Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-65 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Think of a custom in your family or community that a visitor might find surprising, such as a greeting, a holiday food, or who eats first. How would you explain it? What might a visitor get wrong if they only watched from the doorway?"

   Take three or four answers. Point out the two positions in the prompt: the insider who lives a custom and the visitor who only sees it. Tell students that the stories today were written in India, France and Russia, and that each one is told from a particular position inside its own world. Their job is to name that position and to notice what it lets the story see and what it hides.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Set up the terms. Write them on the board and keep them up all period:

   • Point of view (as this standard uses it): not only first or third person, but the position a story sees from. Ask: who tells or sees, from what place, class, family role and time?
   • Cultural experience: a way of life a work reflects, such as its customs, beliefs, ranks and family arrangements, and what they feel like to the people who live them.
   • Taken for granted: what a viewpoint assumes without saying so. It is often where a reader from another culture has to slow down.

   Background, briefly. Tagore (1861-1941) was a Bengali poet and story writer who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. The story is set in Calcutta (now Kolkata) during British rule. A "Cabuliwallah" is a man from Kabul; the story's Rahmun comes to the city each year to sell dried fruit and goes home to Afghanistan in January. Read the first excerpt aloud.

   1Now most small Bengali maidens have heard long ago about the father-in-law's house; but we, being a little new-fangled, had kept these things from our child, and Mini at this question must have been a trifle bewildered. But she would not show it, and with ready tact replied: "Are you going there?"

   2Amongst men of the Cabuliwallah's class, however, it is well known that the words father-in-law's house have a double meaning. It is a euphemism for jail, the place where we are well cared for, at no expense to ourselves. In this sense would the sturdy pedlar take my daughter's question. "Ah," he would say, shaking his fist at an invisible policeman, "I will thrash my father-in-law!" Hearing this, and picturing the poor discomfited relative, Mini would go off into peals of laughter, in which her formidable friend would join.

   3These were autumn mornings, the very time of year when kings of old went forth to conquest; and I, never stirring from my little corner in Calcutta, would let my mind wander over the whole world. At the very name of another country, my heart would go out to it, and at the sight of a foreigner in the streets, I would fall to weaving a network of dreams,--the mountains, the glens, and the forests of his distant home, with his cottage in its setting, and the free and independent life of far-away wilds. Perhaps the scenes of travel conjure themselves up before me and pass and repass in my imagination all the more vividly, because I lead such a vegetable existence that a call to travel would fall upon me like a thunder-bolt. In the presence of this Cabuliwallah I was immediately transported to the foot of arid mountain peaks, with narrow little defiles twisting in and out amongst their towering heights. I could see the string of camels bearing the merchandise, and the company of turbanned merchants carrying some their queer old firearms, and some their spears, journeying downward towards the plains. I could see--. But at some such point Mini's mother would intervene, imploring me to "beware of that man."

   4Mini's mother is unfortunately a very timid lady. Whenever she hears a noise in the street, or sees people coming towards the house, she always jumps to the conclusion that they are either thieves, or drunkards, or snakes, or tigers, or malaria, or cockroaches, or caterpillars. Even after all these years of experience, she is not able to overcome her terror. So she was full of doubts about the Cabuliwallah, and used to beg me to keep a watchful eye on him.

   5I tried to laugh her fear gently away, but then she would turn round on me seriously, and ask me solemn questions:--

   6Were children never kidnapped?

   7Was it, then, not true that there was slavery in Cabul?

   8Was it so very absurd that this big man should be able to carry off a tiny child?

   9I urged that, though not impossible, it was highly improbable. But this was not enough, and her dread persisted. As it was indefinite, however, it did not seem right to forbid the man the house, and the intimacy went on unchecked.

   • Whose point of view?

     Paragraph 3: "I, never stirring from my little corner in Calcutta, would let my mind wander over the whole world." Whose viewpoint shapes the picture of Afghanistan that follows?

     Result: The narrator's: a city writer who rarely travels. The "arid mountain peaks" and "string of camels" are his imagined scenes, so the paragraph tells readers more about his daydreams than about Rahmun's real home.

   • A cultural experience from inside

     Paragraph 1: "most small Bengali maidens have heard long ago about the father-in-law's house." What custom is the story reflecting, and where does the narrator's family stand?

