Safa Khan

11/16/20 (due)

8th Grade/ English Honors 1

Sr. Soofia

“The Seventh Man” Tasks pg. 132

Task 1- In class bullet point notes 12 total (a 4—5 noted every day so by the end of the week you
have at least 12- the teacher will guide)

Discussed What Guilt Is, and the types of Guilt one might face

Started “The Seventh Man”

Discussed the meaning behind the text as well as the meaning of Survivors Guilt and
how one can overcome this kind of guilt

Went over EQ “What does it take to survive” class was provided context on how one
will be able to survive only after he/she overcomes guilt

Went over our description of K and how his speech-impediment made many people
misrepresent him

Summarized “The Seventh Man” after reading

Reflected on how complicated survival can be

How the Seventh Man reflected the EQ in a unique way

We went over how by reading the text one can come to realize that a childhood
decision could change someone’s life negatively

To overcome a poor childhood decision, we may require some kind of support

Went over weekly task #3, what infinitive phrases are

 Discussed our opinions on if the seventh man should be able to forgive himself for
the mistake he made as a 10-year old boy

Task 2- All vocab (1 synonym + 1 sentence each) Blue words on pg 132 and ALL black words
on every page throughout the text

 Desperate: That was it, the test had begun and I was desperate, I knew my
outcomes and gave in.

Synonym: Pessimistic

 Entranced: Seeing her beauty for the first time, I was entranced not
expecting what I saw.

Synonym: Captivated

 Hallucination: Was I going crazy I thought, she was no longer alive yet I
could sit hours on end talking to her, the hallucinations kept me up all
night.

Synonym: Illusion

 Premonition: I felt it, the premonition had just before the shake was like
no other.

Synonym: Intuition
 Profound: The taste was indescribable, it had such a profound flavor, I
could eat it forever.

Synonym: Intense

 Meditative: It happened again, but stronger, the panic attack was

unbearable, but this time I stopped and put myself in a meditative state.

Synonym: Contemplative

 Speech Impediment: Even though young Johnny had a speech

impediment, he was as bright as the sun, learning was enjoying to him.
Synonym: Stutter

 Rucksacks: When she asked for a new bag, her grandparents went on and
on about how they used a rucksack as a bag for all their school days.
Synonym: satchel

 Momentum: On the roller coaster, the momentum I felt was indescribable,

I was worried for my life!

Synonym: Force

 Dyke: Then I saw it, a huge shark waiting for dinner, I tried to swim but
was blocked by the dyke.

Synonym: Barrier

 Flotsam: The storm was over, the ships that were there were no longer
seen, all that was left was the pieces of flotsam on the shoreline.

Synonym: Debris
  Crest: While under the water, my last moments of breath, I could see the
crest of waves calling to me, to come out, I was so close, yet so far.

Synonym: peak

 Neurological: Remembering the horrid day always spiked here

neurological systems, no matter the day.

Synonym: Sensational

 Petered out: My chances soon petered out, I could no longer hold the lie
inside me, I had to fix it.,

Synonym: Recede

 Sutras: Though I wasn’t Hindu, the sutras had a deep philosophical

meaning which I enjoyed reading.

Synonym: Scripture

 Nagano Province: Visiting the Nagano Province reminded me of all the

beautiful wildlife and nature I forgot existed.

Synonym: District

Task 3- Pg 149 (Grammar task number 2) after studying the “conventions” examples, the
practice we will Mark (write down) all infinitives noted in paragraph 31 of the text.

Answer: “to strike” ([adverb] modifies poised)

“to block out” ([adverb] modifies rose)

“to run” ([noun] direct object)

“to run” ([adjective] modifies time)

Task 4- Pg 146 Q 3, 4 and5

3. a. In the last paragraph, the seventh man explains fear to people listening to his story. He
disagrees with the statement saying that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. He then goes
on to tell the listeners that fear is always there, no matter what. Fear could come to a person in so
many forms, at different times, this can overwhelm even the most fearless. The seventh man tells
us that the scariest thing is to just close our eyes and pretend to forget that fear is there. He ends
the conversation with the statement explaining that we might have to give up the things most
precious to us, in his case, it is the waves.

b. While the overall message the seventh man is trying to convey is true, in general I will have
to disagree with him. I disagree with his opinion on “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
while he disagrees with the statement, I firmly believe that this statement continues to stay
strong. While fear may come to someone in many ways, at unexpected times, when we don’t
expect it we can overcome it. If we think of our fears as just an obstacle from our happiness then
the only thing one could fear is being in fear. Fear is all just in our heads, if we think of our fears
in a different perspective then it won’t be a fear anymore, just an obstacle. This concludes me to
disagree with the seventh man’s statement.

4. Even though the seventh man did not die, he didn’t fully escape the waves. He lived with the
trauma forever, and he was never able to go into water again. He says “I never went near that
seashore- or any other” (paragraph 48) For someone who loved the water before, that must have
been hard, making him not fully escape the waves. He also avoided his hometown, and wouldn’t
even take a plane. This shows that while he was spared form death, he never fully escaped the
waves.

5. Survival takes effort and hardship, survival is hard, sometimes survival may give someone
fear or trauma. But survival is a beautiful thing, it is a rescue from god, and a chance to better
ourselves and become the best person we could be. From the story, I have learned that survival
can emotionally hurt a person as well, it could also give a person the sense of regret. Survival,
while the chance of revival, could also be frightening and life changing.

Task 5- All questions (EXCEPT 6) on pg 145 (reading comp and research) (use vocab; min 2
sentences)

Answer:
1. What traumatic event changes the seventh man’s life?

