ENGLISH10

HONORS:

“Review PacketTwo”

D. CarlsonGENERAL DIRECTIONSFOR REVIEW PACKET

-Work is due by the date listed on each section cover page (but may be

submitted before deadline)

-Submission of Work (choose an option):

1. On Google Classroom (best option)

a. **class join code is on my official NW teacher page on the

high school website (nwcsd.org)

2. As an attachment on an email sent to my school email account

(dcarlson@nwcsd.org)

3. Text a picture of your work to my school email account

(dcarlson@nwcsd.org)

-Make sure to read the questions/directions carefully in order to give

complete, thorough, specific, and intelligent answers

-Communication will be done through Google Classroom and your official

school email account, so check them regularly for any updates

-Any new/additional resources will be found on your Google Classroom

page

SECTION

A

Due By Date:

10 April 2020(Friday)

Imagery

Consider:

The many men, so beautiful!

And they all dead did lie:And a thousand thousand slimy things

Lived on; and so did I.

Within the shadow of the ship

I watched their rich attire:Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,

They coiled and swam; and every trackWas a flash of golden fire.

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Discuss:

1. These stanzas from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” show the Mariner’s changing attitude toward the creatures of the sea. What is the Mariner’s attitude in the first stanza? What image reveals this attitude?

2. What is the Mariner’s attitude in the second stanza? Analyze the imagery that reveals this change.

Apply:

Think of a cat or a dog you can describe easily. First, write a description which reveals a positive attitude toward the animal. Then think of the same animal and write a description which reveals a negative attitude. Remember that the animal’s looks do not change; only your attitude changes. Use imagery rather than explanation to create your descriptions.

Imagery

Consider:

And now nothing but drums, a battery of drums, the conga drums jamming out, in a descarga, and the drummers lifting their heads and shaking under some kind of spell. There’s rain drums, like pitter-patter pitter-patter but a hundred times faster, and then slamming-the-door drums and dropping-the-bucket drums, kicking-the-car-fender drums. Then circus drums, then coconuts-falling-out-of-the-trees-and-thumping-against-the-ground drums, then lion-skin drums, then the-wacking-of-a-hand-against-a-wall drums, the-beating-of-a-pillow drums, heavy-stones-against-a-wall drums, then the-thickest-forest-tree-trunks-pounding drums, and then the-mountain-rumble drums, then the-little-birds-learning-to-fly drums and the-big-birds-alighting-on-a-rooftop-and-fanning-their-immense-wings drums . . .

— Oscar Hijuelos, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

Discuss:

1. Read the passage aloud. How does Hijuelos create the auditory imagery of drumming? In other words, how do the words imitate the sounds they represent?

2. Hijuelos repeats the word then eight times in this passage. What does this repetition contribute to the auditory image of drumming?

Apply:

Write a paragraph in which you capture two different sounds at a sporting event. In your paragraph try to imitate the sounds themselves with your words. Don’t worry about correct grammar. Instead, focus on creating a vivid auditory image. Share your paragraph with a partner.

Imagery

Consider:

She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again. Edna heard her father’s voice and her sister Margaret’s. She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air.

— Kate Chopin, The Awakening

Discuss:

1. Although the narrator “looks into the distance,” the images are primarily auditory. What are the auditory images in the passage? What mood do these images create?

2. The last sentence of this passage contains an olfactory image (the musky odor of pinks fill the air). What effect does the use of an olfactory image, after a series of auditory images, have on the reader?

Apply:

Write a paragraph in which you create a scene through auditory imagery. The purpose of your paragraph is to create a calm, peaceful mood. Use one olfactory image to enhance the mood created by auditory imagery.

Lesson 3: Imagery / 49Name: Class:

The Hero's JourneyBy Jessica McBirney

2017

Joseph Campbell was an American mythologist, writer, and lecturer. His book The Hero with a Thousand Faces explores the common journey that heroes from different works of literature take. In this informational text, Jessica McBirney further discusses this common structure of storytelling that Campbell identified. As you read, take notes on the different parts of the Hero’s Journey.

