Short Story Study Guide
By: Fallon, Ashlee, Alex, and Grayson
Summary
To build a fire is about a man in the Yukon who wanders off with his “wolf-dog.” He is faced with many challenges along his trek. As the story progresses the temperature decreases below -50 degrees. Causing the man to have to stop and build a fire. He is successful the first couple times in starting a fire but when he fails and begins to lose motor skills in his body he is unable to start a fire and dies from hyperthermia.
Characters and Vocabulary
Characters: The Man: He is the main character in the story and is never given a true name. He is a very adventurous man who is also not very bright and doesn’t feel cold.
The wolf-dog: The dog is the companion of the man and his instinctive views go against what the man does. The dog views people as simply fire and food providers
The old man at sulfur creek: This character is not present in the story but plays a strong role in the story. He once gave advice to the man who took it for granted.
The Boys: Like the old man at sulfur creek is not present in the story but are viewed through the man as a ending goal and conclusion.
Vocabulary:
Spittle: saliva (throughout the whole story he had chewing tobacco in)
Ebbed: gradually lessen or reduce
Poignant: to cause a strong feeling of pain and sadness
Figurative Language
-Setting:
“The Yukon lay a mile wide and hidden under three feet of ice.”
-Simile:
"Once, coming around a bend, he moved suddenly to the side, like a frightened horse”
-Foreshadowing:
"Almost immediately the water on them turned to ice. The dog made quick efforts to get the ice off its legs."
Summary
Characters and Vocabulary
Vocabulary:
Pickaninny- small black child
Nickelodeon- jukebox
Dilated- make larger
Figurative Language
-Simile
“She had her big black valise that looked like the head of a hippopotamus in one corner, and underneath it she was hiding a basket with Pitty Sing, the cat, in it.”
-Characterization
“Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady.”
-Imagery
“She pointed out interesting details of the scenery: Stone Mountain; the blue granite that in some places came up to both sides of the highway; the brilliant red clay banks slightly streaked with purple; and the various crops that made rows of green lace-work on the ground. The trees were full of silver-white sunlight and the meanest of them sparkled. The children were reading comic magazines and their mother and gone back to sleep.”
Summary
Characters and Vocabulary
Characters: Jim Smiley, Dan’l Webster, Simon Wheeler, Narrator
Vocabulary:
Garrulous- talkative
Ornery- bad tempered and combative
Mare- female horse
Figurative Language
-Dialect
“He ketched a frog one day, and took him home, and said he cal'klated to edercate him; and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump.”
-Hyperbole
“bore me nearly to death”
-Characterization
“I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance.”
Summary
Characters and Vocabulary
Vocabulary:
Fatuity- silly and pointless
Grotesque- comical, ugly, or distorted
Impertinence- lack of respect or rudeness
Derision- contemptuous or ridicule
Figurative Language
"It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide--plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions."
-Imagery
"Then the floor is scratched and gouged and splintered, the plaster itself is dug out here and there, and this great heavy bed which is all we found in the room, looks as if it had been through the wars."
-Repetition
"Round and round and round--round and round and round--it makes me dizzy!"
-Simile
"I have watched her sometimes away off in the open country, creeping
as fast as a cloud shadow in a high wind."
A Pair of Silk Stockings
Summary
A woman is given $15 and originally plans to use it for her children. When she goes to a department store and comes across a very soft pair of silk stockings she gets caught up in the feeling of being wealthy. She feels important with this amount of money and like she can fit in with the upper class. She buys a lot of items she doesn't need, treats herself to lunch and a show. In the end, she doesn't want to go back home and return to a life of poverty.
Characters and Vocabulary
Vocabulary:
Porte-monnaie- French word for purse
Percale- a closely woven fine cotton or polyester fabric
Retrospection- the action of looking back on or reviewing past events or situations, especially those in one's own life
Besieging- crowd around oppressively; surround and harass
Fastidious- very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail
Figurative Language
-Simile
"A vision of the future like some dim, gaunt monster sometimes appalled her, but luckily to-morrow never comes.”
"She smiled, just as if she had been asked to inspect a tiara of diamonds with the ultimate view of purchasing it.”
"It was like a dream ended.”