Chapter 37

Copywork

Lee, once he had given up his brackish bookish dream, made a new kind of place for himself in the house beside Reynaud’s Bakery. On the ranch his possessions had never really been unpacked, for Lee had lived poised to go someplace else. Here, for the first time in his life, he built a home for himself, feathered with comfort and permanence.

His studies he found easy and not greatly interesting. Aron had to work harder to learn, wherefore Aron had a greater sense of accomplishment when he did learn, and he developed a respect for learning out of all proportion to the quality of the learning. Cal drifted through. He didn’t care much for the sports at school or for the activities. His growing restlessness drove him out at night. He grew tall and rangy, and always there was the darkness about him.

Read the second passage aloud. Why does the chapter end on Cal, who was not even in the candy store?

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences, from Lee unpacking his books to Cal going out at night. Then choose the one sentence you think the whole chapter turns on, and say why.

1. Before Adam can get to his idea, Lee tells Will the mastodon story himself. Why does Lee tell Adam’s story for him?Character

2. Will tells Adam he has a deal to put through, but the narrator says the deal does not exist. Adam, who needs no job, says, “I’m looking for work.” Which of the two men is really at work?Moral reasoning

3. Will says a man who asks for advice about an idea only wants to be agreed with. What did Adam want from a Hamilton that night?Inference

4. After the failure, the town’s talk about Adam ends with this line: “And he had doubled the output of the ice company.” Who is saying that line, and why?Author's choice

5. Adam’s “strange enduring smile” lasts through the telegram and the talk of money. It goes only when Lee says he might sell the ice plant. What does the plant mean to Adam that the money does not?Character

6. At school the twins are now laughed at over the lettuce. In the candy store Aron says to Abra, “How do I know he didn’t lie about my mother?” What does a spoiled load of lettuce have to do with his mother?Inference

Make a Connection Think of someone, in a book, in history or in your own life, who tried something new where everyone could watch, and it failed. What did the watching add to the failure?

Vocabulary

Critical thinking

1. Aron offers to call off the engagement, saying, “I’m not good enough for you now.” By whose standard is he not good enough?

2. Abra says that if the lettuce had reached New York fresh, “everybody’d been bowing to him.” Was Adam’s idea foolish, or only unlucky?