Hendrik Willem Van Loon
Pre-reading
Hendrik Willem van Loon (1882-1944) was a Dutch-American historian and journalist. He emigrated to the United States in 1903 and studied at Harvard and Cornell(B.A., 1905). He was an Associated Press correspondent in Russia during the revolutionary outbreak of 1905 and in Belgium at the beginning of World War I. As a writer, he was known for emphasizing crucial historical events and giving a complete picture of individual characters, as well as the role of the arts in history. His numerous popular works include The Story of Mankind (1921),The Story of the Bible (1923),Tolerance (1925),America(1927), and R. v. R.(1930), a fictional biography of Rembrandt. The Story of Mankind won the first Newbery Medal in 1922.
Prompts for Your Reading
1.Learn more about the author Hendrik Willem van Loon before you go on reading the following passage.
2.How does the story unfold itself?
3.Can you divide the story into several parts? What would be the principle of your division?
4.Make a list of the conflicts that occur in this story.
5.Where do you think is the climax of the story? Why?
6.Why is the valley named Valley of Ignorance? What do the names of mountains, marshes and hills in the story signify?
7.What role does the Law play in this story?
8.How would you describe the general tone of this story?
9.When you come to the end of the story, can you retell it in plain words?
10.Why is this passage entitled with tolerance?
[1] Happily lived Mankind in the peaceful Valley of Ignorance.
[2] To the north, to the south, to the west and to the east stretched the ridges of the Hills Everlasting.
[3] A little stream of Knowledge trickled slowly through a deep worn gully.
[4] It came out of the Mountains of the Past.
[5] It cost itself in the Marshes of the Future.
[6] It was not much, as rivers go. But it was enough for the humble needs of the villagers.