Why does the man fish by night? How does this lead to the conflict with the ray? What is significant about the fact that he does not fish for a living?
The man liked to fish at night because he liked to fish alone. This leads to the conflict because he is unable to see what he is catching when it’s dark and night. The man fishes as a hobby, not for a job.
Identify 3 examples of foreshadowing?
When the man slipped the knot over his wrists.
When the man said he let the baby porpoise go.
When it says “he looked closely to make sure no stingray was hidden in the mesh.”
Identify the following parts of the story’s plot: The complicating incident, a single crisis, the climax, the resolution and the ending (what kind)?
The complicating incident: The man wasn’t going to cast anything until he saw two or three mullets together.
A single crisis: When the man realized that he had caught a sea devil instead of some mullets.
The climax: When the ray swam quickly and he decided to cut the rope, as his plan worked out in the end.
The resolution: The man decided to let the mullet go and he would never go casting at night alone.
The ending: The ending is happy because he was saved and realized that its harder then he thought.
One of the conflicts is between the civilized and primitive world (define these two words first). What is the purpose of the references made to the plane, the causeway, and the mans wife at home?
Civilized world is where everyone is living and everything’s modern and developed.
Primitive world is where objects are only the natural aspects of earth and nature.
What does the man learn at the end of the story? Why does he release the mullet?
At the end of the story, the man learnt how it feels to not be the fisher/hunter and how to be the man that is trapped. The man had decided to release the mullet because the ray kind of taught the man a lesson of how it felt to be caught up, as the man felt sorry for the mullet.
Find 3 examples of descriptive language – this will lead into a discussion of figurative language.
Personification – “the good, rough, honest wood”
simile – “a great horned thing shot like a huge bat of of the water”
figurative language – “ he saw the mullet he had just caught, gasping its life away on the floor boards of the skiff.”
Vocabulary:
- sullen p.32: bad-tempered and sulky; gloomy.
- weltering p.33: to rise and fall or toss about in or with waves
- elemental p.33: having the power of a force of nature
- sinewy p.33: tough and difficult to cut, stringy
- hoisted p.33: to raise something by using ropes or strength
- phosphorescence p.34: luminescence that is caused by the absorption of radiations
- cordage p.34: the ropes in the rigging of a ship or boat
- exhilaration p.34: feeling of great happiness and excitement
- atavistic p. 35: a recurrence to a past style, manner, outlook, or activity
- centrifugal p. 35: moving away from a center
- gauntly p. 35: barren, desolate
- impeding p. 37: to slow the movement, progress, or action of something
- tenaciously p.37: very determined to do something
- respite p. 38: a period of temporary delay
- equilibrium p. 38: a state of balance, one force is not stronger than the other
- imminent p. 39: happing really soon