MYPNA SE G10 U1 Web

UNIT
Inside the Nightmare

Spine-tingling movies, books,
and experiences are everywhere.
What draws us to explore—and
to enjoy—frightening themes?
Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Discuss It Why is Halloween big business?

Write your response before sharing your ideas.
Spooky Business:
American Economy
2
UNIT 1
UNIT INTRODUCTION
ESSENTIAL QUESTION: LAUNCH TEXT
EXPLANATORY MODEL
What is the allure of fear? My Introduction to

Gothic Literature
WHOLE-CLASS SMALL-GROUP INDEPENDENT

LEARNING LEARNING LEARNING
ANCHOR TEXT: SHORT STORY SHORT STORY CRITICISM

The Fall of the Where Is Here? How Maurice
House of Usher Joyce Carol Oates Sendak’s “Wild
Edgar Allan Poe Things” Moved
Children’s Books
Toward Realism
COMPARE
Gloria Goodale
Anchor TExt: SHORT STORY MEDIA: PHOTO GALLERY
EXPLANATORY NONFICTION
House Taken Over from The Dream
Julio Cortázar Collector Sleep Paralysis: A
Arthur Tress Waking Nightmare
MEDIA: INFORMATIONAL GRAPHIC INTERVIEW

SHORT STORY
fromHow to Tell Why Do Some Brains
You’re Reading a Enjoy Fear? The Feather Pillow
Gothic Novel—In Allegra Ringo Horacio Quiroga, translated
Pictures by Margaret Sayers Peden
Adam Frost and
Zhenia Vasiliev
POETRY COLLECTION
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
beware: do not read
this poem Stone Age Man’s
Ishmael Reed Terrors Still Stalk
Modern Nightmares
The Raven Robin McKie
Edgar Allan Poe
Windigo
Louise Erdrich
PERFORMANCE TASK PERFORMANCE TASK PERFORMANCE-Based Assessment PRep

Writing Focus: Speaking and Listening focus: Review Evidence for an
Write an Explanatory Essay Deliver an Explanatory Presentation Explanatory Essay
PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT
Explanatory Text: Essay and Informal Talk
PROMPT:
In what ways does transformation play a role in stories meant to scare us?
3
UNIT
1 INTRODUCTION
Unit Goals
Throughout this unit, you will deepen your understanding of scary literature
by reading, writing, speaking, presenting, and listening. These goals will help
you succeed on the Unit Performance-Based Assessment.
Rate how well you meet these goals right now. You will revisit your ratings
later when you reflect on your growth during this unit.
SCALE 1 2 3 4 5
NOT AT ALL NOT VERY SOMEWHAT VERY EXTREMELY

WELL WELL WELL WELL WELL
READING GOALS 1 2 3 4 5
• Evaluate written narratives by analyzing

how authors introduce and develop the
events in their writing.
• Expand your knowledge and use of

academic and concept vocabulary.
WRITING AND RESEARCH GOALS 1 2 3 4 5
• Write an explanatory essay in which you

use a narrative as evidence for your main
idea. Apply your knowledge of texts in
the unit.
• Conduct research projects of various

lengths to explore a topic and clarify
meaning.
LANGUAGE GOAL 1 2 3 4 5
• Use figurative language, connotation, Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
and denotation to convey meaning and
add variety and interest to your writing
and presentations.
SPEAKING AND LISTENING

GOALS 1 2 3 4 5
 STANDARDS
Language • Collaborate with your team to build on
Acquire and use accurately general
the ideas of others, develop consensus,
academic and domain-specific words
and phrases, sufficient for reading, and communicate.
writing, speaking, and listening at
the college and career readiness
level; demonstrate independence • Integrate audio, visuals, and text in
in gathering vocabulary knowledge presentations.
when considering a word or phrase
important to comprehension or
expression.
4 UNIT 1 • INSIDE THE NIGHTMARE

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What is the allure of fear?
Academic Vocabulary: Explanatory Text

Academic terms appear in all subjects and can help you read, write, and
discuss with more precision. Here are five academic words that will be useful
FOLLOW THROUGH
to you in this unit as you analyze and write explanatory texts. Study the words in this chart
and mark them or their forms
Complete the chart.
wherever they appear in the
1. Review each word, its root, and the mentor sentences. unit.
2. Use the information and your own knowledge to predict the meaning of
each word.
3. For each word, list at least two related words.
4. Refer to a dictionary or other resources if needed.
WORD MENTOR SENTENCES PREDICT MEANING RELATED WORDS
motivate 1. A mentor should try to motivate motivation; unmotivated

a student to perform well.
ROOT: 2. What might motivate a character
-mot- to do something so deceitful?
“move”
dimension 1. We have to consider every

dimension of the problem before
ROOT: we can solve it.
-mens- 2. That classic TV show told stories
“measure” that explored another dimension
of time, space, and imagination.
manipulate 1. We watch as the sculptors

manipulate the clay with great
ROOT: skill and speed.
-man- 2. People often become defensive
“hand” when they believe others are
trying to manipulate them.
psychological 1. The director’s new film is a

psychological thriller, and I found
ROOT: it extremely suspenseful.
-psych- 2. The psychological effects of fear
“mind”; “spirit” can last a long time.
perspective 1. The narrator’s perspective

was limited and left readers
ROOT: wondering what other characters
-spec- thought.
“look”; “see” 2. Living in another part of the
country helped to broaden my
perspective on the world.
Unit Introduction 5
UNIT
1 INTRODUCTION
LAUNCH TEXT | EXPLANATORY MODEL
This selection is an example of an

explanatory essay. In this example,
the writer includes narrative, or
storytelling, elements to help explain
a topic. This is the type of writing you
will develop in the Performance-Based
My Introduction to
Assessment at the end of the unit.
As you read, look at the way the Gothic
writer includes both explanatory and
narrative elements to convey ideas. Literature
What important details does the writer
include to convey information in a
vivid way?
H
1 ow does someone fall in love with a particular kind of writing
NOTES or an author who has long departed this life? What draws us to
find in words the echoes of our own fears or longings? For those of us
lucky enough to have a literary passion, the story of how we met our
first love is probably just like tales of other first meetings—funny or
quirky, full of accident and coincidence. My literary passion is Edgar
Allan Poe, and I met him—in print—when I was fourteen years old.
2 It was just after a huge storm that had featured an alarmingly
beautiful display of lightning and wind. The power had been knocked

out, and I was sitting at a window, watching the wet night grow darker.
I had been living with my grandmother for a few weeks while my
parents “figured things out.” I loved my grandmother, but I couldn’t
shake the sadness and anxiety I was feeling. The storm had been a
welcome diversion. As the clouds cleared, a fog rose and filtered the
moonlight, casting a bluish hue over the yard. The scene was moody
and solemn, but beautiful. My grandmother broke my reverie by
bustling into the room, carrying two lit candles and a book. “It’ll take
hours for the electric company to get all the way out here to fix the
power,” she said. “Why don’t you read? I’ll go find some batteries for
the flashlights.”
3 She set the book and a candle on the floor, and rushed out as
though she had to catch the batteries before they fled. I picked
up the book she had left on the floor. It was a collection of old
stories—just a paperback and not much to look at. I turned to one by

Poe—“The Cask of Amontillado.” Set during the carnival season in

an unnamed European city, the story features an unhinged narrator NOTES
named Montresor who plots revenge on an acquaintance. I liked the

gruesome setting of a mysterious burial vault. In Poe’s descriptions,
I could practically smell the dust and mold. And I was stunned by
the horrible ending. But what struck me most was how Montresor
spoke directly to the reader—to me. He expected my sympathy as
he brought his terrible revenge. Up to that point, all the stories I had
ever read had set the criminal or lunatic at a distance. They didn’t
draw me into a mind that was a truly scary place to be. This one did.
4 I finished Poe’s story and turned to another. My grandmother
came back with a flashlight, and I kept reading. There were more
stories by Poe and others by authors whom I had never heard of
but who came to feel like friends—Amelia B. Edwards, Horace
Walpole, Ann Radcliffe. I later learned that these stories were part
of the Gothic tradition, but I didn’t care about that. I fell into them
and was carried away, like someone swimming in a river. In all of
them, characters were driven by intense emotions of love or hate
or jealousy. Some featured ghosts or monsters, but others featured
regular people whose sorrow made them ghostly or monstrous. They
were tales full of darkness and light, just like the storm I had enjoyed
with its thunder and lightning. They were stories that made all I felt
and feared seem less of a burden.
5 That evening spent in darkness both real and imaginary never
left me. The stories helped me understand that life is not easy and
people are complex—simultaneously strong and weak, wonderful
and terrible. Though I could not articulate it then, I can now: The
stories helped me see that life can be a mansion full of secrets and
dark passages, but also of beauty and light. They helped me choose
to embrace it all. After another week at my grandmother’s, I went
home, armed with stories to see me through whatever might come.
 WORD NETWORK for THE LITERATURE OF FEAR
Vocabulary A Word Network

is a collection of words related to a
topic. As you read the selections in
this unit, identify interesting words unhinged
related to the idea of fear, and
add them to your Word Network.
For example, you might begin by vault FEAR
adding words from the Launch
Text, such as unhinged, vault, and
revenge. Continue to add words as revenge
you complete the unit.
Tool Kit Word Network Model
My Introduction to Gothic Literature 7

UNIT
1 INTRODUCTION
Summary
Write a summary of “My Introduction to Gothic Literature.” A summary is
a concise, complete, and accurate overview of a text. It should not include a
statement of your opinion or an analysis.
Launch Activity
Conduct a Horror-Story Election Consider this question: Which
character is the best horror-story hero? Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
• Form two “parties” to gather and choose candidates for an election. You
will be voting on the best horror-story “hero.” In this case, the heroes
are the monsters and other villains.
• With your party, discuss the main characters from horror stories with
which you are familiar. Include characters from movies and television,
as well as books. When you feel you have discussed the characters
thoroughly, nominate a candidate who will represent your party in a
whole-class election.
• Choose a party member to deliver the campaign speech telling why your
candidate is the best horror-story “hero.”
• After both campaign speeches have been delivered, hold a class election.
Then, tally the votes for each candidate. If you vote against your own
party, be ready to explain why.

QuickWrite
Consider class discussions, presentations, the video, and the Launch Text as
you think about the prompt. Record your first thoughts here.
PROMPT: In
what ways does transformation play a role in stories
meant to scare us?
 EVIDENCE LOG FOR INSIDE THE NIGHTMARE

Review your QuickWrite.

Title of Text: Date:
Summarize your initial position
in one sentence to record in CONNECTION TO PROMPT TEXT EVIDENCE/DETAILS ADDITIONAL NOTES/IDEAS
your Evidence Log. Then, record
evidence from “My Introduction
to Gothic Literature” that
supports your position.
Prepare for the Performance-
Based Assessment at the end How does this text change or add to my thinking? Date:
of the unit by completing the
Evidence Log after each selection.
Tool Kit
Evidence Log Model
Unit Introduction 9
OVERVIEW: WHOLE-CLASS LEARNING
ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
What is the allure of fear?

What is it that draws us to visit haunted houses on Halloween and read stories that
keep us up all night startled by every strange noise we hear? The allure of fear is a
powerful attraction. Similarly, the concept of “scary but fun” appeals to many of us.
The selections you will read offer insight into why people enjoy stories that put
them on the edges of their seats.
Whole-Class Learning Strategies

Throughout your life, in school, in your community, and in your career, you will
continue to learn and work in large-group environments.
Review these strategies and the actions you can take to practice them as you work
with your whole class. Add ideas of your own for each step. Get ready to use these
strategies during Whole-Class Learning.
STRATEGY ACTION PLAN
Listen actively • Eliminate distractions. For example, put your cellphone away.
• Keep your eyes on the speaker.
Clarify by asking • If you’re confused, other people probably are, too. Ask a question
questions to help your whole class.
• If you see that you are guessing, ask a question instead.

Monitor • Notice what information you already know, and be ready to build on it.
understanding • Ask for help if you are struggling.
Interact and • Share your ideas and answer questions, even if you are unsure.
share ideas • Build on the ideas of others by adding details or making a connection.

CONTENTS
ANCHOR TEXT: SHORT STORY
The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe
In this famous Gothic tale, a visitor arrives at

an old friend’s home and realizes that some
irrational fears might turn out to be justified.
COMPARE
ANCHOR TEXT: SHORT STORY
House Taken Over

Julio Cortázar
A brother and sister live in the old family

home, but strange events begin to push
them out.
MEDIA: INFORMATIONAL GRAPHIC
How to Tell You’re Reading a

from 1
Gothic Novel—In Pictures
Adam Frost and Zhenia Vasiliev
If the book you’re reading has a mansion that

has been in the family for years and at least one
creepy character—congratulations! You’re likely

reading a Gothic novel.
PERFORMANCE TASK
WRITING FOCUS
Write an Explanatory Text
Both Whole-Class readings involve dark, ominous settings that are full of
mysterious, unexplained forces. The informational graphic describes the elements of
Gothic literature. After reading, you will write an explanatory essay about portrayals
of fear and reason in these selections.
Overview: Whole-Class Learning 11

MAKING MEANING
Comparing Texts
In this lesson, you will read and compare two stories:
“The Fall of the House of Usher,” by Edgar Allan Poe,
and “House Taken Over,” by Julio Cortázar. First, you
The Fall of the House House Taken Over
of Usher
will complete the first-read and close-read activities for
Poe’s story. Then, you will compare that story to the
story Cortázar wrote a little more than a century later.
About the Author
The Fall of the House of Usher

Concept Vocabulary
You will encounter the following words as you read “The Fall of the House of
Usher.” Before reading, note how familiar you are with each word. Rank the
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 –1849) words in order from most familiar (1) to least familiar (6).
is regarded as the first
WORD YOUR RANKING
American literary critic and the
inventor of the detective story. annihilate
Despite his literary success, antiquity
Poe’s life was almost as dark
fissure
and dismal as the fiction he
wrote. Shortly after his birth, dissolution
his father deserted the family, rending
and his mother died. He was
tumultuous
raised by a wealthy yet miserly
merchant and lived most of his
After completing the first read, come back to the concept vocabulary and
adult life in extreme poverty.
review your rankings. Mark changes to your original rankings as needed.
Poe died at the age of 40. The
circumstances of his death
remain a mystery.
First Read FICTION
Apply these strategies as you conduct your first read. You will have an
opportunity to complete the close-read notes after your first read.

Tool Kit
First-Read Guide and
Model Annotation NOTICE whom the story is ANNOTATE by marking
about, what happens, where vocabulary and key passages
and when it happens, and you want to revisit.
why those involved react as
they do.
CONNECT ideas within RESPOND by completing

 STANDARDS the selection to what you the Comprehension Check.
Reading Literature already know and what you
By the end of grade 10, have already read.
read and comprehend literature,
including stories, dramas, and poems,
at the high end of the grades 9–10
text complexity band independently
and proficiently.

ANCHOR TEXT | SHORT STORY
The
Fall
of the
House
of
Usher
Edgar Allan Poe
BACKGROUND
In this story, Edgar Allan Poe shows his sympathy for the Romantic
movement, which was at its height in Europe when he was writing, in

the early nineteenth century. The Romantics explored themes of love and
death, often with an intense interest in human psychology. For Poe, the
darkest aspects of the mind and heart were most revealing of what it
means to be human.
D uring the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the

autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low
in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a
NOTES
singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as

the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy
House of Usher. I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse
of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.
I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that
half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind
usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate
The Fall of the House of Usher 13

or terrible. I looked upon the scene before me—upon the mere
NOTES house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—upon
the bleak walls—upon the vacant eyelike windows—upon a few
CLOSE READ rank sedges1—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with
ANNOTATE: Mark words and an utter depression of soul, which I can compare to no earthly
phrases in paragraph 1 that sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveler upon
refer to the imagination or opium—the bitter lapse into everyday life—the hideous dropping
altered reality, and others
off of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the
that refer to falling or
heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading
sinking.
of the imagination could torture into aught2 of the sublime. What
QUESTION: What is was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in the
happening to the narrator contemplation of the House of Usher? It was a mystery all insoluble;
as he looks at the house?
nor could I grapple with the shadowy fancies that crowded upon
CONCLUDE: What is the me as I pondered. I was forced to fall back upon the unsatisfactory
effect of these strong conclusion, that while, beyond doubt, there are combinations of very
descriptive details? simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us,
still the analysis of this power lies among considerations beyond our
depth. It was possible, I reflected, that a mere different arrangement
of the particulars of the scene, of the details of the picture, would
annihilate (uh NY uh layt) v. be sufficient to modify, or perhaps to annihilate its capacity for
destroy completely sorrowful impression; and, acting upon this idea, I reined my
horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn3 that lay
in unruffled luster by the dwelling, and gazed down—but with a
shudder even more thrilling than before—upon the remodeled and
inverted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems, and
the vacant and eyelike windows.
2 Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to myself
a sojourn of some weeks. Its proprietor, Roderick Usher, had been
one of my boon companions in boyhood; but many years had elapsed
since our last meeting. A letter, however, had lately reached me in a
distant part of the country—a letter from him—which, in its wildly
importunate nature, had admitted of no other than a personal reply.
The MS4 gave evidence of nervous agitation. The writer spoke of acute

bodily illness—of a mental disorder which oppressed him—and of
an earnest desire to see me, as his best and indeed his only personal
friend, with a view of attempting, by the cheerfulness of my society,
some alleviation of his malady. It was the manner in which all this, and
much more, was said—it was the apparent heart that went with his
request—which allowed me no room for hesitation; and I accordingly
obeyed forthwith what I still considered a very singular summons.
3 Although, as boys, we had been even intimate associates, yet
I really knew little of my friend. His reserve had been always
excessive and habitual. I was aware, however, that his very ancient
family had been noted, time out of mind, for a peculiar sensibility
1. sedges n. grasslike plants.

2. aught (awt) n. anything.
3. tarn n. small lake.
4. MS abbr. manuscript; document written by hand.

of temperament, displaying itself, through long ages, in many
works of exalted art, and manifested, of late, in repeated deeds NOTES
of munificent yet unobtrusive charity, as well as in a passionate

devotion to the intricacies, perhaps even more than to the orthodox
and easily recognizable beauties, of musical science. I had learned,
too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the Usher race, all
time-honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring
branch: in other words, that the entire family lay in the direct line
of descent, and had always, with very trifling and very temporary
variation, so lain. It was this deficiency, I considered, while
running over in thought the perfect keeping of the character of the
premises with the accredited character of the people, and while
speculating upon the possible influence which the one, in the long
lapse of centuries, might have exercised upon the other—it was
this deficiency, perhaps of collateral issue,5 and the consequent
undeviating transmission, from sire to son, of the patrimony6 with
the name, which had, at length, so identified the two as to merge the
original title of the estate in the quaint and equivocal appellation
of the “House of Usher”—an appellation which seemed to include,
in the minds of the peasantry who used it, both the family and the
family mansion.
4 I have said that the sole effect of my somewhat childish
experiment—that of looking down within the tarn—had been to
deepen the first singular impression. There can be no doubt that
the consciousness of the rapid increase of my superstition—for
why should I not so term it?—served mainly to accelerate the
increase itself. Such, I have long known, is the paradoxical law of
all sentiments having terror as a basis. And it might have been for
this reason only, that, when I again uplifted my eyes to the house
itself, from its image in the pool, there grew in my mind a strange
fancy—a fancy so ridiculous, indeed, that I but mention it to show
the vivid force of the sensations which oppressed me. I had so
worked upon my imagination as really to believe that about the
whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to

themselves and their immediate vicinity—an atmosphere which
had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up
from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn—a
pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible,
and leaden-hued.
5 Shaking off from my spirit what must have been a dream,
I scanned more narrowly the real aspect of the building. Its
principal feature seemed to be that of an excessive antiquity. The antiquity (an TIHK wuh tee) n.
discoloration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread very great age
the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the
eaves. Yet all this was apart from any extraordinary dilapidation.
No portion of the masonry had fallen; and there appeared to be
5. of collateral issue descended from the same ancestors but in a different line.
6. patrimony (PA truh moh nee) n. property inherited from one’s father.

a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts,
NOTES and the crumbling condition of the individual stones. In this
there was much that reminded me of the specious totality of old
woodwork which has rotted for long years in some neglected vault,
with no disturbance from the breath of the external air. Beyond this
indication of extensive decay, however, the fabric gave little token
of instability. Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might
fissure (FIHSH uhr) n. long, have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending
narrow crack or opening from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the
wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters
of the tarn.
6 Noticing these things, I rode over a short causeway to the house. A
servant in waiting took my horse, and I entered the Gothic7 archway
of the hall. A valet, of stealthy step, thence conducted me, in silence,
through many dark and intricate passages in my progress to the
studio of his master. Much that I encountered on the way contributed,
I know not how, to heighten the vague sentiments of which I have
already spoken. While the objects around me—while the carvings of
the ceilings, the somber tapestries of the walls, the ebon blackness
of the floors, and the phantasmagoric8 armorial trophies which
rattled as I strode, were but matters to which, or to such as which,
I had been accustomed from my infancy—while I hesitated not to
acknowledge how familiar was all this—I still wondered to find how
unfamiliar were the fancies which ordinary images were stirring
up. On one of the staircases, I met the physician of the family. His
countenance, I thought, wore a mingled expression of low cunning
and perplexity. He accosted me with trepidation and passed on. The
valet now threw open a door and ushered me into the presence of
his master.
7 The room in which I found myself was very large and lofty. The
windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance
from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from
within. Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through

the trellised panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the
more prominent objects around; the eye, however, struggled in vain
to reach the remoter angles of the chamber, or the recesses of the
vaulted and fretted9 ceiling. Dark draperies hung upon the walls.
The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered.
Many books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed
to give any vitality to the scene. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of
sorrow. An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and
pervaded all.
8 Upon my entrance, Usher arose from a sofa on which he
had been lying at full length, and greeted me with a vivacious
warmth which had much in it, I at first thought, of an overdone
7. Gothic adj. high and ornate.

8. phantasmagoric (fan taz muh GAWR ihk) adj. fantastic or dreamlike.
9. fretted adj. ornamented with a pattern of small, straight, intersecting bars.

cordiality—of the constrained effort of the ennuyé10 man of the
world. A glance, however, at his countenance convinced me of NOTES
his perfect sincerity. We sat down; and for some moments, while
he spoke not, I gazed upon him with a feeling half of pity, half CLOSE READ
of awe. Surely, man had never before so terribly altered, in so ANNOTATE: Mark details in
brief a period, as had Roderick Usher! It was with difficulty that I paragraph 8 that relate to
could bring myself to admit the identity of the wan being before the absence of color and
force.
me with the companion of my early boyhood. Yet the character
of his face had been at all times remarkable. A cadaverousness11 QUESTION: What portrait
of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond of Usher do these details
comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a create?
surpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of a delicate Hebrew model, CONCLUDE: What does this
but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations; a finely portrayal of Usher help the
molded chin, speaking, in its want of prominence, of a want of reader understand?
moral energy; hair of a more than weblike softness and tenuity—
these features, with an inordinate expansion above the regions
of the temple, made up altogether a countenance not easily to be
forgotten. And now in the mere exaggeration of the prevailing
character of these features, and of the expression they were wont
to convey, lay so much of change that I doubted to whom I spoke.
The now ghastly pallor of the skin, and the now miraculous luster
of the eye, above all things startled and even awed me. The silken
hair, too, had been suffered to grow all unheeded, and as, in its
wild gossamer12 texture, it floated rather than fell about the face, I
could not, even with effort, connect its Arabesque13 expression with
any idea of simple humanity.
9 In the manner of my friend I was at once struck with an
incoherence—an inconsistency; and I soon found this to arise from
a series of feeble and futile struggles to overcome an habitual
trepidancy—an excessive nervous agitation. For something of this
nature I had indeed been prepared, no less by his letter, than by
reminiscences of certain boyish traits, and by conclusions deduced
from his peculiar physical conformation and temperament.
His action was alternately vivacious and sullen. His voice

varied rapidly from a tremulous indecision (when the animal
spirits seemed utterly in abeyance) to that species of energetic
concision—that abrupt, weighty, unhurried, and hollow-sounding
enunciation—that leaden, self-balanced, and perfectly modulated
guttural utterance, which may be observed in the lost drunkard,
or the irreclaimable eater of opium, during the periods of his most
intense excitement.
10 It was thus that he spoke of the object of my visit, of his earnest
desire to see me, and of the solace he expected me to afford him. He
entered, at some length, into what he conceived to be the nature of
his malady. It was, he said, a constitutional and a family evil, and one
10. ennuyé (on wee AY) adj. French for “bored.”
11. cadaverousness (kuh DAV uhr uhs nihs) n. quality of being like a dead body.
12. gossamer (GOS uh muhr) adj. very delicate and light, like a cobweb.
13. Arabesque (ar uh BEHSK) adj. of complex and elaborate design.

for which he despaired to find a remedy—a mere nervous affection,14
NOTES he immediately added, which would undoubtedly soon pass off. It
displayed itself in a host of unnatural sensations. Some of these, as
he detailed them, interested and bewildered me; although, perhaps,
the terms and the general manner of the narration had their weight.
He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most
insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of
certain texture; the odors of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes
were tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar
sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire
him with horror.
11 To an anomalous species of terror I found him a bounden slave.
“I shall perish:” said he, “I must perish in this deplorable folly.
Thus, thus, and not otherwise, shall I be lost. I dread the events of
the future, not in themselves, but in their results. I shudder at the
thought of any, even the most trivial, incident, which may operate
upon this intolerable agitation of soul. I have, indeed, no abhorrence
of danger, except in its absolute effect—in terror. In this unnerved, in
this pitiable, condition I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive
when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with
the grim phantasm, fear.”
14. affection n. affliction; illness.

