The Car We Had to Push

The Car We Had to Push

Multiple Choice

Who is the author of the story this week?

• Olaudah Equiano

• Shakespeare

• James Thurber

• Benjamin Franklin

Multiple Choice

How did Thurber lost his eye?

• since birth

• accident

• flying kite

• stumble

Multiple Select

The passage described the life of Thurber as a beautiful and fun. However, he also experiences trials. How was the passage describes Thurber as a man.

• sweet

• complicated

• tormented

• understanding

Replace this with the title

Replace this with a sub-header that can be in multiple lines. ​

Later Works

Thurber’s My Life and Hard Times

(1933), a collection that contains “The Car We

Had to Push,” has been described as “a special

kind of autobiography, existing somewhere

between the world of fact and the world of

fantasy.” Many consider it to be among

Thurber’s finest writings.

From 1929 through 1967, Thurber wrote one new

book every year or two. In 1942 he published a

collection of stories that included “The Secret Life

of Walter Mitty.” The title character was a timid

man who daydreamed about taking part in

heroic adventures. The story became a classic

that was turned into several movies and has

formed the basis for innumerable television plots.

Later Works

In the 1940s, Thurber began writing fables, plays,

and children’s books as well as essays. These

were difficult years for Thurber; he had numerous

health problems and lost the sight in his

remaining eye. He continued to work, however,

by dictating his books.

Later Works

In 1959 he published The Years with Ross, a

biography of editor Harold Ross and an account

of Thurber’s years at The New Yorker. Thurber

published only one major work after that, A

Thurber Carnival, which was a series of skits.

People still read Thurber’s works for their

humor and vitality. His humor, wrote one critic,

“has a timeless quality that should guarantee

him a readership far into the future.”

James Thurber was born in 1894 and died in 1961.

Multiple Choice

n. an effect or

result of some action;

• exhortation

• lucid

• contend

• repercussion

Multiple Choice

v. to declare or maintain

as a fact; argue; p.

• exhortation

• lucid

• contend

• repercussion

Multiple Choice

n. a strong appeal

or warning;

• exhortation

• lucid

• contend

• repercussion

Multiple Choice

adj. clear-headed, mentally alert

• exhortation

• lucid

• contend

• repercussion

Many autobiographers, among them Lincoln Steffens and Gertrude Atherton, describe earthquakes their families have been in. I am unable to do this because my

family was never in an earthquake, but we went through a number of things in

Columbus that were a great deal like earthquakes. I remember in particular some of the

repercussions of an old Reo we had that wouldn’t go unless you pushed it for quite a

way and suddenly let your clutch out. Once, we had been able to start the engine easily

by cranking it, but we had had the car for so many years that finally it wouldn’t go unless

you pushed it and let your clutch out. Of course, it took more than one person to do

this; it took sometimes as many as five or six, depending on the grade of the roadway

and conditions underfoot. The car was unusual in that the clutch and brake were on

the same pedal, making it quite easy to stall the engine after it got started, so that the car

would have to be pushed again.

Open Ended

Paraphrase the passage. Write two important details that caught your attention.