"The Terror" Review

What grade was the narrator when he started to experience bullying in school?

• 2nd grade

• 7th grade

• 6th grade

• 4th grade

Which detail shows that middle school was a "pretty bad time" in the narrator's life?

• One day he was sprawled on our front stoop in London Terrace holding court, and the next he was up in Newark." (3)"

• Sometimes I wrote my brother letters." (4)

• "I had just entered seventh grade." (2)

• “By my third month, that school had me feeling like the poorest, ugliest immigrant freak in the universe.” (2)

What happened to the narrator's father?

• He left the family.

• He passed away.

• He was on deployment as a U.S. soldier.

• He worked overseas.

What happened to the narrator's older brother?

• He got into a car accident.

• He got a job in Japan.

• He was diagnosed with leukemia.

• He went off to college in another state.

What main event that occurred in the story significantly changed the narrator?

• He moved back to his home country.

• He was beaten up by the older brothers of another kid in his neighborhood.

• He was sent to a juvenile detention center.

• He transferred to a different middle school.

Why isn’t the narrator’s family aware of what has happened to him?

• His school forced him to keep quiet about what happened so that they don't develop a bad reputation.

• Since the narrator’s brother is sick, both his brother and his mother are at the hospital.

• His family thinks that he's lying about being beaten up.

How is fear a "mind-killer” for the narrator?

• He is afraid of his brother dying.

• He feels braver than everyone in his neighborhood.

• Fear of another attack takes over the narrator’s mind and controls where he chooses to go and what he chooses to do.

• He stops studying because of his limited English skills.

How does the attack change the narrator?

• He starts lifting weights to become physically stronger than his bullies.

• He decides to drop out of middle school.

• He becomes more focused at school and pours all his energy into getting excellent grades.

• He becomes someone who is always afraid.

Which piece of evidence shows what motivated the narrator to stand up to his attackers?

• “Maybe his improbable survival was what gave me courage, or maybe it was all the Robert Cormier I was reading — his young heroes were always asking themselves, ‘Do I dare disturb the universe?’ before ultimately deciding that yes, they did dare.” (13)

• "Took me until I was a sophomore in high school — yes, that long — before I finally found it in me to start facing my terror." (13)

• "Before that attack, I had felt fear plenty of times — which poor immigrant kid hasn’t? — but after my beating, I became afraid. And at any age, that is a dismal place to be." (11)

• "I thought that would help, but avoidance only seemed to give it more strength." (8)

What is the best meaning of the word “assailants” as it is used in paragraph 6?

Paragraph 6: As these things go, it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t actually lose any teeth or break any limbs or misplace an eye. Afterward, I even managed to limp home. My mother was at the hospital, so no one noticed that I had gotten stomped. Even took my blackened eye to classes the next day, but because my assailants attended another school, I didn’t have to tell the truth. I said, ‘‘It happened in karate.’’

• companions

• neigbors

• attackers

• rivals