The Short Story: The Secret Quiz Worksheet Part I Last Name ____________________________________ Date ______________ First Name ____________________________________ Period 5 This part is due at the end of the period today! 1. Who is the author of this short story? ______________________ 2. What happened to the narrator one beautiful spring morning? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ 3. How long is the news report in the newspaper? ________________ 4. What three words disturb the narrator the most? __________________________________________________________ 5. Why do these word particularly bother him? __________________________________________________________ 6. Why do you think the narrator keeps driving after hitting the man on the motor bike? __________________________________________________________ 7. Does the narrator know that he has hit someone? __________ 8. What lines in the story show that the narrator is aware of the accident and that he has hit a man on a motor bike? __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ 9. What effect does the secret have on the narrator? __________________________________________________________ 10. Why does the narrator wish to share his secret with someone? __________________________________________________________ 11. Why doesn't the narrator want to tell his friends? __________________________________________________________ 12. Why doesn't the narrator tell his family? __________________________________________________________ 13. Why can't the narrator tell his girlfriend? __________________________________________________________ 14. Why does the narrator finally tell Iris, someone he hardly knows, his terrible secret? __________________________________________________________ 15. What is Iris's attitude, when she hears about the killing? __________________________________________________________ 16. What kind of a response did the narrator hope for, from Iris? __________________________________________________________ 17. Considering the crime that has been committed, what does the following statement tell us about the narrator? "I feel as if I can't go on living. No man can go on living if he thinks he's a coward." (top of left column, page 589) ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 18. Explain Iris's reasons for answering, ". . .yes . . .and then no" to the narrator's question, "Then you think I am a coward?" ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 19. Do you consider the narrator a coward? Give reasons for your answer. ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 20. Iris does not react to the news that the narrator has killed a man. However, she sobs at the movie. What do you think Moravia is saying about society? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 21. Give two examples from the story that show that Iris is more concerned with Iris than the narrator: a. _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ b. _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ 22. After having read the story, do you think the introductory paragraph is effective. Does it arouse the reader's curiosity and give background information, in other words? Explain. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ THE SIMILE A well-planned simile can create a clear, vivid image for a reader. Read the similes below. What two things are being compared in each? 1. The motor bike lay on the other side of the road, its wheels in the air, like a dead bug. _______________________ with ______________________ 2. I had driven straight on, with head lowered like a bull after a goring. _______________________ with ______________________ 3. I carried my secret around as if it were a hot diamond that you can't entrust to anyone or plant anywhere. _______________________ with ______________________ 4. This time I shut up like a clam. _______________________ with ______________________ 5. . . . that secret over which I had agonized so long had vanished in the spring air, carried away, lightly, like the white butterflies that were flitting around. . . _______________________ with ______________________ LEVELS OF LANGUAGE The following sentences are from The Secret. Each one is written in informal standard English. Change each in such a way as to make the sentence more formal. Sometimes the entire sentence will need to be reworded. The first one is completed for you. 1. Informal: I tore down the road to Rome and dropped my load at the yard. Formal: I hastened to Rome and delivered my cargo to its destination. 2. Informal: Nobody wants to pass the time with a kill-joy. Formal: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ 3. Informal: She was a lady's maid in the home of some wealthy woman who had lots of servants. Formal: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ 4. Informal: I had fallen from the start for her serious little oval face. . . Formal: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ 5. Informal: I'll bet that now you can't stand the sight of me. Formal: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ 6. Informal: I also think. . . that it's only right it should bother you. Formal: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ 7. Informal: I was a love story, a real tear-jerker. Formal: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ 8. Informal: I'll get the load off my chest. Formal: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ The Short Story: The Secret Quiz Worksheet Part II Last Name ____________________________________ Date ________________ First Name ____________________________________ Period 5 this part is due the next day (after part 1 is completed in class) Use your text glossary or a good dictionary to look up the following words from The Secret. Then write the definition and use the word again in an original sentence. 1. A truck driver has a lot of time to mull over his own private business. Definition: _______________________________________________ Sentence: _______________________________________________ 2. . . .lying in the truck's sleeping berth. Definition: _______________________________________________ Sentence: _______________________________________________ 3. I would be gauging the distances again before passing that car. Definition: _______________________________________________ Sentence: _______________________________________________ 4. So I carried my secret around as if it were a hot diamond that you can't entrust to anyone or plant anywhere. Definition _______________________________________________ Sentence: _______________________________________________ 5. She thought it over and then said, scrupulously, "Well, I'm sorry. . . ." Definition _______________________________________________ Sentence: _______________________________________________ STUDYING THE NEWSPAPER In The Secret, Gino knew where to look for the report on the dead man. Are you familiar with the various sections in the newspaper (Springfield Republican). Study a copy of the Springfield Republican. Make a list of the parts or sections in the paper. After the title of each part, write a short statement telling what kinds of articles are found in that section. Title Explanation ____________________________ ________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________________________________ (Use whatever lines are needed to complete the above) On the next page there is a map of some of the places visited or mentioned by Geno. Place a number in the circle next to the place in the order they appear in the story. For example, the Campagnano would be #1, because it is mentioned first in the story.