Before Reading Role-Playing and Discovery Personal Essay by Jerry Pinkney The Life and Adventures of Nat Love Autobiography by Nat Love Video link at thinkcentral.com What makes a MEMORY last? RI 4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings. RI 9 Compare and contrast one author s presentation of events with that of another. RI 10 Read and comprehend literary nonfiction. When you look back on your life, what events will you remember most clearly, and why? For some people, favorite memories come from weekend activities, family outings, or adventures. For others, memories come from a specific event which made a lasting impression on their lives. Read Role-Playing and Discovery and the excerpt from The Life and Adventures of Nat Love to see how two different authors write about their lives. DISCUSS With your classmates, talk about your favorite activities. Take turns explaining why each activity is important to you and why you might include it in your own life story. 264
text analysis: narrative nonfiction Like fiction, narrative nonfiction tells a story. However, in nonfiction, characters, plots, and settings are real, not imaginary. Autobiography and personal narrative are two types of nonfiction. An autobiography is a book-length story of the writer s own life. A personal narrative is an essay in which the writer presents his or her thoughts and feelings about a topic. As you read the nonfiction narratives by Pinkney and Love, look for the ways the authors express their thoughts and feelings. reading skill: identify language and tone Nonfiction writers use descriptive language to help readers imagine someone or something, usually by appealing to the senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, or taste. Descriptive language often conveys tone. Tone refers to the writer s attitude the way the writer feels about his or her topic. As you read each selection, use a chart like the one below to record examples of the descriptive language that each writer uses to create imagery and tone. Title Role-Playing and Discovery The Life and Adventures of Nat Love vocabulary in context Descriptive Language Tone In Role-Playing and Discovery, Jerry Pinkney uses the boldfaced words to help him write about his childhood. To see which ones you know, substitute a word with a similar meaning for each boldfaced term. 1. The impressionable child was easily convinced. 2. The crowd s intensity increased with each touchdown. 3. She answered his question with a resounding No! 4. The blizzard had a profound effect on the small town. Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook. Meet the Authors Jerry Pinkney born 1939 Artist and Illustrator As one of six children growing up in Philadelphia, Jerry Pinkney had to search for places where he could draw. When he was 11, he worked at a newsstand. To pass the time, he would make sketches of people passing by. One of those people happened to be a cartoonist who encouraged Pinkney to pursue a career in art. Today, Pinkney is best known as an illustrator of children s books. Nat Love 1854 1921 Cowboy and Author Nat Love was born into slavery in 1854. By age fifteen, he left his family in Tennessee to search for adventure and eventually joined a gang of cowboys near Dodge City, Kansas. He was a champion cowboy, earning the nickname Deadwood Dick after winning a shooting contest in Deadwood, South Dakota. In 1907, he wrote and published his own life story called The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as Deadwood Dick. Authors Online Go to thinkcentral.com. KEYWORD: HML6-265 265
Role- Playing and Discovery jerry pinkney O n Saturdays, after household chores were finished, I would meet up with my best friends. Off we would rush to the movies. Tickets were ten cents, and there was always a double feature. I was most excited when there were westerns. As a young boy growing up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I dreamed of exploring the early frontier. My friends and I played at being cowboys and explorers. With much enthusiasm and intensity, we inhabited the characters portrayed on the silver screen. We fashioned our costumes and gear from what we could find at home or purchase from the local five-and-dime store. I would 10 whittle out of wood a bowie knife modeled after the one Jim Bowie had at his side while defending the Alamo. I would then take my turn at being Roy Rogers, the cowboy, or Daniel Boone, 1 the famous pioneer, journeying through the rugged wilderness. a a What can you infer about Bill Pickett from this poster? intensity (Gn-tDnPsG-tC) n. extreme amount of energy or feeling IDENTIFY LANGUAGE Notice the details the author provides. What picture does he convey of himself and his friends? 1. Jim Bowie... Roy Rogers... Daniel Boone: Bowie (1796 1836) and Boone (1734 1820) were famous historical figures of the American West. Roy Rogers (1911 1998) was a movie and television cowboy from the 1930s through the 1960s. 266 unit 2: analyzing character and point of view The Bull-dogger (1923), Ritchey Lithography Corporation. Library of Congress.
