Historical Fiction. Fiction is prose writing about imagined events or characters. Historical fiction is fiction that is based on real people and events. This short story contains many elements that are real. The author filled in some of the details of the story, such as the dialogue, with her imagination. As you read, try to figure out what in the story really happened and what the author imagines happened. Use the graphic organizer on this page to help you.
Dialogue. Dialogue is conversation involving two or more people or characters. Fiction is made up of dialogue, narrration, and description. Look for dialogue in “The Cutoff: The Story of the Donner Party.”
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• History Connection. In the 1840s, thousands of people traveled over land from the eastern United States to the newly acquired territories of Oregon and California. They followed the advice of guidebooks, such as The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California by Lansford Hastings. They gathered supplies and wagons and set off during springtime, hoping to reach their destination before the next winter.
• Geography Connection. To get from Springfield, Illinois, to California, the Donner family crossed several mountain ranges within the Rocky Mountain system as well as the Wasatch Mountains in Utah and the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the eastern border of California. They also had to cross a number of big rivers, including the Platte and the Green, and vast deserts in Nevada and Utah.
To help you organize the facts and the fiction in this selection, copy and complete the chart below onto your own paper.
If you were making a nine-month journey, what would you pack?
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