Notice two feelings together
Junior describes how the group says goodbye at the wake.
“And so, laughing and crying, we said good-bye to my grandmother.” (Alexie 166)Read in the chapter
The aimGrandmother's last words are "forgive him." Why can she forgive the man who killed her, and why does her wake end in laughter?
Read this week
Close-reading practice
Read first. Make your own notes, then switch on the model highlights in each passage.
Words for this response
Use one word from each of 4 assigned groups. See the groups and sentence examples →
From a highlight to your writing
Notice the words
“She never owned a dance outfit. This couldn’t be hers.”
Margin note
Mom reveals the mistake behind Ted’s visit. This helps explain what later sets off the laughter. She uses what she knows about Grandmother’s life to test his story.
My notebook
Mom knows Grandmother’s life → Ted’s story does not fit.
See note 2 beside the passage · Alexie 165
See the observation become sentences
- What it says
Mom says Grandmother never owned a dance outfit, so the outfit Ted brought cannot be hers.
- What it helps explain
Mom uses a fact from Grandmother’s life to correct a confident stranger. His mistake becomes clear to everyone at the wake.
Your turn: another detail
Underline the two actions happening at once. Write how both can express the loss of someone people love.
Test a possible misreading
First thought: The people laugh because they are glad Grandmother died.
Notice two feelings together
Junior describes how the group says goodbye at the wake.
“And so, laughing and crying, we said good-bye to my grandmother.” (Alexie 166)Read in the chapter
Look again: The same sentence says they are laughing, crying, and saying goodbye. Explain the shared grief instead of treating laughter as proof that the loss does not hurt.
Connect two kinds of response
Forgiveness
A final request connected to Grandmother’s values.
Laughter
A mistaken story followed by laughing and crying.
Connection to explain
How can care for people and grief appear in these different responses?
Characters
What do their choices show?
Themes
What message is developing?
Change
What is different, and why?
Your evidence is building toward a bigger question
The rez calls Junior a traitor for leaving; Rowdy ends the book calling him a nomad. Which one is he, and what proves it?
Open the evidence ledger through Week 12 →Test an interpretation
What makes the people laugh? How does laughing help them say good-bye?
Compare with one possible explanation
Ted returns an outfit that never belonged to Grandmother. Mom’s correction reveals his mistake and starts the laughter. The family is still sad, but laughing together helps them share their grief.
Your notebook → your Aim Response
Build your response
Choose your evidence here. Write your sentences in your notebook.
Why she forgives
Connect her final wish to a lasting quality or value.
Why they laugh
Explain the situation and why laughter can belong at a funeral.
Answer the whole question
Grandmother can forgive because ___; the wake ends in laughter because ___.
A starting shape, not the only way to write your answer. Replace the spaces with your own thinking.
Evidence 1 + your explanation
The exact quotation, its context, and its citation will appear here.
What it saysIn my own words, this means …
What it showsThis helps answer the question because …
Evidence 2 + your explanation
The exact quotation, its context, and its citation will appear here.
What it saysIn my own words, this means …
What it showsThis helps answer the question because …
Choose two different quotations. Then check that your writing explains every part of the aim.
Connect the two details
The first detail shows … . But / So / Because … . Together, these details help explain … .
Choose the connector that matches your reasoning: but contrasts, so gives a result, because gives a reason.
See the shape in a complete model
This model answers a related question. Notice where the quotes, explanations, words, and appositives go.
Name her usual value
Junior identifies a quality he valued in Grandmother.
“My grandmother’s greatest gift was tolerance.” (Alexie 155)Read in the chapter
Can help with: Why she forgives.
Connect a choice to a pattern
Junior remembers Grandmother’s way of caring for people.
“Everybody loved her; she loved everybody.” (Alexie 156)Read in the chapter
Can help with: Why she forgives.
Explain her last choice
Junior interprets Grandmother’s final request.
“My grandmother’s last act on earth was a call for forgiveness, love, and tolerance.” (Alexie 157)Read in the chapter
Can help with: Why she forgives.
Read laughter alongside grief
Junior reflects on the shared laughter at Grandmother’s wake.
“When it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing.” (Alexie 166)Read in the chapter
Can help with: Why they laugh.
Find what starts the humor
Junior’s mother corrects Ted’s story about a dance outfit.
“She never owned a dance outfit. This couldn’t be hers.” (Alexie 165)Read in the chapter
Can help with: Why they laugh.
Notice two feelings together
Junior describes how the group says goodbye at the wake.
“And so, laughing and crying, we said good-bye to my grandmother.” (Alexie 166)Read in the chapter
Can help with: Why they laugh.
Keep the whole aim in view. The wake exercise practices the laughter part. Your final response must also explain Grandmother’s forgiveness.
Words of the day 2 points
Use one word from each of these 4 groups. Complete all 4 groups for the vocabulary points. Words separated by “or” are alternatives.
Meaning + one sentence example
tolerance (noun) — Willingness to accept people whose lives or views differ from your own.
Grandmother’s tolerance is a habit of making room for other people.
Original writing example · More word help
Meaning + one sentence example
anthropologist (noun) — A person who studies human communities, cultures, and ways of life.
An anthropologist studies human societies and cultures; careful inquiry requires listening to people who know the life being discussed.
Original writing example · More word help
Meaning + one sentence example
grief (noun) — Deep sadness after a death or another serious loss.
