Unit 3: Comparing Literary Works, pp. 584-603

from Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family by Yoshiko Uchida, pp. 586-594

from The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday, pp. 595-602

Name______Hour ______Date______

Writing About the Big Question

The Big Question: What kind of knowledge changes our lives?

Big Question Vocabulary

adapt awareness empathy enlighten evolve

growth history ignorance influence insight

modified question reflect revise understanding

A. Use one or more words from the list above to complete each sentence.

1. People are forced to ______when world eventscause unthinkable

changes in everyday events.

2. If government leaders do not have ______for allof their citizens,

then injustice can flourish.

3. We will need to ______our understanding of thehistory of native

peoples and their struggles in America.

B. Follow the directions in responding to each of the items below.

1. List two different times that you were troubled by learning the truth about ahistoricalevent.

______

______

______

2. Write two sentences explaining one of the situations you listed, and describe theeffect it had on your life. Use at least two of the Big Question vocabulary words.

______

______

______

C. Complete the sentence below. Then, write a short paragraph in which you connect this

experience to the Big Question.

You should learn about important historical events because ______

______

______

______

______

______

Vocabulary Builder

Word List

adept assuage infirm nomadic tenuous unwieldy

DIRECTIONS: Find a synonym for each word in the Word List. Use each synonym in a sentencethat makes the meaning of the word clear.

Example: Word List word: adept Synonym: skilled

Sentence: The Kiowa took pride in being skilled horsemen.

1. unwieldy Synonym: ______

Sentence: ______

______

2. assuage Synonym: ______

Sentence: ______

______

3. infirm Synonym: ______

Sentence: ______

______

4. nomadic Synonym: ______

Sentence: ______

______

5. tenuous Synonym: ______

Sentence: ______

______

B. DIRECTIONS: Circle the letter of the words that express a relationship most like the

relationship of the pair of words in CAPITAL LETTERS.

1

Grade 10, Unit 3

1. ADEPT : GYMNAST

A. unappreciated : ignored

B. physician : doctor

C. entertain : audience

D. knowledgeable : teacher

2. TENUOUS : STRONG

A. certain : doubtful

B. satisfied : contented

C. quickly : hastily

D. determined : purpose

3. UNWIELDY : UNMANAGEABLE

A. confusion : chaos

B. light : heavy

C. teacher : student

D. bright : color

4. ASSUAGE : GUILT

A. bake : cook

B. minimize : pain

C. house : home

D. sympathize : empathize

5. INFIRM : HEALTHY

A. tall : immeasurable

B. doctor : patient

C. medication : pain

D. fast : slow

6. NOMADIC : WORKERS

A. cultivated : ploughed

B. cattle : ranch

C. permanent : farmers

D. wandering : traveli

1

Grade 10, Unit 3

Critical Thinking Questions: Answer in full sentences

from Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family

  1. Describe Stall number 40.
  1. Why does Uchida feel that calling it an “apartment” was “ludicrous”?
  1. How do the shortages at the camp affect people’s attitudes and behavior?
  1. What do the conditions at the camp suggest about the government’s attitude toward Japanese Americans?
  1. In what ways did Uchida’s experiences at the relocation camp change her? Support your answer with details from the selection.
  1. What impact do you think Uchida hopes her narrative will have on readers?

from The Way to Rainy Mountain

  1. Describe two activities at Momaday’s grandmother’s house in summer.
  1. In what ways are these activities connected to a vanishing way of life?
  1. In what sense is Momaday’s grandmother one of the last representatives of traditional Kiiowa culture?
  1. How does Momaday seem to feel about the disappearance of this way of life? Support your answer with details from the selection.
  1. When Momaday imagines the cricket on the moon, why does he say, “there…was its small definition made whole and eternal”?
  1. In what sense is Momaday’s memory of his grandmother similar to his vision of the cricket?
  1. In what ways did Momaday’s relationship with his grandmother shape his appreciation of Kiowa culture?
  1. How did his knowledge of Kiowa history impact his view of his grandmother?
  1. How has the experience Momaday narrates changed his life?

Literary Analysis: Author’s Purpose

An author’s purpose is his or her main reason for writing. Common purposes include thefollowing:

• to inform, as in a newspaper report

• to entertain, as in a mystery story

• to persuade, as in an editorial

• to pay tribute to, or commemorate, as in an obituary

A writer may have more than a single purpose for writing. In these selections, for example,both Momaday and Uchida write to inform readers about a slice of history. However, eachauthor has other, more personal, reasons for writing. These reasons may include to mourn whatis gone, to heal old wounds, to expose an injustice, or to better understand themselves.

DIRECTIONS: Identify Uchida’s or Momaday’s purpose for including the details in each of the following passages.

from Desert Exile

1. It had rained the day before and the hundreds of people who had trampled on the trackhad turned it into a miserable mass of slippery mud.

______

______

2. I wrote to my non-Japanese friends in Berkeley, shamelessly asking them to send us food,

and they obliged with large cartons of cookies, nuts, dried fruit, and jams.

______

______

3. The wonderful news had come like an unexpected gift, but even as we hugged each other in

joy, we didn’t quite dare believe it until we actually saw him. . . .

______

______

from The Way to Rainy Mountain

4. I like to think of [my grandmother] as a child. When she was born, the Kiowas were living

the last great moment of their history. For more than a hundred years they had controlled

the open range. . . .

______

______

5. At the top of the ridge I caught sight of Devil’s Tower upthrust against the gray sky as if in

the birth of time the core of the earth had broken through its crust and the motion of the

world was begun.

______

______

6. There, where it ought to be, at the end of a long and legendary way, was my grandmother’s

grave. . . . Looking back once, I saw the mountain and came away.

______

______

1

Grade 10, Unit 3