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The One and Only Ivan
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Inside Ivan, hidden, is “another Ivan.” He is the angry Ivan on the billboard, and he “could taste revenge.” Is that Ivan a danger, or is he what Ruby needs?
The tension When Ruby asks if she will “die in this domain someday,” Ivan first answers softly, “Not if I can help it,” then feels “something dark and hot” in his chest and drops the word he has always used: “It’s a cage.”
How Ivan’s honesty grows across the reading: he will not lie to Ruby about Mack, he calls his domain a cage, and he finally lets the worst memories come.
Ten short titled sections. Mack returns after two days and trains Ruby in the ring with rope, a chain and treats. Exhausted, she stops, and when he brings out the claw-stick she strikes him with her trunk; Ivan calls her noise “the most beautiful mad I have ever heard.” George tells Julia he cannot help Ruby because he needs the job, then laughs once he turns away. Julia paints Ruby in watercolor and gives Ivan finger paints, and he makes a red handprint that “can’t be so easily wiped away.” That night Ruby wakes from a bad dream. Ivan tells her Mack is probably mad, answers her question about dying in her domain, and calls it a cage. He makes up a story about a baby elephant who reaches a zoo, then admits to Bob that he does not know how. Awake alone, he remembers his family killed, and an ashtray made from a gorilla’s hand. In the morning he looks at the angry Ivan on the billboard, names the hidden Ivan inside him, and, with red paint on his fingers, knows how to keep his promise.
Begin with one word. Before reading, ask the student what Ivan calls the place where he lives, and what “domain” makes it sound like. Read the reading through, and when you reach “It’s a cage,” stop and ask what changed. Read the last four sections slowly and aloud, with no talk between them, and let the student sit with the ending before the questions.
Retell The student tells the reading back in order, in three parts: the ring (Mack, the claw-stick, Ruby’s strike, George and Julia); the evening and night (the paints, the bad dream, the cage, the zoo story, Bob’s question); and Ivan alone until morning (the memories, the ashtray, the billboard). Ask for each part in two or three sentences of the student’s own.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes three or four sentences of their own about seeing something plainly for the first time. Ask for one that names a feeling and then names it again after a comma, as “something tighten in my chest, something dark and hot” does; one that uses a colon to bring in a picture, as “There I am:” does; and one that compares, like “I look the way my father did”.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. First make two lists from the reading: what the peaceful Ivan does tonight (tells Ruby the truth, makes up a story, tells Bob “I don’t know”) and what the hidden Ivan could do (tear a man apart, taste revenge, wear the billboard face). Each side gives one reason and answers one reason from the other list. Neither side may say what Ivan will do; the reading does not tell.
Purpose Close by asking why the reading ends on “I know how to keep my promise” and does not say how. Set it beside what Ivan told Bob in the night: “I don’t know.” Ask what came between the two: the memories, the ashtray, the billboard and the hidden Ivan, Ruby’s villagers and Stella’s voice. Leave the plan as open as the reading leaves it.
Easier Read aloud together the ring scene in “a new beginning” and the section titled “a bad dream”. Retell the reading in order. Talk through the first and fourth discussion questions, then answer the last written question aloud.
On level Talk through all five discussion questions in order, then have the student write answers to the three written questions in complete sentences, each with a reason and a line from the reading.
Harder Ask the student to write the last written question as an argument: a claim, the strongest reason against it, and an answer to that reason. Then have them look at two section titles, “what they did” and “something else to buy”, and say what such short, flat titles add to what they name.
1. In the ring, Ivan tells Ruby to do what Mack says. When she fights back, he loves her angry noise. Was he wrong the first time?Character
What it asks It asks the student to hold two moments from one scene. While Mack tries to make Ruby move, Ivan tells her to walk and do what he says, though he knows she is too far away to hear. Then Mack brings out the claw-stick, Ruby fights back, and Ivan calls her noise “the most beautiful mad I have ever heard.” The student decides whether the first Ivan, the one who wanted her to obey, was wrong. This is the reading’s first look at a peaceful Ivan and an angry one.
No. Obeying was the safest thing Ruby could do. When she would not walk, Mack went to his office and came back with the claw-stick. Ivan wanted to keep her from that.
“Walk, Ruby,” I say, although I know she’s too far away to hear me.
