Introduction
Characters
Outline
Plot Summary
Setting
Atmosphere
Theme

Style
Maps
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Test 01
Test 02

Please do NOT contact me for answers to Chapter or Test questions. Your request will not be answered.




CHAPTER TWO

Watch Thou for the Mutant


Vocabulary


lapped up - to prospect - rambled off - leeward - roughly-dressed - wattle - aspect - tediously - unrelieved - virtue - credible - creditable - sophisticated - staunch-minded - to persuade - husky - fierce - rectitude - evangelical - timorously - dusty - to generate - to enable - to compensate - admonitions - wraith - heir - sinews - legalistic - to harmonize - of consequence - laws temporal - magistrate - elastic - principles - deviations - Repentances - mutant - midden - meticulousness


Analysis


In this chapter, the author supplies answers to some of the questions raised in Chapter 1 and to fill in background information about the religion of the people of Waknuk in general, and specially what David's family believes in. Although, religion may not particularly interest you, it is very important for your understanding of the rest of the book, that you read this chapter carefully. Hopefully, the following questions will help you comprehend the text better.


  1. In your own words describe how and why grandfather Strorm came to Waknuk.

  2. What kind of a man was grandfather? What kind of woman was his wife when he married her? Why did he marry her? Did it work out? Why or why not? What did he do to his wife?

  3. What kind of man is David's father? In what ways is Joseph Strorm similar to, and different from his father?

  4. Joseph Strorm was a man of local consequence. What does he do, besides farming, that makes him so important?

  5. In your own words describe the farm, David lives on.

  6. There are all kinds of religious slogans on the walls of the rooms in David's house. What do they all deal with? Why is Joseph Strorm so preoccupied with Offences and Deviations. Why is he so afraid of them? Why is he so angry when his neighbours are less strict? What do you think is the cause of all the Offences and Deviations? Why doesn't the author tell you?

  7. How does the landscape change when one moves south to south-west from Waknuk? What happens to a person who moves all the way into the Badlands? Why would that be so? What is the cause of all this, you think? Why doesn't author tell you?

  8. Who live in the "Fringes"? Why do they have become a problem lately? What is the government doing about it?

  9. In what ways is Angus Morton different from Joseph Strorm?

  10. At the end of this chapter, the author leaves us with several areas of suspense, which are they?

NO TURNING BACK


In this chapter, we learn that the damage done by the nuclear holocaust is not totally irreversible. The word irreversible means "not capable of going either backward or forward." The word is a combination of the negative prefix ir-, and the Latin words revertere and reuersare, which mean, respectively, "to turn back" and "to turn around". Ten other words deriving from these Latin words are listed below. See if you can use them correctly in the sentences that follow.


adverse - advertise - invertebrates - reversed - reversible - reverted - version - versatility - vertically - vertigo


1. Joseph Strorm had an _______________ attitude towards any form of deviation. (unfavourable)


2. We do not learn if the _______________ living around Waknuk were effected by the radiation also. (animals that have no spinal column, or backbone)


3. In the Strorm family, David's _______________ of things counted for very little. (opinion)


4. According to father Strorm, Nicholson's Repentances were the God-given truth and could never be _______________. (overthrown or made void)


5. It seems as if the people of Waknuk had _______________ to many forms of superstition. (gone back)


6. A farmer in Waknuk had to possess great _______________ to be successful (quality of having a variety of skills)


7. For his birthday, David received a __________ _____ coat from his mother. (wearable with either side out)


8. As everyone knew each other, it wasn't necessary to _______________ in Waknuk. (call attention to one's business or service with a paid, printed notice)


9. The many slogans on the walls in David's house, could only be hung ________ _______. (lengthwise or upright)


10. When David looked down the steep banks of the gully, he suffered a moment of __________. (disordered state in which the individual or his surroundings seem to swirl dizzily)


YOUR TURN


A Humorous Character Portrait


For purposes of a good story, writers will often take a certain person's character trait and focus on it, even to the point of exaggeration. In the story, father Strorm is made excessively stern.


You are asked to think of someone who has a strong personality trait or eccentricity. For example, the person never goes anywhere without a basketball in hand, or likes to make speeches so much that he or she "speechifies" to everybody, or is a surfing nut... to the point of "practising" on a surfboard in the middle of the living room.


Build your character portrait gradually, step by step. Here are some suggestions for each step.


* Use a first-person point of view. Explain your relationship to the character.


* Describe the person you are portraying, explain the person's character trait, and give several examples, exaggerating a little more with each example.


* Show other people's reactions to it. Use dialogue to dramatize these reactions.


* Then put the character in a situation that highlights the trait and further exaggerates it.


* End by telling what finally happens to the character, and whether or not the person changes.


* After finishing, read over what you have written and ask yourself these question: Is my character realistic? Is his/her character trait believable, yet broad enough to be humorous? Is the conversation natural?


Introduction - Characters - Outline - Style - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Test 1 - Test 2 - Map 1 - Map 2 - Map 3