Define "setting" (remember that setting has 2 parts)
Where (place) and when (time) the story takes place.
100
What is a character trait of Red Chief (the boy) in "The Ransom of Red Chief?"
Answers will vary.
100
What does "ransom" mean?
Payment demanded for the release of a person.
100
What is an example of irony in the story?
The town is called Summit, yet it is as flat as a flannel-cake.
200
Define "conflict".
A struggle between two opposing forces
200
What is the setting of "The Ransom of Red Chief"?
Place: In a cave near Summit, Alabama
Time: Early 1900s
200
What is a character trait of Bill?
Answers will vary.
200
"On the rear elevation of this mountain was a cave. There we stored provisions."
What does "provisions" mean?
necessary supplies; food
200
What was O. Henry's purpose in writing "The Ransom of Red Chief"?
a. to persuade
b. to inform
c. to entertain
c. to entertain
300
Define "exposition"
The beginning of the story where the author introduces the setting, characters, and other important information the readers needs to know.
300
What is third person point of view?
The narrator is not part of the events in the story; the narrator tells the story from the outside
300
What is a character trait of Sam, the narrator?
Answers will vary.
300
"And then I told him that my scheme was to put the whole job through immediately and that we would get the ransom and be off with it by midnight if old dorset fell in with our proposition."
What does "proposition" mean?
a plan
300
What is a theme of "The Ransom of Red Chief?"
Answers will vary.
400
What is the climax of "The Ransom of Red Chief"?
The father demands that the kidnappers pay him to take his son back.
400
Does "The Ransom of Red Chief" have a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person narrator?
1st person (from Sam's perspective)
400
What is a character trait of the boy's father?
Answers will vary.
400
"I dodged and heard a heavy thud and a kind of sigh from Bill, like a horse gives out when you take his saddle off."
What type of figurative language is used here?
a. simile
b. metaphor
c. personification
d. hyperbole
a. simile
400
Explain why this story is an example of situational irony.
You would expect kidnappers to be paid a ransom, but the opposite happens: the kidnappers are the ones who pay to get rid of the boy.
500
What happens during the resolution of "The Ransom of Red Chief"?
Sam and Bill return the boy and run away.
500
What point of view is this sentence told from? (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person?)
"The wolf huffed and puffed and blew the house down while the pigs screamed and ran."
3rd person
500
Which two characters had the most conflict between them?
Bill and Red Chief (the boy)
500
"I went out and caught that boy and shook him until his freckles rattled."
What type of figurative language is in this sentence?
a. simile
b. metaphor
c. personification
d. hyperbole
d. hyperbole
500
True or false?
"Kidnapping" is the theme of "The Ransom of Red Chief".
False - a theme is a complete lesson, while "kidnapping" is just a topic.