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Copywork
About This Passage
Returning to the place he fled, Stanley feels his fear surge as the camp comes into view. Notice the craft: a long first sentence with a dash that names the compound piece by piece, then the blunt three-word weight of 'The fear made him dizzy,' and finally a tight three-part sentence in which Stanley steadies himself and goes on.
A wave of terror rushed over him when he saw the compound—the tents, the Wreck Room, the Warden’s cabin under the two oak trees. The fear made him dizzy. He took a breath, summoned his courage, and co...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Reconstruct the chapter in order: Zero shares memories of his mother and a yellow room, the boys descend the mountain toward Camp Green Lake, they play a stubborn game over who will drink first, Zero tells of waiting at Laney Park and of the giraffe Jaffy, Zero corrects their path with a map, and the boys hide in holes near the camp. When you reach Zero's words about Jaffy, slow down and trace what he means by saying 'He wasn't real.'
Discussion Questions
- When Stanley asks if Zero ever found his giraffe again, Zero answers, 'He wasn't real.' Why might Zero answer that way, and what does it suggest about how he handles painful memories in this chapter? Use details from the chapter to defend your reading.
- When the boys finally drink, Stanley says, 'I'm just drinking so you will,' and Zero answers with the exact same words. Examine what this mirrored exchange reveals about their relationship in this scene. Use details from the chapter to defend your view.
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Vocabulary
Item 1
Impossible to explain or account for. Stanley's happiness the night before was this, a joy he could not trace to any cause, which makes its loss the next day feel even sharper.
Item 2
Suddenly and without warning. Zero stops walking this way when he first senses the camp, and the sharp break in their steady pace warns the reader that danger is near.
Item 3
Marked by a special quality that sets something apart and makes it easy to recognize. Mr. Sir's bark carries this quality, so Stanley can pick it out of the camp's noise even from far away.
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Critical Thinking
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