[1] When we follow a good story, we tend to follow the journey a character makes from beginning to end. We can’t wait to find out what happens next.

It’s a page-turner; there are obstacles at every

stage and crucial1 choices that characters have to make in order to overcome these obstacles. Eventually, we pick up another story. We have an appetite for stories. There are so many for us to choose from — in libraries, in bookshops, and on our screens — and each story seems new and exciting.

Well, in fact, oftentimes this is not true. We are

"Leaving Hobbiton" by Jeff Hitchcock is licensed under CC BY 2.0

led to believe these stories are new even thougha lot of them follow a simple formula. When we stop to think about it, many of these stories have moresimilarities than we might think.

In the 1940s, the writer and professor, Joseph Campbell, noticed that a lot of his favorite stories shared a similar structure. He decided to write about it in his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Today, this story structure is popularly known as “The Hero’s Journey.” Stories that use this structure loosely follow a similar series of general events, otherwise known as plot points.

The hero is the main character in the story. He or she sets off on an adventure, or quest, to accomplish a specific goal. Below are just a few of the steps all heroes face in the “Hero’s Journey” story plot. Popular stories like The Hobbit and The Hunger Games follow this structure.

The Ordinary World

[5] The story usually opens with the hero’s normal life: their ordinary world. This “world” can include their home and family life, their job, their personal history, and more. The author does this to introduce their hero and explain certain things about their personality and actions.

In the ordinary world, the hero often feels uncomfortable in some way. There is something they don’t like about their normal life, something that causes them stress or discomfort. Others in the

ordinary world might think the hero is odd in some way.

1. Crucial (adjective): of great importance

Call to Adventure

According to Campbell’s formula, something will then occur that disrupts our hero’s life in the ordinary world and causes them to face a decision. It could be an event, a discovery, an added danger, or something new from within the hero. It requires the hero to do something; they are the only person who can fulfill this call or accomplish this goal. The call to adventure provides a first look into what Campbell calls “a new world,” one very different from the ordinary world.

Refusing the Call

The hero may not immediately accept their call to adventure. They might be afraid of entering the new world or of the tasks they have to do. If this is the case, they will initially refuse to accept the call. If the hero initially refuses their call to adventure, bad things usually begin to occur.

Crossing the Threshold

In some stories, before the hero accepts the call to adventure, they meet with a mentor. This person will be a mature person who has experienced the new world before. The mentor offers advice that convinces the hero to accept the call and enter the new world.

[10] “Crossing the threshold” happens when the hero finally accepts the call to adventure and enters the new world. The new world is very different from their ordinary world. It has unfamiliar rules and values that the hero must navigate.

Tests, Allies, and Enemies

In the new world, the hero faces a variety of tests and obstacles. Sometimes the hero is successful and sometimes they fail. All the tests serve to make the hero stronger and more determined to accomplish their goal. The hero encounters other people during his journey. They usually have at least one ally, someone who travels with them and supports them in the mission. Together they may encounter other helpful people.

The Ordeal2

According to Campbell’s formula, midway through the story, the hero will face their hardest test yet, a test that will make them confront their greatest fear or insecurity. This often includes a brush with death. The hero overcomes this test, or escapes death, and finds new hope as they push towards their ultimate challenge or goal.

2. Ordeal (noun): a severe trial or experience

The Supreme Ordeal

At the climax of the story — the most intense, exciting or important point of the story — the hero faces one final test, which is often their absolute greatest challenge. Campbell calls this plot point the “Supreme Ordeal.” The hero is close to being able to return to the ordinary world, but they must overcome this final test to return. This is the moment where the hero accomplishes their goal; their quest has succeeded.

During the “Supreme Ordeal,” the hero will tend to experience a lot of turmoil.3 Maybe they face death again, or have to make a great sacrifice. They defeat the internal and external conflicts they have been facing throughout the story.

Reward and the Journey Home

[15] After they’ve accomplished their mission, the hero collects some type of reward from their journey. Usually this is a physical reward, anything ranging from treasure, a prince or princess, to even the rulership of a kingdom.

