The Cabin - Plot Elements

One theme of the story is that it is important to __________.

• tell the truth, even when it’s difficult.

• not be greedy.

• give yourself time to dream.

• not let fear overwhelm you.

Which lines best support your answer to the theme "dont let fear overwhelm you?" Choose TWO.

• “It would be risky riding the snow machine in my exhausted state, unable to see the intricate details of the terrain in the total dark, but fear clawed at my mind.”

• “I lowered the latch into place, wood scraping against wood.”

• “I fed the stove a few logs, adjusting the damper and vent for a slow burn.”

• “The moral of every story was that you should never panic, because panicking could expose you to real dangers, like extreme cold, falling into water, or becoming vulnerable to known predators.”

Which detail would be MOST important to include in a summary of the story?

• Adah once dyed her hair bright blue

• Adah uses bear fat on her wolverine traps

• Adah is trapping alone in the wilderness.

• Adah eats three pancakes back at home.

What details in the story does NOT support the idea that Adah knows a lot about trapping and animal behavior?

• She observes that no Arctic predator would pass up the chance for free food and knows that an animal that was not hungry would bury any food it found to eat later.

• She knows that herbivores would not be interested in the caribou meat she left outside and that herbivores travel in herds or groups.

• She knows the sound a weasel should make as it walks through the snow and that weasels love caribou meat.

• She knows the purpose of the boogie stories is to warn listeners not to panic when they are in a frightening situation.

What was the setting of the story?

• The repetition of crunch adds to the tense, threatening mood of the story by drawing readers in and allowing them to imagine what it must be like to be Adah, alone in a remote location when there shouldn’t be anyone else there, hearing someone—or something—walking around outside.

• The author reveals that Adah is feeling tense, frightened, and threatened. Details that help you understand this include that she is telling herself to stay calm and breathe.

• The author has revealed that the story takes place in the middle of the night, during the winter, in a wooden cabin in a remote location 40 miles from the nearest human being.

• Trapping is an important part of Adah’s identity. It’s something she has done and loved since she was 5 years old. That Adah is a trapper even though trapping is traditionally a male role is an important part of who she is as well—it’s something that sets her apart from others and reflects her strong confidence and sense of independence.

Adah says, “How could I have known that some . . . thing would come in the middle of the night?” This line reveals that Adah

• isn’t afraid of what’s outside

• thinks a caribou is outside.

• forgot the name of the animal she hears

• thinks that what’s outside might not be a person or an animal.

Adah says, “The trap banged again, sparking a memory from yesterday, something I’d dismissed as insignificant.”

Which word has the same meaning as insignificant?

• important

• frightening

• unimportant

• useful

What was the central (internal) conflict that Adah had to face?

• Fear

• Hate

• Loneliness

• Anxiety

Which is the best summary of the story?

• A trapper stows her pack in her sled to make leaving in the morning easier

• A young trapper is excited to learn she will be taking over more traplines next season.

• When a supernatural creature harasses a young trapper all night, she resists panic and makes it home safely the next day.

• A family shares strange stories over a pancake breakfast.

What is plot?

• A story’s main message or moral.

• The perspective from which a story is told. In other words, who is telling the story—a character in the story or an outside narrator.

• The main or central character of a work of literature. Usually, the main character is involved in a conflict or struggle with the antagonist.

• The sequence of events in a story. It includes the opening event (what happens at the beginning/the main problem that the main character faces), the rising action (what happens to intensify the problem), the climax (when the problem reaches its most intense point and begins to be resolved), the falling action (what happens to solve the problem), and the resolution (how things end).