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Copywork
About This Passage
Selected because Dad's three sentences perform an entire reversal of his prior position in rhetorical sequence: concession ("You are right"), revised claim ("This fly is smart"), action consequent on the revised claim ("He needs a name"). The passage rewards close attention to dialogue mechanics and to the structure of admitting error in front of a child.
"You are right," said Dad. "This fly is smart. He needs a name."
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Give a concise summary, then identify the single most important sentence or moment and explain why it matters to the book as a whole.
Discussion Questions
- Tedd Arnold structures the chapter as a small reversal driven by a single dramatic event. Argue why Arnold chooses event-driven reversal over the slower process of accumulated persuasion, and what this implies about his understanding of how attitudes actually change in practice.
- Dad's reversal is fast. Argue whether this represents admirable open-mindedness, intellectual instability, or the proper Bayesian response to genuinely new evidence. Place your answer in dialogue with at least one account of rational belief revision.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A structural shift in which a character or situation moves to its opposite; Dad's movement from "flies are pests" to "this fly is smart" is a reversal in miniature.
Item 2
Updating a belief in proportion to the strength of new evidence; what Dad does, possibly correctly, when one dramatic rescue shifts his entire view of flies.
Item 3
Acknowledging that an opponent's point has merit; the small act Dad performs with "You are right."
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Critical Thinking
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