The hero returns, with this reward, home to their ordinary world. Because of all they have experienced and accomplished, they are changed from the beginning of the story. The story may or may not have a happy ending, but a lot of the tension or discontent they felt has now been resolved because of what they accomplished on their journey.

Where can we find The Hero’s Journey formula?

Campbell’s Hero’s Journey structure shows up all over literature, no matter the genre. The Hero’s Journey stories are so compelling because we like to see heroic characters overcoming great obstacles; we admire these heroes and hope to be like them. You don’t have to be a character in a book to be a hero in your own life.

Now that you are familiar with the Hero’s Journey story structure. Let’s try it out on the two popular hero stories mentioned earlier, The Hobbit and The Hunger Games. A warning for those readers who haven’t read these books, the examples carry spoilers!

3. Turmoil (noun): a state of great disturbance or uncertainty

3

The Hobbit

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel, The Hobbit, the hero is the Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo’s “Ordinary World” is his hobbit hole in Bag End in the Shire. At first glance, Bilbo Baggins seems to be the most comfortable hobbit4 in all of Hobbiton. However, after hearing the dwarves' song, a part of Bilbo begins to long for adventure. His “Call To Adventure” comes when the wizard, Gandalf, approaches him and asks if he wants to go on an adventure. Bilbo, at first, refuses to go with Gandalf on the adventure (“Refusing the call”). Gandalf puts a sign on Bilbo’s door and a band of dwarves come to his house and eat all his food. This is extremely unnerving for Bilbo (bad things happening after refusing the call). Gandalf serves as Bilbo’s “Mentor” throughout the story. Bilbo agrees to go with the dwarves to try and reclaim the treasure from a place called Lonely Mountain (“Crossing the Threshold”), and they begin their journey. One of Bilbo’s “Tests” is his encounter with the trolls in the woods. When they capture the dwarves, he must rescue his friends. The elves (“Allies”) in Rivendell take care of Bilbo and the other dwarves and prepare them for the journey ahead. They will also face various “Enemies” who want to prevent them from finishing their goal. Bilbo’s “Ordeal” is his journey to the heart of the goblin mountain and his encounter with Gollum, a twisted character, who he must outwit to save his own life. His “Supreme Ordeal” is when he participates in ‘the Battle of Five Armies,’ and his side succeeds. Bilbo’s “Reward” is his share of the dwarves’ treasure from the mountain.

4. a member of an imaginary race similar to humans, of a small size and with hairy feet

4

The Hunger Games

[20] In Suzanne Collins’ dystopian5 novel, The Hunger Games, the main hero is Katniss Everdeen. Her “Ordinary World” is in District 12, an impoverished region in the fictional country of Panem where she lives with her mother and little sister, Prim. She struggles to support her family, often hunting illegally to keep them fed, but poverty is not the only stress in her life. Every year, children between the ages 12 to 18 face the ‘reaping’: a ceremony that chooses participants for the Hunger Games, a contest where those participants must fight to the death. In the beginning of The Hunger Games, Katniss experiences her “Call to Adventure” while on a hunting trip with her childhood friend, Gale. He talks about running away, leaving District 12 to live in the woods. Katniss dismisses Gale's suggestion to run away because they both have families to take care of (“Refusing the Call). After refusing to run away, she attends the reaping ceremony. Out of the hundreds of entries, her little sister's name is chosen, which forces Katniss to volunteer in her sister's place in order to save Prim's life. Bad things have happened after Katniss “refused the call,” which leads to her “Crossing the Threshold” and participating in the Hunger Games. Haymitch Abernathy is her “Mentor” figure, a former victor of the Hunger Games from District 12. He advises Katniss and the other District 12 champion, Peeta, on how to survive the Hunger Games. The Gamemakers test Katniss and the other tributes on their skills, and their score usually determines how well they will do in the game (“Tests”). Katniss encounters allies and enemies both in and out of the arena. Cinna, her stylist and only friend in the Capitol, encourages Katniss and helps her win over the audience in her interviews. Peeta and Haymitch also work to help Katniss survive (“Allies”). Many of Katniss' competitors resent her and see her as a challenge (“Enemies”), but others, like the character Rue, create an alliance with Katniss. For the participants, the game itself is an ordeal; it forces them to kill or be killed. But for Katniss, the “Ordeal” occurs when Rue is killed. Rue's death forces Katniss to confront the injustice of the Hunger Games. Shortly after, Katniss is motivated to defy the Capitol by making sure she and Peeta survive. “The Supreme Ordeal” arrives at the end of the game, the Gamemakers announce that only one tribute may win, despite their earlier rule change that declared two could survive. Rather than attack each other, Katniss and Peeta agree to eat poisonous berries. They are stopped by the Gamemakers before they can do so, but their willingness to sacrifice their own lives instead of killing each other saves them. Survivors of the Hunger Games receive money and fame (“Reward”), though at a terrible cost.

