Name: ______

“Apples from the Desert” Questions
Read pages 210-215 in Foundations of English and answer the following questions. /

BEFORE READING THE STORY….

  1. Review the list of characters in the story so that you are not too distracted by the names when you encounter them.
  • Victoria and Abravanel – husband and wife – Orthodox Jews living in the mountains of Jerusalem
  • Rivka – their daughter
  • Dubi – boyfriend of Rivka, lives in a kibbutz and is not an Orthodox Jew
  • Sara – Victoria’s unmarried sister
  • Yekutiel’s son – genius that Rivka’s parents want Rivka to marry
  • Moshe Elkayam – goldsmith’s son –Victoria had a crush on him before she was married
  1. Create a word web around the word “apple.” Record all of the images, ideas, feelings, stories, sayings etc. that come to mind when people think of this word.
  1. Name the literary devices present in the following quotes from the story.

a) “She stood there in the sand, the dry wind striking her throat,” (p. 211). ______

b)“Later on there was a fuss about letting people from the army come and poison the girls’ hearts, but the venom had already worked on Rivka” (p.211). ______

c)“Not since Rivka was a little girl had she seen her eyes sparkle like this,” (p. 212). ______

d)“When Dubi came to take her to the dinner hall, she poured all her rage on him…” (p. 213). ______

e)“’What’s this ‘Dubi’? What kind of name is that?’ Anger pulled words out of her mouth,” (p. 213). ______

f) “’I’m dying for you to be my mother,’” (p. 213). ______

g)“And suddenly her heart swelled within her,” (p. 213). ______

h)“Facing the bare sand dunes stretching soft lines within the window frame, as into the frame of a picture…” (p. 214). ______

i)“All the way back to Sha’arei Hesed she sat, her eyes still clutching at their rage…” (p. 214). ______

AFTER READING THE STORY….

  1. Name the literary devices present in the following quotes from the story.
  1. The main conflict in this story is person vs self. Describe the conflict in one sentence. In this sentence, you must clearly describe both sides of the conflict and you must use the word “versus.”

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  1. What is the initiating incident in the story? In other words, when do you first sense what the conflict of this story will be?

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  1. Write a quote that represents the moment of climax in the story. In other words, when do you know which side “wins” in the conflict?

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  1. a) What is the narrative point of view used in the story?b) List the charactersfrom whose point of view we see the action in the story.

a) The narrative point of view is:______

b) ______

  1. Are the following characters round or flat?AND Are they static or dynamic? Explain your answers.

a)Victoria? ______

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b)Moshe Elkayam?______

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  1. The author uses many methods of characterization to build our impression of the father in the story. Read the following quotes and write one character trait revealed by each quote. In addition, look back at your notes and record the method of characterization.

Quotes about Rivka’s father / Method of Characterization / Character Trait
a) “’Papa doesn’t care about anybody. Especially not me. All day long in the story and with his books and prayers. Like I’m not his daughter” (p. 212).
b) “And to her husband, who never read her heart, she would give apples in honey…” (
c) “How could she describe…to her husband, who had never touched her with love – how could she describe the boy’s eyes on her daughter’s face?” (p. 214).
  1. Discuss the symbolism of the apple in this story. Why does the author seem to use the image of the apple so much? What are apples being compared to here?

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