Read the story below, and then answer the questions that follow. The Wedding Monster Once not too long ago, there was a kingdom called Soweva. This kingdom had a wise old king, a kindly queen, and a beautiful young princess, as all good kingdoms should. As the young princess became less and less young, it became obvious that she would soon need to marry. She had long dreaded this day because she knew that it would one day have to come, so she had been checking out all of the potential candidates at all meetings her family had with other royalty. She noticed all the single men in royal families because she knew that she would have to marry a member of royalty, being a member of royalty herself. As she watched these royal young men, she slowly started to realize why it’s not such a good idea to marry relatives. Some of these men were so frail and sickly that a small army of doctors, priests, and bodyguards had to follow them everywhere they went – even to the bathroom! Others were so . . . so . . . well, to put it politely, they were none too bright. In the princess’s opinion, most were not playing with a full deck and would need at least one more card to have something to shuffle. Had it been polite for a young princess to slap herself on the forehead and shout out, “Duh!” in the faces of royal men, she would have done so with far too many men who would one day rule their own kingdoms. When the day of her twenty-first birthday finally arrived, the princess found both of her parents waiting outside her bedroom door as she awoke. “My sweet little old sugar, uh . . . um, noodle,” said her wise old father, “I’m sure that you know what day this is. Now that you are twenty-one, you should be making firm plans for your marriage. Now, my friend, King Bob, has a son who would be perfect. And I happen to know that he has a strong fondness for you, too.” “You mean he has a strong fondness for our kingdom’s money,” his wife, the kindly old queen countered. “King Bob’s whole family has been trying to get Prince Rob married off for a while now because he’s so sickly that he probably won’t live to see a honeymoon! Bob just wants someone’s dowry to pay his gambling debts, anyway. I’ll scalp you with a lid from a rusty Vienna sausage can before I let you marry our daughter off to that moocher’s weak son and give away her dowry!” The queen glowered at the king. “Now, sweaty pie. I mean sweetie pie,” started the wise old king as he turned toward his loving wife. “You know that it is our daughter’s decision. She gets to decide if she wants to marry good, kindly Prince Rob and have all kinds of wonderful parting gifts or if she wants to refuse and marry some other dunderhead.” The princess saw her opportunity to have a say in the matter and spoke up. “Father, Mother, I have given this matter a great deal of thought. I really don’t know anyone in all royalty that I would want to marry. Some of those royal men are terribly sickly; others are plain old dumb. And don’t get me started on how big their ears get!” “Well,” said the queen, “what do you recommend?” “I think I should start looking at the common men in our kingdom for a suitable husband.” “What?” cried both the king and the queen in unison. “I know that women normally can’t marry beneath them, but I think I have an idea. We’ll hold a contest among all the single land-owning men in the entire kingdom, with the announced winner being given my hand in marriage. But to keep the commoners from getting too uppity, we’ll fake some kind of threat to the kingdom, which we’ll use as the basis for our contest. Surely, none of our subjects or even your royal friends could object to giving the hand of your daughter to the man who saves your kingdom.” The king and the queen mulled the idea over in their heads. “Do you have an idea for the contest?” asked the wise old king. “Yes. We will get the royal inventors to design a huge, fire-breathing machine that the royal designers will dress to look like a monster. We’ll spread the rumor that the ‘monster’ can only be killed by a suitable single man.” “That’s a great idea!” said the kind old queen. “And we can fry the ugly ones before they have a chance!” The king agreed that it was a good idea. The princess immediately had the royal inventors and designers to set about making the wedding monster. Of course, she made sure that each inventor and each designer worked separately so that none could fathom the end result of what they were making. Finally, they finished, and the princess told the one inventor she trusted the most of the plan so that he could assemble all of the parts. The princess then had the royal rumormongers start spreading the word of a monster invulnerable to married men that had invaded the kingdom. Based on suggestions from the princess herself, the rumormongers also told of the fear that gripped the royal family and of the reward the royal family set for anyone who could rid the kingdom of the terrible beast. The king, queen, and princess were delighted when many men lined up to have a shot at the beast. They watched as, one by one, the daring young men charged forward and immediately got fried, ugly or not. Soon the princess became concerned about just how ruthlessly the wedding monster was going through all of the single men in the village. It turns out she had cause to be concerned. At the end of a two-day period of nonstop monster fighting, the line of single men had completely disappeared. Every single man in the kingdom was now dead. The wedding monster lumbered toward the royal family, and a loud booming voice issued out of its gaping mouth, “Are there any single men left in Soweva?” “N-n-no,” stammered the princess. “Good,” replied the monster and immediately, it began to split apart in the middle. Out of the creature’s back, stepped the trusted royal inventor! “Oh, how brilliant,” cried the princess. “You slew all the single men in the kingdom so that none could compete with you for my hand in marriage! You shall promptly be rewarded with me as your bride!” The princess was beaming at the thought of marrying such an intelligent, capable man who didn’t drool noticeably when he wasn’t speaking. “Are you kidding?” replied the royal inventor. “I’m the only single man in the whole kingdom! I’d be crazy to get married!” And so he didn’t. ELEMENTS OF THE SHORT STORY TEST – ENGLISH 9 Name_____________________ All incorrect answers on this test cost two points each. I. Write the letter of each correct answer. 