As you can see, both The Hobbit and The Hunger Games follow Campbell’s formula for “The Hero’s Journey”. So the next time you read a book, or watch a movie, check to see if it follows the formula and ask yourself: is this story really new?

“The Hero's Journey” by Jessica McBirney. Copyright © 2017 by CommonLit, Inc. This text is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

5. relating to an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad

Text-Dependent QuestionsDirections: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. PART A: Which sentence best expresses the central idea of the text?

A. While different genres of literature exist, all of them follow the Hero’s Journey.

B. When authors are writing novels, they intentionally adhere to the Hero’s Journey.

C. The Hero’s Journey establishes the structure of a story that countless stories follow.

D. The Hero’s Journey is a helpful outline for author’s to follow when writing.

2. PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?

A. “There are so many for us to choose from — in libraries, in bookshops, and on our screens — and each story seems new and exciting.” (Paragraph 1)

B. “Popular stories like ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Hunger Games’ follow this structure.” (Paragraph 4)

C. “Campbell’s Hero’s Journey structure shows up all over literature, no matter the genre.” (Paragraph 17)

D. “So the next time you read a book, or watch a movie, check to see if it follows the formula and ask yourself: is this story really new?” (Paragraph 21)

3. Which of the following describes the author’s main purpose in the text?

A. to encourage authors to move away from the structure of the Hero’s Journey

B. to show how common the structure of the Hero’s Journey is in literature

C. to prove that essentially every story follows the Hero’s Journey

D. to help readers understand how Campbell came to identify the Hero’s Journey

4. Which statement describes how the author develops their analysis of the Hero’s Journey?

A. The author describes the structure of the Hero’s Journey and then explores how it translates to popular books.

B. The author discusses the Hero’s Journey as Campbell describes it and then shows how it has changed over time.

C. The author describes what the Hero’s Journey is and then discusses the pros and cons of following such a structure.

D. The author discusses Campbell’s discovery of the Hero’s Journey and then explores how the structure of stories has changed since then.

5. How does the author’s discussion of “The Hobbit” and “The Hunger Games” contribute to the development of ideas in the text? Cite evidence from the text in your response.

Discussion QuestionsDirections: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. McBirney asserts that the Hero’s Journey structure can be found across genres. What is another book or movie that follows the Hero’s Journey? Describe how your chosen book or movie fills the requirements for the Hero’s Journey.

2. In the text, the author claims that the Hero’s Journey requires a main character who is the hero. Do you think any main character can be the hero? Why or why not? What makes an ideal fictional hero for you? Who is your favorite fictional hero and why?

3. McBirney claims that the Hero’s Journey is so popular because people aspire to be like the hero and can relate to them. How do stories help us understand our world? Can we learn lessons that apply to our world from stories that follow the Hero’s Journey? Explain.

8

SECTIONB

Due By Date:

24 April 2020(Friday)

Syntax

Consider:

Brother, continue to listen.

You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind; and, if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right and we are lost. How do we know this to be true?

