Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-70 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Think of an old story everyone knows, such as Cinderella, the tortoise and the hare, or a superhero's origin. Now think of a movie, show or book that borrows it. What did the new version keep, and what did it change?"

   List a few pairs on the board in two columns, "Kept" and "Changed." Point out that the kept column usually holds a pattern (a poor girl, a helper, a ball, a lost shoe) or a type of character (the slow but steady one), while the changed column holds the setting, the details or the tone. RL.8.9 asks for both columns: what a modern story draws on, and how it renders that material new.

2. Direct Instruction15-20 minutes

   Terms to know:

   • Myth: an old story, first told long ago, that a people used to explain the world, its gods or its heroes, such as the Greek myths. Traditional story: a tale passed down from teller to teller, such as a fairy tale or a fable. Religious work: a sacred text, such as the Bible; in English class it is read as literature.
   • Source: the older text a writer borrows from. Modern work: here, fiction written much later than its source, such as the 1800s or today.
   • Theme: a message or big idea about life that a story develops, such as "pride comes before a fall."
   • Pattern of events: a series of events that happens in the same order in many stories, such as a warning, a rule broken and a punishment.
   • Character type: a kind of character who appears again and again in old stories, such as the trickster, the helper or the person who cannot resist a forbidden thing.
   • Draw on: to borrow from a source on purpose. Allusion: a short reference to a well-known story, person or text.
   • Rendered new: made new. A writer renders old material new by changing its setting, its form (such as a diary instead of a story), its voice or tone (the writer's attitude, such as serious or joking), its characters or its ending.
   • Parody: a funny imitation of a serious work.

   Introduce the texts. The first is from the book of Genesis in the Bible, in the King James Version, an English translation first printed in 1611. In chapter 2, God rests on the seventh day, plants a garden in Eden, forbids the man to eat from one tree, and makes a woman as his companion. The second is by Mark Twain (1835-1910), the American humorist. He first wrote Extracts from Adam's Diary in 1893 for a souvenir book about Niagara Falls, a famous waterfall on the border of the United States and Canada, and it came out as a book in 1904. Twain pretends to have translated Adam's own diary. Read the Genesis verses aloud first, then the diary.

   Words to know for Genesis: sanctified (made holy), eastward (toward the east), to dress it and to keep it (to tend and guard it), thou mayest (you may), an help meet for him (a helper fit for him, a partner), fowl (birds). For the diary: estate (a large piece of land that someone owns), waywardness (doing things one's own way), imbecility (foolishness), pretext (an excuse), dodo (a large bird that could not fly and died out in the 1600s), recklessly (without thinking), high-handed (bossy), trying (tiring and annoying), clod (throw clumps of earth at).

   2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

   2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

   [...]

   2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

   2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

   [...]

   2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

   2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

   2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

   2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

   2:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

   2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

   2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

   1Monday

   2This new creature with the long hair is a good deal in the way. It is always hanging around and following me about. I don’t like this; I am not used to company. I wish it would stay with the other animals. Cloudy to-day, wind in the east; think we shall have rain…. Where did I get that word?… I remember now—the new creature uses it.

   3Tuesday

   4Been examining the great waterfall. It is the finest thing on the estate, I think. The new creature calls it Niagara Falls—why, I am sure I do not know. Says it looks like Niagara Falls. That is not a reason; it is mere waywardness and imbecility. I get no chance to name anything myself. The new creature names everything that comes along, before I can get in a protest. And always that same pretext is offered—it looks like the thing. There is the dodo, for instance. Says the moment one looks at it one sees at a glance that it “looks like a dodo.” It will have to keep that name, no doubt. It wearies me to fret about it, and it does no good, anyway. Dodo! It looks no more like a dodo than I do.

   [...]

   5Friday

   6The naming goes recklessly on, in spite of anything I can do. I had a very good name for the estate, and it was musical and pretty —GARDEN-OF-EDEN. Privately, I continue to call it that, but not any longer publicly. The new creature says it is all woods and rocks and scenery, and therefore has no resemblance to a garden. Says it looks like a park, and does not look like anything but a park. Consequently, without consulting me, it has been new-named —NIAGARA FALLS PARK. This is sufficiently high-handed, it seems to me. And already there is a sign up:

   7KEEP OFF THE GRASS

   8My life is not as happy as it was.

   [...]

