Socratic Seminars in High School
Teacher Supplement
This supplement contains answers to the exercises in the book as well as bonus lesson plans.
WHAT’S INSIDE:
Memorandum to Teachers
Chapter 3
Notations on Robert Frost Poem Three Kinds of Questions
Chapter 4
Answers to Three Kinds of Questions Exercise 1
Chapter 5
Answers to Qualities of Good Questions Exercise 2
Chapter 6
Answers to Basic Interpretive Questions Exercise 3
Chapter 7
Answers to Spontaneous Follow-up Questions: “Gaston” Exercise 4
Chapter 8
W.H. Auden, “The Unknown Citizen” Basic Questions
“A Modern Saint”: Sample Essay
Sample Rubric
Vocabulary of Tone Exercise
Answers to Three Kinds of Questions: Practice Exercise A
Answers to Qualities of Good Discussion Questions: Practice Exercise B
Chapter 10
Answers to “Finding Forrester”: Pre-discussion Exercise
Chapter 11
Answers to “Two Soldiers”: Plot Quiz
Answers to Bumper Sticker Patriotism vs. Memorable Rhetoric: Journal Writing
Chapter 12
Answers to “Robbie”: Plot Quiz
Answers to “Robbie”: Review Quiz on Qualities of Good Questions
Background of three authors on Sputnik
Chapter 13
Answers to The Brave New World: Plot Quiz
BONUS LESSON PLAN: The Giver
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
The Giver: Plot-Check Quiz
The Giver: Plot Summary
Socratic Seminar:
Basic Question 1
Basic Question 2
Basic Question 3
Basic Question 4
Basic Question 5
Chapter 14
Answers to “Pigeon Feathers”: Plot Quiz
BONUS LESSON PLAN: “Parker’s Back”
Answers to “Parker’s Back”: Plot-check Quiz
Socratic Seminar:
Basic Question 1
Basic Question 2
Chapter 15
Answers to “The Stone Boy”: Plot Quiz
Chapter 16
Answers to Death Penalty Information Center 2013 Quiz
“The Bet”: Plot Quiz (Answer Key)
Answers to A Short Film About Killing Prologue
Answers to Compulsion: Edited Closing Arguments
Afterword
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
MEMORANDUM
TO: English Teachers
FROM: Victor and Marc Moeller
RE: Teacher Supplement
DATE: November 2014
As we shake your hand and get a chair for you, let us explain briefly how this Teacher
Supplement will help you become a better teacher. Everything in the book is based on the
assumption that students, not teachers, are the primary agents in learning. The corollary is that
authentic learning is active learning. The consequence is that students become responsible for
their own learning.
This supplement is more than an appendix of answer keys for the tests and exercises in your
book, Socratic Seminars in High School. It also includes two complete bonus lesson plans
(Chapter 12: Can we forget that we are human? Lois Lowry, The Giver and Chapter 14: How
important is God in your life? Flannery O’Connor, “Parker’s Back”). This teacher supplement
also provides specific practical classroom directions for implementing the Socratic method of
teaching and learning.
For more supplementary materials, check out victormoeller.com.
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, we would love to hear from you since it is,
after all, for teachers like you that this book has been written.
--Victor and Marc Moeller
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 3
Notations on Robert Frost poem
Directions: Mark up the poem below by questioning what you think is important, circling key
words, drawing lines to make connections, comments, and personal emotional reactions.
Here is a sample of the notations of some of my students:
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
Can title also mean “The Road Less Traveled”?---->The Road most would NOT take?
1
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,_____(fall)
And sorry I could not travel both
why want to take both?
And be one traveler, long I stood
(reflecting)
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, just as fair,
BOTH were beautiful
And having perhaps the better claim,
an admission
reason for choice Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,___ another admission
6
11
And both that morning equally lay (am)
In leaves no step had trodden black.
an after thought? Oh, I kept the first for another day! why an exclamation?
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
16
distant future
why repeat------>
line 1?
I shall be telling this with a sigh_____of regret or satisfaction?
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
(an important choice)
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I-why hesitation?
I took the one less traveled by,_______Is he bragging?
And that has made all the difference.____for better or worse?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Three Kinds of Questions
The Road Not Taken
“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
--Yogi Berra, Yankees (Hall of Fame 1972
Directions: First, answer each question briefly in the space beneath it. Second, at the left, label
the type of question as FACT for factual, INT for interpretation, and EVAL for evaluation.
1. Why isn’t the title “The Road Less Traveled”?
INT: More than one correct answer is possible. For example:
 The poem is not about being different from others.
 The poem does not recommend finding new roads.
2. Is the traveler sure that he chose the better road?
FACT: No. He says it had “perhaps” (7) the better claim.
3. When did you last make a really important decision?
EVAL: personal experience. For example:
4. Does the traveler wish the he could have taken both roads?
FACT: Yes. The narrator says she would like to be “one traveler” (2)
5. How does the traveler indicate that she is making a major decision?
INT: In three lines: “long I stood,” (3), the “sigh” (16), and “ages and ages hence” (17).
6. Why does the narrator admit that the two roads were about the same?
INT: More than one correct answer is possible. For example:
 He was uncertain about his perception.
 She knew someone else might disagree with her.
7. What is the best or worse road that you have chosen so far in your life?
EVAL: personal values. Are there any examples?
8. Does the traveler think he will ever take the road that others take?
FACT: No. He says he doubted that he would ever come back.
9. Is the narrator beginning to doubt his choice of the less traveled road?
INT: Yes can be as correct as no depending on supporting evidence.
 He hesitates at line 18.
 He repeats the first line.
10. When is conformity good and when is it bad?
EVAL: personal values. For example:
 When we do the right thing at the right time.
 When we remain true to ourselves (Hamlet).
 When we do anything because “everybody’s doing it.”
 When you become unknown citizens (Auden’s poem).
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 4
Three Kinds of Questions
1. FACTUAL: A factual question has but one correct answer.
For example: How does Charlie's father insult the first waiter?
Note: Sometimes a factual question does require some thinking to answer correctly but it is still
factual because only one answer is possible based on a careful reading of the text.
For example: Does Charlie's father like to insult people?
2. INTERPRETATION: An interpretive question has more than one correct answer because a
difference of opinion about meaning is possible.
For example: Why does Cheever have Charlie's father insult several people during the visit with
his son?
3. EVALUATION: An evaluative question asks one to think about his or her own values or
experiences.
For example: (common experience): Have you ever insulted a waiter or a clerk?
For example: (values): Are waiters as important as doctors or doctors?
Exercise 1: Three Kinds of Questions
FACTUAL: 3. Yes. In the first paragraph, Charlie mentions that he would have “to plan his
campaigns” within his father's limitations. 5. Yes. See last sentence. 6. No one will wait on them
because of his father's rudeness.
INTERPRETATION: 1, 2, 7, 8, and 9. More than one correct answer is possible because
evidence supports several possible answers.
EVALUATION: 4 and 10 answers depend on personal experience or values.
Chapter 5
Exercise 2L: Qualities of Good Questions
GOOD: 3, 5, 6, and 14 are all good questions for discussion. NOT CLEAR: 9 What “language is
repetitious”? What situations? 10. Like what? Where? When? How?
13. “Really”? Grand Central Station! NOT SPECIFIC: 1. Could be asked of any story.
15. Could be asked of any to characters in any story. What is the problem about their
relationship? NOT ANSWERABLE: 2 and 12. There is no way of knowing. LACK DOUBT: 4
and 7. Yes, of course. There's no evidence that support a no. 11. Charlie's father does not behave
as a mature person. NIE: Evaluation question.
Chapter 6
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Basic Interpretive Questions: Exercise 3
SATISFACTORY: 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, and 12-16 are all good interpretive follow-up questions
related to the basic question. LA: 3. Is not answerable since there is no way of knowing. 4. Lacks
doubt. Yes (see opening paragraphs). 6. Not specific since it can be asked of any title? SAT if
revised: Why is the title “Reunion” rather than “A Reunion” or “The Reunion? 9. Factual. LD:
Lacks doubt. His father is denied service because of his blatant rudeness. 17. Factual. 18. Not a
prepared but a spontaneous follow-up question. 19. Evaluation. 20. Speculation.
Chapter 7
Exercise 4
1.
Leader: Why doesn't Charlie seem to object to his father's rudeness?
John: I think he does object inside. I believe he really wanted to tell his father that he was acting
like a jerk.
Comment: The student challenges the assumption in the prepared question. Two options: (1)
Ask John for evidence that supports his answer, or (2) get another opinion: “Mary do you agree
with John that Charlie does object “inside” to his father's rudeness?
2.
Leader: Why does Cheever begin and end the story by telling us that this was the last time
Charlie saw his father?
Maria: Maybe he means that Charlie never saw his father again.
Rachael: It could mean that during this visit Charlie discovered the truth about his father
Comment: Multiple responses. Follow-up on either one of them, which ever seems more
interesting or relevant to you, but do not ignore them both and go on to get another answer.
For example: “Rachael, what was “the truth” that Charlie discovers about his father? or
“Maria, if so, does the last sentence suggest that Charlie chose not to see his father again?
3.
Leader: Early in the story, why is Charlie concerned about being like his father?
Katie: He may already be somewhat aware that his father has problems. He does refer to his
“limitations.”
Comment: An interpretation is offered without any supporting evidence. Three options: (1) Ask
for evidence; (2) get more opinion on that evidence; or (3) ask another student for
agreement or disagreement.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
4.
Leader: Why is the title “Reunion” rather than “A Reunion” or “The Reunion”?
John: I don't have a clue. Call on somebody else.
Mary: Who cares?!
Comment: No response at all (which is not uncommon in early discussions). Six options: (1)
repeat the question to give participants more time to think; (2) rephrase the question, for
example: “What is the difference between a father and the father?” (3) ask a related
factual question, for example, “Does Charlie look forward to seeing his father again?” (4)
ask a related interpretive question, for example, “Why does Charlie mention his father's
“limitations” even before they meet?” (5) ask a related question of evaluation, for example,
“What title would you give the story?” or (6) as a last resort, call on another student.
5.
Leader: Does Cheever want us to think it is funny or sad when Charlie's father orders “Bibson
Geefeaters”?
Melissa: Neither. I think Cheever thinks the father is pathetic.
Comment: Again, the student challenges the assumption in the prepared question. It would
be appropriate to ask for clarification of “pathetic” or try to get some evidence.
6.
Leader: At the end of the story, what does his father mean when he told Charlie that he was
“terribly sorry”?
Chris: I think he means that he was sorry that his rudeness ruined their “reunion.”
Tom: I think his dad had a thing about paper guys.
Comment: A wrong answer, that is, an interpretation which cannot be supported by evidence
or is contradicted by other evidence. Three options: (1) Ask for supporting textual
evidence. For example: “Chris, what in the story makes you think he was sorry about
ruining their lunch? (2) Ask someone else if he or she agrees. For example, “Tom, why do
you agree with Chris? (3) Ask a follow-up question for consistency. For example, “Chris,
when does his father tell Charlie that he's sorry?”
