Lesson 7 The Glorious Whitewasher

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Lesson 7 The Glorious Whitewasher

• By Mark Twain

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Teaching Plan

• Time 10 periods
• Arrangement
• Introduction (1 period)
• Textual learning (6 periods)
• Exercises (3 periods)
• Duty Report (3 times)

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Learning Objectives

• Appreciate the style of Mark Twain.
• Portray the inner mind through scenery
  description.
• Get familiar with nautical terms.
• Get familiar with rhetoric devices, such as
  metaphor, hyperbole, metonymy, comparison and
  contrast, parallelism, irony, and etc.
• Master the uses of key words and expressions be
  brimming with, survey and examine, pomp and
  circumstance, up a stump, let on, put sth in a
  new light, in good repair, bankrupt, covet, be
  obliged to do, etc.
• Master important grammar subjunctive mood,
  absolute structure and etc.

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Background Information

• The author Mark Twain (pseudo name of Samuel
  Clemens, 1935-1910) American humorist and local
  color novelist. His novels include The Gilded
  Age, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures
  of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi. His
  famous short stories include The Million Pound
  Bank-Note, Running for Governor and etc.

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More about Mark Twain

• ?Love story of Mark Twain Fall in love at
  first sightMark fell in love with his future
  wifeOlivia Landdon when he happened to see her
  picture in her brothers necklace picture box.
  Then he obtained a recommendation letter from an
  old friend of Olivias father. Then the two got
  married and lived a happy life ever since.

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Quotations

• All you need in this life is ignorance and
  confidence then success is sure.
• There are several kinds of story, but only one
  difficult kindthe humorous. The humorous story
  is American, the comic story is English, and the
  witty story is French. The humorous story depends
  upon the manner of the telling the comic and
  witty story depends upon the matter.

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Short Summary of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer revolves around the
  youthful adventures of the novel's schoolboy
  protagonist, Thomas Sawyer, whose reputation
  precedes him for causing mischief and strife. Tom
  lives with his Aunt Polly, half-brother Sid, and
  cousin Mary in the quaint town of St. Petersburg,
  just off the shore of the Mississippi River. St.
  Petersburg is described as a typical small-town
  atmosphere where the Christian faith is
  predominant, the social network is close-knit,
  and familiarity resides.
• Unlike his brother Sid, Tom receives "lickings"
  from his Aunt Polly ever the mischief-maker,
  would rather play hooky than attend school and
  often sneaks out his bedroom window at night to
  adventure with his friend, Huckleberry Finn ? The
  town's social outcast. Tom, despite his dread of
  schooling, is extremely clever and would normally
  get away with his pranks if Sid were not such a
  "tattle-tale."

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Pre-study reading Opening of Chapter One

• TOM!"
• No answer.
• "TOM!"
• No answer.
• "What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You TOM!"
• No answer.
• The old lady pulled her spectacles down and
  looked over them about the room then she put
  them up and looked out under them. She seldom or
  never looked through them for so small a thing as
  a boy they were her state pair, the pride of her
  heart, and were built for "style," not service --
  she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids
  just as well. She looked perplexed for a moment,
  and then said, not fiercely, but still loud
  enough for the furniture to hear
• "Well, I lay if I get hold of you I'll --"
• She did not finish, for by this time she was
  bending down and punching under the bed with the
  broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the
  punches with. She resurrected nothing but the
  cat.
• "I never did see the beat of that boy!"
• She went to the open door and stood in it and
  looked out among the tomato vines and "jimpson"
  weeds that constituted the garden. No Tom. So she
  lifted up her voice at an angle calculated for
  distance and shouted
• "Y-o-u-u Tom!

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Continue

• There was a slight noise behind her and she
  turned just in time to seize a small boy by the
  slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight.
• "There! I might 'a thought of that closet. What
  you been doing in there?"
• "Nothing."
• "Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your
  mouth. What is that truck?"
• "I don't know, aunt."
• "Well, I know. It's jam -- that's what it is.
  Forty times I've said if you didn't let that jam
  alone I'd skin you. Hand me that switch."
• The switch hovered in the air -- the peril was
  desperate --
• "My! Look behind you, aunt!"
• The old lady whirled round, and snatched her
  skirts out of danger. The lad fled on the 
  instant, scrambled up the high board-fence, and
  disappeared over it.

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About this lesson

• This lesson is an excerpt taken from the 2nd
  chapter of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Summary
  of this chapter Tom was punished by Aunt Polly
  to whitewash the fence. Instead of doing the job
  by himself, Tom tricked the neighborhood boys
  into completing his entire chore by pretending to
  love whitewashing and made other boys covet the
  labor. As a result, he had not only finished
  whitewashing the fence for 3 times, but also
  bankrupted the other boys. Besides, he had
  discovered a great law of human actionin order
  to make a man covet a thing, it is only necessary
  to make the thing difficult to attain.

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Textual Organization

• Part 1 (para. 1-3) Tom had to work on Saturday
  and he felt melancholy, but he came up with a
  brilliant idea.
• Part 2 (para. 4-28) Tom succeeded in trapping
  Ben Rogers and other boys into whitewashing.
• Part 3 (para. 29-31) Tom checked his spoils and
  had discovered a great law of human action.

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Pre-study Questions
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1. Why the title is The Glorious Whitewasher?
How glorious is Tom?

• He had not only finished whitewashing the fence
  for 3 times,
• but also bankrupted the other boys
• Besides, he had discovered a great law of human
  actionin order to make a man covet a thing, it
  is only necessary to make the thing difficult to
  attain.

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2.What is the style of this excerpt?

• Humorous

• Use big words, e.g. glorious, issue, melancholy,
  expedition, etc.
• Comparison and contrast. (e.g.worldly
  wealthmarbles, bits of toys and trash)
• Figures of speech/rhetoric language hyperbole
  (the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed
  fence make a world of fun of him, etc.)
  metaphor, metonymy (Big MissouriBen Rogers) and
  etc.
• Irony. (e.g. But of course youd druther
  workwouldnt you? Of course you would! Para. 12)

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Style Local colorism

• Local color
• Non-standard English the childrens English and
  the blacks English
• Colloquialism slang and informal language
• Vivid depiction of the country life along the
  Mississippi River.
• Mark Twain is the first American writer to
  introduce colloquialism into American literature.

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Textual Analysis

• Paragraph 1
• Main idea a cheerful Saturday morning in summer.
  
• Key words phrases for creating the cheerful
  mood bright, brimming with life, song, music,
  cheer, spring, bloom, fragrance, blossoms

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Language points

• 1. brim
• n. the top edge of a cup, bowl etc. with regard
  to how full it is.
• e.g. The wine is full to the brim of the goblet,
  which is against the wine culture.
• adj. brimful
• e.g. The youths are brimful with enthusiasm.
• vi. be brimming with (tears, happiness,
  confidence) be full of
• e.g. When Leon was valiantly fighting against the
  corrupted police office , Mathilda escaped with
  the plant, her eyes brimming with tears of agony
  and gratitude. (a Luc Besson film Leon the
  Professional)

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Brainstorming how to say cry in different
ways?
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Here we go!

• Connection with The Use of Force Tears of defeat
  blinded her eyes (Lesson 3 P41).
• Other expressions shed tears, burst into tears,
  burst out crying, be reduced to tears, be full of
  tears, cry ones eyes out, etc.
• Any more??

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2. issue

• v. produce
• e.g. issue an order/statement/newspaper, etc.
• In this sentence, it means come out, flow out
• Paraphrase the sentence Every person felt like
  singing, and those who had a young heart would
  let the music flow out from their lips. (pay
  attention to the sound effect of issue)

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Chinese version
?????????????,?????????????????
Is it a good translation? Do you have a better
version?
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My version

• ?????????????,??????????????????????

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3. bloom and blossom

• Both words can be used as verb and noun.
• n. e.g.
• 1) The blooms/blossoms are so beautiful!
  (Difference where there is blossom, there is
  fruit. The trees that produce blossoms may bear
  fruits. But for bloom, not necessarily so).
• 2) The apple tress come into blossoms. (in
  bloomin blossombe flowering)
• 3) College students are in the bloom of their
  youth, absorbing knowledge and setting the stage
  for a promising future.