— Chief Red Jacket, “Chief Red Jacket Rejects a Change of Religion”

Discuss:

1. The words you say are repeated several times in the sentence. What is the repetition’s function?

2. The question at the end of the passage is a rhetorical question. What attitude toward the audience is expressed by the use of a rhetorical question?

Apply:

Write a three-sentence paragraph modeled after Chief Red Jacket’s passage. The first two sentences should contain repetition; the third sentence should be a rhetorical question. Your topic is school uniforms. Share your sentence with the class.

Syntax

Consider:

No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, then I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! – by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman – a howl! – a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the damned in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.

— Edgar Allan Poe, “The Black Cat”

Discuss:

1. The dashes in this long sentence set off a series of appositives. (An appositive is a noun or noun phrase placed beside another noun or noun phrase and used to identify or explain it.) What noun phrase is explained by the appositives?

2. This sentence makes syntactic and semantic sense if it ends with the first exclamation point. What do the appositives add to the meaning and effectiveness of the sentence?

Apply:

Rewrite Poe’s sentence, changing it into a series of short sentences. Read your sentences to the class and discuss how the use of short sentences changes the overall meaning of the original.

Lesson 3: Syntax / 71

Syntax

Consider:

Now, the use of culture is that it helps us, by means of its spiritual standard of perfection, to regard wealth but as machinery, and not only to say as a matter of words that we regard wealth but as machinery, but really to perceive and feel that it is so. If it were not for this purging effect wrought upon our minds by culture, the whole world, the future as well as the present, would inevitably belong to the Philistines.

— Matthew Arnold, “Sweetness and Light,” Culture and Anarchy

Discuss:

1. Put the first sentence into your own words. How does the sentence’s complexity add to its impact?

2. Where are the most important words in the second sentence of this passage – at the beginning or at the end? What effect does this have on the reader?

Apply:

Listen to people’s sentences as you talk to them today and keep a record of where speakers place important words: at the beginning or the end of a sentence. Come to the next class with a record of at least 5 sentences and notation indicating where the important words in those sentences were placed. Which is most common, beginning or end weight? Compare your results with the results of others in your class and discuss the implication of these results for analyzing prose.

Name: Class:

Excerpt from Heart of DarknessBy Joseph Conrad

1899

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) was a Polish-British writer and is considered one of the greatest novelists in the English language. Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness tells the story of Charles Marlow’s voyage to Africa and explores themes of imperialism and racism. In this excerpt, the narrator describes Marlow, who then imagines what it must have been like for Romans when they first came to England. As you read, take notes about how the narrator characterizes Marlow, especially as compared to other seamen.

[1] The sun set; the dusk fell on the stream, and lights began to appear along the shore. The Chapman lighthouse, a three-legged thing erect on a mud-flat, shone strongly. Lights of ships moved in the fairway — a great stir of lights going up and going down. And farther west on the upper reaches the place of the monstrous town

was still marked ominously on the sky, a brooding gloom in sunshine, a lurid1 glare under the stars.

“And this also,” said Marlow suddenly, “has been "Before the storm" by kilarov zaneit is licensed under CC0

one of the dark places of the earth.”

He was the only man of us who still “followed the sea.” The worst that could be said of him was that he did not represent his class. He was a seaman, but he was a wanderer, too, while most seamen lead, if one may so express it, a sedentary2 life. Their minds are of the stay-at-home order, and their home is always with them — the ship; and so is their country — the sea. One ship is very much like another, and the sea is always the same. In the immutability3 of their surroundings the foreign shores, the foreign faces, the changing immensity of life, glide past, veiled not by a sense of mystery but by a slightly disdainful ignorance; for there is nothing mysterious to a seaman unless it be the sea itself, which is the mistress of his existence and as inscrutable4 as Destiny. For the rest, after his hours of work, a casual stroll or a casual spree on shore suffices to unfold for him the secret of a whole continent, and generally he finds the secret not worth knowing. The yarns5 of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not

typical (if his propensity to spin yarns6 be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.

