproved, such as “The Earth is round.”
Opinions are statements that express personal views or attitudes, such as “Ice cream
is delicious.” Below are a fact and an opinion. Underline the words or phrases in the
second sentence that show you it is an opinion, rather than a fact.
Fact: I wrote a story.
Opinion: I feel that my story is interesting.
Workplace Vocabulary
Read the vocabulary definitions on the right. For each sentence
below, write the correct vocabulary term in the blank.
e-mail: electronic mail; a message or messages
sent and received electronically over a
Most employers require job seekers to fill out a(n) computer network
________________ listing previous jobs, internships, or
application: a written form to be completed by
volunteer work. a job seeker
Along with an application, you should enclose a(n)
cover letter: a letter sent along with other
________________ that tells what position you are documents to give additional information
applying for and explains your qualifications.

After I turned on the computer, I checked my
________________ for new messages.

Workplace Vocabulary Read an E-mail
e-mail: electronic mail; a Let’s take a look at the e-mail Devin sent to learn more about the
message or messages sent and
submission process.
received electronically over a
computer network
To: mrjones@goldengatecomics.net 1
From: DGregory@dkvworld.net
Read and Discuss Date: September 7, 2007
Subject: Dragon Fire Graphic Novel Contest 2
Facts are statements that can
be proved. They are different Dear Mr. Jones:
from opinions, which express
personal preferences or beliefs. 3 I am the author of a graphic novel, and I would like to ask
Find one fact in this e-mail. you a few questions regarding the submission process for the
Underline it in the text. Then, graphic novel contest. The first question I have is, Can I submit
with a partner, discuss why the
my novel either via e-mail or via regular snail mail? I couldn’t
passage you chose is a fact and
not an opinion.
find information concerning your submissions preferences on
your website and want to follow your guidelines correctly. My
____________________________ second question is, Are you open to simultaneous submissions,
or do you prefer that writers submit their works to only
____________________________ one publication at a time? To improve my chances of being
published, I would like to submit my novel simultaneously to
____________________________
several publishers, but I can limit myself to your contest should
____________________________ you disallow simultaneous submissions. 4
Thank you in advance for your prompt response to my
____________________________
questions. 5
____________________________ Devin Gregory
____________________________
READING CHECK
____________________________
Summarize
Use the sentence frames below to summarize the two questions
that Devin asks in this email.
1 The heading identifies the recipient
of the e-mail, the sender, the date,
and the subject. Devin asks ____________________________________________
2 The subject line tells the reader
what the e-mail is about. _____ and ____________________________________________
3 The purpose of the e-mail is stated
in the first sentence. ______________________________________________________
4 The e-mail requests additional
information specially related to the ______________________________________________________
submission process.
5 The writer expresses his thanks.
290
Functional Documents
Read an Application Workplace Vocabulary
Devin downloaded this form from the Golden Gate Comics application: a written form to
be completed by a job seeker
Web site.
Dragon Fire Graphic Novel Contest

Official Entry Form
1 Name of writer: Devin Gregory

Name of artist: Devin Gregory
Address: 3777 N Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60623
Home phone: (773) 555-1234 Work phone: none
Cell phone: none E-mail: DGregory@dkvworld.net
Title of novel: Kosmo Fantastic versus Mr. Meriadeck
Story genre: Adventure, science fiction 2
Number of pages: 112 pages Hand drawn? xx yes no
Story Synopsis: Orphaned teenager Kosmo Fantastic must defeat the
evil Mr. Meriadeck before his planet, Bork Bersi, comes to an end. Kosmo
Fantastic uses his powers to defeat Meriadeck.
Have you ever had a graphic novel published? yes xx no 3 Reading Strategy
If so, title of work/publisher: _______________________________ Distinguish Fact and Opinion
Which of the following statements
Published in a literary magazine/journal? xx yes no. If so, is an opinion? Circle your
give example: “Stymir the Stouthearted,” published in Manga answer below.
Madness (Fall 2008) Other accomplishments? musician, poet, The novel is about an orphaned
naturalist. teenager.
It is the best novel I have ever

read.
Send entry form; check for $10; 6 pages of sequential art;
It is 112 pages long.
completed script; and a self-addressed stamped envelope to 4
Dragon Fire Graphic Novel Contest, Golden Gate Comics,

