Spring Final Review 2014
FICTION: “The Leap” by Louise Erdrich (pgs. 57-63)
1. Why does the first line of the story effectively hook readers (“My mother is the surviving half of a blindfold trapeze act. . .”)? Explain thoroughly.
2. What tone towards her mother is the narrator trying to create in the opening passage? Cite specific
words, details, images, etc. to support your analysis.
3. Read the second full paragraph on page 58 (begins with the words “I owe”). Based on the author’s
diction and selection of detail, how can readers infer that the upcoming event will be a negative one?
Cite specific textual evidence.
4. What two kinds of blindness does the author describe? How does blindness help relate the past to the
present? What is the author’s intended effect in her choice of using a double meaning?
5. Refer to the last few lines of text on page 59. Explain (in both literal and figurative terms) the meaning
of the narrator’s description of her mother’s lineless palms as “the blank scar tissue of a quieter
future”. What effect does this description create on the reader?
6. What is the meaning of the phrase “armchair traveler” on page 60? Why is this phrasing effective?
7. On page 60 (at the top of the right column) the narrator, who has mentioned her mother’s blindness,
refers to her own vision. What does she say about it, and how does this connect to the story’s themes?
8. Explain the techniques the author uses to characterize the narrator on page 60.
9. Refer to pages 60-61. How would you describe the character of the narrator’s father? In what ways is
he an important character? In what ways is he a minor character?
10. Refer to the paragraph on page 61 that begins with the words “As soon as I awakened”. What plot
device does the author use to signal that she is about to describe the experience she began
remembering on page 58?
11. Refer to the right column on page 63. Compare the narrator’s feelings toward her mother during the
rescue to her present-day feelings toward her mother. How does this represent the “shift” of the
story?
12. Who or what dies in this story (think literally and figuratively)? Who or what is given new life?
13. To what does the title of the story refer? (Keep in mind that a leap can be literal, as in a big jump, or it
can be figurative, as in a leap of faith.)
14. Refer to the box labeled “Literary Elements” on page 64. Read the information that describes
flashbacks and then answer the 3 questions that follow.
1)
2)
3)
15. The following sentence can be found on page 61: “I came home to read to my mother, to read out
loud, to read long into the dark if I must, to read all night.” What is the type of phrase being repeated?
What is the effect of this repetition?
Spring Final Review 2014
NONFICTION: Excerpt from Night by Elie Wiesel (pgs. 305-309)
1. Why is the first sentence of the excerpt an example of verbal irony? What is the intended effect on the
reader?
2. What is the effect of the use of the diction corpses in the sentence (found on page 305) “The corpses
were collected in hundreds every day”? Why that word to describe them instead of another?
3. What is the intended effect of the dash in the last line of text on page 305?
4. Refer to the top of the right column on page 307. How does the author’s use of repetition and ellipses
add to the mood of the scene in which the prisoners race past the SS guards and Dr. Mengele?
5. Refer to the description of the bell on page 308. What element of the prisoners’ lives does the bell
symbolize? How does the author use the bell to add to the mood of the camp?
6. Explain why Wiesel’s father gives him the knife and spoon. What does this “inheritance” allow you to
infer about the state of their lives?
7. What kind of man (character) is the block leader, the German Jew who “had never been outside
concentration camps since 1933”? Is he cold and heartless or kind and compassionate? What
motivates him to act the way he does; what controls him?
8. Refer to the Skill Minilesson on the bottom of page 311. Read the paragraph about connotation and
denotation then complete the Practice portion (writing sentences with the vocabulary). BE SURE TO
FOLLOW DIRECTIONS!!
9. Underline the subject(s) and verb(s) in the sentence and then identify the sentence type: “Several days
had elapsed.” (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex)
10. Underline the subject(s) and verb(s) in the sentence and then identify the sentence type: “Before you
go into the next room, move about in some way so that you give yourselves a little color.” (simple,
compound, complex, compound-complex)
11. Identify the underlined phrase types in the following: “Here was a piece of advice we should have liked
very much to be able to follow.” (Phrase 1: infinitive, prepositional, appositive, participial); (Phrase 2:
infinitive, prepositional, appositive, participial)
12. What is the effect of the use of sentence fragments (syntax) at the end of the excerpt (Refer to page
309, the lines that read: The military march. The gate. The camp.)
13. Which method of documenting evidence is correct?
1) In his novel Night, Elie Wiesel writes, “I was afraid of finding myself alone that night” (p. 309).
2) Elie Wiesel says, “I was afraid of finding myself alone that night” (p. 309).
3) The author writes “I was afraid of finding myself alone that night” (309).
4) The author of Night writes, “I was afraid of finding myself alone that night.” (p. 309).
14. Given the following essay prompt, create a thesis statement that would be appropriate:
Write an essay in which you discuss how the author uses setting to create a despairing mood.