James and the Giant Peach

Aloha students.  It's me.  Mr. Leary.  Analyzing characters is hard work, even when it comes to a fun book like James and the Giant Peach.  Part of the process of analyzing characters is understanding inferences. 

When an author makes an inference, he is asking you to compare what you know about a topic or a situation and to compare it with new information or a new situation.  For a example, imagine you are eating a sandwich and a small child begins staring at you.  Unable to speak, the child reaches up for your sandwich and begins to whimper a bit. You can probably guess that the child is hungry. You calculate quickly that the child's reaching for the sandwich means that he wants what you have.  His whimpering means he is too little to speak, but that he is somehow communicating with you. Finally, you conclude that the child must be hungry because he is reaching or food and you know that eating food stops hunger.  You act on your calculations by giving the child a piece of your sandwich.  It works!  The child has stopped whining and you can now eat in peace.  That's drawing an inference.  

Below is a passage about the old man, followed by some questions.  Please comment on what inferences you can draw or detect. You may enter your information into the blog or write them out by hand, whichever is easiest for you. Try to quote the text whenever possible.  

Chapter 3: Pages 10-11 The following are Roald Dahl’s descriptions of the old man: Pg. 10: For suddenly, just behind him, James heard a rustling of leaves, and he turned around and saw an old man in a crazy dark-green suit emerging from the bushes.  He was a very small old man, but he had a huge bald head and a face that was covered all over with bristly black whiskers….Then he came nearer still, leaning forward and pushing his face so close to James that James could feel breath blowing on his cheeks.  The breath smelled musty and stale and slightly mildewed, like air in an old cellar. 

Think about the above descriptions and add to them the following statement by the old man: “…and immediately after that, marvelous things will start happening to you, fabulous, unbelievable things and you will never be miserable again in your life.  Because you are miserable, aren’t you?  You needn’t tell me!  I know all about it!  Now, off you go and do exactly as I say.  And don’t whisper a word of this to those two horrible aunts of yours!  Not a word!”  

Think about the old man.  Is he human? or supernatural?  Is he a good character or is he evil?  How does he know so much about James?

Write to explain how important the old man is to James and to his future.  Try to explain why the old man is so close to the earth and how he knows so much about James.  One or two paragraphs will be okay.