Multiple-Choice Test Taking Tips and Strategies
- Read the entire question. Read a multi-choice question in its entirety before glancing over the answer options. ...
- Answer it in your mind first. ...
- Eliminate wrong answers. ...
- Use the process of elimination. ...
- Select the best answer. ...
- Read every answer option. ...
- Answer the questions you know first. ...
- Make an educated guess.
Coming Up: Friday, March 8 vocabulary quiz "Outcasts 2), handed out on Tuesday, February 26; another copy below; Also on Friday, the graphic organizer for the short story "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" was handed out. Please make sure you have this tomorrow.
Did you miss the vocabulary quiz on Friday, March 1? You may come in any period today or tomorrow to make it up. ONLY! Just show up.
In class: we are practicing the reading comprehension part of the ELA exam. Class handout/ Copy below. HOMEWORK: practice exercise on there, they're and their. This is graded and will be collected at the start of class tomorrow. class handout copy below
Directions (1–24): Closely read each of the three passages below. After each passage, there are several multiplechoice questions. Select the best suggested answer to each question and record your answer on the separate answer sheet provided for you. You may use the margins to take notes as you read. Regents Exam in ELA — Jan. ’19 [2]
Of note: you will have three passages; usually there is a one piece of literature, one poem and one nonfiction work. Today we are looking are the fiction piece.
1. Make sure you have a pen or pencil or highlighter.
2. Read the first paragraph silently and independently.
3. Mark / Underline important information: figurative language, literary element details (plot, character, setting, etc). diction (what word choices impact the paragraph. Take five minutes, and we will review.
4. Review of multiple choice strategies
5. ......finish reading and annotating the text; answer the multiple choice questions.
6. We will review.
Reading Comprehension Passage A …
It was so cold that his first breath turned to iron in his throat, the hairs in his nostrils webbed into instant ice, his eyes stung and watered. In the faint starlight and the bluish luminescence of the snow everything beyond a few yards away swam deceptive and without depth, glimmering with things half seen or imagined. Beside the dead car he stood with his head bent, listening, and there was not a sound. Everything on the planet might have died in the cold. 5
… But here he stood in light overcoat and thin leather gloves, without overshoes, and his car all but blocked the road, and the door could not be locked, and there was not a possibility that he could carry the heavy cases with him to the next farm or village. He switched on the headlights again and studied the roadside they revealed, and saw a rail fence, with cedars and spruces behind it. When more complex gadgets and more complex cures failed, there was always the lucifer match.1 Ten minutes later he was sitting with the auto robe over his head and shoulders and his back against the plowed snowbank, digging the half melted snow from inside his shoes and gloating over the growing light and warmth of the fire. He had a supply of fence rails good for an hour. In that time, someone would come along and he could get a push or a tow. In this country, in winter, no one ever passed up a stranded motorist.
… Abruptly he did not want to wait in that lonely snow-banked ditch any longer. The sample cases2 could look after themselves, any motorist who passed could take his own chances. He would walk ahead to the nearest help, and if he found himself getting too cold on the way, he could always build another fire. The thought of action cheered him; he admitted to himself that he was all but terrified at the silence and the iron cold. … Turning with the road, he passed through the stretch of woods and came into the open to see the moon-white, shadow-black buildings of a farm, and the weak bloom of light in a window. …
“Hello?” he said, and knocked again. “Anybody home?” No sound answered him. He saw the moon glint on the great icicles along the eaves. His numb hand ached with the pain of knocking; he pounded with the soft edge of his fist. Answer finally came, not from the door before which he stood, but from the barn, down at the end of a staggered string of attached sheds. A door creaked open against a snowbank and a figure with a lantern appeared, stood for a moment, and came running. The traveler wondered at the way it came, lurching and stumbling in the uneven snow, until it arrived at the porch and he saw that it was a boy of eleven or twelve. The boy set his lantern on the porch; between the upturned collar of his mackinaw3 and the down-pulled stocking cap his face was a pinched whiteness, his eyes enormous. He stared at the traveler until the traveler became aware of the blanket he still held over head and shoulders, and began to laugh. 1 lucifer match — a match that ignites through friction 2 sample cases — cases of medicine samples 3 mackinaw — type of warm coat
