"The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates

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• Web Resources for The Ear, the Eye and the Arm
• Assignments for The Ear, the Eye and the Arm
• Notes for The Ear, the Eye and the Arm
  • Study Guide

Web Resources:

• Aaron's Reader's Theater Page: "Resthaven" by Nancy Farmer. A short play based on the chapters dealing with the Resthaven setting of The Ear, the Eye and the Arm.

  • Aaron Shepard's RT Page. Scripts and tips for Reader's Theater. On this page, children's author Aaron Shepard offers his resources for reader's theater, including the acclaimed multicultural script series Reader's Theater Editions. He promises a perfect combination of education and fun.

• Novel Guide for The Ear, the Eye and the Arm from Omaha Public Schools. Contains assignments.

• SF Site: Reviews: The Ear, the Eye and the Arm.

• Before, During and After Reading Activities for The Ear, the Eye and the Arm.

Assignments:

Notes on The Ear, the Eye and the Arm

Chapter One

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What is the setting (where and when the novel takes place) of the novel?

• Who is one of the main characters of the story?

• What do you know about him?

• How is the world in the novel different from the world today?

• What is destiny? (Use a dictionary if you need one)

• Why does Father approve of scouting?

• How does Father praise his children?

• Who are the Masks?

• What is a holophone and how is it different from a telephone?

• Who is the Mellower and what does his job seem to be?

• What is the struggle between Tendai and the Mellower and who usually wins?

Chapter Two

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What do the children mostly study on this day?

• What do you think dwaaling means? (Foreign words are always italicized or underlined.)

• Why do Tendai and Rita receive their educational instruction at home?

• Why does the martial arts instructor feel Tendai will not make a good soldier?

• How does Tendai react to the story of the sacrificed goat?

• In what way does Tendai feel like the mynah bird?

• What does Tendai do for the mynah bird?

Chapter Three

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• When Mother and Father are gone from the house, what do the children and the Mellower do?

• Who has a shave for story telling?

• What is a shave?

• From what tribe is the Mellower?

• What is the difference between a  shave and a mudzimua?

• What are the requirements for an explorer's badge?

• How will the Mellower help the children get Father's permission to go on the scout trip?

• What does Tendai dwaal about when he loses himself in thought?

• How does the Mellower get two pass cards?

• How does Tendai feel about the trip?

• Do you trust the Mellower? Why or why not?

• What do you predict will happen next?

Chapter Four

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What do Mother and Father realize4 at the same time?

• How does the rat react to Rita?

• What does Tendai realize about himself and his emotions (happiness and sadness) while in the Mbare Musika?

• What is the Blue Monkey's attitude toward people?

• Describe the trap that captures the children.

  • Who is involved?

  • What was the bait for the trap?

  • What was used to make the children unconscious?

Chapter Five

Vocabulary:

vice	sleuth	solemnly
famine

Study Questions:

• Who do you think the She Elephant is?

• Why is Father embarrassed over how he has raised Tendai?

• How does Mother hear about the Ear, the Eye and the Arm Detective Agency?

• How are the children traveling away from the Mbare Musika?

• What does Tendai do to Fist's belt?

• Who are Fist and Knife?

• What important piece of information did Fist and Knife not know?

• Where do Tendai and Kuda hide? 

• Where is Rita?

• Whose voice do you think they hear calling, "Bring them to meeeee"?

• Where do the people who trap Tendai and Kuda come from?

• Why didn't the children see them before?

Chapter Six

Vocabulary:

stammered

bewildered

abruptly

Study Questions:

• How is Arm different from anyone else?

• How is Ear different fro anyone else?

• What kind of protections do Eye and Ear wear to protect themselves?

• How is Arm protected?

• What happens when someone shakes hands with Arm?

• What do you think Arm is doing when people feel energy hum while they shake hands?

• What is Father's last opinion of Arm in the chapter?

Chapter Seven

Vocabulary:

camouflage	monotonous	mishmash
dank	riffraff	mournfully

Study Questions:

• Describe the vlei people.

• Who cleans Tendai's monkey bite?

• What does this say about the character?

• How is the food different in the vlei?

• What is a shooperer?

