Mississippi Solo

Mississippi Solo

Memoir by Eddy Harris

Background

Eddy Harris (b. 1956) is a writer, adventurer, and seeker who spent his early years in New York City before moving to St. Louis. His first published book, Mississippi Solo, chronicles the canoe trip he took down the entire length of the Mississippi River in the 1980s—a risky trip for which this city dweller was unprepared. Harris also has written about adventurous journeys in other southern regions and in Africa.

Multiple Choice

What year was Eddy Harris born?

• 1955

• 1956

• 1957

• 1958

Multiple Choice

Mississippi Solo is about...

• the southern regions of Africa

• a dangerous trip he took in the Nile River

• a dangerous trip he took on the Mississippi River

• the beauty of the Mississippi River

Paragraph 1

Too many marvelous days in a row and you begin to get used to it, to think that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Too many good days, too many bad days—you need some break in the monotony of one to appreciate the other. If you only get sunshine, someone said, you end up in a desert.

Multiple Choice

In paragraph 1, the author is speaking to the audience through his writing. What word speaks to the reader if you were to write a story?

• Him

• They

• Them

• You

Paragraph 2

I guess I’d had enough hard days to last me for a while, enough scary times to be able to appreciate the peaceful, easy, glorious days. On the way to Natchez, I had another one, and I took full advantage of it to do absolutely nothing. No singing, no thinking, no talking to myself. Just feeling. Watching the river, noticing the changes in color, seeing the way it rises and falls depending on the wind and on what lies on the river bed. Each change had something to say, and I listened to the river. The river was talking to me, changing colors from puce to brown to thick, murky green. Saying nothing. The idle chatter you get when you walk with your favorite niece or nephew going no place in particular with nothing special on your minds and the little kid just jabbers away because it’s comfortable and he feels like it. The river was like that to me. A comfortable buddy sharing a lazy day.

Multiple Choice

In paragraph 2, the author uses personification, the act of giving human qualities to an animal or inanimate object. Which sentence from the story is a form of personification?

• A comfortable buddy sharing a lazy day.

• I guess I’d had enough hard days to last me for a while

• The river was talking to me

Paragraph 3 and 4

Nothing else mattered then. Going someplace or not. Arriving in New Orleans or shooting past and landing in Brazil. I didn’t care about anything. The river kept me company and kept me satisfied. Nothing else mattered.

Then the river whispered, “Get ready. Get ready.”

Multiple Choice

Who kept the author company on his trip?

• The river

• His boat

• His bestfriend

• The trees

Multiple Choice

The river whispers "Get ready" to the author. This is considered foreshadowing. What is foreshadowing?

• Clues that tell you what has already happened

• Clues that tell you the sounds words make

• Clues that tell you what is about to happen

• Clues that show you figurative language

Paragraph 5

The day turned gray and strange. Clouds rolled overhead in wild swirls like batter in a bowl. I could see the rainstorm forming off in the distance but swirling rapidly toward me like a dark gray avalanche. I felt the river dip down and up—a shallow dale in the water. I passed from the cool moisture surrounding me and into a pocket of thin air hot and dry. It was as though a gap had opened in the clouds and the sun streamed through to boil the water and heat up this isolated patch of river a scant thirty yards long. My first thought was to shed a shirt and stay cool, but when I passed through the far curtain of the insulated air, I knew I had better do just the opposite. I drifted and donned my yellow rain suit and hood. The sky above grew serious and advanced in my direction with the speed of a hurricane. Looking for a place to land, I scanned the shore. There was no shore. Only trees. Because of the heavy rains and high water, the shore had disappeared, and the new shoreline of solid earth had been pushed back through the trees and beyond the woods. How far beyond, I couldn’t tell. I looked across to the other side of the river half a mile away. No way could I have made it over there. Halfway across and the wind would have kicked up and trapped me in the middle.

Multiple Choice

What is approaching the author of the story in paragraph 5?

• A crocodile

• An avalanche

• A tsunami

• A storm

Paragraph 6

The leading edge of the storm came, and the first sprinkles passed over like army scouts. The wooded area lasted only another hundred yards or so, and I thought I could easily get there before the rains arrived. I could then turn left and find ground to pull out and wait out the storm. But the voice of the river came out and spoke to me teasingly but with a chill of seriousness down my spine. I could have ignored it, but as if reading my thoughts and not wanting me to fight it, the river grabbed the end of the canoe and turned me toward the trees. I thought I was looking for land. I wasn’t. I was looking for shelter.

Multiple Choice

What figurative language is used in this sentence: The first sprinkles passed over like army scouts.

• metaphor

• alliteration

• onomatopoeia

• simile

Multiple Choice

What is the author looking for according to paragraph 6?

• Land

• Shelter

• Water

• Food

Paragraph 7

The urge to get into the trees came on me quite suddenly and really without thought or effort on my part. Almost an instinct.

Paragraph 8

No sooner had I ducked into the trees than the sky split open with a loud crash and a splintery crackle of lightning. I was not going to make it through the trees. The wind came in at hurricane strength. The tips of the trees bent way over and aimed toward the ground, like fishing rods hooked on a big one. Water flooded like the tide rushing upstream. The trees swooshed loudly as the leaves and branches brushed hard together. Branches fell. Rains came and poured down bucketfuls.

Paragraph 9

The trees were tall and no more than three feet around. I maneuvered the canoe as best I could in the wind and rushing water, turned it to face upstream, and kept my back to the rain, which slanted in at a sharp angle. I reached out for the sturdiest tree I could get my arms around and I held on.

Multiple Choice

What does the author hold onto?

• A tree

• A canoe

• A pole

• A bush

Paragraph 10

Water everywhere. The river sloshed over the side and into the canoe. I tried to keep the stern pointed right into the flow so the canoe could ride the waves, but it didn’t work. The canoe was twisted about, and water poured over the side. The rain was heavier than any I had ever been in or seen before. It really was more like a tropical storm. The heavy winds, the amount of water, the warmth of the air, and the cold rain. Only my neck was exposed to the rain. When the rain hit my neck, it ran under the rain suit and very cold down my back.

Multiple Choice

What one word can describe what the author is going through in paragraph 10?

• Excitement

• Positivity

• Struggle

• Sadness

Paragraph 11

The wind shifted as the storm came directly overhead. Water streamed straight down. I was drenched, and the canoe was filling up quickly. Anything in the canoe that could float was floating. If the rain continued for long or if the wind kept up strong and the rain kept spilling into the canoe, I would sink. But I was not worried, hardly more than concerned. In fact I enjoyed the feeling of the water all around me and on me, enveloping me like a cocoon, and despite the drama I felt no real threat. I was more amazed than anything, trying to analyze the voice I had heard or whatever instinct or intuition it was that urged me to park in these trees. It had been something so very definite that I could feel it and yet so ethereal that I could not put my finger on it. So I stopped trying and just sat there patiently waiting and hugging my tree. I was one with this river, and nothing could happen to me.

Multiple Choice

What is filling up the canoe in paragraph 11?

• Leaves

• Dirt

• Sand

• Water

Multiple Choice

Is the author in tune with nature?

• Yes

• No

Paragraph 12

The storm slid forward, and the rain slanted in on my face. Then it moved on farther up the river to drench someone else. It was gone as suddenly as it had arisen. Only the trailing edge was left, a light rain that lasted almost until I reached Natchez.

Multiple Choice

Did the author survive the storm?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

The author uses multiple similes in his story. What is a simile?

• Comparing two things

• Giving animals human qualities

• Comparing two things using "like" or "as"

• Creating sounds that the author hears