12 I learned, moreover, at intervals, and through broken and
equivocal hints, another singular feature of his mental condition. NOTES
He was enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard

to the dwelling which he tenanted, and whence, for many years,
he had never ventured forth—in regard to an influence whose
supposititious15 force was conveyed in terms too shadowy here
to be restated—an influence which some peculiarities in the mere
form and substance of his family mansion, had, by dint of long
sufferance, he said, obtained over his spirit—an effect which the
physique of the gray walls and turrets, and of the dim tarn into
which they all looked down, had at length, brought about upon the
morale of his existence.
13 He admitted, however, although with hesitation, that much of
the peculiar gloom which thus afflicted him could be traced to
a more natural and far more palpable origin—to the severe and
long-continued illness—indeed to the evidently approaching
dissolution—of a tenderly beloved sister—his sole companion for dissolution (dihs uh LOO
long years, his last and only relative on earth. “Her decease,” he shuhn) n. ending or downfall
said, with a bitterness which I can never forget, “would leave him
(him, the hopeless and the frail) the last of the ancient race of the
Ushers.” While he spoke, the lady Madeline (for so was she called)
CLOSE READ
passed slowly through a remote portion of the apartment, and,
ANNOTATE: In the first two
without having noticed my presence, disappeared. I regarded her sentences of paragraph 13,
with an utter astonishment not unmingled with dread; and yet I mark the sections that
found it impossible to account for such feelings. A sensation of stupor are set off by dashes
oppressed me, as my eyes followed her retreating steps. When a or parentheses.
door, at length, closed upon her, my glance sought instinctively and
QUESTION: Why does the
eagerly the countenance of the brother; but he had buried his face in author structure these
his hands, and I could only perceive that a far more than ordinary sentences in this way?
wanness had overspread the emaciated fingers through which
CONCLUDE: What do these
trickled many passionate tears.
fragmented sentences
14 The disease of the lady Madeline had long baffled the skill of suggest about the way
her physicians. A settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the Usher speaks and behaves?
person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially

cataleptical16 character were the unusual diagnosis. Hitherto she had
steadily borne up against the pressure of her malady, and had not
betaken herself finally to bed; but on the closing in of the evening of
my arrival at the house, she succumbed (as her brother told me at
night with inexpressible agitation) to the prostrating power of the
destroyer; and I learned that the glimpse I had obtained of her person
would thus probably be the last I should obtain—that the lady, at
least while living, would be seen by me no more.
15 For several days ensuing, her name was unmentioned by either
Usher or myself; and during this period I was busied in earnest
endeavors to alleviate the melancholy of my friend. We painted
15. supposititious (suh poz uh TIHSH uhs) adj. supposed.

16. cataleptical (kat uh LEHP tihk uhl) adj. in a state in which consciousness and feeling are
suddenly and temporarily lost and the muscles become rigid.

and read together, or I listened, as if in a dream, to the wild
NOTES improvisations of his speaking guitar. And thus, as a closer and still
closer intimacy admitted me more unreservedly into the recesses of
his spirit, the more bitterly did I perceive the futility of all attempt
at cheering a mind from which darkness, as if an inherent positive
quality, poured forth upon all objects of the moral and physical
universe, in one unceasing radiation of gloom.
16 I shall ever bear about me a memory of the many solemn hours
I thus spent alone with the master of the House of Usher. Yet I
should fail in any attempt to convey an idea of the exact character
of the studies, or of the occupations, in which he involved me, or
led me the way. An excited and highly distempered ideality17 threw
a sulfureous luster over all. His long improvised dirges will ring
forever in my ears. Among other things, I hold painfully in mind a
certain singular perversion and amplification of the wild air of the
last waltz of von Weber.18 From the paintings over which his elaborate
fancy brooded, and which grew, touch by touch, into vaguenesses
at which I shuddered the more thrillingly, because I shuddered
knowing not why—from these paintings (vivid as their images now
are before me) I would in vain endeavor to educe more than a small
portion which should lie within the compass of merely written
words. By the utter simplicity, by the nakedness of his designs, he
arrested and overawed attention. If ever mortal painted an idea, that
mortal was Roderick Usher. For me at least, in the circumstances
then surrounding me, there arose out of the pure abstractions
which the hypochondriac contrived to throw upon his canvas, an
intensity of intolerable awe, no shadow of which felt I ever yet in the
contemplation of the certainly glowing yet too concrete reveries
of Fuseli.19
17 One of the phantasmagoric conceptions of my friend, partaking
not so rigidly of the spirit of abstraction, may be shadowed forth,
although feebly, in words. A small picture presented the interior
of an immensely long and rectangular vault or tunnel, with low

walls, smooth, white and without interruption or device. Certain
accessory points of the design served well to convey the idea that
this excavation lay at an exceeding depth below the surface of the
earth. No outlet was observed in any portion of its vast extent, and no
torch, or other artificial source of light was discernible; yet a flood of
intense rays rolled throughout, and bathed the whole in a ghastly and
inappropriate splendor.
18 I have just spoken of that morbid condition of the auditory
nerve which rendered all music intolerable to the sufferer, with the
exception of certain effects of stringed instruments. It was, perhaps,
17. ideality (y dee AL uh tee) n. something that is ideal or has no reality.

18. von Weber (fon VAY buhr) Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826), German Romantic
composer whose music was highly emotional and dramatic.
19. Fuseli (FYOO zuh lee) Johann Heinrich Füssli (1741–1825), also known as Henry Fuseli,
Swiss-born painter who lived in England and was noted for his depictions of dreamlike
and sometimes nightmarish images.

the narrow limits to which he thus confined himself upon the guitar,
which gave birth, in great measure, to the fantastic character of his NOTES
performances. But the fervid facility of his impromptus could not

be so accounted for. They must have been, and were, in the notes,
as well as in the words of his wild fantasias (for he not unfrequently
accompanied himself with rhymed verbal improvisations), the
result of that intense mental collectedness and concentration to
which I have previously alluded as observable only in particular
moments of the highest artificial excitement. The words of one
of these rhapsodies I have easily remembered. I was, perhaps,
the more forcibly impressed with it, as he gave it because, in the
under or mystic current of its meaning, I fancied that I perceived,
and for the first time, a full consciousness on the part of Usher
of the tottering of his lofty reason upon her throne. The verses,
which were entitled “The Haunted Palace,” ran very nearly, if not
accurately, thus:
I
19 In the greenest of our valleys,
By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace—
Radiant palace—reared its head.
In the monarch Thought’s dominion—
It stood there!
Never seraph20 spread a pinion21
Over fabric half so fair.
II
20 Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow
(This—all this—was in the olden
Time long ago)
And every gentle air that dallied,
In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,

A winged odor went away.
III
21 Wanderers in that happy valley
Through two luminous windows saw
Spirits moving musically
To a lute’s well-tuned law;
Round about a throne, where sitting
(Porphyrogene!)22
In state his glory well befitting,
The ruler of the realm was seen.
20. seraph (SEHR uhf) n. angel.

21. pinion (PIHN yuhn) n. wing.
22. Porphyrogene (pawr fehr oh JEEN) adj. born to royalty or “the purple.”

IV
NOTES 22 And all with pearl and ruby glowing
Was the fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing
And sparkling evermore.
A troop of Echoes whose sweet duty
Was but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
The wit and wisdom of their king.
V
23 But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
Assailed the monarch’s high estate;
(Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow
Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)
And, round about his home, the glory
That blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.
VI
24 And travelers now within that valley,
Through the red-litten23 windows, see
Vast forms that move fantastically
To a discordant melody;
While, like a rapid ghastly river,
Through the pale door,
A hideous throng rush out forever,
And laugh—but smile no more.
25 I well remember that suggestions arising from this ballad

led us into a train of thought wherein there became manifest an
opinion of Usher’s which I mention not so much on account of
its novelty (for other men have thought thus), as on account of

the pertinacity24 with which he maintained it. This opinion, in its
general form, was that of the sentience of all vegetable things.
But, in his disordered fancy the idea had assumed a more daring
character, and trespassed, under certain conditions, upon the
kingdom of inorganization.25 I lack words to express the full extent,
or the earnest abandon of his persuasion. The belief, however, was
connected (as I have previously hinted) with the gray stones of the
home of his forefathers. The conditions of the sentience had been
here, he imagined, fulfilled in the method of collocation of these
stones—in the order of their arrangement, as well as in that of the
many fungi which overspread them, and of the decayed trees which
stood around—above all, in the long undisturbed endurance of
23. litten adj. lighted.

24. pertinacity (purt uhn AS uh tee) n. determined stubbornness.
25. inorganization n. inanimate objects.

this arrangement, and in its reduplication in the still waters of the
tarn. Its evidence—the evidence of the sentience—was to be seen, NOTES
he said (and I here started as he spoke), in the gradual yet certain

condensation of an atmosphere of their own about the waters and
the walls. The result was discoverable, he added, in that silent, yet
importunate and terrible influence which for centuries had molded
the destinies of his family, and which made him what I now saw
him—what he was. Such opinions need no comment, and I will
make none.
26 Our books—the books which, for years, had formed no small
portion of the mental existence of the invalid—were, as might
be supposed, in strict keeping with this character of phantasm.
We pored together over such works as the Ververt et Chartreuse
of Gresset; the Belphegor of Machiavelli; the Heaven and Hell of
Swedenborg; the Subterranean Voyage of Nicholas Klimm by Holberg;
the Chiromancy of Robert Flud, of Jean D’Indaginé, and of De la
Chambre; the Journey into the Blue Distance of Tieck; and the City of
the Sun of Campanella.26 One favorite volume was a small octavo
edition of the Directorium Inquisitorium, by the Dominican Eymeric
de Gironne; and there were passages in Pomponius Mela, about
the old African Satyrs and Œgipans, over which Usher would sit
dreaming for hours. His chief delight, however, was found in the
perusal of an exceedingly rare and curious book in quarto Gothic—
the manual of a forgotten church—the Vigiliae Mortuorum secundum
Chorum Ecclesiae Maguntinae.
27 I could not help thinking of the wild ritual of this work, and of
its probable influence upon the hypochondriac, when, one evening,
having informed me abruptly that the lady Madeline was no more,
he stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight
(previously to its final interment), in one of the numerous vaults
within the main walls of the building. The worldly reason, however,
assigned for this singular proceeding, was one which I did not feel
at liberty to dispute. The brother had been led to his resolution (so
he told me) by consideration of the unusual character of the malady

of the deceased, of certain obtrusive and eager inquiries on the part
of her medical men, and of the remote and exposed situation of the
burial ground of the family. I will not deny that when I called to mind
the sinister countenance of the person whom I met upon the staircase,
on the day of my arrival at the house, I had no desire to oppose
what I regarded as at best but a harmless, and by no means an
unnatural precaution.
28 At the request of Usher, I personally aided him in the
arrangements for the temporary entombment. The body having
been encoffined, we two alone bore it to its rest. The vault in which
we placed it (and which had been so long unopened that our
torches, half smothered in its oppressive atmosphere, gave us little
26. Ververt et Chartreuse of Gresset . . . City of the Sun of Campanella All the books
listed deal with magic or mysticism.

opportunity for investigation) was small, damp, and entirely without
NOTES means of admission for light; lying, at great depth, immediately
beneath that portion of the building in which was my own sleeping
apartment. It had been used, apparently, in remote feudal times, for
the worst purposes of a donjon-keep,27 and, in later days, as a place of
deposit for powder, or some other highly combustible substance, as a
portion of its floor, and the whole interior of a long archway through
which we reached it, were carefully sheathed with copper. The door,
of massive iron, had been, also, similarly protected. Its immense
weight caused an unusually sharp, grating sound, as it moved upon
its hinges.
29 Having deposited our mournful burden upon trestles within
this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed
lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant. A striking
similitude between the brother and sister now first arrested my
attention; and Usher, divining, perhaps, my thoughts, murmured
out some few words from which I learned that the deceased
and himself had been twins, and that sympathies of a scarcely
intelligible nature had always existed between them. Our glances,
however, rested not long upon the dead—for we could not regard
her unawed. The disease which had thus entombed the lady in the
maturity of youth, had left, as usual in all maladies of a strictly
cataleptical character, the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom
and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip
which is so terrible in death. We replaced and screwed down the
lid, and, having secured the door of iron, made our way, with toil,
into the scarcely less gloomy apartments of the upper portion of
the house.
CLOSE READ 30 And now, some days of bitter grief having elapsed, an
ANNOTATE: In paragraph 30, observable change came over the features of the mental disorder
mark words that relate of my friend. His ordinary manner had vanished. His ordinary
to physical actions and occupations were neglected or forgotten. He roamed from
behavior.
chamber to chamber with hurried, unequal, and object-less step.

QUESTION: What do these The pallor of his countenance had assumed, if possible, a more
physical details show about ghastly hue—but the luminousness of his eye had utterly gone
Usher’s mental state and out. The once occasional huskiness of his tone was heard no
emotions?
more; and a tremulous quaver, as if of extreme terror, habitually
CONCLUDE: What is the characterized his utterance. There were times, indeed, when I
effect of these descriptive thought his unceasingly agitated mind was laboring with some
details? oppressive secret, to divulge which he struggled for the necessary
courage. At times, again, I was obliged to resolve all into the mere
inexplicable vagaries28 of madness, for I beheld him gazing upon
vacancy for long hours, in an attitude of the profoundest attention,
as if listening to some imaginary sound. It was no wonder that his
condition terrified—that it infected me. I felt creeping upon me, by
27. donjon-keep (DUHN juhn keep) n. inner storage room of a castle; dungeon.
28. vagaries (VAY guhr eez) n. odd, unexpected actions or notions.

slow yet certain degrees, the wild influences of his own fantastic
yet impressive superstitions. NOTES
31 It was, especially, upon retiring to bed late in the night of the

seventh or eighth day after the placing of the lady Madeline within
the donjon, that I experienced the full power of such feelings. Sleep
came not near my couch—while the hours waned and waned away.
I struggled to reason off the nervousness which had dominion
over me. I endeavored to believe that much, if not all of what I felt,
was due to the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture of
the room—of the dark and tattered draperies, which, tortured into
motion by the breath of a rising tempest, swayed fitfully to and fro
upon the walls, and rustled uneasily about the decorations of the
bed. But my efforts were fruitless. An irrepressible tremor gradually
pervaded my frame; and, at length, there sat upon my very heart an
incubus29 of utterly causeless alarm. Shaking this off with a gasp and
a struggle, I uplifted myself upon the pillows, and, peering earnestly
29. incubus (IHN kyuh buhs) n. something nightmarishly burdensome.


within the intense darkness of the chamber, hearkened—I know not
NOTES why, except that an instinctive spirit prompted me—to certain low
and indefinite sounds which came, through the pauses of the storm,
at long intervals, I knew not whence. Overpowered by an intense
sentiment of horror, unaccountable yet unendurable, I threw on my
clothes with haste (for I felt that I should sleep no more during the
night), and endeavored to arouse myself from the pitiable condition
into which I had fallen, by pacing rapidly to and fro through
the apartment.
32 I had taken but few turns in this manner, when a light step on an
adjoining staircase arrested my attention. I presently recognized it as
that of Usher. In an instant afterward he rapped, with a gentle touch,
at my door, and entered, bearing a lamp. His countenance was, as
usual, cadaverously wan—but, moreover, there was a species of mad
hilarity in his eyes—an evidently restrained hysteria in his whole
demeanor. His air appalled me—but anything was preferable to

the solitude which I had so long endured, and I even welcomed his
presence as a relief. NOTES
33 “And you have not seen it?” he said abruptly, after having stared
about him for some moments in silence—“you have not then seen
it?—but, stay! you shall.” Thus speaking, and having carefully
shaded his lamp, he hurried to one of the casements, and threw it
freely open to the storm.
34 The impetuous fury of the entering gust nearly lifted us from our CLOSE READ
feet. It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and ANNOTATE: In paragraph 34,
one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty. A whirlwind had mark words and phrases that
suggest extremes, whether
apparently collected its force in our vicinity; for there were frequent
of emotion, action, or size.
and violent alterations in the direction of the wind; and the exceeding
density of the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets QUESTION: What is
of the house) did not prevent our perceiving the lifelike velocity with noteworthy about
which they flew careering from all points against each other, without this storm?
passing away into the distance. I say that even their exceeding CONCLUDE: What greater
density did not prevent our perceiving this—yet we had no glimpse meaning do these details
of the moon or stars, nor was there any flashing forth of the lightning. give to the storm?
But the under surfaces of the huge masses of agitated vapor, as well
as all terrestrial objects immediately around us, were glowing in the
unnatural light of a faintly luminous and distinctly visible gaseous
exhalation which hung about and enshrouded the mansion.
35 “You must not—you shall not behold this!” said I, shudderingly,
to Usher, as I led him, with a gentle violence, from the window to a
seat. “These appearances, which bewilder you, are merely electrical
phenomena not uncommon—or it may be that they have their ghastly
origin in the rank miasma30 of the tarn. Let us close this casement:—
the air is chilling and dangerous to your frame. Here is one of your
favorite romances. I will read, and you shall listen:—and so we will
pass away this terrible night together.”
36 The antique volume which I had taken up was the Mad Trist of
Sir Launcelot Canning;31 but I had called it a favorite of Usher’s more
in sad jest than in earnest; for, in truth, there is little in its uncouth
and unimaginative prolixity which could have had interest for the
lofty and spiritual ideality of my friend. It was, however, the only
book immediately at hand; and I indulged a vague hope that the
excitement which now agitated the hypochondriac, might find relief
(for the history of mental disorder is full of similar anomalies) even
in the extremeness of the folly which I should read. Could I have
judged, indeed, by the wild overstrained air of vivacity with which
he harkened, or apparently harkened, to the words of the tale, I might
well have congratulated myself upon the success of my design.
37 I had arrived at that well-known portion of the story where
Ethelred, the hero of the Trist, having sought in vain for peaceable
admission into the dwelling of the hermit, proceeds to make good
30. miasma (my AZ muh) n. unwholesome atmosphere.

31. Mad Trist of Sir Launcelot Canning fictional book and author.

an entrance by force. Here, it will be remembered, the words of the
NOTES narrative run thus:
38 “And Ethelred, who was by nature of a doughty32 heart, and
who was now mighty withal, on account of the powerfulness of
the wine which he had drunken, waited no longer to hold parley33
with the hermit, who, in sooth, was of an obstinate and maliceful
turn, but, feeling the rain upon his shoulders, and fearing the rising
of the tempest, uplifted his mace outright, and, with blows, made
quickly room in the plankings of the door for his gauntleted hand;
and now pulling therewith sturdily, he so cracked, and ripped, and
tore all asunder, that the noise of the dry and hollow-sounding wood
alarumed and reverberated throughout the forest.”
39 At the termination of this sentence I started and, for a moment,
paused; for it appeared to me (although I at once concluded that my
excited fancy had deceived me)—it appeared to me that, from some
very remote portion of the mansion, there came, indistinctly, to my
ears, what might have been, in its exact similarity of character, the
echo (but a stifled and dull one certainly) of the very cracking and
ripping sound which Sir Launcelot had so particularly described. It
was, beyond doubt, the coincidence alone which had arrested my
attention; for, amid the rattling of the sashes of the casements, and the
ordinary commingled noises of the still increasing storm, the sound,
itself, had nothing, surely, which should have interested or disturbed
me. I continued the story:
40 “But the good champion Ethelred, now entering within the door,
was sore enraged and amazed to perceive no signal of the maliceful
hermit; but, in the stead thereof, a dragon of a scaly and prodigious
demeanor, and of a fiery tongue, which sate in guard before a palace
of gold, with a floor of silver; and upon the wall there hung a shield
of shining brass with this legend enwritten—
Who entereth herein, a conqueror hath bin;
Who slayeth the dragon, the shield he shall win.
41 And Ethelred uplifted his mace, and struck upon the head of the

dragon, which fell before him, and gave up his pesty breath, with a
shriek so horrid and harsh, and withal so piercing, that Ethelred had
fain to close his ears with his hands against the dreadful noise of it,
the like whereof was never before heard.”
42 Here again I paused abruptly, and now with a feeling of wild
amazement—for there could be no doubt whatever that, in this
instance, I did actually hear (although from what direction it
proceeded I found it impossible to say) a low and apparently distant,
but harsh, protracted, and most unusual screaming or grating
sound—the exact counterpart of what my fancy had already conjured
up for the dragon’s unnatural shriek as described by the romancer.
43 Oppressed, as I certainly was, upon the occurrence of this second
and most extraordinary coincidence, by a thousand conflicting
32. doughty (DOWT ee) adj. brave.
33. parley (pahr LEE) n. conference; discussion.

sensations, in which wonder and extreme terror were predominant,
I still retained sufficient presence of mind to avoid exciting, by any NOTES
observation, the sensitive nervousness of my companion. I was by no

means certain that he had noticed the sounds in question; although,
assuredly, a strange alteration had, during the last few minutes,
taken place in his demeanor. From a position fronting my own, he
had gradually brought round his chair, so as to sit with his face to
the door of the chamber; and thus I could but partially perceive
his features, although I saw that his lips trembled as if he were
murmuring inaudibly. His head had dropped upon his breast—yet
I knew that he was not asleep, from the wide and rigid opening of
the eye as I caught a glance of it in profile. The motion of his body,
too, was at variance with this idea—for he rocked from side to side
with a gentle yet constant and uniform sway. Having rapidly taken
notice of all this, I resumed the narrative of Sir Launcelot, which
thus proceeded:
44 “And now, the champion, having escaped from the terrible fury
of the dragon, bethinking himself of the brazen shield, and of the
breaking up of the enchantment which was upon it, removed the
carcass from out of the way before him, and approached valorously
over the silver pavement of the castle to where the shield was upon
the wall; which in sooth tarried not for his full coming, but fell down
at his feet upon the silver floor, with a mighty great and terrible
ringing sound.”
45 No sooner had these syllables passed my lips, than—as if a shield
of brass had indeed, at the moment, fallen heavily upon a floor of
silver—I became aware of a distinct, hollow, metallic, and clangorous,
yet apparently muffled, reverberation. Completely unnerved, I
leaped to my feet; but the measured rocking movement of Usher
was undisturbed. I rushed to the chair in which he sat. His eyes were
bent fixedly before him, and throughout his whole countenance there
reigned a stony rigidity. But, as I placed my hand upon his shoulder,
there came a strong shudder over his whole person; a sickly smile
CLOSE READ
quivered about his lips; and I saw that he spoke in a low, hurried, and
ANNOTATE: Mark examples
gibbering murmur, as if unconscious of my presence. Bending closely of repeated words in
over him I at length drank in the hideous import of his words. paragraph 46.
46 ”Not hear it?—yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long—long—
QUESTION: Why do
long—many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it—
these words merit being
yet I dared not—oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am!—I dared
repeated?
not—I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! Said I
not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first CONCLUDE: What is the
feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them—many, many effect of these repeated
words?
days ago—yet I dared not—I dared not speak! and now—tonight—
Ethelred—ha! ha!—the breaking of the hermit’s door, and the death
cry of the dragon, and the clangor of the shield—say, rather, the
rending of her coffin, and the grating of the iron hinges of her prison, rending (REHN dihng) n.
and her struggles within the coppered archway of the vault! Oh! violent or forceful pulling
apart of something
wither shall I fly? Will she not be here anon? Is she not hurrying to

upbraid me for my haste? Have I not heard her footstep on the stair?
NOTES Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart?
Madman!”—here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out
his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul—“Madman!
I tell you that she now stands without the door!”
47 As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had been
found the potency of a spell, the huge antique panels to which
the speaker pointed, threw slowly back, upon the instant, their
ponderous and ebony jaws. It was the work of the rushing gust—but
then without those doors there did stand the lofty and enshrouded
figure of the lady Madeline of Usher. There was blood upon her white
robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion
of her emaciated frame. For a moment she remained trembling and
reeling to and fro upon the threshold—then, with a low moaning cry,
fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent
and now final death agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a
victim to the terrors he had anticipated.
48 From that chamber, and from that mansion, I fled aghast. The
storm was still abroad in all its wrath as I found myself crossing the
old causeway. Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and
I turned to see whence a gleam so unusual could have issued; for
the vast house and its shadows were alone behind me. The radiance
was that of the full, setting, and bloodred moon, which now shone
vividly through that once barely discernible fissure, of which I have
before spoken as extending from the roof of the building, in a zigzag
direction, to the base. While I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened—
there came a fierce breath of the whirlwind—the entire orb of the
satellite burst at once upon my sight—my brain reeled as I saw
tumultuous (too MUHL choo the mighty walls rushing asunder—there was a long tumultuous
uhs) adj. loud, excited, and shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters—and the deep
emotional
and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the
fragments of the “House of Usher.” ❧

Comprehension Check
Complete the following items after you finish your first read.
1. Why does the narrator go to visit Usher?
2. Early in the story, what flaw in the front of the house does the narrator observe?
3. What forms of artistic expression does Usher share with the narrator?
4. What does the narrator learn about the relationship between Usher and Madeline after
her death?
5. What confession does Usher make to the narrator during the final storm?
6. Notebook Draw a storyboard that summarizes the events of “The Fall of the
House of Usher” to confirm your understanding of the story.
RESEARCH
Research to Clarify Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research
that detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect of
the story?
Research to Explore Choose a detail or reference in the text that interests you, and
formulate a research question.

MAKING MEANING
Close Read the Text

This model, from paragraph 11 of the text, shows two sample annotations,
along with questions and conclusions. Close read the passage, and find
another detail to annotate. Then, write a question and your conclusion.
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE
OF USHER
ANNOTATE: Poe begins this passage with

two long, complex sentences.
QUESTION: Why does Poe pack so many
ideas into these sentences?
ANNOTATE:
CONCLUDE: These complex sentences
Poe ends two
suggest that Usher’s thoughts are racing, that
sentences with the
he is being swept away with fear.
synonyms terror
and FEAR.
I shudder at the thought of any, even the QUESTION:

most trivial, incident, which may operate Why does Poe
emphasize these
upon this intolerable agitation of soul. I
words—one with
have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, a dash, one with
except in its absolute effect—in terror. In capitals?
this unnerved, in this pitiable condition, CONCLUDE: Poe is
I feel that the period will sooner or later conveying the idea
arrive when I must abandon life and that Usher is not
afraid of danger;
reason together, in some struggle with the
rather, he is afraid
Tool Kit grim phantasm, FEAR. of fear itself.
Close-Read Guide and
Model Annotation
CITE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

Analyze the Text to support your answers.
Notebook Respond to these questions.