“My car stopped on me, a mile or so up the road,” he said. “I was just hunting a telephone or some place where I could get help.” The boy swallowed, wiped the back of his mitt across his nose. “Grandpa’s sick!” he blurted, and opened the door. … “He must’ve had a shock,” the boy said. “I came in from chores and he was on the floor.” He stared at the mummy under the quilt, and he swallowed. … “Why didn’t you go for help?” The boy looked down, ashamed. “It’s near two miles. I was afraid he’d.…” “But you left him. You were out in the barn.” “I was hitching up to go,” the boy said. “I’d made up my mind.” The traveler backed away from the stove, his face smarting4 with the heat, his fingers and feet beginning to ache. He looked at the old man and knew that here, as at the car, he was helpless. The boy’s thin anxious face told him how thoroughly his own emergency had been swallowed up in this other one. He had been altered from a man in need of help to one who must give it. Salesman of wonder cures, he must now produce something to calm this over-worried boy, restore a dying man. Rebelliously, victimized by circumstances, he said, “Where were you going for help?” “The Hill place. They’ve got a phone.” “How far are they from a town?” “About five miles.” “Doctor there?” “Yes.” “If I took your horse and—what is it, sleigh?—could someone at the Hills’ bring them back, do you think?” “Cutter.5 One of the Hill boys could, I should say.” “Or would you rather go, while I look after your Grandpa?” “He don’t know you,” the boy said directly. “If he should wake up he might … wonder … it might.…”
The traveler grudgingly gave up the prospect of staying in the warm kitchen while the boy did the work. And he granted that it was extraordinarily sensitive of the boy to know how it might disturb a man to wake from sickness in his own house and stare into the face of an utter stranger. “Yes,” he said. “Well, I could call the doctor from the Hills’. Two miles, did you say?” …
He climbed into the cutter and pulled over his lap the balding buffalo robe he found there; the scallop6 of its felt edges was like a key that fitted a door. The horses breathed jets of steam in the moonlight, restlessly moving, jingling their harness bells, as the moment lengthened itself. The traveler saw how the boy, now that his anxiety was somewhat quieted, now that he had been able to unload part of his burden, watched him with a thousand questions in his face, and he remembered how he himself, thirty years ago, had searched the faces of passing strangers for something he could not name, how he had listened to their steps and seen their shadows lengthen ahead of them down roads that led to unimaginable places, and how he had ached with the desire to know them, who they were. But none of them had looked back at him as he tried now to look at this boy. … 4 smarting — stinging 5 cutter — a small horse-drawn sled 6 scallop [4]
For half a breath he was utterly bewitched, frozen at the heart of some icy dream. Abruptly he slapped the reins across the backs of the horses; the cutter jerked and then slid smoothly out toward the road. The traveler looked back once, to fix forever the picture of himself standing silently watching himself go. As he slid into the road the horses broke into a trot. The icy flow of air locked his throat and made him let go the reins with one hand to pull the hairy, wool-smelling edge of the blanket all but shut across his face. Along a road he had never driven he went swiftly toward an unknown farm and an unknown town, to distribute according to some wise law part of the burden of the boy’s emergency and his own; but he bore7 in his mind, bright as moonlight over snow, a vivid wonder, almost an awe. For from that most chronic and incurable of ills, identity, he had looked outward and for one unmistakable instant recognized himself.
—Wallace Stegner excerpted from “The Traveler” Harper’s Magazine, February 1951
HOMEWORK: DUE AT THE START OF CLASS TOMORROW
Name_____________________________
Insert the correct from of there, their or they’re into the following
sentences. GRADED ASSIGNMENT UNDER
HOMEWORK. DUE AT THE START OF CLASS TOMORROW>
1. Unable
to tolerate the dust one moment longer, Elizabeth spent the afternoon
cleaning the living room tables and shelves. Now __________________ slippery
with furniture polish, glowing in the sunlight that spills through the open
window.
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2. "Oh,
no! _________ are lima beans on my plate!" screamed Noel before he fainted
with a thud on the dining room floor.
3. Mrs.
O'Shea spent the day steam cleaning the living room floor. Now her children can
hardly find the kitchen without __________ trail of dirty footprints leading
the way
4. Janeen
hates dogs more than snakes or cockroaches. She believes that canines are
loathsome creatures because _________ only goal in life is to kill her front
lawn with urine.
5. Behind
the sofa _________ is a collection of desiccated broccoli spears that Simon,
the family cocker spaniel, carries away for Noel, who cannot stomach the
vegetable.
6. Nothing
makes Diane's cat Big Toe Joe happier than a laundry basket full of fresh warm
towels. _________ he will sleep, purring in contentment and shedding long white
hair on the clean terry cloth.
7. The
knives in Roseanne's kitchen are encrusted with bits of brownie and smears of
dried mustard. _________ is no way a doctor would ever consider operating with
any instrument that Roseanne had washed!
8. Noel
carefully sliced each Brussels sprout in half, carefully scrutinizing the heart
of the little cabbage. He always worries that ________ might be a worm buried
in the middle.
9. Casey
and Tamara had plenty of privacy for kissing because _________ were six sheets
drying on the clothesline in the backyard.
10. Bentley,
our neighbor's basset hound, has toenails that are so long that ________ curled
like macaroni noodles at the ends of his paws.
