Elements of Literature
SOUND EFFECTS: The Music of Language
Playing with Words
Children love the music of language. They'll repeat nursery rhymes, jump-rope jingles, and tongue twisters over
and over because they enjoy hearing the sounds. As we grow older, we find that language has the power to
please our minds as well as our ears when sound and sense are skillfully combined.
The Music of Meter
Whether it's in a popular song, a humorous greeting card, or a stirring sermon, rhythm comes from the repetition
of sounds. One way to create rhythm is with meter, a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. In
these lines from "Paul Revere's Ride" (page 537), the stressed syllables are marked with an accent and the
unstressed syllables are marked with a cup. Read this verse aloud to hear the regular rise and fall of your
voice as you say the words.
In the hour of darkness and
peril and need,
The people will Waken and
listen to her
The hurrying hoofbeats of
that steed,
And the midnight message of
Paul Revere.
You can see that Longfellow varied his meter, so that his verse isn't singsong; instead, it echoes the rhythmic but
slightly irregular "hurrying hoofbeats" of Revere's horse.
A Writer on Sound Effects
"Music is the universal language of mankind-poetry their universal pastime and delight."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, author of "Paul Revere's Ride" (page 537)
A Different Drummer: Free Verse
Free verse is so called because it is not written in meter; instead, it imitates the natural rhythms of speech. Free
verse has its own kind of music. The following lines are from "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman.
Read them aloud to hear how Whitman creates a strong rhythm in free verse just by repeating sentence
patterns.
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work ...
Rhyme and Reason
The chiming effect of rhyme adds to the musical quality of a poem. The rhyme scheme (pattern of rhymes) helps
give structure to a poem and acts as a memory aid. Rhyme can also be used to emphasize certain words or
ideas.
Most rhymes in poetry are end rhymes: The rhyming words appear at the ends of lines, as in "Paul Revere's
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by John Malcolm Brinnin
Ride." Rhymes can also occur within lines. Such rhymes are called internal rhymes.
Rhymes involving sounds that are similar but not exactly the same are called approximate
rhymes (or near rhymes, off rhymes, slant rhymes, or imperfect rhymes). Cut and rat,
bat and bit, and cat and catch are approximate rhymes. This kind of rhyme is popular with
many modern poets. They believe it sounds less artificial and more like real speech than
exact rhymes do. Another reason poets use approximate rhymes is that it is difficult to
come up with exact rhymes that haven't already been used many times.
Other Sound Effects
The use of words whose sounds imitate or suggest their meaning is called onomatopoeia.
When we say that a bell clangs or tinkles or that bacon sizzles, we are using onomatopoeia.
A poet can use a whole series of words to imitate a sound. For example, in this line from
his poem "The Raven," Edgar Allan Poe uses words with s sounds to suggest the sound of
wind blowing through curtains: "And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple
curtain."
This line is also an example of alliteration, the repetition of sounds, usually consonants, in
several words that are dose together. (The repetition of vowel sounds is called assonance.)
Alliteration and assonance aren't used only to imitate natural sounds. Sometimes the
repeated sounds just help to create a mood or rhythm.
Giving a Poem Voice
Whenever possible, read a poem aloud at least once to combine its sound with its sense.
1. Be aware of punctuation, especially periods and commas. Periods signal the ends of
sentences (which are not always at the ends of lines).
2. If a line of poetry doesn't end with punctuation, do not make a full stop. Pause very briefly,
and continue reading until you reach a mark of punctuation.
3. If the poem has a regular rhythm-do-DUM, daDUM, do-DUM, do-DUM, for example don't
read it in a singsong way. Try to read the poem in a natural voice and let the music come
through on its own.
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Before You Read
TOO SOON A WOMAN
Make the Connection
A Typical Teenager
Work with a small group to create a profile of a typical teenager. Fill in a circle with words and symbols showing
what you think teenagers are like inside: their likes and dislikes, hopes and worries. Outside the circle, write
what teenagers are like on the outside: appearance, activities, how they are perceived by adults, and so on.
Quickwrite
How are teenagers today similar to and different from teenagers in the past? Jot down your ideas in your notebook.
Elements of Literature
Motivation
What makes people do the things they do? In literature, as in life, a person's motivation is not always obvious. As
you read this story, decide whether the characters' actions make sense to you. Does each character's
motivation become clearer as the story continues?
Motivation is the reason for a character's behavior.
For more on Motivation, see the Handbook of Literary Terms.
Reading Skills and Strategies
Summarizing: Keep It Simple
A summary is a short restatement of the main events and essential ideas in a work. When you summarize a story,
briefly identify the major characters. Then, in your own words, describe the characters' problems, state the
main events, and explain how the problems are finally resolved. Remember to keep your summary simple
and to leave out minor details. As you read "Too Soon a Woman." think about which events you would
include if you had to summarize it for a friend.
