1a. What are Mary's fantasies about?
2a. What is Mary's reaction when Ernie says Ta-Na-E-Ka is a "pretty silly thing to do to a kid"?
3a. How did Grandfather easily endure the entire period of his Ta-Na-E-Ka test?
1b. What is she probably looking for in these fantasies?
2b. Why does she react this way when she herself had been thinking the same thing for months?
3b. What is similar about Mary's and Grandfather's experiences of Ta-Na-E-Ka?
4a. Examine the events in the story that show Mary's careful honesty about money. Then examine the events that show her being dishonest about other matters—for example, her half-truths, lies, and sneaking actions. Rank the seriousness of her deceptions on a scale of one (least serious) to ten (most serious).
4b. What are the main causes for Mary's dishonest behavior? Why doesn't she feel guilty or uncomfortable about it?
5a. How effective is the author in creating a believable plot? How strong of a person does Mary seem to you, and why? To what extent, if any, did her making friends with Ernie impress Grandfather?
5b. Tests of endurance occur throughout life in all cultures. What strategies and attitudes from the story would you choose to apply to the test you will face? Why do you think these strategies might work in more than one situation?
Dialogue. What did you learn about Grandfather and his beliefs from what he says? What did you learn about Ernie and his beliefs? about Mary and her beliefs?
Plot. What is the main conflict in "Ta-Na-E-Ka"? What part or parts of the story introduce you to the plot and characters? How do events within the middle section of the story help to develop the plot? How do events at the end of the story bring a conclusion to the story? How are problems or conflicts resolved at the end?
1. Pretend you are Roger. Write a diary entry about some of the details and experiences of your five-day Ta-Na-E-Ka.
2. Imagine you are Mary in her sixties and you are training your granddaughter for her Ta-Na-E-Ka. Make an outline for your granddaughter that lists the topics you will cover in the training.
3. Imagine that you are an editor at a medium-sized newspaper. Write an editorial for the newspaper that explains your views on the value of taking wilderness survival training.
Developing Dialogue. With a partner, develop and outline a dialogue between Mary and Roger describing and comparing the specifics of each of their Ta-Na-E-Kas. Record your dialogue below before you begin role-playing the conversation.
Research: Research log. Use this log to keep track of the sources you use, the information you find, and your reactions to what you find when researching the transfer of Native American lands to the United States.
Books and print sources:
Internet sources:
Key Points:
Your reactions:
Parts of Speech. The parts of speech are: noun, verb, pronoun, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. Review the definitions and examples given for each part of speech in the Language Arts Survey 3.7, "Grammar Reference Chart—Parts of Speech Overview." Then, identify the part of speech of each underlined word in the sentences below.
Example Roger would give anything to get out of participating in Ta-Na-E-Ka.
give: verb; Ta-Na-E-Ka: noun
1. Many of the younger families on the reservation were beginning to give up the old customs.
2. They all advised us to fill up now, since for the next five days we'd be gorging ourselves on crickets.
3. He wore a sweat shirt with the words "Fort Sheridan, 1944," and he had only three fingers on one of his hands.
4. "I'll probably laugh about this when I'm an accountant," Roger said, trembling.
5. What if Grandfather asks me about the berries and the grasshoppers?
6.It never once occurred to me that being Indian was exciting.
7. It would have saved nights of bad dreams about squooshy grasshoppers.
8. He could speak English, but he spoke it only with white men.
9. "That's the lost-and-found closet," he said.
10. I sucked in my breath and blurted out the truth: "Hamburgers and milk shakes."
11. Argh! I spat it out.
12. Somehow, you know how to exist in a world that wasn't made for Indians.
Write a new sentence for each of the Words for Everyday Use found on pages 36–41 of your textbook.
1. anticipate
2. audacity
3. dejected
4. equate
5. fend
6. heritage
7. hospitality
8. hostility
9. ordeal
10. sacred
11. shrewd
12. skirmish
13. unsightly
14. virtue