20 If anyone had asked at that time if my excitement was due to an early interest in history, my answer would have been a resounding, No! However, looking back, I realize that answer would not have been entirely true. Yes, we did have fun, and yes, our flights into the past seemed to be more about action than about learning history, but that role-playing seeded my interest in discovery. When I learned as an adult that one out of three cowboys was black or Mexican, that discovery was moving and profound. I do wonder, though, how we would have been affected as young boys if, at that impressionable time, we had known about Nat Love, a cowboy; Bill Pickett, a rodeo cowboy; Jim Beckwourth, a fur trader; or Jean Baptiste Du Sable, the explorer all persons of African descent. b b resounding (rg-zoundpgng) adj. unmistakable; loud profound (pre-foundp) adj. very deep or great impressionable (Gm-prDshPE-nE-bEl) adj. easily influenced PERSONAL NARRATIVE Reread lines 22 26. Why did Pinkney save such a strong statement for the last paragraph? nat love (1854 1921) Love became famous for his skill as a range rider and marksman. He was also fluent in Spanish, and he had his autobiography published in 1907. jean baptiste pointe du sable (1745 1818) Du Sable, a trapper and trader, was born in Haiti. He is credited as being the founder of the city of Chicago. jim beckwourth (1800 1866) Beckwourth worked as a trapper and fur trader, as well as a scout and mule driver for the U.S. Army. 268 unit 2: analyzing character and point of view
Nat Love aving now fairly begun my life as a cowboy, I was fast learning the many ins and outs of the business, while my many roamings over the range country gave me a knowledge of it not possessed by many at that time. Being of a naturally observant disposition, I noticed many things to which others attached no significance. This quality of observance proved of incalculable benefit to me in many ways during my life as a range rider in the western country. My employment with the Pete Gallinger company took me all over the Pan Handle country, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico with herds of 10 horses and cattle for market and to be delivered to other ranch owners and large cattle breeders. Naturally I became very well acquainted with all the many different trails and grazing ranges located in the stretch of country between the north of Montana and the Gulf of Mexico, and between the Missouri state line and the Pacific Ocean. This whole territory I have covered many times in the saddle, sometimes at the rate of eighty or one hundred miles a day. These long rides and much traveling over the country were of great benefit to me, as it enabled me to meet so many different people connected with the cattle business and also to learn the different trails and the 20 lay of the country generally. a a IDENTIFY LANGUAGE What duties does Love describe in this paragraph? How are these details different from the details Pinkney provides on page 266? the life and adventures of nat love 269
30 Among the other things that I picked up on my wanderings, was a knowledge of the Spanish language, which I learned to speak like a native. I also became very well acquainted with the many different brands 1 scattered over this stretch of country, consequently it was not long before the cattle men began to recognize my worth and the Gallinger Company made me their chief brand reader, which duties I performed for several years with honor to myself and satisfaction to my employers. In the cattle country, all the large cattle raisers had their squad of brand readers whose duty it was to attend all the big round-ups 2 and cuttings throughout the country, and to pick out their own brands and to see that the different brands were not altered or counterfeited. They also had to look to the branding of the young stock. b b IDENTIFY TONE Love uses words like honor, satisfaction, and duty in lines 20 32. What word or phrase would you use to describe the tone of this autobiography? 1. brands: marks indicating ownership put on animals with a hot iron. Each ranch had a specific brand to identify its animals. 2. round-ups: gatherings of livestock. PACIFIC OCEAN WASHINGTON OREGON CALIF. NEVADA IDAHO UTAH ARIZONA MONTANA CANADA WYOMING COLORADO NEW MEXICO DAKOTA UNITED STATES NEBRASKA KANSAS UNORG. TEXAS MINN. IOWA MO. WIS. ARK. ILL. MICH. IND. KY. TENN. MISS. ALA. LA. MEXICO Gulf of Mexico 270
40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 70 During the big round-ups it was our duty to pick out our brand, and then send them home under the charge of our cowboys, likewise the newly branded stock. After each brand was cut out and started homeward, we had to stay with the round up to see that strays from the different herds from the surrounding country did not again get mixed up, until the different home ranges were reached. This work employed a large number of cowboys, who lived, ate and often slept in the saddle, as they covered many hundreds of miles in a very short space of time After the general round up was over, cowboy sports and a good time generally was in order for those engaged in it. The interest of nearly all of us centered in the riding of what was known as the 7 Y-L steer. A big long horn wild steer, generally the worst in the herd, was cut out and turned loose on the open prairie. The cowboy who could rope and ride him would get the steer as his reward, and let me assure you, dear reader, that it was not so easy as it sounds. The steer separated from its fellows would become extremely ferocious and wild, and the man who attempted to rope and ride him would be in momentary danger of losing his life if he relaxed in the least his vigilance and caution, because a wild steer is naturally ferocious. Even in cutting them out of the round up I have known them to get mad