Analyzing Character, Theme, and Plot in Short Stories Answers

By making inferences based on analysis of a character, the reader is able to determine a character's

Read the passage from Hans Christian Andersen’s "The Princess and the Pea.”Then [the Queen] took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept."Oh, very badly!” said she. "I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It’s horrible!”Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no one has stolen it.There, that is a true story.

The reason a character thinks, feels, or acts a specific way is called

Which quotation from "Little Red Riding Hood" explains the theme?

Which event is part of the exposition in "Cinderella"?

How would the end of the fairy tale "Cinderella" most likely change if the prince were not motivated to find the owner of the glass slipper?

Read the passage from Hans Christian Andersen’s "The Princess and the Pea.”Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! What a sight the rain and the wind had made her look. The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess."Well, we’ll soon find that out,” thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.

Read the passage from the old Chinese fairy-tale "The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck.”But the beggar found his fortune, and at length became emperor. He returned and stood before his wife. She however, no longer recognized him: She only knew that he was the powerful emperor.He asked her how she were getting along."Why do you ask me how I am getting along?” she replied. "I am too far beneath your notice.”"And who may your husband be?”"My husband was a beggar. He went away to seek his fortune. That was eighteen years ago, and he has not yet returned.”"And what have you done during all of those long years?”"I have been waiting for him to return.”"Do you wish to marry someone else, seeing that he has been missing for so long?”"No, I will remain his wife until I die!”When the emperor saw how faithful his wife was, he told her who he was, had her clothed in magnificent garments, and took her with him to his imperial palace.

Which quotation from "The Story of the Fisherman” in The Arabian Nights Entertainments supports the theme that cleverness trumps wrath?

Read the passage from The Arabian Nights Entertainments.Sire, there was once upon a time a fisherman so old and so poor that he could scarcely manage to support his wife and three children. He went every day to fish very early, and each day he made a rule not to throw his nets more than four times. He started out one morning by moonlight and came to the sea-shore. He undressed and threw his nets, and as he was drawing them towards the bank he felt a great weight. He thought he had caught a large fish, and he felt very pleased. But a moment afterwards, seeing that instead of a fish he only had in his nets the carcase of an ass, he was much disappointed.Vexed with having such a bad haul, when he had mended his nets, which the carcase of the ass had broken in several places, he threw them a second time. In drawing them in he again felt a great weight, so that he thought they were full of fish. But he only found a large basket full of rubbish. He was much annoyed."O Fortune," he cried, "do not trifle thus with me, a poor fisherman, who can hardly support his family!"So saying, he threw away the rubbish, and after having washed his nets clean of the dirt, he threw them for the third time. But he only drew in stones, shells, and mud. He was almost in despair.