refusal study guide

What information from the passage best supports the inference that you made about the young people?

"Quite young fellows, in fact, who are utterly incapable of foreseeing the consequences of even the least significant, far less a revolutionary, idea."

Annotation

-a reader's question or comment about a text written directly on the text

Trait-

-an aspect of a person or character's behavior and attitude that make up that character's personality

What does superseded mean, as in "In the capital great rulers have superseded each other...."

Taken the place of or succeeded

How does the setting establish conflict and advance the plot of the story?

The geographic distance between the capital and the town emphasizes the oppression of a government that is out of touch with its people.

What inference can you make about the townspeople from the passage below: In all important matters, however, the citizens can always count on a refusal. And now the strange fact is that without this refusal one simply cannot get along, yet at the same time these official occasions designed to receive the refusal are by no means a formality. Time after time one goes there full of expectation and in all seriousness and then one returns, if not exactly strengthened or happy, nevertheless not disappointed or tired. About these things I do not have to ask the opinion of anyone else, I feel them in myself, as everyone does; nor do I have any great desire to find out how these things are connected.

The people of the town have come to expect—and even rely on—the refusal.

What inference can you make about the soldiers based on the passage below: A soldier, for example, enters a shop, buys some trifling object, and stays there leaning against the counter; he listens to the conversations, probably does not understand them, and yet gives the impression of understanding; he himself does not say a word, just stares blankly at the speaker, then back at the listeners, all the while keeping his hand on the hilt of the long knife in his belt. This is revolting, one loses the desire to talk, the customers start leaving the shop, and only when it is quite empty does the soldier also leave. Thus wherever the soldiers appear, our lively people grow silent. That's what happened this time, too. As on all solemn occasions the colonel stood upright, holding in front of him two poles of bamboo in his outstretched hands. This is an ancient custom implying more or less that he supports the law, and the law supports him.

The presence of soldiers in the small town intimidates its inhabitants.

What inference can you make about the tax-collector from the passage below:Yet while he lives among us without laying too much stress on his official position, he is something quite different from the ordinary citizen. When a delegation comes to him with a request, he stands there like the wall of the world. Behind him is nothingness, one imagines hearing voices whispering in the background, but this is probably a delusion; after all, he represents the end of all things, at least for us. At these receptions he really was worth seeing.

The tax-collector wields immense power in the town and causes fear among villagers.

Based on the passage below, what inference can you make about the young people based on the two paragraphs below: In all important matters, however, the citizens can always count on a refusal. And now the strange fact is that without this refusal one simply cannot get along, yet at the same time these official occasions designed to receive the refusal are by no means a formality. Time after time one goes there full of expectation and in all seriousness and then one returns, if not exactly strengthened or happy, nevertheless not disappointed or tired. About these things I do not have to ask the opinion of anyone else, I feel them in myself, as everyone does; nor do I have any great desire to find out how these things are connected. As a matter of fact, there is, so far as my observations go, a certain age group that is not content—these are the young people roughly between seventeen and twenty. Quite young fellows, in fact, who are utterly incapable of foreseeing the consequences of even the least significant, far less a revolutionary, idea. And it is among just them that discontent creeps in.

Young people, who don't fully understand the risk of opposing the capital, are upset about the refusal.

Number these events from the story in the order that they happened.

_1____. The narrator describes the location of the town and its relationship with the capital. _4____. A crowd feels relieved and disperses. _2____. The townspeople gather for a ceremony. _3____. The colonel rejects a petition from the people of the town.

Dialogue--

a conversation between characters

Petition

a formal request to a government or superior usually signed by many people

Inference-

an idea formed by combining textual evidence and one's own reasoning and background knowledge

Character

an individual in a literary work whose thoughts, feelings, actions, and reactions move the action of the plot forward

Desolate

describing a place that is deserted, empty and bleak

Textual evidence-

details from the text that a reader can use to support his or her ideas and opinions about the text

Explicitly

directly stated

Implicit

implied by not stated directly

Rigid

incapable of compromise or making concessions

Explicit

precisely and clearly expressed, leaving no room for doubt

Question

something that is asked

Evaluation

the act of making a judgment or decision about something

Antagonist

the character whose goals work against the protagonist

Resolution

the final outcome of the story's conflict

Protagonist

the main character--the one the story revolves around and who usually has a problem to solve

Plot

the sequence of events in a work of literature

Interpret

to determine and explain the meaning of

Analyze

to examine the parts of something in detail

Cite

to quote as evidence to support a response

Respond-

to say something in return; to answer or reply

Track

to trace the development of events or ideas within a text

Make inferences

to use your own understanding of a text and your own experiences; to draw conclusions

Exceptional

unusually or abnormally good