and attack the cowboys who only saved themselves by the quickness of their horses, or the friendly intervention of a comrade who happened to be near enough to rope the maddened long horn, and thus divert his attention to other things. But in the case of the 7 Y-L steer such intervention is against the rules, and the cowboy who attempts to rope and ride the steer must at all times look out for himself. c The cowboy who is successful in roping the steer must then mount and ride him. If he does that successfully the steer becomes his personal property to do with as he will only a slight reward for the risking of his life and the trouble of accomplishing the feat. But it is done more for sport s sake than anything else, and the love of showing off, a weakness of all cowboys more or less. But really it takes a high class of horsemanship to ride a long horn, to get on his back and stay there as he runs, jumps, pitches side ways, backwards, forward, up and down, then over the prairie like a streak of lightning. I have had the experience and I can assure you it is no child s play. More than one 7 Y-L steer has fallen to my lot, but I had to work for it, and work hard. After all it was only part of the general routine of the cowboy s life, in which danger plays so important a part.... Above all things, the test of a cowboy s worth is his gameness and his nerve. He is not supposed to know what fear means, and I assure you there are very few who know the meaning of that word. d c d Language Coach Multiple-Meaning Words The word charge can mean a fee or a duty or responsibility. How is the word used in line 35 of this selection? IDENTIFY LANGUAGE Reread Love s description of roping the steer in lines 42 58. What vivid verbs and adjectives help you picture the scene? Do you think this was something Jerry Pinkney and his friends might have role-played? Explain. AUTOBIOGRAPHY Reread lines 71 74. What insight does Love share about cowboys? How do his examples of the life of a cowboy support his conclusion? the life and adventures of nat love 271
After Reading Comprehension 1. Recall Who did Jerry Pinkney and his friends pretend to be? 2. Recall What was Jean Baptiste Du Sable most famous for? 3. Clarify What were Nat Love s duties as a cowboy? Text Analysis 4. Make Inferences Reread lines 22 26 of Role-Playing and Discovery. If, as a young boy, Pinkney had known about the men of African descent he mentions, how do you think it might have affected him? 5. Identify Language In most personal narratives, the author uses an informal, conversational style to express his or her thoughts or feelings. Do you think Jerry Pinkney does this in Role-Playing and Discovery? How does his language compare to the language Nat Love uses? 6. Analyze Narrative Nonfiction What differences do you find between the two forms of narrative nonfiction you just read? How does a personal narrative differ from an autobiography? 7. Identify Author s Purpose What do you think was Jerry Pinkney s purpose for writing his personal narrative? Why do you think Nat Love wrote his autobiography? Record reasons or clues to each author s purpose in a chart like the one shown. RI 4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings. RI 9 Compare and contrast one author s presentation of events with that of another. RI 10 Read and comprehend literary nonfiction. Purpose To Inform or Explain To Express Thoughts or Feelings To Persuade To Entertain Extension and Challenge 8. SOCIAL STUDIES CONNECTION Nat Love was only one of several famous African-American cowboys from the American West. Do some research to learn more about the roles of cowboys and cowgirls in the settling of the American West. Share your findings with the rest of the class. What makes a MEMORY last? What kinds of events leave you with a lasting impression? Annie Oakley, cowgirl 272 unit 2: analyzing character and point of view
Vocabulary in Context vocabulary practice Choose the letter of the phrase that best connects with each boldfaced word. 1. impressionable: (a) an old woman sewing, (b) a van filled with camping supplies, (c) an eager young student 2. intensity: (a) a severe thunderstorm, (b) a relaxing piece of music, (c) a tired factory worker 3. profound: (a) a very noisy crowd, (b) a very moving story, (c) a very mild infection 4. resounding: (a) a nervous speaker, (b) a loud cheer, (c) a peaceful walk impressionable intensity profound resounding academic vocabulary in writing convey create influence interact qualities What qualities of Nat Love s life as a cowboy might Jerry Pinkney have admired? How might reading Nat Love s autobiography have influenced Jerry Pinkney? Write a few sentences to answer these questions. Use at least one Academic Vocabulary word in your response. vocabulary strategy: the latin root press The vocabulary word impressionable contains the Latin root press, which means to push down. This root is used to form a large number of English words. Use your knowledge of what this root means, along with context clues in the sentence or paragraph, to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words. L 4b Use Latin roots as clues to the meaning of a word. PRACTICE Choose the word from the web that best completes each sentence. Consider what you know about the Latin root and the other word parts shown. Refer to a dictionary if you need help. 1. The policies of the government caused the people to rebel. 2. Many students themselves to excel in both school and sports. 3. The lawyer got in trouble for trying to important evidence. 4. If a(n) is punctured, air or gas may leak out. 5. After his father s death, he suffered from severe. impressionable compressor press suppress pressure Interactive Vocabulary depression repressive Go to thinkcentral.com. KEYWORD: HML6-273 role-playing and discovery / the life and adventures of nat love 273