1. Lurid (adjective): shinning with a bright and unpleasant color

2. Sedentary (adjective): somewhat inactive

3. Immutable (adjective): unchanging over time or unable to be changed

4. Inscrutable (adjective): impossible to understand or interpret

5. a long or rambling story

6. tell stories

His remark did not seem at all surprising. It was just like Marlow. It was accepted in silence. No one took the trouble to grunt even; and presently he said, very slow —

[5] “I was thinking of very old times, when the Romans first came here, nineteen hundred years ago — the other day... Light came out of this river since — you say Knights? Yes; but it is like a running blaze on a plain, like a flash of lightning in the clouds. We live in the flicker — may it last as long as the old earth

keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday. Imagine the feelings of a commander of a fine — what d’ye call ‘em? — trireme7 in the Mediterranean, ordered suddenly to the north; run overland across the Gauls8 in a hurry; put in charge of one of these craft the legionaries, — a wonderful lot of handy men they must have been too — used to build, apparently by the hundred, in a month or two, if we may

believe what we read. Imagine him here — the very end of the world, a sea the color of lead, a sky the

color of smoke, a kind of ship about as rigid as a concertina9 — and going up this river with stores, or orders, or what you like. Sandbanks, marshes, forests, savages, — precious little to eat fit for a civilized man, nothing but Thames water to drink. No Falernian wine here, no going ashore. Here and there a military camp lost in a wilderness, like a needle in a bundle of hay — cold, fog, tempests, disease, exile, and death, — death skulking in the air, in the water, in the bush. They must have been dying like flies here. Oh yes — he did it. Did it very well, too, no doubt, and without thinking much about it either, except afterwards to brag of what he had gone through in his time, perhaps. They were men enough to face the darkness.”

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899) is in the public domain.

7. an ancient type of vessel

8. a region of Western Europe

9. a musical instrument resembling an accordion

Text-Dependent QuestionsDirections: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. PART A: In the passage from Heart of Darkness, the narrator and his companions are sailing on the River Thames near London, England. What does Marlow mean when he says in paragraph 2 that England “has been one of the dark places of earth”?

A. It was formerly corrupt and full of criminals.

B. It was once a place beyond the limits of civilization.

C. It has been the location of many violent confrontations.

D. It has been less technologically developed than other countries.

2. PART B: Which quotation from Marlow’s speech in paragraph 5 best supports the answer to Part A?

A. “you say Knights? Yes”

B. “a wonderful lot of handy men they have been too”

C. “Imagine him here — the very end of the world”

D. “Did it very well, too, no doubt”

3. PART A: How does the author’s comparison of Marlow to other sailors impact the reader’s understanding of Marlow?

A. It shows that he is of a different social class than other sailors.

B. It shows that he is more intelligent than most sailors.

C. It shows that he is interested in the deeper significance of events.

D. It shows that he is quiet and leads a solitary existence.

4. PART B: Which quotation from Heart of Darkness best supports that answer to Part A?

A. “The worst that could be said of him was that he did not represent his class.” (Paragraph 3)

B. “generally he finds the secret not worth knowing.” (Paragraph 3)

C. “to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale” (Paragraph 3)

D. “It was just like Marlow. It was accepted in silence.” (Paragraph 4)

3

Discussion QuestionsDirections: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. How can traveling the world further our understanding of it? How do you think a sailor’s understanding or appreciation of the world might be different from that of someone who stays on land? In the context of the text, how do most seamen approach their travels to other places? How does that compare to what you think travelers should do when they visit other places?

2. How does Marlow portray the Romans who first came to England? Why did they embark on these dangerous journeys to largely unknown territories? What traits do you think it’s important for travelers, such as the Romans and Marlow, to have?

4

SECTIONC

Due By Date:

8 May 2020(Friday)

Tone

Consider:

It’s his first exposure to Third World passion. He thought only Americans had informed political opinion – other people staged coups out of spite and misery. It’s an unwelcome revelation to him that a reasonably educated and rational man like Ro would die for things that he, Brent, has never heard of and would rather laugh about. Ro was tortured in jail. Franny has taken off her earphones. Electrodes, canes, freezing tanks. He leaves nothing out. Something’s gotten into Ro.

