Preview
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell this chapter in order: how Too-wit keeps his word and supplies provisions that cure the sick crew, while the two sides establish a friendly market and trade for biche de mer; how Captain Guy bargains with Too-wit to build curing-houses and leave three men behind while the schooner sails south; how the narrator pauses for a long, documentary account of biche de mer and its curing; how, after many amicable days, the crew goes to take leave and a hundred of Too-wit's men meet them unarmed because 'all are brothers'; how the crew marches into a soapstone gorge with islanders before and behind; and how the chapter ends in a sudden concussion the narrator likens to the dissolution of the world. Note where the chapter most quietly registers danger and consider why.
Discussion Questions
- At the leave-taking a hundred of Too-wit's men meet the crew unarmed, and Too-wit explains there is no need of arms because 'all are brothers.' What might that unarmed welcome really accomplish, and why? Use details from the chapter.
- For many days Too-wit's people trade fairly, help 'with alacrity,' and give goods 'frequently without price,' so the crew concludes they 'should have been the most suspicious of human beings' to doubt them. What does that reasoning reveal about how the crew judges Too-wit's people, and why might that judgment be a strength or a weakness here? Use details from the chapter.
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Critical Thinking
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