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Verb blossom

• v. 1) New industries can blossom over night if we
  find an outlet for their products.
• ??????????????, ????????????
• 2) The little brat has blossomed/bloomed into an
  elegant lady. ????????????????

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Paragraph 2

• Main idea In face of the huge work, Tom was
  seized by melancholy.
• Analysis how to achieve the contrast with the
  cheerful mood in the first paragraph?
• Key words survey, melancholy, hollow burden,
  sigh, discouraged.

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Language points

• 1. survey vt n. (different in stress, the same
  rule governing increase, record, etc.)
• v.
• e.g. They surveyed the room at large, examining
  the various articles of use or beauty.
  (difference between survey and examine survey
  to examine sth. as a whole examine to look at
  sth. closely and carefully in order to find out
  sth. Page 123, exercise VI, A )
• n.
• e.g. The survey of the current unemployment rate
  is somewhat discouraging.
• Phrases survey of public opinions, survey of the
  market, etc.

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2. melancholy
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Hamlet Prince of Melancholy

• Do you know the play Hamlet?
• A story of revenge
• Oedipus complex
• To be, or not to be, it is a question

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How to use melancholy?

• adj. n.
• e.g. Hamlet is called the Prince of
  Melancholyhe is melancholy because he is
  pondering whether to revenge his dead father on
  his uncle Claudius or not.
• adj. melancholic

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Extension

• as melancholy as a cat
• as poor as a church mouse
• as cunning as a fox
• as happy as a lark
• as mild as a lamb
• as nimble as a squirrel
• as blind as a bat/raven
• as large as life
• as cool as a cucumber

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3. Paraphrase Sighing discouraged

• Heaving a sigh, he put the brush into the
  whitewash for a while, and painted the upmost
  part of the fence, gave it another touch, and
  made one more repetition. He compared the tiny
  whitewashed fence with the vast part that
  remained undone. Frustrated, he sat down on a
  wooden box.

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Paragraph 3

• Main idea
• Tom thought about the fun he could have had, and
  came up with a brilliant idea.

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Language points

• 1.multiply increase in times
• 1) four basic ways of calculation add, subtract,
  divide and multiply
• e.g. Three multiplied by 5 is 15.
• 2) A quotation from the Bible I will greatly
  multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain
  you shall bring forth children your desire shall
  be for your husband and he shall rule over you.
  Biblical story the Garden of Eden

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Garden of Eden
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2. trip vi/vt

• e.g. The stone poses a tripping hazard youd
  better remove it in case that someone should trip
  over it.
• During the football match, he deliberately
  stretched his feet and tripped me up. He deserved
  a yellow card!

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3. burn

• The very thought of it burnt him like fire he
  suffered from the idea acutely.
• Link
• My face was burning with it (Lesson 3 The Use
  of Force)
• collocations
• be burning with a desire
• be burning to do sth, synonymous with be
  itching to do, be dying to do

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????

• ??????????,????????,?????,???????????(??,??)
• (hint burn, absolute structure)

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Got it!

• The uncontrollable desire for food burning within
  me, I ignored all propriety and poured out my
  complaints without feeling ashamed. (????)

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4. straitened

• Adj. poor, of poverty, poverty-stricken
• Phrase in desperate straits in economical
  despair
• Sentence paraphrase He got outpure freedom
• He took out all his possessions and examined
  them, with which he might trade with other boys
  and ask them to work for him for a while. But
  they were far from enough to get half an hours
  absolute freedom from work.

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5. burst upon

• An idea burst upon sb. sb. gets an idea suddenly
• Similar expressions
• An idea burst upon sb.
• An idea occurs to sb.
• An idea flashes into ones mind.
• An idea hits/strikes/seizes sb.
• Sb. comes up with an idea.

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Paragraph 4

• Main idea Ben Rogers personated a steamboat.
• Any language barrier?

