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Grace Paley, Samuel

Grace Paley, Samuel

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

1. What are the four boys in the story doing?

torturing a small, black-striped cat by trying to light its tail on fire

building model rocket ships on a sunny day in Central Park

jiggling and jumping on the platform between subway cars

riding the tail of a speeding truck headed for New York City

2. How do the ladies watching the boys react to their behavior?

They knit their eyebrows together in disapproval and hope that the boys notice.

They leave so that they don’t have to watch the boys.

They think what fun it must be to be young and athletic.

They remember their childhoods when they did foolish, brave things.

3. How do the boys respond to the lady’s rebuke?

They act like rockets going off.

They laugh and pound on each other’s backs.

They contritely apologize, return to their seats, and sit quietly.

They whimper and cry and fall to the ground.

4. Who pulls the emergency cord in the story?

Samuel’s mother

a man whose boyhood had been more watchful than brave

the embarrassed lady who reprimands the boys

the motorman

5. What happens to Samuel in the story?

He seriously burns his hand and is sent to the hospital for treatment.

He gets in a fight with his friend Albert and ends up giving him two black eyes.

He falls off the train platform and is killed on the tracks.

He returns home to his mother, sorry for his tomfoolery.