The Love Letter
1. Plot: Write the detail in line 1 that foreshadows that something strange may happen with the desk:______
2. Word Study: Re-read lines 4-6. What is a proprietor? ______
Write the context clues that help you figure out the word’s meaning:______3. Word Study: Write the context clue that helps you understand what a kitchenette is (line 23).______
4. Plot: In lines 25-30, the narrator interrupts the present action to tell about events that happened earlier. Write the sentence that begins the flashback. ______
5. Plot: Write the clues in lines 39-49 that foreshadow what’s to come.______6. Paraphrase: Re-read lines 67-71. Paraphrase what Jake discovers.______
7. Identify: Write the details in lines 72-89 that indicate that the contents of the desk are old.______8. Paraphrase: Re-read lines 100-109, and restate the text in your own words:______
9. Analyze: Write what the narrator says about the night (lines 124-130). How does the setting affect the plot?______
10. Infer: Why do you think Jake answers the letters?______
11. Plot: Write the two sentences in lines 169-178 that contain a flashback. Why does Jake mention these details from the past?______
12. Paraphrase: Re-read lines 179-194. Explain what Jake is doing.______
13. Infer: (line 237) Why does Jake take the letter to the old Wister postal station?______14. Plot: Write the words in lines 311-317 that tell how much time has passed since Jake found Helen’s letter:______
15. Plot: (line 348) Helen is living in the past, yet responding to a letter written in the present. What is Helen unaware of at this point in the story?______
16. Word Study: What is a hoax? (line 340) Write the context clues that hint at the word’s meaning?______17. Clarify: (lines 380-385) Why does Jake tell Helen not to add anything to the first drawer?______18. Plot: Write the words in line 392 that tell how much time will pass before Jake opens the third drawer. ______
19. Plot: Write the sentence in line 423 that Helen wrote at the bottom of her photograph. Write the sentence in line 435 that was etched on her tombstone. What do the two sentences tell about the time order of the plot?______
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