Chapters Five and Six

Vocabulary

brows frown preoccupied to savage rim glumly

to counter to shoo away meekly replenish implication goblet

reluctant tedious to behold distraction muddle conclave

hooded reluctantly perilous gaunt whip cord lurch

emissary furrows passion sacrilege

 

Analysis

1. a. Do you think President Mark London knew why the water was rising? Explain your answer.

b. Considering the answer you have given in (a), explain the President's behaviour.

2. Why do you think, did Tannis betray Jody?

3. In a few words tell what precise information about Isis, Jody's grandfather gave to his grandson.

4. What information was the grandfather holding back? Why did he do that?

5. What major mistake did Jody make during his interrogation in front of the Council? Why did he make that mistake?

6. What reasons did the President use for sending Jody in search of the Guardian? What were the Presidents's real motives?

Mood

Mood is the emotional response a reader has to an author's creation. Mood can help involve readers in a a work and convey an author's own feeling about a subject.

Directions

Answer the following questions about mood and mood-revealing details. Refer to the book for evidence about details.

1. a. What is the main mood of the book?

_____ thrilling and illuminating

_____ humorous and lighthearted

_____ bleak and depressing

For each of the following categories, list details that helps create the mood.

b. Olwen's appearance. Example:

c. Jody's words. Example:

d. Jody's beliefs. Example:

e. Olwen's comparison's. Example:

2. For each of the following categories, list a detail that helps create the mood.

a. the mountains

b. the cliff wall

c. the mesa

d. the geography of Isis

e. the Guardian

On step further

Imagine that you are a script writer for the movies assigned to film one of the scenes below. Select the scene you would like to write, then jot down the mood you would choose for the scene.

a. a teenager has failed the year and the report card has arrived in the mail.

b. a teenager's boyfriend/girlfriend has just broken off with her/him.

c. you are buying some candy at the convenience store and a hold up takes place in the store.

After you have selected the mood, make a list of at least four specific details to be included in the scene that will help communicate the mood you chose.

 

A World of Differences

The Guardian of Isis  is told from Jessie's viewpoint. But his faithful record of his conversations with others give the reader different views on the same subject.

The inclusion of these different views serves two important purposes. First, it allows the reader to get a clearer picture of other characters and perspectives. Second, the views serve as a force of change. Beings exposed to other thoughts help Jessie mature from a naive boy into a mature young man.

Directions

Determine what the characters listed feel about each of the following topics. You may use quotes, paraphrases, or inferences (logical conclusions) in your responses.

1. the religion of the colonists

a. Jody

b. Mark London

c. Olwen

2. the gifts in the Cave

a. Jody

b. Mark London

c. the Guardian

3. the society of the colonists

a. Olwen

b. Mark London

c. the Guardian

One Step Further

Pick one of the previous topics. Decide what you feel is the most sensible view of that topic. This view may be held by one of the characters or it may be your own, different view.

Then write a persuasive paragraph defending your viewpoint.

 

Composition Workshop: Tired Words

Jody has difficulties saying exactly how he feels because he doesn't trust President London, doesn't understand his motives, and as a youngster he doesn't know what words to use in speaking to the President. Under these circumstances, all you can think of are "tired" old words like "mad", "glad", "sad", and "bad". Words like these are weak because they don't clearly express how a person really feels. There are other words you van use that will more precisely get your meaning across.

Look at the list below. Which words you use depends on how strong your feeling is. For example, you might say you're "scared" of failing a test. That's not the same kind of fear you would feel getting caught in a cross fire between the police and some bank robbers. You would be "terrified".

Use each of the words below in a sentence describing clearly some feeling you would have under certain specific circumstances.

For instance: I felt sorry for myself, because I had a bad cold.

I was upset when I found out that my best friend had been talking about me behind my back.

bad	sorry	regretful	upset	anguished
sad	unhappy	dejected	miserable	heartbroken
glad	pleased	delighted	thrilled	overjoyed
mad	irritated	angry	furious	enraged
scared	nervous	alarmed	fearful	terrified

 

Composition Workshop: How to Hyphenate

Many of you break off a word at the end of a sentence any way you feel like. To break a word to hyphenate in English is not always easy, but there are certain rules:

a. Do NOT break words of one syllable. e.g.: burst, change, drink, through.

b. Do not separate a suffix of less than three letters from the rest of the word. An -ing may be separated, but single letters or -al, -le, -ly, and -ed endings should not.

c. Break words only between syllables. When in doubt, consult your dictionary. e.g.: adver- bial, ab-surd, al-ready, pre-tend.

d. Hyphenate compound words between the elements of the compound. e.g.: arm-chair, black-bird, sail- boat, white-caps.

e. Subject to the limitations mentioned in (2), hyphenate between prefix and root or between root and suffix.

Between prefix and root Between root and suffix.

ante-cedent adapt-able be-loved back-ward

com-mit depend-end con-tagious ego-ism

dis-appear kitchen-ette inter-rupt lemon-ade

intro-duce mile-age per-suade racket-eer

rans-late trouble-some

P.S.: Lately, because of the hyphenation systems of computer word processing programmes, the hyphenation rules seem to have become more lax.