Johnny Tremain

 

Johnny Treman, by Esther Forbes, is a novel set during the time just before the Revolutionary War.   Johnny is an proud young apprentice to a silversmith when a workroom accident costs him the use of his right hand.  The themes of humility and courage are woven throughout this excellent book!  This study guide also contains extension activities of poetry ("The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere") and oratory (Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech).

I use selected pages from the publisher's free downloadable study guide.  You can find it here:

 http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/johnny_tremain.pdf

Literature Study Guide Questions 

Please note that each full chapter is marked with a Roman numeral (I, II, III, and IV).  Sections within each chapter are marked with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4…) so make sure you read a whole chapter and not just a little section! 

Chapter I      

1. List all of the ways in this chapter that an apprentice helped in a silversmith business.
2. Why does Mr. Lapham choose those particular Bible verses for Johnny to read?  What is Cilla’s teasing reply?
3. What does Johnny do to help Mr. Lapham keep his orders straight?
4. What two things does Cilla do for Johnny in this chapter, and why?
5. What do we find out about Johnny’s family?
6. Draw your own idea of what the Lyte family emblem may have looked like.

 Chapter II 

1. What does Johnny do when he can’t get the handles of the sugar basin right?
2. What two things prevent Johnny from getting the rest of the work done on Saturday?  How are they related?
3. What reason does Mrs. Lapham give for not fetching a doctor? 
4. Describe the conversation between Dove and Johnny. 
5. What two things does Mr. Lapham ask Johnny to do?
6. Describe the personality of Rab.   How does he make Johnny feel better?

Chapter III 

1. How does Johnny get kicked out of the Lapham house?
2. What kind of woman is Lavinia Lyte and how does Johnny feel about her?
3. How do Cilla and Isannah react to Johnny in this chapter?
4. What happens that makes Johnny feel he must go to Merchant Lyte for help?

Chapter IV 

1. What were Johnny’s expectations as he anticipated his visit to Mr. Lyte?
2. What was Reb’s opinion of Mr. Lyte?
3. What was the consequence in this section of Johnny calling Mr. Tweedie a “squeak-pig” earlier in the book?
4. Who were the four witnesses in the trial, as described by communication styles?

• “stood up straight”, “clear, low voice” _____________________
• “confidently”, “spoke simply and easily” ___________________
• “bright sparkle in his slippery black eyes” __________________
• “vividness of her jumbled recital” ________________________

 

Chapter V  

1. Put these events in chronological order (1-5):

___ hired as sailor

___ hired at Boston Observer

___ chased by Captain Bull

___ dinner at Afric Queen

___ second visit to Mr. Lyte

2. Describe Goblin <or> Tell how Johnny learned about politics.
3. What did Johnny want Cilla to do each Thursday and Sunday?
4. For what bad habit did Rab try to correct Johnny?  What was the result?

Chapter VI   

1. Using a dictionary, look up two unfamiliar words in this chapter and write their definitions.
2. What role did printers play in the cause of liberty?
3. How had Johnny’s attitude changed toward Cilla and Isannah?
4. What two regrets did Johnny have as he was trying to sleep?

 

Chapter VII  

1.  “There was a rattle of drums, with the shouts of officers, and off the ships poured a flood, as scarlet as a tide of blood.”  To what does this colorful simile refer?
2. How does Johnny feel about Cilla by the end of this section?
3. What does Lydia, the washerwoman, do to help Johnny?
4. What does Johnny realize about Mrs. Lapham?
5. Why does Johnny hate Lavinia Lyte?

Chapter VIII  

1. What happened to the Lyte family in Milton?
2. How did Johnny feel about the country house in Milton?
3. What happened when James Otis showed up at the meeting?
4. Describe four different emotions that Rab displays in this chapter, along with a brief phrase describing the reason for each one. 
5. What kind of words/phrases are Marlborough Street, Province House, Medway, Dock Square, and Afric Queen?  Find some more that fit in this category.

Chapter IX 

1. What did Johnny find out from Lydia?
2. How did Lieutenant Stranger reward Johnny for his help with the horse?
3. What deal does Johnny make with Mr. Pumpkin?
4. Ask someone to dictate a sentence to you while you write it down.
5. What is the main thing that happened in this section, and how did it affect Johnny emotionally? 

 

Chapter X  

1. Whom does Paul Revere Distrust?
2. What sounds, other than human speech, are described in this section?
3. How does Johnny gather information from Dove?
4. How do Billy Dawes and his wife each show their skill for acting? 

“Paul Revere’s Ride”

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  

 

Today, instead of reading Johnny Tremain, you will study the classic poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

1. Read the poem out loud with expression.  Notice the rhythm.
2. Pay attention to the rhyming pattern of the poem.  I have diagrammed the first stanza.  The first and second lines rhyme with the fifth and they are all labeled A.  The third and fourth lines rhyme with each other.  Diagram a few other stanzas.  Is the pattern regular? 