3100 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94118
1 Contact information appears at the

top of the application.
2 The application requests
information related to the book.
3 The application is designed so that
it is easy to fill out.
4 Specific instructions are given at the
bottom of the application.

Workplace Vocabulary Read a Cover Letter

cover letter: a letter sent along Here is the letter Devin sent to inspire interest in his graphic novel.
with other documents to give
additional information 3777 N. Halsted Street
Chicago, Illinois, 60613
September 15, 2007
Vocabulary Skill
Mr. Mark Jones
Literal and Figurative Meanings
Editor
When a paper copy of a cover
letter is mailed or delivered, it goes
Dragon Fire Graphic Novel Contest
on top of the other information Golden Gate Comics
being sent. Why do you think it is 4440 Sunset Boulevard
called a cover letter? San Francisco, CA 90027
______________________________
Dear Mr. Jones,
Enclosed is my manuscript, Kosmo Fantastic versus Mr. Meriadeck,
______________________________ 1 for consideration in your Dragon Fire Graphic Novel Contest.
I read Golden Gate Comics and am a fan of your imaginative
______________________________
comics. 2
Kosmo Fantastic versus Mr. Meriadeck is my first novel. However,
my comics were published in literary journals, including Magna
Madness and American Saga: A Comic Magazine. My comic strip
Stanley and Livingston appeared in a local newspaper during June
Reading Strategy of 2006. 3
Make Generalizations Based on Enclosed are six sample pages from my novel, a full script
this letter, make a generalization of the novel, a completed application form, a check for $10,
about what the first three items and a stamped, self-addressed envelope. If you have any
in a formal letter should be. Write questions, please contact me by phone (773-555-1234) or e-mail
your answers on the lines below.
(DGregory@dkvworld.net). 4
I look forward to hearing from you in the near future. 5
1. ____________________________
Sincerely, 6
2. ____________________________
3. ____________________________
Devin Gregory
READING CHECK
1 The main purpose of the letter is
stated clearly in the first sentence. Question
2 The writer demonstrates familiarity In the third paragraph of the letter, why do you think Devin lists
with the content of the journal. all the documents he has enclosed?
3 The writer mentions publishing credits
that specifically relate to the contest.
4 The writer provides contact information. ______________________________________________________
The writer uses a block format. With
5 this type of format, the text is justifed ______________________________________________________
left, and one line of space separates
each paragraph. ______________________________________________________
6 The writer inserts four lines of space
to leave room for his signature.
292
After You Read
Look back at the chart you made on page 288. In reading this lesson, did you
learn anything that could help you to answer your initial questions? Copy your
original responses into the second column in the chart below. Then, in the third
column, write down what you found out from reading the lesson.
Type of Document I Wanted to Find Out… I Found Out…

e-mail
application form
formal letter
Reading Strategy Make Generalizations

You can use the sample documents in this lesson to make generalizations that
will help you complete your own e-mails, applications, and cover letters. The chart
below lists general features that are common to all e-mails, applications, and
cover letters, as well as features that are specific to the sample documents in this
lesson. For each type of document, circle the general features. Then cross out the
features that would only apply to the sample documents.
E-mails Applications Cover Letters

• subject line • space for name of • sender’s address
• questions about applicant • list of comics the sender has
manuscript submission • space for applicant’s published
process address • description of relevant experience
• sender’s name and e-mail • instructions • recipient’s address
address • space for story synopsis • list of enclosed materials
• requests for additional • space for title of applicant’s
information novel