   9Sunday

   10Pulled through. This day is getting to be more and more trying. It was selected and set apart last November as a day of rest. I already had six of them per week, before. This morning found the new creature trying to clod apples out of that forbidden tree.

   • A pattern of events: the naming

     In Genesis 2:19-20, the animals are brought to Adam "to see what he would call them." How does Twain draw on this event?

     Result: Twain keeps the event of naming the creatures, but he gives the job to the wrong person. His Adam complains, "I get no chance to name anything myself. The new creature names everything that comes along" (paragraph 4). In Genesis, "whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof"; in the diary, Adam loses every naming contest, even the one for the dodo. The borrowed pattern is rendered new by turning it upside down, which makes it a joke.

   • A character type: the first man

     Genesis 2:18 says, "It is not good that the man should be alone." What kind of character is Twain's Adam?

     Result: Twain keeps the first man and the companion made for him, but his Adam does not want company at all: "I don't like this; I am not used to company. I wish it would stay with the other animals" (paragraph 2). He calls Eve "the new creature" and "it." The noble first man becomes a familiar comic type, a grumpy bachelor who likes things the way they were. The contrast with Genesis is what makes the character new, and funny.

   • Setting and form rendered new

     Genesis says God "planted a garden eastward in Eden" (2:8). What does Twain do with the garden, and with the way the story is told?

     Result: Twain turns the sacred garden into a modern American tourist park. Adam had called it "GARDEN-OF-EDEN," but it has been "new-named" "NIAGARA FALLS PARK," and there is already a sign: "KEEP OFF THE GRASS" (paragraphs 6-7). The form is new too: instead of a narrator telling what God and Adam did, Adam writes a private diary, dated by the days of the week, in plain, everyday sentences. Readers see the old story through the eyes of a complaining man.

   • A theme and a rule, borrowed and changed

     Genesis gives two rules: the seventh day is a day of rest (2:2-3), and "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it" (2:17). How does the Sunday entry draw on both?

     Result: Twain's Adam knows both rules. He says Sunday "was selected and set apart last November as a day of rest," but jokes, "I already had six of them per week, before," and he catches the new creature "trying to clod apples out of that forbidden tree" (paragraph 10). The serious theme of Genesis, obeying God's rules, is kept as the background, and Twain renders it new with humor: the day of rest bores a lazy man, and the famous fruit becomes apples knocked down with clumps of dirt.

   Borrowed, then new. Model two moves for every connection (Diagram 2): first name what is borrowed (a theme, a pattern of events or a character type) with evidence from both texts; then describe what is new (setting, form, tone, character or ending) and what the change does. Give two sentence frames: "Like ___ in the source (verse or paragraph __), ___ in the modern work ___." and "Unlike the source, the modern work ___, which makes the story ___." Show Diagram 1 and ask students which row surprised them most.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs reread the diary and the verses and answer each question before you reveal the teacher note.

   1. What stays the same? List three things from Genesis 2 that the diary never changes. Teacher note: the garden, the first man and the companion made for him, and the forbidden tree are all still there. Twain even keeps small details, such as Adam's own name for the place, "GARDEN-OF-EDEN" (paragraph 6), which echoes "the garden of Eden" (2:15). Keeping these details is what lets readers recognize the source at once.
   2. Whose point of view? Genesis is told by a narrator who knows what God says and does. Who tells the diary, and what does that change? Teacher note: Adam tells it, and he knows only what he sees, so he does not understand the "new creature" at all. He even picks up the new creature's words without meaning to: "Where did I get that word?" (paragraph 2). The limited, grumbling narrator is the main source of the humor.
   3. What is the tone? Compare the tone of Genesis 2:23 with the tone of "My life is not as happy as it was" (paragraph 8). Teacher note: in Genesis, Adam greets the woman with joy and wonder, "This is now bone of my bones." Twain's Adam sounds like a man whose neighbors have moved in next door. The serious, solemn tone becomes an everyday, comic one; this change of tone is one of the main ways the material is rendered new.

   Each pair writes three sentences: one about what the diary borrows, one about what it renders new, and one about why Twain might have made that change, each with a verse number and a paragraph number.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students now work on their own with a Greek myth and a retelling of it. Hesiod was a Greek poet who lived around 700 BC. In his poem Works and Days, the god Zeus punishes humans after Prometheus ("the son of Iapetus") steals fire from the gods and gives it to them. The passage below is from a 1914 English translation. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was an American writer who retold Greek myths for children in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys (1851). In his preface he wrote: "The author has long been of opinion that many of the classical myths were capable of being rendered into very capital reading for children." He admitted that he had "shaped anew, as his fancy dictated," stories that were two or three thousand years old. In "The Paradise of Children," he tells the story of Pandora.

