I Still Want the Running Man Home Edition Board Game

 Read this passage from The Running Man by Richard Bachman:

    "Oh dear God," Amelia Williams moaned.

    Richards looked down at himself casually.  His entire right side, from ribcage to calf, was bright and sparkling red.

    "Who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him?" Richards said.

What literary term is the last line said by Richards?

a. allusion

b. cliche

c. personification

d. metaphor

In reality, Richard Bachman turned out to be a pen name for Stephen King.

Scroll down for the answer.

__________________________

a. is the correct answer.  It is difficult to pick out allusions (this one came from Macbeth) if you have not read the text that is alluded to, so you probably would have to have ruled out the other answers to figure this one out.

b. a cliche is a worn out phrase.  Since you are probably not familiar with this line, you can rule out cliche.

c. and d. are literary terms you are probably familiar with.  There is no nonhuman thing getting human characteristics and there is no comparison, so they are clearly not the right answer.  

~

Auntie Em!

Read the following passage from www.wral.com:

Lee County estimates tornado damage at $57 million

---

SANFORD, N.C. — Lee County officials say damage to homes and businesses from the tornado earlier this month total at least $57 million.
Emergency Management Director Shane Seagroves presented the damage totals to county commissioners Monday.
Commissioner Jim Womack says the damage could "easily" exceed $100 million, counting damaged and destroyed vehicles and property in homes and businesses.
Two people died in the storm in Lee County.
Officials say at least 457 structures were damaged, including 99 homes and 17 businesses that were destroyed.


The tone of this passage is:


a. informational
b. jaded
c. sensationalistic
d. biased


















Scroll down for the answer.












_______________________
a. is correct.  The passage only seeks to inform the readers about the tornado damage.
b. is incorrect.  Jaded means that you are no longer moved by things that once got a reaction from you.
c. is incorrect.  WRAL is not trying to make the news story seem bigger than it is.
d. is incorrect.  There seems to be no slant in the story to make you take one side over another.




~

Mr. Blue Sky

Read the song lyrics below for "Mr. Blue Sky" by The Electric Light Orchestra about a nice sunny day after a long rainy and cloudy period:

Runnin' down the avenue
See how the sun shines brightly in the city
On the streets where once was pity
Mr. Blue Sky is living here today, hey hey

 

Mr. Blue Sky please tell us why

You had to hide away for so long (so long)

Where did we go wrong?

Mr. Blue Sky please tell us why

You had to hide away for so long (so long)

Where did we go wrong?

What literary term is being used in this song? 

a. apostrophe

b. metaphor

c. simile

d. dramatic irony

e. 3rd person omniscient narrator 

 

 

By the way, you would probably recognize this song from the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 with Baby Groot:

 

Scroll down for the answer:

_____________________________________________________

The way to figure this answer out is to knock out all answers you know are NOT the right one.  Apostrophe is probably a term you are not as familiar with, so we can put that as a maybe.  The others, however, you are familiar with.  We can rule out metaphor because there is no comparison.  Likewise with simile - plus there is no "like" or "as".  As far as dramatic irony goes, there is nothing that we know that the characters in this song do not, so we can rule that out.  That leaves us with 3rd Person Omniscient.  Even if you are unclear on which person point of view this is told in, there is not knowledge of Mr. Blue Sky's thoughts, so we are not omniscient in this clip, so we can rule out that answer.  

That brings us back to apostrophe.  It is the only answer that isn't eliminated, so we can go with that one.  Only choose answer choices you are not familiar with if you can rule out the other answers.

Apostrophe - talking to something or some concept that cannot talk back to you.

 

 

Polar Night

 Read the following passage from "Polar Night" by Norah Burke. The story is about a female polar bear who is getting ready for winter. At this point in the story, she has just killed a seal and heard a noise. She hid and this is what happens next:

Presently she saw upright seals coming along the shore. They were rather rare creatures, these, and dangerous for all they were so weak. The places they lived had light and noise, and smelled of good food. The she-bear often drew near the places, attracted by those smells. She hunted these land-seals too, and ate them when she could. They were not like the sea-seals, though. They wore seal fur, and their skins were rubbed with seal blubber, but there was a different taste inside.

Based on this passage, the term "land-seal" probably means:

a. sea lions
b. leopard seals
c. some unknown animals
d. humans







Scroll down for the answer...





_____________________

The correct answer is d. humans.  We get this because these creatures have lights and are dangerous.  The only creatures to create light that can also be a threat to polar bears are humans.  The fact that they are referred to as "seals" in any capacity comes from the fact that the perspective is from a bear who does not understand everything.  

Look, in the sky! It's a bird. It's a plane! It's Superman!

 Look at the comic book panels below.  Batman and Robin are trapped and cannot free themselves, then...

This particular piece of poor story telling is an example of which literary device?

a. rhetorical device
b. deus ex machina
c. extended metaphor
d. verisimilitude








Scroll down for the answer.











_______________________________________
We have several terms that you may not be familiar with. 
Rhetorical Device - anything that makes the reader look at the text from a different perspective
Deus Ex Machina - a plot device that appears only to help a character out of a sticky situation
Extended Metaphor - a metaphor that keeps going through a long passage
Verisimiltude - resembling truth

Of these, the only one that fits is b. deus ex machina.  This plot device often cheapens the story so much, that it is rarely used by good writers.

Not Sure If Lady Macbeth Is Evil or If Macbeth Is Just Whipped

 Read the following passage from Macbeth.  This takes place right after Macbeth kills the king, a man he admires.  He is a bit upset that his hands are covered in the king's blood.

“Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No. This my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.”


What literary term is being used to express Macbeth's inability to deal with his guilt?

a. imagery

b. verbal irony

c. juxtaposition

d. hyperbole

Scroll down for the answer.

_____________________________

a. is incorrect.  While it does describe the blood, it is not being used to express guilt.

b. is incorrect. There is no irony in this passage.

c. is incorrect.

d. is correct.  Macbeth is saying that the whole ocean does not have enough water in it to wash away all the blood on his hands.  

My Pretty Rose Tree

 Read the following poem by William Blake:

My Pretty Rose Tree

A flower was offered to me,
Such a flower as May never bore;
But I said, 'I've a pretty rose tree,'
And I passed the sweet flower o'er.

Then I went to my pretty rose tree,
To tend her by day and by night;
But my rose turned away with jealousy,
And her thorns were my only delight.

Why is the speaker's "only delight" the thorns of the rose tree?

a. the speaker is not fond of flowers, which is why he passed over the flower offered him
b. the speaker's girlfriend/wife is upset with him because of another woman is hitting on him
c. the speaker is a bitter old man with nothing but memories of better days
d. the speaker should have taken the rose offered
e. who the heck knows?


  








Scroll down for the answer.







________________________
In this poem, the rose is symbolic of a woman.  One woman offered herself to him and he refused because he is faithful to his wife/girlfriend.  However, his wife/girlfriend is jealous and this causes problems in their relationship.