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Copywork
About This Passage
Miss Franny is doing something specific in this passage that few writers attempt — she is naming her own loneliness directly, but doing it gently. Notice the repetition: 'I imagine I'm the only one' twice in a row. This is a rhetorical figure called anaphora — beginning two sentences in the same way to make a feeling land harder. The repeated phrase is what carries the weight of the loneliness. Notice also the small word 'all' near the end — 'they're all dead and gone' — which makes the loss complete. Miss Franny does not say 'most of my friends' or 'many of my friends'; she says 'all.' The word 'all' is the moment the sentence hurts. Copying this passage teaches a writer how to render loneliness without melodrama: just plain words, repetition, and one small word that carries the weight.
I imagine I'm the only one left from those days. I imagine I'm the only one that even recalls that bear. All my friends, everyone I knew when I was young, they're all dead and gone.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Miss Franny's bear story. What was it really about, beneath the surface story of a bear in a library?
Discussion Questions
- Miss Franny's bear story is more than just a funny story. Identify the parts of it that are funny and the parts that are sad. How does Miss Franny manage to tell a story that is BOTH at the same time?
- Miss Franny says she was 'a little Miss know-it-all' when she was young. The bear walks in and changes that. What does the chapter seem to think happened to Miss Franny because of the bear? Did she stop being a know-it-all, or did she just learn she could not know everything?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
joined the army or military, often by signing up to fight in a war
Item 2
having too much pride; thinking too well of yourself
Item 3
strange or unusual in a way that catches your attention
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Critical Thinking
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