Instructions: Read the Following Passage from Harrison Bergeron, Specifically Looking For

Instructions: Read the following passage from Harrison Bergeron, specifically looking for use of the literary terms we have studied.

"Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen," she said in a grackle squawk, "has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous."

A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen-upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right side up. The picture showed the full length of Harrison against a background calibrated in feet and inches. He was exactly seven feet tall.

The rest of Harrison's appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever born heavier handicaps. He had outgrown hindrances faster than the H-G men could think them up. Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.

Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds.

And to offset his good looks, the H-G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle- tooth random.

"If you see this boy," said the ballerina, "do not - I repeat, do not - try to reason with him."

There was the shriek of a door being torn from its hinges.

Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set. The photograph of Harrison Bergeron on the screen jumped again and again, as though dancing to the tune of an earthquake.

George Bergeron correctly identified the earthquake, and well he might have - for many was the time his own home had danced to the same crashing tune. "My God-" said George, "that must be Harrison!"

1.) Write down one vivid example of imagery from the first paragraph.

2.) When the picture of Harrison "was flashed on the screen-upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right side up," it is implied that...

A.) The government was prepared for this broadcast

B.) The government intentionally hired bad cameramen

C.) The government is in panic mode

D.) Harrison is messing with the television broadcast

3.) Harrison is described as "Halloween and hardware." Which image can be identified as Hardware, and not Halloween?

A.) “cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle-tooth random”

B.) “times a red rubber ball for a nose”

C.) “Scrap metal was hung all over him”

D.) “spectacles with thick wavy lenses”

4.) What is the Handicapper General’s motivation in handicapping and defacing poor Harrison?

5.) When it is uses the imagery, "In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds" the author is really saying that Harrison did/had what?

6.) Which of the following is NOT one of the images of Harrison's appearance?

A.) Clown nose

B.) Completely toothless

C.) No eyebrows

D.) Black, uneven caps on his teeth

7.) Although it is not explicitly stated at the time, when there is a "shriek of a door being torn from its hinges" in the television studio the reader can guess that the sound comes from what?

8.) We can use the context of "Screams and barking cries of consternation" to infer that a good definition for the word "consternation" would be...

A.) Fear or dismay

B.) Authority

C.) Peace-keeping

D.) Pride

9.) The word "earthquake" is repeated twice in the last two paragraphs to emphasize...

A.) Harrison's graceful movements

B.) The panic in the studio

C.) Harrison's mighty, heavy steps

D.) There actually is a natural disaster going on

10.) Harrison breaking out of prison and then declaring himself Emperor is a good example of which conflict? (Man vs. Man, vs. Society, vs. Nature, vs. Self)

Instructions: Read the following passage from By The Waters of Bablyon, specifically looking for use of the literary terms we have studied.

That was a sight indeed -- yes, that was a sight: I could not have seen it in the body -- my body would have died. Everywhere went the gods, on foot and in chariots -- there were gods beyond number and counting and their chariots blocked the streets. They had turned night to day for their pleasure-they did not sleep with the sun. The noise of their coming and going was the noise of the many waters. It was magic what they could do -- it was magic what they did.

I looked out of another window -- the great vines of their bridges were mended and god-roads went east and west. Restless, restless, were the gods and always in motion! They burrowed tunnels under rivers -- they flew in the air. With unbelievable tools they did giant works -- no part of the earth was safe from them, for, if they wished for a thing, they summoned it from the other side of the world. And always, as they labored and rested, as they feasted and made love, there was a drum in their ears -- the pulse of the giant city, beating and beating like a man's heart.

Were they happy? What is happiness to the gods? They were great, they were mighty, they were wonderful and terrible. As I looked upon them and their magic, I felt like a child -- but a little more, it seemed to me, and they would pull down the moon from the sky. I saw them with wisdom beyond wisdom and knowledge beyond knowledge. And yet not all they did was well done -- even I could see that – and yet their wisdom could not but grow until all was peace.

Then I saw their fate come upon them and that was terrible past speech. It came upon them as they walked the streets of their city. I have been in the fights with the Forest People -- I have seen men die. But this was not like that. When gods war with gods, they use weapons we do not know. It was fire falling out of the sky and a mist that poisoned. It was the time of the Great Burning and the Destruction. They ran about like ants in the streets of their city -- poor gods, poor gods! Then the towers began to fall. A few escaped -- yes, a few. The legends tell it. But, even after the city had become a Dead Place, for many years the poison was still in the ground. I saw it happen, I saw the last of them die. It was darkness over the broken city and I wept…

Then I saw the dead god. He was sitting in his chair, by the window, in a room I had not entered before and, for the first moment, I thought that he was alive. Then I saw the skin on the back of his hand -- it was like dry leather. The room was shut, hot and dry -- no doubt that had kept him as he was. At first I was afraid to approach him -- then the fear left me. He was sitting looking out over the city -- he was dressed in the clothes of the gods. His age was neither young nor old -- I could not tell his age. But there was wisdom in his face and great sadness. You could see that he would have not run away. He had sat at his window, watching his city die -- then he himself had died. But it is better to lose one's life than one's spirit -- and you could see from the face that his spirit had not been lost. I knew, that, if I touched him, he would fall into dust -- and yet, there was something unconquered in the face.

That is all of my story, for then I knew he was a man -- I knew then that they had been men, neither gods nor demons. It is a great knowledge, hard to tell and believe. They were men -- they went a dark road, but they were men.

11.) What point of view is this story told in?

12.) When the speaker states, “I could not have seen it in the body -- my body would have died,” he is saying that he was ______.

13.) Which of the following is not an example of imagery in the first paragraph?

A.) “Everywhere went the gods, on foot and in chariots”

B.) “The noise of their coming and going was the noise of the many waters”

C.) “They had turned night to day for their pleasure”

D.) “That was a sight indeed”

14.) “The pulse of the giant city, beating and beating like a man's heart” is an example of ______.

15.) The following examples of imagery, “the great vines of their bridges were mended and god-roads went east and …They burrowed tunnels under rivers -- they flew in the air” all give the reader images of ______.

A.) Transportation

B.) Amusement

C.) Education

D.) Business

16.) The imagery of New York City’s destruction, “When gods war with gods, they use weapons we do not know. It was fire falling out of the sky and a mist that poisoned” helps the reader infer that the city was destroyed by ______.

17.) “The pulse of the giant city” is an example of ______.

18.) “At first I was afraid to approach him -- then the fear left me” is an example of what type of conflict? (Man vs. Man, vs. Society, vs. Nature, vs. Self)

19.) The statement, “it is better to lose one's life than one's spirit” could serve as a good ______of this story.

A.) Character Motivation

B.) Theme

C.) Climax

D.) Conflict

20.) At the beginning of this story, the main character is searching for knowledge. In the end he says, “for then I knew he was a man -- I knew then that they had been men, neither gods nor demons. It is a great knowledge, hard to tell and believe.” In light of this statement, we can identify the speaker as what type of character?