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Nautical terms

• heave in sight come into sight (usu. used to
  describe the stately manner of a ship. When used
  to describe a person coming into sight, humorous
  effect is obvious).
• Starboard the right-hand side of a ship
• Larboard the left-hand side of a ship
• Round to stop against the wind
• Draw 9 feet of waters the depth of the ship
  under the water is 9 feet,??9???
• Hurricane deck also called promenade deck, the
  upper deck
• Spring line a line led from a vessels quarter
  to her cable so that by tightening or slacking it
  she can be made to lie in any desired position

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Why Mark Twain is so familiar with such terms?

• Mark Twain had been a pilot for many years.
• Trace back
• In Lesson 5 I Have Written My Last Story,
  Maugham states that the characters are
  constituted out of the various sides of a
  writers own personality, and if a character is
  to have life, it must be at least in some degree
  a representation of the writer himself.

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Link Audio Text

• http//www.pku.edu.cn/study/novel/tom/etom01.htm

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Language points

• 1. personate act, play
• e.g. Charlie Chaplin once personated Hitler in
  the movie Great Dictator in a dramatic way.
• n. personator actor, actress or cheat

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2. slacken

• v. slow
• e.g. The modern city dwellers should slacken
  their pace at times to relieve pressure.
• Adj. slack
• slack season/peak season slack business, etc.
• Suffix -en widen, quicken, shorten, broaden,
  etc.

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3. ponderously

• Adv. heavily and awkwardly synonym laboriously
• root ponder v. think
• e.g. A statesman should ponder his words when he
  delivers a speech.
• He is pondering over/upon an issue.
• Adj. ponderous
• e.g. a ponderous speech (laborious and dull)

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4. pomp and circumstance

• Meaning solemn and splendid ceremonial show,
  esp. on a public or official occasion. In this
  context, it means affected grandeur

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Cultural Notes

• The composer Edward Elgar (1857-1934) composed
  Pomp and Circumstance march, which is
  inevitably used for high school graduation and is
  often played at college and university graduation
  ceremonies in the USA.
• e.g. It is hard to imagine a graduation ceremony
  without Pomp and Circumstance.
• The election of Students Union members was held
  with pomp and circumstance, nothing less than a
  presidential election.

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Graduation ceremony
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Paragraph 528 Dialogue

• Main idea Tom succeeded in tricking the
  neighborhood boys into whitewashing.
• Tactics Tom used
• 1) ????leave sb. at large in order to apprehend
  him afterwards/letting the enemy off in order to
  catch him
• 2) ??????Let the small fish go and catch the big
  fish later.

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Features of the dialogue

• Colloquial
• humorous
• ----going a-swimming go swimming (p115, para.12)
• sub-standard English aint druther, etc.
• ----would druther work would rather work
• ----aint be not, have not (characteristic of
  black English)
• ----it wouldnt hardly do it wouldnt do. (p116,
  para.23)
• ----awful particular awfully particular (p116,
  para.23)
• ----its got to be done very careful carefully
  (p116, para.23)
• ----subjunctive mood Id let you, if you was me,
  Tom. (p116, para.24)
• ----If you was to tackle this fence(p116,
  para.25)
• was were
• ----lemme let me (para.2425)

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Language points

• 1. stump
• n. the base of a cut-down tree, the end of sth.
• e.g. the stump of cigar a pencil stump
• collocation up a stump be in difficulties/dilemm
  a be between the sea and the devil
• vt. pose a difficulty
• e.g. 1) The police were stumped about the motive
  behind the murder.
• 2) The Sphinx Riddle stumped many
  people until Oedipus Rex solved it.
• What creature walks on four legs in the morning,
  on two at noon, and on three at night?
• ----Man, who creeps in infancy, walks upright in
  manhood, and supports his steps with a staff in
  old age.

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2. contemplate

• vt.
• 1)observe thoughtfully look at sth. quietly and
  solemnly
• 2)Another sense mediate on envisage
• e.g. contemplate the difficult operation
  contemplate reforming the Medicare system

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3. put the thing in a new light

• Sentence paraphrase His words gave new
  dimensions to the issue.
• Or his words provided a new perspective for the
  issue.
• e.g. We should see the situation in the changed
  light.

