Comparing The Modern Short Story Texts In Another …mrsgillespiesenglish.cmswiki.wikispaces.net/file/view/In...text analysis: tone Hemingway began his literary career as a newspaper

The Modern Short StoryComparingTexts In Another Country

Short Story by Ernest Hemingway

Healing War’s WoundsMagazine Article by Karen Breslau

Moving a Nation to CareBook Cover

Meet the Author

Whether trout fishing in Michigan, skiing in Switzerland, cheering for bullfighters in Spain, big-game hunting in Africa, marlin fishing off the coast of Key West, or drinking wine in a Paris café, Ernest Hemingway was the embodiment of rugged individualism. He experienced first hand the major events of his time—the Italian front in World War I, Paris in the 1920s, the Spanish Civil War, and D-day and the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. Behind the legendary persona, however, Hemingway was first and foremost a writer. His experiences provided the raw material for a body of work that captured the essence of modernity and left his indelible stamp on the century.

Irrepressible Energy and Drive Hemingway grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. After high school he got a job as a reporter for the Kansas

City Star, where he developed both his deceptively simple writing style and a devotion to the truth. During World War I he volunteered as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross and was severely wounded. After the war he made his way to Paris as a correspondent for the Toronto Star. Paris in the

1920s was a magnet for young artists and writers of the new modernist movement, and the vibrant, sociable Hemingway soon became a star. By the end of the decade, he had made his own contribution by publishing two collections of short stories, In Our Time (1925) and Men Without Women (1927), as well as two highly acclaimed novels, The Sun Also Rises (1926) and A Farewell to Arms (1929).

End of an Epic Life Hemingway was living in Cuba when he wrote what many consider his finest novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), based on his reporting of the Spanish Civil War. When World War II broke out, he served as a journalist, often putting himself in dangerous combat situations. His last major work published in his lifetime was the highly popular The Old Man and the Sea (1952). In his final years he suffered a variety of ills—including diabetes, liver problems, hypertension, and depression—that led to his suicide at age 62. He left behind five unpublished manuscripts and a towering literary legacy.

For more on Hemingway’s days as a war correspondent, see the biography on page 1094.

Ernest Hemingway 1899–1961

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Author Online

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RL 1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. RL 4 Analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. RI 1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. RI 4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings. RI 7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats as well as in words in order to address a question.

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text analysis: toneHemingway began his literary career as a newspaper reporter. The spare, direct prose of his short stories reflects his journalistic roots. Reporters adopt a detached, objective tone or attitude toward their subject. This kind of detachment characterizes “In Another Country,” but examine the narrator’s surface detachment for evidence of the loss he feels. You will find clues to Hemingway’s view of the human condition.

When you read Karen Breslau’s magazine article, look for clues to her attitude toward the wounded soldiers she chose as her subject. Is her attitude detached and objective? Or has she made another choice with this piece of journalism? Finally, what does her tone tell you about her view of human potential?

reading skill: make inferencesOne aspect of Hemingway’s style is that he is not explicit about the effect of important events on his characters. He relates events and leaves it up to his readers to look for clues and make inferences, or logical assumptions, about the impact of events. As you read, look for revealing details, statements in the dialogue, and other clues to help you infer how the characters feel about their situation.

Likewise, when you read “Healing War’s Wounds,” examine the language Karen Breslau uses to describe recovering soldiers. The events, details, and dialogue she includes provide clues to her purpose in writing this article and to the message she wants readers to take from her story.

vocabulary in contextHemingway uses these words to write about soldiers in a wartime hospital. Choose the word that you associate with each type of patient.

word list

citationresign

detached lurch

1. a patient who remains aloof and uninterested 2. a decorated soldier 3. one who stoically tries to make the best of his situation 4. a soldier who has trouble walking due to injury

Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook.

What are the costs of war?Some costs of war can be counted. World War I, the setting of Hemingway’s story, claimed the lives of about 9 million soldiers and 13 million civilians. But what about the millions who survived the trauma of the bloodiest and most destructive war in history up to that time? What price did they pay?