     Result: A Bengali bride leaves her parents' home to live with her husband's family, so girls hear about "the father-in-law's house" early. The phrase carries a whole family arrangement, and the narrator expects his readers to know it without explanation.

   • A second viewpoint in the same house

     Paragraph 4 lists what the mother fears: "thieves, or drunkards, or snakes, or tigers, or malaria, or cockroaches, or caterpillars." What does the list suggest about her fear of Rahmun?

     Result: The list mixes real dangers with small ones and ends in caterpillars, so her fear reads as a general dread of anything from outside the house. Her worry about Rahmun grows from that habit, not from anything he has done.

   • Revising a claim about culture

     A student writes: "Afghan traders were dangerous, which is why the mother is afraid." How should the sentence be revised?

     Result: The sentence turns one character's fear into a fact about a people. Better: "The mother's fear reflects ideas about foreign strangers in her world, and the story tests those ideas against what Rahmun actually does."

   Model the three questions on one sentence. Who sees? The narrator. From where? A comfortable Calcutta study, as a father and a writer. What does he take for granted? That his romantic picture of the "free and independent life" of the mountains is close to the truth. Tell students the second excerpt will test that picture.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Tell students that Rahmun has spent years in prison after a quarrel over a debt, and that he returns on the day of Mini's wedding. Read the ending aloud, then work through three details with pairs, asking them to answer before you confirm.

   1I took them and was going to pay him, but he caught my hand and said: "You are very kind, sir! Keep me in your recollection. Do not offer me money!--You have a little girl: I too have one like her in my own home. I think of her, and bring fruits to your child--not to make a profit for myself."

   2Saying this, he put his hand inside his big loose robe, and brought out a small and dirty piece of paper. With great care he unfolded this, and smoothed it out with both hands on my table. It bore the impression of a little hand. Not a photograph. Not a drawing. The impression of an ink-smeared hand laid flat on the paper. This touch of his own little daughter had been always on his heart, as he had come year after year to Calcutta to sell his wares in the streets.

   3Tears came to my eyes. I forgot that he was a poor Cabuli fruit-seller, while I was--. But no, what was I more than he? He also was a father.

   [...]

   4I sent for Mini immediately from the inner apartment. Many difficulties were raised, but I would not listen. Clad in the red silk of her wedding-day, with the sandal paste on her forehead, and adorned as a young bride, Mini came, and stood bashfully before me.

   5The Cabuliwallah looked a little staggered at the apparition. He could not revive their old friendship. At last he smiled and said: "Little one, are you going to your father-in-law's house?"

   6But Mini now understood the meaning of the word "father-in-law," and she could not reply to him as of old. She flushed up at the question, and stood before him with her bride-like face turned down.

   7I remembered the day when the Cabuliwallah and my Mini had first met, and I felt sad. When she had gone, Rahmun heaved a deep sigh, and sat down on the floor. The idea had suddenly come to him that his daughter too must have grown in this long time, and that he would have to make friends with her anew. Assuredly he would not find her as he used to know her. And besides, what might not have happened to her in these eight years?

   8The marriage-pipes sounded, and the mild autumn sun streamed round us. But Rahmun sat in the little Calcutta lane, and saw before him the barren mountains of Afghanistan.

   9I took out a bank-note and gave it to him, saying: "Go back to your own daughter, Rahmun, in your own country, and may the happiness of your meeting bring good fortune to my child!"

   10Having made this present, I had to curtail some of the festivities. I could not have the electric lights I had intended, nor the military band, and the ladies of the house were despondent at it. But to me the wedding-feast was all the brighter for the thought that in a distant land a long-lost father met again with his only child.

   1. "You have a little girl: I too have one like her in my own home" (paragraph 1). Teacher note: this is the first time Rahmun explains himself at length. His reason for the gifts is a father's, not a trader's ("not to make a profit for myself"), and it answers the mother's old suspicion without anyone mentioning it.
   2. The handprint: "Not a photograph. Not a drawing" (paragraph 2). Teacher note: an ink print of a hand is a keepsake a poor man can make and carry. The short, broken sentences slow the narrator down, as if he is looking closely at Rahmun's life for the first time.
   3. "Rahmun sat in the little Calcutta lane, and saw before him the barren mountains of Afghanistan" (paragraph 8). Teacher note: compare the "arid mountain peaks" the narrator imagined in the first excerpt. The same mountains are now seen from Rahmun's side: not an adventure but a home and a daughter he has not seen in years.

