The Bet by Anton Chekhov

What is the main topic discussed at the dinner party?

• Student debt

• The value of knowledge and experience

• Capital punishment vs. life in prison

• Treat others as you want to be treated

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

What is one way the banker change from the beginning of the story to the end?

• He is very wealthy in the beginning, then he has lost his fortune by the end.

• His time in isolation has made him lose his mind.

• He lost a lot of weight

• He has become much wiser from all of his reading.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.7

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

What is one way the lawyer has changed from the beginning of the story to the end?

• He has lost his wealth.

• He has learned how to do complex math equations.

• He does not change in the story.

• He no longer values money, or winning the bet.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.7

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

How does the lawyer provoke the banker’s decision to place the bet?

• The lawyer questions whether or not the banker has the money to make a worthwhile bet with him.

• The lawyer suggests that the banker doesn’t have the courage to place such a risky bet against him.

• The lawyer offers to give the banker two million if he cannot stay in solitary confinement for the agreed upon years.

• The lawyer proposes that he will remain in solitary confinement even longer than the banker suggests.

Tags

CCSS.RI.1.1

CCSS.RI.2.1

CCSS.RI.3.1

CCSS.RL.2.1

CCSS.RL.3.1

Why did the lawyer reject the money and leave a few hours shy of winning the bet and receiving the two million dollars?

• He read and studied so much that he discovered that the bet was meaningless and the money has no true value.

• He was really hungry.

• He lost his mind and just had to get out.

• He lost track of the days and actually thought he had won.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.7.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

What does obsolete mean based off the passage:

The guests, among them not a few scholars and journalists, for the most part disapproved of capital punishment. They found it obsolete as a means of punishment, unfitted to a Christian State and immoral. Some of them thought that capital punishment should be replaced universally by life-imprisonment.

• acceptable

• morally correct

• no longer produced or used; out of date.

• justifiable

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

What is the outcome of “The Bet”?

• The Lawyer takes the money and lives a happy life

• The Banker kills the Lawyer

• The Lawyer has a heart attack and dies in confinement

• The Lawyer leaves before his time is up and rejects the money

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.4.4

How does the lawyer’s 15-year imprisonment affect the banker?

• The banker wishes that he had required the lawyer to stay imprisoned for longer.

• The banker comes to realize that he was wrong about his stance on life imprisonment.

• The banker mourns the life and experiences that he has deprived the lawyer of.

• The banker regrets placing the bet and thinks it was a stupid idea in the first place.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.7

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

Which statement best expresses a theme in the story?

• Pursuing knowledge and bettering yourself is the best way to spend your time.

• The desire to prove to others that you’re right can lead to extreme actions.

• Greed and impulsive decisions can lead to huge consequences.

• There is nothing worse than depriving someone of human contact.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI. 9-10.9

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

Which statement best describes how the banker’s actions develop the theme of the story?

• The banker’s hasty and thoughtless actions lead to trouble and despair for him.

• The banker’s disregard for human life shows the extent of his lack of compassion for others.

• The banker’s adventurous spirit prompts him to create dangerous or risky situations.

• The banker’s passionate defense of his views gets him into dangerous situations.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI. 9-10.9

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.7.2