   Words to know: outwitted (tricked by being clever), plague (a disaster), bade (ordered), fashion (make, shape), maiden (a young woman), snare (a trap), ere (before), remote and free from ills (far away from troubles), mortals (humans, who die, unlike the gods), in its tender infancy (very young), helpmate (a helper and companion), lamentable (sad and full of pain), afflicted (caused pain to), molested (bothered or harmed), make amends (make up for a wrong).

   1(ll. 54-59) ‘Son of Iapetus, surpassing all in cunning, you are glad that you have outwitted me and stolen fire—a great plague to you yourself and to men that shall be. But I will give men as the price for fire an evil thing in which they may all be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction.’

   2(ll. 60-68) So said the father of men and gods, and laughed aloud. And he bade famous Hephaestus make haste and mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape, like to the immortal goddesses in face; and Athene to teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied web; and golden Aphrodite to shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs. And he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argus, to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature.

   3[...] And he called this woman Pandora, because all they who dwelt on Olympus gave each a gift, a plague to men who eat bread.

   4(ll. 83-89) But when he had finished the sheer, hopeless snare, the Father sent glorious Argos-Slayer, the swift messenger of the gods, to take it to Epimetheus as a gift. And Epimetheus did not think on what Prometheus had said to him, bidding him never take a gift of Olympian Zeus, but to send it back for fear it might prove to be something harmful to men. But he took the gift, and afterwards, when the evil thing was already his, he understood.

   5(ll. 90-105) For ere this the tribes of men lived on earth remote and free from ills and hard toil and heavy sickness which bring the Fates upon men; for in misery men grow old quickly. But the woman took off the great lid of the jar with her hands and scattered all these and her thought caused sorrow and mischief to men. Only Hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door; for ere that, the lid of the jar stopped her, by the will of Aegis-holding Zeus who gathers the clouds. But the rest, countless plagues, wander amongst men; for earth is full of evils and the sea is full. Of themselves diseases come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently; for wise Zeus took away speech from them. So is there no way to escape the will of Zeus.

   1Long, long ago, when this old world was in its tender infancy, there was a child, named Epimetheus, who never had either father or mother; and, that he might not be lonely, another child, fatherless and motherless like himself, was sent from a far country, to live with him, and be his playfellow and helpmate. Her name was Pandora.

   2The first thing that Pandora saw, when she entered the cottage where Epimetheus dwelt, was a great box. And almost the first question which she put to him, after crossing the threshold, was this,--

   3"Epimetheus, what have you in that box?"

   4"My dear little Pandora," answered Epimetheus, "that is a secret, and you must be kind enough not to ask any questions about it. The box was left here to be kept safely, and I do not myself know what it contains."

   [...]

   5It is thousands of years since Epimetheus and Pandora were alive; and the world, nowadays, is a very different sort of thing from what it was in their time. Then, everybody was a child. There needed no fathers and mothers to take care of the children; because there was no danger, nor trouble of any kind, and no clothes to be mended, and there was always plenty to eat and drink. Whenever a child wanted his dinner, he found it growing on a tree; and, if he looked at the tree in the morning, he could see the expanding blossom of that night's supper; or, at eventide, he saw the tender bud of to-morrow's breakfast. It was a very pleasant life indeed. No labor to be done, no tasks to be studied; nothing but sports and dances, and sweet voices of children talking, or carolling like birds, or gushing out in merry laughter, throughout the livelong day.

   6What was most wonderful of all, the children never quarrelled among themselves; neither had they any crying fits; nor, since time first began, had a single one of these little mortals ever gone apart into a corner, and sulked. Oh, what a good time was that to be alive in? The truth is, those ugly little winged monsters, called Troubles, which are now almost as numerous as mosquitoes, had never yet been seen on the earth. It is probable that the very greatest disquietude which a child had ever experienced was Pandora's vexation at not being able to discover the secret of the mysterious box.