   Each pair completes one sentence and reads it aloud: "By the end, the story shows Rahmun as ___ rather than ___, because the narrator ___." Push pairs to name the narrator's change of position, not just Rahmun's goodness.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read the opening of "The Diamond Necklace" on their own. Maupassant wrote it for a Paris newspaper in 1884; Mathilde's husband works as a clerk in a government ministry. On the lens chart, students answer the three questions (who sees, from where, what is taken for granted) and add one row comparing this household with the Calcutta household in "The Cabuliwallah." The quiz questions on this passage work as a check once they finish.

   1The girl was one of those pretty and charming young creatures who sometimes are born, as if by a slip of fate, into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no expectations, no way of being known, understood, loved, married by any rich and distinguished man; so she let herself be married to a little clerk of the Ministry of Public Instruction.

   2She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was unhappy as if she had really fallen from a higher station; since with women there is neither caste nor rank, for beauty, grace and charm take the place of family and birth. Natural ingenuity, instinct for what is elegant, a supple mind are their sole hierarchy, and often make of women of the people the equals of the very greatest ladies.

   3Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries. She was distressed at the poverty of her dwelling, at the bareness of the walls, at the shabby chairs, the ugliness of the curtains. All those things, of which another woman of her rank would never even have been conscious, tortured her and made her angry. The sight of the little Breton peasant who did her humble housework aroused in her despairing regrets and bewildering dreams. She thought of silent antechambers hung with Oriental tapestry, illumined by tall bronze candelabra, and of two great footmen in knee breeches who sleep in the big armchairs, made drowsy by the oppressive heat of the stove. She thought of long reception halls hung with ancient silk, of the dainty cabinets containing priceless curiosities and of the little coquettish perfumed reception rooms made for chatting at five o'clock with intimate friends, with men famous and sought after, whom all women envy and whose attention they all desire.

   4When she sat down to dinner, before the round table covered with a tablecloth in use three days, opposite her husband, who uncovered the soup tureen and declared with a delighted air, “Ah, the good soup! I don't know anything better than that,” she thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry that peopled the walls with ancient personages and with strange birds flying in the midst of a fairy forest; and she thought of delicious dishes served on marvellous plates and of the whispered gallantries to which you listen with a sphinxlike smile while you are eating the pink meat of a trout or the wings of a quail.

   5She had no gowns, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that. She felt made for that. She would have liked so much to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after.

   6She had a friend, a former schoolmate at the convent, who was rich, and whom she did not like to go to see any more because she felt so sad when she came home.

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Name one thing the narrator of "The Cabuliwallah" takes for granted at the start that the ending questions. (2) Name one way Mathilde's world in Paris and the narrator's world in Calcutta rank people differently, with a word from each text.

   Teacher note on language and customs: the texts are quoted exactly as translated. Mini's mother asks whether there was "slavery in Cabul"; treat this as a character's fear built from rumor about foreigners, which the story itself tests, and not as information about Afghanistan. The story's timeline implies that Mini marries in her early teens, which reflects marriage customs of the period; name this plainly if students ask and keep the focus on how the story presents the parting. "Oriental" in "The Diamond Necklace" (paragraph 3) is a dated European word for things from Asia. British spellings (marvellous, theatre) are the translators'.

   For homework: students read part I of Tolstoy's story below, which the homework uses. In the story, the peasants live in a Russian village where the large clay stove heats the hut and people often sleep on top of it.

   1An elder sister came to visit her younger sister in the country. The elder was married to a tradesman in town, the younger to a peasant in the village. As the sisters sat over their tea talking, the elder began to boast of the advantages of town life: saying how comfortably they lived there, how well they dressed, what fine clothes her children wore, what good things they ate and drank, and how she went to the theatre, promenades, and entertainments.

   2The younger sister was piqued, and in turn disparaged the life of a tradesman, and stood up for that of a peasant.