What’s the Connection?In a famous short story about World War I, Ernest Hemingway examines a group of soldiers undergoing new and ineffective physical therapy. In a magazine article, Karen Breslau focuses on an innovative approach to therapy for severely wounded soldiers from the war in Iraq. Finally, a book cover combines text with the image of a soldier’s bowed head. Before you study these texts, think about what you already know about the psychological effects of war on combat soldiers. What is post-traumatic stress disorder? In what ways might it connect these texts?

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In Another Ernest Hemingway

background World War I was called the Great War and the War to End All Wars. It was the first large-scale modern war with the killing power of new technological weapons. Among the 21 million wounded was 18-year-old Ernest Hemingway, who later wrote this story about soldiers recuperating in Milan, Italy. “In the first war I was hurt very badly,” he explained, “in the body, mind, and spirit, and also morally.”

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In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more. It was cold in the fall in Milan1 and the dark came very early. Then the electric lights came on, and it was pleasant along the streets looking in the windows. There was much game hanging outside the shops, and the snow powdered in the fur of the foxes and the wind blew their tails. The deer hung stiff and heavy and empty, and small birds blew in the wind and the wind turned their feathers. It was a cold fall and the wind came down from the mountains. a

We were all at the hospital every afternoon, and there were different ways of walking across the town through the dusk to the hospital. Two of the ways were alongside canals, but they were long. Always, though, you crossed a bridge across a canal to enter the hospital. There was a choice of three bridges. On one of them a woman sold roasted chestnuts. It was warm, standing in front of her charcoal fire, and the chestnuts were warm afterward in your pocket. The hospital was very old and very beautiful, and you entered through a gate and walked across a courtyard and out a gate on the other side. There were usually funerals starting from the courtyard. Beyond the old hospital were the new brick pavilions, and there we met every afternoon and were all very polite and interested in what was the matter, and sat in the machines that were to make so much difference.

The doctor came up to the machine where I was sitting and said: “What did you like best to do before the war? Did you practise a sport?”

I said: “Yes, football.”“Good,” he said. “You will be able to play football again better than ever.”My knee did not bend and the leg dropped straight from the knee to the ankle

without a calf, and the machine was to bend the knee and make it move as in riding a tricycle. But it did not bend yet, and instead the machine lurched when it came to the bending part. The doctor said: “That will all pass. You are a fortunate young man. You will play football again like a champion.”

In the next machine was a major who had a little hand like a baby’s. He winked at me when the doctor examined his hand, which was between two leather straps that bounced up and down and flapped the stiff fingers, and said: “And will I too

1010 unit 5: the harlem renaissance and modernism

1. Milan: a city in northern Italy.

Country

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TONEIn the first paragraph of this story, Hemingway reveals his mastery at establishing tone. What kinds of details does he use and what kind of feeling is conveyed by these details? What kind of rhythm does the narrator achieve by repeating the coordinating conjunction and? How does this rhythm contribute to the tone of the paragraph?

Analyze VisualsThe photo on the opposite page shows a young Ernest Hemingway at a Red Cross hospital in Milan in 1918. How does this photo, depicting real people in a real place, affect the way you read this work of fiction? Explain.

lurch (lûrch) v. to lean or roll suddenly to one side; stagger

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Comparing Texts



2. fencer: one who fences—that is, practices the art of attack and defense using blunted swords or sabers.

3. the Scala: La Scala, a famous opera house in Milan.

4. “A basso gli ufficiali!” (ä bäPsI lC LQfC-chäPlC) Italian: “Down with officers!”

5. Arditi: a carefully chosen group of volunteers who specialized in dangerous campaigns.

play football, captain-doctor?” He had been a very great fencer,2 and before the war the greatest fencer in Italy.

The doctor went to his office in a back room and brought a photograph which showed a hand that had been withered almost as small as the major’s, before it had taken a machine course, and after was a little larger. The major held the photograph with his good hand and looked at it very carefully. “A wound?” he asked.

