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prejudice: unfair treatment toward a person or group without a cause or reason
critical: likely to find fault
reform: the correction of bad conduct
tolerance: willingness to accept others
technique: a particular method
primitive: underdeveloped
bluff: the act of deceiving or misleading
rigid: difficult or impossible to bend
encounter: meeting
aCTIVITY 2.3
continued
Interpret the Text Using Close reading
My notes
7 The young man laughed. “I wasn’t so much worried about the bears,” he said. “But our bears have developed intolerance for dogs. One of them might demonstrate his prejudice with a clip on the chin, and then—no dog.”
8 “I’ll lock him in the back, sir. I promise you Charley will cause no ripple in the bear world, and as an old bear-looker, neither will I.”
9 “I just have to warn you,” he said. “I have no doubt your dog has the best of intentions. On the other hand, our bears have the worst. Don’t leave food about. Not only do they steal but they are critical of anyone who tries to reform them. In a word, don’t believe their sweet faces or you might get clobbered. And don’t let the dog wander. Bears don’t argue.”
chunk 3
10 We went on our way into the wonderland of nature gone nuts, and you will
have to believe what happened. The only way I can prove it would be to get a bear.
11 Less than a mile from the entrance I saw a bear beside the road, and it ambled out as though to flag me down. Instantly a change came over Charley. He shrieked with rage. His lips flared, showing wicked teeth that have some trouble with a dog biscuit. He screeched insults at the bear, which hearing, the bear reared up and seemed to me to overtop Rocinante. Frantically I rolled the windows shut and, swinging quickly to the left, grazed the animal, then scuttled on while Charley raved and ranted beside me, describing in detail what he would do to that bear if he could get at him. I was never so astonished in my life. To the best of my knowledge Charley had never seen a bear, and in his whole history had showed great tolerance for every living thing. Besides all this, Charley is a coward, so deep-seated a coward that he has developed a technique for concealing it. And yet he showed every evidence of wanting to get out and murder a bear that outweighed him a thousand to one. I don’t understand it.
chunk 4
12 A little farther along two bears showed up, and the effect was doubled. Charley
became a maniac. He leaped all over me, he cursed and growled, snarled and screamed. I didn’t know he had the ability to snarl. Where did he learn it? Bears were in good supply, and the road became a nightmare. For the first time in his
life Charley resisted reason, even resisted a cuff on the ear. He became a primitive killer lusting for the blood of his enemy, and up to this moment he had no enemies. In a bear-less stretch, I opened the cab, took Charley by the collar, and locked him in the house. But that did no good. When we passed other bears he leaped on the table and scratched at the windows trying to get out at them. I could hear canned goods crashing as he struggled in his mania. Bears simply brought out the Hyde
in my Jekyll-headed dog. What could have caused it? Was it a pre-breed memory of a time when the wolf was in him? I know him well. Once in a while he tries a bluff, but it is a palpable lie. I swear that this was no lie. I am certain that if he were released he would have charged every bear we passed and found victory or death.
chunk 5
13 It was too nerve-wracking, a shocking spectacle, like seeing an old, calm friend
go insane. No amount of natural wonders, of rigid cliffs and belching waters, of smoking springs could even engage my attention while that pandemonium went on.
14 After about the fifth encounter I gave up, turned Rocinante about, and retraced my way. If I had stopped the night and bears gathered to my cooking, I dare not think what would have happened.
64 SpringBoard® English Language Development grade 6
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