Name: _________________________________
“Bargain”
Questions to Prepare for Discussion
Answer each of these questions on a separate piece of paper. They are preparation for
your in-class discussion.
1. What is justice? What is revenge? How are they the same? How are they different? Make
connections about both of these with examples from real life to support your thinking. Avoid
personal opinion examples and try to find something that actually made news – a court case, a
ruling by a judge, an editorial news article, a news story about the subject.
2. The physical trait of Mr. Baumer’s chin is repeated five times during the story and is symbolic in
meaning. Look back at the following uses of “chin” to decide why it is used. Does it give you clues
about his character traits or the theme of the story?
p. 371 paragraph 1
p. 372 column 2 paragraph 2
p. 373 column 2 paragraph 2
p. 374 column 2 last full paragraph
p. 378 final paragraph of the story – always an important spot to look for clues!
3. Mr. Baumer repeats a lesson about the importance of education to Al 3 different times. Reread
them to make sense of this clue. Does it give you information about his character traits or the
theme of the story?
p. 370 column1 last paragraph
p. 371 column 2 second full paragraph
p. 375 column 1 third
4. Characterization techniques include STEAL (say, thoughts, effect on others, actions, looks).
Can you find evidence for all of these to support your character traits for Baumer and Slade?
5. Clues to theme can also be found in the following: 1) title; 2) change in a character’s
attitude/feelings. Be sure to consider these for discussion reference.
6. The story is told from Al’s point of view. Why do you think the author chose this unique point of
view? What effect does it have on the reader?
7. How would the story be different if it were told from Baumer/ Slade’s point of view? Be sure to
give specific examples to support your thinking.
8. Imagine Baumer was arrested for the death of Slade. You are a lawyer in the case. Choose to
work on his defense team or for the prosecution. Explain the arguments you would present in
court.
Prosecution: Baumer is responsible for causing Slade’s death.
Defense: Slade caused his won death. Baumer was not responsible.