“An industrial accident,” the doctor said.“Very interesting, very interesting,” the major said, and handed it back to the

doctor.“You have confidence?”“No,” said the major. bThere were three boys who came each day who were about the same age I was.

They were all three from Milan, and one of them was to be a lawyer, and one was to be a painter, and one had intended to be a soldier, and after we were finished with the machines, sometimes we walked back together to the Café Cova, which was next door to the Scala.3 We walked the short way through the communist quarter because we were four together. The people hated us because we were officers, and from a wine-shop some one would call out, “A basso gli ufficiali!”4 as we passed. Another boy who walked with us sometimes and made us five wore a black silk handkerchief across his face because he had no nose then and his face was to be rebuilt. He had gone out to the front from the military academy and been wounded within an hour after he had gone into the front line for the first time. They rebuilt his face, but he came from a very old family and they could never get the nose exactly right. He went to South America and worked in a bank. But this was a long time ago, and then we did not any of us know how it was going to be afterward. We only knew then that there was always the war, but that we were not going to it any more.

We all had the same medals, except the boy with the black silk bandage across his face, and he had not been at the front long enough to get any medals. The tall boy with a very pale face who was to be a lawyer had been a lieutenant of Arditi5 and had three medals of the sort we each had only one of. He had lived a very long time with death and was a little detached. We were all a little detached, and there was nothing that held us together except that we met every afternoon at the hospital. Although, as we walked to the Cova through the tough part of town, walking in the dark, with light and singing coming out of the wine-shops, and sometimes having to walk into the street when the men and women would crowd together on the sidewalk so that we would have had to jostle them to get by, we felt held together by there being something that had happened that they, the people who disliked us, did not understand.

We ourselves all understood the Cova, where it was rich and warm and not too brightly lighted, and noisy and smoky at certain hours, and there were always girls

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MAKE INFERENCESIn lines 16–41, Hemingway doesn’t directly state how the soldiers feel about the machines. What can you infer about their emotions from their statements and reactions? Explain, citing evidence.

detached (dG-tBchtP) adj. reserved; aloof detach v.


in another country 1013

Comparing Texts

at the tables and the illustrated papers on a rack on the wall. The girls at the Cova were very patriotic, and I found that the most patriotic people in Italy were the café girls—and I believe they are still patriotic.

The boys at first were very polite about my medals and asked me what I had done to get them. I showed them the papers, which were written in very beautiful language and full of fratellanza and abnegazione,6 but which really said, with the adjectives removed, that I had been given the medals because I was an American. After that their manner changed a little toward me, although I was their friend against outsiders. I was a friend, but I was never really one of them after they had read the citations, because it had been different with them and they had done very different things to get their medals. I had been wounded, it was true; but we all knew that being wounded, after all, was really an accident. I was never ashamed of the ribbons, though, and sometimes, after the cocktail hour, I would imagine myself having done all the things they had done to get their medals; but walking home at night through the empty streets with the cold wind and all the shops closed, trying to keep near the street lights, I knew that I would never have done such things, and I was very much afraid to die, and often lay in bed at night by myself, afraid to die and wondering how I would be when I went back to the front again. c

The three with the medals were like hunting-hawks; and I was not a hawk, although I might seem a hawk to those who had never hunted; they, the three, knew better and so we drifted apart. But I stayed good friends with the boy who had been wounded his first day at the front, because he would never know now how he would have turned out; so he could never be accepted either, and I liked him because I thought perhaps he would not have turned out to be a hawk either. d

The major, who had been the great fencer, did not believe in bravery, and spent much time while we sat in the machines correcting my grammar. He had complimented me on how I spoke Italian, and we talked together very easily. One day I had said that Italian seemed such an easy language to me that I could not take a great interest in it; everything was so easy to say. “Ah, yes,” the major said. “Why, then, do you not take up the use of grammar?” So we took up the use of grammar, and soon Italian was such a difficult language that I was afraid to talk to him until I had the grammar straight in my mind.

