Plot Details
"Exposition" is the character, setting, and initial conflict. What is the exposition in "American Horse"?
Buddy and Albertine are in the woodshed, hiding from the cops/CPS.
How does Buddy's dream in the beginning add tension to the story?
He dreams that the cops are searching for him, and he even dreams they are grabbing at him. He dreams of a huge metal monster that will come for him and crush him, which is scary.
What details from paragraph 11 make him a (somewhat) unreliable narrator?
His feelings about his mom are all over the place (wants to marry her and wants her to die). This is probably because he is young, and maybe he doesn't get what is going on around him.
True or False: Buddy is probably around 16 years old.
False: he is probably much younger--he fits on the cot with his mom. He wants to marry her. He fits in between Koob and Brackett.
What does "rangy" mean?
Long-legged.
Uncle Lawrence comes out of the house to meet the cops. What do they end up doing to take care of him?
Handcuff him to the cop car (42).
What is the word or phrase in paragraph 77 that provides the closure to the foreshadowing of the metal monster from Buddy's dream?
"pieces of his own body...whirl onto the sharp things all around him".
Of course, he isn't being torn up, but the image confirms that his fears from earlier about the monster are being realized by Buddy when he's in the car.
What paragraph acts as a good example of Officer Brackett's point-of-view, and what seems to matter most to HIM in this story?
Possibly "he has a major crush on Vicki Koob"
39 (her sweaty hair)
47 (her pen that sucks back to the clip on her blouse)
53 (her little notebook)
List at least two of the physical details that make Uncle Lawrence "peculiar".
Glass eye
Dentures
Corset laced with a shoestring (to help with his hurt ribs)
A smoking jacket (with golden dragons on the lapel)
How does Uncle Lawrence's actions in paragraph 35 help you define what "consternated" means?
He pops a weird-looking glass eye right into his face. It is a shocking sight, and so "consternated" probably means "shocking" or "bothered".
What instance of rising action occurred directly before this line?
"She expected him to fall, but he just stumbled. And then he took his gun from his hip," (23).
Albertine burst out of the shed and punched Harmony in the face (with her belt wrapped around her hand).
In what paragraph does the flashback begin, and where does it end?
Paragraphs 64 to 68.
How does the following line indicate that Vicki Koob might be an unreliable narrator?
"Officer Brackett displays an undue amount of interest in my person," she wrote. "Perhaps?"
While she is there to document the safety concerns in the house, she is a little bit distracted by flirting with Officer Brackett.
What happened to Albertine's father?
He was "killed threshing in Belle Prairie".
What words act as context clues in helping to define "deciphering"?
"Each read the face of the other as if deciphering letters carved into softly eroding veins of stone," (23).
The verb "read" and the noun "letters" helps someone figure out that it means: to solve, interpret, or figure out.
Describe the key details from the ending of the story.
1. Brackett and Koob put Buddy in the car between them.
2. He eats a chocolate bar, but thinks he tastes his mother's blood.
3. Unexpectedly, after he eats the chocolate, he screams, and then screams again.
Albertine's belt buckle was a butterfly, and looking at it triggered her to flashback to the memory with her father.
What other details from the flashback later on in the story?
Her father threw her up in the air into the sunshine. This "flight" was something like a butterfly, and she felt it again right before she lost consciousness when Officer Harmony hit her on the head.
"Understatement" is a move someone makes to make something seem less important or serious than it truly is.
Where is the understatement in paragraphs 25-26?
For double: Why would Harmony want to do that?
While he could've used a much more judgmental word (weirdo, for example), Harmony called him "a character".
For double: He did it to keep the peace between the white people and Uncle Lawrence.
What is ironic about Officer Harmony's name, given the events in this story?
He is both Native American AND an officer of the United States (a cop).
The word "harmony" means bringing together different musical notes in a way that sounds pleasing.
It is ironic because the interchange between the US government and these natives is hardly "pleasant".
Why is the phrase "threatened amiably" weird (32)?
"Amiably" means 'friendly", which isn't usually used to describe threats.