• What do the vlei say about the children?

• At this point in the story, who do you think are the good guys and who do you think are the bad guys?

Chapter Eight

Vocabulary:

fetter	mottled	remnants
flask	qualms	refuse
intensity

Study Questions:

• Where does the She Elephant take the children?

• What kind of work are the children made to do?

• What valuable ore is mined in the trash heaps?

• What does this say about the author's view of the world in the future?

• What valuable items do the children find?

• How does Tendai feel when he is eating with the vlei and the She Elephant?

Chapter Nine

Vocabulary:

sober	veer	malicious
plasma	gyrate

• What is Arm's specialty?

• What can he tell about General Matsika's house?

• What do the detectives learn from the Blue Monkey?

• "She Elephant" is a special title. What is the title and from what tribe does it originate?

Chapter Ten

Vocabulary:

insidious	ravenous	seething
resentment	aristocrat	siesta

Study Questions:

• Who much time has gone by since Chapter Nine?

• Aside from her brothers, who is Rita getting along with best?

• Who does Granny resent the most?

• What is her background?

• Why does Granny like Rita?

• Who is the man that Kuda translates for?

• Who is jealous of Trashman and why?

• What object does Tendai miss the most? Why?

• Why does Tendai cry at the end of the chapter?

Chapter Eleven

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Why are the Arm, the Ear and the Eye not welcome at Mr. Thirsty's?

• Who do Eye, Ear and Arm see at Mr. Thirsty's and what do they overhear?

• Who saves Eye's life?

• Who lies to General Matsika when the General starts his questioning?

• What does Mr. Thirsty say about the Mask's plans for the children?

• What gift does Arm give to Mr. Thirsty?

• What is the detectives' plan?

Chapter Twelve

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Because Fist and Knife are with Granny, Tendai has a new job. What is it?

• What is a ndoro?

• When she learns Knife has left an important clue behind, what does She Elephant plan to do?

• Why are the Masks difficult to trace?

• Tendai prays to whom for help?

• How are his prayers answered?

• How does Tendai escape?

Chapter Thirteen

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What does Granny know that shocks the children? 

• Who carries Kuda away?

• Why doesn't Granny give the alarm that the children have escaped?

• Why don't the vlei people chase the children into the suburb?

• Where does the bus driver take the children?

Chapter Fourteen

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What is the Trashman's real name?

• What is Resthaven?

• How did Chedu become a member of Resthaven?

• Compare the smell of food between the She Elephant's cooking and the aromas in Resthaven.

• When he is alone, who does Tendai thank?

• What is Tendai's theory about why the Mellower could speak convincingly about Tendai's ancestors?

Chapter Fifteen

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• How do you think a Nirvana gun works?

• How are the vlei like an ant nest?

• What happened that made Arm create enough noise to alert the She Elephant?

• What is the greatest threat to Arm?

• Why doesn't the border between the vlei and Vainona stop the vlei people?

• How are the detectives saved?

• Who doest the bus driver think the She Elephant is?

• How close were the detectives to finding the children?

Chapter Sixteen

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What attracts the attention of the people at Resthaven?

• Why is Tendai given his own bowl and not allowed to eat from the communal bowl?

• Describe how Tendai must introduce himself.

• What's for dinner?

• What happens after the meal? What is the "entertainment"?

• What happens in the story told by Garikayi?

• What is the story that Tendai tells?

• If the Spirit Medium agrees, Tendai and the other children will be accepted into Resthaven. What will that mean?

Chapter Seventeen

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What are the many things that Mother has discovered by this time?

• How has the Mellower behaved since the children left?

• What is the detective's reaction to the Mellower and his praise?

• What does the Arm see in the Mellower's mind?

• Why doesn't Gen. Matsika offer a reward for the return of his children?

Chapter Eighteen

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What is the difference between the boy's lives and the girl's lives at Resthaven?

• What are some of the things that worry Rita?

• What are some of the things that the children at Resthaven do not know?

Chapter Nineteen

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Why does Tendai have sympathy for Clay Belly?

• Why doesn't Granny give the alarm that the children have escaped?

• How does Tendai feel about Resthaven life?