NOTE: The leader must not try “to help” students by telling them they are wrong. To do
so, makes them wonder when they will be corrected next and, as a result, dampens future
response, or, just as bad, the leader becomes the authority when the only authority in
discussion is the text. In short, to think independently, participants must learn to judge for
themselves which answers are right or wrong, satisfactory, good, better, or best.
7.
Leader: During their visit, why doesn't Charlie's father speak with his son about anything
personal or important in their lives?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Maria: I wonder why Charlie's parents got a divorce.
Roger: I think Charlie was kinda cool.
Comment: Maria's answer ignores the question (not uncommon in early discussions when
students may have trouble focusing) and Roger's answer is (also not uncommon in early
discussions for students who are not accustomed to being asked to explain their ideas in a
group). Without intimidation, the leader must get clarification. For example, “Maria how
does your answer solve the question?” or, “Maria, what does your answer have to do with
why Charlie's father never asks him any personal questions?” Alternatively, “Roger what
do you mean by “cool”? How is Charlie “cool?”
8.
Leader: Why does Cheever have Charlie's father insult the newspaper man as his son is leaves to
get on the train?
Buster: To leave no doubt in anybody's mind that his father is a total jerk.
Roger: The guy just can't help himself.
Rita: He says he wants to get a rise out of him.
Comment: Multiple ideas in one response. The leader must sort out the ideas and the follow
up on one of them and avoid asking immediately for another answer. The leader's role is to
develop ideas, not merely to call for them. Examples: Buster, what do you mean by “a total
jerk”? (clarification) or, Rita, how do you know he wants to get a rise out of the newspaper
man? (substantiation) or, “Roger, does your answer have something to do with Buster's?”
(more opinion).
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 8
W. H. Auden, “The Unknown Citizen”
Basic Questions
Why does Auden disagree with the narrator’s description of the unknown citizen?
1. Is the poem’s title meant to be an allusion to the unknown soldier?
2. Why has the state erected a memorial to the unknown citizen?
3. Is the poem’s title meant to be ironic?
4. Since so much is known about the unknown citizen, why does he have no name?
5. Early in the poem, why is the unknown citizen referred to as a “modern” saint? (4)
6. Are the virtues of the unknown citizen arranged in order of importance?
7. How wasn’t the unknown citizen “odd in his views”? (9)
8. How were his reactions to advertisements “normal in every way”? (15)
9. According to the narrator, why is all that is necessary to Modern Man a phonograph, a radio, a
car, and a frigidaire? (20)
10. Why did the unknown citizen have the “proper opinions for the time of year” (23)
11. Why does the narrator say the unknown citizen never interfered with “their,” (the teacher’s
education) rather than with someone else’s?
12. At the end of the poem, why does someone ask if the unknown citizen had been free and
happy? (30)
13. Why does the narrator of the poem regard the question about freedom and happiness as
absurd? (30)
A Modern Saint
(Sample essay)
Through the use of diction, imagery, and organization, Auden conveys the poem’s tone of
humorous irony and satire which attacks the prevalence of conformity in so much of today’s
society. How ironic that the title, “The Unknown Citizen,” refers to a man known to ten separate
government agencies that know only superficial details about this citizen’s life. What do
Producers Research, High-Grade Living, and the Eugenists really know about this citizen who is
“in the modern sense of an old-fashion word,” a saint, that is, one who “held the proper opinions
for the time of the year,” and who “wasn’t odd in his views”?
Imagery also adds to the satiric, ironic tone of the poem. In addition to being a “saint,” a word
that evokes the idea of perfection, the unknown citizen is also found to be “normal in every
way,” that is, an average Joe Smith who attracts no attention. Why? He served the “Greater
Community” by blending in perfectly and never interfering with anyone else--even his teachers.
State agencies claim to know about every aspect of this man’s life, his thoughts and opinions,
when in reality they do not even know if he was free or happy. After all, to even ask such a
question would be “absurd.”
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
These examples all develop an overall tone of irony and satire. Together they emphasize
Auden’s criticism that for every aspect of life, there has to be an agency keeping detailed records
on its citizens. The purpose of such agencies seems to be to keep tabs on extraordinarily ordinary
citizens--the kind society regards as saints. The more a person conforms, the more of a modern
“saint” he or she becomes. This is the kind of person who must be, without doubt, free and
happy. This is the kind of person to whom the State builds monuments.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
SAMPLE RUBRIC
(Adapted from an AP English Exam)
General Directions: The score you assign should reflect your judgment of the quality of the essay
as a whole. Reward the writers for what they do well. The score for a particularly well-written
essay may be raised by one point from the score otherwise appropriate. However, in no case may
a poorly written essay be scored higher than a 4. When in doubt, consult your Table Leader.
9-8 Writers of these essays demonstrate stylistic maturity by an effective command of sentence
structure, diction, and organization. They present a comprehensive and coherent view of the
poem’s purpose with a clear discussion of devices; they identify and illustrate the difference
between the author’s and the speaker’s attitude towards the unknown citizen. They recognize and
illustrate the central image of the “modern saint.” The writing need not be without flaws, but it
reveals the writer’s ability to choose from and control a wide range of the elements of effective
writing.
7-6 These essays present an accurate view of the poem’s purpose. They discuss some devices
important to the poem’s tone, citing pertinent examples of their use and accounting for their
effects. They do so, however, with less thoroughness or accuracy than those in the top scores.
They are well written in an appropriate style, but with less maturity than the top papers. Some
lapses in diction and syntax may be present, but the writing demonstrates sufficient control over
the elements of composition to present the writer’s ideas clearly. While the arguments in these
essays are clear, they are put forward with less coherence or persuasive force than the 9-8 range.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 These essays usually demonstrate a limited understanding of the purpose and recognition of
some of his devices for engaging the reader’s dismay, but demonstrate less ability to choose
pertinent examples and to account for their effects than upper-half papers. Papers in this group
are adequately written but demonstrate inconsistent control over the elements of composition.
Organization will be evident, but it may not be fully realized or particularly effective.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4-3 Essays that merit these scores typically reveal a misunderstanding of the poem’s purpose,
and do not demonstrate an ability to identify specific devices in the text. They often summarize
content rather than analyze rhetoric, or they analyze rhetoric in general terms, terms that could be
applied any poem. The writing is sufficient to convey the writer’s ideas, but it suggests weak
control over diction, syntax, or organization. These essays may contain consistent spelling errors
or some flaws in grammar. Statements in these essays are usually assertions seldom supported
with specific textual evidence.
2-1 These essays show little grasp of the purpose and devices of the poem and sometimes misrepresent its details. Often they describe the content of the text but show little or no ability to
identify devices or account for their effects in the poem. These essays also may be unacceptably
brief or poorly written on several counts. The writing often reveals consistent weaknesses in
grammar, usage, or other basic elements of composition.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Vocabulary of TONE Exercise
Few English students would deny that one of the most elusive ideas not to define but to describe
and to pinpoint is TONE, that is, the author’s attitude towards his/her subject matter. Since
virtually every essay question in the exam is about tone and how it contributes to the author’s
overall meaning (thesis or theme) and purpose in any given selection, it is vital to have a
vocabulary of tone to be able to distinguish between “shades of tone,” that is subtle ways of
identifying it. All too often students find themselves limited to using rudimentary adjectives like
serious or humorous.
To complicate the matter further, the student must be careful to distinguish between how the
narrator’s or speaker’s attitude towards the subject and how the author’s attitude may coincide or
differ. For example, is the narrator sympathetic towards a character that the author treats as a
figure of gross arrogance? Does Fitzgerald’s condemnation of the crass materialism of the
society of The Great Gatsby coincide with or differ from Nick Carraway’s disgust? In contrast,
consider the narrator of Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado.” Is the author as certain as his narrator that
he has no guilt for having committed the perfect crime? Here is a list of more than seventy words
that will help students pinpoint an author’s tone.
admiring
angry
apologetic
appalled
anxious
afraid
benevolent
biased
cathartic
conversational
cynical
concerned
contemptuous confident
complimentary detached
diffident
disdainful
distressed
dreamy
elegiac
frivolous
fanciful
flippant
humorous
impious
indignant
informal
inspiring
informative
laconic
laudatory
moralistic
maudlin
neutral
nostalgic
patronizing pedantic
poignant
pleading
quarrelsome reverent
scornful
sentimental
somber
taunting
urgent
worshipful
larmed
arrogant
authoritative
biting
clinical
comical
complacent
dogmatic
disgusted
euphoric
forgiving
grim
impassioned
inflammatory
irreverent
lighthearted
matter-of-fact
objective
puzzling
preachy
sardonic
satiric
tolerant
worrisome
ambivalent
argumentative
apprehensive
bitter
colloquial
condescending
conversational
didactic
dramatic
ecstatic
facetious
haughty
impartial
insolent
insensitive
malicious
melancholic
obsequious
pretentious
provocative
sarcastic
solemn
threatening
whimsical
amuse
audacious
bantering
candid
casual
contentious
critical
determine
disbelieving
effusive
factual
horrific
incisive
ironic
learned
mocking
mournful
outraged
praising
respectful
subjective
sympathetic
urbane
whining
Exercise: Group together words related to a core idea (in bold). Example: objective, clinical,
factual, impartial, detached, informative, neutral, and matter-of-fact.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
“The Unknown Citizen”
Three Kinds of Questions
Practice Exercise A
DIRECTIONS: First, answer each question briefly in the space beneath it. Second, at the left,
label the type of question as FACT for factual, INT for interpretation, and EVAL for evaluation.
1. Why is the title about The Unknown Citizen rather than about An Unknown Citizen?
INT: “The” implies that this man was special, “a modern saint.”
“An” implies that this man is but one of many.
2. Does the speaker of the poem have a good opinion of the unknown citizen?
FACT: Yes, indeed. The poem is a eulogy about the “virtues” of the special citizen.
3. Why is so much known about the unknown citizen?
FACT: Several government and local agencies have detailed records on his life: the Bureau of
Statistics, his Union, Social Psychology, the Press, Health, Producers Researchand High Grade
Living, Public Opinion surveys, and “our Eugenist.”
4. Why has the State erected a monument to the unknown citizen?
INT: more than one correct answer is acceptable given the evidence.
5. Do you regard government as too much involved in your life?
EVAL: a question about personal values.
6. Was the unknown citizen well liked among his friends?
FACT: Yes. “He was popular among his mates and liked a drink.” (13)
7. Do you know of anyone today is something like this unknown citizen?
EVAL: a question about common, personal experience.
8. Who is the “our” in line 26 and the “we” in the last line?
FACT: a government agency and a spokesman for State government.
9. Who wants to know if the unknown citizen was free and happy?
INT: Auden.
10. Why are questions about the citizen’s freedom and happiness “absurd”?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
“The Unknown Citizen”
Qualities of Good Discussion Questions
Practice Exercise B
Directions: First, at the left, identify the type of each question (FACT, INT, EVAL). Second, at
the right label each interpretive question as GOOD, NC (not clear), NS (not specific), LD (lacks
doubt), or NA (not answerable).
