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Copywork
About This Passage
Even with everything at stake, the narrator insists on patience: the odds are 'too much against us' to act without 'the greatest caution.' Copying it shows how a writer can hold both danger and resolve in one balanced sentence, and how caution is itself a kind of courage.
Still the odds were too much against us to allow of our proceeding without the greatest caution.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell this chapter in order: how Hartman Rogers dies, how Dirk Peters joins with Augustus and the narrator to plan retaking the ship, how the gale comes on, and how the narrator disguises himself as the dead man. Then choose the moment you find most important and explain why.
Discussion Questions
- After Hartman Rogers dies and the cook deserts him, Dirk Peters commits to seizing the brig and is 'delighted' to learn the narrator is aboard. Explain what Peters's changed situation reveals about why he now turns to Augustus and the narrator. Use details from the chapter.
- Peters wants to act at once, but the narrator reads the same moment more cautiously. Explain what that difference shows about how each man judges the danger, and use details from the chapter to defend your view.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Trust or dependence placed on someone or something.
Item 2
A deep, gnawing regret for having done wrong.
Item 3
A danger or risk.
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Critical Thinking
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