The Tell-Tale Heart

TRUE OR FALSE: The old man wore a patch over one of his eyes because he couldn’t see out of it.

• TRUE

• FALSE

Answer explanation

"He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it" (Poe 1-2).

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.10

CCSS.RI.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.11-12.10

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

TRUE OR FALSE: The narrator had nothing against the old man personally; they got along well. He was just driven to madness by a certain feature of the old man’s face.

• TRUE

• FALSE

Answer explanation

"I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this!" (Poe 1).

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

TRUE OR FALSE: When the narrator crept into his bedroom, the old man started screaming and the narrator was afraid the neighbors would hear.

• TRUE

• FALSE

Answer explanation

"... I did for seven long nights—every night just at midnight—but I found the eye always closed..." (Poe 2).

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

TRUE OR FALSE: The narrator accidentally left blood stains near the tub, and that is why the police suspected foul play.

• TRUE

• FALSE

Answer explanation

"The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them" (Poe 4).

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

TRUE OR FALSE: The narrator confessed his crime to the police in the end.

• TRUE

• FALSE

Answer explanation

" 'Villains!” I shrieked, 'dissemble no more! I admit the deed!—tear up the planks! here, here!—It is the beating of his hideous heart!'” (Poe 5).

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

Why did the narrator want the old man dead?

• He wanted the house all to himself.

• He couldn’t stand the old man’s vulture-like eye.

• The old man was wealthy and the narrator wanted his money.

• The old man reminded the narrator of his father.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

What did the narrator do every night without the old man knowing?

• He crept into the old man’s room and watched him as he slept.

• He sharpened the knife that he planned to use to murder the old man.

• He quietly stole things from the old man’s room.

• He hid mutilated bodies under the floorboards.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

How did the narrator dispose of the body?

• He hid it under the bed in the old man’s room.

• He put it in the bathtub and covered it up.

• He fed the body to the old man’s pet vulture

• He cut it into pieces and hid it under the floorboards.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

Where did the narrator have the police officers sit while he was talking to them?

• On the porch outside the house.

• In the kitchen.

• In the old man’s bedroom right above where the body was hidden.

• In the bathroom right next to the tub that held the dismembered corpse.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

What is the “low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton” that the narrator hears at the end of the story?

• The sound of the old man breathing.

• The beating of the old man’s heart.

• A watch that is hidden in a drawer.

• None of the above.