Tatsea by Armin Wiebe
Chapter Reading Check Questions
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1. Name the characters introduced in this chapter.
2. Why is Tatsea confined to a small hut?
3. Why does Ehtsi scold Tatsea?
4. What connection between words does Tatsea notice when her grandmother speaks
to her?
5. What is Tatsea’s connection to the drum Ehke plays?
6. What is the name of the lake Tatsea’s people are living on?
7. What does the name of the lake mean in English?
8. What is the story about that Ehke tells?
9. What does Tatsea notice about the man she sees through the peep hole after
she sneezes?
10. Why is Dienda going away?
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1. Who is the viewpoint character in Chapter Two?
2. What does Ikotsali daydream about as he listens to the drums?
3. Why had Ikotsali gone into the bush alone?
4. Give a specific example from Chapter Two that suggests that Ikotsali is very
lonely.
5. What is confirmed in Chapter Two that was hinted at in Chapter One?
6. What embarrassing thing happened to Ikotsali when he headed for the bush
the first time?
7. Why would Ikotsali’s voice squeak and squawk when he tried to speak
with others?
8. What does Ikotsali long for in this chapter?
9. Why do people fear Ikotsali?
10. How is a desire of Ikotsali’s almost fulfilled?
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1. What does Tatsea give to Dienda before he leaves with his brothers?
2. What does Dienda mean when he says, “You mean you got power now?”
3. What has happened while Tatsea slept?
4. How will Tatsea’s life change after she finishes eating?
5. What does Ehtsi predict will happen soon?
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1. How has the setting changed since Chapter Three?
2. Why is Tatsea’s family no longer with the other families who were at
the fish camp?
3. Why might Tatsea think Ehtsi had given her a strange look when the families
decided to split up?
4. Has Ikotsali asked that Tatsea become his wife?
5. What incident creates an emergency in this chapter?
6. What tools does Tatsea use to try to start a fire?
7. Who appears to save the day?
8. What part of the caribou does Tatsea use as a pot to cook blood soup?
9. What does Ikotsali do with the hide from the caribou’s legs?
10. By the end of the chapter, what has Ikotsali managed to do without words?
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1. What has happened between the end of Chapter Four and the beginning of Chapter
Five?
2. How does Tatsea feel about Ikotsali now?
3. What does Tatsea’s baby have on her bottom?
4. Where does the baby sleep in the tent?
5. What incident in Chapter Two is linked to something Tatsea remembers when
Ikotsali warns her about a bear?
6. Why does Tatsea fear Ikotsali?
7. What does Ikotsali say about the baby that at first gives Tatsea warm thoughts,
but then causes her to shudder?
8. Why does Ikotsali leave the camp?
9. Why does Tatsea need to collect fresh moss?
10. What puzzling incident occurs when the chapter ends?
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1. What is Tatsea’s first thought when she hears a woman’s scream?
2. What does Tatsea think makes the deep, growling laugh?
3. What convinces Tatsea that the laughing creature is not a bear?
4. When Tatsea steps out into the clearing, what does she see?
5. What trick did Ikotsali teach Tatsea that helps her escape her pursuer?
6. Why is Tatsea unable to get back to her baby?
7. Why does Tatsea’s captor speak words into her ear in a tone of voice
that seems almost respectful?
8. Why does Tatsea’s captor touch the thin end of the stick to her cheek?
9. Why does Tatsea force herself to look at each dead and dying face?
10. What is the significance of the yellow feather?
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1. What has happened to Tatsea’s grandmother, Ehtsi?
2. What does Ikotsali wish for?
3. What does Ikotsali discover about the whooping crane?
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1. How does Tatsea attempt to deal with her predicament?
2. What causes Tatsea to rise up and try to chop a hole in the canoe?
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1. What is the main action of Chapter Nine?
2. When Ikotsali cries out to his spirit, what does he think will happen?
3. What happens to Ikotsali instead?
4. Why is Ikotsali not satisfied with merely escaping?
5. How do the swans appear to help Ikotsali trick his enemies?
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1. Where is Tatsea in the opening paragraphs of Chapter 10?
2. Where is Tatsea in reality?
3. Why does Tatsea think her captors are strange creatures?
4. What name does Tatsea give here captor and why?
5. How does Tatsea determine where she is?
6. What triggers Tatsea’s impulse to bolt and run back down the trail?
7. What happens when Tatsea reaches the end of the trail?
8. How is Tatsea rescued?
9. Why does Blueleg fire a shot into the air?
10. What does Tatsea learn about her three captors in this chapter?
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1. “Ikotsali rested in a black world, rested his eyes for the sight he
had not yet seen.” What is the sight he has not yet seen?
