Name: ______Period: ______

Short Stories Review for Test

Directions: Use the study guide to help you review for your test.

The test consists of 40 multiple choice and 5 extended response questions.

Main Concepts & Stories:

Satire“A Sound of Thunder”

Science Fiction“The Pedestrian”

“I Am the Doorway”“Harrison Bergeron”

Science Fiction & Satire Notes

  1. Know the elements of science fiction & how those elements apply to the stories.
  1. science
  2. technology and invention
  3. the future and the remote past, including all time travel stories
  4. Super powers for humans/nonhumans
  5. scientific method
  6. other places--planets, dimensions, etc., including visitors from the above
  7. catastrophes, natural or manmade
  8. Often, an unlikely hero
  1. Satire - the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues
  2. Science fiction & its connection to dystopian worlds

Dystopian societies are:

  1. Undesirable and horrifying
  2. Futuristic and fictional
  3. Regarded as warnings
  4. About today & tomorrow
  5. Commentary on our society

“I Am the Doorway” by Stephen King

  1. Richard and his fate
  2. Corey and how he died
  3. Arthur (narrator) and how he changes
  4. The creatures and how they are using Arthur
  5. Ways Arthur tries to stop the creatures
  6. Point of view - first person
  7. Theme

“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut

  1. The main idea and theme of the story – equality/could the government go too far
  2. The setting
  3. George & Hazel and their views on the way their society is
  4. George & Hazel and their differences in their handicaps
  5. Ways the Handicapper General handicaps people
  6. Diana Moon Glompers & her power as Handicapper General
  7. Harrison’s dance and death with the ballerina
  8. Hazel’s reaction to Harrison’s death
  9. Author’s tone
  10. The story as a satire

“The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury

  1. Leonard Mead and how he was different from others in his world
  2. Setting & Tone
  3. Writing as a profession – how the society views it
  4. The police car – crime in their world
  5. Bradbury’s view television and humanity
  6. Regressive behaviors in Mead’s world

“A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury

  1. Eckels and his behavior on the safari
  2. Travis
  3. The society before and after the trip and the changes
  4. Foreshadowing in the story
  5. Travis and why he shoots Eckels
  6. Rules and regulations of the trip
  7. The meaning of “a sound of thunder”