In this section, you will be answering questions similar to those that might appear on a test in your English course. After answering each question, check your understanding to see the correct answer and feedback.
Use “The Runaway“ to answer the following questions.
1 Why is the juxtaposition of “miniature” and “thunder” in line 6 important to the poem?
Explanation: There is a suggestion of harmlessness in the word “miniature” and a suggestion of threat in the word “thunder.” This connects with one of the poem’s themes.
2 What tone is expressed in the final quoted comment in lines 19–21?
Explanation: The passersby seem concerned, but at the same time do not seem inclined to take any action since the colt is in no real danger.
3 In lines 10 and 11, the two sentences “It isn’t play / With the little fellow at all. He’s running away” suggest that the poem deals with what theme?
Explanation: The passersby realize the colt is in no danger, but at the same time they realize that the colt is terrified of the new experience of snow.
4 The poem’s setting is significant because it helps to contrast —
Explanation: There is no real danger in the snow, but still the colt should not be out in the cold when he could be safe and warm.
5 Which phrase indicates most strongly the colt’s terror?
Explanation: The passersby realize it “isn’t play” and the reality of the fear is emphasized by the description of the colt’s eyes and his tail “up straight.”
6 By having the passersby say “Whoever it is that leaves him out so late” in line 19, the author implies —
Explanation: The fact that the speaker of this final quote refers to “whoever it is” as the person who will have to do something makes clear that the speaker is not going to take any action.
Use the excerpt from Kidnapped to answer the following questions.
7 At the end of paragraph 5, the boy (David) says, “If a wish would kill men, those fishers would never have seen morning, and I should likely have died upon my island.” This implies that —
Explanation: David is saying that he was ready to kill the fishermen but if he had, they would not have come back (because they would be dead) and, therefore, he would likely never have figured out that low tide would free him. At this point, David, as the narrator, is recalling the event and foreshadowing the outcome: his return to the mainland.
8 In paragraph 9 beginning with “I began at once,” the tone shifts to what emotion?
Explanation: When David sees the boat coming, he is both excited and fearful. He says he cannot stand another disappointment like the last time the boat came by and ignored him. His combined hope and fear result in anxiety so unbearable that he must turn his back.
9 In the 15th paragraph when the third man in the boat “look[s] at the other men as much as to say, ‘I told you I spoke English’” the reader can infer that —
Explanation: Although the third man doesn’t speak much English, he speaks English better than the other two (who do not seem to know any English). He is, therefore, able to show off his English proficiency even though it is limited.
10 In which phrase or clause does the author use a simile to describe David’s anger at being ignored by the men in the boat?
Explanation: A simile makes a comparison using “like” or “as.”
11 David describes his state of mind throughout the passage without ever generalizing about it. In general, his state of mind could be described as —
Explanation: Although David refers to “my misery giving me no rest” and “this horrible life of mine,” he also has moments when he experiences “the comfort of sunshine” and a “reviv[al] of courage.” Therefore, his mood is not a constant state but one of fluctuation.
12 When the narrator reflects on this incident in the final paragraph, what is his attitude toward his actions?
Explanation: David says “if I had sat down to think, instead of raging at my fate, [I] must have soon guessed the secret, and got free.”
Use “The Runaway” and the excerpt from Kidnapped to answer the following questions.
13 What is the primary difference between the poem and the story?
Explanation: In both texts, the young characters (the boy and the colt) are afraid. This is a similarity in the texts, but there is a big difference in the narration of the texts. In the poem, adults are observing the fear of the colt; in the excerpt, the fearful boy tells the story himself.
14 Read these quotations.
“The Runaway,” lines 15–17
And now he comes again with a
clatter of stone
And mounts the wall again with
whited eyes
And all his tail that isn’t hair up
straight.
Kidnapped, paragraph 5
But this time I wept and roared like a wicked child, tearing up the turf with my nails, and grinding my face in the earth.
What is the main difference in emotions represented in these two descriptions?
Explanation: The colt’s reaction is directly connected to fear. The whitened eyes and tensed muscles of his tail are reactions that the colt would have in the face of any type of fear. The boy’s reaction is partly anger at the men and partly frustration because of his helplessness.
15 What are the two emotions expressed by these quotations?
“The Runaway,” line 16
mounts the wall again with whited eyes
And all his tail that isn’t hair up straight.
Kidnapped, paragraph 10
my legs shook under me, and my mouth was so dry, I must wet it with the sea-water before I was able to shout.
What is the main difference in emotions represented in these two descriptions?
Explanation: The words “terror” and “excitement” are not used by the authors, but these emotions are conveyed by the descriptive details. Terror is conveyed by the description of the colt’s eyes and tail; excitement (along with exhaustion) is conveyed by the description of David’s legs shaking and his mouth being dry.
16 How are the themes of “The Runaway” and the excerpt from Kidnapped similar? Support your answer with evidence from both selections.
Sample Short Answer:
In both “The Runaway” and the excerpt from Kidnapped, there is a common theme of being terrified by a situation that is actually not threatening. In “The Runaway” the passersby imagine the colt being comforted by its mother saying, “Sakes, / It’s only weather.” However, the colt (they imagine) would refuse this comforting: “He’d think she didn’t know!” The “whited eyes” of the colt are evidence of its terror, but the cause is his first experience of snow.
In Kidnapped, David has a “pitiful illusion” that he is on an island when in fact he is on a “tidal islet” that he could leave “dry-shod, or at most by wading” at low tide. But similarly to the poem, David’s “illusion” causes him to be terrified. He says, “I might have left my bones there, in pure folly.” The situation is actually not threatening to his life, yet he might have died.
Explanation: Other possible themes you could write about include the following:
- Both texts involve being left alone.
- Textual evidence from the poem– “He can’t be out alone,” and “to come and take him in.”
- Textual evidence from the excerpt– “when they were quite gone, I thought my heart would have burst.”
- Both texts involve communication failures.
- Textual evidence from the poem– “I doubt even his mother could tell him.” “He’d think she didn’t know.”
- Textual evidence from the excerpt– “they cried out in the Gaelic tongue” and “began again as hard as ever in Gaelic.”
- Both texts involve adults not helping youth.
- Textual evidence from the poem– “Whoever it is that leaves him out so late,” which implies that the speaker is not going to help.
- Textual evidence from the excerpt– “the boat never turned aside, and flew on, right before my eyes,” “such wickedness,” and “In spite of my supplications, they drew no nearer.”