The major came very regularly to the hospital. I do not think he ever missed a day, although I am sure he did not believe in the machines. There was a time when none of us believed in the machines, and one day the major said it was all nonsense. The machines were new then and it was we who were to prove them. It was an idiotic idea, he said, “a theory, like another.” I had not learned my grammar, and he said I was a stupid impossible disgrace, and he was a fool to have bothered with me. He was a small man and he sat straight up in his chair with his right hand thrust into the machine and looked straight ahead at the wall while the straps thumped up and down with his fingers in them.

“What will you do when the war is over if it is over?” he asked me. “Speak grammatically!”

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6. fratellanza and abnegazione (fräQtD-länPzä; äb-nD-gä-zC-oPnD) Italian: brotherhood and self-denial.

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MAKE INFERENCESConsider how the narrator describes his relationship with his fellow soldiers. How might such interactions affect him?

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MAKE INFERENCESReread lines 90–95. How does the metaphor about hawks further describe the difference between the narrator and the young Italian soldiers? What sense do you get of how the narrator feels about this difference?

citation (sF-tAPshEn) n. a formal statement praising a soldier’s achievements



“I will go to the States.”“Are you married?”“No, but I hope to be.”“The more of a fool you are,” he said. He seemed very angry. “A man must not

marry.”“Why, Signor Maggiore?”7

“Don’t call me ‘Signor Maggiore.’”“Why must not a man marry?”“He cannot marry. He cannot marry,” he said angrily. “If he is to lose

everything, he should not place himself in a position to lose that. He should not place himself in a position to lose. He should find things he cannot lose.”

He spoke very angrily and bitterly, and looked straight ahead while he talked.“But why should he necessarily lose it?”“He’ll lose it,” the major said. He was looking at the wall. Then he looked

down at the machine and jerked his little hand out from between the straps and slapped it hard against his thigh. “He’ll lose it,” he almost shouted. “Don’t argue with me!” Then he called to the attendant who ran the machines. “Come and turn this thing off.”

He went back into the other room for the light treatment and the massage. Then I heard him ask the doctor if he might use his telephone and he shut the door. When he came back into the room, I was sitting in another machine. He was wearing his cape and had his cap on, and he came directly toward my machine and put his arm on my shoulder.

“I am so sorry,” he said, and patted me on the shoulder with his good hand. “I would not be rude. My wife has just died. You must forgive me.”

“Oh—” I said, feeling sick for him. “I am so sorry.”He stood there biting his lower lip. “It is very difficult,” he said. “I cannot

resign myself.”He looked straight past me and out through the window. Then he began to cry.

“I am utterly unable to resign myself,” he said and choked. And then crying, his head up looking at nothing, carrying himself straight and soldierly, with tears on both his cheeks and biting his lips, he walked past the machines and out the door. e

The doctor told me that the major’s wife, who was very young and whom he had not married until he was definitely invalided8 out of the war, had died of pneumonia. She had been sick only a few days. No one expected her to die. The major did not come to the hospital for three days. Then he came at the usual hour, wearing a black band on the sleeve of his uni form. When he came back, there were large framed photographs around the wall, of all sorts of wounds before and after they had been cured by the machines. In front of the machine the major used were three photographs of hands like his that were completely restored. I do not know where the doctor got them. I always understood we were the first to use the machines. The photographs did not make much difference to the major because he only looked out of the window. � f

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7. Signor Maggiore (sCn-yôrP mäd-jIPrD) Italian: Mr. Major—a respectful way of addressing an officer.

8. invalided: removed from active service because of sickness or injury.

resign (rG-zFnP) v. to submit or yield without complaint

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TONEReread lines 133–146. What news does the major receive here? How does this news affect the major and the narrator’s tone? Then, as you read the last paragraph, focus on the narrator’s attitude. Hemingway closes the story with an image of the major at the window. What do you think is on his mind as he looks out the window? How does his mental state contribute to the story’s tone?

