Read the excerpt from a short story.I stood against the far wall of the shabby lobby avoiding eye contact with the doorman as my dad checked us in for the night. We’d hoped to make it as far as Scranton, but the weather had interfered, leaving us instead at an eyesore of a truck-stop motel. My ear buds were jammed in as far as comfort would allow in a vain attempt to block out the motel’s vibe. Still, I could not ignore the looming presence of the doorman. He stood in the dim portico, sweeping and re-sweeping a pile of lint on the floor, watching the parking lot with his watery eyes, and occasionally signaling to the whiskered clerk behind the desk.What technique does the author use to build suspense in the excerpt?
Which best explains Melville’s reason for describing how the sight of Ahab causes “foreboding shivers” in the narrator at the beginning of Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick?
Read this excerpt from chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter using comprehension strategies.But, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.What is the meaning of this excerpt?
Read the excerpt from a short story.The Sonoran Desert route was his favorite. His friends were surprised he could endure the solitude of it, but he cherished the barren miles. Today he’d passed a mile of verbena in full bloom, followed by ten miles with nothing but sagebrush. The next leg promised cliffs, and he loved to imagine scaling them as he traversed the desolate highway. In fact, one was rising in the distance, and the highway would bear right around it. He looked down to cool the temperature, looked up again, and stared. The grill of a tractor trailer, in his lane, was bearing down upon him.How does the excerpt exemplify the ideas King describes in "Danse Macabre"?
Read the excerpt from a short story.They had laughed at the shabbiness of the hotel. “Oh well,” they’d said, “we aren’t going to spend any time inside.” And they had not. They’d spent the day and evening sightseeing and had not retreated to their rooms until they were spent. Now Ana appraised her modest accommodations, remembering how the window in her room had amused her friends, as it offered a view of a brick wall not six inches away. “You get what you pay for!” they’d exclaimed, closing the heavy curtains.The window captured Ana’s attention again. As she readied for bed, she heard a persistent tapping coming from outside. Ana reasoned with herself, reminded herself that only small bird or bug in distress could fit in such a space. The tapping suggested otherwise, and she turned to investigate.How does the excerpt exemplify the ideas King describes in "Danse Macabre"?
Read the excerpt from "The Adventure of the Mysterious Picture."“And now for the haunted chamber,” said the Irish captain, taking his candle.“Aye, who’s to be the hero of the night?” said the gentleman with the ruined head.“That we shall see in the morning,” said the old gentleman with the nose: “whoever looks pale and grizzly will have seen the ghost.”“Well, gentlemen,” said the Baronet, “there’s many a true thing said in jest.”How does the excerpt exemplify Gothic fiction?
Read the excerpt from “The Tell-Tale Heart,” by Edgar Allan Poe.I talked more quickly—more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men?—but the noise steadily increased.What is the effect of parallelism in this excerpt?
Read the excerpt from the beginning of Chapter 1 of Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson.SQUIRE TRELAWNEY, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen havingasked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, fromthe beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of theisland, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, Itake up my pen in the year of grace and go back to the time whenmy father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with thesabre cut first took up his lodging under our roof.Which best explains why the narrator mentions the gentleman’s names in the opening sentence?
Which excerpt from Chapter 3 of The Scarlet Letter is the best evidence that the stranger in the marketplace wants to keep his true identity a secret?
Which excerpt from "The Adventure of the Mysterious Picture" conveys the eerie tone of the passage?
Read the excerpt from a short story.I thanked her again for the cake, and quietly retreated from the porch. A blast of air conditioning assailed me as I reentered our home and closed the summer heat behind me. Placing the cake on the table with the others, I noted its carefully scalloped frosting with mounting sadness. Clutching the doorjamb, I suppressed a sob. The reality of our loss would wait.Which words from the excerpt convey the tone?
Read the excerpt relating to Reverend John Wilson from Chapter 3 of The Scarlet Letter.The voice which had called her attention was that of the revered and famous John Wilson, the eldest clergyman of Boston, a great scholar, like most of his contemporaries in the profession, and withal a man of kind and genial spirit. This last attribute, however, had been less carefully developed than his intellectual gifts, and was, in truth, rather a matter of shame than self-congratulation with him.What does the excerpt reveal about Reverend John Wilson?
Which excerpt from "The Masque of the Red Death" best shows Prince Prospero’s self-centeredness?
Read this excerpt from "The Mysterious Stranger" using comprehension strategies.The romantic character of the place delighted me; I was very much amused by the air of adventure and intrigue that prevailed in this region of masks and gondolas; and I was exceedingly smitten by a pair of languishing black eyes, that played upon my heart from under an Italian mantle. So I persuaded myself that I was lingering at Venice to study men and manners. At least I persuaded my friends so, and that answered all my purpose.What statement best describes the narrator in this excerpt?
Read the excerpt from "The Mysterious Stranger."He seemed to be tormented by some strange fancy or apprehension. In spite of every effort to fix his attention on the conversation of his companions, I noticed that every now and then he would turn his head slowly round, give a glance over his shoulder, and then withdraw it with a sudden jerk, as if something painful had met his eye.How does the excerpt exemplify Gothic fiction?
Read the excerpt from Irving’s "The Adventure of the Mysterious Stranger."Often, after we had returned from one of these scenes of revelry, I have entered his room, and found him lying on his face on the sofa: his hands clinched in his fine hair, and his whole countenance bearing traces of the convulsions of his mind.Which of the following statements best describes the effect of narration on the story?
Read the excerpt from "The Adventure of the Mysterious Stranger," by Washington Irving.When he found I really took an interest in him he threw himself entirely upon my friendship. He clung to me like a drowning man. He would walk with me for hours up and down the place of St. Mark—or he would sit until night was far advanced in my apartment.What does this excerpt reveal about the narrator of the story?
Which best explains why Irving sets "The Adventure of the Mysterious Stranger" in a land of “masks and gondolas”?
Which best explains why Melville begins Chapter 41 of Moby-Dick with a detailed description of the White Whale?
Read the excerpt from Chapter 41 of Moby-Dick.The White Whale swam before him as the monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men feel eating in them, till they are left living on with half a heart and half a lung.What theme of the novel does this excerpt best address?
Did you find these answers helpful?