Wyatt+Falcone

Connections pgs. 1-30

My mother and I went to New York a few months after Hurricane Sandy, and she took me through areas where she grew up that were now severely damaged or destroyed, much like when the man took his son through what was left of his old house. Some things were still the same, making it recognizable. Others were unrecognizable or destroyed, showing how much had changed.

When we read //My Brother, My Sister, and I// in Middle School, the character considered shoes very important. She was heartbroken when her shoes were ruined, since she didn’t have anything else to protect her feet. This is similar to the importance the man gives their shoes, which are the only things protecting their feet from the bitter cold.

Vocabulary pgs. 30-82

Macadam: Noun. A road created by laying and compacting successive layers of broken stone, often with asphalt or hot tar. (pg. 48)

Skeins: Noun. Something suggestive of the twisting of a length of yarn or thread wound on a reel. (pg. 51)

Siwash: Adjective. Without a tent or supplies. (pg. 68)

Discussion Director pgs. 83-135

1. What did the son see? Was there actually a child? Did the father see it?

2. Do you think that the father will be able to kill his son if he has to? Do you think the son would be able to kill himself? And at what point do you think they would make this decision?

3. Does the father think they are going to die?

4. Who were "the marchers."

Literary Luminary

136-185

"What are our long term goals? he said. What? Our long term goals. Where did you hear that? ...You said it...What was the answer? I dont know. Well. I dont either" (161).

Do they have any long term goals? What might they be? If they have no long term goals, then what do they expect to do if they ever get to the south?

"He looked down at the old man. Perhaps he'd turn into a god and they to trees" (163).

I'm pretty sure this is a reference to an old Greek myth. Zeus visits an old, poor couple while disguised as a beggar and asks them for food. Although they barely have anything, they gladly help him. Afterword, he reveals who he really is and agrees to grant them a wish. They wish that they may never be separated, even in death. When they eventually begin to die, Zeus turns them both into trees whose branches touch each other for eternity. What significance might this reference have to the relationship between the father and the son? Is the father expressing a desire to die?

"Suppose you were the last one left? Suppose you did that to yourself?" (169).

Would there be any point in surviving to be the only human left alive? Do you think the man and son might have been better off dying with his wife? What is the point of their survival?

Pgs. 186-235 Connections

The idea of growing infants to provide food was used sarcastically in Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal, which we read in History last year. The idea was so ridiculous and outrageous, that he was able to use it to create humor by suggesting something so improbable. In this book, it's actually happening.

What the father was mentioning about cholera victims being buried quickly was that when cholera epidemics used to strike towns, they would kill many people at once and those that survived were afraid that they would catch the disease from the corpses of the victims. They would, therefore, bury them very quickly with little ceremony.

In Night, Wiesel's father started getting sick and weak just like the father is starting to become. In Night, the roles eventually switched so that Wiesel became responsible for caring for his father. It's possible this could also happen here.

Vocab

Pgs. 235-287

Vermiculate-curvy, twisted, intricate (pg. 287).

Strobe Beacon-small, flashing, electric lamp (pg. 240).

EPIRB-Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (pg. 240).

Ensepulchred-Entombed (pg. 273).

Crozzled-Blackened or burned (pg. 273).