The gift of the Magi

The Gift of the Magi

“The Gift of the Magi” Questions for Critical Reading

Review these questions. Take time to create your responses.

1.  What instances of irony exist in the short story?

The wife cuts her hair and the husband bought her a set of combs her Christmas.

2. Why would O. Henry put an emphasis on the number three for the story?

1. -The story has three main characters: Della, Jim, and Madame Sophronie
2. -Della counts her money three times (para. 1).
3. -The narrator says that “Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles” (para. 2).
4. -A reference is made to the Queen of Sheba, who gave King Solomon three types 
of gifts: spices, gold, and jewels.
5. -A sentence in para. 5 states, “She stood by the window and looked out dully at 
a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard.”
6. -The narrator alliteratively describes Della as speaking with “sudden serious 
sweetness.”
7. -The story centers on three valuables: Jim’s gold watch, Della’s hair, and the love 
that Jim and Della share.
1. THis
2. TT      This is an allusion to the three wise men.

3.  Who is the protagonist? Who or what is the antagonist?

The protagonist is Della. The antagonist is poverty.

4. How would the story change if the setting were different? Would this be an effective story if it were set in today’s time?

This story would not be as effective because the values of gifts and of people are not the same as they were a long time ago today.

5. Is there foreshadowing in the story?

When Della talks about how much the husband loves his watch and how much he looks at it, it is clear that the watch will some how disappear.

6. Does the story end the way that you expect? Why or why not?

No, I did not expect their gifts to correlate with what they had given up for eachother.

7. Several passages in the story give subtle clues about Jim. Identify at least three passages that reveal aspects of Jim’s character and explain their significance. 

"Something just a little bit near of worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim."

He says he is called by his full name when he is not home but when he is home he is called Jim. This shows that he is professional.

He looks at his watch a lot so he is diligent and serious.

He sold his favorite watch for Della so that shows that he is loving and caring.

 

8. If Della had had short hair in the beginning of the story, what do you think that she would have done/sold in order to pay for the gold chain? Why do you think so?
Sold her clothes

Della probably would have sold another of her prized possession to show her love for Jim.  

9.  What does the story teach about sacrifice?

The story teaches that sometimes even though you sacrifice something for the one you love, the happiness of the other person can be better.

10.  If you had to teach this story as an example of good literature, what elements would you emphasize to your classes?

Foreshadowing and irony.

A worn path

“A Worn Path”

The Story

After seeing an elderly African American woman striding across the landscape with a strong sense of purpose, Eudora Welty wrote a story exploring the possible motive for this intense journey. “A Worn Path” is that story. Students often asked Welty about the story, and their question was always the same: “Is Phoenix Jackson’s grandson really dead?” Welty took that question as the title for an essay interpreting the story, and she declared that she had always thought of the boy as still alive. Then she added, “The grandson’s plight was real and it made the truth of the story, which is the story of an errand of love carried out. If the child no longer lived, the truth would persist in the ‘wornness’ of the path. But his being dead can’t increase the truth of the story, can’t affect it one way or the other.”

1.In the opening sentence of “A Worn Path,” the narrator describes Phoenix

Jackson as “an old Negro woman.” Later the hunter calls her “Granny,” and the

nurse refers to her as “Aunt Phoenix.” Was the term “Negro” an accepted term of respect in 1941? Are the references to Phoenix as “Granny” and “Aunt” disparaging in any way.

No, negro was not accepted. The terms Granny and Aunt are not nice.

2.Phoenix Jackson lives in the Mississippi countryside near the old Natchez Trace. She knows the world of nature and feels at home in it. The town of Natchez, however, has Christmas lights turned on in the daytime, and the lady who ties Phoenix’s shoe wears perfume that smells like “the red roses in hot summer.” Does Welty contrast the natural wisdom of Phoenix with the artifice of the town?

Yes, Phoenix lives by nature and basically does nothing in an artificial way. Therefore, the fake lights and smells contrast her natural essence.

3.What is the significance of the visual imagery regarding color?

The colors are of a rainbow that lead to the gold at the end which is the medicine for the grandson.

4.Why might Welty have chosen the name “Phoenix” for her character?

"Phoenix" is the name of a mythological bird that catches fire and is rebirthed from its own ashes.

