Month: November 2020

Analyzing the Text

She describes “his sullen face” and what she supposes is his lip. She revises her initial statement after further observing and thinking about the fish.

The fish hooks are trophies from his past victories against other fishers who tried to catch him.

It is the fish’s victory. The enemies are the fishers, including the narrator.

The references to “medals” and “a five-haired beard of wisdom” depict the fish as a symbol of longevity and cunning intelligence. The rainbow at the end symbolizes the beauty of nature.

The narrator feels respect for the fish after realizing how much he has endured. The fish, like the dog, is expertly adapted for survival.

Vocabulary Strategy: Word Collocations

Unsolved mystery Adjective. +. Noun. A situation or occurrence that there is no explanation for at this point. “Whether or not Bigfoot actually exists is an unsolved mystery.”

Piercing cry. Adjective. +. Noun. A sudden, sharp wailing, as if in pain.”I gav a piercing cry when I hit my shin on the table .”

Critical Vocabulary

Abandonment because they both mean acting without care.

Illumination because they both mean that something is becoming clear.

Vacant because they both mean that’s there is empty space or nothing “there.”

Composed because they both mean in control of the situation.

Analyzing the Text

The narrator is omniscient. Throughout the story, readers learn that the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of Richards, Louise, and Brently. The story does, however, mostly focus on Louise.

Josephine and Richards think Louise will be devastated. Her initial reaction is not intended to be ironic.

She is relieved to have the rest of her life to herself and celebrates all alone in that room. The other characters would be shocked, appalled, and confused.

It suggests that she felt trapped in the confines and expectations of marriage.

These images include treetops and clouds – a nature scene. Such calm and familiar imagery makes the reader feel sympathetic to Louise’s situation.

It characterizes her as a woman satisfied with the outcome of that day, euphoric about life’s new possibilities and freedom.

Louise expects him to be dead, but he is in fact not dead. It would not be ironic if he were actually dead because that is what the characters and readers already expect.

It is an example of dramatic irony because, while the other characters (particularly the doctors who examined her) believe her joy was caused by the sight of her still-living husband, the readers know that “joy” refers to her elation at his supposed death and her resultant freedom.

Analyzing the Text and Media

He describes them as metaphorically cursed and in such a poor condition as would have horrified their original owners and residents. His descriptive, solemn rhetoric lays out what tenement life was like in a calm but devastating manner.

He could have used graphs.

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They died at much higher rates than did children living in single tenements. Unfortunately, a photograph of a single sick child probably would not have had as much impact as tables filled with numbers related to dead children would. Numbers may be thought to offer more solid “proof.”

They offer visual proof of how dirty and crowded the tenements were. Additionally, the faces of their inhabitants look absolutely exhausted and even sad, reflecting their hard lives.

Here he is saying that Americans should focus on their own people first, rather than spending so much time, effort, and money trying to improve life for inhabitants of faraway places while their own cities are in deplorable condition.

One pro is that it provides multiple points of view. One con is that the vast amount of information presented may feel overwhelming or difficult to sift through effectively.

Vocabulary Strategy: Nuance in Word Meaning

Cold, Frosty, Freezing, Frigid, Bitter

Hot, Sweltering, Blistering, Searing, Scorched

Happy, Elated, Overjoyed, Ecstatic, Jubilant

Whiff, Aroma, Smell, Stink, Stench

Cute, Pretty, Beautiful, Gorgeous, Exquisite

Analyzing the Text

He makes outlandish, sweeping statements such as “for it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory” and proposes a new idea instead. This paragraph reveals that he holds animals in greater esteem than humans.

It depends! Some of his experiments could have realistically happened, such as the one with the anaconda and the calves. However, the one at the end with people of various religious beliefs is quite obviously fictional.

It shows how disgusted Twain finds the earl’s wanton cruelty.

Most animals refuse the opportunity altogether, and even those that take advantage of it do not accumulate any more than is needed to survive through the winter. These examples serve to show that, unlike humans, animals aren’t greedy.

These examples show not only how ridiculous our disputes have been, but how uncommon such fights are in the wider animal kingdom. After all, other animals don’t wage war or torture each other. Those acts are unique to humans, unfortunately.

Animals don’t have a concept of immodesty or humiliation, so they have no reason to blush. Mankind has essentially invented scenarios it deems improper and becomes embarrassed when those situations occur.

With “man is the only patriot,” he shows the bloody battles that have occurred throughout history – as well as the supposed wishes of peace and goodwill that follow. In terms of “man is the religious animal,” he describes the hypocrisy of people killing each other in order to prove that only their own beliefs will assure them a happy afterlife.

