DePaul Cristo Rey High School
World literature Summer Reading Project:
Summer 2015
World’s greatest short stories
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I)
After reading The path to the cemetery, by Thomas Mann respond as requested:
1.- At the end of the story, Piedsam dies. So, he actually will end up in the cemetery where he
was going to from the beginning. The boy in the bicycle was also going on this path and
eventually (may be after many years), will also die and be in the cemetery. Why do you think it
is so important for the author that everything happens in a path that goes to the cemetery?
What do you think that this path is representing? Are we all like the young boy or Piedsam? Are
we all walking on that path? What do you think is the meaning of this short story? Use textual
evidence to support your answer.
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II)
After reading The garden party, by Katherine Mainsfield , answer the following:
1) Why do you think that Laura is wrong by asking her family to not have the party? Why do you
think that the family disagrees? Do you believe this is a social class issue? Would it have been
different if a rich person died? Justify your answer.
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III)
Answer the following question that compares “The path to the cemetery” and “The garden
party”:
In The path to the cemetery a very old, alcoholic man dies of anger, and not many people
show pity for him. In The garden party a man dies and only Laura and those who know him
when he was alive, show sorrow. Both short stories focus on the different kinds of life
(young vs old, poor vs rich, caring vs selfish) and death humans can have, but they do it in
very different ways. Please, tell me how these stories are different and how are they similar.
What do you think that each story is trying to say? What do they say to you? Answer all
these using the following guide:
1) What do you think that “The path of the cemetery” says about life and death:
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2) What do you think that The garden party says about life and death?
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3) How do you think that these two short stories are similar or different in what they say about life and
death? Give your opinion, and don’t forget to use textual evidence.
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4) Which one of the two short stories you liked the most? Do you agree with what the story is
saying? Why? Remember to respond to all parts of this question.
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IV)
After reading The necklace, by Guy de Maupassant Respond as requested:
1.- How did you feel by the end of the short story? Do you think what happened to Matilda was fair?
Why?
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2.- What would you have done if something like that happened to you?
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2.- What do you think that this short story is trying to tell us about the importance of appearances and
luxury?
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3.- Write a final scene for the short story, from the moment Matilda learns the truth. Make sure you
include a dialogue between Matilda and Madame Forestier.
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V)
After reading The fortune teller, by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, respond as
requested:
1.- Write a 3 paragraph summary of this short story. Be sure to clearly explain the relationship between
Rita, Camillo and Villela.
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2.- Do you believe the Fortune Teller of the story really had any power to foresee the future? How did
she guess what was happening? Do you believe any person has that kind of power?
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3.- At the beginning of the story, Camillo does not believe in the power of the fortune teller, and by the
end of it, he is looking for her services. Why do you think he changed his mind?
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4.- How do you think that Villela discovered what was happening between Rita and Camillo?
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VI)
After reading The lady with the toy dog, by Anton Chekhov, answer the following
questions:
1) Invent your own ending to the story. What happened between Anna Sergueyevna and Dimitri,
after the end of the short story? Can they be together forever or not? Why? Make sure you
include at least one dialogue between the two characters.
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VII)
After reading How old Timofei Died with a song, by Rainer Maria Rilke, answer the
following questions:
A) Read carefully the following paragraph from the story, and answer the questions:
“what is the source of all the story you told me recently?” He finally asked. “Did it come from a
book?” “Yes”, I replied sadly. “The scholars have buried it in one ever since it died, which isn’t
very long ago”. A hundred years ago it was still alive and certainly carefree, on many lips. But the
words that people now use, these heavy words that are hard to sing to, were hostile to it and
stole one mouth after another from it, so it finally lived on, but very withdrawn and
impoverished, only on a few dry lips, as if on a poor widow’s farm. There it also died, without
leaving any descendants, and, as I mentioned, was buried with all honors in a book, where others
of its lineage already lay” (pp 150)
1)
What do you think that the narrator wants to say when he states that stories die and are buried
in books? Do you agree?
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2)
At the end of the story Old Timofei dies, but his son keeps on singing (with his own soft, sad
tone, different to the one of this father) the songs he was able to learn. Thanks to that, all those songs
are not lost in oblivion. What do you think is going to happen to all those songs when the son dies?
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3)
What would you do for these songs to never be forgotten? Do you believe that putting them in a
book will kill them, like the narrator said at the beginning?
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VIII)
Answer the following questions after reading Araby by James Joyce
1.- At the end of the story, our protagonist feels humiliated, he says “I saw myself as a creature driven
and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger” (pp 184). Why do you think he feels
like this? Do you believe it has anything to do with him trying to be an adult and being treated as a
child? Mention examples in the story. Have you ever felt the way our protagonist felt? Make sure you
address all parts of this question.
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IX)
Answer the following question after reading Mrs. Florla and Mr. Ponza, her son in law, by
Luigi Pirandello.
1) Which one of the two do you believe is the crazy one, and why do you think so? Please use
textual evidence to support your answer 
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X)
Read The hunger artist, by Franz Kafka and answer as requested:
1) By the end of the story the hunger artist accomplishes his goal: to be the best in his art. Very
soon after, he dies. Do you think this story has a happy ending? Did he die happily? Why do you
think so? Why was he a hunger artist? Make sure you address all parts of this question.
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XI)
Which one of the short stories that you have read is your favorite and which one did you like
the least? Why?
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