   3"I would not change my way of life for yours," said she. "We may live roughly, but at least we are free from anxiety. You live in better style than we do, but though you often earn more than you need, you are very likely to lose all you have. You know the proverb, 'Loss and gain are brothers twain.' It often happens that people who are wealthy one day are begging their bread the next. Our way is safer. Though a peasant's life is not a fat one, it is a long one. We shall never grow rich, but we shall always have enough to eat."

   4The elder sister said sneeringly:

   5"Enough? Yes, if you like to share with the pigs and the calves! What do you know of elegance or manners! However much your good man may slave, you will die as you are living-on a dung heap-and your children the same."

   6"Well, what of that?" replied the younger. "Of course our work is rough and coarse. But, on the other hand, it is sure; and we need not bow to any one. But you, in your towns, are surrounded by temptations; today all may be right, but tomorrow the Evil One may tempt your husband with cards, wine, or women, and all will go to ruin. Don't such things happen often enough?"

   7Pahom, the master of the house, was lying on the top of the oven, and he listened to the women's chatter.

   8"It is perfectly true," thought he. "Busy as we are from childhood tilling Mother Earth, we peasants have no time to let any nonsense settle in our heads. Our only trouble is that we haven't land enough. If I had plenty of land, I shouldn't fear the Devil himself!"

   9The women finished their tea, chatted a while about dress, and then cleared away the tea-things and lay down to sleep.

   10But the Devil had been sitting behind the oven, and had heard all that was said. He was pleased that the peasant's wife had led her husband into boasting, and that he had said that if he had plenty of land he would not fear the Devil himself.

   11"All right," thought the Devil. "We will have a tussle. I'll give you land enough; and by means of that land I will get you into my power."

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A student writes: "'The Cabuliwallah' is told in the first person." Which added sentence turns this into the kind of analysis RL.9-10.6 asks for?

   AThe story also has a clear beginning, a middle and an ending that surprises many readers. BThe "I" is a Calcutta writer and father, so Rahmun is seen from inside a Bengali home. CTagore also wrote many poems, songs and plays during his long career in Bengal. DThe story teaches every reader to be kind to the strangers who come to the door.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 9 of the first excerpt of "The Cabuliwallah," why does the narrator keep letting Rahmun visit the house?

   AMini's mother has changed her mind and now trusts the stranger. BRahmun has promised to leave Calcutta and never come back. CThe narrator owes Rahmun money for the grapes he bought. DThe fear has nothing definite behind it, so a ban seems unfair.

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 4 of the first excerpt, the narrator says, "Mini's mother is unfortunately a very timid lady." How should a careful reader take this description?

   AAs the husband's view of his wife, to be weighed against a parent's reasons to worry BAs a fact the story proves when Rahmun later carries off a child from the neighbourhood CAs Rahmun's own opinion of the mother, which he shares with the narrator on a visit DAs a statement that every mother in Calcutta was as fearful as this one

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 1 of the first excerpt, the narrator says his family, "being a little new-fangled, had kept these things from our child." What does this show about the family?

   AThey have rejected Bengali marriage customs and will never arrange a marriage for Mini. BThey have just arrived from Kabul and have not yet learned the customs of Bengal. CThey are a slightly modern Bengali family who delay a custom that others teach early. DThey are ashamed of the custom and have told the servants never to mention it.

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 3 of the second excerpt, the narrator says, "I forgot that he was a poor Cabuli fruit-seller, while I was--. But no, what was I more than he?" What does the broken-off sentence show?

   AThe narrator cannot remember what work he himself does for a living. BHe begins to rank himself above Rahmun, then stops: both are fathers. CHe is angry that Rahmun has interrupted the wedding preparations. DHe decides to give up writing and travel to Afghanistan himself.

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The narrator gives Rahmun a bank-note and then cuts "the electric lights" and "the military band" from the wedding (paragraphs 9-10 of the second excerpt). What does this choice show?

   AHe never wanted a large wedding and was glad to have an excuse to cancel it. BThe ladies of the house had asked him to spend less money on the wedding. CHe wants Rahmun to leave quickly because an ex-prisoner is a bad sign at a wedding. DHe now values a father's reunion more than the display expected at the wedding.