Dad looks sick. The meaning of Thanksgiving should not be so explicit.

— Bharati Mukherjee, “Orbiting”

Discuss:

1. What is the narrator’s attitude toward Brent (Dad)? Cite your evidence.

2. How does the syntax in this passage help create the tone?

Apply:

Rewrite the last five sentences in the first paragraph, making the five short sentences into two longer sentences. Read your rewritten sentences to a partner and discuss how the longer sentences affect the tone of the passage.

Tone

Consider:

Microphone feedback kept blaring out the speaker’s words, but I got the outline. Withdrawal of our troops from Vietnam. Recognition of Cuba. Immediate commutation of student loans. Until all these demands were met, the speaker said he considered himself in a state of unconditional war with the United States government.

I laughed out loud.

— Tobias Wolff, “Civilian”

Discuss:

1. What is the attitude of the narrator toward the political speaker in this passage? How do you know?

2. How does the use of a short, direct sentence at the end of the passage (I laughed out loud) contribute to the tone?

Apply:

Substitute a new sentence for I laughed out loud. Your new sentence should express support for the political speaker. Read the passage – with your new sentence – to a partner and explain how your sentence changes the tone of the passage.

94 / Lesson 4: Tone

Tone

Consider:

What a thrill –

My thumb instead of an onion.The top quite gone

Except for a sort of a hinge

Of skin,

A flap like a hat,dead white.

Then a red plush.

— Sylvia Plath, “Cut: For Susan O’Neill Roe”

Discuss:

1. What is the poet’s attitude toward the cut? What words, images and details create the tone?

2. In the second stanza, Plath uses colors to intensify the tone. The flap of skin is dead white, the blood is a red plush. What attitude toward the cut and, by implication, toward life itself, does this reveal?

Apply:

Write a short description of an automobile accident. Create a tone of complete objectivity – as if you were from another planet and had absolutely no emotional reaction to the accident. Read your description to a partner and discuss the details, images, and diction that create your tone.

Name: Class:

Duty, Honor, Country Address at West PointBy General Douglas MacArthur

1962

General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) was an American five-star general who played a prominent role in the Pacific theater campaign during World War II. From 1919-1922, MacArthur served as the Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. On May 12, 1962, MacArthur delivered this speech to the cadets at West Point. As you read, take notes on how the structure of General MacArthur’s speech impacts his message.

[1] You now face a new world, a world of change. Thethrust into outer space of the satellite, spheresand missiles marked the beginning of anotherepoch1 in the long story of mankind — thechapter of the space age. In the five or morebillions of years the scientists tell us it has takento form the earth, in the three or more billionyears of development of the human race, therehas never been a greater, a more abrupt orstaggering evolution. We deal now not with thingsof this world alone, but with the illimitabledistances and as yet unfathomed mysteries of theuniverse. We are reaching out for a new and

boundless frontier. We speak in strange terms: of"General Douglass

MacArthur Wades Ashore" by Marion Doss is

harnessing the cosmic energy; of making winds licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

and tides work for us; of creating unheardsynthetic materials to supplement or even replace our old standard basics; of purifying sea water for

our drink; of mining ocean floors for new fields of wealth and food;of disease preventatives to expand

life into the hundreds of years; of controlling the weather for a more equitable distribution of heat and

cold, of rain and shine; of space ships to the moon; of the primarytarget in war, no longer limited to

the armed forces of an enemy, but instead to include his civil populations;

of ultimate conflict between

a united human race and the sinister forces of some other planetary galaxy; of such dreams and fantasies as to make life the most exciting of all time.

And through all this welter2 of change and development your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable.3 It is to win our wars. Everything else in your professional career is but corollary4 to this vital dedication. All other public purpose, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishments; but you are the ones who are trained to fight.

Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory, that if you lose, the Nation will be destroyed, that the very obsession of your public service must be Duty, Honor, Country.