His purpose is to not only get people thinking about the ways in which animals are more intelligent and sensible than humans, but also the irrational and often cruel actions of humans that we take for granted.

Analyzing the Text

The Jungle is set in a slaughterhouse and cannery, while Fast Food Nation is set in a flavoring lab. Sinclair aimed to expose the unsanitary and unsafe working conditions, while Schlosser wants to educate his readers as to the various ways in which man-made flavorings deceive our taste buds without us even knowing.

His description of the IFF’s work shows that it is indeed possible for them to manufacture the taste and smell of chicken in a flavor lab.

In The Jungle, the passages describing the methods of producing food and the injuries the workers suffered provide vivid examples of what really happened in that factory. In Fast Food Nation, Schlosser’s descriptions of how smoke flavoring is created and what smells were inside Grainger’s glass bottles provide sensory details to help the readers understand what it would be like to visit IFF or a similar lab.

Both selections address food – in particular, what’s in it. Both writers write in a journalistic style, but one difference is that Sinclair’s piece is actually a fictionalized version of what really happened, while Schlosser’s is a completely true account.

Language and Style: Dashes

Flavors made from natural ingredients–fruits, vegetables, chicken, yeast, and bark–are sometimes considered healthier.

The french fries are delicious–and very fattening.

Flavorists–scientists with trained noses and poetic sensibilities–create the flavor in most of the food we eat.

One remarkable creation–a strip of paper that smelled just like a grilled hamburger–took Schlosser by surprise.

Critical Vocabulary

The cooking oil they use, as well as the progress in manufacturing flavors.

Otherwise the chemicals will evaporate or change.

The amounts are microscopic and much smaller than teaspoons or tablespoons.

It will bring on the chemical process required to create the desired flavors from the original chemicals.

They create as if by magic the flavors that we expect in our foods from chemicals.

Analyzing the Text

Most of the food Americans consumed after WWII is processed, which is bland without any flavoring added. Additionally, after the war most of the European perfume industry moved to New England and switched to producing flavors.

He does this in order to show the scientific and technological wizardry that goes on in labs in just a small sector of the country.

Although they may contain the same ingredients, what distinguishes natural flavors from artificial ones is how they are made. Schlosser goes into a lot of detail here in order to make sure his readers understand how they have been duped by food companies.

He wants to demonstrate that not only do Burger King’s strawberry milkshakes contain ingredients with names we’ve never even heard of, but the one ingredient they don’t actually have is strawberries!

While it’s true that natural flavors are produced differently from artificial ones, products containing so-called “natural flavors” are not necessarily naturally flavored the way they taste: Flavors may have been added after the fact.

Schlosser wants people to do further research and view the label of “natural flavors” more skeptically.

His overall purpose is educating readers. His writing style is clear, concise, and not terribly formal. It draws the readers in by presenting intriguing information and describing his visit to IFF as though it were a scene in a story.

Analyzing the Text

Although one will not find out about these horrors right away, gradually it is possible to piece together what is going on at the factory. These sentences serve to introduce the readers to the expose that follows.

The imagery is disgusting and horrifying, revealing that Sinclair is appalled that such an esteemed brand has been getting away with such practices.

He means that they were always mixing up some new concoction, rather like alchemists or today’s chemists do, only with assorted animal parts rather than chemicals or elements.

This point of view seems detached and is not overwhelmed by any emotion or opinion on the part of the character. Rather, the story is simply presented as it is and it is up to the reader to draw a conclusion from the information provided.

His topic is the maltreatment of the workers. He communicates, through vivid detail, their tragic fates, as no worker escapes maiming or even death.

They were likely more concerned with what they themselves were eating than with the plight of people who were poor, uneducated, and most likely immigrants. Through writing this book, Sinclair aimed to draw attention not only to the unsanitary conditions for food but the impact those conditions had upon the workers that produced that food.

If he had named a real company and real people, he would have encountered legal trouble. This was a way to expose what was really happening without being sued.

Vocabulary Strategy: Etymology

1. apprehension: definition: fear or anxiety; origin word: (Latin) apprehendere: to seize upon; suffix: -ion (makes nouns out of verbs) 2. imperative: of great importance, essential; Origin: (Latin) imperare: to command; suffix: -ive (makes adjectives) 3. extremity: the outermost or farthest point of portion; Origin: (Latin) extremus: utmost

“She was filled with ap>“It was imp>“The cold began to hurt her extremities.”

It helps us understand the barest form of its meaning, and so we can branch off from there (to add meaning). Other words that end in -ion include, conclusion, situation, decapitation. Other words that end in -ive include, supportive, creative, conclusive.