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Too Soon a Woman
Dorothy M. Johnson
We left the home place behind, mile by slow mile, heading for the mountains, across the prairie
where the wind blew forever.
At first there were four of us with the one-horse wagon and its skimpy load. Pa and I walked,
because I was a big boy of eleven. My two little sisters romped and trotted until they got
tired and had to be boosted up into the wagon bed.
That was no covered Conestoga, 1 like Pa's folks came West in, but just an old farm wagon,
drawn by one weary horse, creaking and rumbling westward to the mountains, toward the
little woods town where Pa thought he had an old uncle who owned a little two-bit
sawmill.
Two weeks we had been moving when we picked up Mary, who had run away from somewhere
that she wouldn't tell. Pa didn't want her along, but she stood up to him with no fear in her
voice.
1. Conestoga: covered wagon with wide wheels, used by American settlers to cross the
prairies.
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"I'd rather go with a family and look after kids," she said, "but I ain't going back. If you won't take me, I'll travel
with any wagon that will."
Pa scowled at her, and her wide blue eyes stared back.
"How old are you?" he demanded.
"Eighteen," she said. "There's teamsters 2 come this way sometimes. I'd rather go with you folks. But I won't go
back."
"We're prid'near out of grub," my father told her. "We're clean out of money. I got all I can handle without taking
anybody else." He turned away as if he hated the sight of her. "You'll have to walk," he said.
So she went along with us and looked after the little girls, but Pa wouldn't talk to her.
On the prairie, the wind blew. But in the mountains, there was rain. When we stopped at little timber claims along
the way, the homesteaders 3 said it had rained all summer. Crops among the blackened stumps were rotted
and spoiled. There was no cheer anywhere, and little hospitality. The people we talked to were past worrying.
They were scared and desperate.
So was Pa. He traveled twice as far each day as the wagon, ranging through the woods with his rifle, but he never
saw game. He had been depending on venison,4 but we never got any except as a grudging gift from the
homesteaders.
He brought in a porcupine once, and that was fat meat and good. Mary roasted it in chunks over the fire, half
crying with the smoke. Pa and I rigged up the tarp 5 sheet for shelter to keep the rain from putting the fire
clean out.
The porcupine was long gone, except for some of the tried-out fat 6 that Mary had save when we came to an old,
empty cabin. Pa said we'd have to stop. The horse was wore out, couldn't pull anymore up those grades on the
deep-rutted roads in the mountains.
At the cabin, at least there was shelter. We had a few potatoes left and some cornmeal. There was a creek that
probably had fish in it, if a person could catch them. Pa tried it for half a day before he gave up. To this day I
don't care for fishing. I remember my father's sunken eyes in his gaunt, grim face.
He took Mary and me outside the cabin to talk. Rain dripped on us from branches overhead.
"I think I know where we are," he said. "I calculate to get to old John's and back in about four days. There'll be
grub in the town, and they'll let me have some whether old John's still there or not."
He looked at me. "You do like she tells you," he warned. It was the first time he had admitted Mary was on earth
since we picked her up two weeks before.
"You're my pardner," he said to me, "but it might be she's got more brains. You mind what she says."
He burst out with bitterness, "There ain't anything good left in the world, or people to care if you live or die. But
I'll get grub in the town and come back with it."
He took a deep breath and added, "If you get too all-fired hungry, butcher the horse. It'll be better than starvin'."
2. teamsters: people who drive teams of horses.
3. homesteaders: settlers living on and farming pieces of land granted to them by the U.S. government.
4. venison: deer meat.
5. tarp: short for tarpaulin, or waterproof canvas.
6. tried-out fat: fat that has been melted down.
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He kissed the little girls goodbye and plodded off through the woods with one blanket and the
rifle.
The cabin was moldy and had no floor. We kept a fire going under a hole in the roof, so it was
full of blinding smoke, but we had to keep the fire so as to dry out the wood.
The third night we lost the horse. A bear scared him. We heard the racket, and Mary and I ran
out, but we couldn't see anything in the pitch dark.
In gray daylight I went looking for him, and I must have walked fifteen miles. It seemed like I
had to have that horse at the cabin when Pa came or he'd whip me. I got plumb lost two or
three times and thought maybe I was going to die there alone and nobody would ever know
it, but I found the way back to the clearing.
That was the fourth day, and Pa didn't come. That was the day we ate up the last of the grub.
The fifth day Mary went looking for the horse. My sisters whimpered, huddled in a quilt by the
fire, because they were scared and hungry.
I never did get dried out, always having to bring in more damp wood and going out to yell to
see if Mary would hear me and not get lost. But I couldn't cry like the little girls did,
because I was a big boy, eleven years old.
