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Questions on Poison
by Roald Dahl
what country does the story take place?
do you know this is where the story occurs?
nationality are Woods and Pope?
ethnicity is Ganderbai?
on what you’ve seen in Comp/Lit 9A, what do you know about this country?
states, “The bite is quite deadly except sometimes when you catch it at
once” (p.84). Toward the end of
the story, Harry calls Ganderbai a “dirty little sewer rat” and “You dirty
black--.” What is the relationship
between Timber’s statement and Harry’s statement?
do we know that Harry is very “refined,” according to Timber (What does
Timber spot on Harry’s pajamas?)
is the denotative definition of “refined”? What is the connotative definition?
also says, “they kill a number of people each year in Bengal mostly in the
villages.” What is the underlying
or hidden meaning of this statement (read between the lines)?
- Timber tells Harry, “You must know it
won’t bite unless it’s frightened.”
What is Harry’s overwhelming emotion throughout the story?
- How does this overwhelming emotion
relate to Harry’s reaction toward treatment of Ganderbai at the close of
page 88, first column, Timber notices that Harry never looks at
Ganderbai. Why do you think he
never looks at Ganderbai based on the questions you’ve answered to this
- On page
88, after Harry has stood up and there is no krait, Timber mentions that
Ganderbai has a bit of a sarcastic tone “that he would never have employed
in ordinary circumstances.” Why
would Ganderbai not speak this way to Harry under normal circumstances?
you were to think of animals in the following description of Harry and
Ganderbai, of what would you think:
“Ganderbai remained absolutely
still, watching Harry. Harry took a
pace forward on the bed and there was ashining look in his eyes.”
- In light
of these images what is the implication of Ganderbai’s statement that “a
snake is cold-blooded”?
- Who in this story is “cold-blooded”?
- The Big Question: What is the Poison?
- In the
video clip the narrator states, “We have feard what we didn’t
understand.” How does this
statement relate to the story Poison?