Preview
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell this chapter in order: how the starving friends sight a Dutch brig and are overwhelmed with joy, how a figure at her bow seems to nod and beckon, how a hellish stench warns them, how a wide yaw reveals her decks heaped with the dead and the 'smiling' man only a corpse fed on by a gull, and how the death-ship drifts away with their hope. Then name the moment you find most decisive and defend your choice.
Discussion Questions
- At the first sight of the brig, Peters dances and raves, Parker weeps like a child, and the narrator stands frozen and dumb. What do these three different reactions reveal about the men after their long ordeal, and why might Poe give a single moment of hope three such different faces? Use details from the chapter.
- A figure at the bow nods, smiles, and seems to beckon, and Augustus, Peters, and the narrator pour out thanksgiving for a rescue they feel sure of. Explain what makes the famished men so ready to read a swaying corpse as a living rescuer, and what in the chapter best accounts for the error. Use details from the chapter.
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Critical Thinking
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