Name ____________________________ Date _______________________
You’ve spent a lot of time using a dictionary to determine the meaning of unknown words over the past few months. One thing you’ve hopefully learned is that the purpose it to help you understand what the word means. Sometimes the definition doesn’t seem to make clear sense to you which requires that you look up additional words to help determine the meaning.
Never in his working life had he (Farmer Hogget) owned an animal good enough to compete in these trials. Now at last he had one, and he was not going to be stopped from realizing his ambition by the fact that it was a pig.
Babe – page 90
o Using the context, define the word “ambition”.
o Using a dictionary, define the word “ambition”.
o Now that you understand the meaning of “ambition,” describe a time when you felt ambitious. Be complete and clear in your description!
The title of chapter ten is, “Memorize It!” There is certainly reason for this to be an appropriate title. However, as I was reading the chapter I thought of the title, “Hogget’s Secret Plan”.
Which do you think is the most appropriate title for chapter ten? You must provide text-relevant support to explain your reasoning.
Chapters 11-12
Now that you’ve finished the novel, think about the lesson the author might want the reader to take away from the story. He draws a strong comparison between Babe and Fly – and not just their physical appearance. Rather, the author contrasts their styles of herding sheep with each other. Fly, for example, seems to be the more aggressive while directing the sheep where as Babe demonstrates a level of mutual respect (Not sure what this means – look up the word “mutual”) for the sheep. These contrasting styles lend themselves to a lesson in effective communication that I believe can be applied to our relationships with others.
Consider times where you’ve been talked to in both a respectful manner and in a more aggressive, abrasive way…How did it make you feel? Did one way seem to work better than the other? Specifically explain your experiences with these styles of communication and relate them back to the story.
Titles are always important to a story. In this story, each chapter had a rather succinct title that seemed to connect with how that chapter concludes (ends). Do you think Babe the Gallant Pig was the best title for this novel? Explain why you think so or provide an alternate title with reasoning.
