Chapter 38 — Teaching Companion

This chapter's big question

Lee tells Cal that whatever he does, “it will be you who do it—not your mother.” Is Lee right, or is he asking more of Cal than anyone could?

The tension Cal says, “I hate her because I know why she went away. I know—because I’ve got her in me,” and Lee jumps up: “You’ve got the other too… Don’t you dare take the lazy way… Whatever you do, it will be you who do it—not your mother.”

Today's focus

Notice how the narrator explains Cal’s shyness and secrecy before the chapter shows us what he does at night.

The shape at a glance

The chapter has four sections. In the first, the narrator explains Cal. From his first memory he wanted love, but people were won at once to Aron, and when Cal imitated his brother, what was charming in Aron seemed suspicious in Cal. He was rebuffed for the same words and acts, and he learned to expect rejection and to hide behind a wall of self-sufficiency. Its weak places faced Aron, Lee and above all Adam. Since he was small Cal has kept a secret: if he leaned lightly against his father’s knee, Adam’s hand would rise and stroke his shoulder, probably without Adam knowing. In Salinas, as in King City, Cal has no friends and walks alone. In the second section Cal walks the town at night. The police chief tells the constables to let him be, and Old Tom Watson asks him why he is out. On his walks Cal gathers scraps of talk until he knows his mother is alive. One night he meets Rabbit Holman, drunk and celebrating a land sale, and keeps him in whisky by getting a second pint bought. Rabbit names Kate as Adam’s wife and the mother of the twins, and recalls that she shot Adam and ran off. Cal follows him to Kate’s; what sickens him is the men who watch. In the third section Cal goes to Lee’s room and asks for the truth. Lee tells him Adam knows, said she was dead to spare the boys, loved her completely and never hurt her. He says she lacked something, kindness or conscience, and that he cannot understand her. Adam, he says, has too much of both, and was dead for years after she left. Cal says he loves his father. Then he says he hates his mother because he has her in him. Lee jumps up and tells him he has “the other too,” that blaming his ancestry is the lazy way, and that whatever he does will be his own doing. Alone, Lee wonders where his calm went. In the fourth section Cal swings between shame and power in what he knows, and a protective love for Adam grows in him. He sees Adam’s bullet scar, watches him lie about it, and lets the lie stand. Aron turns to the Episcopal church, plans to become a minister, lectures Cal and talks to Abra of a life without marriage, while Abra waits for the phase to pass. Cal thinks of telling Aron about their mother and decides Aron could not handle it.

A way in

Read the chapter yourself before the lesson. A few things it takes for granted. Kate is Cathy, the twins’ mother, who shot Adam in the shoulder and left him when the boys were babies; Adam told them she was dead. Cal overheard part of a talk between Lee and Adam on the ranch, years earlier. Kate now runs a brothel in Salinas. The Line was the town’s red-light district. Fan-tan is a gambling game. A truant officer chases students who skip school; Cal has no record. A Morris chair is a deep reclining armchair. The Indian campaigns were the army’s wars against the Native nations of the West; Adam really did serve in them, but the scar is not from there. Episcopal confirmation is a rite of full church membership; celibacy means living unmarried and without sex. Handle the visit to Kate’s as the chapter does: Rabbit leads Cal there, the watchers sicken him, and nothing more needs saying. A teacher who has read on knows more about Kate, Cal and Aron; keep all of it out of the talk. The question is what this chapter shows. Do not let Cal become simply dark and Aron simply good; the narrator traces how rebuff shaped one and inexperience the other. Do not let Lee’s speech become a slogan; he is angry and afraid, and he admits he does not fully understand Cathy. Cal’s hatred of his mother is his fear about himself, not the chapter’s verdict on her. Slow down three times: at the knee and the wall, in Lee’s room from “Lee, you knew her” to the end of the section, and at the bullet scar.