It was near dark when there was an answer to my yelling, and Mary came into the clearing.
Mary didn't have the horse-we never saw hide nor hair of that old horse again-but she was
carrying something big and white that looked like a pumpkin with no color to it.
She didn't say anything, just looked around and saw Pa wasn't there yet, at the end of the fifth
day.
"What's that thing?" my sister Elizabeth demanded.
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"Mushroom," Mary answered. "I bet it hefts 7 ten pounds?'
"What are you going to do with it now?" I sneered. "Play football here?"
"Eat it-maybe," she said, putting it in a corner. Her wet hair hung over her shoulders. She huddled by the fire.
My sister Sarah began to whimper again. "I'm hungry!" she kept saying.
"Mushrooms ain't good eating," I said. "They can kill you."
"Maybe," Mary answered. "Maybe they can. I don't set up to know all about everything, like some people?'
"What's that mark on your shoulder?" I asked her. "You tore your dress on the brush."
"What do you think it is?" she said, her head bowed in the smoke.
"Looks like scars; I guessed.
"'Tis scars. They whipped me. Now mind your own business. I want to think."
Elizabeth whimpered, "Why don't Pa come back?"
"He's coming," Mary promised. "Can't come in the dark. Your pall take care of you soon's he can."
She got up and rummaged around in the grub box.
"Nothing there but empty dishes," I growled. "If there was anything, we'd know it."
Mary stood up. She was holding the can with the porcupine grease.
"I'm going to have something to eat," she said coolly. "You kids can't have any yet. And I don't want any
squalling, mind."
It was a cruel thing, what she did then. She sliced that big, solid mushroom and heated grease in a pan.
The smell of it brought the little girls out of their quilt, but she told them to go back in s fierce a voice that they
obeyed. They cried to break your heart.
I didn't cry. I watched, hating her.
I endured the smell of the mushroom frying as long as I could. Then I said, "Give me some."
"Tomorrow; Mary answered. "Tomorrow, maybe. But not tonight." She turned to me with a sharp command:
"Don't bother me! Just leave me be."
She knelt there by the fire and finished frying the slice of mushroom.
If I'd had Pa's rifle, I'd have been willing to kill her right then and there.
She didn't eat right away. She looked at the brown, fried slice for a while and said, "By tomorrow morning, I guess
you can tell whether you want any."
The little girls stared at her as she ate. Sarah was chewing an old leather glove.
When Mary crawled into the quilts with them, they moved away as far as they could get.
I was so scared that my stomach heaved, empty as it was.
Mary didn't stay in the quilts long. She took a drink out of the water bucket and sat down by the fire and looked
through the smoke at me.
She said in a low voice, "I don't know how it will be if it's poison. Just do the best you can with the girls. Because
your pa will come back, you know . . . You better go to bed. I'm going to sit up."
And so would you sit up. If it might be your last night on earth and the pain of death might seize you at any
moment, you would sit up by the smoky fire, wide awake, remembering whatever you had to remember,
savoring life.
We sat in silence after the girls had gone to sleep. Once I asked, "How long does it take?"
7. hefts: weighs.
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"I never heard," she answered. "Don't think about it."
I slept after a while, with my chin on my chest. Maybe Peter dozed that way at Gethsemane as
the Lord knelt praying. 8
Mary's moving around brought me wide j awake. The black of night was fading.
"I guess it's all right," Mary said. "I'd be able to tell by now, wouldn't I?"
I answered gruffly, "I don't know."
Mary stood in the doorway for a while, looking out at the dripping world as if she found it
beautiful. Then she fried slices of the mushroom while the little girls danced with anxiety.
We feasted, we three, my sisters and I, until Mary ruled, "That'll hold you," and would not cook
any more. She didn't touch any of the mushroom herself.
That was a strange day in the moldy cabin. Mary laughed and was gay; she told stories, and we
played "Who's Got the Thimble?" with a pine cone.
In the afternoon we heard a shout, and my sisters screamed and I ran ahead of them across the
clearing.
The rain had stopped. My father came plunging out of the woods leading a pack horse-and well
I remember the treasures of food in that pack.
He glanced at us anxiously as he tore at the ropes that bound the pack.
"Where's the other one?" he demanded.
Mary came out of the cabin then, walking sedately. As she came toward us, the sun began to
shine.
My stepmother was a wonderful woman.
8. Maybe Peter ... knelt praying: According to Matthew 26:36-46, Jesus spent an entire night
praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, outside Jerusalem, knowing he would be arrested in
the morning. He asked Peter and two other followers to stay awake with him, but they kept
falling asleep.
