Figurative Language
Head of the lifesaving service.
What is Richard's known for?
Tucker is being bullied by other kids because he is short.
What is the external conflict in the story?
I’m Mrs. LaShana Mae Willis, Tugboat’s wife.
Who is the narrator of the story?
One day Tucker did something that made everybody stop calling him names.
What is a flashback?
Tucker could swim like a fish.
What is a simile?
Good at swimming and fishing
What does Richard and Tucker have in common?
Tucker is bothered by his short stature.
What is the internal conflict in the story?
Not stop shortstop, great basketball player, strong swimmer, surfer
What are Tucker's character traits?
Tucker was a tough little dude.
What is colloquial language?
"Pull 'em in tugboat!"
What is a metaphor?
Richard told him it wasn't the size of a person that got the job done. It was how bad the person wanted to do it.
What advice does Richard give Tucker?
Fighting didn’t help. The name-callers were all too big for him to beat up.
Why did Tucker give up fighting the kids who bullied him?
There wasn’t much, but what he read was that Richard Etheridge was all those great things he had read about and that he still died in 1900.
Who is the ghost?
Tootsie Roll and Tugboat
What are Tucker's nicknames?
“History of the Pea Island Lifesaving Service. Captain Richard Etheridge was Keeper of the Pea Island Lifesaving Service, a forerunner of part of what is now the U.S. Coast Guard."
What is an allusion?
Richard said a good crewman had to be strong, an excellent swimmer, a quick thinker, and in good physical health, have good eyesight, and understand how dangerous the sea can be.
What are the qualifications to be a Life Saver?
Tucker saw his life flash before his eyes when Mr. Nibbles grabbed him.
What is the climax of the story?
The man said, “You’re kinda little to be way out here, ain’t ya, squirt?” Tucker just shook his head and kept going.
Who is Mr. Nibbles?
But the man on the raft wasn’t. He thrashed around in the water screaming that he couldn’t swim.
What is irony?
Richard said that Tucker would make a good tugboat and one day might even grow to be a big ship.
What is a metaphor?
His home was in Manteo, on Roanoke Island, not far from the Outer Banks, where he worked with the U.S. Lifesaving Service.
Where is Richard from?
“Captain Etheridge, born in 1844 on Roanoke Island in North Carolina, died in 1900.” Richard had a long history at the Pea Island Lifesaving Department.
What is the denouement?
Fishing, being bullied, Methodist Church, North Carolina, School
What do LaShana Mae and Tucker have in common?
Anything about water fascinated Tucker, so he must have asked this Richard a million questions.
What is hyperbole?