1. (a) Interpret Which descriptive details of the interior of the house suggest
that the narrator has entered a realm that is very different from the ordinary
world? (b) Make Inferences In what ways is the appearance of the interior
of the house related to Usher’s appearance and the condition of his mind?
2. (a) Connect How do the works of art described in the story reflect the
story’s events? (b) Interpret What idea about the relationship between
art and life is supported by these elements of the story? Explain.
 STANDARDS 3. (a) Analyze In what ways is the narrator affected by Usher’s condition?
Reading Literature (b) Evaluate Do you think the narrator is a reliable witness to the events
• Cite strong and thorough textual
he describes? Explain.
evidence to support analysis of what
the text says explicitly as well as 4. Make a Judgment Is Usher responsible for the death of his sister and the
inferences drawn from the text.
collapse of his home? Explain.
• Analyze how an author’s choices
concerning how to structure a 5. Essential Question: What is the allure of fear? What have you
text, order events within it, and
learned from this story about portrayals of fear in literature?
manipulate time create such effects
as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Analyze Craft and Structure

Literary Style “The Fall of the House of Usher” is an example of Gothic
literature, a literary genre that began in England in the late 1700s.
The term Gothic was originally used as an architectural term. It refers to
medieval buildings, such as castles and cathedrals, that were seen as dark
and gloomy by later generations. When writers began to set their stories in
those buildings of the past, the term for the architecture was applied to the
literature. The Gothic style, which has the following elements, appealed to
Edgar Allan Poe’s dark view of the world:
• Bleak or remote settings

• Characters in psychological and/or physical torment
• Plots that involve weird or violent incidents and supernatural or
otherworldly occurrences
• Strongly dramatic and intensely descriptive language
• A gloomy, melancholy, or eerie mood
• Symbolism that evokes ideas and feelings through repeated images

Practice to support your answers.
Use the chart to record passages from the story that exemplify elements of the Gothic
literary tradition. Explain each choice.
Gothic Element Passage Explanation
bleak setting
tortured characters
strange or violent plot
dramatic description
gloomy mood
recurring symbolism

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Concept Vocabulary
annihilate fissure rending
antiquity dissolution tumultuous

OF USHER
Why These Words? These concept vocabulary words convey decay and
destruction. For example, the narrator talks about a fissure in the wall, a long
crack from the roof down, as evidence of the house’s decay.
1. How does the concept vocabulary contribute to the sense of finality

suggested by the title of the story?
2. What other words in the selection connect to the concepts of decay

and destruction?
Practice
 WORD NETWORK Notebook The concept vocabulary words appear in “The Fall of the
House of Usher.”
Add words related to fear
from the text to your Word 1. Use the concept words to complete the paragraph.
Network. The black and suffocating night air hung close as _____ winds threatened
to snap tree trunks and toss them aloft. Seeking shelter from the raging
storm, I approached the gloomy mansion. The _____ of the home was
obvious from the style, which had not been popular for a century. When
my initial knocking produced no result, I began to bang harder and harder.
A thin _____ in the wooden panel shuddered with each blow of my
hand. Would my pounding lead to _____ this ancient slab in two? In my
desperation to enter, I cared little that I might _____ the door. I had arrived
to prevent the _____ of the family Usher.
2. Explain the context clues that help you determine the correct words.

Word Study
Denotation and Connotation A word’s denotation is its literal
definition that you would find in a dictionary. The associations or feelings
 STANDARDS that a word suggests are its connotations. Words can have connotations
Language that express the extreme nature of an act or a quality. Annihilate means
• Demonstrate command of the
conventions of standard English “to destroy completely.” Its connotations suggest an extreme form of
grammar and usage when writing or destruction in which something is not merely destroyed but utterly wiped out
speaking. or obliterated. Complete these activities, using a thesaurus or college-level
• Use various types of phrases and
clauses to convey specific meanings
dictionary as needed.
and add variety and interest to
writing or presentations. 1. Provide the denotation and connotations of dissolution, antiquity,
• Demonstrate understanding and tumultuous.
of figurative language, word
relationships, and nuances in word
meanings.
• Analyze nuances in the meaning of 2. Name a synonym for each concept vocabulary word, and tell how its
words with similar denotations. connotations differ.

Conventions
Sentence Structure Sentences can be classified by the number of
CLARIFICATION
independent and dependent clauses they contain. An independent clause
Refer to the Grammar
has a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a complete thought.
Handbook to learn more
A dependent, or subordinate, clause also has a subject and a verb, but it about these terms.
cannot stand alone as a complete thought.
This chart shows examples from “The Fall of the House of Usher” of the four
basic sentence structures.
SENTENCE STRUCTURE Elements EXAMPLE
simple a single independent The general furniture was profuse, comfortless,

clause antique, and tattered. (paragraph 7)
compound two or more independent A servant in waiting took my horse, and I entered
clauses, joined either by a the Gothic archway of the hall. (paragraph 6)
comma and a coordinating
conjunction or by a semicolon
complex one independent clause Although, as boys, we had been even intimate
and one or more dependent associates, . . . I really knew little of my friend.
clauses (paragraph 3)
compound-complex two or more independent We sat down[,] and . . . , while he spoke not,
clauses and one or more I gazed upon him with a feeling half of pity, half
dependent clauses of awe. (paragraph 8)
Read It
1. Reread paragraph 2 of “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Mark  evidence log
independent and dependent clauses. Then, classify each sentence as Before moving on to a
simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex. new selection, go to your
2. Reread the final paragraph of the story. Identify the structure of each sentence. Evidence Log and record
what you learned from
“The Fall of the House
Write It of Usher.”
Notebook In the example, a simple sentence has been expanded to create

other types of sentences. Expand the simple sentences below by adding details
to create compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.
Example
Simple: The house collapses.
Compound: The house collapses, and the lake seems to swallow it whole.
Complex: The house collapses as I flee in terror.
Compound-Complex: The house collapses, and the lake seems to
swallow it whole, as I flee in terror.
1. Madeline wanders in a distant hallway.

2. Usher sings a melancholy song.

MAKING MEANING
Comparing Texts
You will now read “House Taken Over.” First,
complete the first-read and close-read activities.
Then, compare the literary styles of “The Fall of the
The Fall of the House House Taken Over
of Usher
House of Usher” and “House Taken Over.”
About the Author

House Taken Over
Concept Vocabulary
You will encounter the following words as you read “House Taken Over.”
Before reading, note how familiar you are with each word. Then, rank the
words in order from most familiar (1) to least familiar (6).
WORD YOUR RANKING

Julio Cortázar (1914–1984)
grew up in a suburb of spacious
Buenos Aires, in Argentina. unvoiced
Because he had health
obscure
problems as a child, he
spent much of his time in recessed
bed, reading, but he grew vestibule
to be an impressive man,
muffled
about six feet six inches tall.
His talents were impressive,
After completing the first read, come back to the concept vocabulary and
too. After teaching for
review your rankings. Mark changes to your original rankings as needed.
several years in Argentina,
he moved to Paris, where
he lived out his days writing
and translating distinguished First Read FICTION
English-language literature, Apply these strategies as you conduct your first read. You will have an
particularly that of Edgar opportunity to complete the close-read notes after your first read.
Allan Poe, into Spanish.
Cortázar remained
connected to his Argentinian

roots throughout his life.
NOTICE whom the story ANNOTATE by marking
is about, what happens, vocabulary and key passages
Tool Kit where and when it happens, you want to revisit.
and why those involved
Model Annotation
react as they do.

 STANDARDS the selection to what you the Comprehension Check and
Reading Literature already know and what you by writing a brief summary of
By the end of grade 10, read and have already read. the selection.
comprehend literature, including
stories, dramas, and poems, at the
high end of the grades 9–10 text
complexity band independently and
proficiently.

ANCHOR TEXT | SHORT STORY
House
Taken
Over
Julio Cortázar
BACKGROUND
In 1946, when this story was written, Julio Cortázar lived in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. World War II had only recently ended, and Argentina was in a
state of political turmoil. Young people, including Cortázar, were critical
of a conservative element in the government that had refused to join
the Allied cause against Adolf Hitler until late in the war, by which time
communication with Europe had all but stopped. The young author left
Buenos Aires five years after writing this story, in protest against the policies
of Juan Peron, who was increasingly dominating Argentinian politics.
W e liked the house because, apart from its being old and
spacious (in a day when old houses go down for a profitable
auction of their construction materials), it kept the memories of great-
NOTES
spacious (SPAY shuhs) adj.

grandparents, our paternal grandfather, our parents and the whole of large; roomy
childhood.
House Taken Over 37

2 Irene and I got used to staying in the house by ourselves, which
NOTES was crazy, eight people could have lived in that place and not have
gotten in each other’s way. We rose at seven in the morning and got
the cleaning done, and about eleven I left Irene to finish off whatever
rooms and went to the kitchen. We lunched at noon precisely; then
there was nothing left to do but a few dirty plates. It was pleasant to
take lunch and commune with the great hollow, silent house, and it
was enough for us just to keep it clean. We ended up thinking, at times,
that that was what had kept us from marrying. Irene turned down
two suitors for no particular reason, and María Esther went and died
on me before we could manage to get engaged. We were easing into
unvoiced (uhn VOYST) adj. our forties with the unvoiced concept that the quiet, simple marriage
not spoken out loud or of sister and brother was the indispensable end to a line established in
expressed
this house by our grandparents. We would die here someday, obscure
obscure (uhb SKYAWR) adj. and distant cousins would inherit the place, have it torn down, sell the
not well-known
bricks and get rich on the building plot; or more justly and better yet,
we would topple it ourselves before it was too late.
CLOSE READ 3 Irene never bothered anyone. Once the morning housework was
ANNOTATE: Mark details finished, she spent the rest of the day on the sofa in her bedroom,
in paragraphs 3 and 4 that knitting. I couldn’t tell you why she knitted so much; I think women
relate to the idea of being knit when they discover that it’s a fat excuse to do nothing at all. But
necessary or unnecessary,
Irene was not like that, she always knitted necessities, sweaters for
useful or useless.
winter, socks for me, handy morning robes and bedjackets for herself.
QUESTION: Why might Sometimes she would do a jacket, then unravel it the next moment
concepts of necessity and because there was something that didn’t please her; it was pleasant
uselessness be important?
to see a pile of tangled wool in her knitting basket fighting a losing
CONCLUDE: What do these battle for a few hours to retain its shape. Saturdays I went downtown
details show about the to buy wool; Irene had faith in my good taste, was pleased with the
characters and their lives? colors and never a skein1 had to be returned. I took advantage of
these trips to make the rounds of the bookstores, uselessly asking if
they had anything new in French literature. Nothing worthwhile had
arrived in Argentina since 1939.
4 But it’s the house I want to talk about, the house and Irene, I’m not

very important. I wonder what Irene would have done without her
knitting. One can reread a book, but once a pullover is finished you
can’t do it over again, it’s some kind of disgrace. One day I found that
the drawer at the bottom of the chiffonier, replete with mothballs, was
filled with shawls, white, green, lilac. Stacked amid a great smell of
camphor—it was like a shop; I didn’t have the nerve to ask her what
she planned to do with them. We didn’t have to earn our living, there
was plenty coming in from the farms each month, even piling up. But
1. skein (skayn) n. quantity of thread or yarn wound in a coil.

Irene was only interested in the knitting and showed a wonderful
dexterity, and for me the hours slipped away watching her, her hands NOTES
like silver sea urchins, needles flashing, and one or two knitting
baskets on the floor, the balls of yarn jumping about. It was lovely.
5 How not to remember the layout of that house. The dining room,
a living room with tapestries, the library and three large bedrooms
in the section most recessed, the one that faced toward Rodríguez recessed (rih SEHST) adj.
Peña.2 Only a corridor with its massive oak door separated that remote; set back
part from the front wing, where there was a bath, the kitchen, our
bedrooms and the hall. One entered the house through a vestibule vestibule (VEHS tuh byool) n.
with enameled tiles, and a wrought-iron grated door opened onto entrance room
the living room. You had to come in through the vestibule and open
the gate to go into the living room; the doors to our bedrooms were
on either side of this, and opposite it was the corridor leading to
the back section; going down the passage, one swung open the oak
door beyond which was the other part of the house; or just before the
door, one could turn to the left and go down a narrower passageway
which led to the kitchen and the bath. When the door was open, you
became aware of the size of the house; when it was closed, you had
the impression of an apartment, like the ones they build today, with
barely enough room to move around in. Irene and I always lived
in this part of the house and hardly ever went beyond the oak door
except to do the cleaning. Incredible how much dust collected on the
furniture. It may be Buenos Aires3 is a clean city, but she owes it to
her population and nothing else. There’s too much dust in the air, the
slightest breeze and it’s back on the marble console tops and in the
diamond patterns of the tooled-leather desk set. It’s a lot of work to
get it off with a feather duster; the motes4 rise and hang in the air, and
settle again a minute later on the pianos and the furniture.
6 I’ll always have a clear memory of it because it happened so

simply and without fuss. Irene was knitting in her bedroom, it was
eight at night, and I suddenly decided to put the water up for mate.5
I went down the corridor as far as the oak door, which was ajar, then
turned into the hall toward the kitchen, when I heard something in
the library or the dining room. The sound came through muted and
indistinct, a chair being knocked over onto the carpet or the muffled muffled (MUH fuhld) adj.
buzzing of a conversation. At the same time or a second later, I heard difficult to hear because
something is covering and
it at the end of the passage which led from those two rooms toward softening the sound
the door. I hurled myself against the door before it was too late and
2. Rodríguez Peña fashionable street in Buenos Aires.

3. Buenos Aires capital of Argentina.
4. motes n. specks of dust or other tiny particles.
5. mate (MAH tay) n. beverage made from the dried leaves of a South American
evergreen tree.
House Taken Over 39

shut it, leaned on it with the weight of my body; luckily, the key was
NOTES on our side; moreover, I ran the great bolt into place, just to be safe.
7 I went down to the kitchen, heated the kettle, and when I got back
CLOSE READ with the tray of mate, I told Irene:
ANNOTATE: In paragraphs 8 ”I had to shut the door to the passage. They’ve taken over the back
8–13, mark the short part.”
sentences. 9 She let her knitting fall and looked at me with her tired, serious
QUESTION: Why does the eyes.
author use so many shorter 10 “You’re sure?”
sentences? 11 I nodded.
12 “In that case,” she said, picking up her needles again, “we’ll have
CONCLUDE: How do these
short sentences add to the to live on this side.”
portrayal of the characters’ 13 I sipped at the mate very carefully, but she took her time starting
reactions? her work again. I remember it was a gray vest she was knitting. I
liked that vest.
14 The first few days were painful, since we’d both left so many
things in the part that had been taken over. My collection of French
literature, for example, was still in the library. Irene had left several
folios of stationery and a pair of slippers that she used a lot in the
winter. I missed my briar pipe, and Irene, I think, regretted the loss of
an ancient bottle of Hesperidin.6 It happened repeatedly (but only in
the first few days) that we would close some drawer or cabinet and
look at one another sadly.
15 “It’s not here.”
16 One thing more among the many lost on the other side of the
house.
17 But there were advantages, too. The cleaning was so much
simplified that, even when we got up late, nine thirty for instance, by
eleven we were sitting around with our arms folded. Irene got into the
habit of coming to the kitchen with me to help get lunch. We thought
about it and decided on this: while I prepared the lunch, Irene would
cook up dishes that could be eaten cold in the evening. We were happy

with the arrangement because it was always such a bother to have to
leave our bedrooms in the evening and start to cook. Now we made do
with the table in Irene’s room and platters of cold supper.
18 Since it left her more time for knitting, Irene was content. I was
a little lost without my books, but so as not to inflict myself on my
sister, I set about reordering papa’s stamp collection; that killed some
time. We amused ourselves sufficiently, each with his own thing,
almost always getting together in Irene’s bedroom, which was the
more comfortable. Every once in a while, Irene might say:
19 “Look at this pattern I just figured out, doesn’t it look like clover?”
6. Hesperidin substance that comes from the rind of certain citrus fruits and is used for
various medicinal purposes.

20 After a bit it was I, pushing a small square of paper in front of her
so that she could see the excellence of some stamp or another from NOTES
Eupen-et-Malmédy.7 We were fine, and little by little we stopped

thinking. You can live without thinking.
21 (Whenever Irene talked in her sleep, I woke up immediately and

stayed awake. I never could get used to this voice from a statue
or a parrot, a voice that came out of the dreams, not from a throat.
Irene said that in my sleep I flailed about enormously and shook the
blankets off. We had the living room between us, but at night you
could hear everything in the house. We heard each other breathing,
coughing, could even feel each other reaching for the light switch
when, as happened frequently, neither of us could fall asleep.
22 Aside from our nocturnal rumblings, everything was quiet in the
house. During the day there were the household sounds, the metallic
click of knitting needles, the rustle of stamp-album pages turning.
The oak door was massive, I think I said that. In the kitchen or the
bath, which adjoined the part that was taken over, we managed to
talk loudly, or Irene sang lullabies. In a kitchen there’s always too
much noise, the plates and glasses, for there to be interruptions from
other sounds. We seldom allowed ourselves silence there, but when
we went back to our rooms or to the living room, then the house
grew quiet, half-lit, we ended by stepping around more slowly so as
not to disturb one another. I think it was because of this that I woke
up irremediably8 and at once when Irene began to talk in her sleep.)
23 Except for the consequences, it’s nearly a matter of repeating the
same scene over again. I was thirsty that night, and before we went to
sleep, I told Irene that I was going to the kitchen for a glass of water.
From the door of the bedroom (she was knitting) I heard the noise in
the kitchen; if not the kitchen, then the bath, the passage off at that
angle dulled the sound. Irene noticed how brusquely I had paused,
and came up beside me without a word. We stood listening to the
noises, growing more and more sure that they were on our side of the
oak door, if not the kitchen then the bath, or in the hall itself at the
turn, almost next to us.
24 We didn’t wait to look at one another. I took Irene’s arm and forced
her to run with me to the wrought-iron door, not waiting to look
back. You could hear the noises, still muffled but louder, just behind
us. I slammed the grating and we stopped in the vestibule. Now there
was nothing to be heard.
25 “They’ve taken over our section,” Irene said. The knitting had
reeled off from her hands and the yarn ran back toward the door and
7. Eupen-et-Malmédy (yoo PEHN ay mahl may DEE) districts in eastern Belgium.

8. irremediably (ihr ih MEE dee uh blee) adv. in a way that cannot be helped or corrected.
House Taken Over 41

disappeared under it. When she saw that the balls of yarn were on
NOTES the other side, she dropped the knitting without looking at it.
26 “Did you have time to bring anything?” I asked hopelessly.
27 “No, nothing.”
28 We had what we had on. I remembered fifteen thousand pesos9 in
the wardrobe in my bedroom. Too late now.
29 I still had my wrist watch on and saw that it was 11 p.m. I took
Irene around the waist (I think she was crying) and that was how we
went into the street. Before we left, I felt terrible; I locked the front
door up tight and tossed the key down the sewer. It wouldn’t do to
have some poor devil decide to go in and rob the house, at that hour
and with the house taken over. ❧
9. fifteen thousand pesos large sum of money at the time of the story.

Comprehension Check
1. Briefly describe the house in which the narrator and his sister live.
2. What is the source of the siblings’ income?
3. How do Irene and the narrator occupy their time?
4. What decision do Irene and the narrator make when they realize the back part of the
house has been taken over?
5. What happens to the brother and sister at the end of the story?
6. Notebook Write a summary of “House Taken Over” to confirm your

understanding of the story.
RESEARCH
Research to Clarify Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly
research that detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an
aspect of the story.
Research to Explore Research the origin of the story. Discover information about the
home in Buenos Aires Province that inspired it.
House Taken Over 43

MAKING MEANING
Close Read the Text

1. This model, from paragraph 6 of the text, shows two sample annotations,
along with questions and conclusions. Close read the passage, and find
another detail to annotate. Then, write a question and your conclusion.
HOUSE TAKEN OVER
ANNOTATE: The words describing the sounds

the intruders make seem intentionally vague.
QUESTION: Why does the writer give so little
detail about the intruders? ANNOTATE: The
CONCLUDE: By providing only vague hints, writer includes a
the writer makes the invaders seem more series of action
frightening and mysterious. verbs in one
sentence.
QUESTION: Why
. . . I heard something in the library or the does the writer
dining room. The sound came through pack all of these
muted and indistinct, a chair being knocked actions into a
over onto the carpet or the muffled buzzing single sentence?
of a conversation. . . . I hurled myself against CONCLUDE:

the door before it was too late and shut it, Packed into one
sentence, this series
leaned on it with the weight of my body;
of urgent actions
luckily, the key was on our side; moreover, shows the narrator’s
I ran the great bolt into place, just to be safe. intense fear.
2. For more practice, go back into the text and complete the close-read
Tool Kit
notes.
Model Annotation 3. Revisit a section of the text you found important during your first read.
Read this section closely, and annotate what you notice. Ask yourself
questions such as “Why did the author make this choice?” What can
you conclude?
CITE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

1. (a) Interpret To what social class do the brother and sister belong? How
do you know? (b) Connect How are the characters’ hobbies evidence of
 STANDARDS their social class?
Reading Literature
2. (a) Compare and Contrast How is the behavior the siblings exhibit
• Analyze how an author’s choices
concerning how to structure a during sleep different from their behavior while awake?
text, order events within it, and (b) Analyze What does this difference suggest about their true reactions
manipulate time create such effects to the invasion of the house?
• Analyze a particular point of view 3. Extend Cortázar wrote this story after having a nightmare. In what ways
or cultural experience reflected in a does this story resemble a nightmare? Explain.
work of literature from outside the
United States, drawing on a wide 4. Essential Question: What is the allure of fear? What have you learned
reading of world literature. from this story about portrayals of fear in literature?
44 UNIT 1 • Inside the Nightmare


Literary Style “House Taken Over” is an example of Magical Realism, a
literary genre closely associated with some Latin American twentieth-century
authors. Magical Realism combines two seemingly contrasting elements:
reality and fantasy. By introducing supernatural or unreal elements into
carefully observed depictions of real life, writers in this genre shock and
surprise readers while also providing insightful commentary on human nature
and perceptions. Elements of magical realism include:
• Recognizable characters who feel, act, and react in customary ways

• Realistic settings that include ordinary details of everyday life
• Fantastic events that coexist with realistic characters and actions
• An accepting or unimpressed narrative tone, or attitude, that presents
fantastic events as logical parts of life
Cortázar balances these elements carefully, creating a unique representation

of a realistic world where dreamlike events can still happen.

Use the chart to record passages from the story that exemplify elements of Magical
Realism. Explain each choice.
Magical Realist Element Passage(s) Explanation
Recognizable Characters
Realistic Setting and Details

Fantastic Events
Unimpressed Tone
House Taken Over 45

Concept Vocabulary
spacious obscure vestibule
unvoiced recessed muffled

HOUSE TAKEN OVER
Why These Words? These concept vocabulary words express different

types of emptiness, including those of emotion, sound, and space. For
example, the narrator describes one part of his home as being “the most
recessed.” Something recessed is set back or remote.
1. How does the author use the concept vocabulary to describe the house
vividly and precisely?
2. What other words in the selection connect to the idea of emptiness?
Practice
 WORD NETWORK Notebook The concept vocabulary words appear in “House Taken
Over.” Tell whether each sentence is true or false, and explain why.
from the text to your Word 1. A spacious home would probably be cheaper than a cramped one.
Network. 2. People’s loud, persistent complaints are usually unvoiced.
3. You should consider visiting obscure places if you want to avoid crowds.
4. A recessed set of shelves sticks out into a room.
5. A vestibule is a small building that stands at a distance from a house.
6. It is easy to understand a muffled announcement over a PA system.
Word Study
Patterns of Word Changes Suffixes and prefixes can be added to base
words to change their meanings. Often, suffixes change a word’s part of
speech. The base word space, a noun—from the Latin spatium—becomes
 STANDARDS
spacious, an adjective, when the suffix -ious is added.
Language
• Demonstrate command of the
conventions of standard English
1. The word voice, when it is used as a verb, means “to speak out loud.”
grammar and usage when writing or Explain how this word is changed by the addition of the prefix un- and the
speaking. suffix -ed.
• Use various types of phrases and
clauses to convey specific meanings
and add variety and interest to
writing or presentations.
• Identify and correctly use patterns 2. Find two other examples in the story of words that contain either a prefix
of word changes that indicate
different meanings or parts of
or a suffix. Explain how the meaning of the base word is changed by the
speech. addition of the prefix or suffix.
• Demonstrate understanding
of figurative language, word
relationships, and nuances in word
meanings.

Conventions
Types of Phrases A preposition connects a noun or a pronoun to another
word in the sentence. A prepositional phrase is made up of a preposition, CLARIFICATION
the object of the preposition, and any modifiers of the object. Prepositional Refer to the Grammar
phrases modify other words by functioning either as adjectives or as adverbs. Handbook to learn more
In these examples from “House Taken Over,” the prepositions are underlined about these terms.
once, and the objects of the prepositions are underlined twice.
in the house by ourselves at seven
of the day from the front wing through a vestibule
into the living room before the door with a feather duster
on the sofa down the corridor against the door
Read It
1. Mark all of the prepositional phrases in each sentence. Then, label each
preposition and its object.
a. I lived in this part of the house and rarely went beyond the oak door.
b. A chair was knocked onto the carpet and dragged along the floor.
c. I hurried toward the door and pushed the heavy bolt into place.
2. Reread paragraph 24 of the story. Mark the prepositional phrases, and tell
how these phrases help to clarify the action.
Write It
Notebook In the example, the second sentence in each pair contains
prepositional phrases that help clarify, describe, or explain. Revise the
paragraph below. Add prepositional phrases to make the paragraph more
interesting and detailed.
EXAMPLE
I tossed the key. I tossed the key down the drain in the gutter.
I heard a noise. At midnight, I heard a noise behind the door.
We heard a noise that was impossible to describe. When the noise grew
louder, we decided to run. We didn’t have time to grab anything. We found
ourselves outside. We looked but could see nothing.
House Taken Over 47

effective expression
Writing to Compare
You have read “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “House Taken Over,”
two short stories that have similarities but represent two different literary
styles, or genres. Now, deepen your understanding of both stories by
comparing and writing about them.
OF USHER
Assignment
Write an explanatory essay in which you compare and contrast Gothic
style and Magical Realism as seen in the stories by Poe and Cortázar.
Include the following elements in your essay:
• definitions of the two genres
• a discussion of how each story is a good example of its genre

HOUSE TAKEN OVER
• effective use of evidence from the stories
• an evaluation of the effect each story has on the reader
Make sure you are clear about the qualities that define the Gothic style
and Magical Realism. If necessary, do a little research or reread the
instruction about the genres.
Planning and Prewriting

Analyze the Texts When you are analyzing complex works, a smaller focus
can help you see the bigger picture more clearly. For example, instead of
analyzing all the elements of both stories, you might focus on the siblings,
the supernatural elements, or another specific aspect of each story. For this
assignment, compare and contrast the settings—the two houses and the worlds
they occupy. Use the chart to gather story details that relate to that focus.
FOCUS: DETAILS RELATED TO SETTING

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER HOUSE TAKEN OVER

 STANDARDS
Reading Literature
Analyze how an author’s choices
concerning how to structure a
text, order events within it, and
manipulate time create such effects
Writing
• Write informative/explanatory texts
to examine and convey complex
ideas, concepts, and information
clearly and accurately through the
effective selection, organization, and Notebook Respond to these questions.
analysis of content.
• Draw evidence from literary or
informational texts to support 1. How are the settings of the two stories similar? How are they different?
analysis, reflection, and research. 2. In each story, how does the setting affect the characters and the choices
• Apply grades 9–10 Reading
standards to literature. they make?

