Unit 1 English Test - 2024

Question 1

What is the purpose of the short paragraph at the beginning of The Sniper?

Answer 1

• the exposition (setting, characters, and some of the events that occurred before the story)
• a metaphor to explain the character’s mindset towards war at the beginning of the story (important for the understanding of character development)
• suspense created by the ellipses, leaving the read intrigued and excited to read on

Question 2

Explain the character development of the Sniper?

Answer 2

At the beginning of the story, the Sniper is quite relaxed and desensitized around war as he views it like a “game”. Additionally, he is very happy about the idea of killing the enemies

Eventually, he kills someone and feels joy and pride, but then suddenly, the lust of battle dies in him and he is filled with remorse.

As a symbol of his emotions, the Sniper throws the gun, which then shoots a bullet that whizzes right past the sniper’s head, nearly killing him. The shock frightened him back to his senses, and he started laughing.

He took a drought of whiskey, feeling reckless and returned to his past self

Then, he chooses to see who the man he shot was. He realizes the man is his brother.

Question 3

What narration is The Sniper written in?

Answer 3

3rd person limited omniscient (we only hear the thoughts of the Sniper)

Question 4

What are some possible themes of The Sniper?

Answer 4

• the desensitizing affect war has on soldiers/losing sight of humanity
• enmity
• pride

Question 5

What is an example of irony in The Sniper?

Answer 5

Situational Irony - Throughout most of the story, the reader is led to believe that the person the Sniper shot was an enemy as this is how the person is referred to, it is war, and the Sniper feels no remorse. But, the readers don’t expect the dead man to be the Sniper’s brother.

Question 6

What are some themes of The Veldt?

Answer 6

• the destructive effects of indulgence/spoiling someone
  the destructive effects of technology
• money cannot buy happiness
• parenting/the importance of rules and restrictions
• pride and/or money leading to foolish actions

Question 7

What are the main points from your explanation of the theme “The Negative Effects of Overindulgence”?

Answer 7

• Peter and Wendy are very spoiled by their parents as they are given a technologically advanced home, a nursery that can create a scene from any place in the world, real or fake, and the right to almost whatever they want

1. The children are given something that most people would never even dream of or hope for
2. The parents were willing to pay 15,000 dollars for this room for the children
3. The father says “We’ve given the children everything they’ve ever wanted”, indicating that the parents have been spoiling their children all their life
4. The children can do whatever they want
5. The children began acting odd when the father forbade them from taking their rocket to New York alone
6. When the father threatens to shut off the nursery, Peter yells, “I wish you were dead” proving his love for his parents being replaced by the nursery
7. This relates to modern society because the more one has, the more they wishes for, and the more they waits for. They wish for more material and non-material things. You can have goals and hope for more sometimes. But it can also have very negative effects as we place our joy in these items

Question 8

What are the key points of the theme “The negative effects of being obsessed with material things”

Answer 8

1. The children are obsessed and reliant on the nursery to the point where it has replaced the affections of their parents
2. We place our joy in material things, which is not where happiness lies as we will always wish for more

Question 9

How could WW1/2 impacted Bradbury’s writing of The Veldt?

Answer 9

• the advancements of technology: the atomic bomb, like the nursery, is a piece of technology that becomes ultra-powerful and could destroy humanity. This also contributed to a fear of technology
• post-war trauma:
  the children of the story become desensitized to death as do soldiers
• cold war:
  The parents in the story feel this sense of paranoia when they go into the nursery just as society felt fear after WW1 and WW2.
• Return to Simplicity
  There were many people during Bradbury’s time who wished to return to a simpler time, just as the parents of the story wanted to shut off the technology and travel to Iowa for a vacation

Question 10

What is the purpose of the names Peter and Wendy in the Veldt?

Answer 10

An allusion to the story “Peter and Wendy”. The use of these names creates irony

Question 11

Theme