Mood and Tone in the Story "Test" by Theodore Thomas
By Claire Wimbush
Last updated about 6 years ago
14 Questions
Note from the author:
My students read this short story after lessons on how mood and tone work together to create effective writing.
1
1.
What's the tone of this first section of the story?
Evaluate how an author's specific word choices, syntax, tone, and voice shape the intended meaning of the text, achieve specific effects and support the author's purpose.
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2.
What mood does the first section create?
Compare and contrast how rhyme, rhythm, sound, imagery, style, form, and other literary devices convey a message and elicit a reader's emotions.
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3.
What's the tone of the second section of the story?
Evaluate how an author's specific word choices, syntax, tone, and voice shape the intended meaning of the text, achieve specific effects and support the author's purpose.
1
4.
What mood does it create?
Compare and contrast how rhyme, rhythm, sound, imagery, style, form, and other literary devices convey a message and elicit a reader's emotions.
1
5.
What's the tone of the final section of the story?
Evaluate how an author's specific word choices, syntax, tone, and voice shape the intended meaning of the text, achieve specific effects and support the author's purpose.
1
6.
What mood does it create?
Evaluate how an author's specific word choices, syntax, tone, and voice shape the intended meaning of the text, achieve specific effects and support the author's purpose.
1
7.
What did you think of the story? Explain your reaction.
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8.
What is the test?
Make predictions, draw inferences, and connect prior knowledge to support reading comprehension.
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9.
Do you think Robert failed the test, or is the test unfair? Explain your answer.
Make predictions, draw inferences, and connect prior knowledge to support reading comprehension.
1
10.
Imagine the kind of society that created the test. What is it like? Would you want to live in it? Why or why not? Explain.
Make predictions, draw inferences, and connect prior knowledge to support reading comprehension.
Analyze and synthesize information in order to solve problems, answer questions, and generate new knowledge.
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11.
When the uniformed man says, "How do any of us know [if we are dreaming]," what do you think he means? Explain.
Make predictions, draw inferences, and connect prior knowledge to support reading comprehension.
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12.
Write a sentence that expresses one theme of the story.
Identify universal themes prevalent in the literature of different cultures.
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13.
Now that you have read and thought about the story, consider how its tone and mood changes throughout. (Look back at your answers to questions 1-6 to help you.) How does the tone shift from the beginning to the end?
Compare and contrast how rhyme, rhythm, sound, imagery, style, form, and other literary devices convey a message and elicit a reader's emotions.
Analyze and synthesize information in order to solve problems, answer questions, and generate new knowledge.
1
14.
Write one or two sentences that explain the effect of that tone shift on the reader. What does the tone shift do? (There isn't one right answer here. I'm asking you to think about how the story works--how does it create its impact?)
Evaluate how an author's specific word choices, syntax, tone, and voice shape the intended meaning of the text, achieve specific effects and support the author's purpose.