Preview
Copywork
About This Passage
Kate DiCamillo closes the book with a return to the opening song, altered by one word. The structural device is ring composition: beginning and ending mirror each other to measure the change. Three sentences carry the entire arc of growth — from fear in the dark to peace before the song is over.
Mercy smiled. She closed her eyes. She was asleep before Mr. and Mrs. Watson ever finished the song.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Give a concise summary, then identify the most important moment and explain why it matters to the book.
Discussion Questions
- The book uses ring composition — opening and closing on the same song. The technique is ancient, traceable through Homer, the Pentateuch, and Old English elegy. Is Kate DiCamillo working in this tradition consciously, or has she found the form by writing through the material?
- Mercy's arc — from fear in the dark to peaceful sleep — is the structure of a small bildungsroman. The protagonist of a bildungsroman is supposed to be a young human reaching maturity. Is Kate DiCamillo making a quiet philosophical claim by giving the form to a pig?
+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide
Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
a structural device in which a narrative ends by returning to its opening with small significant changes
Item 2
a coming-of-age narrative tracing a character's interior growth
Item 3
the structural completion of a narrative's tensions
+ 3 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide
Get the complete study guide — free
Sign up and get your first book with every chapter included. Copywork, discussion questions, vocabulary, and critical thinking.
Sign up free