11. Warren
hates cleaning the bathroom because his brothers always leave globs of
toothpaste in the sink, and _________ dirty underwear hangs from the doorknobs
or lies in damp piles on the tile floor.
12. Raymond's
parakeets love to sit on his head; _________ droppings litter his shoulders
like flakes of dandruff.
13. After
a few ineffective swipes across the kitchen floor, Kristy returned the mop to
the closet. ________ it would remain for another six months.
14. In
a frenzy of packing, the Gonzalez family even boxed their poodle, Chiquita.
_________ moving into a new home tomorrow, and everything must be ready to go.
15. Willard
loves going food shopping late at night. The aisles are free of people, so
________ is no one to see him sneaking grapes in the produce section or
filching cookies from the bakery.
16. Russell
and his friend Ted dived into ________ car and sped out of the parking lot.
Dripping milkshake, Billy soon followed, shaking his fist and swearing revenge
at the fleeing car.
17. Lolita
heaped her brother's plate with barbecue chicken, potato salad, and baked
beans. _________ was so much food that Henry needed two hands to carry the
plate to the table.
18. Eboni
and Andrea can spend an entire paycheck during one trip to the mall. They eat
at the food court, shop for clothes and makeup, and buy popcorn and movie
tickets with ________ last few dollars.
19. Maria
gasped in horror when she looked at her new leather furniture. ________ were
scratches and punctures all over the armrests from the sharp claws of her cat
Brandy.
20. After
the long walk in the August heat, Norman's two dogs collapsed on the cool tiles
of the kitchen floor, tongues rolling from _________ mouths in exhausted
panting.
________________________________________________________________________________
The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Hart Name_____________________________________
Before reading the short story, please read the information below, which is a paraphrasing of the introductory material you received last week.
Realists believed that humanity's freedom of choice was limited by the power of outside forces. Realism has specific social, political, and artistic characteristics that set it apart from other genres. Below are the salient*points about realism. *most noticeable or important
Plot and Character
1. Character is more important than action and plot; complex ethical* choices are often the subject. *relating to moral principles
- Characters appear in the real complexity of temperament and motive; they are in an explicable relation to nature, to each other, to their social class, to their own past.
- Humans control their destinies; characters act on their environment rather than simply reacting to it.
- Reality renders reality closely and in comprehensive detail. Selective presentation of reality with an emphasis on verisimilitude*, even at the expense of a well-made plot. *the appearance of being true or real.
- Events will usually be plausible*. Realistic novels avoid the sensational and dramatic elements. *seeming reasonable or probable.
- Class is important; the novel has traditionally served the interests and aspirations of an insurgentmiddle class. *rising in active revolt.
7. Realism is viewed as a realization of democracy.
- The morality of Realism is reasonable or probable - intrinsic*(1), integral*(2), relativistic*(3). Relations between people and society are explored. * (1) belonging naturally; essential. (2) necessary to make a whole complete; essential or fundamental (3) conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them.
- Realists were pragmatic*, relativistic, democratic and experimental. The purpose of writing is to instruct and to entertain.
*dealing with things sensibly and realistically
Directions: On the left hand side of the document, you will find the short story. For each section that has been chunked, on the right hand side, respond to question. The focus is on how this short story exemplifies realism. On Friday, you will use this material to support that argument, by incorporating text-based evidence. This is due on Wednesday, and I’ll return it to you on Friday, so that you will have it for your in-class essay.
As Mr. John Oakhurst, gambler, stepped into the main street of Poker Flat on the morning of the twenty-third of November, 1850, he was conscious of a change in its moral atmosphere since the preceding night. Two or three men, conversing earnestly together, ceased as he approached, and exchanged significant glances. There was a Sabbath lull in the air which, in a settlement unused to Sabbath influences, looked ominous.
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ominous- giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant
is going to happen; threatening; inauspicious.
1.What words tell the reader this is a community
where people do not regularly go to church?
2. What literary technique is best embodied
With the word “ominous?”
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Mr. Oakhurst's calm, handsome face betrayed small concern in these indications. Whether he was conscious of any predisposing cause was another question. "I reckon they're after somebody," he reflected; "likely it's me." He returned to his pocket the handkerchief with which he had been whipping away the red dust of Poker Flat from his neat boots, and quietly discharged his mind of any further conjecture.
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conjecture -opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete
information
1. What words indicate that Mr. Oakhurst is a
conscientious about how he presents himself?
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In point of fact, Poker Flat was "after somebody." It had lately suffered the loss of several thousand dollars, two valuable horses, and a prominent citizen. It was experiencing a spasmof virtuous reaction, quite as lawless and ungovernable as any of the acts that had provoked it. A secret committee had determined to rid the town of all improper persons. This was done permanently in regard of two men who were then hanging from the boughs of a sycamore in the gulch, and temporarily in the banishment of certain other objectionable characters. I regret to say that some of these were ladies. It is but due to the sex, however, to state that their impropriety was professional, and it was only in such easily established standards of evil that Poker Flat ventured to sit in judgment.
