THE GRAPES of WRATH. from. By John Steinbeck. Read for Understanding. Reread and Summarize

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Cameron Morgan
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CLOSE READIng Read for Understanding 1. Genre What kind of text is this passage? How do you know? 2. Topic Write a topic sentence to tell what the text is mostly about.

1 CLOSE READIng Read for Understanding 1. Genre What kind of text is this passage? How do you know? 2. Topic Write a topic sentence to tell what the text is mostly about. from THE GRAPES of WRATH Farm wife waiting in the car while her husband attends the auction, Oskaloosa, Kansas, 1938, John Vachon. Photographic negative, Library of Congress Reread and Summarize By John Steinbeck Critical Viewing: Critical Viewing: Mood What is 1 the road is full a them families goin west. 3. Word Choice the In mood, each or feeling, of this section, circle Never seen so many. Gets worse all a time. Wonder where hell they all photograph? three words Never seen so many. Gets worse all a time. Wonder where the hell they all How or phrases that did express the photographer the come from? big ideas in that achieve section. the mood? 2 Wonder where they all go to, said Mae. Come here for gas sometimes, Note next to each word or but they don t hardly never buy nothin else. People says they steal. We ain t phrase why you chose it. gotnothin layin around. They never stole nothin from us. Section 1: paragraphs Big Bill, munching his pie, looked up the road through the screened Section 2: paragraphs window. Better tie your stuff down. I think you got some of em comin now. 4. Summary Use your 4 A 1926 Nash sedan pulled wearily off the highway. The back seat was topic sentence and notes piled nearly to the ceiling with sacks, with pots and pans, and on the very from item 3 to write a top, right up against the ceiling, two boys rode. On the top of the car, a summary of the selection. mattress and a folded tent; tent poles tied along the running board. The car pulled up to the gas pumps. A dark-haired, hatchet-faced man got slowly out. And the two boys slid down from the load and hit the ground. athemfamiliesgoin of those families going ain tgotnothin layin don t have anything lying sedan medium-sized car Historical Background In the early 1930s, a drought hit the midwestern U.S. and farmers in the area lost all their crops. This area became known as the DustBowl because of the wind storms that swept dust over everything. Many families packed what little they had left and drove west to work in the fields of California. 48 Unit 1: Choices

Reread and Analyze 5 Mae walked around the counter and stood in the door. The man was dressed in gray wool trousers and a blue shirt, dark blue with sweat on the back and under the arms.

They went directly to the mud puddle under the hose and dug their toes into the mud. 6 The man asked, Can we git some water, ma am? 7 A look of annoyance crossed Mae s face. Sure, go ahead.

2 Reread and Analyze 5 Mae walked around the counter and stood in the door. The man was dressed in gray wool trousers and a blue shirt, dark blue with sweat on the back and under the arms. The boys in overalls and nothing else, ragged patched overalls. Their hair was light, and it stood up evenly all over their heads, for it had been roached. Their faces were streaked with dust. They went directly to the mud puddle under the hose and dug their toes into the mud. 6 The man asked, Can we git some water, ma am? 7 A look of annoyance crossed Mae s face. Sure, go ahead. She said softly over her shoulder, I ll keep my eye on the hose. She watched while the man slowly unscrewed the radiator cap and ran the hose in. 8 A woman in the car, a flaxen-haired woman, said, See if you can t git it here. 9 The man turned off the hose and screwed on the cap again. The little boys took the hose from him and they upended it and drank thirstily. The man took off his dark, stained hat and stood with a curious The man stood with a curious humility in front of the screen. humility in front of the screen. Could you see your way to sell us a loaf of bread, ma am? 10 Mae said, This ain t a grocery store. We got bread to make san widges. 11 I know, ma am. His humility was insistent. We need bread and there ain t nothin for quite a piece, they say. 12 F we sell bread we gonna run out. Mae s tone was faltering. 13 We re hungry, the man said. 14 Whyn t you buy a san widge? We got nice san widges, hamburgs. 15 We d sure admire to do that, ma am. But we can t. We got to make a dime do all of us. And he said embarrassedly, We ain t got but a little. 16 Mae said, You can t get no loaf a bread for a dime. We only got fifteencent loafs. 17 From behind her Al growled, God Almighty, Mae, give em bread. 18 We ll run out fore the bread truck comes. roached brushed to stand upright git get humility modesty, lack of pride Could you see your way to Would you san widges sandwiches insistent demanding, persistent ain t nothin for quite a piece isn t anything for quite a while faltering uncertain, hesitating Whyn t Why don t admire like ain t got but only have 5. Characterization Reread paragraph 5. What technique does the author use to describe the man and his sons? 6. Details Underline a description from paragraph 5 and tell what this says about the family. 7. Dialogue Reread paragraph 7. Underline dialogue that shows Mae s feelings about the family. What do Mae s remarks show about her character? 8. Dialogue Examine what Mae says in paragraphs Highlight 3 examples of dialogue that suggests Mae does not want to be generous. Unit 1: Choices 49

