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Copywork
About This Passage
Burnett gives us the most understated — and therefore most powerful — moment of Colin's recovery. There is no drumroll, no announcement; just a boy who wakes up smiling WITHOUT KNOWING HE IS SMILING. The image of 'tight strings' that have 'loosened themselves' is a careful medical description: years of fear have physically tightened Colin's body, and one night of peace has begun to release them. The word 'luxuriously' is the real surprise — Colin, the supposedly dying boy, is stretching his limbs with the pleasure of a healthy animal.
That night Colin slept without once awakening, and when he opened his eyes in the morning he lay still and smiled without knowing it. He felt curiously comfortable. It was nice to be awake, and he tur...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 19 in three stages. First: Dr. Craven's visit, his surprise at finding Colin transformed, and Mrs. Medlock's quoting of Susan Sowerby's 'children needs children.' Second: Colin's peaceful night and the morning Mary bursts in crying 'It has come, the Spring!' — and Colin's astonishing request for the window to be opened. Third: Dickon's arrival with the new-born lamb, Captain, Soot, Nut, and Shell, and Colin's final declaration that he is going to see the flowers. Pay attention to the small signals Burnett gives of Colin's inner change: his slept-without-waking, his stretched limbs, his laughing half-joke about golden trumpets.
Discussion Questions
- Dr. Craven arrives expecting to find the same shaken, hysterical boy he has always found after a tantrum. What specific details in the chapter tell us that Colin has not just recovered from one bad night but has actually become a different kind of boy?
- Why do you think Mary slipping into Yorkshire in front of Dr. Craven — 'He's th' trustiest lad i' Yorkshire' — makes the doctor laugh instead of being annoyed, and how does her unguarded moment actually HELP Colin in the conversation with the doctor?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Held under a kind of spell or powerful charm; Mrs. Medlock's word for what Mary has done to Colin
Item 2
So surprising and unusual that it is hard to believe your eyes; Dr. Craven uses this word for the new Colin
Item 3
In a way that shows pleasure and comfort; Colin stretches his limbs luxuriously, like someone who finally feels good in his body
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Critical Thinking
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