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Copywork
About This Passage
Roald Dahl breaks his own storytelling rule here by stepping out to tell the reader directly: 'You must remember...' This authorial intrusion lets the reader feel the weight of the animals' hunger before watching them eat. The word 'ravenous' is precise and Latinate; 'crunching' and 'chewing' are concrete and almost rude. Dahl mixes registers on purpose so the feast is felt in both mind and mouth.
You must remember no one had eaten a thing for several days. They were ravenous. So for a while there was no conversation at all. There was only the sound of crunching and chewing as the animals attac...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 17 in five or six sentences. Begin with Mr Fox bricking up the hole behind the three of them, carry the song through the tunnel, land in the feast room, count the animals around the table, and end with Mr Fox's speech about the underground village.
Discussion Questions
- When Mrs Fox stands up and says shyly, 'I don't want to make a speech. I just want to say one thing, and it is this: MY HUSBAND IS A FANTASTIC FOX' — Dahl puts that line in capital letters. Why does the author shout a sentence that Mrs Fox says she doesn't want to shout? What does the capitalization tell you about how the room hears her?
- Mr Fox and Badger sing cider songs as they run. Both songs are about bringing drink home to their wives. What in the text shows you that these two fathers are thinking about Mrs Fox and Mrs Badger even in the middle of a daring escape? Why might Dahl pair two songs, one after the other, instead of just giving Mr Fox a solo?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Rudely bold; showing no respect when respect is expected.
Item 2
Making a sharp, hard noise while biting down on something brittle.
Item 3
Extremely hungry, almost wild with hunger.
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Critical Thinking
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