After You Read
A. Word Meaning Each of the sentences below uses one of the workplace
vocabulary terms. Fill in the blanks with the correct terms.
e-mail application cover letter
1. This college _____________ asks me to list my high school grades and

extracurricular activities.
2. I want a quick response from John, so I will send him a(n) _____________ ,
because I know he is constantly online.
3. To get this internship, I have to submit a list of my previous jobs, along with
a(n) _____________ that describes my qualifications.
B. Workplace Vocabulary Imagine that you are the owner of a small company.
Complete the sentences below to describe situations in which you might use
each type of workplace document.
1. I might use e-mails to _______________________________________________________________________
2. I might design an application order to _________________________________________________________
3. I might receive a cover letter from someone who _______________________________________________
Writing in the Workplace: Cover Letter

Imagine that you were applying for a summer job. What sort of work would
you like to do? What do your experiences qualify you for? Write a job on the
line below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Then, use the frame on page 315 to compose a cover letter. Imagine that you
would send this letter to the employer, accompanied by a list of your work
experiences, activities, and accomplishments. Notice how the sample letter uses
headers, spacing, and fonts (different styles of type) to make the letter easier to
read.

294
Learning Objectives
For pages 295–304

Reading: Identify sequence.
Summarize.
• Professional Article
• Warranty
• Product Information
• Installation Guide

Before You Read
This lesson includes four functional documents: a professional article, a warranty,
a product information description, and an installation guide.
The installation guide gives step-by-step instructions on how to set up a computer

program. The following steps from the installation guide are out of order. Place a 1
next to the step that you think comes first, a 2 next to the middle step, and a 3 next
to the last step.
____ Insert the Comic Universe installation disc into your computer’s DVD-ROM drive.
____ Once you have completed the installation process, click Exit.
____ Click Register.
Build Background
• Devin was asked to submit his work to a graphic novel contest electronically. To
learn more about creating an electronic version of his hand-drawn art, he read a
professional article that he found online.
• After reading the professional article, Devin read three different consumer
documents—materials that provide information about consumer products.
• First, Devin reviewed the warranty of the new scanner he had bought.
• Next, he bought comic book software and read its product information
description.
• Finally, he read the software installation guide to get the software running.
Without looking at what you just read, cross out the document below that is not a
consumer document:
installation guide product information description
professional article warranty

As you read, think about the structure and format of each type of document. Notice
how graphics, headings, sub-headings, and different fonts (styles of type) help you
understand the purpose and message of the document. Could the sequence or
wording be changed to avoid reader misunderstandings?
296
Reading Strategy Identify Sequence
The sequence of a document is the order in which items are presented. Here are
three common types of sequences:
• Chronological order—lists events in the order they happened in time
• Order of importance—lists the most important items first
• Step-by-step order—lists tasks in the order they should be performed
You can use a checklist like the one below to help you identify the sequence of a
functional document.
■ Does the document contain numbered lists?
■ Does the document contain words that indicate time order, such as first or next?
■ Does the document have headings that signal sequence?
Reading Strategy Summarize

Summarizing involves stating the main ideas of a passage of text in your own words.
Summaries should be brief. They should include only general ideas, not unimportant
details.
Imagine that you took a month-long vacation to another country, and you were
asked to summarize your trip in just two sentences. Which of the following pieces of
information should you include? Check all that apply.
■ an overview of the types of activities you did
■ a detailed description of each activity
■ the specific times of day that you did each activity
■ the name of the country you were in
■ the name of the street where you stayed
In the side column are definitions for two vocabulary terms that Workplace Vocabulary
you might encounter in the workplace. Read the definitions. Then,
in the spaces below, write down a product for which it might be installation guide: a manual that explains how
to install or operate a product
helpful to have each document. Explain why you might need the
document. warranty: an agreement that describes
a customer’s rights and a company’s
responsibilities if a product does not work
Installation guide
Product: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Explanation: _________________________________________________________________________________________
Warranty
Product: ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Explanation: _________________________________________________________________________________________