   1As Pandora raised the lid, the cottage grew very dark and dismal; for the black cloud had now swept quite over the sun, and seemed to have buried it alive. There had, for a little while past, been a low growling and muttering, which all at once broke into a heavy peal of thunder. But Pandora, heeding nothing of all this, lifted the lid nearly upright, and looked inside. It seemed as if a sudden swarm of winged creatures brushed past her, taking flight out of the box, while, at the same instant, she heard the voice of Epimetheus, with a lamentable tone, as if he were in pain.

   2"Oh, I am stung!" cried he. "I am stung! Naughty Pandora! why have you opened this wicked box?"

   [...]

   3Now, if you wish to know what these ugly things might be, which had made their escape out of the box, I must tell you that they were the whole family of earthly Troubles. There were evil Passions; there were a great many species of Cares; there were more than a hundred and fifty Sorrows; there were Diseases, in a vast number of miserable and painful shapes; there were more kinds of Naughtiness than it would be of any use to talk about. In short, everything that has since afflicted the souls and bodies of mankind had been shut up in the mysterious box, and given to Epimetheus and Pandora to be kept safely, in order that the happy children of the world might never be molested by them. Had they been faithful to their trust, all would have gone well. No grown person would ever have been sad, nor any child have had cause to shed a single tear, from that hour until this moment.

   [...]

   4"Pray, who are you, beautiful creature?" inquired Pandora.

   5"I am to be called Hope!" answered the sunshiny figure. "And because I am such a cheery little body, I was packed into the box, to make amends to the human race for that swarm of ugly Troubles, which was destined to be let loose among them. Never fear! we shall do pretty well in spite of them all."

   6"Your wings are colored like the rainbow!" exclaimed Pandora. "How very beautiful!"

   7"Yes, they are like the rainbow," said Hope, "because, glad as my nature is, I am partly made of tears as well as smiles."

   On the handout, students fill in a three-column chart (What Hesiod tells, What Hawthorne keeps, What Hawthorne makes new) with five rows: who Pandora is, what holds the evils, what the world was like before, who is to blame, and what happens to Hope. Then they write two sentences: one naming a theme or pattern Hawthorne borrows, and one explaining a change he makes. The quiz uses these three passages, so do not discuss answers until students have finished the chart.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) In one sentence, explain what "rendered new" means. (2) Name one thing Twain borrows from Genesis and one thing he makes new, with a verse number and a paragraph number.

   Teacher note on language and content: the passages are quoted exactly as published. The Bible is read here as literature, and the standard itself names "religious works such as the Bible" as a source: students analyze how Twain uses the verses, and the lesson takes no position on religious belief. Twain's diary is a parody, so it treats sacred material with humor; students may respond differently, and all responses should be backed by the text. Hesiod's ancient poem presents the first woman as a punishment sent to men, with "a shameless mind and a deceitful nature"; this is an ancient attitude that students can notice and discuss, and Hawthorne's retelling changes it. The Grimms' tale calls the elves "little naked men" because they arrive without clothes, which is why the gift of clothes matters.

   For homework: students read a traditional tale and a modern story, printed below. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were German brothers who collected and published folk tales, starting in 1812; this English translation is from 1884. "The Night Shift" is an original modern story written for this page. Words to know: commended himself to God (said a prayer for God's care), astonishment (great surprise), honest independence (enough money earned honestly to live on), befell (happened), thee and thou (older words for "you"), vests (short jackets), rapidity (speed), cobblers (shoemakers), prospered (went well).

   1A shoemaker, by no fault of his own, had become so poor that at last he had nothing left but leather for one pair of shoes. So in the evening, he cut out the shoes which he wished to begin to make the next morning, and as he had a good conscience, he lay down quietly in his bed, commended himself to God, and fell asleep. In the morning, after he had said his prayers, and was just going to sit down to work, the two shoes stood quite finished on his table. [...] The following morning, too, he found the four pairs made; and so it went on constantly, what he cut out in the evening was finished by the morning, so that he soon had his honest independence again, and at last became a wealthy man. Now it befell that one evening not long before Christmas, when the man had been cutting out, he said to his wife, before going to bed, “What think you if we were to stay up to-night to see who it is that lends us this helping hand?” [...] When it was midnight, two pretty little naked men came, sat down by the shoemaker’s table, took all the work which was cut out before them and began to stitch, and sew, and hammer so skilfully and so quickly with their little fingers that the shoemaker could not turn away his eyes for astonishment. They did not stop until all was done, and stood finished on the table, and they ran quickly away.