Listen my children and you shall hear   A 
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,   A 
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;  B 
Hardly a man is now alive     B 
Who remembers that famous day and year. A

3. Longfellow uses sensory language to describe the night of April 18, 1775.  What words or phrases help you see and hear what happened during Paul Revere’s ride?
4. In “Paul’s Revere’s Ride” Longfellow writes, “The fate of nation was riding that night.” Do you agree?  What might have happened if the events had gone differently?
5. How does Longfellow’s portrayal of Paul Revere compare with that found in Johnny Tremain?  In what ways are the portrayals the same?  In what ways are they different?
6. Copy the three lines in this poem that you find most interesting.  

Chapter XI

1. Find all of the contractions in section 1 of this chapter, starting with the paragraph which begins, “The Doctor’s clear, blue eyes darkened.”
2. Who are Yankee Doodle and the scarlet dragon?
3. What happened to Uncle Lorne’s shop?
4. What does Lavinia Lyte tell Johnny about his mother?
5. What is Johnny’s plan for Uncle Lorne’s family? 

Chapter XII 

1. Why did Johnny roll around in the mud?
2. In section 2, write the first word of the paragraph that seems out of place in a description of war.
3. Copy a sentence from section 3 that describes emotions.
4. What main thing happens in this section 4?
5. What do the last three sentences of the book mean to you?

 

Paul Revere’s Ride

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  
Listen my children and you shall hear  
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,  
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;  
Hardly a man is now alive  
Who remembers that famous day and year. 

He said to his friend, "If the British march  
By land or sea from the town to-night,  
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch  
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--  
One if by land, and two if by sea;  
And I on the opposite shore will be,  
Ready to ride and spread the alarm  
Through every Middlesex village and farm,  
For the country folk to be up and to arm."  

Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar  
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,  
Just as the moon rose over the bay,  
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay  
The Somerset, British man-of-war;  
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar  
Across the moon like a prison bar,  
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified  
By its own reflection in the tide.  

Meanwhile, his friend through alley and street  
Wanders and watches, with eager ears,  
Till in the silence around him he hears  
The muster of men at the barrack door,  
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,  
And the measured tread of the grenadiers,  
Marching down to their boats on the shore.  

Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,  
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,  
To the belfry chamber overhead,  
And startled the pigeons from their perch  
On the sombre rafters, that round him made  
Masses and moving shapes of shade,--  
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,  
To the highest window in the wall,  
Where he paused to listen and look down  
A moment on the roofs of the town  
And the moonlight flowing over all. 

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,  
In their night encampment on the hill,  
Wrapped in silence so deep and still  
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread,  
The watchful night-wind, as it went  
Creeping along from tent to tent,  
And seeming to whisper, "All is well!" 

A moment only he feels the spell  
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread  
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;  
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent  
On a shadowy something far away,  
Where the river widens to meet the bay,--  
A line of black that bends and floats  
On the rising tide like a bridge of boats.  

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,  
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride  
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.  
Now he patted his horse's side,  
Now he gazed at the landscape far and near,  
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,  
And turned and tightened his saddle girth;  
But mostly he watched with eager search  
The belfry tower of the Old North Church,  
As it rose above the graves on the hill,  
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.  

And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height  
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!  
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,  
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight  
A second lamp in the belfry burns. 

A hurry of hoofs in a village street,  
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,  
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark  
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet;  
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,  
The fate of a nation was riding that night;  
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,  
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

He has left the village and mounted the steep,  
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,  
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;  
And under the alders that skirt its edge,  
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,  
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock  
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.  
He heard the crowing of the cock,  
And the barking of the farmer's dog,  
And felt the damp of the river fog,  
That rises after the sun goes down. 

It was one by the village clock,  
When he galloped into Lexington.  
He saw the gilded weathercock  
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,  
And the meeting-house windows, black and bare,  
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,  
As if they already stood aghast  
At the bloody work they would look upon. 

It was two by the village clock,  
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.  

He heard the bleating of the flock,  
And the twitter of birds among the trees,  
And felt the breath of the morning breeze  
Blowing over the meadow brown.

And one was safe and asleep in his bed  
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,  
Who that day would be lying dead,  
Pierced by a British musket ball.  

You know the rest. In the books you have read  
How the British Regulars fired and fled,---  
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,  
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,  
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,  
Then crossing the fields to emerge again  
Under the trees at the turn of the road,  
And only pausing to fire and load.  

So through the night rode Paul Revere;  
And so through the night went his cry of alarm  
To every Middlesex village and farm,---  
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,  
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,  
And a word that shall echo for evermore!  
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,  
Through all our history, to the last,  
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,  
The people will waken and listen to hear  
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,  
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.  
 

  

 

Great American Communicator:

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Most Popular Poet of the 19^th Century        

Henry Wadworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine (in what used to be part of Massachusetts) on February 27, 1807.  He was the second of eight children.  His grandfather, Peleg Wadsworth was a brigadier general of militia in the Revolutionary War and later a congress man.       