Answer: When the seventh man was a young child, a traumatic event occurred, his best
friend K, was drowned when a high tide came forward after a dangerous typhoon. This
neurological trauma occurred, it gave the seventh man a very hard time, making it
difficult for him to stay happy or forget the horrible incident.

2. Why does the seventh man’s father allow him to go outside during the storm?

Answer: The seventh man’s father allowed him to go outside during the storm because, at
that time, the momentum of the storm was not very dangerous. The typhoon was also not
giving a sign of blowing. His father also believed that they had about 15-20 minutes
before the storm would become wild again.

3. At the beach, why doesn’t K. respond when his friend calls out to him?

Answer: When the seventh man saw the waves, he immediately knew it was time to go,
so he called his friend K to come back. But K failed to respond to his calls, I believe it
was because he was very concentrated on something the storm washed up on the beach,
which in his opinion might have been very profounding. This resulted in him failing to
hear his friend.

4. What does the seventh man see inside the second wave?

Answer: After the waves swept up K, the seventh man waited for a sign of K. While he
was looking out, he saw hallucinations of his friend K smiling directly at him inside the
wave, he believed he saw K attempting to grab him into the water. He knew this was not
the K he lived and cared for before.

5. What does the seventh man do when he returns to his hometown that shows he has finally
recovered from his traumatic experience?

Answer: After the seventh man’s father died of cancer, he came back to his hometown
after many long years. While there he found a storage box with old memories of his
childhood, this box also had a bundle of the paintings K gave to him as a child. He was
desperate to see no trace of them, but later on, he decided to study them. While studying
them, he saw the talent and detail K had in his paintings, this led him to study one painting of
Ks daily. Studying the paintings reminded him of the happy moments, helping him recover
from his trauma.

Research to Clarify: Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research
the detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect of the
story?

Answer: One unfamiliar detail in the text which I wanted to learn more about was
childhood trauma. There are different types of trauma, which include: Acute Trauma;
which results from a single stressful or dangerous event, Chronic Trauma: which results
from a repeated exposure to highly stressful events and Complex trauma: which is the
result of the exposure of multiple traumatic events. Childhood trauma can impact a
person in cognitive abilities, physical health, brain development, emotions, mental health,
and much more. Childhood trauma can hurt a person for a very long time, which is not a
joke. This topic is related to the text because the seventh man experienced childhood
trauma, and suffered from the emotional and behavioral impacts of it, refraining him
from ever being in a meditative state.

Research to Explore: Choose something from the text that interested you and formulate a
research question.

Answer: One thing that interested me was when the seventh man describes the pull of the
ocean and how “the receding wave had now pulled so much water out from the shore that
it seemed to expose the entire ocean bottom” Which led me to research, how the pull of
 the ocean works. Tides are long waves which are moved along the waves, they are caused
by the gravitational pull of the moon causing the tidal force. The tidal force causes the
Earth and the water to come out on the side which is closest to the Moon and the side
farthest from the moon. Those bulges cause the high tide. This is the entranced system
of the waves and tides.

Task 6- Define direct and indirect characterization. Then, pull 1 example of each from this text.

Answer: Direct characterization is when the personality of a character is revealed using

descriptive words and phrases, in which the author directly states the personality of the character.
Indirect characterization is when the characters personality is revealed through the speech,
actions and the appearance of the character, the author does not directly state the personality.
Example of direct characterization is: “But the main reason I enjoyed spending time with K was
that he was such a sweet, pure -hearted boy.” Example of indirect characterization is: “I was
kind of big and athletic, and the other kid all looked up to me.

Task 7 (CT)- Was K. really in the wave as described in para 37? Are the 7th man’s memories
reliable or hallucinations? Probe the issue, create a chart with 3 columns with the headings
“Evidence that K was in the wave” (3 pieces of evidence), “Evidence that K was NOT in the
wave” (2 shreds of evidence), and “Conclusion” (1- your conclusion. Detailed. At least 2
sentences.)

Evidence that K was in the Evidence that K was NOT in Conclusion

wave the wave
o K’s body is described
“...as if enclosed in
some kind of
transparent capsule,
floated K’s body,
reclining on its side”
o “And his right arm was
stretched out in my
direction, as if he were
trying to grab my hand
o “A neighbor who has I don’t think the seventh man
seen the whole thing saw K specifically, maybe he
has picked me up and saw a paranormal thing or
carried me home.” something pretending to be K,
for one the seventh man
o “They had not bene explains that K had a big smile
able to find K.” on his face, but in real life K
was a very shy boy. Also, if
that was K, his body would
have swept up on the beach, if
he at some point had gotten so
 and pull me into the close to the shoreline, to be
other world where he able to grab the seventh man
was now” into the water. Lastly, no one
can survive in the water like
o “….so close I could that, let alone small widely
have reached out and and try to grab someone else
touched him, was my in.
friend, my friend K.”

Task 8- Re-read para 30. In 2 sentences state if you think K’s friends’ thoughts and actions
matched? If yes, explain with evidence. If no, then justify the conflict by writing the phrases that
prove that he was conflicted. (hint there is 1 right answer). 

Answer: I think that the seventh mans thoughts and actions matched. At the time he was trying to
escape the waves, but he was worried for his friend K, who couldn’t seem to hear him. He did
both the thinking the action at the same time, the thoughts were to save himself from the big
waves which would drown him and to also save K, who still couldn’t hear the seventh man. So,
while he was running, he also shouted to K. “I ran stumbling along the soft sand beach to the
breakwater, where I turned and shouted to K.”