Read a Professional Article
Here is the professional article Devin found while surfing the
Internet.
Ten Tips for Creating Visually Satisfying Graphic Novels
By Maya Hering
In this article, I explain how to create a professional looking
comic from your hand-drawn art. 1
Reading Strategy 1. Use a pencil and 8” × 12” sheets of paper to create each
panel. Include one action per panel; 4 to 6 panels per page. 2
Identify Sequence What type of
sequence does the writer use to 2. Trace over your pencil lines with a black gel pen, which
list the tips? Circle your answer does not bleed.
below. 3. Once the ink is dry, gently erase all pencil lines using a soft
eraser. A scanner will capture all of the stray marks on a
chronological order piece of paper.
order of importance
4. Create a new folder on your computer. Name it appropriately.
5. Scan your panels into your computer. Save them in your
Then underline words and phrases
in the text that support your
new folder.
answer. 6. Using a comic-book software program, create a layout
for each page. Create your own layouts or choose from
layout templates. 3
7. Import your scanned drawings into the computer program;
drag them into place in the layouts. Then use the Image
Crop option in your program to get rid of areas or drawings
that you don’t want to keep.
8. Next you can edit your drawings. To get rid of bumpy lines,
apply the Smoothing and Straightening options in your
software program.
9. Now add color to help convey your characters’
personalities. Select the blank areas inside your drawings
where you want to add color and use the Color tools in
your program to fill in these areas. 4
10. Once you’ve finished editing, insert captions and word
balloons (i.e., the bubbles that covey characters’ thoughts
and spoken words) in all of the panels. First, draw ovals for
1 The purpose of the article is stated
clearly and concisely. the balloons and place them in the appropriate positions,
2 The writer makes the tips easier to and then fill the balloons with text.
follow by organizing them into a list.
3 The writer describes when, how,
and why to carry out each tip in
the list.
4 The text in each tip is brief and
direct in its tone.
298
Read a Warranty Workplace Vocabulary
Here is the warranty that came with the scanner Devin warranty: an agreement that
describes a customer’s rights
purchased.
and a company’s responsibilities
if a product does not work
Kambara Super Scanner
Full One-Year Warranty 1
Congratulations! You have purchased a Kambara Super

Scanner. It should meet all of your scanning needs for many
years to come and with minimal care. Please read the following
information and save these instructions.
Activation: This warranty will become active after you fill out
the enclosed card and mail it to the address below. 2
Period of Coverage: This warranty covers defects in
workmanship/material under normal use for a period of one
year from the date of purchase. 3
Claims: If your scanner has any mechanical defects during Reading Strategy
the warranty period, pack the scanner carefully and ship to
Summarize Use the sentence
the address below. Include proof of purchase, your name and frame below to summarize the
address, and a description of the problem. 4 main ideas contained under the
heading “Claims.”
Kambara Corp. Repair, 550 S. State Street, Easton, NY 11030 5
If the scanner ___________________
Our trained technicians will inspect the scanner and repair or
replace it free of charge. However, if they discover product send it _________________________
defects resulted from improper use or storage, you will be billed _______________________________
for the repair or replacement.
Exceptions: This warranty does not cover Kambara products
purchased outside of the United States.
Additional Information: This warranty gives you specific
legal rights; you may have other rights, which vary from state
to state. Contact your state attorney general’s office for further 1 In the title, the writer specifies the
period of coverage and the type of
information. 6 coverage (i.e., full or limited).
2 One line space is placed between
READING CHECK each section so that the document
is easy to read.
Question 3 The writer spells out the types of
How does a customer activate the warranty? Write your answer problems the warranty covers.
on the lines below. 4 The writer describes the steps
customers should take if a problem
arises.
______________________________________________________ 5 The contact information is set off so
that it can be easily located.
______________________________________________________ 6 The final section tells customers
how to find out about other rights
they may have.