Henry started school at age three.  By age six, he already knew Latin grammar, could read, spell and multiply.  Longfellow’s mother encouraged her children to participate in music, and Longfellow learned the piano and flute, developing a life-long love of music.  He started at Bowdoin College at age 14, at first studying law.  He delivered one of the commencement speeches at graduation in 1825.   Then he was asked become the first professor of Modern Languages there, as well as school librarian.   But first he traveled to Europe for three years to study.  Later, Longfellow was also a professor at Harvard University.      

Longfellow was married twice.  His first wife, Mary, died after a miscarriage.  His second wife, Fanny, who was the mother of his six children, died after her dress caught on fire.  Longfellow’s hands were badly burned when he tried to put the fire out, and since shaving became so difficult, he grew a long beard.  He based the heroine of his poem Hyperion on his wife Fanny.      

Starting in 1857 with the first issue, The Atlantic Monthly magazine published over fifty of Longfellow’s poems. In 1858, Longfellow published The Courtship of Miles Standish, which sold over 15,000 copies during the first week of publication.  Longfellow published over twenty books. Longfellow received honorary degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge.   Two years after his death, he was the first American poet whose bust was placed in the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey in England.   
 

The Arrow and the Song

  

I shot the arrow in the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight. 

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

  

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song? 

Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend.  

  
 The Village Blacksmith  
 

Under a spreading chestnut-tree

The village smithy stands;

The smith, a mighty man is he,

With large and sinewy hands;

And the muscles of his brawny arms

Are strong as iron bands.

His hair is crisp, and black, and long,

His face is like the tan;

His brow is wet with honest sweat,

He earns whate'er he can,

And looks the whole world in the face,

For he owes not any man.  

Week in, week out, from morn till night,

You can hear his bellows blow;

You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,

With measured beat and slow,

Like a sexton ringing the village bell,

When the evening sun is low.

And children coming home from school

Look in at the open door;

They love to see the flaming forge,

And hear the bellows roar,

And catch the burning sparks that fly

Like chaff from a threshing-floor.  

He goes on Sunday to the church,

And sits among his boys;

He hears the parson pray and preach,

He hears his daughter's voice,

Singing in the village choir,

And it makes his heart rejoice.

It sounds to him like her mother's voice,

Singing in Paradise!   
 

He needs must think of her once more,

How in the grave she lies;

And with his hard, rough hand he wipes

A tear out of his eyes.  

Toiling,---rejoicing,---sorrowing,

Onward through life he goes;

Each morning sees some task begin,

Each evening sees it close;

Something attempted, something done,

Has earned a night's repose.

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,

For the lesson thou hast taught!

Thus at the flaming forge of life

Our fortunes must be wrought;

Thus on its sounding anvil shaped

Each burning deed and thought.  

~*~*~ 

"The Village Blacksmith" originally appeared in Knickerbocker magazine in 1840 and served as a standard recitation piece in American schools until well into the twentieth century.

When the chestnut tree featured in this poem had to come down, the children of Cambridge collected pennies to have a chair made for Longfellow from its wood for his 72^nd  birthday.

Note the vivid descriptions of the person and the actions in this poem.   

 

 

Great American Communicators:

Patrick Henry 

Patrick Henry was home schooled by his father and his uncle.  He had ten brothers and sisters.  He didn’t do well at farming or storekeeping, so he taught himself law.  He became famous for a case known as “The Parson’s Cause” and went on to establish himself as a prominent lawyer in Williamsburg, Virginia. 

Patrick married twice.  His first wife, Sarah, went insane after childbirth and had to be confined to her home for several years until she died.  Between both wives, he had 15 children, but not all of them survived childhood. 

A powerful orator, Patrick Henry was always a staunch supporter of liberty and patriotism.  His “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech in March 1775 is credited with starting the American Revolution in Virginia. 

He held the following public offices:

• Delegate, Virginia House of Burgesses, 1765-1775
• Member, Virginia Committee of Correspondence, 1773
• Delegate, Continental Congress, 1774-1775
• Delegate, Virginia Convention, 1776
• Governor of Virginia, 1776-1779, 1784-1786
• Delegate, Virginia Constitution Ratification Convention, 1788

 You can hear a historian recite Patrick Henry’s speech at this web site:

http://www.history.org/Almanack/people/bios/biohen.cfm#speech  
 

Activities 

1. Read the speech on the next two pages. 
2. Choose five of the underlined words to look up and define.
3. Write one reason why Patrick Henry thinks the Americans should rise up and fight now rather than waiting.
4. Find an instance where he uses sarcasm to make a point and put a * by it.

 

 

"Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death"  
A speech delivered by Patrick Henry on March 23, 1775 

 
No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve.  This is no time for ceremony. The questing before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate.  It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country.  Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. 

 
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House.  Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet.  Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land.  Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort.  I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission?  Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them?  Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years.  

Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves.  Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament.  Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope.  If we wish to be free--if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!   

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?  Shall we gather strength but irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?  Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.  The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.  Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged!  Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston!  The war is inevitable--and let it come!  I repeat it, sir, let it come.     

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!  Our brethren are already in the field!  Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have?  Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!