Drafting
Synthesize Ideas Review your Prewriting notes. Decide how
setting reveals Gothic sensibilities in Poe’s story and Magical Realist
ideas in Cortázar’s story, and how those styles are both similar and
different. Record your ideas using these sentence frames:
In both stories, the setting
However, in Poe’s story “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the setting:

.
Similarly/By contrast, in Cortázar’s story “House Taken Over,” the setting
Identify Supporting Details Identify passages to use as examples

for your ideas. Make sure each passage presents a clear similarity
or difference, and demonstrates either a Gothic or a Magical Realist
approach. Note the passages you will use and the ideas each one
will support.
PASSAGE IDEA
Organize Ideas Make some organizational decisions before you begin to

write. Consider using one of these two structures:
 EVIDENCE LOG
Before moving on to a
Grouping Ideas: discuss all the similarities between the settings and new selection, go to your
genres of the two stories and then all the differences Evidence Log and record
Grouping Texts: discuss the setting and genre of one story and then
“House Taken Over.”
the setting and genre of the other story
Review, Revise, and Edit

Once you are done drafting, review your essay. Because your essay is about
multiple subjects—two different settings and two different genres—clarity
and balance are critical. Reread your draft, and mark the points at which you
discuss Poe’s story and the Gothic. Use a different mark to identify the points
at which you discuss Cortázar’s story and Magical Realism. Check your draft
to see if you have addressed the two stories in a balanced way. Add more
analysis or examples as needed. Then, proofread and edit your essay for
grammatical and spelling errors.
The Fall of the House of Usher • House Taken Over 49

Making Meaning
About the Designers

from How to Tell You’re Reading a
Gothic Novel—In Pictures
Concept Vocabulary
You will encounter the following words as you read and view these
informational graphics.
Adam Frost is a designer
of websites, games, books, WORD PRONUNCIATION AND MEANING
and exhibitions. His children’s
books include such titles as (rih KLOO sihv) adj. solitary; avoiding the company of
reclusive
Stop, There’s a Snake in Your others
Suitcase! Frost currently works
as the Data Visualization (SIHN uh stuhr) adj. giving the impression that
sinister
Manager at the Guardian something harmful or evil is happening or will happen
newspaper and specializes in
(ih THIHR ee uhl) adj. extremely delicate and light in a
creating infographic articles ethereal
way that seems too perfect for this world
such as this one.
First Read MEDIA: INFORMATIONAL GRAPHIC

opportunity to complete a close read after your first read.
Zhenia Vasiliev is a London-

based designer and graphic NOTICE new information or ANNOTATE by marking
artist. His clients include ideas you learn about the unit vocabulary and key passages
Sony, Google, the Guardian, topic as you first read this text. you want to revisit.
NBC Universal, and others.
He has been featured in
several art shows and is a
recipient of the Macmillan
Children’s Books Prize.
CONNECT ideas within the RESPOND by completing the

selection to other knowledge Comprehension Check and by
and the selections you have writing a brief summary of the
read. selection.
Reading Strategy: Text and Graphics

As you encounter each screen of the informational graphic, read all of the
text, and note how the different visuals support the text.
 Standards
Reading Informational Text
• By the end of grade 10, read and
comprehend literary nonfiction at
the high end of the grades 9–10 text
proficiently.

MEDIA | INFORMATIONAL GRAPHIC
from How to Tell You’re Reading

a Gothic Novel—In Pictures
Adam Frost and Zhenia Vasiliev
BACKGROUND
The Gothic literary genre began in 1764 with Horace Walpole’s novel The
Castle of Otranto. The term Gothic came from the Visigoths, a Germanic
people who once ruled land that includes what is now Spain, parts of
Portugal, and France. The Visigoths contributed to the fall of the Roman
Empire and were regarded as barbaric and wild. To this day, Gothic ideas,
such as madness, horror, and the supernatural, remain popular in literature,
movies, and television.
1
NOTES
How to Tell You’re Reading a Gothic Novel—In Pictures 51

2
3
NOTES
NOTES

4
NOTES
5
NOTES

6
NOTES
NOTES

Comprehension Check
1. Where do many Gothic novels take place?
2. What is the weather like in many Gothic novels?
3. What are some types of characters you might encounter in a Gothic novel?
4. When do most Gothic novels take place?

5. Notebook Write a three- or four-sentence summary that describes the basic

elements of Gothic literature.
RESEARCH
Research to Clarify Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the informational
graphics. Briefly research that detail. In what way does the information you learned add
to your understanding of the topic?
Research to Explore Choose something that interests you from the text, and
formulate a research question.

MAKING MEANING
1
Close Read the Text

Review the informational graphics again. Annotate details
that you notice. What questions do you have? What can
you conclude?
HOW TO TELL YOU’RE READING A
GOTHIC NOVEL—IN PICTURES
Analyze the Text

1. Make a Judgment Consider the types of places in which the authors
say Gothic novels are set. Do these places support the idea, presented
in graphic 1, that all Gothic novels are set “in the middle of nowhere”?
Explain.
2. Infer What types of events and moods would you expect to find in any
Gothic novel?
3. (a) Describe What tone, or attitude, do these writers seem to take

toward Gothic novels? Explain. (b) Analyze How does the tone add to
the impact of the informational graphics?
4. Essential Question: What is the allure of fear? What have you learned
about portrayals of fear in literature by reading this text?
 WORD NETWORK language development

Add words related to
portrayals of fear in literature Concept Vocabulary
from the text to your Word
Network. reclusive sinister ethereal
Why These Words? The three concept vocabulary words relate to

 Standards different elements of Gothic literature.
Cite strong and thorough textual 1. How does the concept vocabulary help readers understand the elements
evidence to support analysis of what of Gothic literature?
the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text.
Speaking and Listening
• Integrate multiple sources of
information presented in diverse
media or formats evaluating the
credibility and accuracy of each 2. What other words in the informational graphics capture the essence of
source. Gothic literature?
• Present information, findings,
and supporting evidence clearly,
concisely, and logically such that
listeners can follow the line of
reasoning and the organization,
development, substance, and style
are appropriate to purpose, audience, Practice
and task.
• Make strategic use of digital Notebook Confirm your understanding of the concept vocabulary
media in presentations to enhance words by using them in sentences. Be sure to include context clues that
understanding of findings, reasoning,
and evidence and to add interest. signal the meanings of the words.

EFFECTIVE EXPRESSION

Assignment
Informational graphics, such as those presented in “How to Tell
You’re Reading A Gothic Novel—In Pictures,” are an effective way
to communicate ideas. The use of images, symbols, graphs, and text
allows writers to explain and depict the complexities of a topic in a clear,
engaging, and sometimes funny way. Create and present your own
informational graphic, in which you show how elements of “The Fall of
the House of Usher” combine to create a Gothic tale.
1. Organize Your Content

• Use words, images, and symbols to create an informational graphic.
• Sketch your ideas on a sheet of paper. Plan each element of your
graphic separately.
• Use symbols or icons to represent ideas. For example, you could use
a small picture of a lightning bolt and clouds to represent stormy
weather.
• Consider using the concept vocabulary words (reclusive, sinister,
ethereal) in your informational graphic.
2. Prepare Your Presentation When you have completed a draft of your

informational graphic, review it to make sure it is accurate and visually
engaging. Revise it as necessary to make it clearer or more interesting.
Present your work to the class. As you share your graphic, keep these
presentation techniques in mind:
• Speak clearly and naturally, and avoid rushing.
• Refer to your graphic, but try not to read from it. Instead, glance at it,
and then make eye contact with your listeners.
• Do your best to avoid standing in a stiff, uncomfortable way.
3. Evaluate Presentations As your classmates deliver their presentations,

listen attentively. Use a presentation evaluation guide to analyze their
presentations.
Presentation Evaluation Guide  EVIDENCE LOG
Rate each statement on a scale of 1 (not demonstrated) Before moving on to

to 6 (demonstrated). a new selection, go to
your Evidence Log and
The speaker used examples from Poe’s story effectively. record what you learned
from “How to Tell You’re
The speaker maintained eye contact with the audience. Reading a Gothic Novel—In
Pictures.”
The speaker seemed comfortable and at ease.
The information was presented logically and effectively.
from How to Tell You’re Reading A Gothic Novel—In Pictures 57

PERFORMANCE TASK: WRITING FOCUS
WRITING TO SOURCES
• THE FALL OF THE HOUSE

Write an Explanatory Essay
OF USHER You have just read three selections having to do with the literature of fear. In
“The Fall of the House of Usher,” Edgar Allan Poe creates a chilling Gothic
• HOUSE TAKEN OVER
tale in which a brother and sister seem to be decaying along with their
• HOW TO TELL YOU’RE house. In “House Taken Over,” another brother and sister are driven from
READING A GOTHIC
their home when it is invaded by unwelcome visitors—or is it? The creators
NOVEL—IN PICTURES
of “How to Tell You’re Reading a Gothic Novel—In Pictures” play infographic
games with some scary elements of the Gothic tradition. Now, use your
knowledge of the topic to write an explanatory essay about fear in life and
literature. In addition to references to the texts, you will incorporate an
anecdote, or brief story, as evidence to support your central idea.
Tool Kit
Student Model of an
Explanatory Essay Assignment
Use your knowledge of these texts and your own experience or
ACADEMIC observations to write an explanatory essay that answers this question:
VOCABULARY
How and when does imagination overcome reason?
As you craft your essay,
consider using some of
Support your ideas with references to the selections in Whole-Class
the academic vocabulary Learning, as well as an anecdote—or brief narrative—from your own
you learned in the experience, that of someone you know, film or TV, or another literary
beginning of the unit. work. Present the narrative as a specific example of a general idea.
dimension
motivate
manipulate Elements of an Explanatory Essay with Narrative Evidence
perspective An explanatory essay explains a topic by presenting information and
psychological insights in a logical, well-ordered sequence. An effective explanatory essay
includes the following elements:
• a central point that will increase readers’ knowledge of the subject or
help readers understand the subject better
• varied evidence that engages readers and clarifies ideas—An anecdote,
 STANDARDS or brief narrative, is one type of evidence; facts examples, and textual
Writing details from literary works are other types of evidence.
• Write informative/explanatory texts

to examine and convey ideas, concepts, • the use of transitions that clarify relationships among ideas
and information clearly and accurately
through the effective selection,
• precise language and correct grammar
organization, and analysis of content. • a tone appropriate to the audience and the subject
• Write narratives to develop real or
imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, well-chosen
details, and well-structured event Analyze Writing Model UNIT
1
LAUNCH TEXT
INTRODUCTION
sequences.
• Produce clear and coherent Explanatory Essay Model For a model of a well- LAUNCH TEXT | EXPLANATORY MODEL
This selection is an example of an

explanatory essay. In this example,
the writer includes narrative, or
storytelling, elements to help explain
writing in which the development, crafted explanatory essay that incorporates nonfiction
a topic. This is the type of writing you
will develop in the Performance-Based
My Introduction to
Assessment at the end of the unit.
As you read, look at the way the Gothic
writer includes both explanatory and
Literature
organization, and style are
narrative elements to convey ideas.
What important details does the writer
narrative, see the Launch Text, “My Introduction to

include to convey information in a
vivid way?
appropriate to task, purpose, and

audience. Gothic Literature.” NOTES
1
H
ow does someone fall in love with a particular kind of writing
or an author who has long departed this life? What draws us to
find in words the echoes of our own fears or longings? For those of us
lucky enough to have a literary passion, the story of how we met our
first love is probably just like tales of other first meetings—funny or

quirky, full of accident and coincidence. My literary passion is Edgar
Challenge yourself to find all the elements of an

Allan Poe, and I met him—in print—when I was fourteen years old.
2 It was just after a huge storm that had featured an alarmingly
beautiful display of lightning and wind. The power had been knocked
out, and I was sitting at a window, watching the wet night grow darker.
informational texts to support

I had been living with my grandmother for a few weeks while my
parents “figured things out.” I loved my grandmother, but I couldn’t
shake the sadness and anxiety I was feeling. The storm had been a
explanatory text that uses narrative evidence in the

welcome diversion. As the clouds cleared, a fog rose and filtered the
moonlight, casting a bluish hue over the yard. The scene was moody
analysis, reflection, and research.

and solemn, but beautiful. My grandmother broke my reverie by
bustling into the room, carrying two lit candles and a book. “It’ll take
hours for the electric company to get all the way out here to fix the
power,” she said. “Why don’t you read? I’ll go find some batteries for
text. You will have the opportunity to review these

the flashlights.”
• Write routinely over extended

3 She set the book and a candle on the floor, and rushed out as
though she had to catch the batteries before they fled. I picked
up the book she had left on the floor. It was a collection of old
stories—just a paperback and not much to look at. I turned to one by
time frames and shorter time frames

elements as you start to write your essay. LIT22_SE10_U01_LT.indd 6 20/03/21 4:34 PM
for a range of tasks, purposes, and

audiences.

essential question : What is the allure of fear?
Prewriting / Planning
Focus Your Ideas Think about the texts you’ve read. Consider how imagination works
in “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “House Taken Over.” Consider other examples in
literature, popular culture, and your own life.
• What does imagination make the characters feel?
• What does it make them do?
• What happens when people “let their imaginations run away with them”?
Now, decide on your central point. What would you like to explain? Your central point should be an insight
into how and when imagination can overcome reason and create mindless fear. Write a sentence that states
the idea you want to explain to your readers.
Central Idea:
Gather Evidence You have now given a lot of thought to your central
 evidence log
idea. It’s time to get specific. What evidence can you use to support your
Review your Evidence Log
point? Think about these possibilities:
and identify key details you
• Situations and events from “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “House may want to cite in your
Taken Over,” and other works of fiction essay.
• Quotations from experts in psychology or sociology—people who study

fear
• A brief narrative based on your own experience or your observations

of others
Including thoughts and feelings about a relevant text will help make your
essay stronger. For example, in the Launch Text, the writer explains what it
was like to first read Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.”

But what struck me most was how Montresor spoke directly to
the reader—to me. He expected my sympathy as he brought his
terrible revenge. Up to that point, all the stories I had ever read
had set the criminal or the lunatic at a distance. They didn’t draw  Standards
me into a mind that was a truly scary place to be. This one did. Writing
—from “My Introduction to Gothic Literature” • Introduce a topic; organize complex
ideas, concepts, and information to
make important connections and
distinctions; include formatting,
Connect Across Texts As you write your essay, consider how the authors
graphics and multimedia when useful
of the selections in Whole-Class Learning explore the relationships among to aiding comprehension.
imagination, reason, and fear. Make sure that you are conveying the ideas of • Develop a topic with well-chosen,
the original text accurately. relevant, and sufficient facts,
extended definitions, concrete details,
quotations, or other information
and examples appropriate to the
audience’s knowledge of the topic.
Performance Task: Write an Explanatory Essay 59

Performance Task: Writing focus
Drafting
Identify Sources of Narrative Evidence The selections in Whole-Class
Learning will provide most of your supporting evidence. However, you also
need to incorporate an anecdote as a specific example of a general idea.
Consider these types of sources for narrative evidence.
• Real Life Do you have friends who imagine dangers on amusement park
rides to make them scarier? Have you ever been at a sleepover where
people were trying to scare themselves and one another? These sorts of
experiences may provide strong narrative evidence for your essay.
• Movies Have you seen movies about people who were in spooky
situations? How did they behave? How did their imaginations affect their
decisions?
• Books Have you read books in which people faced similar dangers but
reacted in different ways? Who approached fear with reason? Who
didn’t? How did their reactions affect the outcome of events?
Use the chart to gather your ideas for different types of evidence you will use
in this essay.
EVIDENCE WHAT IT SHOWS ABOUT IMAGINATION, REASON, FEAR
example from
real life
example from
media
example from
literature
Connect Ideas and Evidence Use your insights from the selections in
Whole-Class Learning to connect to your other evidence. For example, you
might write, “In ‘House Taken Over,’ the brother and sister are afraid, but the
source of that fear is mysterious. The unknown can be terrifying.” You might
support this point with a real-life example, such as this: “Last year, raccoons
nested in our attic. At night, we heard murmurs and scurrying sounds. It was
terrifying, until we learned what was causing it.”
 Standards
Maintain a Formal Style and Tone Throughout the essay, your style and
Writing tone should be appropriately formal, even during the section (or sections) in
• Develop the topic with well- which you relate an anecdote. Avoid the use of slang and exclamations, and
chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, follow grammatical rules. Consider these examples.
extended definitions, concrete details,
quotations, or other information Casual Style and Tone: I figured the sounds couldn’t be anything that
and examples appropriate to the
serious, but those raccoons totally freaked me out!
audience’s knowledge of the topic.
• Establish and maintain a formal Appropriate Style and Tone: Reason told me there was no real danger,
style and objective tone while but the sounds of the raccoons terrified me anyway.
attending to the norms and
conventions of the discipline in which Use Appropriate Structure Begin your essay with a paragraph that
they are writing. draws the reader in and states your central point. Then, in a few paragraphs,
• Write narratives to develop real or
present your evidence, including your narrative. Finish the essay with a
effective technique, well-chosen conclusion that briefly summarizes your ideas and evidence. You may add a
details, and wellstructured event clever or thought-provoking last sentence.
sequences.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: AUTHOR’S STYLE
Descriptive Details
Descriptive details give readers precise information about people, settings,
events, and ideas. These details often appeal to the senses—sight, hearing,
smell, touch, and taste. For example, in the Launch Text, instead of writing,
“The power went out,” the author writes: “The power had been knocked
out, and I was sitting at a window, watching the wet night grow darker.”
Descriptive details in characterization help create a sense that the reader can
see, hear, and even know a person or character.
Read It
In these sentences from the selections and the Launch Text, the authors use
STYLE
precise, descriptive details to portray characters, settings, and events.
Make your descriptions
• The now ghastly pallor of the skin, and the now miraculous luster of as specific as possible. For
the eye, above all things startled and even awed me. (“The Fall of the example, when writing about
House of Usher”) a car, instead of “blue car,”
• [I]t was pleasant to see a pile of tangled wool in her knitting basket you might write “light-blue
fighting a losing battle for a few hours to retain its shape. (“House 1960s convertible.”
Taken Over”)
• As the clouds cleared, a fog rose and filtered the moonlight, casting a
bluish hue over the yard. (“My Introduction to Gothic Literature”)
• The stories helped me see that life can be a mansion full of secrets
and dark passages, but also of beauty and light. (“My Introduction to
Gothic Literature”)
• In Poe’s descriptions, I could practically smell the dust and mold.
(“My Introduction to Gothic Literature”)
Write It
Think about the brief story or anecdote you are going to tell in your essay.
Ask yourself, “Which details will make this story come alive for readers and
support my main point about fear and imagination?” Then, fill in the chart
with details. Try to identify details that relate to senses other than sight.
DETAILS ABOUT DETAILS ABOUT DETAILS ABOUT

PEOPLE SETTING EVENTS
 Standards
Writing
• Use precise language and domain-
specific vocabulary to manage the
complexity of the topic.
• Use precise words and phrases,
telling details, and sensory language
to convey a vivid picture of the
experiences, events, setting, and/or
characters.

Performance Task: Writing focus
Revising
Evaluating Your Draft
Use the following checklist to evaluate the effectiveness of your first
draft. Then, use your evaluation and the instruction on this page to guide
your revision.
FOCUS and Organization Evidence and Elaboration Conventions
Provides an introduction that clearly Includes specific details Attends to the norms
states a central idea about how fear and descriptions to create a and conventions of the
can overcome reason. vivid picture of events and discipline, especially
characters. using descriptive details
Creates a smooth progression of and precise language.
ideas with appropriate transitions. Includes an anecdote or
brief story that supports the
Presents a strong conclusion that central idea of the essay.
follows from and reflects on the
ideas and insights in the essay. Establishes a clear point of
view.
 WORD NETWORK Revising for Focus and Organization

Include interesting words Strengthen Your Conclusion Reread your essay, making sure you have
from your Word Network in set out your central idea in the introduction, developed it thoroughly in the
your explanatory essay. body of your essay, and restated it in your conclusion. If your conclusion
seems disconnected from the rest of the essay, consider these revision
options:
• Reflect on the insights and ideas you expressed.
• Summarize your insights and ideas.
• Explain why the topic and your insights are important.
Revising for Evidence and Elaboration

Strengthen Transitions Make sure that the transitional words and phrases Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
you use lead your reader logically from one idea to the next, or from an
 Standards idea to its supporting evidence. Consider this abbreviated list of transitional
Writing expressions:
• Use appropriate and varied
transitions to link the major sections To introduce an example: for example; to illustrate; in this case
of the text, create cohesion, and To introduce a second example: in addition; furthermore; similarly
clarify the relationships among
complex ideas and concepts. To indicate cause and effect: as a result; consequently; for this reason
• Provide a concluding statement
To indicate emphasis: above all; in fact; certainly
or section that follows from
and supports the information or There are numerous transitional words, phrases, and expressions in English.
explanation presented. Consult a style handbook or other resource to make sure you have chosen
• Develop and strengthen writing as
needed by planning, revising, editing, the ones that best express your meaning. Add or replace transitions in your
rewriting, or trying a new approach, essay as needed.
focusing on addressing what is most
significant for a specific purpose and
audience.

Peer Review
Exchange essays with a classmate. Use the checklist to evaluate your classmate’s essay and
provide supportive feedback.
1. Does the introduction clearly present the central point of the essay?
yes no If no, explain what confused you.
2. Are the ideas and evidence, including an anecdote or other narrative, sequenced logically?
yes no If no, what about the sequence did not work?
3. Does the conclusion flow directly from the writer’s insights and reflections about how fear
can overcome reason?
yes no If no, explain what you thought was missing.
4. What is the strongest part of your classmate’s essay? Why?
Editing and Proofreading

Edit for Conventions Reread your draft for accuracy and consistency.
Correct errors in grammar and word usage. Edit to include a variety of
sentence structures so that your essay reads well.
Proofread for Accuracy Read your draft carefully, looking for errors in
spelling and punctuation. Quotation marks should surround a speaker’s exact
words or thoughts.
Publishing and Presenting

Create a final version of your explanatory essay. Share it with a small group
so that your classmates can read it and make comments. In turn, review and
comment on your classmates’ work. Afterward, discuss what your different
essays suggest about the ways in which one’s imagination may overcome
reason. Take turns speaking during the discussion.
Reflecting  Standards
Writing
Think about what you learned while writing your essay. What did you learn Develop and strengthen writing as
about planning your draft that you would use when writing another essay? needed by planning, revising, editing,
rewriting, or trying a new approach,
What would you work to improve in your next essay? Finally, how did focusing on addressing what is most
your combining explanation with narrative evidence help you understand significant for a specific purpose and
imagination and reason better? audience.

OVERVIEW: SMALL-GROUP LEARNING
ESSENTIAL QUESTION:

In real life, fear is useful because it keeps us from doing dangerous things. However,
there are other dimensions to fear that seem less logical. For example, what draws
us to go on scary roller coasters? Why do we enjoy literature, movies, and art that
let us dabble in our fears? The selections you will read present different answers to
these questions. You will work in a group to continue exploring the allure of fear.
Small-Group Learning Strategies

Throughout your life, in school, in your community, and in your career, you will
continue to develop strategies when you work in teams.
Review these strategies and the actions you can take to practice them. Add ideas
of your own for each step. Get ready to use these strategies during Small-Group
Learning.
Prepare • Complete your assignments so that you are prepared for group work.
• Organize your thinking so you can contribute to your group’s discussion.
Participate fully • Make eye contact to signal that you are listening and taking in what is being said.
• Use text evidence.

Support others • Build off ideas from others in your group.
• Invite others who have not yet spoken to do so.
Clarify • Paraphrase the ideas of others to ensure that your understanding is correct.
• Ask follow-up questions.

CONTENTS
SHORT STORY
Where Is Here?
Joyce Carol Oates
When a mysterious stranger shows up one day at his childhood

home, the boundaries between the past and present start to
blur, or do they?
MEDIA: PHOTO GALLERY
from The Dream Collector

Arthur Tress
With the help of the photographer, children re-create images

from their own bad dreams. The results are haunting yet
surprisingly beautiful.
INTERVIEW
Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear?