• What happens when the Kamba clan comes to the meadow?

• What does it mean to be a bull?

• Why does Tendai feel dishonest after the fight?

• Fighting was against the rules in Resthaven, but everyone is proud of Tendai. Why do you think this is?

• What crime did Rita commit and what was the punishment?

• Should she have been punished? Why or why not?

• What is your opinion of Resthaven?

Chapter Twenty

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Where did the detectives get suitable clothes for dinner with the Matsikas?

• Why were they given clothes?

• Why does Eye have a problem with the elevator to the Starlight Room?

• Who comes to the Restaurant as the General was leaving?

• What does Arm notice about them?

• What does the General know?

Chapter Twenty-one

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• How did Resthaven begin?

• Why can't the General get the children out?

• Why can't the General invade Resthaven?

• What does Arm learn by putting his hands on the Gereral's shoulders?

• Who is Beauty?

• Why did General Matsika tell Arm about Resthaven?

Chapter Twenty-two

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What kind of look passes between the Spirit Medium and Tendai? What does the look seem to say?

• Why does Rita have a baby in her arms at the ceremony?

• Why is Rita angry?

• The village knew that two babies were born, but they pretended not to know so that they later could pretend that the baby was stillborn and not murdered. What other time in the novel did the villagers know something but pretend they didn't know?

• How and where did Myanda grow up and how did she get to Resthaven?

• Myanda accepts the bad with the good in Resthaven society. What are Myanda's reasons for accepting the bad (like killing the baby) with the good?

• Do you agree with her? Why or why not?

• What must Tendai do at the night's ceremony to prove that he is not a witch?

• What does Myanda give him to help?

• What will happen to Sekai?

Chapter Twenty-three

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What is a spirit medium?

• What is with Tendai and the children in the dark while they are in custody?

• What is the matter with Rita?

• How does the Spirit Medium change?

• What does Tendai unexpectedly see in the Spirit Medium?

• What is the mudzimu?

• How does the midzimu change the plans of the Spirit Medium?

• Who does not vomit?

Chapter Twenty-four

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Where do the children go?

• Who is accompanying them?

• How do they get chocolate?

• How do they get the fare to Borrowdale?

Chapter Twenty-five

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Who do the detectives hear in the subway?

• What is the most sacred law in Harare?

• What is the argument between Garikayi and the Spirit Medium?

• Who do the detectives pretend to be?

• How does Myanda protect the baby?

• How does Myanda protect the baby?

• How is life in Borrowdale different from life in Mazoe?

• How does Tendai find Horsepool Lane?

• Why will the children stay in quarantine?

• What are Tendai's suspicions about the Mellower's mother?

• What does he keep secret from her?

• What is Tendai's dream about?

Chapter Twenty-six

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• To whom does the baby bond?

• Describe the major problem Arm has because he has bonded with Sedai.

• Why is Arm jealous of the Mellower?

• How does the Mellower react when Arm asks him, "Have you heard anything about the children?"

• What does Ear say about the Mellower's reaction?

• What do you suspect?

Chapter Twenty-seven

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What are the interests of the Mellower's mother? What does she like best in the world?

• What is the Mellower's real name?

• What is the Mellower's mother's real name?

• Who gets the best food in the house?

• What sickness does Tendai contract?

• Who gets it next?

• What are Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham's complaints about the robot?

• Why do you think Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham is lying to the children?

• How does Tendai get into the room Kuda is in?

Chapter Twenty-eight

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What are the statues of little men in the garden?

• What visitors does Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham receive?

• What is the Invalid's Room?

• What is the Kiddie Koop?

• What are ngozi?

• How does Tendai protect Kuda from ngozi?

Chapter Twenty-nine

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Who do the detectives see in the subway?

• Where do the detectives think the She Elephant has gone?

• What clue do the detectives find in the subway?

• What power of Arm is becoming more sensitive?

• What is Arm sensing and learning about the she Elephant?

• Why does the baby cry?

• What do you think the Mellower is worried about?

Chapter Thirty

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Why is Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham so upset that she can't eat her oatmeal?

• What is Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham's plan an how does it involve her son?

• How does Tendai feel about Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham?