Lesson plan

Retell The student tells the chapter back, from Cal being rebuffed as a small boy to Cal keeping the secret from Aron. Look for the four sections in order: the narrator’s account of how Cal was rebuffed, the wall, and the secret touch; the night walks, Old Tom, the scraps of talk, Rabbit and the second pint, and the walk to Kate’s; Lee’s room, with Cal’s questions about his father, Lee’s account of Cathy and Adam, “I love him,” and the quarrel over what Cal has in him; then the scar, Adam’s lie, Aron’s turn to the church, and Cal’s silence. Look for nothing added about the brothel and nothing about what Cal will do later. Then ask which section changes Cal the most, and why.

Imitate the author After copying, the student writes a short paragraph in the manner of the first passage, about someone who has guarded themselves for a long time: one sentence about how slowly the change came, one that turns a quality into a wall they built, one that finds the wall’s weak places and narrows to the one person nearest, and a last sentence that balances on a word used twice. Then a paragraph in the manner of the second, about someone who catches another in a kind lie: open with a sentence that turns on but, saying that what they hate is not the lie but something behind it, give the line they want to say in quotation marks, follow it with a very short sentence saying they did not say it, and end on what they say instead. Read both aloud beside Steinbeck’s and ask which sentence carries the weight.

Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues that Lee is right. It gathers the knee and the “dogged adoration”; Cal’s “I love him” and the opening of his face; Lee’s “You wouldn’t even be wondering if you didn’t have it”; the “passionate love for his father and a wish to protect him”; and the shout Cal holds back at the scar. The other side argues that Lee asks more than anyone could. It gathers the narrator’s account of Cal “rebuffed for doing or saying exactly the same thing”; the wall built so slowly “he felt no strangeness”; Lee’s own “I may be wrong” and “I don’t know any more”; the threat to break every bone and the lost “Oriental repose”; and “He could not quite believe Lee’s words.” Each side must answer the other’s strongest piece. Neither may say what Cal does in later chapters, and neither may treat Cal’s hatred of his mother as the chapter’s judgment of her.

Purpose Close on the chapter’s design. It opens with the narrator explaining Cal, how he was made by rebuffs he never chose, and its first sentence says he craved warmth “just as everyone does.” It ends with Cal choosing, twice, what to do with what he knows: he lets his father’s lie stand, and he keeps the secret from Aron. Between them stands Lee’s room. By the fourth section Cal believes he is “unique, having such a heritage.” Ask why the chapter begins by calling him like everyone. Name the habit it practices: telling apart what shaped a person from what that person does.

Three levels

Easier Read aloud together the knee and the wall, from “In Cal the process had been so long” to “a dogged adoration”; Lee’s room, from “Lee, you knew her” to “my Oriental repose”; and the scar, from “He blundered into the bathroom” to “I’d like to hear about it.” Talk through the first, fifth and sixth discussion questions, then answer the last written question aloud before writing it.

On level Talk through all six discussion questions in order, then write both written questions as a thesis, the strongest objection and a revised thesis, each with lines from the chapter.

Harder Ask for one argued essay on how this chapter divides Cal between what was done to him and what he does. Set the narrator’s account of rebuff beside Lee’s “it will be you who do it,” and beside Aron, whom the narrator says was shaped by a teacher “of no experience.” Trace how often Cal goes unnoticed, by Adam’s hand, by Rabbit, by the doorman, and judge whether being unseen is what was done to him or what he does. Meet the strongest objection: Lee, who insists on it, says of Cathy, “I may be wrong.”