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GRAMMAR AND STYLEReread lines 149–157. Note that though Hemingway describes a highly emotional situation, his short, declarative sentences and plain diction keep his tone detached and objective.


After Reading Comparing Texts

Comprehension 1. Recall Why is the narrator in Milan?

2. Recall What did the major do before the war?

3. Summarize How is the narrator different from the other young soldiers?

Text Analysis 4. Make Inferences Review the inferences you made as you read. The narrator

of this story is literally “in another country”—he is far from home, in a foreign, war-torn nation. What other aspects of his situation serve to further isolate or alienate him? Describe the text clues and prior knowledge that allowed you to infer how the narrator’s situation affects him. Be sure to address each of the following:

• how the narrator differs from the young Italian officers • the Italian civilians’ response to the soldiers • how the narrator’s circumstances differ from the major’s at the story’s end

5. Analyze Tone Reread the dialogue between the narrator and the major (lines 113–146). What kind of loss has the major experienced here, and how does he respond to his loss? What is the narrator’s attitude toward the major? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

6. Analyze Style Reexamine the text, looking for examples of the following elements of Hemingway’s prose style: short sentences; few adverbs or adjectives; and sharp, concrete images. Explain how Hemingway’s style causes this story to be so emotionally charged despite the lack of direct commentary on the characters’ emotions.

Text Criticism 7. Historical Context Influential author and patron Gertrude Stein formed a

community with Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and other modernist writers living as expatriates in Paris in the 1920s. Their particular disillusionment prompted her to characterize them as a “lost generation.” In what way do the characters in both “Winter Dreams” on page 978 and “In Another Country” remain “lost” at the end of each story? What might this say about the era in which these stories were written? Explain, citing evidence from both stories.

What are the costs of war?Wounds suffered by soldiers on the battlefield are among the costs of war on display in this story. What other costs of war are endured by the soldiers here? Support your answer with evidence from the story.


RL 1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. RL 4 Analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.

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Vocabulary in Context vocabulary practice

Choose the word from the word list that best completes each sentence.

1. Though only a few soldiers had received a(n) _____ for bravery, many of the others had also performed commendably.

2. Some of the soldiers sought companionship, while others remained aloof and _____.

3. It was painful to see young men _____ around on unsteady legs. 4. Was it better to struggle or to _____ oneself to one’s fate?

academic vocabulary in writing

The protagonist and other soldiers of “In Another Country” maintain a particular attitude toward life in the aftermath of combat. What kind of attitude do you recommend during times of stress? In a paragraph, identify this attitude and justify it to your readers. Use at least three of the Academic Vocabulary words in your writing.

vocabulary strategy: the origin of academic words As the narrator of this story would have noticed in his study of Italian, many English words are derived from that language, especially in the content areas of music and the arts. Academic vocabulary words, which include the words that apply to a specific content area, are important to your success in school. Many of those words are derived from other languages. You can use your knowledge of the word origins to improve your knowledge of academic vocabulary.

PRACTICE Match each boldfaced academic term with its meaning. Then identify the language of origin.

1. rotunda a. the art of painting on fresh moist plaster 2. fjord b. a colorless and transparent mineral 3. economy c. the efficient use of material resources 4. parliament d. a narrow section of sea set between rocky cliffs 5. fresco e. a slow movement in a piece of music 6. adagio f. a circular part of a building, usually with a dome 7. archaeology g. the science that studies the remains of past human life 8. quartz h. a major legislative body

• conclude • criteria • despite • justify • maintain

word listcitationdetachedlurchresign

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InteractiveVocabulary


L 6 Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level.


