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Copywork
About This Passage
Sharmat opens the second book with the same hard-boiled register as the first. The voice does not change because Nate does not change. The consistency is the chapter's quietest claim about character.
I, Nate the Great, am a busy detective. One morning I was not busy. I was on my vacation.
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize the chapter and explain what Sharmat wants you to notice about Nate's voice.
Discussion Questions
- Nate's hard-boiled register does not change on vacation. Aristotle distinguishes habit (which can be modified) from settled character (which cannot). Is Nate's voice habit or character?
- Claude is always losing things and is treated with affection rather than mockery. What is the difference between funny-and-loved and funny-and-mocked, and how does Sharmat manage the first?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
the level or tone of language a speaker chooses
Item 2
the property of remaining the same across time and circumstance
Item 3
the terse, tough style of mid-century American detective fiction
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Critical Thinking
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