Allegra Ringo
Our brain chemistry offers some clues as to why fear draws some
of us like moths to a flame.
POETRY COLLECTION
beware: do not read this poem Ishmael Reed
The Raven Edgar Allan Poe
Windigo Louise Erdrich
Three different poets offer three different poems that shed light
on the shadows in our imaginations.
PERFORMANCE TASK
SPEAKING AND LISTENING FOCUS
Deliver an Explanatory Presentation
The Small-Group readings deal with our fears and how we may sometimes invite
fear into our lives. After reading, you will produce a presentation on why we
sometimes enjoy letting our imaginations get the best of us.
Overview: Small-Group Learning 65

OVERVIEW: SMALL-GROUP LEARNING
Working as a Team
1. Choose a topic In your group, discuss the following question:
Does the emotion of fear make us stronger or weaker?
As you take turns sharing your responses, be sure to provide details to
explain your position. After all group members have shared, discuss some
of the circumstances in which fear might make us stronger or weaker.
2. List Your Rules As a group, decide on the rules that you will follow as
you work together. Samples are provided; add two more of your own.
As you work together, you may add or revise the rules based on your
experience working together.
• Everyone should participate in group discussions.
• People should not interrupt.
3. Apply the Rules Share what you have learned about the literature of
fear. Make sure each person in the group contributes. Take notes and be
prepared to share with the class one thing that you heard from another
member of your group.
4. Name Your Group Choose a name that reflects the unit topic.
Our group’s name:

5. Create a Communication Plan Decide how you want to communicate

with one another. For example, you might use online collaboration tools,
email, or instant messaging.
Our group’s decision:

Making a Schedule
First, find out the due dates for the Small-Group activities. Then, preview
the texts and activities with your group, and make a schedule for
completing the tasks.
SELECTION ACTIVITIES DUE DATE
Where Is Here?
The Dream Collector
beware: do not read this poem
The Raven
Windigo
Working on Group Projects

As your group works together, you’ll find it more effective if each person has
a specific role. Different projects require different roles. Before beginning a
project, discuss the necessary roles, and choose one for each group member.
Here are some possible roles; add your own ideas.
Project Manager: monitors the schedule and keeps everyone on task

Researcher: organizes research activities
Recorder: takes notes during group meetings
Overview: Small-Group Learning 67

MAKING MEANING
About the Author

Where Is Here?
Concept Vocabulary
As you perform your first read of “Where Is Here?” you will encounter the
following words.
gregarious amiably stoical
Joyce Carol Oates
(b. 1937) began writing Context Clues If these words are unfamiliar to you, try using context
novels at age fourteen when clues—other words and phrases that appear in the text—to help you
she received a typewriter as a determine their meanings. There are various types of context clues that may
gift. In 1960, she graduated help you as you read. This box shows three examples.
first in her class from
Syracuse University. Oates, Synonyms: The recent dearth of milk has resulted in a shortage of
who teaches at Princeton other dairy products.
University, is famous for
having wide-ranging Elaborating Details: During her campaign, the senator was positively
interests. She has written monomaniacal, speaking passionately about one issue and one
novels, short stories, poetry, issue only.
plays, and essays in many
Contrast of Ideas: The shallowness of the second speech made the
different styles and genres.
profundity of the first even more evident.
Her writing often combines
the small matters of everyday
life with violence and horror. Apply your knowledge of context clues and other vocabulary strategies to
determine the meanings of unfamiliar words you encounter during your
first read.
First Read FICTION


NOTICE whom the story is ANNOTATE by marking
about, what happens, where vocabulary and key passages
and when it happens, and why you want to revisit.
those involved react as
 Standards
they do.
Reading Literature
By the end of grade 10, read and
stories, dramas, and poems at the
high end of the grades 9–10 text CONNECT ideas within RESPOND by completing
complexity band independently and the selection to what you the Comprehension Check and
proficiently. already know and what you by writing a brief summary of
Language have already read. the selection.
• Determine or clarify the meaning
of unknown and multiple-meaning
words and phrases based on grades
9–10 reading and content, choosing
flexibly from a range of strategies.
• Use context as a clue to the
meaning of a word or phrase.

SHORT STORY
Where Is Here? Joyce Carol Oates
BACKGROUND
The novels of Ann Radcliffe, an English writer, and the short stories of Edgar
Allan Poe inspired Joyce Carol Oates to write Gothic literature. “Horror is a
fact of life,” she has said. “As a writer I’m fascinated by all facets of life.”
In this story, Oates highlights the uncertainty and potential danger that lurk
under the surface of everyday events.
F or years they had lived without incident in their house in a

quiet residential neighborhood when, one November evening at
dusk, the doorbell rang, and the father went to answer it, and there
NOTES
on his doorstep stood a man he had never seen before. The stranger
apologized for disturbing him at what was probably the dinner hour
and explained that he’d once lived in the house—“I mean, I was a
child in this house”—and since he was in the city on business he
thought he would drop by. He had not seen the house since January
1949 when he’d been eleven years old and his widowed mother had
sold it and moved away but, he said, he thought of it often, dreamt
of it often, and never more powerfully than in recent months. The Mark context clues or indicate
father said, “Would you like to come inside for a few minutes and another strategy you used that
helped you determine meaning.
look around?” The stranger hesitated, then said firmly, “I think I’ll
gregarious (gruh GAIR ee uhs)
just poke around outside for a while, if you don’t mind. That might
adj.
be sufficient.” He was in his late forties, the father’s approximate age.
MEANING:
He wore a dark suit, conservatively cut; he was hatless, with thin
silver-tipped neatly combed hair; a plain, sober, intelligent face and
frowning eyes. The father, reserved by nature, but genial and even
gregarious when taken unaware, said amiably, “Of course we don’t amiably (AY mee uh blee) adv.
mind. But I’m afraid many things have changed since 1949.” MEANING:
2 So, in the chill, damp, deepening dusk, the stranger wandered
around the property while the mother set the dining room table and
the father peered covertly out the window. The children were upstairs
in their rooms. “Where is he now?” the mother asked. “He just went
into the garage,” the father said. “The garage! What does he want in
Where Is Here? 69
there?” the mother said uneasily. “Maybe you’d better go out there
NOTES with him.” “He wouldn’t want anyone with him,” the father said. He
moved stealthily to another window, peering through the curtains.
A moment passed in silence. The mother, paused in the act of setting
down plates, neatly folded paper napkins, and stainless-steel cutlery,
said impatiently, “And where is he now? I don’t like this.” The father
said, “Now he’s coming out of the garage,” and stepped back hastily
from the window. “Is he going now?” the mother asked. “I wish I’d
answered the door.” The father watched for a moment in silence then
said, “He’s headed into the backyard.” “Doing what?” the mother
asked. “Not doing anything, just walking,” the father said. “He seems to
have a slight limp.” “Is he an older man?” the mother asked. “I didn’t
notice,” the father confessed. “Isn’t that just like you!” the mother said.
3 She went on worriedly, “He could be anyone, after all. Any kind
of thief, or mentally disturbed person, or even murderer. Ringing our
doorbell like that with no warning and you don’t even know what he
looks like!”
4 The father had moved to another window and stood quietly
watching, his cheek pressed against the glass. “He’s gone down to
the old swings. I hope he won’t sit in one of them, for memory’s sake,
and try to swing—the posts are rotted almost through.” The mother
drew breath to speak but sighed instead, as if a powerful current of
feeling had surged through her. The father was saying, “Is it possible
he remembers those swings from his childhood? I can’t believe they’re
actually that old.” The mother said vaguely, “They were old when
we bought the house.” The father said, “But we’re talking about forty
years or more, and that’s a long time.” The mother sighed again,
involuntarily. “Poor man!” she murmured. She was standing before
her table but no longer seeing it. In her hand were objects—forks,
knives, spoons—she could not have named. She said, “We can’t bar the
door against him. That would be cruel.” The father said, “What? No
one has barred any door against anyone.” “Put yourself in his place,”
the mother said. “He told me he didn’t want to come inside,” the father

said. “Oh—isn’t that just like you!” the mother said in exasperation.
5 Without a further word she went to the back door and called out
for the stranger to come inside, if he wanted, when he had finished
looking around outside.
6 They introduced themselves rather shyly, giving names, and

forgetting names, in the confusion of the moment. The stranger’s
handshake was cool and damp and tentative. He was smiling
hard, blinking moisture from his eyes; it was clear that entering his
childhood home was enormously exciting yet intimidating to him.
Repeatedly he said, “It’s so nice of you to invite me in—I truly hate
to disturb you—I’m really so grateful, and so—” But the perfect word
eluded him. As he spoke his eyes darted about the kitchen almost like
eyes out of control. He stood in an odd stiff posture, hands gripping
the lapels of his suit as if he meant to crush them. The mother,

meaning to break the awkward silence, spoke warmly of their
satisfaction with the house and with the neighborhood, and the father NOTES
concurred, but the stranger listened only politely, and continued to

stare, and stare hard. Finally he said that the kitchen had been so
changed—”so modernized”—he almost didn’t recognize it. The floor
tile, the size of the windows, something about the position of the
cupboards—all were different. But the sink was in the same place of
course; and the refrigerator and stove; and the door leading down to
the basement—“That is the door leading down to the basement, isn’t
it?” He spoke strangely, staring at the door. For a moment it appeared
he might ask to be shown the basement but the moment passed,
fortunately—this was not a part of their house the father and mother
would have been comfortable showing to a stranger.
7 Finally, making an effort to smile, the stranger said, “Your kitchen
is so—pleasant.” He paused. For a moment it seemed he had nothing
further to say. Then, “A—controlled sort of place. My mother— When
we lived here—” His words trailed off into a dreamy silence and
the mother and father glanced at each other with carefully neutral
expressions.
8 On the windowsill above the sink were several lushly blooming
African violet plants in ceramic pots and these the stranger made a
show of admiring. Impulsively he leaned over to sniff the flowers—
“Lovely!”—though African violets have no smell. As if embarrassed,
he said, “Mother too had plants on this windowsill but I don’t recall
them ever blooming.”
9 The mother said tactfully, “Oh, they were probably the kind that
don’t bloom—like ivy.”
10 In the next room, the dining room, the stranger appeared to be
even more deeply moved. For some time he stood staring, wordless.
With fastidious slowness he turned on his heel, blinking, and
frowning, and tugging at his lower lip in a rough gesture that must
have hurt. Finally, as if remembering the presence of his hosts, and
the necessity for some display of civility, the stranger expressed his
admiration for the attractiveness of the room, and its coziness. He’d
remembered it as cavernous, with a ceiling twice as high. “And
dark most of the time,” he said wonderingly. “Dark by day, dark by
night.” The mother turned the lights of the little brass chandelier
to their fullest: shadows were dispersed like ragged ghosts and
the cut-glass fruit bowl at the center of the table glowed like an
exquisite multifaceted jewel. The stranger exclaimed in surprise. He’d
extracted a handkerchief from his pocket and was dabbing carefully
at his face, where beads of perspiration shone. He said, as if thinking
aloud, still wonderingly, “My father was a unique man. Everyone
who knew him admired him. He sat here,” he said, gingerly touching
the chair that was in fact the father’s chair, at one end of the table.
“And Mother sat there,” he said, merely pointing. “I don’t recall my
own place or my sister’s but I suppose it doesn’t matter. . . . I see you
have four place settings, Mrs. . . . ? Two children, I suppose?” “A boy
Where Is Here? 71
eleven, and a girl thirteen,” the mother said. The stranger stared not
NOTES at her but at the table, smiling. “And so too we were—I mean, there
were two of us: my sister and me.”
11 The mother said, as if not knowing what else to say, “Are you—
close?”
12 The stranger shrugged, distractedly rather than rudely, and moved
on to the living room.
13 This room, cozily lit as well, was the most carefully furnished
room in the house. Deep-piled wall-to-wall carpeting in hunter green,
cheerful chintz1 drapes, a sofa and matching chairs in nubby heather
green, framed reproductions of classic works of art, a gleaming gilt-
framed mirror over the fireplace: wasn’t the living room impressive
as a display in a furniture store? But the stranger said nothing at first.
Indeed, his eyes narrowed sharply as if he were confronted with a
disagreeable spectacle. He whispered, “Here too! Here too!”
14 He went to the fireplace, walking, now, with a decided limp; he
drew his fingers with excruciating slowness along the mantel as if
testing its materiality. For some time he merely stood, and stared, and
listened. He tapped a section of wall with his knuckles—“There used
to be a large water stain here, like a shadow.”
15 “Was there?” murmured the father out of politeness, and “Was
there!” murmured the mother. Of course, neither had ever seen a
water stain there.
16 Then, noticing the window seat, the stranger uttered a soft
surprised cry, and went to sit in it. He appeared delighted: hugging
his knees like a child trying to make himself smaller. “This was one
of my happy places! At least when Father wasn’t home. I’d hide
away here for hours, reading, daydreaming, staring out the window!
Sometimes Mother would join me, if she was in the mood, and
we’d plot together—oh, all sorts of fantastical things!” The stranger
remained sitting in the window seat for so long, tears shining in his
eyes, that the father and mother almost feared he’d forgotten them.
He was stroking the velvet fabric of the cushioned seat, gropingly

touching the leaded windowpanes. Wordlessly, the father and mother
exchanged a glance: who was this man, and how could they tactfully
get rid of him? The father made a face signaling impatience and the
mother shook her head without seeming to move it. For they couldn’t
be rude to a guest in their house.
17 The stranger was saying in a slow, dazed voice, “It all comes back
to me now. How could I have forgotten! Mother used to read to me,
and tell me stories, and ask me riddles I couldn’t answer. ‘What
creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at midday, three
legs in the evening?’ ‘What is round, and flat, measuring mere inches
in one direction, and infinity in the other?’ ‘Out of what does our life
arise? Out of what does our consciousness arise? Why are we here?
Where is here?’”
1. chintz n. printed cotton fabric used especially for curtains and upholstery.

18 The father and mother were perplexed by these strange words
and hardly knew how to respond. The mother said uncertainly, NOTES
“Our daughter used to like to sit there too, when she was younger.
It is a lovely place.” The father said with surprising passion, “I hate
riddles—they’re moronic some of the time and obscure the rest of
the time.” He spoke with such uncharacteristic rudeness, the mother
looked at him in surprise.
19 Hurriedly she said, “Is your mother still living, Mr. . . . ?” “Oh no.
Not at all,” the stranger said, rising abruptly from the window seat, and
looking at the mother as if she had said something mildly preposterous.
“I’m sorry,” the mother said. “Please don’t be,” the stranger said. “We’ve
all been dead—they’ve all been dead—a long time.”
20 The stranger’s cheeks were deeply flushed as if with anger and his
breath was quickened and audible.
21 The visit might have ended at this point but so clearly did the
stranger expect to continue on upstairs, so purposefully, indeed
almost defiantly, did he limp his way to the stairs, neither the father
nor the mother knew how to dissuade him. It was as if a force of
nature, benign at the outset, now uncontrollable, had swept its way
into their house! The mother followed after him saying nervously,
“I’m not sure what condition the rooms are in, upstairs. The
children’s rooms especially—” The stranger muttered that he did
not care in the slightest about the condition of the household and
continued on up without a backward glance.
22 The father, his face burning with resentment and his heart
accelerating as if in preparation for combat, had no choice but to
follow the stranger and the mother up the stairs. He was flexing and
unflexing his fingers as if to rid them of stiffness.
23 On the landing, the stranger halted abruptly to examine a stained-
glass fanlight—“My God, I haven’t thought of this in years!” He
spoke excitedly of how, on tiptoe, he used to stand and peek out
through the diamonds of colored glass, red, blue, green, golden
yellow: seeing with amazement the world outside so altered. “After
such a lesson it’s hard to take the world on its own terms, isn’t it?”
he asked. The father asked, annoyed, “On what terms should it be
taken, then?” The stranger replied, regarding him levelly, with a just
perceptible degree of disdain, “Why, none at all.”
24 It was the son’s room—by coincidence, the stranger’s old room—
the stranger most wanted to see. Other rooms on the second floor,
the “master” bedroom in particular, he decidedly did not want to
see. As he spoke of it, his mouth twitched as if he had been offered
something repulsive to eat.
25 The mother hurried on ahead to warn the boy to straighten up
his room a bit. No one had expected a visitor this evening! “So you
have two children,” the stranger murmured, looking at the father
with a small quizzical smile. “Why?” The father stared at him as if he
hadn’t heard correctly. “’Why’?” he asked. “Yes. Why?” the stranger
repeated. They looked at each other for a long strained moment, then
Where Is Here? 73
the stranger said quickly, “But you love them—of course.” The father
NOTES controlled his temper and said, biting off his words, “Of course.”
26 “Of course, of course,” the stranger murmured, tugging at his
necktie and loosening his collar, “otherwise it would all come to an
end.” The two men were of approximately the same height but the
father was heavier in the shoulders and torso; his hair had thinned
more severely so that the scalp of the crown was exposed, flushed,
damp with perspiration, sullenly alight.
27 With a stiff avuncular2 formality the stranger shook the son’s hand.
“So this is your room, now! So you live here, now!” he murmured,
as if the fact were an astonishment. Not used to shaking hands, the
boy was stricken with shyness and cast his eyes down. The stranger
limped past him, staring. “The same!—the same!—walls, ceiling,
floor—window—” He drew his fingers slowly along the windowsill;
around the frame; rapped the glass, as if, again, testing materiality;
stooped to look outside—but it was night, and nothing but his
reflection bobbed in the glass, ghostly and insubstantial. He groped
against the walls, he opened the closet door before the mother could
protest, he sat heavily on the boy’s bed, the springs creaking beneath
him. He was panting, red-faced, dazed. “And the ceiling overhead,”
2. avuncular (uh VUHN kyoo luhr) adj. having traits considered typical of uncles; jolly,
indulgent, stodgy.

he whispered. He nodded slowly and repeatedly, smiling. “And the
floor beneath. That is what is.” NOTES
28 He took out his handkerchief again and fastidiously wiped his

face. He made a visible effort to compose himself.
29 The father, in the doorway, cleared his throat and said, “I’m afraid
it’s getting late—it’s almost six.”
30 The mother said, “Oh yes I’m afraid—I’m afraid it is getting late.
There’s dinner, and the children have their homework—”
31 The stranger got to his feet. At his full height he stood for a
precarious moment swaying, as if the blood had drained from his
head and he was in danger of fainting. But he steadied himself with
a hand against the slanted dormer ceiling. He said, “Oh yes!—I
know!—I’ve disturbed you terribly!—you’ve been so kind.” It
seemed, surely, as if the stranger must leave now, but, as chance had
it, he happened to spy, on the boy’s desk, an opened mathematics
textbook and several smudged sheets of paper, and impulsively
offered to show the boy a mathematical riddle—“You can take it to
school tomorrow and surprise your teacher!”
32 So, out of dutiful politeness, the son sat down at his desk and the
stranger leaned familiarly over him, demonstrating adroitly with
a ruler and a pencil how “what we call ‘infinity’” can be contained
within a small geometrical figure on a sheet of paper. “First you draw
a square; then you draw a triangle to fit inside the square; then you
draw a second triangle, and a third, and a fourth, each to fit inside the
square, but without their points coinciding, and as you continue—here,
son, I’ll show you—give me your hand, and I’ll show you—the border
of the triangles’ common outline gets more complex and measures
larger, and larger, and larger—and soon you’ll need a magnifying
glass to see the details, and then you’ll need a microscope, and so on
and so forth, forever, laying triangles neatly down to fit inside the
original square without their points coinciding—!” The stranger spoke
with increasing fervor; spittle gleamed in the corners of his mouth. The
son stared at the geometrical shapes rapidly materializing on the sheet
of paper before him with no seeming comprehension but with a rapt

staring fascination as if he dared not look away.
33 After several minutes of this the father came abruptly forward and
dropped his hand on the stranger’s shoulder. “The visit is over,” he
said calmly. It was the first time since they’d shaken hands that the
two men had touched, and the touch had a galvanic3 effect upon the
stranger: he dropped ruler and pencil at once, froze in his stooped
posture, burst into frightened tears.
Mark context clues or indicate
another strategy you used that
34 Now the visit truly was over; the stranger, at last, was leaving, having helped you determine meaning.
wiped away his tears and made a stoical effort to compose himself; stoical (STOH ih kuhl) adj.
but on the doorstep, to the father’s astonishment, he made a final,
MEANING:
preposterous appeal—he wanted to see the basement. “Just to sit on
3. galvanic (gal VAN ihk) adj. startling; stimulating as if by electric current.
Where Is Here? 75
the stairs? In the dark? For a few quiet minutes? And you could close
NOTES the door and forget me, you and your family could have your dinner
and—”
35 The stranger was begging but the father was resolute. Without
raising his voice he said, “No. The visit is over.”
36 He shut the door, and locked it.
37 Locked it! His hands were shaking and his heart beat angrily.
38 He watched the stranger walk away—out to the sidewalk, out
to the street, disappearing in the darkness. Had the streetlights
gone out?
39 Behind the father the mother stood apologetic and defensive,
wringing her hands in a classic stance. “Wasn’t that sad! Wasn’t
that—sad! But we had no choice but to let him in, it was the only
decent thing to do.’’ The father pushed past her without comment.
In the living room he saw that the lights were flickering as if on the
brink of going out; the patterned wallpaper seemed drained of color;
a shadow lay upon it shaped like a bulbous cloud or growth. Even
the robust green of the carpeting looked faded. Or was it an optical
illusion? Everywhere the father looked, a pulse beat mute with rage.
“I wasn’t the one who opened the door to that man in the first place,”
the mother said, coming up behind the father and touching his arm.
Without seeming to know what he did the father violently jerked his
arm and thrust her away.
40 “Shut up. We’ll forget it,” he said.
41 “But—”
42 “We’ll forget it.”
43 The mother entered the kitchen walking slowly as if she’d been
struck a blow. In fact, a bruise the size of a pear would materialize
on her forearm by morning. When she reached out to steady herself
she misjudged the distance of the doorframe—or did the doorframe
recede an inch or two—and nearly lost her balance.
44 In the kitchen the lights were dim and an odor of sourish smoke,
subtle but unmistakable, made her nostrils pinch.

45 She slammed open the oven door. Grabbed a pair of pot holders
with insulated linings. “I wasn’t the one, . . .” she cried, panting, “and
you know it.” ❧

Comprehension Check
Complete the following items after you finish your first read. Review and clarify
details with your group.
1. Why has the stranger come to visit the house?
2. What are the initial suspicions that the mother has about the stranger?
3. How does the stranger react when the father tells him, “The visit is over”?
4. How do the rooms of the house seem changed after the stranger’s visit?
5. Notebook Choose four key events that best capture the plot of the story.
Write a summary of the story based on these four events.
RESEARCH
Research to Clarify Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly
research that detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an
aspect of the story?
Research to Explore This story may spark your curiosity to learn more about the author
or the genre. Briefly research a topic that interests you. You may want to share what you
learn with your group.
Where Is Here? 77
MAKING MEANING
Close Read the Text

With your group, revisit sections of the text you marked
during your first read. Annotate details that you notice.
What questions do you have? What can you conclude?
Where Is Here?
Cite textual evidence

Complete the activities.

1. Review and Clarify With your group, reread paragraph 25. The stranger
GROUP DISCUSSION discovers the father has two children and asks, “Why?” Do you find that
Keep in mind that there is question unsettling? Explain.
no “correct” interpretation
of certain stories. In these 2. Present and Discuss Now, work with your group to share other key
cases, the author deliberately passages from “Where Is Here?” What made you choose these particular
leaves some questions passages? Take turns presenting your passages. Discuss what details you
unanswered. As a reader, noticed, what questions you asked, and what conclusions you reached.
you should use clues in the
text and reasoning to come 3. Essential Question: What is the allure of fear? What has this selection
up with your interpretations taught you about portrayals of fear in literature? Discuss with your group.
or answers to these
questions.
language development
Concept Vocabulary
gregarious amiably stoical
 WORD NETWORK Why These Words? The three concept vocabulary words are related. With
your group, determine what the words have in common. How do these word
choices enhance the impact of the text?
Network.
Practice
Notebook Confirm your understanding of each word by using it in a
sentence. Be sure to use context clues that suggest the word’s meaning. Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Word Study
 Standards Notebook Adverbs of Manner An adverb is a word that modifies
Reading Literature a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Many adverbs, particularly those
Analyze how an author’s choices
concerning how to structure a describing the manner in which an action verb is performed, are formed by
text, order events within it, and adding the Anglo-Saxon suffix -ly to an adjective. Sometimes, the addition of
manipulate time (e.g., pacing, this suffix requires a change in the ending of the adjective. For instance, the
flashbacks) create such effects.
father in “Where Is Here?” states something amiably—or in an amiable manner.
Language
• Spell correctly. Reread paragraph 2 of the story. Mark the adverbs ending in -ly. Then, write
• Identify and correctly use patterns the adjectives from which they are formed.
speech.

essential question: What is the allure of fear?

Literary Style Through the use of gloomy settings, suffering characters,
supernatural events, and sudden plot twists, traditional Gothic writers such
as Edgar Allan Poe constructed stories of imagination, fear, and horror.
Today, modern Gothic writers still produce stories marked by fear and
dread. However, they modify elements to suit modern tastes and ideas.
LITERARY ELEMENT TRADITIONAL GOTHIC MODERN GOTHIC
Setting Remote, exotic settings, such as a Ordinary places, which may

gloomy mansion or castle make strange events more
unsettling
Characters Strange, eccentric people, often of Ordinary people, to whom readers

high social standing can easily relate
Plot Events Unusual occurrences involving Situations in which normal life is

violence or supernatural elements interrupted in disturbing ways
Endings Dramatic endings that fully resolve Ambiguous endings that leave
the dark, scary events questions unanswered
The effect of these shifts is to relocate the source of readers’ fear. Modern
Gothic literature does not allow readers a comfortable distance from dark
situations. Instead, the unusual events feel as if they could happen to us.

Work individually to identify details in “Where Is Here?” that relate to each literary element.
Then, discuss your choices with your group. Focus especially on your interpretations of the
ambiguous ending.
LITERARY ELEMENTS DETAILS FROM “WHERE IS HERE?”
Setting
Characters
Events
Ending
Where Is Here? 79
Author’s Style
Character Development Conversation between characters in a story,
or dialogue, is one of the tools fiction writers use to make their characters
come alive on the page. Authors use dialogue to show readers what
characters are like, how they interact with others, how they feel about
WHERE IS HERE?
their situations, and what motivates them. Consider this example from
“Where Is Here?”:
Example of Dialogue: The stranger hesitated, then said firmly, “I think

I’ll just poke around outside for a while, if you don’t mind. That might be
sufficient.”
How It Develops Character: Paired with descriptive elements, such as the

idea that the stranger “hesitated” but then spoke “firmly,” the dialogue
reveals that the stranger is polite, well-spoken, and nervous.
Read It
Work individually. Use this chart to analyze the mother in “Where Is Here?”
Explain what you learn about her character from each example of dialogue.
Then, compare your responses to those of your group.
DIALOGUE HOW IT DEVELOPS CHARACTER
“Isn’t that just like you!” the

mother said.
She went on worriedly, “He could be
anyone, after all. Any kind of thief, or
mentally disturbed person, or even
murderer. Ringing our doorbell like
that with no warning and you don’t
even know what he looks like!”
The mother sighed again,

involuntarily. “Poor man!” she
murmured. She was standing before
her table but no longer seeing it. In Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
her hand were objects—forks, knives,
spoons—she could not have named.
She said, “We can’t bar the door
against him. That would be cruel.”
 Standards
“I wasn’t the one who opened the
Reading Literature
Analyze how complex characters door to that man in the first place,”
develop over the course of a text, the mother said, coming up behind
interact with other characters, and the father and touching his arm.
advance the plot or develop the
theme.
Writing
Write narratives to develop real or Write It
Notebook Write a paragraph in which you describe an interaction between
effective technique, well-chosen
details, and well-structured event two people. They may be fictional or real. Use dialogue to make the interaction
sequences. come alive.