   2Next morning the woman said, “The little men have made us rich, and we really must show that we are grateful for it. They run about so, and have nothing on, and must be cold. I’ll tell thee what I’ll do: I will make them little shirts, and coats, and vests, and trousers, and knit both of them a pair of stockings, and do thou, too, make them two little pairs of shoes.” [...] At midnight they came bounding in, and wanted to get to work at once, but as they did not find any leather cut out, but only the pretty little articles of clothing, they were at first astonished, and then they showed intense delight. They dressed themselves with the greatest rapidity, putting the pretty clothes on, and singing,

   3“Now we are boys so fine to see,
   Why should we longer cobblers be?”

   4Then they danced and skipped and leapt over chairs and benches. At last they danced out of doors. From that time forth they came no more, but as long as the shoemaker lived all went well with him, and all his undertakings prospered.

   1By March, Lena Park's repair shop was down to its last box of parts. Her father had fixed bicycles on Alder Street for twenty years, and since he hurt his back, Lena, who was nineteen, had kept the shop open by herself. Every night she laid out the next day's jobs on the long workbench: a bike with a flat tire, a bike with a snapped chain, each with a paper tag and the owner's name.

   2On Tuesday morning, the jobs were done. The tire held air, the chain ran smooth and clean, and someone had even oiled the squeaky pedals she had not had time to look at. Nothing was missing. The back door was still locked, the way she had left it.

   3She told no one but her father. "Take the luck," he said from the couch. "Luck does not knock twice."

   4It knocked again. Wednesday, three bikes. Thursday, five. Customers told their friends that Park's Cycles did same-day repairs, and by the end of the month Lena had paid the rent and ordered a whole wall of new parts.

   5On the last night of the month she hid behind a stack of old tires and waited. A little after midnight, the loose board under the back window slid aside, and two kids climbed in: a boy of about ten and a girl a little older, in thin jackets and sneakers held together with tape. Lena knew them. They lived in the apartment above the laundromat, and all last summer they had watched her father work through the shop window. They went straight to the bench without a word and worked the way he had taught her: fast, careful, whistling under their breath.

   6Lena did not move until they left. Then she went home and told her father.

   7"They're cold," he said. "Did you see their shoes?"

   8The next night Lena left no bikes on the bench. She left two winter coats, two pairs of good sneakers, and a card: "Thank you. The shop opens at nine on Saturdays. You're hired, if you want the job."

   9From behind the tires she watched them find it. The girl read the card twice. The boy pulled on the sneakers and ran a lap around the shop, laughing. Then they climbed out the back window, and they never came in that way again.

   10At nine on Saturday, they came in through the front door.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In RL.8.9, what does it mean to say that a modern story renders new material from an older source?

   AThe writer copies the old story nearly word for word and gives it a new title and a new cover BThe writer changes what is borrowed, such as its setting, tone or ending, so it works in a new way CThe writer translates the old story from its first language into English, so new readers can enjoy it DThe writer invents a story that has no connection at all to any older myth or tale

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which pattern of events do Hesiod's myth and Hawthorne's story share?

   AA container that should stay shut is opened, evils escape into the world, and Hope is inside it BA god gives the first people fire, and they use the fire to break open a locked box full of evils CTwo children steal a box from the gods and hide it away in their little cottage DA messenger warns Pandora never to open the jar, and in the end she obeys him

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How does Hawthorne change the character of Pandora?

   ABoth versions make Pandora a grown woman whom the gods shape out of a mixture of earth and water BHesiod's Pandora is a small child; Hawthorne's is a goddess who lives on Olympus CHesiod's Pandora is a trap made by the gods; Hawthorne's is an orphan sent to be a playmate DBoth versions send Pandora as a punishment for the theft of fire by Epimetheus

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does Hawthorne keep from Hesiod's picture of the world before the evils escaped?

   AIt was a time when people and gods lived together on Olympus BIt was a time of war, before the gods finally made their peace CIt was a time when a cruel king ruled over every human being DIt was a time with no troubles or sickness and no hard work

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How does Hawthorne render that early world new?

   AHe moves it to a busy modern city where the children go to school every morning BHe makes it a world where everybody is a child and meals grow on trees, like a daydream CHe leaves it out and begins his story only after the box has already been opened by Pandora DHe describes it as a dark and frightening time, before the gods gave people fire

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail of the myth does Hawthorne change?

