Final Jeopardy
What is Mrs. Mallard’s first response to the news of her husband’s death?
Mrs. Mallard is immediately overcome with grief. She cries with “wild abandonment.” Then she goes “to her room alone.”
True or False: Ms. Mallard hated her husband.
False: her feelings were a complex blend of grief and anticipation (see paragraph 11 and 13).
What are the three categories in the annotation checklist?
Track, Question, and Respond
Define "forestall".
to do something in advance of (someone) in order to prevent them from doing something.
True or False: Her husband's friend Richards told Mrs. Mallard that he was killed in a car accident -- he even called on his cellphone to double check.
False: it was a train accident, and he didn't call because phones didn't exist yet. He sent a 'telegram'.
The date of publication is 1894. What matters most about that when reading this story?
The historical era is marked by less equality between the sexes than nowadays.
What is the hidden word inside "annotation" that helps you remember what it is?
The word "note" (the 'e' is missing). It helps because annotation is leaving notes as you read.
Define "tumultuously".
Done in a loud, noisy manner; uproariously.
How does Mrs. Mallard’s response to her husband’s death change?
She realizes she is free from her marriage and her husband’s control.
What season was the story set in?
The spring (paragraph 5).
4th Graders can track the basic elements of a story (plot, character, and setting). What is the added layer that 11th graders can track?
"Changes" in any of those elements.
How do context clues help you define "elixir" in the following sentence?
"'Go away. I am not making myself ill.' No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window. "
Mrs. Mallard says she is "not...ill". Whatever an "elixir" does it doesn't make you ill. It is called "of life", which seems like it makes you healthy or alive. Perhaps like medicine.
What is the thing that Ms. Mallard keeps on repeating to herself?
She repeats the word "free" several times in paragraph 10 and again in 14.
Why did Chopin choose to set it in the spring?
It is the time of rebirth for the plantlife. Similarly, Mrs. Mallard seems to come alive at the idea of being free from her marriage.
True or False: the more the annotations, the better.
Define "importunities".
Persistent questioning, almost annoyingly so.
"Irony" is a challenging literary device where there is a difference between what one expects and what actually happens. How does the last line reveal the story's great irony?
The doctors all think she died of happiness, but the reader knows that she actually died of disappointment.
What happens to Mrs. Mallard at the end of the hour?
She discovers her husband is still living and she dies from a heart attack.
A "monstrous joy" (paragraph 11, first line)
Explain how annotation in reading is like dribbling in basketball.
What is the annotation vocabulary word for what it is "when you put the text together with something you already know"
An inference.