Effective expression
Writing to Sources
Every work of fiction is set in a particular time and place. In our imaginations,
though, the characters exist before and after the story.
Assignment
With your group, write a brief narrative that extends the scope of
“Where Is Here?” Make sure that your narrative stays true to the
characterizations, style, and tone of the story. Choose one of the
following topics:
Write a prequel that reveals the stranger’s past. Who is he, and
which details of the story he tells to the family are true? What is the
stranger’s goal in visiting the house—does he simply want to see
his home again, or does he have another, more sinister reason for
wanting to return?
Write a sequel in which the stranger returns to the house after some
time has passed. How has he changed, having seen his childhood
home earlier? How is he greeted by the family this time? Are the
mother and father more or less suspicious of him and his motives?
Write a police report filed after the stranger leaves. Imagine that the
mother and father call the police to report the incident. What kinds
of questions are the police likely to ask about the stranger? What
kinds of answers are they likely to receive?
Project Plan Use this chart to plan your narrative. In the middle column,  EVIDENCE LOG
plan the action. In the right-hand column, explain the goal of each
paragraph. Follow the chart to draft the narrative, and then present your new selection, go to your
narrative to the class. Have different group members read portions of the Evidence Log and record
narrative aloud. what you learned from
“Where Is Here?”
PARAGRAPH WHAT HAPPENS NARRATIVE GOAL

Where Is Here? 81
MAKING MEANING
About the Photographer

Media Vocabulary
The following words will be useful to you as you analyze, discuss, and write
about photographs.
Composition: • The composition may stress one part of an

As a teenager in the Coney arrangement of the parts image more than another.
Island section of Brooklyn, of a photograph; • The composition may show what the
New York, Arthur Tress the foreground is closer photographer thinks is important in the subject.
(b. 1940) liked to photograph
to the viewer, whereas the
the neighborhood’s dilapidated
background is farther away
amusement parks in various
states of disrepair. His style Perspective or Angle: • The camera may be looking down, looking up,
combines improvised elements vantage point from which a or looking head-on at the subject.
of everyday life with the photograph is taken • The subject may seem very far away, at a middle
theatrical and is referred to as distance, or very close.
“magical realism.” Tress has
worked as a photographer for Lighting and Color: use of • Some images are full color, whereas others are
more than 50 years, and he light, shadow, and color in black and white.
has traveled the world, often a photograph • Some parts of an image may be brighter or
photographing people he darker than others.
meets along the way.
Subject: primary figure(s), • The subject may be a person or group of
object(s), or other content people, often in the foreground.
in a photograph • Alternatively, the subject may be an object, a set
of objects, or an entire location.
Location: place or scene • The location may be indoors, in a particular type
in which a photograph is of building or context.
taken • Alternatively, the location may be outdoors, and
it might be obvious or subtle in its details.
First Review MEDIA: ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Apply these strategies as you conduct your first review. You will have an
opportunity to complete a close review after your first review.
 STANDARDS
By the end of grade 10, read and Look at each image and NOTE elements in each image
comprehend literary nonfiction at determine who or what it that you find interesting and
the high end of the grades 9–10 text portrays. want to revisit.
proficiently.
Language
Acquire and use accurately general CONNECT details in the ESPOND by completing the
R
academic and domain-specific words images to other media you’ve Comprehension Check.
and phrases, sufficient for reading,
experienced, texts you’ve read,
writing, speaking, and listening at
the college and career readiness or images you’ve seen.
level; demonstrate independence
in gathering vocabulary knowledge
expression.

MEDIA | PHOTO GALLERY

Arthur Tress
BACKGROUND
Photographer Arthur Tress began working on his study of the unconscious
mind in the late 1960s by interviewing children about their most memorable
dreams. At the time, photography that documented real events was still the
dominant form of the medium, and there was some prejudice against staged
photography. Tress’s photographs from The Dream Collector helped elevate
the art of photography, and many photographers since have acknowledged
their debt to his work.
© Copyright Arthur Tress 2015
PHOTO 1: Flood Dream, Ocean City,

New Jersey, 1971 NOTES
from The Dream Collector 83

PHOTO 2: Hockey Player,
New York City, 1970
NOTES
PHOTO 3: Young Boy and Hooded

Figure, New York City, 1971
NOTES

PHOTO 4: Girl With Dunce Cap,
New York City, 1972
NOTES
PHOTO 5: Girl With Mask,

Rhinebeck, 1972
NOTES

PHOTO 6: Boy in Burnt-Out Furniture Store,
Newark, 1969 NOTES

NOTES

Comprehension Check
Use the chart to note details in each of the photographs. Identify people,
objects, location, and activities. Review and clarify details with your group.
PHOTO PEOPLE OBJECTS LOCATION ACTIVITIES

PHOTO 1
PHOTO 2
PHOTO 3
PHOTO 4
PHOTO 5
PHOTO 6
NOTES

MAKING MEANING
Close Review
With your group, revisit the photographs, your first-review
notes, and the Comprehension Check chart. Record any new
observations that seem important. What questions do you
have? What can you conclude?
from THE DREAM COLLECTOR
Analyze the Media

1. Present and Discuss Determine which photograph from the collection

seems most closely related to the theme of fear. Prepare to justify your
choice with specific details from the photo. Share your analysis with
your group.
2. Review and Synthesize With your group, look over the photographs.
Do they share a common style and theme? Defend or challenge the choice
to group them together, citing specific details.
3. Notebook Essential Question: What is the allure of fear? What

makes something alluring even when it is simultaneously frightening? How
can images be particularly effective in getting to the root of this question?
Support your responses with evidence from the photographs.
Media Vocabulary
composition lighting and color location
perspective or angle subject
Use the vocabulary in your responses to the following questions.

 STANDARDS
1. In Photo 2, what is in the foreground? What is in the background? How
• Make strategic use of digital does the position of the figure in the photo add to its impact?
media in presentations to enhance
understanding of findings,
reasoning, and evidence to add
interest. 2. In what ways do the figures shown in Photo 3 present a startling contrast?
• Adapt speech to a variety of Explain.
contexts and tasks, demonstrating
command of formal English when
indicated or appropriate.
Language 3. In Photo 5, how does the position of the camera in relationship to the
Acquire and use accurately general subject add to the photo’s effect?
academic and domain-specific
words and phrases, sufficient for
reading, writing, speaking, and
listening at the college and career
readiness level; demonstrate 4. Which aspects of Photo 6 seem dreamlike, and which seem realistic?
independence in gathering Explain.
vocabulary knowledge when
considering a word or phrase
expression.

Assignment  EVIDENCE LOG

Create a visual presentation in which you incorporate both text and
new selection, go to your
images. Choose from the following options.
Evidence Log and record
what you’ve learned from
ith your group, review the collection of photographs, and choose
W
The Dream Collector.
one you all prefer. Then, work independently to write a narrative
of a dream that might accompany the photo you chose. Share your
story with your group. Once your group has compiled a set of stories,
present them to the class in an organized form.
orking independently, write down a dream that you have had, or

W
a fictional dream. Then, plan and take a photograph that you feel
represents the dream. As a group, organize your dreams and images
into a coherent presentation, and share it with the class.
Imagine that you are responsible for convincing a museum to

purchase one of these photos for its permanent collection. As a
group, choose the photo you think the museum should purchase.
Then, working independently, write a letter in which you describe
the photo and explain why people should get the chance to see it.
Organize your letters into a cohesive presentation, and share it with
the class.
Writing From Photographs Working on your own, use the chart to

identify elements of the photograph that you will reflect in your narrative,
dream, or letter. Consider obvious qualities, such as the setting and large
objects. Also, note subtler details—such as facial expressions, clothing, and
gestures—that contribute to an effect you will capture in your writing.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION MAIN ELEMENTS OF PHOTO IMPORTANT DETAILS IN PHOTO


MAKING MEANING
About the Author

Allegra Ringo is a freelance
writer and comedian Technical Vocabulary
based in Los Angeles,
California. Her work
As you perform your first read of the interview, you will encounter the
includes articles, humorous following words.
essays, film reviews, and
comedy sketches for the stimulus dissonance cognitive
Upright Citizens Brigade
Theatre. At California State Familiar Word Parts When determining the meaning of an unfamiliar
University, Long Beach, word, look for word parts—base words, roots, prefixes, and suffixes—
where she completed her that you know. Doing so may help you unlock word meanings. Here is an
undergraduate degree in example of applying the strategy.
film, Ringo received the
Women in Film Scholarship. Unfamiliar Word: socialization
Familiar Base Word: social, meaning “having to do with being part of
a group, community, or society.”
Familiar Suffixes: -ize, which forms verbs and means “to make” or
“to become”; -ation, which forms abstract nouns
Conclusion: Combining the meanings of these three familiar word
parts, you can determine that the word socialization probably means
“the process of becoming social, or part of a community.”
Apply your knowledge of familiar word parts and other vocabulary strategies
to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words you encounter during your
first read.
First Read NONFICTION

NOTICE the general ideas of ANNOTATE by marking Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
the text. What is it about? vocabulary and key passages
 STANDARDS Who is involved? you want to revisit.
comprehend literary nonfiction at
the high end of the grades 9–10 text
proficiently.
Language
• Determine or clarify the meaning the selection to what you the Comprehension Check and
of unknown and multiple-meaning already know and what you by writing a brief summary of
words and phrases based on grades have already read. the selection.
9–10 reading and content, choosing
flexibly from a range of strategies.
• Identify and correctly use patterns
speech.

INTERVIEW
Why Do
SomeBrains
Enjoy Fear?
Allegra Ringo
BACKGROUND
As human beings, we are equipped with a variety of different survival
mechanisms. One system detects danger. If we could not recognize
dangerous situations, we would not be able to avoid them. For that reason,
our brains are hard-wired to feel fear when we encounter a threat. Our fear
response releases “fight or flight” chemicals into our bloodstreams, and
these help make us stronger, quicker, and more alert. In other words, fear
makes us ready to fight or flee.
1 This time of year, thrillseekers can enjoy horror movies, haunted NOTES
houses, and prices so low it’s scary. But if fear is a natural survival
response to a threat, or danger, why would we seek out that feeling?
2 Dr. Margee Kerr is the staff sociologist at ScareHouse, a haunted
house in Pittsburgh that takes all year to plan. She also teaches at
Robert Morris University and Chatham University, and is the only
person I’ve ever heard referred to as a “scare specialist.” Dr. Kerr is
an expert in the field of fear. I spoke with her about what fear is, and
why some of us enjoy it so much.
Why do some people like the feeling of being scared,

while others don’t?
3 Not everyone enjoys being afraid, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to
say that no one wants to experience a truly life-threatening situation.
But there are those of us (well, a lot of us) who really enjoy the
experience. First, the natural high from the fight-or-flight response
can feel great. There is strong evidence that this isn’t just about
personal choice, but our brain chemistry. New research from David
Zald shows that people differ in their chemical response to thrilling
situations. One of the main hormones released during scary and
thrilling activities is dopamine, and it turns out some individuals
may get more of a kick from this dopamine response than others do.
Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear? 91

Basically, some people’s brains lack what Zald describes as “brakes”
NOTES on the dopamine release and re-uptake1 in the brain. This means
some people are going to really enjoy thrilling, scary, and risky
situations while others, not so much.
4 Lots of people also enjoy scary situations because it leaves them
with a sense of confidence after it’s over. Think about the last time
you made it through a scary movie, or through a haunted house. You
might have thought, “Yes! I did it! I made it all the way through!”
So it can be a real self-esteem boost. But again,
To really enjoy a scary situation, self-scaring isn’t for everyone, and there are lots
of psychological and personal reasons someone
we have to know we’re in a safe may not enjoy scary situations. I’ve talked to more
environment. than a handful of people who will never set foot
in a haunted house because they went to a haunt
at a young age and were traumatized. I always recommend parents
thoroughly check out the content and rating of a haunted attraction
before bringing a child. The chemicals that are released during fight-
or-flight can work like glue to build strong memories (“flashbulb
memories”) of scary experiences, and if you’re too young to know
the monsters are fake, it can be quite traumatic and something you’ll
never forget, in a bad way.
What happens in our brains when we’re scared? Is it

different when we’re scared “in a fun way” versus being
actually afraid?
5 To really enjoy a scary situation, we have to know we’re in a safe
environment. It’s all about triggering the amazing fight-or-flight
response to experience the flood of adrenaline, endorphins, and
dopamine, but in a completely safe space. Haunted houses are great
at this—they deliver a startle scare by triggering one of our senses
with different sounds, air blasts, and even smells. These senses are
directly tied to our fear response and activate the physical reaction,
but our brain has time to process the fact that these are not “real”
threats. Our brain is lightning-fast at processing threat. I’ve seen the Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
process thousands of times from behind the walls in ScareHouse—

someone screams and jumps and then immediately starts laughing
and smiling. It’s amazing to observe. I’m really interested to see
where our boundaries are in terms of when and how we really know
or feel we’re safe.
What qualities do “scary things” share across cultures,

or does it vary widely?
6 One of the most interesting things about studying fear is looking
at the social constructions of fear, and learned fears versus those fears
1. re-uptake n. reabsorption of a neurotransmitter. This process regulates the levels of a

neurotransmitter in the body.

that appear to be more innate, or even genetic. When we look across
time and across the world, we find that people truly can become NOTES
afraid of anything. Through fear conditioning (connecting a neutral

stimulus with a negative consequence), we can link pretty much Mark familiar word parts or
anything to a fear response. Baby Albert, of course, is the exemplar indicate another strategy you
used that helped you determine
case of this. The poor child was made deathly afraid of white rabbits meaning.
in the 1920’s, before researchers were required to be ethical. So we stimulus (STIHM yuh luhs) n.
know that we can learn to fear, and this means our socialization and MEANING:
the society in which we are raised is going to have a lot to do with
what we find scary.
7 Each culture has its own superhero monsters—the Chupacabra
(South America), the Loch Ness Monster, the Yōkai (supernatural
monsters from Japanese folklore), Alps (German
nightmare creatures)—but they all have a number of
characteristics in common. Monsters are defying the Things that violate the laws
general laws of nature in some way. They have either
returned from the afterlife (ghosts, demons, spirits) of nature are terrifying.
or they are some kind of nonhuman or semihuman
creature. This speaks to the fact that things that violate
the laws of nature are terrifying. And really anything
that doesn’t make sense or causes us some sort of dissonance, dissonance (DIHS uh nuhns) n.
whether it is cognitive or aesthetic, is going to be scary (axe-wielding
2
MEANING:
animals, masked faces, contorted bodies).
8 Another shared characteristic of monsters across the globe is
their blurred relationship with death and the body. Humans are
obsessed with death; we simply have a hard time wrapping our cognitive (KOG nuh tihv) adj.
mind around what happens when we die. This contemplation has MEANING:
led to some of the most famous monsters, with each culture creating
their own version of the living dead, whether it’s zombies, vampires,
reanimated and reconstructed corpses, or ghosts. We want to imagine
a life that goes on after we die. Or better yet, figure out a way to live
forever. Again, though, that would violate the laws of nature and
is therefore terrifying. So while the compositions and names of the
monsters are different, the motivations and inspirations behind their

constructions appear across the globe.
What are some early examples of people scaring

themselves on purpose?
9 Humans have been scaring themselves and each other since the
birth of the species, through all kinds of methods like storytelling,
jumping off cliffs, and popping out to startle each other from the
recesses of some dark cave. And we’ve done this for lots of different
reasons—to build group unity, to prepare kids for life in the scary
world, and, of course, to control behavior. But it’s only really in the
last few centuries that scaring ourselves for fun (and profit) has
become a highly sought-after experience.
2. aesthetic (ehs THEHT ihk) adj. of or relating to art or beauty.

10 My favorite example of one of the early discoveries of the joys
NOTES of self-scaring is actually found in the history of roller coasters.
The Russian Ice Slides began, not surprisingly given the name, as
extended sleigh rides down a snowy mountain in the mid-17th
century. Much like they do today, riders would sit in sleds and
speed down the mountain, which sometimes included additional
man-made bumps to make it a little more exciting. The Russian
Ice Slides became more sophisticated throughout the 18th century,
with wooden beams and artificial mountains of ice. Eventually,
instead of ice and sleds, tracks and carriages were constructed to
carry screaming riders across the “Russian Mountains.” Even more
exhilarating terror came when innovative creators decided to paint
scary scenes on the walls that shocked and thrilled riders as they
passed by. These came to be known as “Dark Rides.” People were
terrified, but they loved it.
11 We haven’t just enjoyed physical thrills—ghost stories were
told around the campfire long before we had summer camps. The
Graveyard Poets of the 18th century, who wrote of spiders, bats, and
skulls, paved the road for the Gothic novelists of the 19th century,
like Poe and Shelley. These scary stories provided, and continue to
deliver, intrigue, exhilaration, and a jolt of excitement to our lives.
12 The 19th century also brought the precursors to the haunted
attraction industry. Sideshows or “freak shows,” and the museums
and houses of “oddities” have existed since the mid-1800s. Perhaps
the most notable is Barnum’s American Museum, operated by
P. T. Barnum, best known for being half of the Ringling Brothers
and Barnum and Bailey Circus. His museum contained things like
monkey torsos with fish tails attached, and other characters meant to
frighten and startle. Much like modern haunts, customers would line
up to challenge themselves and their resilience and dare each other
to enter the freak shows and face the scary scenes and abnormalities.
The haunted attraction industry has come a long way from fish tails
and plastic bats—modern haunts incorporate Hollywood-quality

sets, and a crazy amount of modern technology all designed to scare
us silly.
There’s a common belief that if you meet somebody for the

first time in a fearful situation, you’ll feel more attached or
more attracted to that person than you would if you’d met
them in a low-stress situation. Is there any truth to that?
13 One of the reasons people love Halloween is because it produces
strong emotional responses, and those responses work to build
stronger relationships and memories. When we’re happy, or afraid,
we’re releasing powerful hormones, like oxytocin, that are working to
make these moments stick in our brain. So we’re going to remember
the people we’re with. If it was a good experience, then we’ll
remember them fondly and feel close to them, more so than if we

were to meet them during some neutral unexciting event. Shelley
Taylor discussed this in her article “Tend and Befriend: Biobehavioral NOTES
Bases of Affiliation Under Stress.” She shows that we do build a

special closeness with those we are with when we’re in an excited
state, and more importantly, that it can be a really good thing. We’re
social and emotional beings. We need each other in times of stress,
so the fact that our bodies have evolved to make sure we feel close to
those we are with when afraid makes sense. So yes, take your date to
a haunted house or for a ride on a roller coaster; it’ll be a night you’ll
never forget. ❧
© 2013 The Atlantic Media Co., as first published in The Atlantic Magazine. All
rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
Comprehension Check
Complete the following items after you finish your first read. Review and clarify details
with your group.
1. According to Dr. Kerr, how are our bodies affected by things that scare us?
2. According to Dr. Kerr, what critical information do we need to have in order to enjoy a
scary situation?
3. What happened to Baby Albert?

4. Notebook Confirm your understanding of the text by writing a summary.
RESEARCH
Research to Clarify Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research that
detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect of the interview?
Research to Explore This interview may spark your curiosity to learn more. Briefly research
a topic from the text that interests you. Share what you discover with your group.

MAKING MEANING
Close Read the Text

With your group, revisit sections of the text you marked
Why Do Some Brains
Enjoy Fear?
Cite textual evidence

Notebook Complete the activities.
1. Review and Clarify With your group, reread paragraph 6 of the

selection. How can fear be both “innate” and “learned”?
2. Present and Discuss Work with your group to share the passages from
the selection that you found especially relevant. Take turns presenting your
passages. Discuss what you noticed in the selection, what questions you
asked, and what conclusions you reached.
3. Essential Question: What is the allure of fear? What has this selection
taught you about portrayals of fear? Discuss with your group.
 WORD NETWORK language development

Technical Vocabulary
Network.
stimulus dissonance cognitive
Why These Words? The three technical vocabulary words are related.
With your group, discuss the words, and determine the concept they share.
 Standards How do these words contribute to your understanding of the text?
Analyze how the author unfolds
an analysis or series of ideas or
events, including the order in which Practice
the points are made, how they are Notebook Confirm your understanding of these words by using them
introduced and developed, and the
connections that are drawn between in sentences. Include context clues that hint at each word’s meaning.
them.
Language
of word changes that indicate Word Study
speech. Patterns of Word Changes Many Latin roots can combine with both
• Acquire and use accurately general the suffix -ion, which forms abstract nouns, and the suffix -ive, which forms
academic and domain-specific words
and phrases, sufficient for reading,
adjectives—creating a related pair of words. For instance, the abstract noun
writing, speaking, and listening at cognition and the related adjective cognitive are both formed from the root
the college and career readiness -cognit-, meaning “knowledge” or “thought.”
level; demonstrate independence
in gathering vocabulary knowledge Reread paragraph 10 of the interview. Mark the adjective ending in -ive, and
important to comprehension or write the abstract noun to which it is related.
expression.

essential question: What is
does
the itallure
take of
to fear?
survive?

Speaker’s Claims and Evidence An interview is a structured
conversation between two people that is presented either in written or in
broadcast format. Usually, the interviewer is a journalist, and the interviewee
is a person with special knowledge. In print, the conversational structure is
reflected in the question-and-answer format, in which both questions and
answers appear in the text.
Interviewees often express claims, or assertions of a position or

truth. In order to be credible, those claims must be supported with
evidence. In interviews that involve personal experiences, evidence may
involve impressions and feelings. However, in an interview about a scientific
subject, most of the evidence should involve facts rather than feelings.
Fact-based evidence includes findings from research studies, data, and other
documented information.

Dr. Margee Kerr is the expert whose claims are expressed in this interview.
With your group, complete the chart. Identify the evidence with which
Dr. Kerr supports each claim, and consider its credibility.
CLAIM EVIDENCE NOTES ON CREDIBILITY
Some people enjoy fear

because the natural high of
the fight-or-flight response
feels great.
Not everyone enjoys being

afraid.
Being scared is only fun when

we recognize it’s not “real.”
Much of the appeal of scaring

ourselves stems from our
fascination with death.

Author’s Style
Scientific and Technical Diction A writer’s diction, or word choice,
reflects his or her purpose, audience, and topic. For example, articles about
poetry may include technical literary terms—words such as meter, scansion,
or sonnet. In a similar way, writings about scientific or technical subjects will
Why Do Some Brains
Enjoy Fear? include scientific and technical terms—words and phrases with precise
scientific or technical meanings. Consider these two passages based on the
interview.
 Standards Passage A It’s about triggering a response we have to fear that releases
chemicals in our brains.
Determine the meaning of words
and phrases as they are used in a
text, including figurative, connotative, Passage B It’s about triggering the amazing fight-or-flight response to
and technical meanings; analyze the experience the flood of adrenaline, endorphins, and dopamine.
cumulative impact of specific word
choices on meaning and tone. Passage A provides information, but it lacks specificity and leaves questions
Writing unanswered: Which response to fear? Which chemicals? In contrast, Passage
Conduct short as well as more
B uses scientific and technical terms, such as fight-or-flight, adrenaline, and
sustained research projects to
answer a question or solve a endorphins, that have exact meanings. Scientific and technical terms allow
problem; narrow or broaden the writers to present information with precision. For this reason, even general-
inquiry when appropriate; synthesize interest articles on scientific topics may include technical language.
multiple sources on the subject,
demonstrating understanding of the
subject under investigation. Read It
Speaking and Listening Record sentences containing scientific and technical terms from the interview
Make strategic use of digital in this chart. Use context clues to define each term, or to approximate its
understanding of findings, reasoning, general meaning. Then, verify definitions using a dictionary. Discuss with
and evidence and to add interest. your group how each term adds to the reader’s understanding of the topic.
SCIENTIFIC/TECHNICAL TERM Sentence Definition
adrenaline
dopamine

endorphins
sociologist
fight-or-flight response
oxytocin
Write It
Notebook Write a paragraph in which you explain how reading this
interview gave you insights into why some people seek out scary experiences. Use
at least three scientific or technical terms in your paragraph.

Effective expression
Research
Assignment
Research cultural dimensions of the ways in which people experience and
express fear. Then, collect your findings and present them in a digital
presentation. Choose from these options:
Design and conduct a poll to determine how people feel about scary
but generally safe experiences, such as roller coasters, movies, and
even extreme sports. Write a series of at least ten yes/no questions
that you will have people answer. Calculate the results, gather visuals,
and organize your findings into a presentation to share with the class.
Conduct a film study of scary movies from the 1950s or 1960s. Watch
two films, or segments of more, and analyze the sources of fear in
each one. Draw conclusions about the types of things that scared
mid-twentieth-century Americans. Locate images or video clips, and  EVIDENCE LOG
organize your findings and visuals into a report to share with the class. Before moving on to the
(Clear the movies you will watch with your teacher before proceeding.) next selection, go to your
Conduct a historical study of comets as objects of fear in ancient
societies. Find out how ancient peoples explained what comets “Why Do Some Brains
were and what they meant, and consider some of the reasons Enjoy Fear?”
for those perceptions. Locate drawings and other visuals that will
help communicate your findings. Then, organize and deliver your
presentation.
Project Plan List the research, discussion, and writing tasks you will need
to accomplish in order to complete your project, and make sure you attend
to each one. Consult a variety of reliable research sources to gather accurate
information and images. Include citations.
Evaluating Visuals Make sure the visuals you select will enhance your
audience’s understanding of your information. Use this chart to organize
your evaluation and confirm your choices.
Description of Visual Point the Visual Makes Citation

MAKING MEANING
POETRY COLLECTION

The Raven
Windigo
Concept Vocabulary
As you perform your first read, you will encounter these words.
entreating implore beguiling
Familiar Word Parts When determining the meaning of an unfamiliar

word, look for word parts—roots and affixes—that you know. Doing so may
help you unlock word meanings. Here is an example of applying the strategy.
Unfamiliar Word: incredulity
Familiar Root: -cred-, meaning “believe,” as in credible
Familiar Affixes: the prefix in-, which means either “into” or “not”;
the suffix -ity, which forms abstract nouns
Conclusion: You can determine that the word incredulity must mean
something like “state of not believing.”
Apply your knowledge of familiar word parts and other vocabulary strategies
to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words you encounter during your
first read.
First Read POETRY

 STANDARDS Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Reading Literature
stories, dramas, and poems, at the
NOTICE who or what is ANNOTATE by marking
high end of the grades 9–10 text
complexity band independently and “speaking” the poem and vocabulary and key passages
proficiently. whether the poem tells a story you want to revisit.
Language or describes a single moment.
• Determine or clarify the meaning
of unknown and multiple-meaning
words and phrases based on
grades 9–10 reading and content,
choosing flexibly from a range of
strategies. the selection to what you the Comprehension Check.
• Identify and correctly use patterns already know and what you
of word changes that indicate have already read.
speech.