1. Does the title allude to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier?_____
LACKS DOUBT: Yes!
2. What is the point or purpose of the poem?_____
NOT SPECIFIC: can be asked of any poem?
3. Why was a monument been erected for the unknown citizen?_____
GOOD: several answers are plausible depending on evidence.
4. What is the narrator’s opinion of the unknown citizen?_____
5. Does Auden agree with the narrator’s opinion on the unknown citizen?_____
LACKS DOUBT: No! His questions about freedom and happiness challenge the arrogance of the
government bureaucrat who assumes he had to be content because there was nothing “wrong”
about his life.
6. What is the “modern sense” of a saint in this poem?_____(4)
GOOD question of interpretation
7. What is your definition of a saint?_____
EVAL: a question about personal values.
8. Are there any saints in your life?_____
EVAL: a question about personal experience
9. In what way could the unknown citizen have been “odd in his views”?_____(9)
FACT: If he did not have the “proper opinions” he would have been odd.
10. How old was the unknown citizen when he died?_____
NOT ANSWERABLE in any specific way.
11. What was “normal” about the unknown citizen’s reactions to ads?_____(15)
GOOD
12. What things are necessary for today’s modern man?_____(21)
FACT: a phonograph a radio, a car, and a frigidaire.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
13. Why is there no mention of television in line 21?_____
FACT: television did not become common until after 1950.
14. Was the unknown citizen killed in war?_____(24)
FACT:
No. He retired after the war. (6)
15. What kind of student was the unknown citizen?_____(27)
NOT ANSWERABLE unless line 27 implies that the unknown citizen never questioned
authority.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 10
Answers to “Finding Forrester” Pre-discussion Exercise
Basic Question of Interpretation
Does the title refer more to Forrester's helping Jamal to find his future or Jamal helping Forrester
to find his past?
DIRECTIONS: On your scantron, mark A if the question is directly related to Forrester helping
Jamal, B if the question is related to Jamal helping Forrester, C if the question is related to both
of them helping one another, and D if the question is related to neither Forrester or Jamal.
Suggestion: when undecided, answer the question and then consider if that answer has to do with
Forrester helping Jamal, or Jamal helping Forrester, both helping one another, or to neither of
them.
1. During an English class on Poe's “The Raven,” why does Jamal refuse to recite by saying that
he had not read the poem?
2. Why is Mrs. Wallace told by Jamal's English teacher that her son is a C student with an A on
the state assessment test?
3. Why did Jamal turn to reading and writing after his father abandoned his family?
4. Does Jamal's peer acceptance depend entirely on basketball?
5. Why does the film contrast the accomplishments of Jamal's gregarious brother, Terral, with
Jamal's aspirations?
These five questions are (D) unrelated to the basic question because they are all about
Jamal’s personal life.
6. When Jamal finds his backpack in the street, why does he discover comments in red ink in his
journals?
7. In one of his red-ink comments, why does Forrester ask: “Where are you taking me”?
8. By “constipated thinking,” does Forrester mean that Jamal's writing is not clear?
(A) These three questions are about Forrester helping Jamal to improve his writing.
9. When Jamal first knocks on Forrester's door, why does he take up the challenge to write 5000
words on why he should stay away?
(C) Both are helping each other: Had Jamal not followed up on Forrester’s challenge
(test?), there would have been no relationship.
10. After professor Crawford tells his students that William Forrester wrote a masterpiece at 23,
why is his first assignment to find out why Forrester wrote only one book rather than questions
about the book itself?
(D) This question is unrelated because it is about Forrester’s personal life.
(Note that this assignment is about a question that cannot be asked on the basis of
Forrester’s book but only of Forrester himself.)
11. When Jamal asks Forrester why he is a legend at school, why does Forrester shout at him,
“The purpose of a question is to obtain information that matters to you”?
(A) This is the first of Forrester’s many “lessons” for Jamal.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
12. Why does Forrester tell Jamal he will go to Mailor because he wants to answer the question
about what he will do with the rest of his life?
(A) Is Forrester about to become Jamal’s surrogate father?
13. When Forrester asks Jamal if he had read his only book, Avalon Landing, why does Jamal
say he couldn't get past the first ten pages?
(B) Jamal is frank and may be helping Forrester unwittingly.
14. Why does Forrester not want anyone to know about Jamal's visits to his apartment?
15. When Jamal asks if Forrester will keep helping him with his writing, why does Forrester
agree only if Jamal asks no questions about him, his family, or why he wrote only one book?
(C) Two conditions both must abide for their relationship to continue.
16. What does Forrester mean when he tells Jamal, “People are always talking about my book
but never saying anything about it”?
17. When Jamal tells Forrester that his book means that “Life never works out,” why does
Forrester reply that he didn't have to read a book to learn that?
18. What does Forrester mean when he says that “The first step to writing is writing--not
thinking about what you are going to write”?
19. What does Forrester mean when he says to write the first draft with your heart but then to
rewrite with your head”?
20. How does Forrester's having Jamal type out a copy of his “A Season of Faith's Perfection”
help Jamal to “discover his own words”?
21. Why does Forrester insist that whatever he and Jamal write must stay in his apartment?
22. Why does Forrester warn Jamal that “Bitterly disappointed teachers [of writing like Robert
Crawford] are either very good or very dangerous”?
(A) These seven question are about specific ways that Forrester helps Jamal improve his
writing and his conduct at school.
23. When Jamal gives Clare the unexpected gift of a signed copy of Forrester's book, why does
she ask if he had been trying to show her more than how to dribble a basketball?
(D) This question is about Jamal’s personal life.
24. Did Forrester write only one book mostly because he so profoundly resents critics who try to
explain what he was “really” trying to say or because of his brother's untimely death?
(B) Because Jamal is aware of Forrester’s one book, he was able to inspire him to write a
second “in the evening of his life.”
25. Why does Jamal take Forrester to a stadium on his birthday?
(B) Jamal knew that he had to get Forrester out of hibernation to begin living a normal
life as a writer.
26. After Forrester tells Jamal about his brother's drunk-driving death, why does Jamal quote
Forrester's words, “The rest of those who have gone before us cannot study the unrest of those
who follow”?
(B) Jamal is asking Forrester to take his own advice to get on with his life which he put
on hold when he brother died. Forrester had to also be impressed that he had memorized
a sentence from his book.
27. What has Jamal learned from Forrester and Forrester from Jamal? (C)
28. When Jamal realizes that Forrester will not defend him publicly, is he serious giving up
writing?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
(C) When Forrester heard Jamal say this, it had to make him realize that he was letting
him down. On the other hand, Jamal did not give up on writing because he seemed at that
moment to be on his own.
29. Why is Jamal presented with the choice of winning a championship to retain his scholarship?
(A) It may have been the screen writer’s purpose to illustrate again how Jamal had
learned how to be true to himself from Forrester.
30. Why does Jamal ignore Forrester's question about the missed foul shots?
(A) Jamal has learned from Forrester to avoid unimportant questions.
31. When Jamal goes to the writing contest awards, why does he tell Clare that Mailor will have
to kick him out of school--that he will not just walk away?
(A) Jamal has learned from Forrester personal integrity.
32. Why does Forrester come out of retirement to defend Jamal?
33. How did Jamal's writing contest entry, “Loosing Family,” make Forrester realize that “the
one wish that [he] was granted so late in life was the gift of friendship”?
(B) These two questions reveal how important Jamal had become in Forrester’s life.
34. Even after Forrester convincingly demonstrates that Jamal's “Loosing Family” was his own
work, why does professor Crawford still want Jamal disqualified?
35. Why is professor Crawford over ruled and Forrester offered a teaching job?
(D) Answers to these two questions have have nothing to do with the basic question.
36. After his death from cancer, why does Forrester want Jamal to have his apartment?
37. In his final letter to Jamal, what does Forrester mean when he says, “I never imagined that I
would realize my own dream once again”?
38. Why does Forrester credit Jamal's coming into his life for realizing his own dream so late in
life?
39. Why does Forrester leave to Jamal the manuscript of Sunset with “the foreword to be written
by Jamal Wallace”?
40. How does the story's resolution imply that Jamal will become one day a successful writer?
(B) These five questions are about ways that Jamal had changed Forrester’s life forever.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 11
Answers to “Two Soldiers” Plot Quiz
1. “Me and Pete,” the first three words of the story, refers to:
a. Billy Joe and his brother b. The narrator and his cousin c. The narrator and brother
2. The narrator of the story is almost___years old.
a. Nine b. Ten c. Fifteen d. Seventeen e. Twenty
3. Pete is almost___years old.
a. Nine b. Ten c. Fifteen d. Seventeen e. Twenty
4. The story takes place in (two answers):
a. Memphis b. Oxford c. Frenchman’s Bend d. Mississippi e. Jefferson
5. The time of the story is during the____World War.
a. First b. Second c. Civil d. Revolutionary
6. Pete goes to the city because he had been drafted:
a. True b. False
7. When Pete left home, he was most concerned about the effect his absence would have on his:
a. Maw b. Pap c. brother d. sister e. None of these
8. Pete’s mother is against his leaving home because she:
a. can’t think of one good reason. b. thinks that her brother did enough in WW I
c. knows he will get into trouble. d. thinks his brother will want to leave home next
9. Pete’s father is against his leaving home because:
a. He had done enough already. b. He needed Pete’s help on the farm.
c. He had gotten into trouble himself. d. He agreed with Pete’s mother’s thinking.
10. Pete’s brother is both for and against his brother’s leaving home.
a. True b. False.
11. Since Pete felt that he had to leave home, that he’s “got to go,” his brother assumed that he
would have to go with him.
a. True b. False
12. Pete never did give a reason for leaving home.
a. True b. False.
13. The author wants us to admire Pete’s reason for leaving home.
a. True b. False.
14. The author wants us to think that Pete’s brother is foolish for wanting to leave home with his
brother.
a. True b. False
15. Pete’s brother finally gets to the city where Pete had gone by:
a. Walking b. Walking and a bus c. Hitchhiking d. Bus e. Train
16. When the narrator finally gets to Memphis and finds his brother, Pete is:
a. Curious b. Astonished c. Disgusted d. Angry e. Embarrassed
17. Pete immediately reprimands his brother for:
a. Using profane language b. Using his knife c. Whining and whimpering
d. Disobeying him e. Not telling his parents he had also left home
18. Peter’s brother told him that he had come to Memphis because:
a. He wanted to say good-by b. His heart hurt c. He knew he wanted him to come
d. He knew he would need wood and water e. None of these
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
19. Pete’s brother is astonished when his older brother:
a. Hits him on the head b. Takes away his knife c. Kisses him
d. Shouts angrily at him e. Tells him the Army had rejected him
20. When Pete’s brother returns home, he:
a. Tells his parents he sorry for being so late b. Begins crying uncontrollably
c. Tells his parents he wanted to see Pete d. Blames Pete for leaving home
e. None of these.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Answers to Bumper sticker Patriotism vs. Memorable Rhetoric
JOURNAL WRITING
Questions: To what historic event do some of these slogans or quotations refer? To whom have
some of the slogans or quotations been attributed? Which of these tone words apply?
insidious
laudatory
simplistic
inspiring
elegiac
false analogy
divisive
bigoted
chauvinistic
either-or fallacy
intolerant
jingoistic
1. “My country, right or wrong.” (jingoistic, either-or fallacy)
Teddy Roosevelt’s foreign policy, 1920,
2. “America--Love it or Leave it!” (jingoistic, either-or fallacy)
Vietnam War, 1954-75
3. “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
Nathan Hale, 1776 (inspiring and laudatory)
4. “No one has a right to desecrate the flag.”