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The opening of "The Diamond Necklace" says Mathilde "had no dowry, no expectations, no way of being known, understood, loved, married by any rich and distinguished man." What cultural experience does this reflect?

   AIn her France, money and family connections largely decided whom a young woman could marry. BIn her France, young women chose husbands for love alone, whatever their family's money or name. CIn her France, ministry clerks were the richest husbands a young woman could hope for. DIn her France, a woman without a dowry was forbidden by law to marry at all.

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Paragraph 2 of "The Diamond Necklace" says that "with women there is neither caste nor rank, for beauty, grace and charm take the place of family and birth." Which description of this sentence is best?

   AIt is a line from a letter Mathilde writes to her rich friend from school. BIt proves that the France of the story had no social ranks of any kind. CIt is the narrator's general claim about women, a view readers can test. DIt is her husband's reply when Mathilde complains about their small home.

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why does "the little Breton peasant who did her humble housework" (paragraph 3) stir "despairing regrets" in Mathilde?

   AThe servant is rude to Mathilde and refuses to finish the housework. BA single humble maid shows how far she is from the homes she dreams of. CMathilde wishes she could leave Paris and live in a village in Brittany. DThe servant is secretly richer than Mathilde and her husband put together.

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    At dinner her husband uncovers the soup and says, "Ah, the good soup! I don't know anything better than that" (paragraph 4). What contrast in point of view does the paragraph set up?

    AHusband and wife are equally unhappy with their modest dinners at home. BThe husband is a trained cook who is proud of the soup he has made. CMathilde prefers simple soup to the fine dishes served at rich tables. DHe is content within their station; she measures her table against the rich.

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why does Mathilde no longer like to visit her rich friend from the convent school (paragraph 6)?

    ASeeing her friend's wealth makes her own home feel poorer by comparison. BThe friend once insulted Mathilde's husband and his work at the ministry. CThe convent school forbids its former pupils to visit one another. DMathilde is too busy with housework to find time for social calls.

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Paragraph 1 says Mathilde "let herself be married to a little clerk of the Ministry of Public Instruction." What does the word "little" most likely signal here?

    AThe husband is shorter than most of the men she knows in Paris. BThe Ministry of Public Instruction is a small office with few workers. CHis low rank, seen through Mathilde's disappointment in the match. DThe husband is several years younger than Mathilde herself.

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which question best keeps a reader's analysis of a culture grounded in the text rather than in stereotypes?

    AWhat do I already believe about people who come from this country? BWhich character in the story is the most like me and my own friends? CIs the culture in this story better or worse than my own culture? DWhich details show how this custom works and how the characters feel?

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student who has read only "The Diamond Necklace" concludes, "French people in the 1880s cared only about wealth." Which response best reflects the standard's call for a wide reading of world literature?

    ATest the claim against other characters and other French works before generalizing about a nation. BAccept the claim, since one well-known story can stand for a whole nation and its people. CDrop the claim, since stories from other countries cannot tell readers anything about real cultures. DReplace it with a claim about Americans, since readers understand their own culture best.

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Paragraph 2 of the first excerpt explains that "father-in-law's house" has a double meaning. Explain both meanings, and what the shared joke shows about the friendship between Mini and Rahmun.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    At the end, Rahmun asks the old question again, and Mini "could not reply to him as of old" (paragraphs 5-6 of the second excerpt). Explain why, and what cultural experience the change reflects.

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    In paragraph 7 of the second excerpt, the story moves into Rahmun's thoughts: "The idea had suddenly come to him that his daughter too must have grown in this long time." What does this shift in point of view add to the story?

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    "She had no gowns, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that" (paragraph 5 of "The Diamond Necklace"). Explain what Mathilde's wishes show about the values of the society she lives in, and how the narrator's wording presents them.

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Tagore's narrator is a character in his story; Maupassant's narrator is not. Explain how each choice affects what readers learn about the household and its culture, with a quotation from each work.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    A classmate writes: "Maupassant shows that all French women of his time cared only about luxury." Using paragraph 3 of "The Diamond Necklace," explain why this claim overgeneralizes.

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These standards connect to RL.9-10.6: 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.