Read Software Product Information

Here is the description for Devin’s Comic Universe software
program.
Comic Universe
For drawing comics from scratch or manipulating scanned
artwork, Comic Universe lets you create personalized comic
masterpieces in no time. 1
Program Features
• Layouts Offers you more than 300 distinctive layout templates
for you to turn your ideas into a professional-looking book. 2
• Original and Scanned Art Allows you to draw original art or
to enhance the appearance of scanned artwork.
• Imported Art Allows you to import photos/artwork from
your own collection or from the application’s extensive library
of clipart.
• Inking Makes it possible for you to ink your drawings
digitally. With the pen tool, you can trace and boldly outline
drawings. 3
• Graphics Includes an abundance of action-word graphics that
you can position within the layout templates.
Reading Strategy • Text Balloons Provides a wealth of caption boxes and text
balloons or lets you easily create your own customized
Identify Sequence Where in the
balloons.
document would you place the
section “Coloring” so that the • Compatible Formats Works with JPEG, BMP, GIF, and PNG. 4
information would be presented
in a logical order? Draw an arrow • Online Sharing Permits you to save the finished comic as a
from the “Coloring” section to the PDF or HTML file so that you can share it online with family
proper place in the document. and friends.
• Coloring Combines paint and erase tools so that you can
create visually exciting images.
“We highly recommend this product for budding and
established comic artists. It can turn their creative ideas into
1 The description provides a brief high-quality comics.”
introduction to the software
program. —Comics Galore
2 The writer uses headings that can
help customers find the information
they’re looking for easily.
3 The clear, simple design makes the
content easy to read.
4 The writer gives information that is
important for readers to know.
300
Read an Installation Guide Workplace Vocabulary
Here is the installation guide that Devin used to install his new installation guide: a manual
that explains how to install or
comic-book computer program.
operate a product
Comic Universe Installation Guide 1

1. Insert the Comic Universe installation disc into your
computer’s DVD-ROM drive.
2. Double-click the Comic Universe icon and follow the
on-screen prompts. 2
3. Read the License Agreement. Click Continue. Click Agree.
4. Enter your name, organization (optional), and your
registration number, where appropriate. Your registration
number is located inside the front cover of your
user’s manual. 3
*Please note that you must register your software in order to
obtain technical support and important product updates. 4
5. Click Register.
6. Click Install to perform the installation. If the installation Read and Discuss
doesn’t proceed smoothly, refer to page 9 of the user’s
manual for troubleshooting information. With a partner, discuss why it
is important for the reader to
7. Once you have completed the installation process, perform the steps in the order
click Exit. in which they are presented.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
READING CHECK
____________________________
Clarify
What is the benefit of registering the software? Write your answer
on the lines below.
______________________________________________________ 1 The title indicates the specific

procedure to be explained.
______________________________________________________ 2 The writer gives direct and simple
commands.
______________________________________________________ 3 The writer places one line space
between each step so that the
______________________________________________________ steps are easy to follow.
4 Additional information related to the
registration process is provided.

After You Read
Look back at the three steps you put in order on page 296. Check them against
the Installation Guide shown in this lesson. Did you put them in the correct order?
On the lines below, describe how clues in the wording of the steps led you to
place them in the order that you did.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reading Strategy Summarize

