From An American Childhood



from An American Childhood

Thinking About the Selection

1. Respond: Would you want the young Annie Dillard as a friend? Why or why not?

2. (a) Recall: What are Dillard and her friends doing “On one

weekday morning after Christmas”?

(b) Describe: Describe the way the man chases Dillard and her friend.

(c) Interpret: Why does Dillard call the man who chased her “our hero”?

3. (a) Recall: What does the man do when he catches Dillard and her friend?

(b) Infer: How do his actions cause this “hero” to come “down to earth”?

4. (a) Analyze: In general, what does the young Dillard value and not value in people?

(b) Evaluate: Do you think this episode from Dillard’s early life has a larger meaning, or is it just an entertaining story? Explain.

Reading Skill

Read these lines from the narrative: “You stupid kids,” he began perfunctorily. We listened perfunctorily indeed, if we listened at all, for the chewing out was redundant, a mere formality, and beside the point.

6. What context clues suggest a possible meaning?

7. What is a possible meaning for perfunctorily?

8. Does your possible meaning make sense when you reread the passage and when you read ahead?

Situation Thoughts or Feelings

10. What are three details that could have been included if the first-person narrator had been the man?

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