Study Guide – Short Story Exam
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Use your notes, graded work, or copies of the short story to answer the
questions below. Turn in your completed study guide on Thursday before your
test and receive 10 bonus points!
CHARACTER:
1. What is a protagonist?
2. Who is the protagonist in “To Build a Fire”?
3. Who is the protagonist in “The Monkey’s Paw”?
4. Who is the protagonist in “The Most Dangerous Game”?
5. Who is the protagonist in “Eleven”?
6. Who is the protagonist in “The Moustache”?
7. What is an antagonist?
8. Who is the antagonist in “To Build a Fire”?
9. Who is the antagonist in “The Monkey’s Paw”?
10.Who is the antagonist in “The Most Dangerous Game”?
11.Who is the antagonist in Eleven”?
12.Who is the antagonist in “The Moustache”?
CONFLICT:
13.What are the four main types of conflict?
14.What type of conflict is evident in “To Build a Fire”?
15.What type of conflict is evident in “The Monkey’s Paw”?
16.What type of conflict is evident in “The Most Dangerous Game”?
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17.What type of conflict is evident in “Eleven”?
18. What type of conflict is evident in “The Moustache”?
PLOT:
19.What is plot?
20.What is the plot of “To Build a Fire”?
21.What is the plot of “The Monkey’s Paw”?
22.What is the plot of “The Most Dangerous Game”?
23.What is the plot of “Eleven”?
24.What is the plot of “The Moustache”?
SETTING:
25.What is setting?
26.What is the setting of “To Build a Fire”?
27.What is the setting of “The Monkey’s Paw”?
28.What is the setting of “The Most Dangerous Game”?
29.What is the setting of “Eleven”?
30.What is the setting of “The Moustache”?
RESOLUTION:
31.What is resolution?
32.How is the conflict resolved in “To Build a Fire”?
33. How is the conflict resolved in the Monkey’s Paw”?
34. How is the conflict resolved in the Most Dangerous Game”?
35. How is the conflict resolved in “Eleven”?
36.How is the conflict resolved in “The Moustache”?
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The following questions refer to “To Build a Fire”.
37.What was the man’s biggest mistake?
38.What did the dog have that the man ignored?
39.Why is the “old-timer” at Sulphur Creek important to the story?
40. What lesson can be learned from reading “To Build a Fire”? (aka What is the
THEME?)
41. Who wrote “To Build a Fire”?
Read the following passages from “To Build a Fire” and identify the figurative
language being used:
42. “If he fell down it would shatter itself, like glass, into brittle fragments.”
43. “There was nobody to talk to; and, had there been, speech would have been
impossible because of the ice-muzzle on his mouth.”
44. “Once coming around a bend, he shied abruptly, like a startled horse, curved away
from the place where he had been walking, and retreated several paces back along
the trail.”
The following questions refer to “The Monkey’s Paw”.
45.Who wrote “The Monkey’s Paw”?
46.What were the man’s three wishes?
47. What were the consequences of the first wish?
48.What did Sergeant-Major Morris want to do with the paw?
Read the following passages from “The Monkey’s Paw” and identify the
figurative language being used:
49.“A fine crash from the piano greeted the words, interrupted by a shuddering cry
from the old man.”
50.“As I wished it twisted in my hands like a snake."
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51.“Unconscious of his wife's shriek, the old man smiled faintly, put out his hands like
a sightless man, and dropped, a senseless heap, to the floor.
The following questions come from “The Most Dangerous Game”.
52.Why did Rainsford decide to hunt something new?
53.Where does Rainsford get the animals he hunts?
54.What is an animal at “bay”?
55. Rainsford believes that the world is made up of two classes. What are they?
Read the following passages from “The Most Dangerous Game” and identify the
figurative language being used:
56.“…it was set on a high bluff, and on three sides of it cliffs dived down to where the
sea licked greedy lips in the shadows.”
57.“The door opened then--opened as suddenly as if it were on a spring--and Rainsford
stood blinking in the river of glaring gold light that poured out.”
58.“An apprehensive night crawled slowly by like a wounded snake,…”
The following questions come from “Eleven”
59.Why does Rachel wish she weren’t turning eleven?
60.How does Mrs. Price react when she learns that the sweater really doesn’t belong to
Rachel?
Read the following passages from “Eleven” and identify the figurative language
being used:
61.“It's maybe a thousand years old and even if it belonged to me I wouldn't say so.”
62.“I wish I was anything but eleven, because I want today to be far away already, far
away like a runaway balloon…”
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63.“Only today I wish I didn't have only eleven years rattling inside me like pennies in
a tin Band-Aid box.”
The following questions come from “The Moustache”
61.Why did Mike have to go to Lawnrest by himself?
62.List two reasons why Mike decided to grow a moustache.
62.According to Mike, what kind of name is “Lawnrest”?
63.Why is Mike’s grandmother in a nursing home?
Read the following passages from “The Moustache” and identify the figurative
language being used.
64. “Both my grandmother and Ethel Barrymore have these great craggy faces like the
side of a mountain and wonderful voices like syrup being poured.”
65. "I sit here these days, Mike," she said, her voice a lullaby, her hand still holding
mine, "and I drift and dream…”
66. "Sh...sh..." she whispered, placing a finger as long and cold as a candle against my
lips.
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