Republicon perennial slogan for an Amendment (insidious, flag is not sacred)
5. “Bring ‘em on!”
G. W. Bush, 2001 (macho, arrogant, cowboy diplomacy)
6. “You’re with us [America] or against us!”
G. W. Bush, 2002 (jingoistic, either-or fallacy)
7. “America’s mission today is to spread God’s gift of democracy to other nations.”
G. W. Bush, 2006 (insidious, condescending, arrogant)
8. “The last full measure of devotion”
Abraham Lincoln, 1861, Gettysburg (inspiring, laudatory)
9. “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall
be my brother.”
“War-like Harry” in Henry V 4.3.60-61 (inspiring, laudatory)
10. “All you have to do [to go to war] is tell the common people that they are being attacked or
will be attacked and then denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country
to danger. It works the same in any country.”
Hermann Goering, 1939 Head of the Nazi Gestapo (insidious, cynical)
11. “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Winston Churchill, 1944 (Battle of Britain--RAF) (elegiac, laudatory)
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
12. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1943, Pearl Harbor (inspiring, reassuring)
13. “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country
John F. Kennedy, 1961 (quoting Cicero during his Inauguration Speech.
14. “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
Samuel Johnson, 1755, Dictionary of the English Language (cynical)
15. “Patriotism is not the last resort of a scoundrel but the first.”
Ambrose Bierce, 1885, Devil’s Dictionary (cynical)
16. “No soldier wants to die for his country.Your job is to make the other sob die for his!
George S. Patton, 1944, Normandy D Day, World War II (inspiring)
17. “Love of patriotism becomes a demon when it becomes a god.”
Michael de Rougemont
18. “We should not ask if God is on our side but whether we are on His side.”
Abraham Lincoln, 1861, Civil War
19. “God bless America” “God Save America”
Red and blue states of America on the Iraq War, 2001 (divisive)
20. “Support our troops”
Iraq War, 2001 (simplistic, divisive)
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 12
Answers to “Robbie” Plot Quiz
1. Unlike George, why does Grace Weston fear Robbie?
FACT: It is a machine that my go berserk and harm Gloria. p. 17
2. Why does Asimov give Robbie human emotions and remind us that it is still a robot?
INT: more than one correct answer is possible depending story evidence.
3. Are people today over dependent on machines?
EVAL: a question about personal values and experience.
4. Why does Gloria think her parents are taking her to New York City?
FACT: She thinks that detectives will find Robbie for her.
5. How does Grace Weston plan to make Gloria forget Robbie?
FACT: She hopes to replace it with a dog and change her environment.
6. Why is Gloria portrayed as a spoiled child?
INT: more than one correct answer is possible depending on story evidence.
7. How does George Weston plan to make Gloria forget Robbie?
FACT: He will have her find Robbie working in a robot factory to realize that it is only a
machine.
8. Had you been Gloria’s mother or father, would you have allowed her to keep Robbie?
EVAL: a question about personal values.
9. Unlike Grace, why is George unable to see any harm or danger in Gloria’s relationship with
Robbie?
INT: more than one correct answer is possible depending story evidence
10. Why does Gloria fiercely insist that Robbie is not a machine?
INT: more than one correct answer is possible depending story evidence.
11. Does Gloria think “Cinderella” is a story for babies?
FACT: Yes. That is what she tells Robbie.
12. Do most of the neighbors agree with Grace Weston that Robbie is dangerous?
FACT: Yes.
13. Why does Gloria think she knows why her parents take her to New York City?
INT: more than one correct answer is possible depending story evidence .
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
14. Why does Asimov have George interrupt Mr. Struthers when he is explaining the future
advantages of robots in daily life?
INT: more than one correct answer is possible depending on evidence in the story.
15. While visiting the robot factory in New York, why were the human supervisors unable to
save Gloria from being crushed by the tractor? \
FACT: They failed because they were “only human.”
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Answers to “Robbie” Review Quiz on Qualities of Good Questions
1. What kind of relationship does Gloria have with her parents?
NS: can be asked of the relationships of any character(s) in any story.
2. What’s wrong with Robbie?
NC: What does “wrong” mean? It needs explanation.
4. Do Mr. and Mrs. Weston really disagree about robots?
LD: Yes they do in several ways. See #5 for an improvement.
5. What is the biggest reason for George and Grace’s disagreement about
Robbie’s role in their daughter’s life?
GOOD interpretive question for discussion.
6. Does George have more trust than Grace in the reliability of robots?
LD: The answer is yes because no evidence supports no.
7. How important are robots in our lives today?
EVAL: the question asks for an answer that is outside the story.
8. Why is Mrs. Weston so stupid about robots?
NC: How is she stupid about robots? “Stupid” needs explanation
9. What is the point of the story?
NS: If “point” means message or theme, it can be asked of any story.
10. Why does Gloria go willingly with her parents to New York?
FACT: She thinks that they are going there to find Robbie.
11. What is the role of Mr. Struthers in the story?
NS: Can be asked of any character in any story. What do you want to know about his role
in “Robbie”? Can you be more specific?
12. Why does Asimov begin the story with Gloria playing with Robbie?
GOOD interpretive question for discussion.
13. Why does Gloria keep putting on the way she does?
NC: What does “putting on the way she does” mean? Explanation needed.
14. Does Gloria really think that Robbie is not a machine?
LD: Yes. She’s says he’s “a person just like you and me and he is my friend.” No
evidence would make us doubt her meaning.
15. With whose attitude towards Robbie does Asimov want us to agree--George or Grace
Weston’s? GOOD interpretive question for discussion.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
14. Why does Grace Weston agree to let Robbie return to Gloria after he saves her life?
FACT: She remarks that Robbie will eventually rust useless.
15. With whose attitude towards Robbie does Asimov want us to agree--George or Grace
Weston’s?
GOOD interpretive question for discussion.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Background of three authors on Sputnik
Passage 1
“Sputnik: October 4, 1957”
Hannah Arendt (author of Passage 1)
German-American political theorist. Fleeing the Nazis in 1941, she came to the US and taught at
leading universities. The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) established her as a major political
thinker. She traced Nazism and Communism to their roots in 19th century imperialism and
antisemitism.
Other major works include: The Human Condition (1958), Eichmann in Jerusalem
(1963), and The Life of the Mind (1977), published posthumously.
Passage 2
“Sputnik: October 4, 1957”
Smithsonian
James Van Allan (author of Passage 2)
An American physicist who discovered the magnetosphere---two belts of radiation outside
earth’s atmosphere, extending 400 to 40,000 miles, that circulate along the earth’s magnetic lines
of force. These belts were discovered by detectors aboard EXPLORER 1, America’s first
artificial satellite A frequent contributor to the Smithsonian.
Passage 3
“Sputnik: Dawn of the Space Age”
New York Times Magazine (April 18, 1999).
James Gleick (author of Passage 3)
Author, journalist, and biographer, whose books explore the cultural ramifications of science and
technology. Three of them have been Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalists, and they
have been translated into more than twenty languages. Gleick's essays charting the growth of the
Internet included the "Fast Forward" column on technology in the New York Times Magazine
from 1995 to 1999 and formed the basis of his book What Just Happened. His work has also
appeared in The New Yorker, the Atlantic, Slate, and the Washington Post.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 13
Answers to The Brave New World Plot Quiz
Chapter 1
1. What is the motto of the World State Government in the brave new world?
“COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY”
2. How are babies produced in 632 After Ford (A.F.)?
They are artificially (not born) decanted (fertilized) in bottles. A single egg can reproduce
up to ninety-six identical twins who are mentally and physically identical.
3. What happens to babies in the “Social Predestination Room”?
A government department determines the number and type (caste) of the individuals
needed for a stable society.
4. Of the five different types (castes) of people in the brave new world, who are the highest level
and who are the lowest?
The Alphas are the highest, the leaders. The lowest are the Epsilons who cannot read or
write. The three middle groups are the Betas (technicians) and the Gammas and Deltas
who have descending levels of intelligence.
Chapter 2
5. What is the function or purpose of “Infant Nurseries”?
Their purpose is to condition or indoctrinate children to develop as a member of their
caste and to be content as a member of that group.
Chapter 3
6. What does the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning explain the new students about sexual
activity among children?
Before 632 A.F., sexual play was regarded as abnormal and immoral but now children
are encouraged to experiment.
7. Why is Mustapha Mond such an important person in the World State Government?
He is one of Ten World Controllers, the Resident Controller for Western Europe.
8. What advice does Fanny give Lenina Crowne?
Fanny tells Lenina that she must be more promiscuous and not spend too much time with
any one man (Henry Foster).
Chapter 4
9. Although he is an Alpha, why does Bernard Marx feel inadequate and different?
He is shorter and thinner than other Alphas and physically and emotionally he considers
himself an outsider.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
10. Why is Helmholtz Watson Bernard’s only real friend?
Like Bernard, Helmholtz knows that he is different and dissatisfied with a meaningless
life in the World State. Both are suspect by their superiors. Bernard confides his true
feelings of inadequacy and unrest in Helmholtz.
Chapter 5
11. What is “Soma” and “Orgy-porgy”?
Soma has “all the advantages of Christianity and alcohol and none of their defects.”
Orgy-porgy is a Solidarity Service. It takes the place of religious worship and provides
emotional release for the participants. It ends in indiscriminate sex.
Chapter 6
12. When Bernard gets a permit to visit the Savage Reservation in New Mexico, what does the
D.H.C. Director warn him about?
He reprimands Bernard for being a loner and his unorthodox views. He warns him that
conformity must be maintained or he will have him exiled to Iceland.
Chapter 7
13. Why is Lenina so upset and disgusted by a Savage ritual dance?
She is appalled at seeing evidence of old age, disease and filth. Their dance reminds
Lenina of orgy-porgy but this ceremony ends with the bloody flogging of a young white
man.
14. Who is John, Linda and Tomakin?
John is the young man just whipped in the dance ceremony and Linda is his mother who
was abandoned on the reservation years ago by Tomakin, the Director of Hatcheries and
Conditioning.
Chapter 8
15. What kind of education does John received on the Reservation?
As a Beta, his mother Linda was able to teach him to read. John then spent years closely
studying the thirty seven plays of Shakespeare.
16. Why is John eager to accept Bernard’s offer to leave the Reservation for London?
John is anxious to go to another life in a “brave new world” that he neither knows or
understands.
Chapter 9
17. When John finds Lenina in a Soma induced sleep, who does he compare her to?
Her beauty makes him think of Juliet. When tempted to touch and even expose her
unconscious body, he restrains himself as lustful and unworthy.