Triplet Study: Literary SelectionComparing Texts

Language grammar and style: Establish ToneReview the Grammar and Style note on page 1014. Tone is the expression of a writer’s attitude toward a subject. Hemingway’s early training as a newspaper reporter heavily influenced the tone of his fiction, giving it the emotional detachment and objectivity of a news report. Such a tone is achieved partly through his use of short, declarative sentences and plain diction, a style he also picked up from newspapers. Notice the simple language and understated quality of the following sentences:

It was cold in the fall in Milan and the dark came very early. Then the electric lights came on, and it was pleasant along the streets looking in the windows. There was much game hanging outside the shops, and the snow powdered in the fur of the foxes and the wind blew their tails. The deer hung stiff and heavy and empty, and small birds blew in the wind and the wind turned their feathers. It was a cold fall and the wind came down from the mountains. (lines 1–7)

PRACTICE Rewrite the following paragraph, adapting the language and sentence types to mimic Hemingway’s objectivity.

The horrible, fiery inferno had completely annihilated everything, like an angry, vengeful God. Only the charred foundation of the Harlington Hotel remained, with its lone chimney of chipped and blackened stone standing forlornly amid the devastation like a victim of survivor guilt. Never again would we see the thick forest in its green majestic splendor! Ugly black stumps studded the land like tombstones. It was the landscape of damnation! Gone were the songs of birds, the chirps of chipmunks, and the laughter of children! A deafening silence enveloped the area for miles around. Only black grasshoppers flitted about the soot, sending up tiny clouds of ash.

reading-writing connectionExpand your understanding of “In Another Country” by responding to this prompt. Then, use the revising tips to improve your profile.

YOUR

TURN

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InteractiveRevision


• Check your thesis statement to be sure you have defined the Hemingway hero.

• Since tone is an essential feature of the Hemingway narrator, be sure that your essay focuses on a particular kind of attitude.

• Examine the story’s conclusion and be sure that you use it as supporting evidence.

WRITE A CHARACTER PROFILE Most of Hemingway’s male protagonists share such strikingly similar traits that critics have named this type of character the “Hemingway hero.” Using the examples of the narrator and the major in this story, create a three-to-five-paragraph profile of the Hemingway hero.

writing prompt revising tips

L 3a Vary syntax for effect. W 2e Establish and maintain an objective tone while attending to discipline-specific norms and conventions.


Reading for Information


“Hey, have any of y’all seen the crocodile that got my arm?” U.S. Army Maj. Anthony Smith hoists his prosthetic1 hook, tied to a paddle, as he floats down Idaho’s Salmon River in a large blue raft, manned by a cackling crew of fellow amputees. Momentarily rattled, a group of rafters resting onshore stare as Smith’s boat glides by, before someone on the beach points down the rapids and yells, “He went that-a-way.” Smith, digging his paddle back into the water, growls with mock pirate glee. “You should see what happens when I’m in a restaurant and I say to the waitress ‘Can you give me a hand?’” a

He can laugh now. It’s the surest sign yet of the progress he’s made since April 24, 2004, when Smith, then a captain with an Arkansas National Guard unit stationed near Baghdad2, was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. . . . As Smith staggered to his feet, insurgents3 opened fire, shooting him four times. By the time medics4 reached him minutes later, Smith had “flat-lined.” Finding no pulse or respiration, they loaded him into a body bag and put his name on the list of those KIA, killed in action. Only as a soldier was preparing to zip shut the bag did she notice an air bubble in the blood oozing from Smith’s neck wound. “They said, ‘Hey, this guy’s still alive,’” Smith says.

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1. prosthetic: artificial, as of a replacement for a missing body part.

2. Baghdad: capital city of Iraq.

3. insurgents: loosely organized fighters who oppose the presence of the U.S. military in Iraq.

4. medics: trained military personnel who rescue wounded soldiers and administer life-saving first aid.

Magazine ArticleIn Hemingway’s short story, you read about soldiers undergoing physical therapy for wounds suffered on the Italian front in World War I. In Karen Breslau’s article, you’ll discover how soldiers injured in the Iraq war use extreme sports to regain their physical and mental health.

