Unit 2.1-2.3

Read the excerpt from “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts” by Bruce Catton.

Lastly, and perhaps greatest of all, there was the ability, at the end, to turn quickly from the war to peace once the fighting was over. Out of the way these two men behaved at Appomattox came the possibility of peace of reconciliation. It was a possibility not wholly realized, in the year to come, but which did, in the end, help the two sections to become one nation again. . . . after a war whose bitterness might have seemed to make such a reunion wholly impossible. No part of either man’s life became him more than the part he played in their brief meeting in the McLean house at Appomattox. Their behavior there put all succeeding generations of Americans in their debt. Two great Americans, Grant and Lee—very different, yet under everything very much alike. Their encounter at Appomattox was one of the great moments of American history.

The main idea of this excerpt is that Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee

• were great leaders in American history.

• acted in a way that helped to heal the country.

• had many similarities despite being enemies.

• met at Appomattox while the nation was divided.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

Read the excerpt about Ulysses S. Grant from “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts” by Bruce Catton.

Yet along with this feeling had come a deep sense of belonging to a national community. The Westerner who developed a farm, opened a shop, or set up in business as a trader could hope to prosper only as [Grant's] own community prospered—and [Grant's] community ran from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada down to Mexico. If the land was settled, with towns and highways and accessible markets, [Grant] could better himself. He saw his fate in terms of the nation’s own destiny. As its horizons expanded, so did his. [Grant] had, in other words, an acute dollarsandcents stake in the continued growth and development of his country.

Which sentence below, from the text “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts”, best shows how Lee’s beliefs differed from Grant’s?

• “[Lee] embodied a way of life that had come down through the age of knighthood and the English country squire.”

• “In such a land Lee stood for the feeling that it was somehow of advantage to human society to have a pronounced inequality in the social structure.”

• “[Lee] would fight to the limit of endurance to defend it, because in defending it he was defending everything that gave his own life its deepest meaning.”

• “Lee might have ridden down from the old age of chivalry, lance in hand, silken banner fluttering over his head.”

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.7

CCSS.RI.8.7

CCSS.RL.7.7

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.8.7

How does the author of “Harrison Bergeron” illustrate that George and Hazel Bergeron live in a dystopian society?

• George leaves the room while his son is on the television broadcast.

• Hazel has a hard time remembering what she is watching on television.

• Hazel thinks the news announcer should be rewarded for trying to read.

• Georgia has to wear a transmitter in his ear to prevent him from thinking.

Harrison Bergeron’s actions in “Harrison Bergeron” support the theme that people have to stand up for their beliefs because he

• escapes from jail and immediately storms the television studio.

• announces that he is the greatest ruler and orders everyone to listen to him.

• demands that the musicians play their best and gracefully dances in the air.

• tears off his hindrances and tells the audience to watch what he can become.

Which quote from “Harrison Bergeron” that best support the inference that George and Hazel Bergeron believe that equality rules have improved life for everyone.

• [“All of a sudden you look so tired,” said Hazel. “Why don’t you stretch out on the sofa, so’s you can rest your handicap bag on the pillows, honeybunch.”] She was referring to the fortyseven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around George’s neck. [“Go on and rest the bag for a little while,” she said. “I don’t care if you’re not equal to me for a while.”]

• [“You been so tired lately—kind of wore out,” said Hazel. “If there was just some way we could make a little hole in the bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls. Just a few.”]

• [“Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out,” said George. “I don’t call that a bargain.”]

• [“If you could just take a few out when you came home from work,” said Hazel. “I mean—you don’t compete with anybody around here. You just sit around.”]

• [“If I tried to get away with it,” said George, “then other people would get away with it—and pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else.] You wouldn’t like that, would you?” [“I’d hate it,” said Hazel.] “There you are,” said George. [The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?”]