Mack stomps off to his office. When he returns, he is carrying a long stick.
Yes. Ivan already knew Ruby was not being stubborn. She was worn out, and asking her to keep going was asking her to give in. When she refused, Ivan heard something he loved.
“She’s exhausted,” I say to myself. “That’s the problem.”
It is the most beautiful mad I have ever heard.
A strong answer A strong response might say Ivan was not wrong: he wanted Ruby to obey because refusing brought out the claw-stick, and he growls when it appears. Another might say he was wrong, because he knew Ruby was not stubborn but “exhausted,” and her refusal became “the most beautiful mad” he has ever heard. A careful answer may notice that both Ivans are in one scene, and that even after the strike Ivan cannot read Ruby’s face.
2. George says “Poor Mack” to Julia without a smile. Then he turns away and laughs. Which one is the real George?Character
What it asks It asks the student to choose between two faces George shows within a minute. When Julia asks if he saw Mack’s face when Ruby hit him, George answers solemnly, shakes his head and says “Poor Mack.” Then he turns away from her, and only then does Ivan hear him laughing. Just before, he told Julia he wishes he could help Ruby but needs this job. The student decides which George is the real one: the serious one he shows his daughter, or the one who laughs where she cannot see. George is not the only one in this reading with a side he keeps hidden; the last written question asks about Ivan’s, and this card does not ask it early.
The serious George. He tried to stop the training, he helps settle Ruby, and he worries about her. He does not want Julia to see him laugh at someone who got hurt, even Mack. The laugh slips out, but the care is what he shows her.
“Mack,” he yells, “maybe you should call it a day. I’ll close up.”
“I don’t think so, Jules,” George says. “At least I hope not.”
“Yes,” he says solemnly. “I did.”
The laughing George. He is glad Ruby fought back, but he cannot say so. He needs the job, so he keeps a straight face for Julia. The laugh is what he really thinks, and he lets it out only when she cannot see.
I need this job, Jules. We need this job.
He turns away, and only then do I hear him laughing.
A strong answer A strong response might say the serious George is the real one: he told Mack to “call it a day”, he hopes Mack would not hurt Ruby, and he will not laugh at a hurt man in front of his daughter. Another might say the laughing George is the real one: he is glad Ruby fought back, but he needs this job, so he says “Poor Mack” and laughs only after he turns away. A careful answer may say both are real. It names what holds George back, his job and “the doctor bills”, and does not say George does not care about Ruby. It may notice that George’s “I wouldn’t know how” is close to what Ivan tells Bob that night: “I don’t know.”
3. Look at the red paint in two places: Ivan’s first handprint, and his fingers at the very end. Does it mean the same thing both times?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to follow one color through the reading. In “colors,” the finger paint is new to Ivan: cool and smooth, not bad to taste, and it leaves a handprint that, unlike the visitors’ prints on his glass, “can’t be so easily wiped away.” By morning, after the memories, he looks at the same paint on his fingers and sees “the color of blood.” The student decides whether the red has changed its meaning, or whether the handprint already held what Ivan sees at the end. The reading does not say what Ivan will do with the paint, and the card does not guess.
It means the same. From the first handprint, red was the color of a mark that stays. Visitors’ handprints on Ivan’s glass get wiped away; his own does not, and he has never made one like it before.
This isn’t like the ghostly handprints on my glass, the ones my visitors leave behind.
This handprint can’t be so easily wiped away.
It means something new. In the evening, with Julia, the paint was cool and smooth, like bananas, and almost good to eat. After a night of remembering his family, the same red looks like blood to him.
The paint is thick as mud. It’s cool and smooth, like bananas underfoot.
I look at my fingers, coated in red paint the color of blood, and I know how to keep my promise.
A strong answer A strong response might say the red means the same: from the first handprint it was the color of a mark that “can’t be so easily wiped away,” unlike the prints visitors leave on his glass. Another might say the meaning has changed, because paint that was “cool and smooth, like bananas underfoot” looks like “the color of blood” once Ivan has remembered his family. A careful answer may say the paint has not changed but Ivan has, and does not guess what he will do with it.