When you summarize, you ask yourself who, what, why, and how questions
about the information provided. Doing so helps you to state only the most
essential information about a document. Choose one of the functional
documents from this lesson. Use information from that document to fill out the
chart below.
Title of Document: _______________________________________________________________________________
Who it is meant for:
What it is (purpose):
Why it is needed:
How it serves its purpose:
302
After You Read
A. Word Meaning Write the correct vocabulary term next to its
description below.
installation guide warranty
1. This document addresses what a customer should do if a

product is broken. ________________
2. This document explains how to get a product ready

to use. ________________
B. Workplace Vocabulary Think about the documents that you have just read.
Then use the vocabulary terms to answer the following questions.
installation guide warranty
1. Which document would be more likely to contain information

about legal rights? ________________
2. Which document would be more likely to contain step-by-step

instructions? ________________

After You Read
Writing in the Workplace: List of Tips
In the space below, write a list of ten tips for completing an activity with which
you are familiar. This could be a sport at which you excel, a game that you
enjoy, a meal you know how to cook, or any other activity. Keep in mind that
your audience might not know as much about the activity as you do. Define any
technical terms you introduce. Present your tips in a logical sequence.
Ten Tips for ______________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
(sentence stating the purpose of the list)
1. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
6. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
7. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
8. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
9. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
10. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
304
After You Read
The Tucson Zoo
Vocabulary
1. A feeling of exultation overwhelmed Thomas at the zoo.
a extreme happiness c honesty
b comfort d expression
2. Thomas believes that altruism may be the most primitive attribute in

humans.
a skill c gift
b talent d quality
3. A loss of individuality is debasement according to some people.

a degradation c enlightenment
b absurd d unimportant
4. Thomas was elated to see the beavers and otters at the Tucson Zoo.
a impressed c joyful
b confident d sad
5. Thomas only wanted to think of the animals as intact creatures.

a full c cellular
b whole d lively
B. Antonyms Choose an antonym for each vocabulary word below. Use the
antonym to write a sentence based on what you’ve read in “The Tucson Zoo”.
elation ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
intact ________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
debasement _________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
306
After You Read
The Tucson Zoo
Main Idea and Supporting Details
A main idea and supporting details chart can help you focus on the most
important ideas of a text. Think about Thomas’s experience at the zoo and his
thoughts on what he experienced. Use the chart below to summarize the main
idea and most important supporting details in his essay. Use the information from
your completed chart to write a brief summary.
Main Idea:
Supporting Detail: Supporting Detail: Supporting Detail:
The Tucson Zoo 307

Cluster Diagram
A cluster diagram can help you see how a main event or accomplishment is
affected by supporting events or details. One of the major accomplishments in
Cisneros’s life was becoming a writer. This event was the result of many other
events in her life. In the cluster diagram below write “Cisneros Becomes a Writer”
in the center oval. Then in the surrounding ovals write events of her life that
helped her achieve this goal.
308
After You Read What I See in
Lincoln’s Eyes
Note Cards
Barack Obama states that “anyone who actually reads the Emancipation
Proclamation knows it was more a military document than a clarion call for
justice.” Is this an accurate assessment of this well-known document? What was
Lincoln’s purpose for writing this proclamation? Go to the library or Internet to
research the answer in books, articles, newspapers of the time, and the words of
those who witnessed the events.
Use note cards to record your information. Include the page number and source
for each note. To save time, you might use a number or letter code to connect
each note to its source card. Include the subject of the note in the upper right-
hand corner to help you organize your notes later, as in the example on the right.
Evaluate your sources for validity and reliability. Remember the acronym ARTS.
A Accurate and Authoritative Make sure your facts are verifiable in more than one source. Note the author’s
job title. Is he or she an authority as an expert? Has the author published other writings on this topic? Is he or
she well known in the field?
R Reliable Choose scholarly books, journals, and web sites. Consider the author’s purpose for writing. When
using the Internet, note who is sponsoring the web site and reviewing the content. Avoid materials that show
obvious or subtle signs of bias.
T Timely Check the copyright date. Begin with the most recent materials available, especially when researching
topics where information is updated frequently.
S Suitable Choose materials that are relevant to your purpose and at your level of understanding.
Use the criteria above to evaluate the source card in the right-hand 3
column. Circle the card if you would use this source. “President Lincoln Signs the
Emancipation Proclamation, 1863”
When you think have filled out enough note cards with relevant Eyewitness to History, www.
information from unbiased sources, sort your note cards into piles. eyewitnesstohistory.com (2006).
Each pile’s cards should be related, so that they make up one
Source Card
category of information, such as “Lincoln’s feelings on slavery” or
“Reasons for writing the Emancipation Proclamation.” Try arranging
the piles in different ways to find a logical flow of ideas and to see Reaction of advisors 3
which best presents your argument. You might find that you still Secretary of State William H.
need to find more information to make a strong argument. Steward was unsure about the
timing of the announcement.
Because the Union was
experiencing a run of military
defeats, he considered it a
“desperate attempt to get people
at home and abroad to support
the cause.” (p. 2)
Note Card

