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Copywork
About This Passage
This is persuasion by avalanche. The old sheep wins Templeton not with an argument but with an unbroken catalog of vivid, specific scraps, each item more mouth-watering than the last, until resistance drowns in detail. Study how White uses accumulation and concrete nouns to make rhetoric irresistible: the rhythm of the list does the convincing.
In the hard-packed dirt of the midway, after the glaring lights are out and the people have gone home to bed, you will find a veritable treasure of popcorn fragments, frozen custard dribblings, candie...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, reconstruct the chapter from the night of dreams to the truck driving off. Which moment do you take to be the chapter's true center beneath the holiday bustle, and how do you know?
Discussion Questions
- When the old sheep persuades Templeton to come to the Fair, look closely at how she does it. How does the sheep win over a creature who at first wants nothing to do with fairs, and why does her particular approach work so well on him? Use the details of her speech to support your answer.
- Amid the holiday bustle, Mr. Arable praises Wilbur and in the same breath plans to kill and eat him, and Wilbur faints. Make a claim about what White's juxtaposition of affection and slaughter reveals, then answer the strongest objection to your claim. Use the details of the scene to support your view.
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Vocabulary
Item 1
Shining and glorious; the web-word now performed by Wilbur and echoed by the humans.
Item 2
Appealing to the appetite; the lever the sheep uses to move Templeton.
Item 3
Truly so; the word that reframes the fair's garbage as genuine treasure.
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Critical Thinking
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