4. Ruby asks if she will die in this domain someday. Ivan stops calling it a domain. He calls it a cage. Who needed to hear that more, Ruby or Ivan?Character
What it asks It asks the student to stand at the turn of the reading. Ruby, using Ivan’s own word, asks if she will die “in this domain someday, like Aunt Stella.” Ivan thinks about lying, answers “Not if I can help it,” feels something “dark and hot,” and then changes the word he has always used. Ruby never asked about the word. The student decides whom the new word was for. It is a change in what Ivan lets himself see, not only a better name.
Ruby needed it. She is asking a real question about dying, and Ivan cannot bring himself to lie to her. The word “domain” makes the place sound like a home. The word “cage” tells her what it is, and why his promise matters.
“Do you think,” she asks, “that I’ll die in this domain someday, like Aunt Stella?”
Once again I consider lying, but when I look at Ruby, the half-formed words die in my throat.
Ivan needed it. The word comes up out of his own chest before he says it. He has called this place a domain all along, and from here on he calls it a cage.
I feel something tighten in my chest, something dark and hot.
I pause, and then I say it. “It’s a cage.”
There is a cluttered, musty store near my cage.
A strong answer A strong response might say Ruby needed it: she has asked whether she will die there, and Ivan, who cannot bring himself to lie to her, gives her the true name for the place. Another might say Ivan needed it more, because the word rises out of “something dark and hot” in his own chest, and from then on he speaks of the store “near my cage.” A careful answer may say it was for both, and that this is the moment Ivan stops softening the truth.
5. Ivan tells Ruby his zoo story is “True,” and then he adds, “I hope.” Can a story be true before it has happened?Theme
What it asks It asks the student to think about what “true” means. Ivan makes up a story about a baby elephant who gets to a zoo, “a place where humans make amends”, because of “A friend who made a promise.” Ruby asks if it is true, and he says “True,” then “I hope.” A little later he tells Bob he does not know how he will do it. The student decides whether a story about the future can be true, or only hoped. The reading does not say Ivan knows a real zoo.
Yes, in a way. The story is a promise, and Ivan is the friend in it. If he keeps the promise, the story comes true. He takes his time before he answers Ruby, as if he is deciding.
I don’t answer right away. “Yes,” I say at last.
“She had a friend,” I say. “A friend who made a promise.”
No. Until it happens, it is a hope, and Ivan says so himself. When Bob asks how he will do it, he has no answer, and he lies awake with the question.
“True,” I say. “I hope.”
Suddenly I feel as if I could sleep for a thousand days. “I don’t know,” I admit.
“What if I don’t?” I ask, but Bob is already asleep.
A strong answer A strong response might say the story can be true the way a promise is true: the baby elephant gets to the zoo because of “A friend who made a promise,” and Ivan is that friend. Another might say it is only a hope until it happens, and that Ivan says so himself with “I hope,” and then tells Bob, “I don’t know.” A careful answer may notice that Ivan, who will not lie to Ruby, chose both words.
1. Mack says he won’t hurt Ruby, and the claw-stick only touches her. That night, Ruby has a bad dream about a sharp stick that hurt. Did Mack hurt her?
What it asks It asks the student what it means to hurt someone. In the ring, Mack pokes Ruby with the claw-stick, “Not hard. Just a touch.” He says, “I’m not gonna hurt her,” and his swing goes over her head. Ivan is sure Mack wants her to see how much it can hurt. That night Ruby wakes crying “Stop! No!” and is afraid to go back to sleep, because in her dream “There was a sharp stick, and it hurt…” The student decides whether Mack hurt Ruby, and what kind of hurt counts. Ruby’s fear comes back at night as a dream; later the same night Ivan’s own old hurt comes back as memories, which matters for the last question.
No. Mack touched her lightly and swung over her head on purpose. He was trying to scare her into moving, not to wound her. A bad dream is fear, and fear is not the same as being hurt.
Not hard. Just a touch.
Mack swings. The hook slices the air just a few inches above Ruby’s head.
Yes. Ivan can tell the touch was a warning of pain. In her dream the stick hurt, and now she is afraid to sleep. A hurt that keeps you awake is still a hurt.
I can tell he wants her to see how much it can hurt.