Laughter at the wake can exist alongside grief.
Original writing example · More word help
Meaning + one sentence example
eccentricity (noun) — A way of acting that is unusual or different from what people expect.
Ted’s eccentricity, his unusual collecting interest, does not make him an expert on Grandmother’s life.
Original writing example · More word help
An alternative from a listed root family fills the same group. Review words in a practice model do not replace this list. Connect each word to your point; a made-up event is not evidence.
Introduce two people or ideas 2 appositives · 2 points
The words between the commas give another name for the noun.
Grandmother, another name for this person or idea, …
See one that works
Grandmother, a person Junior remembers for her tolerance, asks for forgiveness.
“a person Junior remembers for her tolerance” and “Grandmother” name the same person or idea. Keep both commas; finish with your own point.
Ted, another name for this person or idea, …
See one that works
Ted, a visitor who collects Native objects, tells the family a mistaken story.
“a visitor who collects Native objects” and “Ted” name the same person or idea. Keep both commas; finish with your own point.
Check the response in your notebook
Point to the evidence in your own paragraph before checking a box.
These boxes are a self-check, not a grade. Development reflects how your argument builds and your growth as a writer. Checks stay in this browser.
More evidence and practice
Explore the evidence
Why she forgives
How do Grandmother’s earlier words and actions help explain her last request?
Why they laugh
What starts the laughter, and how can laughter be part of grief?
Name her usual value
Junior identifies a quality he valued in Grandmother.
“My grandmother’s greatest gift was tolerance.” (Alexie 155)Read in the chapterCharacters
What this detail can show
Tolerance means making room for people who are different. Junior presents it as a lasting quality, so her final request is not a sudden change of character.
Connect a choice to a pattern
Junior remembers Grandmother’s way of caring for people.
“Everybody loved her; she loved everybody.” (Alexie 156)Read in the chapterCharacters
What this detail can show
The repeated word “everybody” makes her care sound wide and open. Compare that habit with her final request for forgiveness.
Explain her last choice
Junior interprets Grandmother’s final request.
“My grandmother’s last act on earth was a call for forgiveness, love, and tolerance.” (Alexie 157)Read in the chapterCharacters
What this detail can show
Junior connects her last request to three values. This tells us how he understands her choice; it does not excuse the driver’s harm.
Read laughter alongside grief
Junior reflects on the shared laughter at Grandmother’s wake.
“When it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing.” (Alexie 166)Read in the chapterThemes
What this detail can show
Junior connects laughter with tears. The laughter is part of saying goodbye together, not proof that the death stopped hurting.
Find what starts the humor
Junior’s mother corrects Ted’s story about a dance outfit.
“She never owned a dance outfit. This couldn’t be hers.” (Alexie 165)Read in the chapterCharacters
What this detail can show
Mom shows that Ted’s confident story cannot fit Grandmother’s life. This mistake helps explain the laughter that follows his departure.
Notice two feelings together
Junior describes how the group says goodbye at the wake.
“And so, laughing and crying, we said good-bye to my grandmother.” (Alexie 166)Read in the chapterThemes
What this detail can show
Laughing and crying happen during the same goodbye. Their shared response holds sadness and warmth together.
Find more evidence in the chapter
- Chapter 24: Look for another response to loss. What does the person do, and what does that action show that the word “sad” alone would miss?
Keep the whole aim in view. The wake exercise practices the laughter part. Your final response must also explain Grandmother’s forgiveness.
Choose a second quote that adds something
After explaining Ted’s mistaken story, which quotation best adds what the laughter means during a funeral?
In your notebook: explain what your second quotation adds that the first one could not show alone.
Your evidence is building toward a bigger question
The rez calls Junior a traitor for leaving; Rowdy ends the book calling him a nomad. Which one is he, and what proves it?
Open the evidence ledger through Week 12 →Reading practice helps you prepare. Your Aim Response is the paragraph you write in your notebook. Check that paragraph against the rubric →
Check yourself
Complete the explanation
Use each choice once. These are practice sentences, not quotations.
At the wake, Mom tests Ted’s story against what she knows about her mother. Grandmother attended powwows, but she was not a . Mom also questions the outfit’s . Ted leaves, and a short follows before Mom begins to laugh. The whole gathering joins her. Junior describes that shared sound as , even though the family is mourning. Later, his description of their houses reminds us that being together has not removed the loss. A change in the room’s mood is not the same as an end to grief.
- Blank 1: A person who performs dances.
- Blank 2: The outfit’s pattern and decoration made with beads.
- Blank 3: A pause when nobody speaks.
- Blank 4: Junior’s positive word for the sound of everyone laughing.
- Blank 5: The word describing the houses people return to.
Follow the turn at the wake
Drag the blocks or use the arrow buttons. Keyboard: focus a block and press Alt + ↑ / ↓.
- Mom questions the outfit’s beadwork and Ted’s supposed expert.
- People say good-bye to Grandmother while laughing and crying.
- Mom explains that Grandmother never danced or owned a dance outfit.
- Ted packs the outfit and leaves.
- After a quiet pause, Mom begins laughing and the gathering joins her.
Take it into your writing
In your notebook, pair one detail about Grandmother’s life with one detail from the wake, then explain how the second detail adds to the first.
Practice feedback is for you. These activities do not submit a grade.