O. Henry - The Ransom of Red Chief

Question 1

self-interest; selfishness

Answer 1

egotism

Question 2

to seal off a wound or incision by burning it or freezing it, usually with hot iron, electricity, or chemicals

Answer 2

cauterize

Question 3

without restraint; without control

Answer 3

incontinently

Question 4

sculpture in which the figures project only slightly from the background

Answer 4

bas-relief

Question 5

too great, powerful, or beautiful to be described or expressed

Answer 5

ineffable

Question 6

insisting on immediate attention or obedience

Answer 6

peremptory

Question 7

exaggeration for poetic or imaginative effect

Answer 7

hyperbole

Question 8

landowners of the middle class

Answer 8

yeomanry

Question 9

inclinations; tendencies

Answer 9

proclivities

Question 10

wicked and cruel

Answer 10

dastardly

Question 11

the series of incidents in a plot that build toward the climax

Answer 11

rising action

Question 12

edible; appetizing

Answer 12

palatable

Question 13

the presence of a discrepancy

Answer 13

irony

Question 14

marked by a lack of respect or rudeness

Answer 14

impudent

Question 15

sharing an edge or boundary; touching

Answer 15

contiguous

Question 16

The story is told in ___ point of view.

Answer 16

first person

Question 17

Who narrates the story?

Answer 17

Sam

Question 18

The opening sentence, “It looked like a good thing: but wait till I tell you” presents a kind of ___.

Answer 18

foreshadowing

Question 19

“There was a town down there, as flat as a flannel-cake, and called Summit, of course.”

Answer 19

irony

Question 20

“No fear of it,” says I. “He don’t seem to be much of a home body. But we’ve got to fix up some plan about the ransom. There don’t seem to be much excitement around Summit on account of his disappearance.”

Why is there little excitement around Summit on account of his disappearance?

Answer 20

Because he is such an irritant, nobody misses him.

Question 21

Where does Sam hide when he plans to retrieve the written answers from the messenger at half-past eight?

Answer 21

up in a tree

Question 22

“We selected for our victim the only child of a prominent citizen named Ebenezer Dorset. The father was respectable and tight, a mortgage fancier and a stern, upright collection-plate passer and forecloser. The kid was a boy of ten, with bas-relief freckles, and hair the colour of the cover of the magazine you buy at the news-stand when you want to catch a train. Bill and me figured that Ebenezer would melt down for a ransom of two thousand dollars to a cent.”

Answer 22

sarcasm

Question 23

“Perhaps,” says I to myself, “it has not yet been discovered that the wolves have borne away the tender lambkin from the fold. Heaven help the wolves!”

Which devices are present here?

Answer 23

metaphor, metonymy, irony

Question 24

“Be he’s gone” - continues Bill - “gone home. I showed him the road to Summit and kicked him about eight feet nearer there at one kick …”
“Then you might turn around,” says I, “and have a look behind you.”
Bill turns and sees the boy, and loses his complexion and sits down plump on the round and begins to pluck aimlessly at grass and little sticks.

Answer 24

crisis

Question 25

Two Desperate Men.
Gentlemen: I received your letter today by post, in regard to the ransom you ask for the return of my son. I think you are a little high in your demands, and I hereby make you a counter-proposition, which I am inclined to believe you will accept. You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred and fifty dollars in cash, and I agree to tke him off your hands. You had better come at night, for the neighbors believe he is lost, and I couldn’t be responsible for what they would do to anybody they saw bringing him back.
Very respectfully,
EBENEZER DORSET

Answer 25

climax

Question 26

“How long can you hold him?” asks Bill.
“I’m not as strong as I used to be,” says old Dorset, “but I think I can promise you ten minutes.”
“Enough,” says Bill. “In ten minutes I shall cross the Central, Southern, and Middle Western States, and be legging it trippingly for the Canadian border.”
And, as dark as it was, and as fat as Bill was, and as good a runner as I am, he was a good mile and a half out of Summit before I could catch up with him.

Answer 26

conclusion

Question 27

What kind of irony do you find present in Dorset’s letter?

Answer 27

situational irony