I’m afraid I’ll have the same dream. There was a sharp stick, and it hurt…
A strong answer A strong response takes a side and gives a line from the reading. A student who says no might point out that Mack touched her “Not hard. Just a touch.” and swung “just a few inches above” her head, so the hook never cut her. A student who says yes might point to Ivan’s sense that Mack “wants her to see how much it can hurt”, and to Ruby’s dream: “There was a sharp stick, and it hurt…” A careful answer may say that a scare can last longer than a poke, and may notice that Ruby’s hurt comes back at night, as Ivan’s memories do later.
2. In Ivan’s story, a zoo is a place where humans make amends. Can humans ever make amends for what they did to Ivan’s family?
What it asks It asks the student to set a word Ivan chooses against the memories that come after it. In the story he makes up for Ruby, a zoo is “a place where humans make amends”, where humans care for animals and keep them safe. Later that night, Ivan remembers all of it: his mother killed, his father shot, and an ashtray, sold near his cage, made from a gorilla’s hand. The student decides whether anything humans do could make up for that. Keep to the reading’s few plain sentences; the question needs no more.
No. Nothing can bring back Ivan’s family. And humans have not stopped: a gorilla’s hand is still for sale near his cage, as one more thing to buy.
We were clinging to our mother, my sister and I, when the humans killed her.
They sell an ashtray there. It is made from the hand of a gorilla.
Some of it, maybe. Not every human is the same. In the morning, Ivan remembers the villagers who came to Ruby’s rescue, and in his story a good zoo is a place that keeps animals safe.
A good zoo is a place where humans care for animals and keep them safe.
I remember the story Ruby told, the one where the villagers came to her rescue.
A strong answer A strong response takes a side and answers the other. A student who says no might argue that nothing can undo what was done to Ivan’s family, and that a gorilla’s hand is still sold “near my cage” as something else to buy. A student who says yes, or partly, might point to the villagers who rescued Ruby, to Stella’s “Humans can surprise you sometimes”, and to Ivan’s good zoo, where humans “care for animals and keep them safe.” A careful answer may notice that making amends is the opposite of revenge, which the last question asks about.
3. Inside Ivan, hidden, is “another Ivan.” He is the angry Ivan on the billboard, and he “could taste revenge.” Is that Ivan a danger, or is he what Ruby needs?
What it asks It asks the whole question of the reading. Ivan calls himself “a peaceful sort” who thinks about naps and bananas. But inside him is another Ivan, the one on the billboard, who looks the way his father did the day the men came and who “could taste revenge.” Tonight Ivan has called his home a cage and remembered what was done to his family. In the morning he sees the billboard, then remembers Ruby’s villagers and hears Stella’s voice. Last, he looks at his fingers, red paint “the color of blood,” and only then does he know how to keep his promise. The student judges whether the hidden Ivan is a danger or what Ruby needs. The reading does not say what Ivan will do, and the answer should not either. The first discussion question met a peaceful Ivan and an angry one in the ring; this one asks about both at the end.
A danger. The hidden Ivan is strong enough to kill a man, and what he could taste is revenge, not rescue. Ruby needs a friend who keeps a promise, not one who gets even. The last voice Ivan hears before he knows what to do is Stella’s, and it is kind.
He could tear a grown man’s limbs off his body.
In the flicker of time it takes a snake’s tongue to taste the air, he could taste revenge.
I hear Stella’s kind, wise voice: Humans can surprise you sometimes
What Ruby needs. The peaceful Ivan did not know how to save her. Only after he faced the cage, the memories and the angry face on the billboard did he know what to do, and in the ring it was Ruby’s own anger that made Mack stop.
“I don’t know,” I admit.
It is the most beautiful mad I have ever heard.
I look at my fingers, coated in red paint the color of blood, and I know how to keep my promise.
A strong answer A strong response takes a side, gives a reason and answers the other side. A student who says danger might point out that the hidden Ivan “could tear a grown man’s limbs off his body” and that what he could taste is revenge, which is not the same as getting Ruby to safety. A student who says Ruby needs him might argue that the peaceful Ivan told Bob “I don’t know,” and that Ivan knows how to keep his promise only after he faces the cage, the memories and the billboard face. A careful answer notices that the hidden Ivan only “could”, and that the last two things before he knows are Stella’s voice saying humans can surprise you and paint “the color of blood.” It does not guess what Ivan will do; the reading stops before it says.