5.How old is Phoenix? What does she mean when she says she did not attend

school because she was “too old at the Surrender”?

The civil war was the surrender that did not allow her to go to school. She is in her 80s or 90s.

6.The grandson has swallowed lye, and such a plight was not uncommon. Do you think that the grandson is alive or dead?  Does either scenario make an impact on the plight of Phoenix Jackson?

I think that the grandson is dead. If this is true, it means that although he is not living, Phoenix still makes the long journey to show her everlasting love for her grandson. 

7.Does Welty’s reading of the story enhance your understanding of it? Do the

comments she makes about the story do so as well?

Yes. I also felt bad for her and compassionate. 
8.  Compare/Contrast Phoenix to Atalanta.  What similarities or differences do you see in the two?
They were both underestimated by people throughout their journey.
They are different because Atalanta was easily distracted by the apple where Phoenix was determined.

1. In Section I, Bierce includes few details about the condemned man and does not reveal the reason why he is being hanged. How does this help create suspense?
2. In what ways are the condemned man's perceptions of time and motion distorted as he is waiting to be hanged? Why are his distorted perceptions important?
3. What is a sentinel?
4. What is the significance of the man’s perception of his ticking watch?
5. In Section II, Bierce finally introduces Peyton Farquhar.  Why place this information in the middle of the story, and in a flashback?   How does this authorial decision contribute to suspense and our sympathies toward Farquhar?
6.  Why was Farquhar captured?  Why did the Federal scout lie? He was a spy. In order to trap him. 
7. What details in Part III suggest that Farquhar's journey occurs in his mind?   The dodging of bullets. How is the journey connected with the plan of escape that occurs to him moments before he is hanged? He was thinking about it before he was hanged. 
8.  What is the ultimate fate of Peyton Farquhar?   About how long did it truly take for the events of the story to unfold? A few seconds. 
9. Why is the limited third-person point of view appropriate for this story? It would ruin the supprise. How might the story be different if Bierce had used an omniscient third-person narrator?   
10. Were you surprised by the ending?  Why or why not? It would have been to good to be true if he got away. 

mask of red death

The Masque of the Red Death Quiz

1. The events of this story are related to...

A. a popular ballroom dance

B. a spreading, infectious disease 

C. a nickname for Prince Prospero

D. costumes for masquerade balls

2. What is unusual about where the masquerade takes place?

A. There is a ballroom as large as the entire imperial suite in Prince

Prospero’s palace.

B. Musicians play in a curved hall while quests dance in colored

chambers.

C. It begins at sundown and does not end until an ebony clock strikes.

D. There are colored rooms that are not connected to each other or

situated along a straight hall.

3. “Gaudy and fantastic appearances” are created at the masquerade

ball by...

A. the prince who wears a frightening costume and dances in several

rooms

B. a man in a red mask who enters the various rooms and does a bizarre 

dance

C. flames that shine through red glass windows in each of many rooms

along a hallway

D. the guests who take turns putting on a red mask, which makes them

act in strange ways.

4. Few people dare to enter the black apartment because...

A. faces look frightening there, and an ebony clock makes a strange

sound.

B. without light, no one can see or dance without causing injury to

others.

C. it is the room where Prince Prospero wears the masque of the Red

Death.

D. in this room a strange voice can be heard whose origins no one can

trace.

5. Prince Prospero is a person who basically desires...

A. good company and entertainment

B. to face pain and suffering with courage

C. to be surrounded by people in simple clothes

D. others to share their feelings with him

6. When Prince Prospero confronts the strangely masked guest, the

prince...

A. challenges the guest to a duel and then draws his sword in order to

fight

B. demands that the masked guest leave since he or she was not invited

C. draws a dagger, then chases the masked guest by going from room to 

room 

D. asks for the mask and costume so that he can wear them

7. An allegory is a narrative story...

A. with an unexpected turning point and climax in its plot

B. told by a narrator who knows more about events than other

characters

C. that uses imaginary characters to tell about a historical event

D. in which characters and settings stand for abstract ideas or moral 

qualities

8. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the red mask probably stands

for...

