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David Means, The Secret Goldfish

David Means, The Secret Goldfish

Read The Secret Goldfish and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Then “submit” your work.

1. According to the narrator, what is the story that everyone knows?

the story of the goldfish who dies because the kid who agreed to take care of him does not

the story of the fish that got away

the story of a husband cheating on his wife

the story of the imaginary friend

2. How does the narrator describe the process by which her marriage fell apart?

as a process of enlightenment

as the natural course of things

as painless

as abrupt

3. Drawing on Aristotle, the narrator makes which of the following claims about Fish’s story?

It is instructive.

It is poetic.

It is tragic.

It is epic.

4. The narrator contrasts the tank’s murkiness with

the neighborhood in which they live.

the husband’s packing his belongings.

her job.

Teddy’s and Annie’s rooms.

5. How does the narrator address the reader?

as if the reader were an observer, interested in the physical situation of the story

as if the reader were the narrator’s father, who released her fish into Grayling Pond

as if the reader were Fish

as if the reader were the husband