About the Poets Backgrounds

Ishmael Reed (b. 1938) is a prolific author beware: do not read this poem
who has written novels, poems, plays, and In the first stanza of the poem, the word
essays in a variety of different styles and thriller appears in italic type to indicate it is a
genres. He was born in Chattanooga, reference to a fictional television show. The
Tennessee, and raised in Buffalo, New York. poem contains abbreviations: abt for about, yr
Reed’s works have been translated into many for your, and frm for from.
languages and published in a number of
notable magazines and newspapers. Reed is
the recipient of numerous honors for his
work, including a Guggenheim Foundation
fellowship, and a MacArthur Foundation
“Genius” Award.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) is The Raven

internationally recognized as a pioneer of the
When Poe wrote this poem, he drew from a
short story, as well as the horror and
long tradition that viewed the raven as a bird
detective genres. Poe was born in Boston,
of ill omen. Yet, in some cultures, the raven
Massachusetts, and raised in Richmond,
enjoys a more positive image. For example,
Virginia, by tobacco farmer John Allan. During
when the Vikings were lost at sea, they would
his lifetime, Poe was only mildly successful as
release a raven. The raven would fly toward
a writer and struggled with poverty and loss.
land, thus directing the lost ship.
He died somewhat mysteriously at the age of
forty. Many of his works, including “The
Raven,” remain popular today.
Louise Erdrich (b. 1954) is the author of Windigo

many highly regarded novels and poetry
Windigos are evil, ice-coated, man-eating
collections. Erdrich was born in Minnesota,
creatures that appear in many Native
grew up on the plains of North Dakota, and
American folktales, including those from
was part of the first group of women
the poet’s Chippewa culture. In Chippewa

admitted to Dartmouth College. In her work,
folklore, it is believed that a person who
Erdrich often explores her Native American
commits a sin is turned into a Windigo as
heritage through her choices of characters
punishment. The human spirit is said to live
and themes.
inside the creature, but the only escape
is death. This poem presents a different
perspective on the traditional tale.
Poetry Collection 101

POETRY
beware:
do not read this poem
Ishmael Reed
tonite, thriller was

NOTES
abt an ol woman , so vain she
surrounded her self w/
many mirrors
5 it got so bad that finally she

locked herself indoors & her
whole life became the
mirrors

one day the villagers broke
10 into her house, but she was too NOTES
swift for them. she disappeared

into a mirror
each tenant who bought the house
after that, lost a loved one to
15 the ol woman in the mirror:
first a little girl
then a young woman
then the young woman/s husband
the hunger of this poem is legendary

20 it has taken in many victims
back off from this poem
it has drawn in yr feet
back off from this poem
it has drawn in yr legs
25 back off from this poem
it is a greedy mirror
you are into this poem. from
the waist down
nobody can hear you can they?
30 this poem has had you up to here
belch
this poem aint got no manners
you cant call out frm this poem
relax now & go w/this poem
35 move & roll on to this poem
do not resist this poem

this poem has yr eyes
this poem has his head
this poem has his arms
40 this poem has his fingers
this poem has his fingertips
this poem is the reader & the

reader this poem
statistic: the us bureau of missing persons reports

45 that in 1968 over 100,000 people disappeared
leaving no solid clues
nor trace only
a space in the lives of their friends
beware: do not read this poem 103

POETRY
The Raven
Edgar Allan Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

NOTES Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
5 “‘Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this, and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow—vainly I had sought to borrow
10 From my books surcease1 of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Nameless here for evermore.
Mark familiar word parts or And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
indicate another strategy you
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
meaning. 15 So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
entreating (ehn TREET ihng) “’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—
adj. Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—
MEANING: This it is, and nothing more.”
1. surcease n. end.

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
20 “Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; NOTES
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, Mark familiar word parts or
That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door— indicate another strategy you
Darkness there, and nothing more. meaning.
implore (ihm PLAWR) v.
25 Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
MEANING:
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word “Lenore!”
30 Merely this, and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,

Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
“Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—
35 Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore—
‘Tis the wind, and nothing more!”
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance2 made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
40 But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Perched upon a bust of Pallas3 just above my chamber door— Mark familiar word parts or
Perched, and sat, and nothing more. indicate another strategy you
meaning.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance4 it wore, beguiling (bih GYL ihng) adj.
MEANING:
45 “Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no
craven,5
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian6 shore!”
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”
Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

50 Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as “Nevermore.”
55 But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
2. obeisance (oh BAY suhns) n. gesture of respect.

3. Pallas n. Pallas Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom.
4. countenance n. facial expression.
5. craven adj. cowardly.
6. Plutonian adj. of the underworld; refers to Pluto, Greek god of the underworld.
The Raven 105

Nothing further then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—
NOTES Till I scarcely more than muttered, “Other friends have flown
before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
60 Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,

“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—
65 Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of ‘Never—nevermore.’”
But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust, and
door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
70 Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous7 bird of yore—
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking, “Nevermore.”
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
75 This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o’er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o’er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
80 Swung by seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.
“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath
sent thee
Respite—respite and nepenthe8 from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
85 “Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!— Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—
Is there—is there balm in Gilead?9—tell me—tell me, I implore!”
90 Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”
“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!

7. ominous adj. threatening or sinister.
8. nepenthe (nih PEHN thee) n. drug that the ancient Greeks believed could relieve
sorrow.
9. balm in Gilead in the Bible, a healing ointment made in Gilead, a region of ancient
Palestine.

By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,10 NOTES
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore—

95 Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore.”
“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked,

upstarting—
“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
100 Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
105 And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!
10. Aidenn n. Arabic for Eden or heaven.
The Raven 107

POETRY
Windigo
Louise Erdrich
You knew I was coming for you, little one,

NOTES when the kettle jumped into the fire.
Towels flapped on the hooks,
and the dog crept off, groaning,
5 to the deepest part of the woods.
In the hackles1 of dry brush a thin laughter started up.

Mother scolded the food warm and smooth in the pot Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
and called you to eat.

But I spoke in the cold trees:
10 New one, I have come for you, child hide and lie still.
The sumac2 pushed sour red cones through the air.

Copper burned in the raw wood.
You saw me drag toward you.
Oh touch me, I murmured, and licked the soles of your feet.
15 You dug your hands into my pale, melting fur.
1. hackles n. usually used to mean the hairs on the neck and back of a dog that stiffen
when the dog is ready to attack. In this case, the poet is using the word figuratively.
2. sumac n. bright shrub or small tree with multi-part leaves and fruit clusters.

I stole you off, a huge thing in my bristling armor.
Steam rolled from my wintry arms, each leaf shivered NOTES
from the bushes we passed

until they stood, naked, spread like the cleaned spines of fish.
20 Then your warm hands hummed over and shoveled themselves full
of the ice and the snow. I would darken and spill
all night running, until at last morning broke the cold earth
and I carried you home,
a river shaking in the sun.
Comprehension Check
Complete the following items after you finish your first read. Review and clarify
details with your group.
1. What happened to the vain old woman who surrounded herself with mirrors?
2. After that, what happened to each tenant of the old woman’s house?
The Raven
1. At the beginning of the poem, why is the speaker sorrowful?
2. With what word does the Raven respond to all the speaker’s questions?
Windigo
1. Who is the speaker of the poem?
2. Where does the speaker take the child?
RESEARCH
Research to Clarify Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from one of the poems. Briefly
research that detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect
of the poem?

MAKING MEANING
Close Read the Text

With your group, revisit sections of the poems you marked
Poetry Collection


1. Review and Clarify With your group, reread lines 1–12 of “The Raven.”
GROUP DISCUSSION Discuss the ways in which Poe establishes the setting for the poem. How
Keep in mind that group do the time of day and the season match the speaker’s state of mind?
members will have different What overall mood or atmosphere does the poet create?
interpretations of the poems.
These different perspectives 2. Present and Discuss Work with your group to share the passages from
enable group members to the selections that you found especially important. Take turns presenting
learn from one another and your passages. Discuss what details you noticed, what questions you
to clarify their own thoughts. asked, and what conclusions you reached.
Very often, there is no single
interpretation or conclusion. 3. Essential Question: What is the allure of fear? What have these
poems taught you about portrayals of fear in literature?
Concept Vocabulary
entreating implore beguiling
 WORD NETWORK Why These Words? The three concept vocabulary words are related. With
your group, discuss what the words have in common. How do these word
choices enhance the impact of the text?
from the texts to your Word
Network.

Practice
Notebook Confirm your understanding of these words by using them
in sentences. Include context clues that hint at each word’s meaning.
 STANDARDS
Reading Literature
Determine a theme or central idea
of a text and analyze in detail its
development over the course of the Word Study
text, including how it emerges and
is shaped and refined by specific Anglo-Saxon Prefix: be- The word beguiling begins with the
details; provide an objective summary Anglo-Saxon prefix be-, an ancient suffix with a variety of meanings.
of the text. Sometimes, it means “to make,” as in becalm. Other times, it acts as an
Language
intensifier meaning “thoroughly” or “completely,” as in bedazzle.
of word changes that indicate Identify the base word in each of the following: becloud, befriend, belittle.
speech.
Then, write the meaning of each word. Use a college-level dictionary to
• Verify the preliminary verify your definitions.
determination of the meaning of a
word or phrase.

question: What is
essential QUESTION:
ESSENTIAL does
the itallure
take of
to fear?
survive?

Development of Theme A narrative poem relates a story in verse. Like
a narrator in prose fiction, the speaker of a poem is an imaginary voice that
“tells” the story. Interpreting a poem often depends on recognizing who
the speaker is, whom the speaker is addressing, and what the speaker feels
about the subject—his or her tone.
A theme is a central message or insight expressed in a literary work. Some
poems state a theme directly, but most convey their messages indirectly.
Readers must look for clues to a poem’s theme in its language and details.
These details include imagery, or sensory language that creates word
pictures in readers’ minds. Imagery makes a narrative poem more vivid, and
also suggests its themes.

Use the chart to analyze each poem. Consider how the speaker’s tone and the poem’s
imagery reveal the theme.
speaker/speaker’s tone
possible theme We cannot separate ourselves from the

things that we read.
details that develop this theme
The Raven
possible theme Great sorrow may lead to madness.

Windigo
possible theme
Mystery is at the heart of life.
1. Choose one of the poems, and identify another theme it expresses.

2. List details that suggest this theme, and explain your interpretation.

Author’s Style
Point of View In narrative literature, whether stories or poems, the point
of view is the perspective, or vantage point, from which the story is told. The
point of view is very important, since it controls what the reader learns about
events and what he or she can logically infer.
Poetry Collection
In first-person point of view, the narrator is a character in the literary

work and refers to him- or herself with the first-person pronoun I or me.
Since the narrator participates directly in the action, his or her point of
view is limited. A first-person narrator can reliably relate only those events
he or she witnesses, experiences firsthand, or learns about from others.
In omniscient third-person point of view, the narrator is not a
character in the story. He or she stands “outside” the story and is,
thus, free to be omniscient, or “all-knowing.” The omniscient narrator
knows what all of the characters are thinking and feeling.
 STANDARDS
Reading Literature Read It
Analyze how an author’s Work individually. Use this chart to identify the point of view employed in
choices concerning how to structure
a text, order events within it, and each poem. Then, consider the effects of this choice—what does the point of
manipulate time create such effects view allow readers to learn, and what does it keep hidden? When you finish,
as mystery, tension, or suspense. reconvene as a group to discuss your responses.
Point of view: Effects:
The Raven
Windigo
Write It
Notebook Write two brief versions of the same scene. In one version of the
scene, describe events from the first-person point of view. In the other version,
describe the same events using the omniscient third-person point of view.

Assignment
Create and deliver a group presentation. As you deliver your
presentation, pay close attention to such things as eye contact, body
language, clear pronunciation, tone, speaking rate, and volume. Choose
from the following topics.
Conduct a mock interview with one of the poets. Prepare a list of
questions you would like to ask the poet about the inspiration behind
his or her poem. Each group member should write at least one
question and create an answer. Then, one group member should play
the poet, while the others pose questions. Present the role-play for
the class.
Present a compare-and-contrast analysis of two of the poems,

focusing on the personalities and tones of the speakers. How do the
speakers change over the course of the poems? Cite evidence from
the text to support your ideas. Present your analysis to the class.
Present a retelling of one of the poems. For example, you might

present it as a short story, a hip-hop song, or a play. Present your
retelling for the class.
Project Plan Before you begin, make a list of the tasks you will need to
 EVIDENCE LOG
accomplish in order to complete the assignment you have chosen. Then,
assign individual group members to each task. Use this chart to organize
new selection, go to your
your ideas.
MOCK Interview
“beware: do not read this
Tasks: Additional notes: poem,” “The Raven,” and
“Windigo.”
COMPARE-AND-CONTRAST ANALYSIS
Tasks: Additional notes:
 STANDARDS
• Initiate and participate effectively in
Retelling a range of collaborative discussions
with diverse partners on grades 9–10
Tasks: Additional notes: topics, texts, and issues, building on
others’ ideas and expressing their
own clearly and persuasively.
• Adapt speech to a variety of
contexts and tasks, demonstrating
command of formal English, when

PERFORMANCE TASK: SPEAKING AND LISTENING FOCUS
SOURCES
• Where Is Here?
Deliver an Explanatory
• from The Dream
Presentation
Collector
• Why Do Some Brains Assignment

Enjoy Fear? You have read literature that deals with fear and some of its causes and
• Beware: Do Not Read
effects. Work with your group to develop a presentation that addresses
This Poem this question:
• The Raven In literature, how does a sense of uncertainty help to
create an atmosphere of fear?
• Windigo
Plan With Your Group

Analyze the Text With your group, discuss the types of situations or
dilemmas that different characters face in the selections you have read. Think
about whether you as a reader were uncertain about what was happening,
as well as whether the characters experienced uncertainty. Use the chart
to list your ideas. For each selection, identify how uncertainty relates to an
atmosphere of fear. If you choose, you may also draw on experiences in your
own life, and discuss whether uncertainty played a role.
TITLE KEY EXPERIENCES
Where Is Here?
The Raven
 STANDARDS

• Initiate and participate effectively in Windigo
a range of collaborative discussions
topics, texts, and issues, building on group member’s story, if desired
• Work with peers to set rules Gather Evidence and Media Identify specific passages to read from the
for collegial discussions and selections to support your group’s ideas. Test your choices by reading the
decision-making, clear goals and passages to each other, with appropriate inflection and emphasis, to see
deadlines, and individual roles as
needed. whether others agree that each one effectively illustrates your ideas about
• Present information, findings, fear and uncertainty. Brainstorm for types of media you can use to enhance
and supporting evidence clearly, the mood and impact of your readings. Consider including images, such as
concisely, and logically such that photographs and illustrations. You may also include music and other sound
listeners can follow the line of
reasoning and the organization,
effects.
development, substance, and style
are appropriate to purpose, audience,
and task.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION : What is the allure of fear?
Organize Ideas As a group, organize the script for your presentation.

Make decisions about the following content and tasks:
• Who will introduce the group’s main findings?
• Who will read the selection passages that illustrate the findings?
• Who will summarize findings and take questions from the audience?
• Who will display and manage visuals?
• Who will play and manage music and sound effects?
Then, plan where in your presentation you will incorporate your media.
Rehearse With Your Group

Practice With Your Group Use this checklist to evaluate the effectiveness
of your group’s first run-through. Then, use your evaluation and the
instruction here to guide your revision.
PRESENTATION
CONTENT USE OF MEDIA
TECHNIQUES
The presentation he media are

T Media are
has a clear consistent with the visible and
introduction mood and tone of audible.
and a strong the passages from Transitions
conclusion. the texts. are smooth.
ain ideas are
M he media add interest
T Each speaker
well supported to the passages. speaks
with readings edia do not distract
M clearly.
from the texts. from the passages
or the ideas of the
presentation.
Fine-Tune the Content Make sure you have enough examples that illustrate
your main findings about uncertainty and fear. Verify that each passage you
choose to read is clear and dramatic, and rehearse the readings for maximum
impact. Check with your group to identify key points in your introduction and
conclusion that might not be clear to listeners. Find another way to word these
ideas.
Improve Your Use of Media Review all visuals, music, and sound effects
to make sure they add interest and help create a cohesive presentation. If a
visual or sound cue does not capture the right mood, replace it with a more
appropriate item.
Brush Up on Your Presentation Techniques Practice delivering your
group presentation before you present to the whole class. Make sure that  STANDARDS
you speak clearly, avoiding slang and informal language, and use appropriate Speaking and Listening
eye contact while you are speaking. • Make strategic use of digital
understanding of findings, reasoning,
Present and Evaluate and evidence and to add interest.
• Adapt speech to a variety of
When you present as a group, be sure that each member has taken into contexts and tasks, demonstrating
command of formal English when
account each of the checklist items. As you listen to other groups, evaluate
how well they adhere to the checklist.
Performance Task: Deliver an Explanatory Presentation 115

OVERVIEW: INDEPENDENT LEARNING
ESSENTIAL QUESTION:

Fear is a part of life. It both helps and hurts us, bonds and divides us. In this section,
you will complete your study of the literature of fear by exploring an additional
selection related to the topic. You’ll then share what you learn with classmates. To
choose a text, follow these steps.
Look Back Think about the selections you have already studied. What more do
you want to know about the topic of fear and its appeal in literature and life?
Look Ahead Preview the selections by reading the descriptions. Which one seems
most interesting and appealing to you?
Look Inside Take a few minutes to scan the text you chose. Choose a different
one if this text doesn’t meet your needs.
Independent Learning Strategies

Throughout your life, in school, in your community, and in your career, you will need
to rely on yourself to learn and work on your own. Review these strategies and the
actions you can take to practice them during Independent Learning. Add ideas of
your own for each category.
Create a schedule • Understand your goals and deadlines.

• Make a plan for what to do each day.
Practice what you • Use first-read and close-read strategies to deepen your understanding.
have learned • After reading, evaluate the usefulness of the evidence to help you understand the
topic.
• Consider the quality and reliability of the source.
Take notes • Record important ideas and information.

• Review your notes before preparing to share with a group.

CONTENTS
Choose one selection. Selections are available online only.
CRITICISM
How Maurice Sendak’s “Wild Things”

Moved Children’s Books Toward Realism
Gloria Goodale
How did this book about bad behavior and monsters

transform children’s literature?
EXPLANATORY NONFICTION
Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare

What happens when there is no waking up from
a bad dream?
SHORT STORY
The Feather Pillow

Horacio Quiroga, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden
This classic horror story might make you a little

less eager to lay your head down at night.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
Stone Age Man’s Terrors Still Stalk Modern

Nightmares
Robin McKie
Are our bad dreams reminders of long-gone terrors in the night?
PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT PREP

Review Evidence for an Explanatory Essay
Complete your Evidence Log for the unit by evaluating what you’ve learned and
synthesizing the information you have recorded.
Overview: Independent Learning 117

INDEPENDENT LEARNING
First-Read Guide Tool Kit

Model Annotation
Use this page to record your first-read ideas.
Selection Title:
NOTICE new information or ideas you learn ANNOTATE by marking vocabulary and key
about the unit topic as you first read this text. passages you want to revisit.
CONNECT ideas within the selection to other RESPOND by writing a brief summary of
knowledge and the selections you have read. the selection.
 STANDARD
Reading Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

Close-Read Guide Tool Kit

Model Annotation
Use this page to record your close-read ideas.
Selection Title:
Close Read the Text Analyze the Text

Revisit sections of the text you marked during Think about the author’s choices of patterns,
your first read. Read these sections closely structure, techniques, and ideas included in
and annotate what you notice. Ask yourself the text. Select one, and record your thoughts
questions about the text. What can you about what this choice conveys.
conclude? Write down your ideas.
QuickWrite
Pick a paragraph from the text that grabbed your interest. Explain the power of this passage.
 STANDARD
Reading Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
Overview: Independent Learning 119

INDEPENDENT learning
Share Your Independent Learning

 evidence log Prepare to Share
Go to your Evidence Log What is the allure of fear?
and record what you Even when you read something independently, your understanding continues
learned from the text to grow when you share what you have learned with others. Reflect on the
you read. text you explored independently, and write notes about its connection to the
unit. In your notes, consider why this text belongs in this unit.
Learn From Your Classmates

Discuss It Share your ideas about the text you explored on your own.
As you talk with others in your class, jot down a few ideas that you learned
from them.

Reflect
Review your notes, and mark the most important insight you gained from
these writing and discussion activities. Explain how this idea adds to your
 Standards
understanding of the allure of fear in literature.
• Initiate and participate effectively
range of collaborative discussions
topics, texts, and issues, building on
• Come to discussions prepared,
having read and researched material
under study; explicitly draw on that
preparation by referring to evidence
from texts and other research on
the topic or issue to stimulate a
thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange
of ideas.

PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT prep
Review Evidence for an Explanatory Essay

At the beginning of the unit, you expressed a point about the following
question:
In what ways does transformation play a role in stories meant

to scare us?
 evidence log
Review your Evidence Log and your QuickWrite from the beginning of the
unit. Did you learn anything new?
NOTES
Identify at least three pieces of evidence that interested you about the
reasons people enjoy scary literature.
1.
2.
3.
Identify a real-life experience or an example from one of the selections

that connects to your new knowledge about the literature of fear.
Develop your thoughts into a topic sentence for an explanatory essay.

Complete this sentence starter:
I learned a great deal about literary portrayals of fear when
Evaluate Your Evidence Consider your point of view. How did the texts
you read impact your point of view?
 Standards
Writing
Introduce a topic; organize complex
ideas, concepts, and information to
make important connections and
distinctions; include formatting,
graphics, and multimedia when
useful to aiding comprehension.
Performance-Based Assessment Prep 121

performance-based assessment
sources Part 1
• WHOLE–CLASS SELECTIONS
Writing to Sources: Explanatory Essay
• SMALL–GROUP SELECTIONS In this unit, you read about various characters whose lives are transformed
in scary circumstances. In some cases, the transformations reveal something
• INDEPENDENT–LEARNING
that was there the whole time but disguised or hidden.
SELECTION
Assignment
Write an explanatory essay on the following topic:
In what ways does transformation play a role in stories
meant to scare us?
Use evidence from at least three of the selections you read and researched in
this unit to support your perspective. Include a narrative dimension in the form
of an anecdote, or brief story from your own experience or that of someone
you know. Ensure that your ideas are fully supported, that you use precise
words, and that your organization is logical and easy to follow.
Reread the Assignment Review the assignment to be sure you fully

understand it. The assignment may reference some of the academic words
presented at the beginning of the unit. Be sure you understand each of the
words given below in order to complete the assignment correctly.
Academic Vocabulary
dimension manipulate psychological

 WORD NETWORK
motivate perspective
As you write and revise your
explanatory essay, use your
Word Network to help vary
your word choices. Review the Elements of an Effective Explanatory Text Before you
begin writing, read the Explanatory Text Rubric. Once you have completed
your first draft, check it against the rubric. If one or more of the elements is
missing or not as strong as it could be, revise your essay to add or strengthen
that component.
 Standards
Writing
• Write informative/explanatory
texts to examine and convey complex
ideas, concepts, and information
clearly and accurately through the
effective selection, organization, and
analysis of content.
informational texts to support
analysis, reflection, and research.
• Write routinely over extended
time frames and shorter time frames
for a range of tasks, purposes, and
audiences.

essential question: What is the allure of fear?
Explanatory Text Rubric

Focus and Organization Evidence and Elaboration Conventions
The introduction engages the reader The essay includes specific reasons, details, The essay
and states a thesis in a compelling way. facts, narratives, and quotations to support intentionally uses
the thesis. standard English
The essay includes a clear introduction, conventions
body, and conclusion. If a narrative is used, it is coherent and of usage and
provides strong support for the thesis. mechanics.
4 The essay uses facts and evidence from
a variety of reliable, credited sources The tone of the essay is appropriately formal
and objective for the audience and topic.
The conclusion summarizes ideas and
offers fresh insight into the thesis. The language is always precise and
appropriate for the audience and purpose.
The introduction engages the reader The research includes some specific The essay
and sets forth a thesis. reasons, details, facts, narratives, and demonstrates
quotations to support the thesis. general
The essay includes an introduction, a accuracy in
body, and a conclusion. If a narrative is used, it is coherent and standard English
provides some support for the thesis. conventions
a variety of credited sources. The tone of the research is mostly of usage and
appropriate for the audience and topic. mechanics.
The conclusion summarizes ideas.
The language is generally precise and
The introduction sets forth a thesis. The research includes a few reasons, details, The presentation
facts, narratives, and quotations to support demonstrates
The essay includes an introduction, the thesis. some accuracy in
a body, and a conclusion, but one or standard English
more parts are weak. If a narrative is used, it provides little conventions
support for the thesis. of usage and
a few credited sources. The tone of the research is occasionally mechanics.
appropriate for the audience and topic.
The conclusion partially summarizes
ideas. The language is somewhat precise and
The introduction does not state a Reliable and relevant evidence is not The essay
thesis clearly. included. contains
mistakes in
The essay does not include an If a narrative is used, it provides no support standard English
introduction, a body, and a conclusion. for the thesis. conventions
1 The essay does not use a variety of The tone of the essay is not objective or of usage and
facts, and information and evidence formal. mechanics.
are not credited.
The language used is imprecise and not
The conclusion does not summarize appropriate for the audience and purpose.
ideas.
Performance-Based Assessment 123

performance-based assessment
Part 2
Speaking and Listening: Informal Talk
Assignment
After completing the final draft of your explanatory essay, use it as the
foundation for a three- to five-minute informal talk.
Do not read your explanatory essay aloud. Instead, use your knowledge to
speak informally but with confidence about your topic. Take the following
steps to prepare your talk.
• Go back to your essay, and annotate the most important ideas from your
introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Also, note any anecdote
or descriptive details you used.
 Standards • Use your annotations to make a list of the key points and content you
Speaking and Listening want to share in your informal talk.
Present information, findings, and
supporting evidence clearly, concisely, • As you speak, refer to your list of ideas to keep your talk focused.
and logically such that listeners can
follow the line of reasoning and
the organization, development,
Review the Rubric The criteria by which your informal talk will be
substance, and style are appropriate evaluated appear in the rubric below. Review these criteria before speaking
to purpose, audience, and task. to ensure that you are prepared.
Content Organization Presentation

The introduction engages and orients The speaker uses time very The speaker maintains
the reader by setting out a clear effectively by spending the effective eye contact and
observation or analysis. right amount of time on each speaks clearly.
part of the discussion.
The talk includes both descriptive The speaker varies tone,
3
details and narrative techniques. The talk includes a smooth volume, and emphasis
sequence of ideas with clear to create an engaging
The conclusion follows from and transitions that listeners can presentation.
reflects on ideas presented earlier in follow.
the talk.
The introduction sets out a problem, The speaker uses time The speaker mostly maintains
situation, or observation. effectively by spending effective eye contact and

adequate time on each part. usually speaks clearly.
The talk includes some descriptive
2 details and narrative techniques. The talk includes a smooth The speaker sometimes varies
sequence of ideas with tone, volume, and emphasis
The conclusion follows from ideas transitions that listeners can to create an engaging
presented earlier in the talk. mostly follow. presentation.
The introduction does not set out an The speaker does not use The speaker does not maintain
observation or analysis. time effectively and devotes effective eye contact or speak
too much or too little time to clearly.
The talk does not include descriptive each part.
1 details or narrative techniques. The speaker does not vary
The talk does not include tone, volume, and emphasis
The conclusion does not follow from a clear sequence of ideas to create an engaging
ideas presented earlier in the talk. with transitions that listeners presentation.
can follow.