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spasm-a sudden involuntary muscular contraction
impropriety- improper language, behavior, or character.
4. The author uses the technique of innuendo
(insinuation or suggestion), rather than saying directly
the women’s occupation. What is their occupation?
How is the town going to handle the situation?
(Use specific text)
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Mr. Oakhurst was right in supposing that he was included in this category. A few of the committee had urged hanging him as a possible example, and a sure method of reimbursing themselves from his pockets of the sums he had won from them. "It's agin justice," said Jim Wheeler, "to let this yer young man from Roaring Camp--an entire stranger--carry away our money." But a crude sentiment of equity residing in the breasts of those who had been fortunate enough to win from Mr. Oakhurst overruled this narrower local prejudice.
Mr. Oakhurst received his sentence with philosophic calmness, none the less coolly that he was aware of the hesitation of his judges. He was too much of a gambler not to accept Fate. With him life was at best an uncertain game, and he recognized the usual percentage in favor of the dealer.
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equity- fairness
5. Look at the list of salient points about
realism above. Write out one quality that
is applicable to this paragraph.
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A body of armed men accompanied the deported wickedness of Poker Flat to the outskirts of the settlement. Besides Mr. Oakhurst, who was known to be a coolly desperate man, and for whose intimidation the armed escort was intended, the expatriated party consisted of a young woman familiarly known as the "Duchess"; another, who had won the title of "Mother Shipton"; and "Uncle Billy," a suspected sluice-robber and confirmed drunkard. The cavalcade provoked no comments from the spectators, nor was any word uttered by the escort. Only, when the gulch which marked the uttermost limit of Poker Flat was reached, the leader spoke briefly and to the point. The exiles were forbidden to return at the peril of their lives.
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intimidation-the act of brow beating, scaring
expatriated-banished, exiled
cavalcade- parade
6. List the exiles.
1.
2.
3.
4.
7. What will happen to the exiles if they return to
Poker Flat?
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As the escort disappeared, their pent-up feelings found vent in a few hysterical tears from the Duchess, some bad language from Mother Shipton, and a Parthian volley of expletives from Uncle Billy. The philosophic Oakhurst alone remained silent. He listened calmly to Mother Shipton's desire to cut somebody's heart out, to the repeated statements of the Duchess that she would die in the road, and to the alarming oaths that seemed to be bumped out of Uncle Billy as he rode forward. With the easy good humor characteristic of his class, he insisted upon exchanging his own riding horse, "Five Spot," for the sorry mule which the Duchess rode. But even this act did not draw the party into any closer sympathy. The young woman readjusted her somewhat draggled plumes with a feeble, faded coquetry; Mother Shipton eyed the possessor of "Five Spot" with malevolence, and Uncle Billy included the whole party in one sweeping anathema.
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expletives- swearing
malevolence-hatefulness
plumes- feathers
anathema-curse
8. Class is an important aspect of realism. To what class
do these characters belong? Give three textual
examples to support your statement. (They need not be complete sentences.)
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The road to Sandy Bar--a camp that, not having as yet experienced the regenerating influences of Poker Flat, consequently seemed to offer some invitation to the emigrants--lay over a steep mountain range. It was distant a day's severe travel. In that advanced season, the party soon passed out of the moist, temperate regions of the foothills into the dry, cold, bracing air of the Sierras. The trail was narrow and difficult. At noon the Duchess, rolling out of her saddle upon the ground, declared her intention of going no farther, and the party halted.
The spot was singularly wild and impressive. A wooded amphitheater, surrounded on three sides by precipitous cliffs of naked granite, sloped gently toward the crest of another precipice that overlooked the valley. It was, undoubtedly, the most suitable spot for a camp, had camping been advisable. But Mr. Oakhurst knew that scarcely half the journey to Sandy Bar was accomplished, and the party were not equipped or provisioned for delay. This fact he pointed out to his companions curtly, with a philosophic commentary on the folly of "throwing up their hand before the game was played out." But they were furnished with liquor, which in this emergency stood them in place of food, fuel, rest, and prescience. In spite of his remonstrances, it was not long before they were more or less under its influence. Uncle Billy passed rapidly from a bellicose state into one of stupor, the Duchess became maudlin, and Mother Shipton snored. Mr. Oakhurst alone remained erect, leaning against a rock, calmly surveying them.
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precipitous-very steep
precipice-steep rock face or cliff
remonstrance- a forcefully reproachful protest.
maudlin- self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental
9.To where was the group heading after
leaving Poker Flat and why? (use text)
10. Paraphrase Mr. Oakhurst’s “philosophic
commentary on the folly of ‘throwing up their hand
before the game was played out’”.
