Two American writers of one period on one theme
Grade 11 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
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Work and the Making of an American (two writers of the Revolutionary era)
Period note: [1] Benjamin Franklin and J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur both wrote in the years around the American Revolution, when many people came to believe that a person could rise by steady work rather than by birth. [2] Franklin wrote the first part of his Autobiography in 1771, looking back on his years as a young Philadelphia printer around 1730. [3] Crèvecoeur, a farmer born in France who had settled in New York, published Letters from an American Farmer in London in 1782.
From Franklin, Autobiography: [4] In order to secure my credit and character as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in reality industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appearances to the contrary. [5] I drest plainly; I was seen at no places of idle diversion. [6] …to show that I was not above my business, I sometimes brought home the paper I purchas'd at the stores thro' the streets on a wheelbarrow. [7] Thus being esteem'd an industrious, thriving young man, and paying duly for what I bought, the merchants who imported stationery solicited my custom; others proposed supplying me with books, and I went on swimmingly.
From Crèvecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer, Letter III: [8] …He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. [9] …Here the rewards of his industry follow with equal steps the progress of his labour; his labour is founded on the basis of nature, SELF-INTEREST: can it want a stronger allurement? [10] …The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions.
Word notes: [11] A tradesman's credit is a good name for paying debts on time, and character means reputation. [12] Idle diversion is amusement that wastes working hours, and to solicit someone's custom is to ask for that person's business. [13] An allurement is a strong pull, and ancient prejudices are old opinions that a person has never questioned. [14] Spellings such as drest, purchas'd, thro' and labour are kept as the editions print them.
Ari fills the Franklin column. What do sentences 4 and 5 say Franklin did to protect his credit as a tradesman?
- He kept his money private and stayed away from anyone who might ask him for a loan.
- He pretended to work hard in public while spending his evenings at idle amusements.
- He worked hard and lived plainly, and he also made sure that people saw him that way.
- He cared about the work itself and paid no attention to how it looked to others.
Luz fills the period note row for Franklin. Which idea from the period note does sentence 7 show?
- That Franklin was looking back on about 1730 from 1771, when he wrote the book.
- That a business grows by advertising its goods widely to strangers in other towns.
- That a tradesman's credit is a good name for paying his debts on time.
- That a person could rise by steady work, since his good name brought him customers.
Tala adds a Crèvecoeur cell for the row “what hard work brings”. Which sentence belongs in that cell?
- Sentence 8, on leaving old prejudices behind
- Sentence 9, on rewards keeping pace with labor
- Sentence 13, on what an allurement is
- Sentence 7, on merchants seeking a thriving man's trade
Bo adds a Franklin cell for the row “what his good name earned him”. Which sentence belongs in that cell?
- Sentence 10, on the American as a new man
- Sentence 5, on dressing plainly
- Sentence 7, on merchants seeking his trade
- Sentence 12, on what soliciting custom means
Waiting for the Boat (two writers of American realism)
Period note: [1] Mark Twain and William Dean Howells were leading writers of American realism, which set out to show ordinary life as people actually lived it, and they were close friends for about forty years. [2] Twain first printed these chapters about his boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri, in The Atlantic Monthly in 1875, while Howells was its editor, and later gathered them into Life on the Mississippi in 1883. [3] Howells looked back on his own boyhood in Hamilton, Ohio, in A Boy's Town (1890), where he calls his younger self “my boy”.
From Twain, Life on the Mississippi, Chapter 4: [4] WHEN I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village … on the west bank of the Mississippi River. [5] That was, to be a steamboatman. [6] We had transient ambitions of other sorts, but they were only transient. [7] …Once a day a cheap, gaudy packet arrived upward from St. Louis, and another downward from Keokuk. [8] …I first wanted to be a cabin-boy, so that I could come out with a white apron on and shake a tablecloth over the side, where all my old comrades could see me;…
From Howells, A Boy's Town, on the canal boat from Dayton: [9] …To my boy's young vision this craft was of such incomparable lightness and grace as no yacht of Mr. Burgess's could rival. [10] …No steamer arrives from Europe now with such thrilling majesty. [11] The canal-boatmen were all an heroic race, and the boys humbly hoped that some day, if they proved worthy, they might grow up to be drivers; not indeed packet-drivers; they were not so conceited as that; but freight-boat drivers, of two horses, perhaps, but gladly of one.
Word notes: [12] A packet is a boat that runs on a regular schedule with passengers and mail, and transient means short-lived. [13] Edward Burgess was a famous designer of racing yachts in the 1880s. [14] Canal boats were pulled by horses walking on a tow-path beside the water, with a driver riding one of the horses.
Milo fills the Twain column. What do sentences 4 to 6 say about the boys' ambitions?
- Other wishes came and went, but the wish to work on a steamboat lasted.
- The boys soon lost interest in steamboats and turned to other plans.
- The boys had many lasting ambitions, and steamboating was one of several.
- The boys of the village grew up to work on steamboats on the river.
Zee fills the period note row for Twain. Which part of the period note's idea of realism does sentence 7 show?
- Life made grander than it was, with a splendid ship arriving in glory.
- Ordinary life shown plainly, with a cheap, showy boat that came on a daily schedule.
- Twain first printed his chapters in The Atlantic Monthly while Howells was its editor.
- A packet is a boat that runs on a regular schedule with passengers and mail.
Kira adds a Howells cell for the row “the job the boys hoped for”. Which sentence belongs in that cell?
- Sentence 9, on the packet's lightness and grace
- Sentence 8, on wanting to be a cabin-boy
- Sentence 14, on drivers riding the canal horses
- Sentence 11, on hoping to drive a freight boat's horses
Ren fills the Howells column. What does sentence 11 show about how the boys saw the canal-boatmen?
- They admired the boatmen so much that even the humblest driving job seemed a high hope.
- They wanted the boatmen's jobs so that their old comrades could watch them.
- They looked down on driving and hoped for something far grander than the boatmen's work.
- They thought the boatmen were conceited and wanted nothing to do with them.
Esme links the period note to Howells. Which idea from sentence 3 of the note does sentence 10 help show?
- That the ocean liners of our own century still cannot match an old canal boat.
- Howells's friendship with Twain, which lasted for about forty years.
- A grown writer looking back, measuring the old boat against the ships of his later day.
- That Howells had sailed home from Europe and found the voyage disappointing.
Noah adds a Twain cell for the row “why the boy wanted the job”. Which sentence belongs in that cell?
- Sentence 11, on the boatmen as a heroic race
- Sentence 7, on packets arriving once a day
- Sentence 12, on what a packet is
- Sentence 8, on being seen by old comrades