Chapter 10
18. When Bernard returns to London with Linda and John and the Director of Hatcheries and
Conditioning exiles him to Iceland, how does Bernard turn the tables against him?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
He produces Linda who announces that the Director is John’s father and she is his
mother. As a result of the profound shame and ridicule of his audience and staff, the
Director feels forced to resign his position on the spot.
Chapter 11
19. As a result of the Director’s resignation, what happens to Bernard and John?
Bernard becomes an immediate celebrity and John an instant curiosity who “all uppercaste London was wild to see.”
20. When Bernard gives John a tour of life in London, how does he react?
John is appalled at the factory system of human automatons performing identical tasks
and an educational system of total indoctrination (conditioning). In both situations there
is no individuality. Everyone belongs to everyone and everyone works for everyone. If
short, there is no room for individual loves, loyalty, or attachments. Mother and father are
dirty words. No one is to be alone but always with some some participating in some form
of entertainment.
Chapter 12
21. After Bernard has paraded John before many important personages, why does John now
refuse to appear?
Bernard has never has the sensitivity or courtesy to ask John if he wanted to meet anyone.
Bernard assumed that John would cooperate because he had done so before.
Chapter 13
22. When Lenina tries to seduce John into having sex with her, why does he refuse?
John considers sex outside of marriage immoral and disgusting while Lenina has been
conditioned to regard sex as recreation
Chapter 14
23. What are two important things that so upset John when he goes to the hospital to visit his
dying mother, Linda?
Pope and the Delta children. In her near coma, Linda confuses John with Pope, her
“lover” on the Reservation who supplied her with alcohol. After Linda’s death,
John becomes emotionally unhinged when five khaki twins, goggle him and ask
repeatedly, “Is she dead?”
Chapter 15
24. Enraged, why does John call for the people at the hospital to overthrow the government of
the World State?
He can no longer tolerate their society and its values when he recalls the lines from the
Tempest, “O brave new world” that has such depraved, pityful creatures in it,he now
reflects. Specifically, he is set off by the children fighting among themselves for soma.
“Stop!” John shouts, “that will poison your soul as well as your body!”
25. What is the difference between Bernard’s and Helmholtz’s reaction to John’s revolt?
Helmholtz joins John’s revolt and throws the box of soma out the window while
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Bernard stands by and hesitates when the police ask him if he is a friend of these malcontents.
Chapter 16
26. Why have Bernard, Helmholtz, and John been arrested and taken to Mustapha Mond?
All three have asserted their individuality and, as a result, have become a threat to the
State. John openly calls for the people to revolt. Helmholtz joined John’s revolt, and
Bernard reluctantly admits that he is a friend of the prisoners.
27. To defend the government of the World State, why does Mustapha bring up the Cyprus
experiment?
When John asks Mustapha why the State did not choose excellence, that is, make
everyone an Alpha, he brings up the Cyprus experiment. He believes it proves that when
22,000 Alphas were given freedom to manage their own lives and to organize a
democratic Utopia, they failed. Why? They were unable to or unwilling to act
independently, intelligently, and rationally. The result? They chose to return to state
control, to totalitarianism.
Chapter 17
28. What is John’s rebuttal to Maustapha’s argument that modern man has substituted universal
happiness for God and the religious impulse?
For John universal happiness is a sham because it is no more than contentment.
Real happiness, John argues, cannot exist without the possibility of tragedy, without
premature death, the risk of failure, lost love, and even sin. Without true freedom of
choice, we are not human but automatons.
Chapter 18
29. When condemned live in London, how does John try to adapt to society?
He goes to an abandoned lighthouse and attempts to return to his previous life on the
Reservation--working with his hands, disciplining his body and mind. But when people
discover his bizarre actions they disturb his need to be alone and force him to defend
himself against all odds.
30. When forced to choose between conformity or annihilation, what does John do?
He hangs himself in the lighthouse.
31. In his introduction, what third choice does Huxley say he should have given John?
“If I were now [1958] to rewrite the book [1932], I would offer the Savage a third
alternative. Between the utopian and the primitive horns of his dilemma would lie the
possibility of sanity--a possibility already actualized, to some extent, in a community of
exiles and refugees from the Brave New World (p. viii).” In addition to those on the
Reservation Huxley also seems to have in mind those misfits like Bernard and Helmholtz
who are exiled and isolated on islands.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
BONUS LESSON PLAN
The Giver Lesson Plan 10A
[Additional lesson plan not in the main book]
“For all the children to whom we entrust the future.”
1. Focus:
Journal: How would you like to live in a perfect world where
everything is under control? There is no war, fear, or anxiety,
hunger, or poverty but total security--a world where you would not
have to worry about anything.
2. Objective:
To resolve several questions of interpretation about the overall
meaning of the novel.
3. Purpose:
o To increase our mutual understanding (comprehension) and, as a
result, our enjoyment of the story and movie.
o To develop the habits of reflective. critical, and independent
thinking.
4. Input:
Begin with a factual plot check quiz.
Two to four basic questions (40-60 minutes)
5. Modeling, checking, and guided practice:
During discussion the co-leaders model the
four rules of discussion, check for
understanding by asking follow-up questions
for clarification, substantiation, consistency,
relevance, implication, resolution, and to get
more opinion.
Guided practice IS the discussion.
6. Closure:
Oral or written resolution of one or two basic questions
TEXT: Lois Lowry, The Giver. Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1993.
MOVIE: The Giver (2014) DVD 97 min. Philip Noyce, Director.
NOTE: During Socratic Seminar day(s), in a full ninety-minute period, four pairs of student coleaders each lead a fifteen-minute discussion of the reading. It is important that the teacher
approves the student co-leader questions before discussion to avoid wasting time on questions
that are not clear, are factual, or evaluative. (Discussion should center on solving problems, not
in trying to figure out what the problems are.) During the remaining time (if any) the teacher
leads a demonstration discussion (modeling) of one of his or her basic questions on the reading
of the lesson.
THE GIVER
Plot-check Quiz
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
CAST
Setting: 1950+
The Giver Jonus, The Receiver
The Chief Elder & Speaker The Elders
Jonas‘ father Jonas’ mother
Lily Asher
Fiona Rosemary
Directions: On your own paper answer each question in a complete sentence. Do not repeat the
question. The questions are in chronological order.
1. In the world of Sameness, why are children scolded for joking about being Released? 3
To be “Released,” as the pilot-in-training would be for his grievous error of flying over the
community, is a final decision of the community to disown a citizen, that is to be eliminated
permanently. p 2
2. Why does Jonas’ father bring home baby #36 (Gabriel) when a family is allowed only two
children?
His job as Nurturer allows him to give special care to “Uncertain” babies. 12
3. Why does Lily’s mother disapprove of her wish to become a Birthmother?
After producing three babies, she would become a Laborer for the remainder of her life. 22
4. Why does Jonas regard Asher and Fiona as “friends always”?
They get along so well together that they have bonded emotionally. 17, 18, 28
5. Why must “Stirrings” be reported and treated promptly?
Stirrings are the onset of puberty and sexual development. 17, 130
6. What pledge did Jonas’ family have to sign when Gabriel came to live with them? 42
Each member had to agree that they would not become emotionally attached to their temporary
guest.
7. What is “precision of language”?
Precision of language is literalism. The literal meaning of each word must be employed to avoid
figurative language--irony, sarcasm, metaphor, hyperbole, and others. “Precise” language
prevents lies. Ch. 7
8. What are two of the five qualities that qualified Jonas to be the next Receiver?
Jonas was chosen to be the next Receiver because of his intelligence, integrity, courage, wisdom,
and his “Capacity to see Beyond.” 62-3
9. Of the eight rules of Jonas’ training as Receiver, which one disturbs him most?
#8 “You may lie.” 70
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
10. When Jonas begins his training in the Giver’s residence what so surprised him about its
furnishings?
His library has thousands of books. 74
11. What is the first memory that the Giver transmits to Jonas.
A sled ride down a hill of snow. 81
12. When the Giver explains to Jonas why the citizens chose Sameness and relinquished
sunshine, color, and differences, what is his fierce reply?
“We shouldn’t have!” 95
13. When Jonas’ laments the sameness of his life, why does the Giver tell him that “We really
had to protect people from wrong choices.”
Jonas then realizes there can be no freedom of choice in a world of sameness. 98
14. What is the Giver’s reply when Jonas asks him what causes him pain--why he must suffer so
much?
After Jonas cannot medicate his broken leg, the Giver transmits related memories does memories
of hunger, poverty, and warfare. 107, 110
15. According to the Giver, what does pain and intense suffering produce?
Wisdom. “Without wisdom I could not fulfill my function of advising the
Committee of Elders when they call upon me.” 111
16. Why is the Giver’s favorite memory of joy and happiness?
Family and the feeling of reciprocated love. 123, 126
17. What was Jonas’ first lie to his parents?
When he told them he understood their explanation about why he should not use the word “love”
to refer to family relationships. 127
18. Why was the Giver unable to train his own daughter, Rosemary, as his Receiver? 141
Because the Giver loved Rosemary, it broke his heart to transfer pain to her and when it became
unbearable, she went to the Chief Elder and asked for permission to be released. She was. I never
saw her again. 141
19. How does Jonas react when he witnesses his father releasing an identical twin in the nursery?
“He killed it!” He could not believe that he could kill any baby when his job some regarded as
the most important--to be a Nurturer. 150
20. How does the Giver explain to Jonas how his father and others could eliminate the young and
the old?
“They can’t help it. They know nothing!” exclaims the Giver. 153
21. When the Giver and Jonas conspire to reject Sameness, why does the Giver choose to remain
behind?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
The Giver believes that without his help the community could not change and become whole by
bearing one another’s burdens. They would destroy themselves. 156, 162
22. How does Gabriel set Jonas’ flight to Elsewhere into motion?
When his father tells Jonas that Gabriel will be Released, Jonas knows he must save him-whatever the cost. 165
23. Why is Jonas able to save Gabriel’s life? 166, 172
He became resourceful. found food and kept Gabriel calm by giving him soothing memories.
24.
How does Jonas finally save his own and Gabriel’s life when they appear to be lost? 178
He remembers and finds he sled in the snow that they take to the house in the forest.
25. When Jonas and Gabriel arrive at the home in the forest, what event is the family
celebrating?
“They celebrated love,” [Christmas as family] “where they were waiting for him; and that they
too were waiting for the baby. For the first time he heard something that he knew to be music.
He heard people singing.” 179-180
THE GIVER
Plot Summary
CAST
Jeff Bridges as The Giver
Meryl Streep as The Chief Elder
Brenton Thwaites as Jonas
Alexander Skarsgård as Jonas's father
Odeya Rush as Fiona
Katie Holmes as Jonas's mother
Taylor Swift as Rosemary
Cameron Monaghan as Asher
Jonas, who is 11 years old, is apprehensive about the upcoming Ceremony where he will be
assigned his job or his "assignment in the community." In his society little or no privacy is
allowed; even private houses have two-way intercoms which can be used to listen in for
infractions of the rules. However, the rules appear to be readily accepted by all, including Jonas.