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Mr. Oakhurst did not drink. It interfered with a profession which required coolness, impassiveness, and presence of mind, and, in his own language, he "couldn't afford it." As he gazed at his recumbent fellow exiles, the loneliness begotten of his pariah trade, his habits of life, his very vices, for the first time seriously oppressed him. He bestirred himself in dusting his black clothes, washing his hands and face, and other acts characteristic of his studiously neat habits, and for a moment forgot his annoyance. The thought of deserting his weaker and more pitiable companions never perhaps occurred to him. Yet he could not help feeling the want of that excitement which, singularly enough, was most conducive to that calm equanimity for which he was notorious. He looked at the gloomy walls that rose a thousand feet sheer above the circling pines around him; at the sky, ominously clouded; at the valley below, already deepening into shadow. And, doing so, suddenly he heard his own name called.
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recumbent- lying down
pariah- outcast
11. Another aspect of realism is exploring ethical
choices.
What ethical consideration goes through Mr. Oakhurst’s
mind as he “looked at the gloomy walls that rose
a thousand feet above the circling pines around him”?
(use text)
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A horseman slowly ascended the trail. In the fresh, open face of the newcomer Mr. Oakhurst recognized Tom Simson, otherwise known as the "Innocent" of Sandy Bar. He had met him some months before over a "little game," and had, with perfect equanimity, won the entire fortune--amounting to some forty dollars--of that guileless youth. After the game was finished, Mr. Oakhurst drew the youthful speculator behind the door and thus addressed him: "Tommy, you're a good little man, but you can't gamble worth a cent. Don't try it over again." He then handed him his money back, pushed him gently from the room, and so made a devoted slave of Tom Simson.
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equanimity-fairness
guileless-innocent
12. Another important aspect of realism is the
idea of democracy. Consider this when answering
the following.
Why does Mr. Oakhurst hand back Tommy’s money?
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There was a remembrance of this in his boyish and enthusiastic greeting of Mr. Oakhurst. He had started, he said, to go to Poker Flat to seek his fortune. "Alone?" No, not exactly alone; in fact (a giggle), he had run away with Piney Woods. Didn't Mr. Oakhurst remember Piney? She that used to wait on the table at the Temperance House? They had been engaged a long time, but old Jake Woods had objected, and so they had run away, and were going to Poker Flat to be married, and here they were. And they were tired out, and how lucky it was they had found a place to camp and company. All this the Innocent delivered rapidly, while Piney, a stout, comely damsel of fifteen, emerged from behind the pine tree, where she had been blushing unseen, and rode to the side of her lover.
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temperance- abstinence from alcoholic drink.
13. Name the two new characters that are
introduced.
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Mr. Oakhurst seldom troubled himself with sentiment, still less with propriety; but he had a vague idea that the situation was not fortunate. He retained, however, his presence of mind sufficiently to kick Uncle Billy, who was about to say something, and Uncle Billy was sober enough to recognize in Mr. Oakhurst's kick a superior power that would not bear trifling. He then endeavored to dissuade Tom Simson from delaying further, but in vain. He even pointed out the fact that there was no provision, nor means of making a camp. But, unluckily, the Innocent met this objection by assuring the party that he was provided with an extra mule loaded with provisions and by the discovery of a rude attempt at a log house near the trail. "Piney can stay with Mrs. Oakhurst," said the Innocent, pointing to the Duchess, "and I can shift for myself."
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propriety- the state conforming to conventionally
accepted standards of behavior or morals.
14. What did the Innocent bring along and
what had he discovered? (use text)
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Nothing but Mr. Oakhurst's admonishing foot saved Uncle Billy from bursting into a roar of laughter. As it was, he felt compelled to retire up the canyon until he could recover his gravity. There he confided the joke to the tall pine trees, with many slaps of his leg, contortions of his face, and the usual profanity. But when he returned to the party, he found them seated by a fire--for the air had grown strangely chill and the sky overcast--in apparently amicable conversation. Piney was actually talking in an impulsive, girlish fashion to the Duchess, who was listening with an interest and animation she had not shown for many days. The Innocent was holding forth, apparently with equal effect, to Mr. Oakhurst and Mother Shipton, who was actually relaxing into amiability. "Is this yer a damned picnic?" said Uncle Billy with inward scorn as he surveyed the sylvan group, the glancing firelight, and the tethered animals in the foreground. Suddenly an idea mingled with the alcoholic fumes that disturbed his brain. It was apparently of a jocular nature, for he felt impelled to slap his leg again and cram his fist into his mouth.
