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Copywork
About This Passage
Five sentences contain a complete unit of characterization. Mr. Watson speaks bravely ('nonsense'), but the next two sentences strip his confidence away ('not sure,' 'frightened'). Then a single 'however' pivots the whole paragraph into Mercy's interior, where fear has no purchase. The structure is a small lesson in how characterization happens by contrast: we know who Mr. Watson is because we now know who Mercy is.
'Nonsense,' said Mr. Watson. But he did not sound very sure. He sounded frightened. Mercy, however, was not frightened. Mercy was hungry.
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Give a concise summary, then identify the single most important sentence or moment in the chapter and explain why it matters to the book as a whole.
Discussion Questions
- Mr. Watson responds to the crisis by attempting to PERFORM authority — 'I know exactly what we must do.' His plan immediately contradicts itself. Aristotle distinguishes prudence (the virtue of knowing what to do) from its counterfeit (the appearance of knowing what to do). Which does Mr. Watson exhibit, and what does the chapter believe about the difference?
- Mercy's response to the disaster is not bravery and not cowardice — it is appetite. She wants toast and pursues it through a broken floor. C. S. Lewis argues in Mere Christianity that humans often do good while pursuing private goods that have nothing to do with morality. Is Kate DiCamillo making a similar claim about creaturely action — that good outcomes can emerge from desires that are entirely self-interested?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
a contrastive conjunction marking a sharp rhetorical turn — more formal and emphatic than 'but'
Item 2
speech that lacks sense; here, used as defensive denial of what the speaker secretly fears
Item 3
the act of removing someone from immediate danger; from the Old French rescourre
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Critical Thinking
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