HEALING WAR’S WOUNDSKaren Breslau

background The conflict in Iraq started in March 2003, when a coalition led by the United States entered the country and toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. U.S. troops in Iraq have been threatened by violent opposition to the American presence there. Because of medical advances, severely wounded soldiers often survive to face difficult and lengthy recoveries. Karen Breslau, who writes about these soldiers in “Healing War’s Wounds,” is Newsweek’s San Francisco bureau chief.

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MAKING INFERENCESExamine the dialogue in the opening paragraph. What can you infer about the soldiers from the way they speak? Explain, citing evidence.

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Comparing Texts

healing war’s wounds 1019

5. holistic: relating to the whole of something instead of its parts.

6. orthopedic: medically related to the bones, joints, or muscles.

Two and a half years later, Smith recounts his own resurrection in vivid detail—not because he remembers (he was in a coma for six weeks), but because he has pieced the story together from conversations with his wife, Jackie, and the dozens of doctors who labored to save him. Smith has endured more than 30 surgical procedures to reconstruct his abdomen, the remains of his right arm, his burned face and the gaping wound in his hip, now painfully infected. He must be constantly monitored for signs of traumatic brain injury that may have resulted from the force of his skull’s slamming against the inside of his helmet. b

Though Smith’s tale of survival is extreme, it is no longer unheard of. . . . But it also presents a huge challenge for the military as this sizable population of wounded veterans returns to society, bearing complex disabilities that will require lifelong care.

To address the problem, the military has adopted a holistic5 mind-body approach, deploying a fleet of experts ranging from orthopedic6 surgeons to therapists to work on the wounded. Doctors insist on group therapy to help cope with the guilt that often dogs survivors who have lost—or left—comrades on the battlefield. Of special concern are the service members, like Smith, classified by the Pentagon as “severely injured”—having lost limbs or eyesight, or suffering burns, paralysis or debilitating brain injuries that will not emerge fully in some cases for years. “Technology has advanced to the point where we can salvage patients who would not have survived before,” says Lt. Col. John McManus of the Army’s Institute for Surgical Research in San Antonio, Texas. “The bigger test is psychological. Can we restore a life worth living?”

The Pentagon has recently begun testing more experimental methods, rehabilitating wounded service members with extreme sports designed to build muscle—and self-confidence. . . . Patients who work out regularly, lifting weights and yanking pulleys from their wheelchairs, often with burned and mangled limbs, are rewarded with all-expenses-paid outdoor expeditions. It was just such an invitation that brought Smith, two other wounded service members and their wives to the

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TONEReread lines 18–25, with special attention to the information the writer provides about Major Smith. What do you learn from this passage about Major Smith and the writer’s attitude toward him? Support your answer with details from the paragraph.

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Analyze VisualsWhat mood does the photographer capture with this image? How does the photograph support the tone of the article it accompanies? Cite details from the photograph and the selection to support your response.



Salmon River last month. They were the guests of Sun Valley Adaptive Sports—one of several private nonprofits consulting with the Pentagon. On the week’s agenda: white-water rafting, paragliding, rock climbing and horseback riding. With the group is Erik Schultz, a backcountry sports enthusiast who was paralyzed in a skiing accident eight years ago. During his darkest depression, says Schultz, friends “literally dragged me” on a camping trip. After a week in the wilderness, “I was bursting with self-confidence. Things didn’t seem that hard anymore.” He hopes that his presence in a wheelchair, fly-fishing from a rocky beach and whooping his way down the river, will help “demystify” disabled life for the wounded service members. c

Free from their hospital routines, and the weight of their wounds, Smith and the others spend their days splashing like kids. U.S. Marine S/Sgt. Damion Jacobs, who lost his right leg below the knee to an IED7 near Fallujah six months ago, removes his prosthetic and props it in the sand like a coffee table; he leans against it while watching the show. Jacobs plans to take his Marine Corps physical and return to active duty. Army Spc. Andrew Soule, an intense, dignified 25-year-old who has emerged as the star of BAMC’s rehab program, says that before his injury, he wasn’t “much of an athlete.” A year ago Soule lost both legs and suffered a severe arm injury in a bomb blast in Afghanistan. Now he kayaks, hand-cycles and surfs. On the first day of the river trip, one of Soule’s carbon-fiber prosthetics is fractured. He tosses the limb aside and, for the next five days, kayaks legless, dragging his body over rocky beaches, even climbing stairs, with his arms. “People have this tendency to overreact,” says Soule, who left Texas A&M after 9/11 to join the Army. “They don’t know how much you can do for yourself.” d

