Worksheet on 'Indian Camp' by Ernest Hemingway

 

 

Vocabulary from the text


the lake shore = la rive du lac

a rowboat = un canot

to row = ramer

the stern = l'arrière, la poupe

the mist = la brume

the beach = la plage

a shanty (pl. shanties) = une baraque

bark = écorce d'un arbre

to peel = peler, écorcer

a wooden bunk = une couchette de bois

she screamed = elle cria, hurla

a quilt = un édredon, une couette

an axe = une hache

a stove = un poêle

a kettle = une bouilloire

a basin = une cuvette, un lavabo

a handkerchief = un mouchoir

to slap = gifler

to breathe = respirer

stitches = des points (de suture)

to sew up = recoudre

peroxide = eau oxygénée

gut leaders = fil de pêche en boyau

a blanket = une couverture

his throat = sa gorge

to tip = pencher

a bass = une perche (poisson)

chill = la fraîcheur, le froid


 

 

Sum up the short-story (50 words)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do the following characters relate to each other?

Nick is ...

The doctor is ...

Uncle George is ...

 

What do we learn about  their personalities?

 

 

 

 

 

True or false? Please quote from the text (page/line)

 

1- Two white men have come to an Indian camp to offer the Indians cigars.

2- The story starts on a cold winter morning.

3- The way to the camp is an easy one.

4- The Indians live in recent buildings with all modern conveniences.

5- All the Indians are gathered around the squaw.

6- The squaw's companion hurt himself with a knife three days before.

7- Nick's father brought several utensils including anaesthetic.

8- Giving birth is no easy task because the woman keeps screaming.

9- The squaw bit the doctor's foot.

10- The doctor has Nick watch the sewing up of the incision.

11- The woman's companion has been murdered by one of the Indians present.

12- They all decided to go fishing after the tragedy.

 

 

 

Who/what do the following pronouns refer to?

 

(p 148 / l 15)              "I don't hear them because they are not important"

(p 149 / l 8  )              "slapped it to make it breathe and handed it to the old woman"

(p 149 / l 27)              "I'll put some peroxide on that George"

(p 150 / l 32) "He couldn't stand things, I guess"

(p 150 / l 9)                "They are usually the worst sufferers in these little affairs"

(p 151 / l 26)              "He felt quite sure that he would never die"

 

 

Correspondences

 

What does the axe accident foreshadow?

What does the woman's incision echo?

What does the mist of the beginning symbolise?

What does the sun coming up represent?

What does the father's suicide add to the story?

 

 

 

Identify, compare, oppose and justify the following verbal forms

 

(p 147 / l 26)              "She had been trying to have her baby for two days"

(p 147 / l 27)              "All the old women in the camp had been helping her"

(p 147 / l 27)              "The men had moved off"

(p 147 / l 33)              "He had cut his foot very badly with an axe three days before"

(p 147 / l 34)              "He was smoking a pipe"

(p 147 / l 34)              "The room smelled very bad"

 

 

Which is the main theme of this short-story: LIFE or DEATH?