Name:_________________________________________________________ Period:_______________
Sullivan
Eng I Advanced
Short Story Unit
THIS WILL COUNT AS A MAJOR GRADE WHEN COMPLETE.
Reading questions: 50 points
Map: 15 points
Charts and diagrams: 35 points
“The Most Dangerous Game” by ____________________________________
1. Describe the interior of Zaroff’s home. How does the setting create a different mood from that of the jungle
outside? Support your answer with details from the story.
2. The word “game” can have two different denotations. Explain both:
3. Identify an example of foreshadowing from the beginning of the story:
4. What three tricks does Rainsford use during the “game”?
5. What do the tricks tell you about Rainsford?
6. Considering #3 & 4, what kind of characterization is this?
7. What do you think Zaroff means when he says to himself, “the American hadn’t played the game”?
8. Theme: What message about human nature do you think the author conveys in this story?
9. Visual Imagery: Discuss the various ways that color is used to set a mood in the story. How does such visual
language add to the development of the setting?
10. Setting: How does the fact that the story took place on an island contribute to the story?
11.Do you think the story is a commentary on the ethics of hunting? Why or why not? What moral positions about
hunting could be drawn from the story?
Plot: Draw a colored map of Ship Trap Island on a piece of 8 ½ x 11unlined paper. Number
EVERY location around the island identified in the short story – in the order they appeared
in the story. On the back of your map, make a key that lists the numbers of the locations with
a brief description of each location. Fold and attach that map here. DO NOT USE
MARKERS! Neatness counts. MORE SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS WILL BE HANDED
OUT IN CLASS. DO NOT BEGIN THIS ASSIGNMENT UNTIL INSTRUCTED.
“The Most Dangerous Game” Conflict Chart
Identify three conflicts in the story and explain how each conflict enhances the plot.
Type of Conflict
How do I know? Examples
Quote to support example
Why suspenseful?
Explanation
Man vs. Nature
Man vs. Himself
Man vs. Man
Give at least one example:
Offer TWO pieces of
textual evidence
Give at least two examples:
Offer THREE pieces of
textual evidence.
Give examples of at least three
confrontations:
Offer THREE pieces of
textual evidence.
“The Cask of Amontillado”
by Edgar Allan Poe
1. Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration to make a point. Look at the fi rst paragraph. What phrase used by the narrator is
an example of hyperbole? Write down the full sentence that includes the hyperbolic element.
Does this line make you more sympathetic or less toward the narrator/murderer? Why?
2. Montresor tells us, “A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the
avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.” In your own words, explain what this means.
3. Explain the characterization of Fortunado. What is it about Montresor that makes him an especially effective enemy to
Fortunato? Give an example from a book you’ve read or a film/T.V. show you’ve seen in which this type of villain exists.
4. Fortunato, who has been out drinking and enjoying Carnival, is wearing a clown’s hat. Symbolically, why is this an
interesting–and appropriate–costume choice by the writer, Edgar Allan Poe?
5. To whom, do you suppose, is Montresor telling this story? Upon what evidence do you base your
assumption?
6. Name three of the many clever things Montresor does to lure Fortunato into his trap.
7. How did Montresor ensure that no servants would be around to witness the crime?
8. Poe uses several elements of foreshadowing. Write down (or paraphrase) two lines that foreshadow the grisly event at
the end of the tale.
9. Locate and write down a line that includes verbal irony.
10. This is the Montresor family’s coat of arms. Symbolically, why is this an appropriate
image for our narrator?
12.
When Montresor offers the Medoc wine to Fortunato, what is the reason he gives for
wanting the other man to drink?
What is the real reason? Why does Montresor also have a drink?
13. At the end of the story, what makes Montresor feel sick?
14. Is Montresor a reliable or unreliable narrator? Explain your answer.
15. Poe is a master at creating an eerie, suspenseful mood in his stories. Dig back into the text of this story and write
down two lines that help establish this mood. Yes, I want you to write down the full line.
15. Montresor acts as judge, jury, and executioner of Fortunato. Is there any crime/offense that Fortunato could have
unwittingly committed that would make Montresor’s rage seem reasonable to you? Do you think
individuals are ever justified in taking justice into their own hands? Explain your thoughts.
Draw a Freytag’s pyramid of the short story. Include exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and
resolution:
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by ____________________________________
Reading questions:
1. Compare the way Mitty is treated by people in his dreams with the way he is actually treated
in his real life.
2. Explain two methods by which Thurber makes the story humorous.
3. What is a theme of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty?
4. Explain how the theme is revealed through Walter Mitty’s actions?
The events in James Thurber's story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” follow a pattern. Something triggers
Mitty's daydream and becomes part of it. The daydream proceeds until something interrupts it. Use the graphic
organizer below to find the details that create the story's pattern.
Trigger
Daydream
Navy hydroplane
surgery/anesthetizer
courtroom scene
Air Force pilot
firing squad
Interruption
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
Film & Short Story Comparison
1. What is the greatest similarity between the story and the film?
2. For what purpose might the director have chosen to adapt the story in this way?
3. What is the most significant story element added to the movie? What purpose does this element serve?
4. Which medium better represents the idea behind “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” overall? Why?
Short Story
Name the two
MAIN
characters.
Offer ONE
example each
of how they
are
characterized.
What
conflict(s) are
portrayed in
the work?
What is the
climax of the
work?
What is the
mood of the
work? How is
it conveyed?
What is the
theme of the
work? How is
it conveyed?
Film
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
Reading Questions
1. On which day does the Lottery fall each year?
2. Why did Mr. Summers replace the original wood chips with slips of paper?
3. Who shows up late to the lottery?
4. Why is this character late?
5. Who is not in attendance?
6. Why is this character absent?
7. What is the procedure for someone who cannot attend?
8. Which part of the story foreshadows the lottery?
9. How is irony used in the story?
10.
Symbolism: What do the black box and stones represent?
11.
Why do the townspeople participate in the lottery?
12.
Why don’t they stop having it?
13.
Why are people afraid of change?
14.
What role do women play in the fictional town?
15.
Shirley Jackson said she had the setting in the present tense (she wrote it in 1948) in order to “shock the readers
with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives.” What “pointless
violence” and “general inhumanity” is she referring to?
16.
Consider the author’s statement above and your response to it. What message about humanity might be
understood by the reader?