   AHesiod's "great jar" becomes "a great box" in Epimetheus's cottage BHesiod's golden box becomes a clay jar hidden inside Pandora's cottage CThe evils are kept in a jar in both, but only Hesiod's jar has a lid DThe evils are kept in a locked chest in both, with the key kept by Zeus

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How do the two versions assign the blame for what happens?

   ABoth versions blame Zeus alone, and neither one blames Pandora or Epimetheus BHesiod blames only Epimetheus for opening the jar, while Hawthorne blames Pandora alone for it CHesiod blames the woman for opening the jar; Hawthorne says both children failed their trust DNeither version ever says who opened the container, so the question is left open

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What happens to Hope in each version?

   AIn both versions, Hope escapes along with all the other evils and is lost somewhere out in the world BIn Hesiod, Hope is the first thing to fly out of the jar; Hawthorne's story leaves Hope out CIn both versions, Hope stays inside the container forever and is never seen or heard DIn Hesiod, Hope stays shut in the jar; in Hawthorne, Hope talks to the children and cheers them

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which statement best describes how Hawthorne changes the theme of the myth?

   AHesiod stresses that curiosity is always rewarded; Hawthorne stresses that it is always punished BHesiod stresses that no one escapes the gods' punishment; Hawthorne stresses that hope helps people bear trouble CBoth stress that the gods love people and send them gifts to make their lives easier and happier DHesiod stresses that fire is dangerous to people; Hawthorne stresses that boxes should never, ever be opened by anyone

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    How does Hawthorne make the evils easier for young readers to picture?

    AHe turns them into a swarm of winged creatures that sting, like insects children know BHe gives each evil a human name and a long speech of its own, so it can explain itself CHe keeps Hesiod's picture exactly: silent diseases that no one can ever see or hear DHe leaves the evils out of the story and shows only the happy creature called Hope

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Read paragraph 6 of the opening of "The Paradise of Children." How does Hawthorne's narrator render the old myth new?

    AHe tells the whole story in lines of verse, with line numbers in parentheses, just as Hesiod's translator does BHe lets Pandora tell her own story, so readers know only what she thinks and sees CHe talks to young readers and compares the Troubles to mosquitoes, like someone telling a bedtime story DHe leaves out the narrator entirely, so readers hear the characters speak and nothing else

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    How does Hawthorne's Epimetheus compare with Hesiod's?

    AIn both versions, Epimetheus opens the container himself while Pandora is out of the house playing BIn Hesiod, Epimetheus refuses the gift; in Hawthorne, he steals the box from the gods CHawthorne leaves Epimetheus out of the story and gives the box to Pandora alone DIn both, Epimetheus accepts something he is given; Hawthorne makes him a child who keeps it safe

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Hope says her wings are like the rainbow because "I am partly made of tears as well as smiles" (paragraph 7 of the second excerpt). What does this detail suggest?

    AHope is really one more Trouble, only disguised as something very pretty BHope is mixed with sadness: it comes to people when they are unhappy CHope will fly away as soon as the rain and the thunder have stopped DHope belongs only to children who have never had any reason to cry

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which character type from old stories does Hawthorne's Pandora fit?

    AThe curious one who cannot leave a forbidden thing alone BThe trickster who likes to fool others just for fun CThe wise old helper who guides a young hero on a long quest DThe brave warrior who hunts down and defeats monsters

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which question would best begin an RL.8.9 analysis of a modern story and its source?

    AWhich of the two stories was written first, and in exactly what year was each written? BDid the author of the modern story enjoy writing it, and why or why not? CWhat does the modern story borrow from its source, and what does it change? DHow many pages long is each of the two stories, and which is longer?

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Name one theme that Hesiod's myth and Hawthorne's story share. In 2-3 sentences, explain how each text presents it, with a quotation from each.

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Choose one change Hawthorne makes to the myth. In 2-3 sentences, explain why a writer telling the story to children might make that change.

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    List three events, in order, that happen in both Hesiod's myth and Hawthorne's story. Give the paragraph where each appears in each text.

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    In his preface, Hawthorne says he "shaped anew, as his fancy dictated," myths that were thousands of years old. In 2-3 sentences, explain what he shaped anew in "The Paradise of Children," using one detail from each version of the myth.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    In 2-3 sentences, explain the difference between a translation of a myth, such as Evelyn-White's Hesiod, and a modern work that draws on the myth, such as Hawthorne's story.

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These standards connect to RL.8.9: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.