After watching a movie or listening to a TEDtalk or reading a piece of literature, a poem, or any other piece of writing, fill in the chart below. When complete, file into your “Inquiry” folder OR print and keep for future reference. Your teacher may ask to keep your work as an example to expand understanding in the class
Title: The Sea Devil and A Mountain Journey Your name: Alex R Block B
| Which Essential Question(s) is addressed in this piece of literature? | Content:
a) What happens in the text/movie/Talk? b) What is the main message/theme? |
Understanding:
How does the text answer the EQ? Answer in full sentences. Record relevant quotes and page numbers/lines if needed. |
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What motivates us in the face of dispair and oppression?
In times of trouble, what gives us hope?
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The story is about a man who goes up a mountain, trapping animals to obtain fur, and sell them on the market for profit. The story starts with the man traveling down the mountain, trying to reach civilization with his newfound furs. On his way down, he runs into multiple problems, such as falling into an airhole, his planned resting place burned down, and getting frostbite, so he could no longer use his fingers.
The main theme is about how we believe that we can control nature, but in reality, our fate is in nature’s hand. We are all at nature’s mercy. We’ve been blinded, we believed that we’re stronger, and we’re better than nature that’s nowhere near the case, as the two stories illustrate to us. |
What motivates us in the face of dispair and oppression?
There is a good portion of dispair in the two stories, except only The Sea Devil’s character uses the dispair to his advantage. In A Mountain Journey, the character, Dave, simply accepts his fate without realizing it, and dies of hypothermia. In The Sea Devil, the character already believes he is going to die, and he accepts the fact that he could die right then and there. But when he accepts that fact, he is able to think properly, and come up with a plan that could give him a chance to escape the manta ray and live another day.
In times of trouble, what gives us hope? I think it is the things that we love that give us hope. In The Sea Devil’s case, the man accepts the possibility of imminent death, which clears his mind of fear, and in turn, helps him make up a plan. He realizes he gets once chance to return to his wife, and plans to use this chance In Dave’s “time of trouble”, he has no hope, because he doesn’t even realize he’s dying, and if he does, he doesn’t acknoledge it in the story. He’s in denial, never admits his mistakes and trys to learn from them. He blindly worked towards his downfall, and he didn’t even realize it. |