Parent Guide > Excerpts from "Roughing It": Prefatory & Chapter 42
Welcome to the parent guide for this text! Read below to find out about what your child is reading in class and how you can support him/her at home.
This week in class, we’re reading "Excerpts from "Roughing It": Prefatory & Chapter 42" by Mark Twain.
In Roughing It, Mark Twain recounts his time looking for work out West in a semi-autobiographical, comic travelogue. In this excerpt, Twain often mingles the tragic and the comic in an effort to reveal how harsh and humorous life can simultaneously be, especially in the "Wild West."
As we read, we will be discussing the themes of Comedy & Tragedy and Resilience & Success as they relate to the text. We are trying to answer these big questions :
"What can we learn from comedy?" and "Why do people succeed?"
Ways to support your child:
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Ask your child about this piece of satire at home:
- What was "Excerpts from "Roughing It": Prefatory & Chapter 42" about?
- What did you learn about Comedy & Tragedy?
- What did you learn about Resilience & Success?
- Watch the following clips with your child at home: