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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage is worth slow study because of what it casually reveals. Granny is complaining about Henry Big's fuss over some old socks — and in the same breath, she admits that the Littles TOOK the socks. The admission lands without any moral weight because Granny treats it as normal, and Peterson lets her treatment stand without comment. This is the chapter's ethical moment: the Littles are taking the Bigs' possessions, and they feel no guilt about it because the items are old and damaged. Peterson is asking the reader to notice the ethics without naming them.
'Don't know why Henry Big made such a fuss when we took his old red socks,' she said. 'One of them had a real bad hole in the toe.'
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell the chapter, then identify the single moment that does the most work in establishing how the Littles understand their relationship with the Bigs. Defend your choice.
Discussion Questions
- Chapter 2 is almost entirely dialogue, in contrast to Chapter 1's pure exposition. Why does Peterson alternate these two modes? What does this contrast teach the reader about how the book will work?
- Granny admits that the Littles took Henry Big's old socks for yarn, and she does so without any sign of guilt. The Littles do not see their taking as theft — it is simply how they survive. Is Peterson asking the reader to approve of this ethical stance, to question it, or simply to observe it?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
narrative passages that establish background, setting, or character without advancing the plot — necessary for world-building, distinct from action
Item 2
conversation between characters in fiction, drama, or film — a mode that allows writers to reveal character and advance plot simultaneously
Item 3
a situation in which right and wrong are not clearly distinguished, requiring the reader to think through competing claims
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Critical Thinking
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