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 cared about the work itself and paid no attention to how it looked to others.
- 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.
Luz fills the period note row for Franklin. Which idea from the period note does sentence 7 show?
- That a business grows by advertising its goods widely to strangers in other towns.
- That Franklin was looking back on about 1730 from 1771, when he wrote the book.
- That a person could rise by steady work, since his good name brought him customers.
- That a tradesman's credit is a good name for paying his debts on time.
Tala adds a Crèvecoeur cell for the row “what hard work brings”. Which sentence belongs in that cell?
- Sentence 13, on what an allurement is
- Sentence 8, on leaving old prejudices behind
- Sentence 9, on rewards keeping pace with labor
- Sentence 7, on merchants seeking a thriving man's trade
Jun fills the Crèvecoeur column. According to sentence 8, how does a newcomer become an American?
- By being born in America to parents who were already citizens there.
- By dressing plainly and letting the whole town see him at his work each day.
- By keeping the ancient manners of his home country and teaching them to his neighbors.
- By dropping old views and taking on new ones from his new life, government and rank.
Pia links the period note to Crèvecoeur. Which idea from the period note does sentence 9 show?
- That an allurement is a strong pull that draws a person on.
- That a man born in France could settle in New York, as Crèvecoeur did.
- That a person rises by steady work, because rewards keep pace with labor.
- That a worker should be paid a fair hourly wage by the company that hires him.
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 12, on what soliciting custom means
- Sentence 7, on merchants seeking his trade
- Sentence 5, on dressing plainly
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.
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.
- 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.
- Ordinary life shown plainly, with a cheap, showy boat that came on a daily schedule.
Kira adds a Howells cell for the row “the job the boys hoped for”. Which sentence belongs in that cell?
- Sentence 11, on hoping to drive a freight boat's horses
- Sentence 14, on drivers riding the canal horses
- Sentence 8, on wanting to be a cabin-boy
- Sentence 9, on the packet's lightness and grace
Ren fills the Howells column. What does sentence 11 show about how the boys saw the canal-boatmen?
- They thought the boatmen were conceited and wanted nothing to do with them.
- They admired the boatmen so much that even the humblest driving job seemed a high hope.
- They looked down on driving and hoped for something far grander than the boatmen's work.
- They wanted the boatmen's jobs so that their old comrades could watch them.
Esme links the period note to Howells. Which idea from sentence 3 of the note does sentence 10 help show?
- A grown writer looking back, measuring the old boat against the ships of his later day.
- Howells's friendship with Twain, which lasted for about forty years.
- That the ocean liners of our own century still cannot match an old canal boat.
- That Howells had sailed home from Europe and found the voyage disappointing.
