Jupiter Is a Jerk

Read the following fable by Aesop:

Two neighbors came before Jupiter and prayed him to grant their hearts’ desire. Now the one was full of avarice, and the other eaten up with envy. So to punish them both, Jupiter granted that each might have whatever he wished for himself, but only on condition that his neighbor had twice as much. The Avaricious man prayed to have a room full of gold. No sooner said than done; but all his joy was turned to grief when he found that his neighbor had two rooms full of the precious metal. Then came the turn of the Envious man, who could not bear to think that his neighbor had any joy at all. So he prayed that he might have one of his own eyes put out, by which means his companion would become totally blind.

What is most likely the moral of this story?

a. Be careful what you wish for.

b. Vices are their own punishment.

c. To be envious is better than to be greedy.

d. It is better to give than to receive.

Scroll down for the answer.

________________________________

a. is incorrect.  The first man gets his wish for a room full of gold .  There is nothing wrong with it.  He can't enjoy it because he is so greedy that he can't stand for his neighbor to have more.  This is the best wrong answer.

b. is correct.  See above.  The greedy man can't enjoy his own wish because somebody has more.  The envious man wastes his wish on losing an eye so that his neighbor would lose both.  It was their own vices that led to their unhappiness.

c. is incorrect.  This is completely wrong.  Both are bad and neither is praised over the other.

d. is incorrect.  It is nice, but the only giving here is punishments.

She sells seashells, too.

​Read the following:


Wallace walked wearily while wondering where Wendal was.


What literary device does this sentence rely on?


A. Simile
B. Alliteration
C. Hyperbole
D. Personification

Scroll down for the answer.

________________________________________________




The correct Answer is B.


Thanks to Ezra for this excellent and egregiously terribly twisty tongue teaser. If you want more tongue twisters, try this site: http://www.engvid.com/english-resource/50-tongue-twisters-improve-pronunciation/

At Least It Has a Happy Ending

Read the following passage:

In Romeo + Juliet, the newer movie, there is a scene early in the movie where the Montague Boys drive into a gas station.  The gas station is called Phoenix Gas.  It is here that we first meet Tybalt and the other Capulets.


You do not need anything else.  Based on the above passage, what will happen here?


a. Romeo and Juliet will fall in love.
b. Juliet will first turn down Romeo, but will later fall in love with him.
c. The gas station will explode.
d. Tybalt will die.
















Scroll down for the answer.














____________________
In order to answer this question, you did not have to have read The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (in fact, it would not have helped you) and you do not need to have watched the movie.  All you need to pay attention to is the name of the gas station.  A Phoenix is a mythological bird that catches on fire every so often and emerges again from the ashes.  Fire and gas do not go well together.  This is foreshadowing (a hint of what will happen later in the story).


The correct answer is c. 


~

Spidey Kicks Butt

 Read the following taken from "Top Ten Spider-Man Stories" by J. R. Fettinger:

I was reluctant to list ["The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man"] because it is blatantly emotionally manipulative. Also Wizard put it on their top 10, and I wanted to duplicate their list as little as possible. Spider-Man fulfills the wish of a dying boy by visiting him in the hospital and simply spending some time talking to him, including answering the question "Who are you really, Spider-Man?" Yep. Spidey stares out the window for a moment of contemplation before pulling off his mask and telling the boy his real name.

Based on the above passage, what would be a good word to replace "blatantly"?

a. boringly

b. subtly 

c. obviously

d. detrimentally

Scroll down for the answer.

_______________________________________

The way to figure this out if you are not already familiar with the word blatantly to to look at the context.  Mr. Fettinger did not want to include it on the list because it was emotionally manipulative.  Well, a lot of stories can be emotionally manipulative and still be good, so there must be something about this one that makes it almost bad.  Of the answer choices, obviously manipulative is one that most people frown on.  We don't want the author's purpose to be obvious, we want it to surprise us, to grab us before we realize it.  Therefore c. is the correct answer.

If you are a fan of Spidey, check out the entire article at: http://spideykicksbutt.com/Top10s/top10Spideystories.html

Sweet Christmas!

 Look at this panel from Luke Cage: Hero for Hire #3:

What literary term is Cage using to express his anger?

a. alliteration
b. metaphor
c. allusion
d. verbal irony















Scroll down for the answer.










---------------------------------------------
The answer is C. Allusion.  Luke makes a reference to Pinocchio and a reference to another story is called an allusion.  

Much like Medusa

Read the following quote from Anthem:

"Their hair was golden as the sun; their hair flew in the wind, shining and wild, as if it defied men to restrain it."

What does the quote show?

a. simile
b. hyperbole
c. metaphor
d. symbol









Scroll down for the answer.

___________________

The correct answer is a. simile because it uses "as" to compare their hair with the golden sun.

Thanks to Jordan, Courtney, Katie, and Tykavia from Ms. Brooks class for this question.  Jordan said that Courtney also has hair golden as the sun that defies men to restrain it, but Katie and Tykavia told me that it is only because she is having a bad hair day.

The Sky Is Falling!

Read the following haiku by Baiko:



Plum petals falling
I look up...the sky,
a clear crisp moon.


This haiku is primarily about:


a. global warming
b. death
c. autumn
d. love










Scroll down for the answer.






















___________________


b. is the correct answer. Why? Because of archetypes. Archetypes are symbols that stay the same in all cultures. Here we have leaves falling to the ground, which puts us in autumn time. Autumn is typically associated with death since the trees begin to die (or at least look like they are dying). Also the sky is crisp. The sky only has a crisp look when it gets cold outside, another indication of autumn or winter. Add to that the moon, which tells us that it is nighttime (yes, I know you can see the moon during the day, but typically it is associated with night). Night is, you guessed it, symbolic of death. So everything symbolically points to death, which is what this poem is about. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Baiko, the author. Oh, wait a minute, you can’t – he’s DEAD!

~