UNIT
1 REFLECTION
Reflect on the Unit

Now that you’ve completed the unit, take a few moments to reflect on your
learning.
Reflect on the Unit Goals

Look back at the goals at the beginning of the unit. Use a different
colored pen to rate yourself again. Think about readings and activities
that contributed the most to the growth of your understanding. Record
your thoughts.
Reflect on the Learning Strategies

Discuss It Write a reflection on whether you were able to improve your
learning based on your Action Plans. Think about what worked, what didn’t,
and what you might do to keep working on these strategies. Record your
ideas before a class discussion.
Reflect on the Text

Choose a selection that you found challenging, and explain what made it
difficult.
 STANDARDS
Explain something that surprised you about a text in the unit. Speaking and Listening
• Initiate and participate effectively in
a range of collaborative discussions
topics, texts, and issues, building on
other’s ideas and expressing their
Which activity taught you the most about the literature of fear? What did • Come to discussions prepared,
you learn? having read and researched material
under study; explicitly draw on that
preparation by referring to evidence
from texts and other research on
the topic or issue to stimulate a
thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange
of ideas.
Performance-Based Assessment 125

CRITICISM
How Maurice Sendak’s

“Wild Things” Moved
Children’s Books
Toward Realism
Gloria Goodale
About the Author

Gloria Goodale is a staff writer at the Christian Science Monitor, an
independent news organization with global coverage. Moreover, Goodale is
a wide-ranging journalist who has written about culture, politics, and news.
As a California resident, she often covers current events on the West Coast.
BACKGROUND
In Where the Wild Things Are, a classic children’s picture book by
Maurice Sendak (1928–2012), Max is a young boy who misbehaves
and is sent to his room without supper. There he imagines traveling to
a distant land inhabited by Wild Things, where he can do whatever he
wants as the king. However, feeling lonely, he “returns” to his room to
eat supper.
NOTES
1
L OS ANGELES— When Maurice Sendak’s groundbreaking

Where the Wild Things Are, was published in 1963, some
critics and parents grumbled about what they called its dark and
nightmarish undertones.
2 But librarians rallied to what they saw as the picture book’s
emotional honesty and psychological realism.1 It was awarded the
Caldecott Medal for children’s literature in 1964 and—say today’s
librarians, authors, and experts—forever changed the course of
children’s books.
3 “With Maurice Sendak’s 1963 classic tale of vengeful rebellion,
Max and the Wild Things ushered in a new era in children’s
literature,” says Kathleen Horning, director of the Cooperative
1. psychological realism n. literary approach that focuses on the inner thoughts and
feelings of the characters.
IL1 UNIT 1 Independent Learning • How Maurice Sendak’s “Wild Things” Moved Children’s Books Toward Realism
Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin School of
Education in Madison. NOTES
4 “For the first time, authors and illustrators began to show

young children the world as it really is, rather than how some
adults in charge thought it ought to be,” she adds.
5 In subsequent years, the sort of subversiveness2 and humor
that marked what has become a classic began to spill out in
everything from picture books to young-adult series.
6 Harriet the Spy, a cheeky update on the Nancy Drew tomes, came
out soon after, points out Ms. Horning. Many works with a much
more realistic depiction of the childhood experience followed, she
says, such as John Steptoe’s 1969 Stevie, featuring a young boy’s
experience as his family takes in an older foster child.
7 “In an earlier era, a book like this would probably have focused
on the joys of having an older brother,” she says, “rather than
exploring the more difficult psychological issues relating to feeling
displaced by a newcomer as the book did.”
8 Sendak was at the heart of a major shift in focus for stories
aimed at children, says Teresa Michals, professor of English at
George Mason University.
9 “Children’s literature is always trying to teach something,” she
points out, adding that Where the Wild Things Are is a “monument to
that shift.”
10 The book marked a move toward psychological self-reference,
she says.
11 “Rather than focusing on an explicitly didactic3 moment, the
story is a more realistic depiction of the way a tantrum might
actually play out in a home,” she says, adding that even the
mother in the tale is not perfect, “but is shown losing her temper
as well.”
12 This is in distinct contrast with the goals of earlier periods,
such as the 18th or 19th century.
13 “A goal in those books might have been teaching children to

be kind to animals for instance,” she says. “A worthy goal to be
sure,” she adds, but one that reflects what adults think children
should learn rather than illuminates their actual experience.
14 Mr. Sendak is still charging up young authors today.
15 He understood that the “best way to help his readers overcome
their own insecurities was to show other children battling theirs,”
says Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries, via email.
16 Sendak showed that “children’s books could both entertain and
educate, but subtly so. No one closes Where the Wild Things Are and
2. subversiveness (sub VUHR sihv nehs) n. behavior that undermines established ways of
doing things.
3. didactic (dy DAK tihk) adj. teacher-like.
UNIT 1 Independent Learning • How Maurice Sendak’s “Wild Things” Moved Children’s Books Toward Realism IL2
realizes they’ve learned a lesson,” she says, adding that they feel
NOTES only “a sense of great satisfaction.”
17 She says she wanted to write books like that, ones that not
only entertained, but also helped kids overcome their fears and
insecurities.
18 The lessons of “Wild Things” not only stayed with her from
childhood, but opened the door to her own professional success,
Ms. Cabot says.
19 After heading to New York upon graduating college and
failing to sell her picture books, she says, “I did what Maurice
Sendak taught us all to do—I turned my darkest fears into
fiction, and soothed myself.” And, like Sendak, launched a highly
successful career that now includes a best-selling book and movie
franchise. ❧
From The Christian Science Monitor, May 9, 2012 © 2012 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. Used by
permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission
of this Content without express written permission is prohibited.
IL3 UNIT 1 Independent Learning •How Maurice Sendak’s “Wild Things” Moved Children’s Books Toward Realism
EXPOSITORY NONFICTION
Sleep Paralysis:
A Waking
Nightmare
Lexi Tucker
About the Author

Lexi Tucker was born in Georgia in 1976. Her grandmother’s experiences
with sleep paralysis inspired Tucker to learn more about the subject,
and she often writes about the scientific aspects of sleep and dreaming.
Tucker is currently working on a book about the causes and effects of
sleepwalking.
BACKGROUND
Although the word nightmare now means “a bad dream,” it was
originally used in the thirteenth century to refer to a supernatural being
that tormented sleepers by making it hard for them to breathe. In
the mid-1800s, nightmare began to be used to describe a frightening
dream or distressing experience.
I magine waking up but being unable to move—and seeing

something terrifying at the foot of your bed. This is what
happens during sleep paralysis, a condition that affects roughly
NOTES
1 in 20 people at some point in their lives. It’s believed to be an

unintended side effect of dreaming; when you dream, your brain
sends a signal to your muscles to go limp so you don’t act out
the dream. This signal is supposed to stop when you wake up, or
when the dream ends. But people who suffer from sleep paralysis
find themselves paralyzed and fully aware of their predicament.
What’s worse, the sleeper often experiences a frightening series
of additional symptoms: difficulty breathing due to a perceived
pressure on the chest (as if someone or something were sitting on
the dreamer’s chest); hallucinations (often seeing or hearing an
intruder in the room); and powerful fear.
2 Taken together, the symptoms of sleep paralysis may explain
stories of “alien abduction” in recent years, or being harassed
UNIT 1 Independent Learning • Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare IL4

by demons in ages past. (The hallucination1 of an intruder
NOTES would account for the presence of an “alien” or “demon.”) Sleep
paralysis is also sometimes called “Old Hag syndrome,” for an
evil creature thought to suffocate people in their sleep by sitting
on their chests. Cultures around the world have different words
for these terrifying nocturnal experiences—the Japanese call it
kanashibari, which means “bound up with metal.”
3 In a 2009 article for the Guardian, psychologist Chris French told
the story of Lori Ball, a woman in her mid-50s from Ohio. She was
aware of her condition, which made it all the more terrifying. Ball
said, “I try to scream (though I have great difficulty making any
sound), attempt to flail around, anything, to get the attention of
my husband. It is a feeling of panic, entrapment,2 and desperation
so horrifying that I have difficulty describing its magnitude.
4 “If my spouse notices my discomfort and responds, in my mind
it’s never soon enough. One cannot simply tell me to ‘wake up’
and tap me on the arm. Often I need to be shaken somewhat to
be fully present. At that point I wouldn’t care if he slapped me
hard as the terror of being in that paralyzed state, totally helpless,
is overwhelming. Knowing that it will end eventually is of no
comfort. Every second is hell.”
5 Because sleep paralysis affects about 5 percent of the
population, it could happen to you someday. If it does, it may
be scary while it happens, but know that it’s not particularly
uncommon—and the good news is, most people who suffer one
episode of sleep paralysis do not have a chronic3 condition like
Lori Ball. ❧
— Lexi Tucker
1. hallucination (huh loo suh NAY shuhn) n. something that seems to exist in reality, but
only exists in the mind.
2. entrapment n. state of being trapped.
3. chronic adj. continuous or repeated.
IL5 UNIT 1 Independent Learning •Sleep Paralysis: A Waking Nightmare

SHORT STORY
The Feather
Pillow
Horacio Quiroga
About the Author

Horacio Quiroga (1878–1937) was born in Uruguay
but spent much of his life in Argentina. A journalist and
justice of the peace, he turned to fiction writing after
becoming inspired by nineteenth-century writers such
as Rudyard Kipling. Quiroga was a prolific writer who
published about 200 short stories and is considered a
master of the genre.
BACKGROUND
Heavily influenced by Gothic horror writer Edgar Allan Poe, Horacio
Quiroga wrote many stories that explored themes of madness, the
writing process, and survival. His tales often contain an element of
horror. “The Feather Pillow,” published in 1907 and originally written in
Spanish, is one of Quiroga’s most widely read stories.
H er entire honeymoon gave her hot and cold shivers. A blond,

NOTES
angelic, and timid young girl, the childish fancies she had
dreamed about being a bride had been chilled by her husband’s
rough character. She loved him very much, nonetheless, although
sometimes she gave a light shudder when, as they returned home
through the streets together at night, she cast a furtive1 glance at
the impressive stature2 of her Jordan, who had been silent for
an hour. He, for his part, loved her profoundly but never let it
be seen.
2 For three months—they had been married in April—they lived
in a special kind of bliss. Doubtless she would have wished less
severity in the rigorous sky of love, more expansive and less
1. furtive adj. secret.

2. stature n. height.
UNIT 1 Independent Learning •The Feather Pillow IL6

cautious tenderness, but her husband’s impassive manner always
NOTES restrained her.
3 The house in which they lived influenced her chills and
shuddering to no small degree. The whiteness of the silent patio—
friezes, columns, and marble statues—produced the wintry
impression of an enchanted palace. Inside the glacial brilliance
of stucco, the completely bare walls, affirmed the sensation of
unpleasant coldness. As one crossed from one room to another,
the echo of his steps reverberated throughout the house, as if long
abandonment had sensitized its resonance.
4 Alicia passed the autumn in this strange love nest. She had
determined, however, to cast a veil over her former dreams and
live like a sleeping beauty in the hostile house, trying not to think
about anything until her husband arrived each evening.
5 It is not strange that she grew thin. She had a light attack of
influenza that dragged on insidiously for days and days: after
that Alicia’s health never returned. Finally one afternoon she was
able to go into the garden, supported on her husband’s arm. She
looked around listlessly. Suddenly Jordan, with deep tenderness,
ran his hand very slowly over her head, and Alicia instantly burst
into sobs, throwing her arms around his neck. For a long time she
cried out all the fears she had kept silent, redoubling her weeping
at Jordan’s slightest caress. Then her sobs subsided, and she
stood a long while, her face hidden in the hollow of his neck, not
moving or speaking a word.
6 This was the last day Alicia was well enough to be up. On
the following day she awakened feeling faint. Jordan’s doctor
examined her with minute3 attention, prescribing calm and
absolute rest.
7 “I don’t know,” he said to Jordan at the street door. “She
has a great weakness that I am unable to explain. And with no
vomiting, nothing . . . if she wakes tomorrow as she did today, call

me at once.”
8 When she awakened the following day, Alicia was worse.
There was a consultation.4 It was agreed there was an anemia5
of incredible progression, completely inexplicable.6 Alicia had
no more fainting spells, but she was visibly moving toward
death. The lights were lighted all day long in her bedroom, and
there was complete silence. Hours went by without the slightest
sound. Alicia dozed. Jordan virtually lived in the drawing
room, which was also always lighted. With tireless persistence
he paced ceaselessly from one end of the room to the other. The
carpet swallowed his steps. At times he entered the bedroom and
3. minute (my NOOT) adj. precise and detailed.

4. consultation n. meeting with a doctor.
5. anemia (uh NEE mee uh) n. weak condition.
6. inexplicable adj. unable to be explained.
IL7 UNIT 1 Independent Learning • The Feather Pillow

continued his silent pacing back and forth alongside the bed,
stopping for an instant at each end to regard his wife. NOTES
9 Suddenly Alicia began to have hallucinations, vague images, at

first seeming to float in the air, then descending to floor level. Her
eyes excessively wide, she stared continuously at the carpet on
either side of the head of her bed. One night she suddenly focused
on one spot. Then she opened her mouth to scream, and pearls of
sweat suddenly beaded her nose and lips.
10 “Jordan! Jordan!” she clamored, rigid with fright, still staring at
the carpet.
11 Jordan ran to the bedroom, and, when she saw him appear,
Alicia screamed with terror.
12 “It’s I, Alicia, it’s I!”
13 Alicia looked at him confusedly; she looked at the carpet; she
looked at him once again; and after a long moment of stupefied
confrontation, she regained her senses. She smiled and took her
husband’s hand in hers, caressing it, trembling, for half an hour.
14 Among her most persistent hallucinations was that of an
anthropoid7 poised on his fingertips on the carpet, staring at her.
15 The doctors returned, but to no avail. They saw before them
a diminishing life, a life bleeding away day by day, hour by
hour, absolutely without their knowing why. During their last
consultation Alicia lay in a stupor while they took her pulse,
passing her inert wrist from one to another. They observed her a
long time in silence and then moved into the dining room.
16 “Phew . . .” The discouraged chief physician shrugged his
shoulders. “It is an inexplicable case. There is little we can do . . .”
17 “That’s my last hope!” Jordan groaned. And he staggered
blindly against the table.
18 Alicia’s life was fading away in the subdelirium8 of anemia, a
delirium which grew worse through the evening hours but which
let up somewhat after dawn. The illness never worsened during
the daytime, but each morning she awakened pale as death,

almost in a swoon. It seemed only at night that her life drained
out of her in new waves of blood. Always when she awakened
she had the sensation of lying collapsed in the bed with a
million-pound weight on top of her. Following the third day of
this relapse she never left her bed again. She could scarcely move
her head. She did not want her bed to be touched, not even to
have her bedcovers arranged. Her crepuscular9 terrors advanced
now in the form of monsters that dragged themselves toward the
bed and laboriously climbed upon the bedspread.
7. anthropoid (AN thruh poyd) n. being with a human-like form.

8. subdelirium n. disturbed state of mind.
9. crepuscular (krih PUHS kyuh luhr) adj. occurring at twilight.
UNIT 1 Independent Learning • The Feather Pillow IL8

19 Then she lost consciousness. The final two days she raved
NOTES ceaselessly in a weak voice. The lights funereally illuminated the
bedroom and drawing room. In the deathly silence of the house
the only sound was the monotonous delirium from the bedroom
and the dull echoes of Jordan’s eternal pacing.
20 Finally, Alicia died. The servant, when she came in afterward to
strip the now empty bed, stared wonderingly for a moment at the
pillow.
21 “Sir!” she called Jordan in a low voice. “There are stains on the
pillow that look like blood.”
22 Jordan approached rapidly and bent over the pillow. Truly, on
the case, on both sides of the hollow left by Alicia’s head, were
two small dark spots.
23 “They look like punctures,” the servant murmured after a
moment of motionless observation.
24 “Hold it up to the light,” Jordan told her.
25 The servant raised the pillow but immediately dropped it and
stood staring at it, livid and trembling. Without knowing why,
Jordan felt the hair rise on the back of his neck.
26 “What is it?” he murmured in a hoarse voice.
27 “It’s very heavy,” the servant whispered, still trembling.
28 Jordan picked it up; it was extraordinarily heavy. He carried it
out of the room, and on the dining room table he ripped open the
case and the ticking with a slash. The top feathers floated away,
and the servant, her mouth opened wide, gave a scream of horror
and covered her face with her clenched fists: in the bottom of the
pillowcase, among the feathers, slowly moving its hairy legs, was
a monstrous animal, a living, viscous ball. It was so swollen one
could scarcely make out its mouth.
29 Night after night, since Alicia had taken to her bed, this
abomination had stealthily applied its mouth—its proboscis10 one
might better say—to the girl’s temples, sucking her blood. The

puncture was scarcely perceptible. The daily plumping of the
pillow had doubtlessly at first impeded its progress, but as soon
as the girl could no longer move, the suction became vertiginous.11
In five days, in five nights, the monster had drained Alicia’s life
away.
30 These parasites of feathered creatures, diminutive12 in their
habitual environment, reach enormous proportions under certain
conditions. Human blood seems particularly favorable to them,
and it is not rare to encounter them in feather pillows. ❧
10. proboscis (proh BOS kihs) n. insect mouthparts shaped like a long, thin tube.
11. vertiginous (vur TIHJ uh nuhs) adj. causing dizziness.
12. diminutive adj. extremely or unusually small.
IL9 UNIT 1 Independent Learning • The Feather Pillow

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
Stone Age Man’s

Terrors Still Stalk
Modern Nightmares
Robin McKie
About the Author

Robin McKie has been the Science Editor for The
Observer since 1982. His journalism awards include
“Science and Technology Journalist of the Year” in
the UK Press Gazette Awards for 2013. McKie’s stories
include breaking coverage of Dolly the Sheep and the
first human genome project. He is based in London,
England.
BACKGROUND
The Stone Age is the period of time when people made stone tools. It
began almost three million years ago and ended around five thousand
years ago, when metal tools were developed. This article describes how
researchers from Cambridge University and the Australian Museum
studied Stone Age paintings to find a common link in the world’s
oldest art.
New research on cave art shows that our fear of werewolves NOTES
goes back 10,000 years.
T hey were created to trigger our most primitive fears—by

depicting half-human, half-animal monsters that hunted
the living.
2 But these horrific creatures differed in one crucial way from
the warped humanoid beasts that fill the high school corridors of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer1 or the werewolves and bloodsucking
monsters that populate horror books. These creatures were
painted by Stone Age peoples more than 10,000 years ago and
represent some of the world’s oldest art.
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie and television series featuring a teenage girl who hunts
vampires and other monsters.
UNIT 1 Independent Learning • Stone Age Man’s Terrors Still Stalk Modern Nightmares IL10
3 The surprising discovery that werewolves are as old as
NOTES humanity is the handiwork of researchers who have carried out
a major analysis of the world’s ancient rock art sites: in Europe,
Africa and Australia.
4 “We looked at art that goes back to the dawn of humanity and
found it had one common feature: animal-human hybrids,” said
Dr. Christopher Chippindale, of Cambridge University’s museum
of archaeology and anthropology. “Werewolves and vampires
are as old as art, in other words. These composite2 beings, from a
world between humans and animals, are a common theme from
the beginning of painting.”
5 Chippindale’s research—carried out with Paul Tacon of the
Australian Museum in Sydney—involved surveys of rock art
painted on cliffs in northern Australia, on ledges in South Africa,
and inside caverns in France and Spain. These are the world’s
principal prehistoric art sites.
6 Nor are they made up of crude daubs of paint or charcoal.
Many were executed with breathtaking flair.
7 For example, those at the recently discovered Grotte Chauvet
near the Ardèche Gorge in France are more than 30,000 years old,
but have stunned critics with their grace and style: horses rearing
on their hind legs, rhinoceroses charging.
8 Most archaeologists have examined these paintings for evidence
of the creatures that were hunted at that time. Naturally, these
varied according to locality.
9 But Tacon and Chippindale wanted to find common
denominators among these creations, despite the fact that they
were painted on different continents.
10 After careful analysis, they found only one: the
“therianthropes”—human-animal hybrids. Statues of cat-head
humans, for example, were found in Europe, while in Australia
the team discovered paintings of feathered humans with birdlike

heads and drawings of men with the heads of fruit bats. One of
these animal-head beings is depicted attacking a woman, like a
poster for early Hollywood horror films.
11 “Hybrids were the one ubiquitous theme we discovered,”
Chippindale said. “They belong to an imagined world which was
powerful, dangerous and—most likely—very frightening.”
12 These rock art nasties were gazed upon by people in “altered
states of consciousness”—individuals who were either drugged
or in trances—the Stone Age equivalent of a six-pack and a
video nasty.3
13 This idea is influenced by studies of the modern San people of
South Africa who often dance themselves into hypnotic trances.
2. composite (kuhm POZ iht) adj. combined.

3. video nasty British slang for an exceptionally violent movie.
IL11 UNIT 1 Independent Learning • Stone Age Man’s Terrors Still Stalk Modern Nightmares
The images they later recall are painted on to cave walls as
attempts or entry cards to a spirit world. “The spirit world is a NOTES
different and separate place, and you need to learn how to access
it,” added Chippindale. Buffy may be adolescent television, in
other words, but she taps a deep creative vein.
14 Many anthropologists believe ancient art works like those at
Chauvet were also created for the same reason.
15 “They are among the most potent images mankind has ever
created,” Chippindale said. “When you enter these caves today,
with electric lights and guides, they are still pretty frightening.
Armed with only a guttering4 candle, the experience would have
been utterly terrifying in the Stone Age. You would crouch down
a corridor and would then be suddenly confronted by a half-man,
half-lion, or something similar.”
16 And once we had unleashed these scary monsters, we
never looked back, from the human-animal hybrid gods of the
Egyptians—such as Bast, the cat god; or Anubis, the dog god; or
creatures such as minotaurs5 or satyrs.6 Later came legends such as
the werewolf, and finally specific creations such as Bram Stoker’s
Dracula, an “undead” human with bat-like features who preyed
on the living.
17 More recently, the most spectacularly successful Hollywood
horror films have been those that have focused on creations
that have mixed the features of reptiles or insects with those of
humans: Alien and Predator being the best examples.
18 As Chippindale put it, “these were well-made films, but they
also succeeded because they tapped such an ancient urge.” ❧
4. guttering v. flickering or burning unsteadily.

5. minotaurs n. creatures in Greek mythology who were half man and half bull.
6. satyrs n. woodland gods in Greek mythology who were half man and half goat.
UNIT 1 Independent Learning • Stone Age Man’s Terrors Still Stalk Modern Nightmares IL12

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UNIT

Inside the Nightmare

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Discuss It Why is Halloween big business?

What is the allure of fear? My Introduction to

WHOLE-CLASS SMALL-GROUP INDEPENDENT

ANCHOR TEXT: SHORT STORY SHORT STORY CRITICISM

MEDIA: INFORMATIONAL GRAPHIC INTERVIEW

PERFORMANCE TASK PERFORMANCE TASK PERFORMANCE-Based Assessment PRep

NOT AT ALL NOT VERY SOMEWHAT VERY EXTREMELY

• Evaluate written narratives by analyzing

• Expand your knowledge and use of

WRITING AND RESEARCH GOALS 1 2 3 4 5

• Write an explanatory essay in which you

• Conduct research projects of various

SPEAKING AND LISTENING

4 UNIT 1 • INSIDE THE NIGHTMARE

Academic Vocabulary: Explanatory Text

WORD MENTOR SENTENCES PREDICT MEANING RELATED WORDS

motivate 1. A mentor should try to motivate motivation; unmotivated

dimension 1. We have to consider every

manipulate 1. We watch as the sculptors

psychological 1. The director’s new film is a

perspective 1. The narrator’s perspective

LAUNCH TEXT | EXPLANATORY MODEL

This selection is an example of an

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6 UNIT 1 • INSIDE THE NIGHTMARE

Poe—“The Cask of Amontillado.” Set during the carnival season in

named Montresor who plots revenge on an acquaintance. I liked the

 WORD NETWORK for THE LITERATURE OF FEAR

Vocabulary A Word Network

Tool Kit Word Network Model

My Introduction to Gothic Literature 7

8 UNIT 1 • INSIDE THE NIGHTMARE

 EVIDENCE LOG FOR INSIDE THE NIGHTMARE

Review your QuickWrite.

What is the allure of fear?

Whole-Class Learning Strategies

STRATEGY ACTION PLAN

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10 UNIT 1 • INSIDE THE NIGHTMARE

The Fall of the House of Usher

In this famous Gothic tale, a visitor arrives at

ANCHOR TEXT: SHORT STORY

House Taken Over

A brother and sister live in the old family

MEDIA: INFORMATIONAL GRAPHIC

How to Tell You’re Reading a

If the book you’re reading has a mansion that

creepy character—congratulations! You’re likely

Overview: Whole-Class Learning 11

About the Author

The Fall of the House of Usher

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CONNECT ideas within RESPOND by completing

12 UNIT 1 • INSIDE THE NIGHTMARE

movement, which was at its height in Europe when he was writing, in