Name: ___________________________
Date: ______________ Period: _______
Three Skeleton Key
After reading Three Skeleton Key (Elements of Literature textbook pages 39-49), complete the
following:
Decide whether each statement below is True or False. Circle your answer choice.
1. Three Skeleton Key is about one man’s most humiliating experience.
True False
2. Three Skeleton Key is an island where three escaped prisoners died of thirst and hunger.
True False
3. The rats onboard the drifting ship were very similar to land rats.
True False
4. The men decided to leave the lighthouse unlit as a signal to the mainland.
True False
5. Only one man was left alive when the rescuers arrived.
True False
Answer the following questions in complete sentences. Be sure to answer every question.
Use the back or your own lined paper for more space to write.
1. Early in the story the narrator explains how Three Skeleton Key got its name. How does this
foreshadow – or hint at – the danger the three lighthouse keepers will face later on?
2. On the fourth day of the invasion, a wooden window frame in the lighthouse sags inward.
How does this incident increase suspense? What other details create suspense?
3. At what point did you predict that the narrator would survive the rat attack? On what
evidence did you base your prediction?