MEET THE WRITER
Kills-Both-Places
Dorothy M. Johnson (1905-1984) was born in McGregor, Iowa, but made the West her home
in both a physical and a literary sense. After graduating from the University of Montana,
she moved to New York City to work as a magazine editor but eventually returned to
Montana to write the stories that would make her famous. Johnson is known for her
sensitive, realistic portrayals of the American West. Three of her stories-"The Hanging
Tree," "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," and "A Man Called Horse"-were made into
movies.
The Blackfoot people of Montana made Johnson an honorary member and gave her the name
Kills-Both-Places.
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MAKING MEANINGS
First Thoughts
1. Reread your Quickwrite. Does Mary seem like a typical teenager? Explain.
Shaping Interpretations
2. List three conflicts (internal or external) in this story. Which conflict seems to be the main one? Why?
3. Explain the title of the story. In what way is Mary "too soon a woman"?
4. In your opinion, does the eleven-year-old narrator become "too soon a man" as well? Why or why not?
5. Is Mary a hero? What heroic qualities does she display? (You may want to look at the definition of a hero you
created with your group-see page 536.)
6. Explain the character's motivation for each of these actions:
• At the beginning of the story, why does Pa refuse to talk to Mary?
• Why does Mary refuse to give the children any of the mushroom at first?
• Why does Pa ask about Mary when he returns?
Connecting with the Text
7. Would you have done what Mary did if you were in her place? Explain. (As Mary, can you think of a way to
save the children without risking your own life?)
8. Have you ever been given more responsibility than is usual for someone your age? Describe your experience
being "too soon a woman" or "too soon a man." How did it change you? (If you prefer, describe an
experience someone you know or know about has had.)
Challenging the Text
9. "Too Soon a Woman" has also been published under the title "The Day the Sun Came Out." Which title do you
like better? Why?
10. Do you think this story presents a realistic picture of life for Western settlers in the nineteenth century? Why or
why not?
Reading Check
Summarize the main events of the story, using the story map below to help you. Remember to include the main
events only.
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CHOICES: Building Your Portfolio
Writer's Notebook
1. Collecting Ideas for an Informative Report
Choose a teenager in your community, in the national news, or from history who did something
heroic. Find out three things about his or her actions. What makes this person a hero? Why
would people be interested in reading about him or her?
Creative Writing
2. Travels with Mary
What happens to the narrator's family as they continue to travel west with Mary? Write a short
sequel to the story, describing their next adventure. How do Mary's courage and
resourcefulness help her face
• an angry bear?
• a pack of hungry wolves?
• a raging river?
• another dangerous situation (your idea)?
Graphic Organizer/Analyzing a Character
3. A Well-Rounded Character?
Make an attribute wheel for Mary or one of the other characters in the story. (An attribute is a
characteristic or personal quality, such as shyness or rudeness.) Draw a simple wagon
wheel like the one below. In the center, write the character's name. On each spoke, write a
word or phrase describing the character. In the space between the spokes, give evidence
from the text that supports each attribute.
Performance
4. Secret Thoughts
Divide the roles of Mary and the narrator with a partner. Then, write an interior monologue
for your character at the moment that Mary is frying the slice of mushroom. What is she
thinking as she kneels by the fire? What is the narrator thinking as he watches her? (If you
like, choose another pair of characters and another scene, such as the one with Mary and Pa
at the very end of the story.) With your partner, perform the / monologues for your class.
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GRAMMAR LINK MINI-LESSON
Language Handbook
HELP
See Colons, page 803.
Technology
HELP
See Language Workshop CD-ROM.
Key word entry: colons.
Using Colons Before Lists
Use a colon to show your reader that a list of items follows.
EXAMPLES
When Pa returned, we had a feast: salt pork, beans, and biscuits with molasses.
There were now five people in our family: Pa, Mary, my two sisters, and me.
Don't use a colon before a list or a series that follows a verb or a preposition.
EXAMPLES
When Pa returned, we ate salt pork, beans, and biscuits with molasses.
Our family now consisted of Pa, Mary, my two sisters, and me.
The children were wet, hungry, and frightened.
Try It Out
Write a sentence listing your four favorite writers (or foods or TV shows), using a colon correctly.
EXAMPLE
These are my favorite writers: Robert Cormier, Sandra Cisneros, O. Henry, and Maya Angelou.
Exchange papers with a classmate, and check his or her work.
SPELLING HOW TO OWN A WORD
Consonant and Vowel Sounds
Someone once suggested that fish could be spelled g-h-o-t-i: gh as in laugh, o as in women, and ti as in motion.
Because English has borrowed words from so many other languages, each with its own system of spelling, many
sounds in English can be spelled several ways. For that reason there are many ear rhymes that aren't eye
rhymes, such as sigh and buy.
For each of the following words from the story, write down a rhyme that uses a different spelling for the same
sound. The first one is done for you as an example.
prairie meat road grease creek
horse smoke wood water bear
EXAMPLE
prairie-scary
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