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Copywork
About This Passage
Poe suspends his main verb — 'ordered' — behind a parenthetical and a balanced 'either... or,' holding the mate poised between 'remorse for his crime' and 'terror,' the very guilt the disguise plan will soon exploit. Copying it teaches periodic suspension and the diagnostic 'either/or' that withholds final judgment.
In this disgusting condition the body had been brought up from the cabin at noon to be thrown overboard, when the mate getting a glimpse of it (for he now saw it for the first time), and being either ...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell this chapter in order: the death of Hartman Rogers, the alliance Peters forms with Augustus and the narrator, the gale and the documentary lesson on lying-to, the rejected rush, and the narrator's scheme to impersonate the dead man. Then name the moment you find most decisive and defend your choice.
Discussion Questions
- Stripped of his faction by Rogers's death and Jones's defection, Dirk Peters allies with the captives and even pleads that 'insanity' drove him to mutiny. Explain what Peters's situation and his own insanity defense reveal about how far the narrator can rely on him. Use details from the chapter.
- The narrator judges the mate 'a cunning fellow' in all things save 'his superstitious prejudices,' and reads the posted watch and missing axes as signs the mate is forewarned. Explain what these observations reveal to the narrator about the mate, and why they make a direct attack so dangerous. Use details from the chapter.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Not open to question or dispute; undeniable.
Item 2
A lack of proper or expected balance between things.
Item 3
Caught by a trick or stratagem; ensnared.
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Critical Thinking
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