2. What does Ikotsali expect to see?
3. When he arrives at the camp why doesn’t Ikotsali look at the bodies
too closely?
4. What clues lead Ikotsali to the tree where his child is hidden?
5. What is Ikotsali’s main problem once he finds the baby?
6. How does Ikotsali solve the problem?
7. Why does Ikotsali remain awake all night?
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1. Why does Blueleg jab his paddle butt into Tatsea’s ribs?
2. What makes Tatsea relieved that her captors don’t stop to make a camp
for the night?
3. What gives Tatsea a feeling of hope?
4. What does Tatsea learn about the thunderstick?
5. What gives Tatsea the confidence to attempt to escape?
6. Besides sore ribs, what physical injury does Tatsea sustain in this chapter?
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1. Why does Ikotsali tie long strips of hide to the stages he built?
2. What happens while Ikotsali drums for the dead?
3. Why doesn’t Ikotsali cover up the dead enemy?
4. What does Ikotsali take from the dead man?
5. What items belonging to the dead man does Ikotsali leave behind?
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1. Why does Tatsea feel like her head is turning to stone?
2. What is different about the water they are paddling across in this chapter?
3. What happens to disrupt Tatsea’s daydream?
4. What does Tatsea want to do as they struggle against the wind and the waves?
5. What task does Tatsea do by herself for the first time?
6. What new way does Tatsea find to make herself useful to her captors?
7. What does she discover while mending the men’s clothing?
8. What puzzles Tatsea about Blueleg’s behaviour?
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1. What has happened to Ikotsali since he left the camp on Do Kwo Di?
2. What is Dagodichih noted for?
3. Why did the people direct Ikotsali to Dagodichih?
4. What happened when Dagodichih tried to nurse Ikotsali’s child?
5. What is the main event of this chapter?
6. Why is Ikotsali especially useful to this Dogrib camp?
7. What reasons would Ikotsali have to be happy to be a part of this camp?
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1. Why does Tatsea take great care with the sewing she does for Blueleg?
2. What puzzles Tatsea about her captors’ attitiude toward fur?
3. What other puzzling item does Tatsea discover in this chapter?
4. How does the discovery of the burning water help Tatsea?
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1. Why are Ikotsali and his baby the subject of gossip and laughter among the
women in the camp?
2. What does the baby’s rage cause Ikotsali to do?
3. What other events help Ikotsali decide to turn his back on Sahti, the winter
destination of Dagodichih’s people?
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1. After Tatsea’s escape from Blueleg, she remains on the river in the
canoe for _________ days.
2. Why doesn’t Tatsea hear the rapids until it is too late?
3. When Tatsea feels her bone knife pressing against her hips, what else does
she realize?
4. Why does Tatsea scream when she goes back to the rapids in daylight?
5. Among the items that Tatsea retrieves from the river, which is the most important
for the story?
6. Why does Tatsea dread the snowless darkness around the edges of the campfire
light?
7. What particularly useful item does Tatsea find after the first ice forms
on the river?
8. When the ice is thick enough for her to cross the river she finds a ____________________
and a _____________________________.
9. Why is Tatsea frightened by the piece of water?
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1. What does Ikotsali wonder about while he cuts up whitefish with the Enda
knife?
2. What disturbs this peaceful scene of father preparing for his child?
3. Why does Ikotsali allow the baby to crawl away into the bushes?
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1. How is Ikotsali able to fight the power of the bushman?
2. What leads him to the baby?
3. Besides the sick baby, what else adds to the desperation of Ikotsali’s
situation?
4. What gives Ikotsali the answer to save the child’s life?
5. What doubts does Ikotsali have in his chapter?
6. Although the brains and blood mash gives the baby strength, the baby’s
breathing doesn’t begin to clear until_________________________________________________.
7. Why does Ikotsali decide not to travel?
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1. What do we learn about Tatsea’s facial features in this chapter?
2. Of what use is the piece of water to Tatsea?
3. How does Tatsea fill her days?
4. Why does Tatsea gather red willow branches and take them back to her camp?
5. What does Tatsea do while she is peeling and twisting willow rind?
6. What visitor appears one night after the weather has turned cold?
7. What does Tatsea do to make sense of the dog’s visit?
8. What idea does Tatsea get when she looks up at the sky during the cold night?
9. What shatters Tatsea’s plan to find her way back to Wha Ti?
10. What causes Tatsea’s heart to ache while at the same time giving her
a feeling of home when she arrives at her captors’ camp?