Discussion

1. Adam’s hand rises to Cal’s shoulder “automatically,” and Adam probably never knows he does it. Does that touch show that Adam loves him?Character

What it asks It asks the student to weigh one word in the secret Cal found when he was small. If he moved quietly to where his father sat “and if he leaned very lightly against his father’s knee, Adam’s hand would rise automatically and his fingers would caress Cal’s shoulder.” The narrator adds, “It is probable that Adam did not even know he did it.” For Cal the caress brought “such a raging flood of emotion” that he saved it “and used it only when he needed it.” It was “a magic to be depended upon,” and “the ceremonial symbol of a dogged adoration.” Just before this, the narrator says that in his father’s “very unawareness Cal had felt safety.” In Lee’s room Cal will hear that after his wife left, Adam “walked around but he was dead.” The question touches the hinge from the other side: Lee will tell Cal that what he does is his own, and here is an act the doer may not even know he does.

A strong answer A strong response says whether the touch shows love or only habit, and grounds it in the paragraph. One reader says love: Lee says Adam’s kindness is so large it is almost a fault, and kindness that deep can work in the hand without a thought. Another says habit: Adam does not know he does it, Lee says he “walked around but he was dead,” and Cal is safe in his father’s “very unawareness.” The best answers notice that the chapter tells us only what the touch does for Cal, never what it is for Adam, and see that the same question, whether an act you do not choose is yours, comes back in Lee’s room.

2. When Old Tom asks Cal why he is out walking at night, Cal says, “I’m not bothering anybody,” but Tom never said he was. Who is Cal arguing with?Inference

What it asks It asks the student to test the narrator’s idea about rejection on a live moment. In the first section the narrator says that “once a boy has suffered rejection, he will find rejection even where it does not exist—or, worse, will draw it forth from people simply by expecting it.” In the second, Old Tom Watson catches up with Cal one night and asks, “Why do you walk around so much at night?” Cal answers, “I’m not bothering anybody,” and the narrator says he said it “defensively.” Tom answers, “I know you’re not. But you ought to be home in bed.” Cal says, “I’m not sleepy.” Tom, who “couldn’t remember any time in his whole life when he wasn’t sleepy,” finds it a mystery and prefers to leave it that way. Before this, Chief Heiserman has checked with the truant officer and “told the constables to keep their eyes open but to let the boy alone unless he got into trouble.” The question touches the hinge: the narrator explains Cal by what was done to him, and Lee will insist that what Cal does is his own.

A strong answer A strong response says whom Cal is answering and grounds it in the exchange. One reader says no one present: Tom asks a plain question and even agrees, “I know you’re not,” so Cal is finding rejection “where it does not exist.” Another says Cal reads Tom rightly: a man stops a boy alone at night and tells him he “ought to be home in bed,” in a town where the constables have been told to keep their eyes open. The best answers test the narrator’s idea against this one exchange, and notice that the chapter lets both readings stand.

3. On the walk to Kate’s, what Rabbit describes only seems silly to Cal, but “the men who watched” make him sick. What does Cal see in them?Theme

What it asks It asks the student to read one sentence about what sickens Cal on the walk to Kate’s. Rabbit, up from San Ardo and drunk, names Kate as “Adam Trask’s wife, mother of them damn twins,” and promises Cal a “circus.” The narrator says, “Cal walked a little behind so that Rabbit would not notice him. Rabbit told what they did. And what they did wasn’t what made Cal sick. That just seemed to him silly. It was the men who watched. Seeing Rabbit’s face under the streetlights, Cal knew what the watchers at the circus would be like.” In the next section the narrator says that Cal had always wanted “to build a dark accumulation of things seen and things heard,” but that after Kate’s “he felt a desperate need for help.” The chapter says nothing more about the place than that, and neither should the talk. The question touches the hinge: it asks what Cal sees in other men on the night before he tells Lee what he fears is in himself.

A strong answer A strong response says what Cal sees in the watchers and grounds it in the walk. One reader says he sees himself: he has always collected “things seen and things heard,” he walks behind Rabbit to stay unnoticed, and after Kate’s he needs help. Another says he sees Rabbit, and through Rabbit what his mother is to such men: he reads the watchers in Rabbit’s face, just after Rabbit has named her as Adam’s wife. The best answers stay with the one sentence the chapter gives, and keep the description as plain as the chapter keeps it.

