Exercises

Exercise #1: Using the starters contextualize the quotation by providing the events and or ideas surrounding the passage in the text from which it is excerpted.

Starters to use:

(X is a character’s name or author's name)

-Up until this moment in the text X has _________________.

_______________, _________________, and ________________ are the most significant moments at this point in the text.

-It is important to remember that at this point X has _________________.

-When X states this, X is______________________________________.

-At this moment the narrator is recounting _________________________.

-At this point in the poem the speaker has ___________________________.

1. Gus makes a significant transformation throughout the novel in his views of the environment and what he chooses to do about his emerging environmentalism. Gus is immature at first because in the beginning of the novel he sees environmental destruction around him and doesn’t do anything about it even though it affects him. To illustrate this point, the passage in which Gus notices what is happening around him in suburban Portland helps. Gus states:

But when you grow up in those suburbs-when you’ve

seen the streams, woods, farms and ponds dying all

around you but you have been lucky enough to escape

every weekend to a wild river full of beautiful game

fish… it does something; something way inside me

would start to die.

(Duncan 48).

(Insert context here): This excerpt communicates the message that Gus feels very strongly about nature and all of the things it provides. He doesn’t like seeing what’s happening to all of the natural resources in his town, especially when he compares it to where he goes on the weekends and how nice it is where nature isn’t being destroyed. This analysis captures the idea that Gus at the beginning of the book cares about nature and is hurting because of what is happening to it, but doesn’t know what to do about it. He chooses not to help because he hasn’t yet realized that he can do something. There are many that care about the environment but don’t know how to drastically change their lifestyle to protect it. So, even though they care, they continue to hold back and not go forward with what they think is right.

1.

2.

In William Shakespeare’s play of Hamlet, the protagonist Hamlet develops, though a series of events, to have faith that there is room for free will within a divinely fated world. For example, while Hamlet prepares for a fencing duel against Laertes it becomes apparent that Hamlet is gaining confidence in himself as well as the world around him. Articulating Hamlet’s belief that if a person is ready for any situation everything will work out, Hamlet says to Horatio:

There is a divinity that shapes our ends

Rough-hew them how we will…

If it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all…

Let be.

(V, ii, 11-12, 234-237).

(Insert context here): The above excerpt communicates the message that Hamlet decides there is a God and that this God creates the order of the world. Hamlet believes that inside God’s plan for the world there is room for human creativity or free will that influences this divine plan. He starts to have faith that good people are rewarded when he “coincidentally” finds his father’s ring with the seal and the pirates who come to his rescue. In short, Hamlet moves from seeing coincidences to making the connection that good is rewarded.

Answers:

1. Gus makes a significant transformation throughout the novel in his views of the environment and what he chooses to do about his emerging environmentalism. Gus is immature at first because in the beginning of the novel he sees environmental destruction around him and doesn’t do anything about it even though it affects him. To illustrate this point, the passage in which Gus notices what is happening around him in suburban Portland helps. Gus states:

But when you grow up in those suburbs-when you’ve

seen the streams, woods, farms and ponds dying all

around you but you have been lucky enough to escape

every weekend to a wild river full of beautiful game

fish… it does something; something way inside me

would start to die.

(Duncan 48).

(Insert context here): At this point in the novel Gus was voted "Most-Out-Of-It" in high school, then dropped out of high school, and failed to find meaning in his life beyond catching fish.

This excerpt communicates the message that Gus feels very strongly about nature and all of the things it provides. He doesn’t like seeing what’s happening to all of the natural resources in his town, especially when he compares it to where he goes on the weekends and how nice it is where nature isn’t being destroyed. This analysis captures the idea that Gus at the beginning of the book cares about nature and is hurting because of what is happening to it, but doesn’t know what to do about it. He chooses not to help because he hasn’t yet realized that he can do something. There are many that care about the environment but don’t know how to drastically change their lifestyle to protect it. So, even though they care, they continue to hold back and not go forward with what they think is right.

2.

In William Shakespeare’s play of Hamlet, the protagonist Hamlet develops, though a series of events, to have faith that there is room for free will within a divinely fated world. For example, while Hamlet prepares for a fencing duel against Laertes, it becomes apparent that Hamlet is gaining confidence in himself as well as the world around him. Articulating Hamlet’s belief that if a person is ready for any situation everything will work out, Hamlet says to Horatio:

There is a divinity that shapes our ends

Rough-hew them how we will…

If it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all…

Let be.

(V, ii, 11-12, 234-237).

Hamlet is seeking revenge for his father’s wrongful murder. He also strives to free his country, Denmark, from a wicked and incestuous king. Hamlet has trouble finding strength inside himself to do this. He also has a hard time finding the right circumstances and taking action. At this point in the play, Hamlet has accidentally murdered Polonius and has been sent, by King Claudius, to England on a ship. While on his voyage, Hamlet finds a letter ordering his execution upon arrival in England. Hamlet revises this letter to eliminate his name and is able to seal it again with his father’s ring with the seal on it which Hamlet believes was “heaven ordinant” or ordered by God. The only reason Hamlet had the ring with him on this journey was because it reminded him of his love for his father. Then a pirate ship, of which Hamlet is taken hostage, helps him to return to Denmark. Hamlet also has faith that the pirates were sent by God to help him. The above excerpt communicates the message that Hamlet decides there is a God and that this God creates the order of the world. Hamlet believes that inside God’s plan for the world there is room for human creativity or free will that influences this divine plan. He starts to have faith that good people are rewarded when he “coincidentally” finds his father’s ring with the seal and the pirates who come to his rescue. In short, Hamlet moves from seeing coincidences to making the connection that good is rewarded.