A. the bubonic plague that had been killing much of the population of 

14th century Europe

B. the desire that all people had to become a prince or princess

C. Prince Prospero’s wish to be anything but ordinary

D. the people in 14th century Europe who survived the bubonic plague

9. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Prince Prospero stands for...

A. a terrible, deadly disease that had been spreading through Europe

B. a future people who learned how to fight infectious diseases

successfully

C. anyone who believed they could fool death by their cleverness

D. weak people who were easily infected by and died from bubonic

plague

10. Which statement expresses the theme of this allegory?

A. Money can buy you happiness.

B. Laugh and the world laughs with you.

C. Live life to the fullest.

D. Death can master life.

Masque of the Red Death Paragraph Activity

Chose to write from the perspective of one of the following

characters. Then, answer these questions in a paragraph form from

the point of view of that character:

~Prince Prospero ~The Partyers

~The peasants that are locked out

 ~The Red Death

brown

brown

1.How does the setting add to the meaning of the story: sunset and night, dreary road, gloomiest trees, narrow path creeping through, lonely, peculiarity in solitude? How does this imagery create the mood? How does this mood help us predict the nature of Young Goodman Brown’s journey?

It starts off the story to be very dark and scary. Almost foreshadowing what is to come.

2.Discuss the significance of "Faith kept me back awhile."

This has a double meaning, faith meaning his wife didnt want him to leave, and also meaning that his faith was keeping him from going as well.

3.Why do you think Faith wore pink ribbons? Hint: think of the connotation of colors.

Because pink is very innocent. 

4.Discuss the significance of the second traveller (sic.), ". . . apparently in the same rank of life as Goodman Brown and bearing a considerable resemblance to him, though perhaps more in expression than features. Still they might have been taken for father and son." Is he Brown’s alter ego?

I think the second traveller is the devil trying to project into an image that Brown would trust, god created man in his own image

5.Interpret the description of the staff "which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle like a living serpent. This, of course, must have been an ocular deception, assisted by the uncertain light." Why the uncertainty?

The staff means the devil from the story of adam and eve.

6. When the fellow traveller states, "I have been well acquainted with your family... I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem. ... The deacons of many a church have drunk wine with me; the select men of divers town make me their chairman; and a majority of the Great and General Court are firm believers of my interest," what do we begin to understand about him? Though this character, what is Hawthorne telling us about evil?

This shows Brown that his family isn't as innocent and pure as he thought. people are all evil

7. Discuss the meaning(s): "My Faith is gone!”

Meaning he lost hope and his wife. 

8.Describe what Goodman Brown saw when he arrived at the meeting – the grave, reputable, and pious people, the chaste dames and dewy virgins, the revered pastor, and that the good "shrank not from the wicked." Discuss the meaning.

He saw many people he once trusted from town, and revealed them to be evil and all part of a coven.

9.The dark figure states, "Welcome, my children, to the communion of your race. Ye have found thus young your nature and your destiny." What do you think this means?

That they are all witches and they have all found each other, all going to be evil 

10.  How does Goodman Brown treat people the next day? What happens to him? Why?

He is hesitant, and nervous. Brown has lost all hope.

11."Young Goodman Brown" is a moral allegory. Essentially, an allegory is an extended metaphor using one thing to represent another – a story with dual meanings. Therefore, there is a surface or literal meaning as well as a secondary meaning. In other words, Hawthorne uses this moral allegory to reveal a moral lesson or lessons. Discuss the moral lesson(s) you discover in the story.

That not everybody is what they seem. And that you can find this out in harsh and cruel ways, just like on real life.

Questions on Robert Frost Poetry

“The Road Not Taken”
1.  Where does the poem take place? the woods 
2.  What decision does the speaker of the poem face? which path to take
3.  What road does the speaker take?  Cite the line.  
I took the one less traveled by, - 19 
4.  How does the speaker feel about his/her choice? sad that he couldn't take both
5.  Is one path better than another? one thats usually more traveled is more trusted 

“Fire and Ice”
6.  What way does the speaker of the poem choose to perish?  Cite the line. he chooses fire, From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire. 
7.  What might the speaker mean when he/she says that the world will end in fire or ice? that everything will either end in hatred or desire
8.  What emotions are associated with fire and ice in the poem? hatred is ice and desire is fire 
9.  Above the literal level, what might the speaker of the poem be pondering? pondering his death 