4. Cal’s first questions to Lee are mostly about his father, even “What did my father do to make her leave?” What is he hoping to hear?Inference

What it asks It asks the student to read the order of Cal’s questions in Lee’s room. He begins, “I know where my mother is and what she’s doing. I saw her.” Then he asks: “Does my father know?” “Why did he say she was dead?” (“To save you from pain.”) “What did my father do to make her leave?” Lee answers, “He loved her with his whole mind and body. He gave her everything he could imagine.” Cal asks, “Did she shoot him?” and “Why?” and “Did he ever hurt her?” Lee says, “Not that I know of. It wasn’t in him to hurt her.” Only then does Cal ask, “Lee, why did she do it?” and, later, with “a pleading” in his voice, “What was she like?” After Lee tells him about Adam, Cal says, “I love him.” The question touches the hinge: if Adam drove her away, her leaving would say something about Adam, and nothing about what Cal carries.

A strong answer A strong response says what Cal is hoping for and grounds it in the order of his questions. One reader says he hopes Adam was to blame: his question assumes it, and a mother who left for a reason would be less frightening to carry. Another says he hopes Adam is clear: he has just learned his father lied, he tests each charge, and once Adam is cleared he says, “I love him.” The best answers notice what Cal asks first and what he asks last, and hear the “pleading” when he finally asks about her.

5. Cal takes Lee’s rule, “You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself,” and turns it on himself. Did Lee give Cal the idea, or only the words for a fear he already had?Character

What it asks It asks the student to follow one idea from Lee’s mouth to Cal’s. Asked what Cal’s mother was like, Lee says, “There is something she lacks. Kindness maybe, or conscience. You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself. And I can’t feel her.” Near the end of the talk Cal says, “It’s like you said about knowing people. I hate her because I know why she went away. I know—because I’ve got her in me.” Lee jumps up: “You stop that!” He says, “Of course you may have that in you. Everybody has. But you’ve got the other too.” Notice that Lee, who could not feel her in himself, now says everybody has it. After Cal leaves, Lee wonders “what happened to my Oriental repose?” The question touches the hinge: it asks where Cal’s fear comes from before the last question asks what Lee demands of him.

A strong answer A strong response says where Cal’s fear comes from and grounds it in the talk. One reader says Lee gave him the idea: Cal reasons by Lee’s rule and says so, “It’s like you said,” which may be why Lee is on his feet so fast. Another says Lee gave only the words: Cal already knew he lied “for reasons of profit” and had kept Rabbit’s pint full to get what he wanted. The best answers catch the echo, notice that Lee’s “Everybody has” sits oddly beside “I can’t feel her,” and hear how shaken Lee is.

6. When Adam lies about the scar, Cal says, “I’d like to hear about it.” Is Cal lying too?Moral reasoning

What it asks It asks the student to judge whether Cal’s reply to his father’s lie is a lie of its own. After Lee’s room, Cal looks at his father more closely and sees “perhaps more sadness and frustration in Adam than may have been there,” and there grows up in him “a passionate love for his father and a wish to protect him.” He blunders into the bathroom, sees “the ugly bullet scar,” and hears himself ask about it. Adam’s fingers go up “as though to conceal the scar,” and he says, “It’s an old wound, Cal. I was in the Indian campaigns. I’ll tell you about it some time.” Cal sees his father’s mind “leap into the past for a lie.” The narrator says, “Cal didn’t hate the lie but the necessity for telling it. Cal lied for reasons of profit of one kind or another.” He wants to shout, “I know how you got it and it’s all right.” He does not. He says, “I’d like to hear about it.” The question touches the hinge: here is something Cal does with what he knows, by his own choice.

A strong answer A strong response says whether Cal is lying and grounds it in the scene. One reader says yes, but it is a lie told for someone else: Cal knows the truth and wants to say “it’s all right,” yet he lets his father keep his story. Another says no, it is true in its way: Cal does want to hear it from Adam “some time,” and he hates only “the necessity” for the lie. The best answers weigh the reply against Cal’s lies “for reasons of profit,” and notice the love the narrator says has grown in him.