11. What destroys Tatsea’s feeling of home?
12. What do the men do with Tatsea?
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1. How does Ikotsali demonstrate his ingenuity in this chapter?
2. What does Ikotsali do while he works?
3. Why does Ikotsali fear the night?
4. What changes Ikotsali’s fortunes?
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1. What name does Tatsea give to the man who now has her as a slave wife?
2. Why are Tatsea’s captors travelling at night?
3. What practice of the Enda women shocks Tatsea?
4. What triggers Fish Mouth’s first wife to show an interest in Tatsea?
5. What does Tatsea discover about the first wife?
6. What does Tatsea learn from the first wife?
7. What triggers Tatsea’s rage?
8. How does Mean Face react to Tatsea’s rage?
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1. What decision does Ikotsali make in this chapter?
2. What helps Ikotsali to make this decision?
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1. What causes Tatsea to shriek?
2. Who frees Tatsea?
3. What connection is there between this chapter and Chapter One?
4. Why doesn’t Tatsea obey the first wife’s command to go back to
her own people?
5. What catches Tatsea’s eye when she first sees a fur-faced man?
6. Why does Tatsea name the fur-faced man Fox Face?
7. Why does Tatsea turn away from Ghost Face?
8. How does Ghost Face treat Tatsea?
9. What makes Tatsea panic?
10. What new experience puts Tatsea to sleep?
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1. What is the main event in this chapter?
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1. What makes Tatsea think that she is dead?
2. What does Tatsea discover on the walls?
3. What do Mean Face and Fish Mouth want more than they want Tatsea?
4. Why does Tatsea need Fox Face’s help to go outside?
5. What do Fox Face and Tatsea do outside?
6. Name three items Tatsea learns about for the first time in this chapter.
7. Why does Tatsea’s loneliness overwhelm her when she sees McKay’s
face beside hers in the mirror?
8. What frustration drives Tatsea to go outside?
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1. What happens that makes Ikotsali feel very foolish?
2. How does Ikotsali discover that he is on Tatsea’s trail?
3. What place has Ikotsali come to at the end of the chapter?
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1. How is Tatsea tricked in this chapter?
2. Why has the first wife betrayed Tatsea?
3. What new danger does Tatsea sense in this chapter?
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1. What does Ikotsali feel in the camp beside the rapids?
2. What makes him leave the camp?
3. What does Ikotsali think he hears once he is out of earshot of the rapids?
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1. What important event does Tatsea observe in this chapter?
2. What causes a crisis during the trading?
3. Why does Tatsea believe that the traders knew the real origin of the hair
all along?
3. How is Tatsea finally able to tell her story to the traders?
4. Why does Tatsea think the first wife knows how to survive?
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1. What clue does Ikotsali discover that makes him believe Tatsea has passed
this way?
2. What dreaded thought keeps Ikotsali from moving on despite the baby’s
restlessness?
3. What does Ikotsali do to help Tatsea?
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Chapter 33
1. What does McKay help Tatsea to do in this chapter?
2. What happens while Tatsea is singing for the dead?
3. Why is is unusual for a hawk to be hovering overhead?
4. Why does Tatsea ask McKay to let her watch him shoot first?
5. Why doesn’t Tatsea shoot the target on the tree?
6. What makes Tatsea doubt that the musket can be trusted?
7. What criteria does Tatsea use to select goods to take back to her people?
8. What convinces Tatsea to take a musket?
9. What item won’t the traders give her?
10. What happens to change Tatsea and McKay’s plans?
11. Why does Tatsea decide to leave alone?
12. What happens to show that Tatsea is right to leave on her own?
13. How does Tatsea manage to escape?
14. What leads Tatsea as she tramps through the snow?
15. What makes Tatsea leave the trail to hide in the bush?
16. What does Tatsea discover once she leaves the trail?
17. What interrupts Tatsea’s exploration of the camp?
18. What happens in the confrontation with Redcoat?
19. Why does Tatsea almost shoot Ikotsali?
20. What sad note appears in the reunion with her child?
21. Why is it a good thing that Tatsea’s musket betrays her?
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1. Why is Tatsea unable to tell McKay about Ross and the hawk?
2. Why does McKay wait expectantly?
3. What causes an uneasiness in Tatsea and Ikotsali’s shelter that night?
4. What do Tatsea and Ikotsali do a lot of on their journey back to Wha Ti?
5. What do Tatsea and Ikotsali become know as when they get back to Wha Ti?
6. What happens to the musket?
7. Who appears at the end of the lake one day?
8. What does Tatsea warn the people about?
9. What is Ikotsali able to tell Tatsea at last?
10. Why does Tatsea say, “But we must be careful what we speak.”?
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