So it is without real protest that he initially accepts his selection as the Receiver of Memories, a
job he is told will be filled with pain and the training for which will isolate him from his family
and friends forever.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Yet, under the guidance of the present Receiver, a surprisingly kind man who has the same rare,
pale eyes as Jonas, the boy absorbs memories that induce for the first time feelings of true
happiness and love. Also, for the first time, Jonas knows what it is to see a rainbow, and to
experience snow and the thrill of riding a sled down a hill. But then he is given the painful
memories: war, pain, death, and starvation. These are memories of the Community's deep past.
Jonas learns that the Community engineered a society of "sameness" to protect its people against
this past, yet he begins to understand the tremendous loss he and his people have endured by
giving their memories away, embracing "sameness", and using "climate control".
In his "community," which is under extreme control, there is no suffering, hunger, war, and also
no color, music, or love. Everything is controlled by "the Elders," who are looked upon in a very
positive light, though they control whom you will marry, whom you receive as children, and
what you will be "assigned" as a job. The people in the community do not have the freedom to
choose. Jonas aches with this newfound wisdom and his desire for a life Elsewhere blossoms.
But the final blow for Jonas comes when he asks the Receiver (who now calls himself "The
Giver") what "release" is. The Giver says that he could show him, and allows Jonas to watch a
present-day tape of his own father, a seemingly kind and loving man, "releasing" a baby twin by
giving him a lethal injection. Like any other "aberration" from sameness, identical twins are
against the rules, so the smaller of the two is dispatched like garbage, without the one who
conducted the release understanding the true meaning of the action. Together, Jonas and the
Giver come to the understanding that the time for change is now, that the Community has lost its
way and must have its memories returned. The only way to make this happen is if Jonas leaves
the Community, at which time the memories he has been given will flood back into the people.
Jonas wants the Giver to escape with him, but the Giver insists that he will be needed to help the
people manage the memories, or they will destroy themselves. The Giver also wants to remain
behind so that when his work is done, he can be with his daughter, Rosemary, a girl with pale
eyes who ten years earlier had failed in her training to become the new Receiver of Memories
and who had asked to be released (the memories of pain and loneliness having overwhelmed
her).
The Giver devises a plot in which Jonas will escape to Elsewhere, an unknown land that exists
beyond the boundaries of the Communities. The Giver will make it appear as if Jonas drowned in
the river so that the search for him will be limited. In the meantime, the Giver will give Jonas
memories of strength and courage to sustain him and save up his meals as Jonas' food and water
supply for his journey.
Their plan is changed when Jonas learns that Gabriel, the baby staying with his family unit, will
be "released" the following morning. Jonas has become attached to the baby, who also has
unusual pale eyes, and feels he has no choice but to escape with the infant. Without the
memories of strength and courage promised by the Giver, Jonas steals his father's bike and
leaves with Gabriel to find the Elsewhere. Their escape ride is fraught with dangers, and the two
are near death from cold and starvation when they reach the border of what Jonas believes must
be Elsewhere. Using his ability to "see beyond," a gift that he does not quite understand, he finds
a sled waiting for him at the top of a snowy hill. He and Gabriel ride the sled down towards a
house filled with coloured lights and warmth and love and a Christmas tree, and for the first time
he hears something he knows must be music.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
SOCRATIC SEMINAR
Basic Question 1
How and why did people in the world of Sameness lose their humanity?
1. What is the purpose of the daily family ritual of sharing feelings? (4-6)
2. Why do people not prepare their own meals?
3. Why have sexual feelings (“stirrings”) been suppressed in the world of
Sameness? (37, 129)
4. Why are children assigned to families rather than born into them? (42)
5. Why does the world of Sameness need a Giver and a Receiver of Memory (64)?
6. Why is The Receiver’s Assignment the most important job of all? (67)
7. Has the world of Sameness been able to continue for so many generations because of role of
the Giver? (67, 77)
8. Why is any one allowed to take medication for pain? (69)
9. Why are there no books other than those needed for daily routine? (74)
10. Why had color, hills, and intemperate weather been eliminated? (83-85)
11. Why is the school curriculum limited to language and communications, commerce and
industry, science and technology, and civil procedures and government?
(89)
12. Why is there but one Receiver of Memories?
13. Why do the people find memories of any kind so painful?
14. How had the world of Sameness been able to isolate itself from other communities?
15. What does The Giver mean when he tells Jonas that people “know nothing”? (105, 153)
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Basic Question 2
Does Lois Lowry want us to regard The Giver as heroic or as a parody of the “Suffering Servant”
of the book of Isaiah?
“A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. . . Surely he has born our griefs and carried our
sorrows. . . for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living.”
(53:10-12).
If yes, then:
1. Why does Jonas have to explain to The Giver why it is not fair that color has been removed
from the world of Sameness? (97)
2. Why does The Giver tell Jonas that people cannot help killing the young and the old because
“They know nothing”? (153)
3. Why does The Giver do nothing to reform the world of Sameness?
4. Why doesn’t The Giver think about his own death very much?
5. What does The Giver mean by wisdom? (95)
6. Why does the Giver never disagree with a bad rule? (For example, when the committee
decided to relinquish sunshine, color, and differences.) (95)
If no, then:
7. Why does The Giver submit willingly to a life of loneliness and mental suffering for the sake
of the community? (102, 103,139)
8. Why does The Giver tell Jonas that loneliness and not being able to share with his spouse is a
most difficult part of his life?
9. When Jonas decides to leave with Gabriel, why does The Giver stay behind or the sake of the
community?
10. Why does The Giver frankly admit that his greatest suffering is retaining the memories of
mankind? (104, 110,113)
11. Why does The Giver so admire the heroic death of Rosemary? (151)
12. Why does The Giver give up even his last most treasured memory of music to Jonas?
(122-125)
Basic Question 3
Does Lowry intend Jonas to be a model of the Jonah who saved the wicked people of Nineveh,
and Gabriel to be the Christ child of the first Christmas?
1. Why does the story conclude with the narrator saying that “they [those celebrating
Christmas in the home in the forest] were waiting for him [Jonas]; and that they were waiting,
too, for the baby.” (180)
2. When David hears music for the first time, why does the narrator then say that behind Jonas,
“Across the vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left [the world of Sameness],
he thought he heard music too”? (180)
3. Why does Lowy have Jonas risk his life to save baby Gabriel?
4. Why is Jonas described as a Giver while he is still The Receiver? (176)
5. Why does Jonas want the freedom to make choices? (95)
6. Why does Jonas want everyone to have the freedom to make choices? (95-7)
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
7. Is Jonas’ statement that caring is “the meaning of everything” meant to be an allusion to the
Golden Rule?
Basic Question 4
Why is “precision of language” so important in the world of Sameness?
1. Why is precision of language one of the most important tasks for children of and beyond to
learn? (55)
2. Does using “precise language” mean being literal? (70, 71, 75, 89)
3. If so, why is irony, metaphor, and white lies prohibited?
4. Does language define or reflect experience in the world of Sameness? (89, 95)
5. Why is it inappropriate to use the word love in the community? (127-8)
6. Why was Jonas’ first lie about why it is wrong to use the word love? (127)
7. Why is no one permitted to lie in world of Sameness--except the Giver and the Receiver?
8. When Jonas becomes the Receiver, why does the Book of Rules allow him to lie? (68, 127,
158)
Basic Question 5
Although some significant changes were made, why does Lois Lowy approve the 2014 movie
version of her story?
1. Why does the movie open with only five rules posted?
2. Why are only four of eight rules of Jonas’ training for Receiver posted?
3. Why do the Guards obey The Speaker’s order to eliminate Jonas and Gabriel?
4. Does she regard Jeff Bridges role as the Giver more instrumental than the role of the Receiver
(Brenton Thwaites).
5. As the Chief Eldder and Speaker how does Meryl Streep advance the conflict between the
Receiver and his family to escape to Elsewhere?
6. Why does Asher allow Jonas and Gabriel to escape death?
7. Like the novel, why does the story conclude with the narrator saying that “they [those
celebrating Christmas in the home in the forest] were waiting for him [Jonas]; and that they were
waiting, too, for the baby.” (180)
8. Why does Jeff Bridges (The Giver) “think it ironic that movies like Hunger Games and
Divergent were inspired by The Giver?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter14
Answers to “Pigeon Feathers” Plot Quiz
1. Why is David so upset by what H.G. Wells says about Jesus in The Outline of History?
He is horrified that Wells does not regard Jesus as divine but dismisses him as a fraud.
2. Why does David find the dictionary definition of the soul unsatisfying?
According to the dictionary, “the soul is separate in nature form the body and usually
held to be separable in existence.” David cannot accept the qualifying word “usually.”
3. When his mother asks David what seems to be troubling him, why doesn’t he confide in her?
“He never regarded his parents as consolers of his troubles; from the beginning they had
seemed to have more troubles than he.”
4. While at Sunday school, what so upsets David about Reverend Dobson’s lesson?
When David questions the minister’s concept of Heaven as celestial slumber, David
knows that the Rev. Dobson is not answering his objections honestly.
5. When David’s mother again asks to tell her what is bothering him, what is his complaint?
He tells her that Rev. Dobson’s vague explanation of Heaven amounts to saying there’s is
no Heaven at all.
6. Why does David reject his mother’s argument that the beauty of nature is good evidence of the
reality of God?
David dismisses the nature argument as irrelevant. After all, what really counts are the
words of Jesus: “I am the way, the truth and the life”?
7. When Elsie (David’s mother) tells George (his father) that David is worried about death, what
does he say?
He says, glibly, that HE welcomes death and she should not give it a thought.
8. How does David accept his fifteenth birthday gift?
He’s puzzled. Why would his parents give him a Remington .22 rifle? Nevertheless, he
soon began to use it for target practice.
9. After David gets a rifle, what “job” does his mother ask him to do?
Because of grandmon’s request, his mother asks him to kill the pigeons in the barn that
are fouling the stored furniture.
10. Why doesn’t David really want to do the “job”?
David doesn’t want to kill anything.
11. What were some of David’s feelings as he killed the pigeons?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
He has mixed feelings. The narrator says “He felt like a beautiful avenger.” As he
continues the kill, the narrator then says, “He had the sensation of a creator.” As he killed
each bird, “it blossomed into a dead enemy.
12. When his mother comes to the barn to ask David how many birds he has killed, what is
David’s emotional response?
“Don’t blame me. I didn’t want to shoot the poor devils.”
13. How does David’s mother feel about his killing the pigeons?
Guilty: “I don’t know why I let Mother talk me into it.”
14. After his mother orders David to bury the pigeons, what does he discover as he looks closely
at each dead bird?
“No two [were] alike, designs executed, it seemed, in a controlled rapture, with a joy that
hung level in the air above and behind him. Yet, these birds bred in the millions and were
exterminated as pests.”