Even Soule is amazed by how far he has come. As he lay tourniqueted8 on the ground last year next to the wreckage of his Humvee near the Pakistani border, waiting for a helicopter to rescue him, Soule’s squad leader leaned over him and instructed the young soldier to repeat over and over, “I’m going to live. I’m going to live.” It’s a lesson he carried with him, down the Salmon River and beyond. �

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7. IED: improvised explosive device; the military term for a homemade bomb.

8. tourniqueted: fitted with a device to prevent blood loss from a major wound.

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MAKING INFERENCESReread lines 54–67. What kind of message about the soldiers and about life can you infer from the details the writer includes here? Cite evidence to support your answer.

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TONEThe author clearly admires the soldiers for participating in extreme adventure sports. What details in this paragraph convey her admiring tone?

Analyze VisualsWhat emotions do you think the veteran in the paragliding harness was feeling at the moment the photograph was taken? What details of the scene help you identify his emotions?


Reading for Information Comparing Texts

Book CoverThis book cover features the bowed head of a combat soldier. The subtitle identifi es the book’s subject: “returning troops.” Breslau’s magazine article focuses also on returning troops, while Hemingway’s short story features wounded soldiers in treatment near the front. As you study the book cover, think about how the words come together with the image to engage potential readers. Respond to the questions below, citing evidence from the book cover to support your answers.

1. INTERPRETExamine the image of the soldier. Notice the camouflaged helmet, which indicates that he is on active duty. Notice also that his head is bowed and that his eyes are in shadow. What kind of mood does the image convey? Why do you think the publisher chose this image for a book about post-traumatic stress disorder in returning soldiers?

2. MAKE INFERENCESWhat persuasive message does the book title convey? What purpose does the publisher achieve by running the title in large block letters across the top of the cover? Explain your responses.

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RI 7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats as well as in words in order to address a question.

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After Reading

Comprehension 1. Recall Describe the military’s “holistic mind-body approach” to treating

injured soldiers.

2. Clarify How did spending a week in the wilderness boost Erik Schultz’s self-confidence?

3. Summarize How does participating in extreme sports benefit injured soldiers mentally and physically?

Text Analysis 4. Make Inferences Breslau begins her article with a humorous anecdote,

followed by a horrific description of Major Smith’s near-fatal injuries. Why do you think she chose to begin the article this way? Explain your answer.

5. Evaluate Tone How successful is the writer in conveying her attitude toward the soldiers she writes about here? Cite evidence from the article to support your answer.

6. Evaluate Diction Breslau refers to Major Smith’s recovery as a “resurrection.” Considering the facts surrounding his injury, is this word appropriate here? Explain your answer.

7. Make Inferences Reread the article’s closing sentence. What lesson do you think Soule carried with him? What lesson do you think Breslau wants readers to carry with them after reading her article? Explain your answer.

Comparing Themes Across Genres 8. Analyze Theme Both Hemingway’s short story and Breslau’s magazine article

focus on wounded soldiers in therapy, but the two writers convey strikingly different attitudes toward the possibility of recovery. Describe the contrast in attitude between the two selections, citing evidence from both to support your answer.

What are the costs of war?After reading “Healing War’s Wounds,” what responsibility do you think a society has to soldiers who have suffered the costs of war? Explain your answer.


RI 1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. RI 4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.

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Comparing The Modern Short Story Texts In Another …mrsgillespiesenglish.cmswiki.wikispaces.net/file/view/In...text analysis: tone Hemingway began his literary career as a newspaper