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
10.  What is the setting of this poem? a snowy woods
11.  Why does the speaker of the poem stop? stops to watch the woods fill with snow
12.  Why does Frost repeat the last line? to show that he has a long way away from home

“On Looking Up By Chance at the Constellations”
13.  What objects does the speaker examine in the poem? the stars , constellations. Just looking up at the stars 
14.  How does the speaker feel about the planets and stars in relation to his/her own life?  planets and stars have paths that cross in which they come so close they look like they might hit yet they don't, no harm comes to them. it dosent make sense to stay up all night to see if harm will ever come 

“Flower-Gathering”
15.  What is the “gloaming” referenced in the fifth line? he had to leave his love in the morning
16.  How does the person react to the speaker?  Why? she questions his sincerity in their relationship. 
17.  What does Frost tend to focus on in many of his poems?long distance relationship, or distances to go to get home 

“October”
18.  What descriptions does the speaker use to explain October? the leafs have changed and a wind at any moment can take them from us
19.   Besides the month, what else could this poem be discussing? that winter is coming , asking for longer days for their life to be longer 
20.   Apostrophe in literature means “the direct address of an absent or imaginary person or of a personified abstraction, especially as a digression in the course of a speech or composition.”  What apostrophe occurs in this poem? tomorrows wind , can mean change of season he is talking to the month of october. 

poe poems

“Annabel Lee” Poetry Analysis

Directions: Answer the questions using the poem. (Use the hints in

parentheses to assist with the correct answer)

1. Who is the assumed speaker?

the narrator/ her lover

2. What is the setting?
a long time ago, along the sea side
5. What lines inform you of Annabel’s death? (number)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. she froze to death

7. What does “coveted” (synonym from poem) mean, and who portrayed this

action?
they wanted to have them, constantly watching


8. What is a synonym for the word “angel”?
winged seraph

8.5. What line addresses the young age of the two loves?

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea;

9. In the 4th stanza, what sound device is “chilling and killing” an example

of?
rhyming
11.What is a synonym for tomb or crypt? Use a word from the poem.

In the sepulchre there by the sea,

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

12. The speaker states that his and Annabel’s love is stronger than what two

groups of people? Write the number of the two lines that support this

statement or write the lines. But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than

Of many far wiser than we-

we-

And neither the angels in heaven above,

13. What is a synonym for “separate”?

dissever


15. Where are the angels located? Demons?

angels are in heaven and the demons are under the sea

16. Where does the speaker spend most of this time after the death of Annabel?

by her tomb
17. The speaker seems to have difficulty forgetting his love; what lines support

his inference? Write the number or the lines.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel

Lee;

And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes

Lee;

Of the beautiful Annabel

18. What names does the speaker refer Annabel as?

my darling, my life and my bride

19. How did the speaker describe Annabel Lee?

beautiful, bright eyes
20. Which line does not make “sense” when dealing with the senses?

moon never beams starts never ride

“The Raven”

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, While

I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

1. In line (a) find the two words that are an example of internal rhyme and record

them:

dreary, weary

2. In line (b) find the three words that are an example of alliteration and record

them:
I nodded, nearly napping

3. “And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain...” In this

line find two words that are an example of assonance and record them:

 silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
4. What is the setting of “The Raven”? Include month and weather.


December,thunderstorm
5. Explain the conflict in “The Raven.”
the raven reminds him of death, and his dead lover
6. In what ways does the author create “mood” in the opening stanza?

midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
7. Is there any indication that the narrator may have dreamt the entire episode?
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting,

dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
8. What is he hoping the Raven can tell him?

“Nevermore.”



9. Copy and identify one form of figurative language used in the poem:

whom unmerciful Disaster Followed
10. Throughout the poem, many words are repeated (ex: chamber, sorrow,

Nevermore, Lenore). Why does Poe do this? What type of effect does it have on

the reader?

it makes the mood very morbid
Textual Analysis

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,

there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.

made he; not an instant stopped or stayed he; But, with mien of lord or lady,

perched above my chamber door - Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my

chamber door -

11. Explain what happens in the stanza above:

the raven flies into the window and sits on top of his door


12. What word does the raven always use to answer the narrator’s questions?

nevermore