15. What sudden, profound insight (epiphany) does David have after he buries the birds?
“He was robed in this certainty: that the God who had lavished such craft upon these
worthless birds would not destroy His whole Creation by refusing to let David live.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
BONUS LESSON PLAN
“Parker’s Back” Lesson Plan 11A
1. Focus:
2. Objective:
3. Purpose:
4. Input:
5. Modeling:
6. Checking for understanding:
7. Guided practice:
8. Closure:
READINGS:
FILM:
Journal: How important is God in your life?
To develop the habits of independent, reflective, and
critical thinking.
To compare and contrast short stories by Updike and
O'Connor
Reading and discussion of basic questions of interpretation
why David
Kern in “Pigeon Feathers” and Sarah Ruth in “Parker’s
Back” have such different views of Christian belief.
Co-leaders observe the Four Rules of Socratic Discussion.
Co-leaders ask spontaneous follow-up questions for
clarification, substantiation, more opinion, consistency,
implication, and resolution.
Co-leaders observe the four rules of Socratic discussion.
Essay Exam, oral resolution, written resolution to one of
the basic questions.
John Updike, Pigeon Feathers and other stories. New York,
NY: Fawcett, 1996. Appendix has unabridged text of both
stories.
Flannery O’Connor, The Complete Stories of Flannery
O’Connor. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
1971. “Parker’s Back,” pp. 510-30.
Pigeon Feathers, VHR (45 min.) Monterey Home Video
(The American Short Story) 1989
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
“Parker’s Back” PLOT-CHECK QUIZ
DIRECTIONS: Answer each question in complete sentences. Do not repeat the question.
1. When Parker met Sarah Ruth even before she knew his name, why did she hit him?
2. When Sarah Ruth asked to see Parker’s faked hand injury, what was his first thought?
3. What was Sarah Ruth’s opinion of Parker’s tattoos?
4. What did Sarah Ruth do when Parker told her they did not have to get married to have sex?
5. Why didn’t Parker and Sarah Ruth get married in a church?
6. At first, why did Parker decide to get a tattoo on his back?
7. What did Parker say as his tractor hit the enormous old tree in the middle of a hay field?
8. Did Parker think that he hit the tree or did he believe that the tree grabbed him?
9. Why would Parker have “crossed himself” if he had known how to do it when he encountered
the enormous old tree in the middle of the hayfield?
10. When the tattoo artist asked Parker which picture of God he wanted on his back, what was
his ironic reply?
11. What picture of God did Parker choose to have tattooed on his back?
12. Why was Parker so sure that Sarah Ruth would have to like his new tattoo?
13. When asked in the pool hall why he gotten a new tattoo on his back, what was his reply?
14. When asked why HE wasn’t laughing, what did Parker do? 527
15. After leaving the pool hall abruptly, why did Parker go back to Sarah Ruth?
16. When he got home, what did Parker say to get Sarah Ruth to open the door for him?
17. When Sarah Ruth finally looked at Parker’s new tattoo, what did she say?
18. Why did Sarah Ruth begin screaming “Idolatry!” when Parker told her that the tattoo on his
back was picture of God?
19. Earlier in the story, what clue did O'Connor give that would enable us to predict Sarah
Ruth’s response to Parker’s tattoo of Christ? (Check your answer to question 5.)
20. After Sarah Ruth beat Parker out of the house with her broom stick, what did he do?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
“Parker’s Back”
Answers to Plot Quiz
1. When Parker met Sarah Ruth even before he knew his name, why did she hit him?
He was blaspheming.
2. When Sarah Ruth asked to see Parker’s faked hand injury, what was his first thought?
“I don’t want nothing to do with this one, he thought.”
3. What was Sarah Ruth’s opinion of Parker’s tattoos?
“Vanity of vanities.”
4. What did Sarah Ruth do when Parker told her they did not have to get married to have sex?
“She thrust him away with such force that the door of the truck came off and he found himself
flat on his back on the ground.”
5. Why didn’t Parker and Sarah Ruth get married in a church?
“Ruth thought churches were idolatrous.”
6. At first, why did Parker decide to get a tattoo on his back?
“He had to get exactly the right one to bring Ruth to heel.”
7. What did Parker say when his tractor hit the enormous old tree in the middle of the hay field?
“GOD ABOVE!”
8. Did Parker think that he hit the tree or did he believe that the tree grabbed him?
“All at once he saw the tree reaching out to grasp him.”
9. Why would Parker have “crossed himself” if he had known how to do it when he encountered
the enormous old tree in the middle of the hayfield?
He had had a religious experience or he felt that he was about to die.
10. When the tattoo artist asked Parker which picture of God he wanted on his back, what was
his ironic reply?
“Just God,” Parker said impatiently. “Christ, I don’t care. Just so it’s God.”
11. What picture of God did Parker choose to have tattooed on his back?
Parker returned to the picture--the haloed head of a flat stern Byzantine Christ with alldemanding eyes.”
12. Why was Parker so certain that Sarah Ruth would be pleased with his new tattoo?
“She can’t say she don’t like the looks of God.”
13. When asked in the pool hall why he had gotten a new tattoo on his back, what was Parker’s
reply?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
“For laughs,” Parker said. “What’s it to you?”
14. When asked why HE wasn’t laughing, what did Parker do?
He attacked the men who ridiculed him.
15. After leaving the pool hall abruptly, why did Parker go back to Sarah Ruth?
“She would know what he had to do. . . she would at last be pleased. It seemed to him that, all
along, that was what he wanted, to please her.”
16. What did Parker have to do to get Sarah Ruth to open the door for him?
“Parker bent down and put his mouth near the stuffed keyhole.
“Obadiah” [‘slave of Yahweh’]. “Obadiah Elihue! he whispered.
“Elihue” [‘he is god’]--in The Book of Job he is the so-called friend who argues that suffering
teaches us how to live better lives.
17. When Sarah Ruth finally looked at Parker’s new tattoo, what did she say?
“It ain’t nobody I know.”
18. Why did Sarah Ruth begin screaming “Idolatry!” when Parker told her that the tattoo on his
back was a picture of God?
“He’s [God] a spirit. No man shall see his face.”
19. Earlier in the story, what clue did O’Connor give that enabled us to predict Sarah Ruth’s
violent reaction to Parker’s tattoo of Christ? (Check your answer to question 5.)
“Ruth thought churches were idolatrous.”
20. After Sarah Ruth beat Parker out of the house with her broom stick, what did he do?
“There he was--who called himself Obadiah Elihue--leaning against the tree, crying like a baby.”
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
SOCRATIC SEMINAR
“Parker’s Back”
Basic Question of Interpretation 1
Why does O’Connor contrast Parker’s genuine religious experience with Sara Ruth’s biblical
fundamentalism?
1. Why does Sarah Ruth keep reminding Parker to change his ways but seem to be unaware of
correcting anything in her life?
2. How does the author suggest that Parker had a genuine religious experience when he struck
the tree with his tractor?
3. What “great change” takes place in Parker’s life after he smashed his tractor into the tree?
4. Why does Parker trust that a sign would be given to him to decide which picture of God to put
on his back?
5. Why do the “all-demanding eyes” of the Byzantine Christ have such power over Parker?
6. Why does O’Connor want us to know that Parker had a tattoo of Buddha on his body?
7. While spending the night at the Haven of Light House Mission, why does Parker recall the
burning tree and the silent-speaking eyes of the picture in the tattoo artist’s catalogue?
8. Why does Sarah Ruth regard Parker’s tattoos are nothing more than vanity?
9. Why does O'Connor want us to know that Sarah Ruth’s father was a Straight Gospel preacher?
10. Why does Sarah Ruth ask Parker if he had been saved?
11. Why is Parker so certain that Sarah Ruth would like his new tattoo of God?
12. Does Parker get the tattoo of Christ to please Sarah Ruth or to “bring her to heel”?
13. Why doesn’t Parker want to look at the completed tattoo on his back?
14. What makes Parker attack the men in the pool hall who joke about his new tattoo?
15. When Parker is thrown out of the pool hall, why does O’Connor compare him to Jonah?
16. Why does Parker feel that the eyes on his back “were eyes to be obeyed”?
17. Why does Parker trust that Sarah Ruth will know “what he had to do” about his tattoo of
Christ when he is back?
18. Does Parker subconsciously make a connection between the eyes of the Byzantine
Christ and Sarah Ruth’s eyes?
19. When Parker is back with Sarah Ruth, why does she refuse to let him enter the house until he
repeats his biblical name?
20. When Parker finally returns home to Sarah Ruth, why does O’Connor compare him to Saint
Paul being knocked off his horse?
21. Why does Parker whisper his biblical name through the key hole when he returns to Sarah
Ruth?
22. Why does O’Connor end her story with Sarah Ruth beating with her broom the tattooed
Christ on Parker’s back?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Basic Question 2
Why does Parker keep going back to Sarah Ruth even though he is repelled by her religious
fanaticism?
1. Why can’t Parker understand why he stayed with his wife?
2. Is Parker’s suspicion correct that Sarah Ruth married him to save him?
3. Why can Parker understand Sarah Ruth “one way or another” but not himself?
4. When he first meets Sarah Ruth, how does Parker know instinctively that he wants nothing to
do with her?
5. Why does Parker think that Sarah Ruth may have really liked the things that she ridicules?
6. After his first meeting with Sarah Ruth, why doesn’t Parker know why he returned to her the
next day with a bushel of apples?
7. When he again returns to Sarah Ruth with peaches, why is Parker still unable to understand his
attraction to her?
8. When Parker returns a third time with two cantaloupes, why does Sarah Ruth ask his name?
9. When Parker reluctantly tells Sarah Ruth his name, why does she repeat it reverently?
10. Why does Parker marry Sarah Ruth the day after he had decided to leave her?
11. Why does Parker return every night after having decided to leave Sarah Ruth every morning?
12. Why does Parker stay with Sarah Ruth who was both ugly and pregnant?
13. Did Parker get the tattoo of Christ to please his wife or to “bring her to heel”?
14. While Parker stays over night at the Haven of Light House Mission, why does he find
comfort in thinking about Sarah Ruth’s sharp tongue and ice pick eyes?
15. Why does Parker believe that Sarah Ruth will know “what he had to do” about his tattoo of
Christ when he goes back to her?
16. Does Parker return to Sarah Ruth after he had his back tattooed because he wanted to finally
please her or because he felt she would help him understand his “great change”?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 15
Answers to “The Stone Boy” Plot Quiz
1. to pick peas
5. Arnold
9. get help
13. Eugene IS dead
17. looked like him
20. picking peas
24. distraught
2. ten
6. rifle
10. delays
14. his delay
18. angry
21. moron
25. nothing
3. seventeen
4. small
7. bag a duck
8. Eugene is fatally shot
11. “Eugene is dead.”
12. joking
15. unfeeling
16. Uncle Andy
19. why Arnold had delayed field
22. reasonable
23. shame and ridicule
26. fright
Chapter 16
Answers to Death Penalty Information Center 2013 QUIZ
TRUE or FALSE:
1. The death penalty saves taxpayers money because execution is cheaper than keeping someone
in prison for life.