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to admonish-to reprimand
gravity- seriousness
profanity- swearing
amiability-friendliness
sylvan-woodland
jocular- humorous
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As the shadows crept slowly up the mountain, a slight breeze rocked the tops of the pine trees, and moaned through their long and gloomy aisles. The ruined cabin, patched and covered with pine boughs, was set apart for the ladies. As the lovers parted, they unaffectedly exchanged a kiss, so honest and sincere that it might have been heard above the swaying pines. The frail Duchess and the malevolent Mother Shipton were probably too stunned to remark upon this last evidence of simplicity, and so turned without a word to the hut. The fire was replenished, the men lay down before the door, and in a few minutes were asleep.
Mr. Oakhurst was a light sleeper. Toward morning he awoke benumbed and cold. As he stirred the dying fire, the wind, which was now blowing strongly, brought to his cheek that which caused the blood to leave it--snow!
He started to his feet with the intention of awakening the sleepers, for there was no time to lose. But turning to where Uncle Billy had been lying, he found him gone. A suspicion leaped to his brain and a curse to his lips. He ran to the spot where the mules had been tethered; they were no longer there. The tracks were already rapidly disappearing in the snow.
The momentary excitement brought Mr. Oakhurst back to the fire with his usual calm. He did not waken the sleepers. The Innocent slumbered peacefully, with a smile on his good-humored, freckled face; the virgin Piney slept beside her frailer sisters as sweetly as though attended by celestial guardians; and Mr. Oakhurst, drawing his blanket over his shoulders, stroked his mustaches and waited for the dawn. It came slowly in a whirling mist of snowflakes that dazzled and confused the eye. What could be seen of the landscape appeared magically changed. He looked over the valley, and summed up the present and future in two words--"snowed in!"
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celestial- heavenly
15. What has Uncle Billy done?
16. How has the landscape changed?
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A careful inventory of the provisions, which, fortunately for the party, had been stored within the hut and so escaped the felonious fingers of Uncle Billy, disclosed the fact that with care and prudence they might last ten days longer. "That is," said Mr. Oakhurst, sotto voce to the Innocent, "if you're willing to board us. If you ain't--and perhaps you'd better not--you can wait till Uncle Billy gets back with provisions." For some occult reason, Mr. Oakhurst could not bring himself to disclose Uncle Billy's rascality, and so offered the hypothesis that he had wandered from the camp and had accidentally stampeded the animals. He dropped a warning to the Duchess and Mother Shipton, who of course knew the facts of their associate's defection. "They'll find out the truth about us all when they find out anything," he added, significantly, "and there's no good frightening them now."
Tom Simson not only put all his worldly store at the disposal of Mr. Oakhurst, but seemed to enjoy the prospect of their enforced seclusion. "We'll have a good camp for a week, and then the snow'll melt, and we'll all go back together." The cheerful gaiety of the young man, and Mr. Oakhurst's calm, infected the others. The Innocent with the aid of pine boughs extemporized a thatch for the roofless cabin, and the Duchess directed Piney in the rearrangement of the interior with a taste and tact that opened the blue eyes of that provincial maiden to their fullest extent. "I reckon now you're used to fine things at Poker Flat," said Piney. The Duchess turned away sharply to conceal something that reddened her cheeks through its professional tint, and Mother Shipton requested Piney not to "chatter." But when Mr. Oakhurst returned from a weary search for the trail, he heard the sound of happy laughter echoed from the rocks. He stopped in some alarm, and his thoughts first naturally reverted to the whisky, which he had prudently cached. "And yet it don't somehow sound like whisky," said the gambler. It was not until he caught sight of the blazing fire through the still-blinding storm and the group around it that he settled to the conviction that it was "square fun."
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felonious- criminal
sotto voce- low voice
rascality- trickery
to extemporize-to put together without much preparation
17. For how many days does the party have
provisions?
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Whether Mr. Oakhurst had cached his cards with the whisky as something debarred the free access of the community, I cannot say. It was certain that, in Mother Shipton's words, he "didn't say cards once" during that evening. Haply the time was beguiled by an accordion, produced somewhat ostentatiously by Tom Simson from his pack. Notwithstanding some difficulties attending the manipulation of this instrument, Piney Woods managed to pluck several reluctant melodies from its keys, to an accompaniment by the Innocent on a pair of bone castanets. But the crowning festivity of the evening was reached in a rude camp-meeting hymn, which the lovers, joining hands, sang with great earnestness and vociferation. I fear that a certain defiant tone and Covenanter's swing to its chorus, rather than any devotional quality, caused it speedily to infect the others, who at last joined in the refrain:
"I'm proud to live in the service of the Lord,
And I'm bound to die in His army."
The pines rocked, the storm eddied and whirled above the miserable group, and the flames of their altar leaped heavenward as if in token of the vow.