1. Epoch (noun): a period of time

2. Welter (noun): a confusing or jumbled mass of something; a state of confusion or chaos

3. Inviolable (adjective): secure from being infringed, breached, or broken

4. Corollary (noun): a natural consequence or addition

Others will debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide men's minds. But serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the Nation's war guardians, as its lifeguards from the raging tides of international conflict, as its gladiators in the arena of battle. For a century and a half you have defended, guarded and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.

[5] Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government. Whether our

strength is being sapped by deficit financing indulged in too long, by federal paternalism5 grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as firm and complete as they should be.

These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a tenfold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.

You are the leaven6 which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. From

your ranks come the great captains who hold the Nation's destiny in their hands the moment the war

tocsin7 sounds.

The long gray line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses, thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.

This does not mean that you are warmongers. On the contrary, the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."

[10] The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished - tone and tints. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of

wondrous beauty, watered by tears and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen then, but with thirsty ear, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille,8 of far drums beating the long roll.

In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield. But in the evening of my memory I come back to West Point. Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country.

Today marks my final roll call with you. But I want you to know that when I cross the river, my last conscious thoughts will be of the Corps, and the Corps, and the Corps.

I bid you farewell.

5. the system or practice of managing or governing individuals, nations, etc., in the manner of a father dealing with children, often neglecting individual choice and responsibility

6. a rising agent (like yeast); or something enlivening, that which lightens or lifts

7. an alarm, bell, or warning signal

8. a signal sounded to wake personnel in the armed forces

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"Duty, Honor, Country Address at West Point" by General Douglas MacArthur (1962) is in the public domain.

Text-Dependent QuestionsDirections: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. PART A: Which of the following best describes a central idea of the text? [RI.2]

A. The human race is evolving beyond the need for petty fighting.

B. Above all, soldiers duties are to serve and protect their country.

C. Soldiers should never question others or engage in politics.

D. The only way to ensure global peace is through waging war.

2. PART B: Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to Part A? [RI.1]

A. “We deal now not with things of this world alone, but with the illimitable distances and as yet unfathomed mysteries of the universe.” (Paragraph 1)

B. “And through all this welter of change and development your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable. It is to win our wars.” (Paragraph 2)

C. “Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government.” (Paragraph 5)

D. “This does not mean that you are warmongers. On the contrary, the soldier above all other people prays for peace” (Paragraph 9)

3. How does paragraph 1 shape MacArthur’s message to the cadets in the speech? [RI.5]

A. MacArthur discusses change and the expanding reach of humanity, but announces to the cadets that their duty as soldiers will remain the same.

B. MacArthur discusses change and the expanding reach of humanity, and so provides context for the cadets as to how their roles as soldiers will change over time.

C. MacArthur talks about exploring the universe and many exciting discoveries, which he doesn’t think he’ll live to see but hopes the cadets will.

D. MacArthur talks about humanity’s expanding understanding of the scope of the universe, giving the cadets perspective on their relatively minor place in it.

4. What effect does MacArthur’s use of repetition produce in the speech? [RI.4]

A. MacArthur repeats the phrase “Duty, Honor, Country” throughout the speech to emphasize to the cadets what their goals and priorities should be.

B. MacArthur repeats the phrase “Duty, Honor, Country” to establish a beat in his speech that reassures his cadet audience with its rhythm.

C. MacArthur repeatedly reminds the cadets to stay out of civilian discussions and issues because otherwise it will make it more difficult for them to serve.

D. MacArthur repeats “The Corps” at the end of his speech to rally the cadets and to reassure his audience that he supports them.

5. In paragraph 9, MacArthur quotes Plato: “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”

[RI.5]

How does this quote contribute to the overall meaning of the speech?

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Discussion QuestionsDirections: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. How do you think this message was received by the cadets at West Point? Explain.

2. How does society prevail in the face of challenges? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.

3. In the context of this speech, what does it mean to be brave? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.

4. In the context of this speech, how are we changed by war? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other literature, art, or history in your answer.

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