After You Read
Problem and Solution
A problem and solution essay or speech explains a subject. However, it goes
further than just identifying an issue. It also offers an idea for changing the
situation. Use the problem and solution diagram below to explore and review
Morrison’s analysis of how the problem came about and what can be done to
correct it.
Problem Solution
Examples of Problem Support for the Solution
310
After You Read
Ode to My Socks
Bibliography Cards
Imagine you are going to write a research paper about the life and works of Pablo
Neruda. To generate ideas of topics to research, write a list of questions you have
about Neruda’s life, his literary accomplishments, and how critics view his work.
Write your questions on the lines below. A sample question has been written
for you.
When and why did Neruda decide to write poems about ordinary objects instead
of impressive, “important” topics?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Select one question from your list that you would choose to research for your
paper. Find other sources for your project, such as books, articles, and reliable
Internet sites. Fill out the index cards below with the citations you would use in
your bibliography.
Feinstein, Adam. Pablo Neruda: A Passion for Life.

New York: Bloomsbury, 2004.
Ode to My Socks 311

After You Read
We Are Family
Main Idea and Supporting Details
A main idea and supporting details chart can help you organize the most focus on
the most important idea of the text and details that support this idea. Think about
Lee’s cultural identity. What factors helped Lee feel that he belonged in his Korean
family? Fill in the chart below with the main idea of the essay and the details from
the article that support the main idea.
Main Idea:
Supporting Detail: Supporting Detail: Supporting Detail:
312
Playing Jazz
Comparison and Theme Chart
A comparison and theme chart can help you compare different selections. You
can then combine what you record to draw conclusions about the theme of the
selections as a whole. Think about the poems, piece of literary nonfiction, and
letter you have read and fill out the chart below.
Langston Hughes poetry Dizzy Gillespie: Explorer of Playing Jazz

New Sounds
▲ ▲ ▲
Theme Theme Theme
▲ ▲ ▲
Overall Theme
Dream Boogie and Motto/Dizzy Gillespie—Explorer of New Sounds from Giants of Jazz/Playing Jazz 313
After You Read
John Henry
A Song of Greatness
Venn Diagram
A Venn diagram can help you compare and contrast ideas presented in two
works of literature. Think about how the selections “Where the Girl Rescued Her
Brother” and “John Henry” address the role of women in society. Then think about
how the selections “A Song of Greatness” and “John Henry” address the value of
courage. Use the Venn diagrams below to list similarities and differences in how
the selections address these themes. One section has been filled in for you.
Role of Women
“Where the Girl Both “John Henry” only

Rescued Her
Brother” only
Shows women and
men as equals
Value of Courage
“A Song of Both “John Henry” only

Greatness” only
314
After You Read
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
(your address)
________________________________________________
(date)
[Mr./Ms./Mrs./Miss] _______________________________
(name of contact person)
________________________________________________
(title of contact person)
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
(company name and address)
Dear [Mr./Mrs./Ms.] ________________________ ,
I am writing to apply for the ________________ position. _________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
(briefly explain your interest in the position)
My previous experiences include _______________________________________ , _____________________________ ,
__________________________. _____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________.
(describe the skills that you have gained that qualify you for the position)
Thank you for considering me for the position. If you have any questions, please contact me by phone at _________
______________ or by email at ______________________________________________________________________
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
________________________
(your name)