3 Reread and Analyze 9. Characterization Reread paragraph 21. Highlight an action that shows how the boys feel about the candy. What does this detail tell you about the boys? 10. Characterization Reread paragraph 29. Underline something the father does that is unexpected. Explain what this shows about the father. 19 Run out, then, goddamn it, said Al. And he looked sullenly down at the potato salad he was mixing. 20 Mae shrugged her plump shoulders and looked to the truck drivers to show them what she was up against. 21 She held the screen door open and the man came in, bringing a smell of sweat with him. The boys edged in behind him and they went immediately to the candy case and stared in not with craving or with hope or even with desire, but just with a kind of wonder that such things could be. They were alike in size and their faces were alike. One scratched his dusty ankle with the toe nails of his other foot. The other whispered some soft message and then they straightened their arms so that their clenched fists in the overall pockets showed through the thin blue cloth. 22 Mae opened a drawer and took out a The boys...went immediately to the candy case and stared in... long waxpaper-wrapped loaf. This here is a fifteen-cent loaf. 23 The man put his hat back on his head. He answered with inflexible humility, Won t you can t you see your way to cut off ten cents worth? 24 Al said snarlingly, Goddamn it, Mae. Give em the loaf. 25 The man turned toward Al. No, we want ta buy ten cents worth of it. We got it figgered awful close, mister, to get to California. 26 Mae said resignedly, You can have this for ten cents. 27 That d be robbin you, ma am. 28 Go ahead Al says to take it. She pushed the waxpapered loaf across the counter. The man took a deep leather pouch from his rear pocket, untied the strings, and spread it open. It was heavy with silver and with greasy bills. 29 May soun funny to be so tight, he apologized. We got a thousan miles to go, an we don know if we ll make it. He dug in the pouch with a forefinger, located a dime, and pinched in for it. When he put it down on the counter he had a penny with it. He was about to drop the penny back into the pouch when his eye fell on the boys frozen before the candy counter. He moved slowly down to them. He pointed in the case at big long sticks of striped peppermint. Is them penny candy, ma am? craving want, hunger inflexible unchanging figgered awful counted very resignedly giving up, yielding tight worried about spending money his eye fell on he saw 50 Unit 1: Choices

4 Reread and Analyze 30 Mae moved down and looked in. Which ones? 31 There, them stripy ones. 32 The little boys raised their eyes to her face and they stopped breathing; their mouths were partly opened, their half-naked bodies were rigid. 33 Oh them. Well, no them s two for a penny. 34 Well, gimme two then, ma am. He placed the copper cent carefully on the counter. The boys expelled their held breath softly. Mae held the big sticks out. 35 Take em, said the man. 36 They reached timidly, each took a stick, and they held them down at their sides and did not look at them. But they looked at each other, and their mouth corners smiled rigidly with embarrassment. 37 Thank you, ma am. The man picked up the bread and went out the door, and the little boys marched stiffly behind him, the red-striped sticks held tightly against their legs. They leaped like chipmunks over the front seat and onto the top of the load, and they burrowed back out of sight like chipmunks. 38 The man got in and started his car, and with a roaring motor and a cloud of blue oily smoke the ancient Nash climbed up on the highway and went on its way to the west. 39 From inside the restaurant the truck drivers and Mae and Al stared after them. 40 Big Bill wheeled back. Them wasn t two-for-a-cent candy, he said. 41 What s that to you? Mae said fiercely. 42 Them was nickel apiece candy, said Bill. v Critical Viewing: Setting This photo was taken during the Dust Bowl. How do the setting details in the photo compare with the details in the story? 11. Characterization Highlight details that show Bill s reaction to Mae s selling of the candy. What does his reaction reveal about the price of the candy? 12. Characterization What does Mae s action in selling the candy show about her character? Part of an impoverished family of nine on a New Mexico highway, 1936, Dorthea Lange. Photographic negative, Library of Congress. rigid stiff, not moving expelled let out timidly shyly, without confidence wheeled turned the conversation Unit 1: Choices 51

5 CLOSE READING The Grapes of Wrath Discuss 13. Synthesize With the class, list some of the details that the author uses to show what Mae is like. Discuss what the author shows about Mae with these details. Then, with the class, discuss the change that takes place in Mae. 14. Write Use your notes from question 13 to write about the techniques that authors use to portray characters. Include specific examples from the story to support your ideas. 52 Unit 1: Choices

6 Connect with the What Influences a Person s Choices? Consider what causes people to change their minds. 15. Viewpoint What circumstances influence Mae s choice in the selection? Does it seem like the right choice? Explain. 16. Theme In this selection, what is the writer s message about the choices we should make about how to treat others? Unit 1: Choices 53

Explorers 6 Teacher s notes for the Comprehension Test: Treasure Island

Explorers 6 Teacher s notes for the Comprehension Test: Do this test after you have read the whole book with the class. Ask the children to fill in their name and the date at the top of the page. Tell