At midnight the storm abated, the rolling clouds parted, and the stars glittered keenly above the sleeping camp. Mr. Oakhurst, whose professional habits had enabled him to live on the smallest possible amount of sleep, in dividing the watch with Tom Simson somehow managed to take upon himself the greater part of that duty. He excused himself to the Innocent by saying that he had "often been a week without sleep." "Doing what?" asked Tom. "Poker!" replied Oakhurst,sententiously; "when a man gets a streak of luck,—nigger luck—he don't get tired. The luck gives in first. Luck," continued the gambler, reflectively, "is a mighty queer thing. All you know about it for certain is that it's bound to change. And it's finding out when it's going to change that makes you. We've had a streak of bad luck since we left Poker Flat—you come along, and slap you get into it, too. If you can hold your cards right along you're all right. For," added the gambler, with cheerful irrelevance,
"'I'm proud to live in the service of the Lord,
And I'm bound to die in His army.'"
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To beguile-to charm or enchant
sententiously- with feeling
18. How did the snowed-in party pass the time?
19. What is Mr. Oakhurst’s attitude toward luck?
(use text)
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The pines rocked, the storm eddied and whirled above the miserable group, and the flames of their altar leaped heavenward as if in token of the vow.
At midnight the storm abated, the rolling clouds parted, and the stars glittered keenly above the sleeping camp. Mr. Oakhurst, whose professional habits had enabled him to live on the smallest possible amount of sleep, in dividing the watch with Tom Simson somehow managed to take upon himself the greater part of that duty. He excused himself to the Innocent by saying that he had "often been a week without sleep." "Doing what?" asked Tom. "Poker!" replied Oakhurst, sententiously; "when a man gets a streak of luck, he don't get tired. The luck gives in first. Luck," continued the gambler, reflectively, "is a mighty queer thing. All you know about it for certain is that it's bound to change. And it's finding out when it's going to change that makes you. We've had a streak of bad luck since we left Poker Flat—you come along, and slap you get into it, too. If you can hold your cards right along you're all right. For," added the gambler, with cheerful irrelevance,
"'I'm proud to live in the service of the Lord,
And I'm bound to die in His army.'"
The third day came, and the sun, looking through the white-curtained valley, saw the outcasts divide their slowly decreasing store of provisions for the morning meal. It was one of the peculiarities of that mountain climate that its rays diffused a kindly warmth over the wintry landscape, as if in regretful commiseration of the past. But it revealed drift on drift of snow piled high around the hut—a hopeless, uncharted, trackless sea of white lying below the rocky shores to which the castaways still clung. Through the marvelously clear air the smoke of the pastoral village of Poker Flat rose miles away. Mother Shipton saw it, and from a remote pinnacle of her rocky fastness hurled in that direction a final malediction. It was her last vituperative attempt, and perhaps for that reason was invested with a certain degree of sublimity. It did her good, she privately informed the Duchess. "Just you go out there and cuss, and see." She then set herself to the task of amusing "the child," as she and the Duchess were pleased to call Piney. Piney was no chicken, but it was a soothing and original theory of the pair thus to account for the fact that she didn't swear and wasn't improper.
When night crept up again through the gorges, the reedy notes of the accordion rose and fell in fitful spasms and long-drawn gasps by the flickering campfire. But music failed to fill entirely the aching void left by insufficient food, and a new diversion was proposed by Piney—storytelling. Neither Mr. Oakhurst nor his female companions caring to relate their personal experiences, this plan would have failed too but for the Innocent. Some months before he had chanced upon a stray copy of Mr. Pope's ingenious translation of the ILIAD. He now proposed to narrate the principal incidents of that poem—having thoroughly mastered the argument and fairly forgotten the words—in the current vernacularof Sandy Bar. And so for the rest of that night the Homeric demigods again walked the earth. Trojan bully and wily Greek wrestled in the winds, and the great pines in the canyon seemed to bow to the wrath of the son of Peleus. Mr. Oakhurst listened with quiet satisfaction. Most especially was he interested in the fate of "Ash-heels," as the Innocent persisted in denominating the "swift-footed Achilles."
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to abate- to stop
vernacular- common language
malediction- curse
vituperative-bitter and abusive
wrath- anger
20. What is the relationship developing
among the women? (Incorporate text)
21.How does Oakhurst telling the story of
the Illiad in the vernacular indicate that
the story is an example of realism?