PRONUNCIATION KEY
This glossary lists the vocabulary words found in the selections in this book. The definition
given is for the word as it is used in the selection; you may wish to consult a dictionary for
other meanings of these words. The key below is a guide to the pronunciation symbols
used in each entry.
Pronounciation Key
a at ō hope ng sing
ā ape ô fork, all th thin
ä father oo wood, put th this
e end oō fool zh treasure
ē me oi oil ə ago, taken, pencil,
i it ou out lemon, circus
ı̄ ice u up ʼ indicates primary stress
o hot ū use ˊ indicates secondary
316
My Notes
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______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
My Notes
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

(Glencoe McGraw-Hill) Read and Write Course 5 AP (B-Ok - Xyz)

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Read and

A10C5_Nat_ANCA_IRW_SE_TP_RD10.in1 1 2/14/08 6:32:48 PM

Send all inquiries to:

Printed in the United States of America.

Why Use This Book? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

An Astrologer’s Day • R. K. Narayan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Tuesday Siesta • Gabriel Garcia Marquez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine • Jhumpa Lahiri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Catch the Moon • Judith Ortiz Cofer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Living Well. Living Good. • Maya Angelou . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

The Tucson Zoo • Lewis Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Straw into Gold: The Metamorphosis

TIME: What I See in Lincoln’s Eyes • Barack Obama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Cinderella’s Stepsisters • Toni Morrison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Ode to My Socks • Pablo Neruda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

The Print of the Paw

Three Haiku • Matsuo Basho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

After great pain, a formal feeling comes—

I Am Offering This Poem • Jimmy Santiago Baca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Horses Graze • Gwendolyn Brooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

miss rosie • Lucille Clifton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

TIME: We Are Family • Chang-Rae Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act IV, Scene 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

The Stealing of Thor’s Hammer • Brian Branston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Functional Documents: Lesson 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Functional Documents: Lesson 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Additional Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Pronunciation Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Read for Fun and Read to Learn!

Before You Read

Before You Read

Circle the number of the response that is closest to your own.

2. Revenge is pointless; it cannot really make up for anything.

Now, write a short summary of the facts you just read.

Set Purposes for Reading ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

001-014_G9_APP_Amontillado.indd 2 2/13/08 3:27:11 PM

Author’s Words Paraphrase

The Cask of Amontillado 3

001-014_G9_APP_Amontillado.indd 3 2/13/08 3:27:29 PM

The Cask of Amontillado

______________________________ The Cask of Amontillado

allow you to practice this feature. “Amontillado!”

5. Motley is the multicolored costume of a court jester or clown.

The Cask of Amontillado 5

001-014_G9_APP_Amontillado.indd 5 2/13/08 3:27:38 PM

family.” ■ The reader believes that

13. To repose is to lie at rest either sleeping or in death.

Summarize help you to check your comprehension.

001-014_G9_APP_Amontillado.indd 7 2/13/08 3:27:50 PM

You can respond to and interact

091-098_G9_APP_ThatOneMan'sProfi95 95 2/10/08 2:45:48 PM

After Reading Connect, Literary Element, and

Vocabulary shows how well you

Niter grows on the vault’s walls.

The two men walk ever deeper into

Reading Strategy Paraphrase After You Read

“Its walls had been lined with human

3. As the story’s narrator, Montresor is ______________ with the reader about

12 his plans to harm Fortunato.

4. Montresor thought that the servants’ presence in the house might

5. Why didn’t Fortunato ______________ Montresor to spare his life?

The Cask of Amontillado 13

Touch 001-014_G9_APP_Amontillado.indd 13 2/13/08 3:28:07 PM

1. to sting The audience was by the

shared suffix: suffix meaning: ________________

shared root: root meaning: ________________