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Copywork
About This Passage
These closing sentences hold the chapter's quiet sting. The first is all easy commerce — abundant biche de mer, a friendly parting, a promise of ducks and tortoises — the kind of peaceful trade that makes the visit seem a success. Then the final sentence pulls the rug: of everything the crew saw, only one thing troubles the narrator, the 'systematic manner' in which the crowd grew on the road. Copying it shows how Poe ends on a single, unresolved exception, letting one buried warning outweigh a whole day of friendliness and leave the reader uneasy about what comes next.
We stayed near these reefs only long enough to satisfy ourselves that we could easily load a dozen vessels with the animal if necessary, when we were taken alongside the schooner, and parted with Too-...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell this chapter in order: how the crew marches nine miles inland to Too-wit's village, Klock-klock, while small groups of islanders keep joining the party 'as if by accident' until the narrator senses 'so much of system' in it that he grows distrustful; how the village is a jumble of mismatched dwellings amid tame animals, even domesticated black albatross; how the crew is led into Too-wit's hut 'with great solemnity' and then packed so tightly by the crowd they could neither rise nor reach their arms; how Captain Guy's blue beads are scorned but his knife delights the chief; how the chief devours raw entrails the sailors cannot stomach; and how Too-wit shows them reefs rich with biche de mer before they return to the schooner. Pause where the chapter most quietly warns of danger and explain your choice.
Discussion Questions
- On the march to Klock-klock, small groups keep joining Too-wit's party 'as if by accident' until 'so much of system' in it makes the narrator distrustful — yet Poe holds this back for the chapter's closing line. Why might Poe let the visit feel mostly friendly and reveal the systematic pattern only at the end? Use details from the chapter.
- Captain Guy offers Too-wit blue beads, which he scorns, and a knife, which delights him. What might Too-wit's reaction reveal about what he values, and why? Use details from the chapter.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Fears or anxieties about what may happen.
Item 2
Dangerously steep.
Item 3
A feeling that someone or something is worthless or beneath respect.
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Critical Thinking
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