FALSE: Although the costs of incarcerations are expensive (about $25,000 per year per inmate),
which amounts to $700,000 to $900,000 for a prisoner who lives 30 to 40 years, the death
penalty costs about
2.5 million per execution. WHY?
2. In 1976, the Supreme Court allowed individual states to restore the death penalty to avoid
ruling whether or not capital punishment violates the Eighth Amendment which forbids “cruel
and unusual punishment.”
TRUE: As a result, 32 states now have the death penalty while 18 do not. On March 10, 2011,
ILLINOIS became the 15th state to abolish the death penalty. See Chicago Tribune Editorial (H).
3. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, more blacks than whites have been executed.
FALSE: Since February 2006, 583 whites have been executed and 344 blacks. HOWEVER,
more blacks (35%) have been executed than whites (11%) proportionate to their number in the
population.
4. Since the death penalty was reinstated in the US, more than a dozen have been released from
death row because they were found innocent.
FALSE: More than 120 have been released from death row because of DNA testing. This means
that for every 8 executions, another person on death row has been found innocent. In Florida, 22
were exonerated and 18 in Illinois.
5. In some states with the death penalty, even the mentally retarded can be executed.
FALSE: In 2002, the Supreme Court banned execution of the mentally retarded. HOWEVER,
prior to 2002, 19 states executed the mentally retarded.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
6. Someone who commits murder in Wisconsin or Massachusetts, which do not have the death
penalty, cannot receive capital punishment,.
FALSE: Although 12 states do not have the death penalty, there remains the federal death
penalty for certain crimes that applies no matter where committed. Examples: kidnapping,
murder related drug crimes, and murder of a federal employee.
7. Hanging has not been used as a method of execution in the US for over thirty years.
FALSE: Delaware hanged a man in 1996 and the state of Washington conducted two hangings in
the 1990s.
8. When police US police chiefs were polled on their views on ways to lower the crime rate, only
1% placed the death penalty as their top priority.
TRUE: According to a national poll (Hart), police chiefs ranked reduction of drugs, poverty, and
guns as more important ways to reduce crime. The
FBI Uniform Crime report shows that the South had the highest murder rate accounting for over
80% of executions. The Northwest, which had less than 1% of executions, had the lowest murder
rate.
9. No woman has been executed in the US since the Civil War.
FALSE: Velma Barfield was executed in North Carolina in 1984, Karla
Faye Tucker was executed in Texas in 1998, and Judy Buenano was executed in Florida in 1998.
Since 1998, ten more women have been executed in five states. Today, 69 women on death row
await execution.
10. The Supreme Court has ruled that teenage defendants who were seventeen at the time of their
crime could be executed.
FALSE: In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that a defendant who was 15 at the time of his crime
could not receive the death. However, a 14 year old teenager in Wisconsin who killed a principal
in 2007, will be executed IF he is tried as an adult.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Answers to “The Bet” Plot Quiz
1. Which two of the four conditions of the bet were the most challenging and stressful?
The lawyer may leave the room any time, he may have no human contact and must remain
confined for fifteen years to win two million dollars. (INT)
2. Why does the banker think capital punishment is more humane than life imprisonment?
“Execution kills instantly, life-imprisonment kills by degrees.” (FACT)
3. Why does the lawyer think both capital punishment and life imprisonment are immoral?
“Their purpose is the same, to take away life. The State is not God. It has no right to take away
that which it cannot give back.” (FACT)
4. How does the lawyer reply to the banker’s challenge of five years in jail?
“I bet I will stay not five but fifteen years!” (FACT)
5. In what situation does he banker find himself fifteen years later?
He is bankrupt and cannot pay off the debt which he is about to lose. (FACT)
6. How does the banker plan to resolve his situation?
He plans to murder the lawyer. (FACT)
7. What conclusion about life does the lawyer arrive at as his confinement comes to an end?
“I despise all worldly blessings and wisdom. Everything is void, frail, visionary and delusive as a
mirage. . . You are mad and gone the wrong way.” (FACT)
8. How old is the lawyer at the end of the story?
Since he made the bet when twenty-five, he is now forty. (FACT)
9. Why does the banker weep when he finished reading the prisoner-lawyer’s exit letter?
He may be relieved that he does not have to pay up, consumed with guilt, or appalled at how he
has contributed to the ruin of the young lawyer’s life. (INT)
10. What does the banker lock the lawyer’s parting letter in his safe “to avoid rumors”?
He wanted to have proof that he had not killed or driven off the lawyer (INT)
Answers to A Short Film About Killing Prologue
The film opens with a voice-over stating eight propositions about the relationship between law
and justice in society. Paraphrase each and then explain.
1. “The law should not imitate nature; the law should improve Society’s rules of human conduct
should not be like the rule of survival of the fittest or might makes right but rise above it.
2. “People invented the law to govern their relationships.”
We make rules of human conduct to put order into the give-and-take of human life
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
We need rules of daily conduct to respect everyone’s rights--to treat others as we would wish to
be treated--fairly.
3. “The law determines who we are and how we live.”
Those who follow the rules, treat others as they would like to be treated while those who break
them become predators.
4. “We either observe it or break it.”
We follow the rules of human conduct or we ignore them
5. “People are free. Their freedom is limited only by the freedom of others.”
We make rules to ensure everyone’s options of choice and action.
6. “Punishment means revenge. In particular when it comes to harm, but it does not prevent
crime.”
Although law breakers who injure others deserve harsh treatment, it does not deter more law
breakers.
7. “For whom does the law avenge?”
Whom does punishment benefit?
8. “In the name of the innocent? Do the innocent make the rules?”
Does harsh treatment benefit the guiltless? If so, do the guiltless make the laws?
Answers to Compulsion: Edited Closing Arguments
(Meyer Levin, Compulsion, 1956, pp. 377-391).
Prosecutor
Harold Horn (E. G. Mashall)
1. You have no right to forgive personally, but sitting here as Chief Justice of this great court,
your honor, you have no right to forgive anybody who violates the law!
2. Your Honor, in this case, with the mass of evidence presented by the State, to grant life
imprisonment would mean “the verdict was founded on corruption!”
3. Illinois law says in extreme cases death shall be the penalty. As a judge, you have no right to
set aside the law. You have no right to defeat the will of the people of Illinois.
4. Mr. Wilks says that hanging does not stop murder. More murders take place in Chicago than
in all of Great Britain where justice is handed out swiftly and surely.
5. The psychological-thrill motive is baloney and even if it were true, it is no reason to all these
two unrepentant murders to avoid death. Their real motive was money.
Defense Counsel
Jonathan Wilk (Clarence Darrow/ Orson Wells)
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
1. I am accused of having my clients plead guilty out of fear. That’s right. I want a judge to
decide this case not diluted among a jury of twelve people. Yes, your honor, I asked for a judge.
If these boys are to hang, you must do it.
2. Crime and punishment. Yes the long history of crime and punishment is marked by a
catalogue of methods of execution--one more gruesome than another. However, it has been
proven that where the punishments for crimes are less barbarous, crimes are less frequent.
Throughout the centuries, our laws have been modified. Cruelty breeds only more cruelty. If
there’s any way to kill hatred and evil, it’s not by killing men. It’s through charity, love, and
understanding. We say ours is a Christian community. Can there be any doubt what the fate of
these boys would be safe in the hands of the Founder of the Christian religion?
3. I am asking for life imprisonment. Any cry for more goes back to the beasts of the jungle.
Some say the state should show these boys the same mercy that they gave their victim. If the
state cannot be kinder and more humane than these two sick boys, I am sorry that I have lived so
long.
4. I am profoundly sorry about the cruel death of the victim, Bobby Franks. They bludgeoned
him to death, threw acid on him to disfigure him and then threw his body in a ditch. If killing
these boys would bring Bobby Franks back to life, then let it done. Since the State cannot give
life it has no moral right to take it. The death penalty is legalized murder.
5. If these boys are executed, will it be done in the name of justice? Who knows what justice is?
Is it not for many another word for revenge? Will killing Artie and Judd stop other sick boys
from killing. No. Your honor, if you hang these boys, you are turning back to the past. I am
pleading for the future. I plead not merely these boys but for all boys and for life itself when we
can overcome hatred with love. When we can learn that all life is sacred and that many in the
highest attribute of mankind?
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Afterword
In a common core curriculum, what is the value of studying “the best that is known and thought
in the world”?
--Victor J. Moeller
Matthew Arnold’s question about Great Books deserves an answer. The most obvious reason has
to be that stories are entertaining and amusing. With imaginative literature, there is something to
satisfy everyone’s taste--from romance, to gothic tales, to mystery, to westerns, to sciencefiction, to whatever!
Look around. Be a browser. Talk to a reader.
Reading stories also educates our imaginations. Those who think that a story like “Gaston” about
a bug in a rotten peach is dumb or stupid, have not developed their imaginations. In fiction,
anything can happen and an author does not have to prove anything. Our only obligation as
readers is to understand the world that an author has placed us in--not to argue about the author’s
creation. If we do so, we can increase our enjoyment immensely. Unless we develop our
imaginations, we will remain literal-minded and foolishly demand that all stories be true-to-life.
How dull that would be.
On the other hand, the contrast between the real or actual and the extraordinary or the fanciful,
suggests two different uses that readers make of imaginative literature. Sometimes we do want to
read about people like ourselves, or about places, things, experiences, and ideas that we are
familiar with and make us feel comfortable. In the process of reading about situations related to
our own lives, we can learn more about ourselves and the world about us. Realism will always
have its appeal.
But at other times, the last thing that we want is a story about people like ourselves or
experiences similar to those in our everyday lives. We might be accused of wanting to escape.
We want something different or strange--like Stephen King stories. We want to get out of
ourselves and the confining, all-too-familiar, and learn that there are other ways of looking at the
world besides our own. In short, we want to read about exotic places, about other worlds that
have never existed, or worlds that may never exist. The romantic spirit will always contend with
realism’s appeal.
Stories also prepare us for the unexpected and help us to avoid projecting false hopes and fears
(such as superstitious zebras who think that they are being preyed on by the ghosts of lions) and
show us what we can actually expect in our everyday lives. Because some people never train
their imagination to project any other “story” than their own, they cannot conceive of any other
shape for their expectations. As a result, they remain stunted and naive about life.
Reading stories can also put us in closer touch with our feelings. Good stories, powerful stories,
revulse us at what is ugly and cruel and mean in life. On the other hand, stories can also inspire
us to marvel at what is good and wonderful and beautiful in life. Recall George’s devotion to
Lennie or Nick Carraway’s refusal to become as self-serving as those about him. In short, some
stories can be so terrible that they may move us to tears and prompt us to say, “That’s the way
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
life must never be,” while others are so poignant that we find ourselves saying, “That’s the way
life ought to be,” or, ”That’s the way life could be!”
Most importantly and most profoundly, reading enables us to grasp our identity, our own
personal narratives because it requires us to overcome our infinite capacity for distraction and
our culture of the present now which too many think demands or deserves immediate attention
and response. In short, reflective, active, and close reading of good literature, of great books,
enables us to discover our own narrative--who we are and who we want to be.
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.