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Copywork
About This Passage
Kate DiCamillo writes the structural turning point of the entire book in five short utterances. Patience converts to action the instant a true call becomes audible. The economy is itself the argument: virtue is recognizable by its responsiveness to particulars.
'Help! Help! Help us!' 'Did you hear that?' asked Ned. 'Somebody is in trouble,' said Lorenzo. 'Let's go.'
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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 firemen's patience across earlier chapters and decisiveness here are continuous, not opposed. Aristotle's phronesis is the capacity to know which moment requires which response. Is Kate DiCamillo making an Aristotelian argument about the structure of practical virtue?
- Baby Lincoln becomes the chapter's primary speaker. Throughout the book she has been the household's quietest member. Her speech is now reliable because her listening has been thorough. What does Kate DiCamillo claim about the relationship between silence and trustworthy speech?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Aristotelian practical wisdom — the capacity to attend to the particular case
Item 2
the doctrine that good can emerge through events not consciously aimed at it
Item 3
the practical capacity to recognize the true call among the false ones
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Critical Thinking
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