• How does Tendai feel about the Mellower?

• When Tendai finds out that Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham is kidnapping him and the children, his first is to denounce her as a traitor. But as he thinks again, what reasons does he find for her behavior?

• What reasons does Tendai find for the Mellower's involvement in the plot?

• What is Rita's reaction when she finds out that her parents are not on a cruise?

• Do you believe the Mellower or his mother should go to prison? Why or why not?

Chapter Thirty-one

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What does Mrs. Matsika want to do?

• What is the children's plan?

• In what way would Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham be "declared a witch"?

• Who cuts through the front gate?

Chapter Thirty-two

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Who face off for battle in the garden?

• What are the strengths and weaknesses in each of these two opponents?

• How does the She Elephant escape?

• What has General Matsika done to the people at Dead Man's Vlei?

• How does the She Elephant rationalize stealing children?

Chapter Thirty-three

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Why doesn't Tendai yell for the police?

• Compare (show the similarities) and contrast (show the differences) the Blue Monkey with Rita.

• To whom does the Blue Monkey bring the She Elephant?

• Why doesn't he stay?

• How does Tendai try to protect Kuda?

• Describe the Masks' den.

Chapter Thirty-four

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What clues are there that the children were at Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham's home?

• What will happen to Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham?

• What will happen to the Mellower?

• What does the matchbook tell the detectives and what does it tell you?

• Why does the baby cry when Arm holds her?

Chapter Thirty-five

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Describe Arm's dream.

  • Where is he?

  • What does it look like and what does he see?

  • What is the mhondoro?

  • What is the message that Arm is given in the dream?

  • What does Arm realize about the Masks?

• Who are at the Starlight Room?

• What is the maitre d's opinion of the Gondwannan's?

• From what building does the mhondoro speak to Arm?

• Why doesn't the General believe Arm?

• What does Arm want General Matsika to do?

• How and why has Arm changed?

Chapter Thirty-six

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Why do the Masks want a "goat"?

• Why does the She Elephant object?

• Why does Kuda laugh?

• What is behind the mask that surprises Tendai?

• Who is the Wart Hog?

• While looking out the car window, what does Tendai think of his city?

• How does Tendai fight the negative thoughts that flood his mind?

• Where is the Gondwannan Embassy?

• How does Tendai steal the Wart Hog's power?

• What is behind the black curtain?

• Describe the mask that draws Tendai's attention.

Chapter Thirty-seven

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Why does the building move?

• What rouses the mhondoro?

• What do the detectives see over the railing?

• How is Ear hurt?

• Who wants to help free the children?

• What is the diversion created by the cook and the salad master?

• Describe the door that blocks Mother.

Chapter Thirty-eight

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What does mhondoro say will happen to Arm if the detective is killed?

• What risk is the mhondoro taking?

• What does Obambo Chivari see that makes him jump back from Tendai?

• What does Tendai chant to give himself courage?

• When Arm shoots the Masks, what is it that only Arm can hear?

• What is the "hole in the ocean of desire"?

• How is Arm lost in battle?

Chapter Thirty-nine

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What happens to Arm?

• Where does the Spirit Medium go?

• Why is this a good or bad choice?

• Tendai sees what the mhondoro really is. What is it?

• In what way does the She Elephant belong?

• Why can't the Big Head Mask readily take shape?

• What part does the She Elephant have in the victory?

• What does Rita not understand about Tendai?

Chapter Forty

Study Questions:

• Does the She Elephant escape?

• How is Tendai like his father when it comes to duty?

• Why do you think Arm lives?

• What does Tendai wish for at his birthday?

• Where is Trashman?

Epilogue

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• What happens to each of the following characters?

  • Obambo Chivari

  • She Elephant

  • Granny 

  • Fist and Knife

  • Mrs. Horsepool-Worthingham

  • Trashman

  • The People at Resthaven

  • Tendai, Rita and Kuda

  • Eye, Ear, and Arm

  • The Mellower

Appendix

Vocabulary:

Study Questions:

• Describe the Spirit World of the Shona.

E-mail Thomas Trevenen 


Copyright 1998 by Thomas Trevenen

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