Critical thinking

1. At the end, Cal thinks of telling Aron about their mother “to see how he would handle it,” but he drops the idea fast. Who is he protecting?

What it asks It asks the student to judge the chapter’s last choice. Aron has turned to the church: he means to enter the ministry, he is confirmed and sings in the choir, and he has “reached a point of passionate purity that made everyone else foul.” He prays for Cal, then lectures him on his “godlessness,” until Cal finds him “unbearably smug and told him so.” The narrator says, “Cal watched his brother triumph over sins he had never committed. He thought sardonically of telling him about his mother, to see how he would handle it, but he withdrew the thought quickly. He didn’t think Aron could handle it at all.” Earlier, Lee asked, “Have you told anyone?” and answered himself, “Not Aron—no, of course you wouldn’t.” When Cal asked, “Suppose he finds out?” Lee said, “Then you’d have to stand by to help him.” In the section before, the narrator says Cal had “an almost pleasant sense of power in knowing.” The chapter does not say what Cal will do with what he knows, or whether Aron will learn it.

A strong answer A strong response builds a thesis about whom Cal protects, meets the strongest objection, and revises. One thesis says Aron: Cal judges that he could not “handle it at all,” Lee told him to “stand by to help him,” and Cal keeps quiet here as he did about his father’s scar. The strongest objection is that the thought comes “sardonically,” from a brother lectured about sins he never committed, and that knowing gives Cal “an almost pleasant sense of power.” A good revision might say that Cal protects Aron and his own advantage at once, or that the protection is real even if the mood is bitter. The best answers keep Aron from being simply foolish and Cal from being simply cruel, and claim nothing about what happens next.

2. Lee tells Cal that whatever he does, “it will be you who do it—not your mother.” Is Lee right, or is he asking more of Cal than anyone could?

What it asks It asks the chapter’s whole question. The narrator opens by explaining how Cal was made: he imitated Aron to win love, and “Where Aron was received, Cal was rebuffed for doing or saying exactly the same thing.” A rejected boy, the narrator says, “will find rejection even where it does not exist.” Cal built a wall. Years later, having seen his mother’s house, he tells Lee, “I hate her because I know why she went away. I know—because I’ve got her in me.” Lee jumps up: “Of course you may have that in you. Everybody has. But you’ve got the other too.” He goes on: “You wouldn’t even be wondering if you didn’t have it. Don’t you dare take the lazy way. It’s too easy to excuse yourself because of your ancestry.” Then, “Whatever you do, it will be you who do it—not your mother,” and, “Yes, I believe it, and you’d better believe it or I’ll break every bone in your body.” Alone, Lee wonders “what happened to my Oriental repose?” Afterward Cal “could not quite believe Lee’s words,” and thinks himself “unique, having such a heritage.” Yet a passionate love for his father grows in him, with “a wish to protect him,” and he does not shout what he knows about the scar. Lee says of Cathy himself, “I may be wrong” and “I don’t know any more.” The chapter does not say what Cal will do next.

A strong answer A strong response builds a thesis, meets the strongest objection, and revises. One thesis says Lee is right: Cal’s wondering is itself the proof that he has “the other too,” and after the talk his love for Adam grows into “a wish to protect him,” which is his own doing. The strongest objection is that the narrator has just shown Cal shaped by rebuffs he never chose, and that Lee, who says “I may be wrong” about Cathy, demands belief with a threat that Cal cannot meet: he “could not quite believe Lee’s words.” A good revision might say that Lee is right about the acts and asks too much about the feelings, or that a demand can be fair and still heavy. The best answers hear Lee’s fear, keep Cal’s hatred apart from a verdict on his mother, and claim nothing beyond this chapter.

Vocabulary definitions