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So with small food and much of Homer and the accordion, a week passed over the heads of the outcasts. The sun again forsook them, and again from leaden skies the snowflakes were sifted over the land. Day by day closer around them drew the snowy circle, until at last they looked from their prison over drifted walls of dazzling white that towered twenty feet above their heads. It became more and more difficult to replenish their fires, even from the fallen trees beside them, now half-hidden in the drifts. And yet no one complained. The lovers turned from the dreary prospect and looked into each other's eyes, and were happy. Mr. Oakhurst settled himself coolly to the losing game before him. The Duchess, more cheerful than she had been, assumed the care of Piney. Only Mother Shipton—once the strongest of the party—seemed to sicken and fade. At midnight on the tenth day she called Oakhurst to her side. "I'm going," she said, in a voice of querulous weakness, "but don't say anything about it. Don't waken the kids. Take the bundle from under my head and open it." Mr. Oakhurst did so. It contained Mother Shipton's rations for the last week, untouched. "Give 'em to the child," she said, pointing to the sleeping Piney. "You've starved yourself," said the gambler. "That's what they call it," said the woman, querulously, as she lay down again and, turning her face to the wall, passed quietly away.
The accordion and the bones were put aside that day, and Homer was forgotten. When the body of Mother Shipton had been committed to the snow, Mr. Oakhurst took the Innocent aside, and showed him a pair of snowshoes, which he had fashioned from the old pack saddle. "There's one chance in a hundred to save her yet," he said, pointing to Piney; "but it's there," he added, pointing toward Poker Flat. "If you can reach there in two days she's safe." "And you?" asked Tom Simson. "I'll stay here," was the curt reply.
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querulous-shaking
22. What is happening to Mother Shipton? (use text)
querulously – shaking
curt- short and to the point
23. How do her actions in terms of
rations relate to Realism? (look at the list)
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The lovers parted with a long embrace. "You are not going, too?" said the Duchess as she saw Mr. Oakhurst apparently waiting to accompany him. "As far as the canyon," he replied. He turned suddenly, and kissed the Duchess, leaving her pallid face aflame and her trembling limbs rigid with amazement.
Night came, but not Mr. Oakhurst. It brought the storm again and the whirling snow. Then the Duchess, feeding the fire, found that someone had quietly piled beside the hut enough fuel to last a few days longer. The tears rose to her eyes, but she hid them from Piney.
The women slept but little. In the morning, looking into each other's faces, they read their fate. Neither spoke; but Piney, accepting the position of the stronger, drew near and placed her arm around the Duchess's waist. They kept this attitude for the rest of the day. That night the storm reached its greatest fury, and, rending asunder the protecting pines, invaded the very hut.
Toward morning they found themselves unable to feed the fire, which gradually died away. As the embers slowly blackened, the Duchess crept closer to Piney, and broke the silence of many hours: "Piney, can you pray?" "No, dear," said Piney, simply. The Duchess, without knowing exactly why, felt relieved, and, putting her head upon Piney's shoulder, spoke no more. And so reclining, the younger and purer pillowing the head of her soiled sister upon her virgin breast, they fell asleep.
The wind lulled as if it feared to waken them. Feathery drifts of snow, shaken from the long pine boughs, flew like white-winged birds, and settled about them as they slept. The moon through the rifted clouds looked down upon what had been the camp. But all human stain, all trace of earthly travail, was hidden beneath the spotless mantle mercifully flung from above.
They slept all that day and the next, nor did they waken when voices and footsteps broke the silence of the camp. And when pitying fingers brushed the snow from their wan faces, you could scarcely have told from the equal peace that dwelt upon them which was she that had sinned. Even the law of Poker Flat recognized this, and turned away, leaving them still locked in each other's arms.
But at the head of the gulch, on one of the largest pine trees, they found the deuce of clubs pinned to the bark with a bowie knife. It bore the following, written in pencil, in a firm hand:
BENEATH THIS TREE
LIES THE BODY
OF
JOHN OAKHURST,
WHO STRUCK A STREAK OF BAD LUCK
ON THE 23D OF NOVEMBER, 1850,
AND
HANDED IN HIS CHECKS
ON THE 7TH DECEMBER, 1850.
And pulseless and cold, with a Derringer by his side and a bullet in his heart, though still calm as in life, beneath the snow lay he who was at once the strongest and yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker Flat.
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to render asunder- to tear apart
wan- pale
24. Why did Mr. Oakhurst turn “suddenly
and kiss the Duchess”?
25. What happened to Mr. Oakhurst? (use text)
26. In what way is Oakhurst a realist character?
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The Outcasts of Poker Flat” by Bret Harte….vocabulary
Vocabulary quiz Friday, March 8
1. ethical- (adjective)- relating to moral principles
2. plausible- (adjective)- seemingly reasonable or probable
3. conjecture – (noun)- opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information
4. innuendo- (noun)- insinuation or suggestion
5. equity- (noun)- fairness
6. malevolence- (noun)- hatefulness
7. maudlin- (adjective)- self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental
8. guileless- (adjective)- innocent
9. recumbent- (adjective)- lying down
10. temperance- (noun)- abstinence from an alcoholic drink
11. celestial-(adjective)- heavenly
12. sotto voce-(noun)- low voice
13. to beguile- (verb)- to charm or enchant
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