1. _____What is the main conflict in this story? A) The queen and the king argue with each other. B) The queen and the king argue with the princess. C) The princess is worrying about who she will marry. D) character vs. nature 6. _____What point of view is the story in? A) First person point of view B) First person omniscient point of view C) Third person limited point of view D) Third person omniscient point of view 2. _____What is the climax of the story? A) The king and queen agree to try the princess’s idea. B) The workers begin building the monster. C) The princess doesn’t get married. D) Eligible young men start getting fried by the monster. 7. _____The queen is which? A) Round B) Flat 8. _____The king is which? A) Static B) Dynamic 9. _____The narrator calls the queen “the kind old queen” but means that the queen is not kind. What type of irony is this? A) Situational irony B) Dramatic irony C) Verbal irony D) No irony used 3. 4. 5. _____What is the resolution of the conflict? A) All the young men die. B) The princess doesn’t get married. C) The royal inventor gets out of the monster. D) The monster is built. _____What is the complete setting of the story? A) A kingdom called Soweva not too long ago B) A kingdom called Soweva C) Not too long ago D) In an arena _____The princess expects the royal inventor to marry her, but he does not. What type of irony is this? A) Situational irony B) Dramatic irony C) Verbal irony D) No irony used 10. _____The narrator describes all royal princes as being sickly and dumb in order to create humor. This is an example of what story device? A) Caricature B) Satire C) Allegory D) Character sketch II. Answer the following questions about the elements of short stories. 11. _____A story that has very little plot and mostly just describes a type of person is called what? A) Character sketch C) Legend B) Fable D) Myth 12. _____A story that uses nonhuman characters to teach a lesson is called what? A) Character sketch C) Legend B) Fable D) Myth 13. _____A story that is based on a real person but with greatly exaggerated details is called what? A) Tall tale C) Legend B) Fable D) Myth 14. _____A story that uses gods and/or greater-than-normal heroes is called what? A) Character sketch B) Tall tale C) Legend D) Myth 15. _____Describing a character in a way that makes the character easily identifiable with a specific group (jocks, mad scientists, nerds, etc.) is called what? A) Character sketch C) Caricature B) Stereotype D) Legend 16. _____Which of the following is an example of an internal conflict? A) character vs. character B) character vs. society C) character vs. nature D) character vs. self 17. _____All of the following are methods of indirect characterization EXCEPT which one? A) The narrator shows the character speaking or thinking. B) The narrator shows the character’s appearance. C) The narrator tells the reader what to think about a character. D) The narrator tells the way other characters react to that character 18. _____A short story should meet all of the following requirements EXCEPT which one? A) It should be short enough to be read at one time. B) The events in the story should be true. C) The story should be written in sentences and paragraphs. D) The story should be fictional. 19. _____An introduction to the characters, time, and place that a story follows is called what? A) Time setting B) Place setting C) Setting D) Exposition 20. _____Clues about possible events later in a story are called what? A) Plot B) Setting C) Foreshadowing D) Narration III. Read the following questions about the stories we have read, and circle the letter of the correct answer below. 21. _____Which one of the following characters could be described as being a round, dynamic character? A) Madame Safroni from “The Gift of the Magi” B) Mme. Forstier from “The Necklace” C) General Zaroff from “The Most Dangerous Game” D) Doodle from “The Scarlet Ibis” 22. _____Which one of the following characters could be described as being a flat, static character? A) Roger from “Thank you, Ma’am” B) Sanger Rainsford from “The Most Dangerous Game” C) Della from “The Gift of the Magi” D) Aunt Nicey from “The Scarlet Ibis” 23. _____"The Most Dangerous Game" takes place on ShipTrap Island in the 1920s. What part of the plot is that? A) setting B) conflict C) rising action D) climax 24. _____In “The Most Dangerous Game,” what is the first conflict that Rainsford must face? A) He has to get by Ivan at the mansion door. B) He has to save himself from the ocean. C) He has to avoid Zaroff and a tracking hound. D) He has to maneuver through a dangerous swamp. 25. _____According to General Zaroff, what makes man the most dangerous game? A) The ability to reason B) An opposable thumb C) The use of weapons D) The skill to socialize 26. _____At the end of the story, the narrator of “The Gift of the Magi” tells the reader that Jim and Della are wise because they value each other more than they value the things they own. What is such a lesson about life called? A) Theme C) Foreshadowing B) Idiom D) Dialogue 27. _____The narrator of “The Gift of the Magi” tells the story with respect and admiration for Jim and Della. The way he feels about the characters while telling the story is called what? A) tone B) mood C) caricature D) stereotype 28. _____In “The Gift of the Magi,” which detail provides foreshadowing about the way Della will get money for Jim’s gift? A) She counts her money three times. B) She sits on the couch and cries. C) She cries after letting down and looking at her hair. D) She puts on her coat and hat. 29. _____Which type of irony is best displayed in “Thank you, Ma’am” by Mrs. Jones giving Roger the money for the blue suede shoes after he tried to steal her purse. A) Dramatic B) Situational C) Verbal D) Ironic 30. _____As “The Scarlet Ibis” begins and ends, what does the narrator’s overall tone seem to be? A) Anger B) Regret C) Frustration D) Embarrassment 31. _____The story is titled “The Scarlet Ibis” because the bird ______. A) Represents Doodle B) Dies in the narrator’s yard C) Causes Doodle’s death D) Makes the narrator treat Doodle better IV. Short answers – In the blank, write the letter of the correct answer for the questions below. 32. _____Written below are two paragraphs from a short story. The underlined section is which, A) narration or B) dialogue? Rainsford expressed his surprise. "Is there big game on this island?" The general nodded. "The biggest." 33. _____The circled section is which, A) narration or B) dialogue?
