Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Reading Check

1. Who is cruelly described as looking “just like a beach ball with a hat on”? (Page 10)

2. What animal does Kenny shoot?

3. Which of the hunters ends up getting shot?

4. What is Frank’s secret?

5. What is Tub’s secret?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is wrong with Kenny’s truck?

2. What secret is Kenny keeping, and what does this tell us about him?

3. How does Tub respond to Frank calling him a “fat moron”?

4. How does the power dynamic of the three friends shift from the beginning of the story to the end? How and when does this happen?

5. Based on how the story ends, what do you think will happen to the injured hunter?

Recommended Next Reads 

The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell

• This short story features an accomplished hunter who becomes the prey of a sadistic aristocrat on an island where humans are hunted for sport.
• This story connects to the theme Man Versus Nature and is adjacent to the theme Toxic Friendships (but includes a focus on primal instincts and extreme circumstances); Rainsford and Zaroff are not friends but are both hunters whose relationship shifts when a predator-prey dynamic is introduced.