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4. consent

• n. approval
• e.g. 1) Romeo and Juliets parents refused to
  give consent to their marriage.
• 2)He was chosen by common consent to make a
  speech at the meeting as the representative of
  our team.
• v. agree
• e.g. The teacher would not consent to cancel the
  final exams.

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5. alter, change, vary and modify
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5. differences of alter, change, vary and modify

• alter implies the making of a difference in some
  particular respect without suggesting loss of
  identity.
• Change implies making either an essential
  difference often amounting to a loss of original
  identity or a substitution of one thing for
  another.
• Vary stresses a breaking away from sameness,
  duplication or exact repetition.
• Modify suggests a difference that limits,
  restricts or adapts to a new purpose.
• Practice page125, item D

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6. distinguish consider, deem, regard, account
and reckon
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These verbs refer to holding opinions or views
that are based on evaluation.

• Consider suggests objective reflection and
  reasoning
• e.g. She is considered an intelligent woman.
• He considers success of little importance.
  ??????????
• Deem is more subjective through its emphasis on
  judgment as distinguished from contemplation
• e.g. The faculty deems the essay to be by far the
  best one submitted.
• Regard often implies a personal attitude
• e.g. I regard your apology as the end of the
  matter. Account and reckon in this sense are
  rather literary in flavor and imply calculated
  judgment
• Account? reckon?????????????????,?????????????
• e.g. I account no man to be a philosopher who
  attempts to do more. (John Henry Newman).
  ????????????????,????????????(??????)?
• e.g. I cannot reckon you as an admirer.
  (Nathaniel Hawthorne).

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Paragraph 2931

• Main idea Tom, rolling with wealth now, checked
  his spoils and discovered a great law of human
  action.

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Language points

• 1. munch and nibble
• (Earlier Ben was nibbling his apple, but when Tom
  got it, he was munching it.)
• Difference
• nibble eat with small bites
• munch chew or eat audibly or with pleasure
• Nibbletr. e.g. nibble a cracker.
• e.g. If you start compromising too early...
  they nibble you to death. ???????,?????????????
  (In this sentence, nibble means to wear away or
  diminish bit by bit)

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Why apples are so covetable?

• Apples for the village kids are very desirable.
  And the children would water for delicious food.
  Thats why when Tom was thinking about the fun
  the other boys could have, he describe them as
  delicious expeditions (meaning very pleasant
  delightful)

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2. Big words and phrases

• trade buy in rolling in wealth
• analysis such terms pose a sharp contrast
  whitewashing the fence becomes a desirable
  business coveted by all, and Tom managed his
  business successfully and got rich eventually.

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3. Distinguish slaughter, massacre, butchery,
and genocide

• Slaughter extensive and ruthless killing as in a
  battle or massacre.
• Massacre implies casual, random and wholesale
  slaying, esp. of those not in a position to
  defend themselves.
• Butchery adds to slaughter the implication of
  exceeding cruelty and complete disregard of the
  suffering of the victims.
• Genocide the systematic and planned
  extermination of an entire national, racial,
  political or ethnic group. (e.g. the
  near-genocide of American Indians). syn race
  murder, racial extermination

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Consist of

• A is composed of BCD.
• A consists of BCD
• BCD constitute A.
• BCD comprise A.
• A includes B and C.

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Example

• e.g. The United Kingdom consists of/is composed
  of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
• England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
  constitute the UK.
• The UK includes England and Wales.

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Important grammar

• Johnny Miller bought in for a dead rat and a
  string to swing it with.
• A piece of blue bottle to look through.
• key point the prepositions at the end of each
  sentence shouldnt be omitted.
• e.g. The Clarks havent decided yet which
  hotel_____. TEM 1998
• A. to stay B. is to stay
• C. to stay at D. is for staying
• key C

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Exercises

• Writing write a paragraph to express your mood
  through scenery description. (homework)
• Translate the first 2 paragraphs (be original and
  avoid copying!) (homework)
• Paraphrase the key sentences.
• Exercises in the textbook.

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Further Exploration

• Finish the whole novel and write a reading
  report.
• Mark Twain is the Lincoln of Our Literature.
  ---Do you agree with this judgment? Why and why
  not?