Critical Vocabulary

These include determination and perseverance.

You may feel apprehensive before an important exam if tests make you anxious or if you haven’t studied!

This is imperative because, if you do not, you may be seriously injured or even die in a car accident.

If those parts of the country are far away from the capital or center of population, it will be difficult to get soldiers to those furthest reaches of the territory.

Analyzing the Text

One example is, “The man from Sulphur Creek had spoken the truth when telling how cold it sometimes got in the country. And he had laughed at him!” Here, the man grudgingly admits that he should have paid more attention to the old-timer. Later, around line 270, he appreciates the advice the old-timer gave him. On the next page, he once again dismisses the old-timer, referring to him as “womanish” and thinking he worried too much about the need to travel with a companion in such cold weather. Much, much later in the story, he mumbles that the old-timer was absolutely right after all… and then he dies.

Although the dog obviously doesn’t understand the concept of temperature because it’s an animal, it seems to understand the cold as a much more dangerous entity than the man does. The dog seems much better adapted to the setting because it understands just how dangerous this weather can be.

Including the names of real places such as the Yukon and the Bering Sea establish that this story takes place in our world. Additionally, the descriptions of winter weather, while more brutal than that most students have probably known, lines up with our understanding of what winter is like. Together these details make the story feel like it could really have happened in the not-so-distant past or even now.

The dog becomes another character in the story and serves as a foil (counterpoint) to the man. London’s descriptions serve to contrast the dog’s keen awareness of the dangerous situation with the man’s arrogant and foolish mistakes.

The fact that the “old-timer from Sulphur Creek” has made it to old age shows that it is possible, if difficult, to survive for a very long time in such a place. Additionally, the dog is clearly more fit for such a place than the protagonist, given that he dies but the dog does not. This story shows readers that failure to prepare and remember the advice of others makes them unfit for survival and can only result in death.

London seems to think that the protagonist was doomed from the start. Fate doesn’t appear to play much of a role in this story, but nature’s unpredictability certainly does. With so many hidden springs lying beneath the ice and snow, sooner or later the man was bound to fall through and get into trouble. His chances of actually making it to camp were quite low.

These two themes interact because only the fittest can avoid nature’s pitfalls and make it out of dangerous situations alive and mostly unscathed.

Analyzing the Text

The rhythm rushes readers along, with words one after another and line breaks not in traditional places. Additionally, the abundance of stressed syllables contributions to the feeling of fright as the narrator hurries along.

Religious references include “O star-shaped yonder Bible city,” “tell me, Ezekiel, oh tell me do you see mailed Jehovah coming to deliver me,” and “first stop Mercy and the last Hallelujah.” Religious imagery is appropriate here because these are cultural references that would have been familiar to slaves and would likely have provided them some hope, however small.

“Oh! Susanna” is a minstrel song, which means it would have been performed by white people who wore blackface and mocked African-Americans. Perhaps the author made this allusion in order to symbolize African-Americans reclaiming that song and repurposing it for their own, better uses.

The two speakers are the narrator and Harriet Tubman. The narrator sounds more dramatic and afraid, while Ms. Tubman sounds more pragmatic or matter-of-fact about the whole situation.

The first set of names (lines 53-54) are names given to Harriet Tubman either by others or by the woman herself. The second set of names (55-56) refer to abolitionists both white and black.

Unlike most other lines in this poem, these lines (three couplets) rhyme! Together they read like more traditional poetry that students are probably used to. They are sing-song and a little bit eerie in terms of the theme.

These words and phrases include “they’ll dart underground when you try to catch them” and lines 65 through 71.

“I’m bound for the freedom” means that the slave is in bondage, perhaps literally in chains, because society at this time conceived of black people as suited only for slavery and white people only for freedom. This was considered the natural order of things. “Freedom-bound” means that the narrator is headed toward their freedom, finally. Line 33 is just one example of the multiple meanings of this poem and the way it reveals more and more to the reader they longer they spend analyzing it.

Analyzing the Media

The Emancipation Proclamation led to the “first black northern regiment” in the Civil War, which started in 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation helped the North win the Civil War by allowing black soldiers to fight on their side.

Critical Vocabulary

I completed long homework assignments from four classes in one evening while having the flu.

My friend signed the permission slip for the field trip herself because her parents were at work.

I read every word of the assigned reading carefully before answering the homework questions.

When my family makes deviled eggs, my father boils the eggs, my mother peels the eggs, and I chop the yolks and mix them with mayonnaise so that we can complete dozens more efficiently.