Thinking While Reading Check

HARRISON BERGERON: Which word best describes the mood of the Bergeron household?

• subdued

• overwhelming

• inspiring

• restless

In this story, people with above-average intelligence have to

• watch a lot of television every night

• marry someone with less intelligence

• report weekly to the Handicapper General

• wear mental-handicap transmitters

Based on the number of handicaps Harrison wears, you can conclude he is

• the same as everyone else

• dangerous to others in society

• above average in many ways

• glad he doesn’t live at home

You can conclude that Harrison most likely decides to escape from jail because he

• can no longer distinguish right from wrong

• wants to dance on television with a ballerina

• hopes to show the government that he is

  not a threat to society

• is angry about the handicaps imposed by

  the government

The biggest conflict Harrison faces in the story is between

• expressing his individuality versus accepting the rules of equality that the government has imposed

• wanting to dance with the ballerina versus wanting to keep his government-mandated restraints in place

• visiting his parents in their home versus wanting to make a statement for individual rights on television

• finding a way to balance the handicaps he knows he must wear versus wanting to express his individuality

SHOOFLY PIE: Why is Mattie sad at the beginning of the story?

• She needs to find a job.

• Johnny is at his grandmother’s.

• Her mother recently died.

• She broke a jar of honey.

Which of the following do Sergio and Augie both seem to believe about Johnny?

• He will eventually purchase the restaurant from Riyad.

• His comments are hurtful, but offered as a way to learn.

• He knows everything about running the restaurant.

• The way he treats Mattie will eventually improve.

Which of the following sentences demonstrates Mattie’s willingness to work hard at the restaurant?

• “A bouquet of orders hung clipped to the silver line strung over the window between the kitchen and the dining room.”

• “Two weeks ago she’d never even thought of being a cook in a restaurant and now she was ready to help run the place.”

• “She started guessing what a customer would order before the order had been turned in.”

• “Mattie had noticed her as she stood next to Sergio mixing up their Date/Nut/Cream Cheese Delight in a huge bowl.”

Which of the following sentences from the story reveals that Johnny’s character is undergoing a change?

• “Johnny stared at her hard. ‘I didn’t realize you knew him.’”

• “He could make the simplest word sound like an insult.”

• “Johnny always stared at her as if he needed an interpreter.”

• “He seemed to have softened somehow, like beans left to soak.”

Mattie resigns from her job at the restaurant because she has too much work to do at school and is

• tiring of restaurant work

• feeling much steadier

• missing her father

• ready for a change