Getting Closer by Steven Millhauser

The story is about...

• the basic human desire to escape time and defeat death.

• not much of anything.

• swimming at Indian Cove.

• an excited boy who waits each year for the day his family goes to the river.

At what point does the boy believe his day has really begun?

• When he wakes up.

• When he steps into the river.

• When he eats breakfast.

• When he has a picnic with his grandma.

The title of the story 'Getting Closer' signifies the boy's...

• excitement towards starting his day.

• excitement towards the moment he has been waiting for.

• understanding that everything is dead and gone.

• fear that once his favourite moments begin they will soon be over.

The irony that the story brings to life is...

• Life is precious

• Wishing a moment away as we begin to move through it…as we live to eventually die.

• Live life to the fullest and in the present

• Live life with little regrets

How is the boy different from his sister Julia?

• He is cautious

• Timid

• He doesn't rush into things

• He is not mature

What is the pine tree that his grandmother sits under symbolic of?

• longevity and eternal life

• Christmas

• peace

• wisdom

The river signifies...

• A family holiday

• The passage of time

• The beginning of the boy's adventure

• death

What is the boy's realization when the narrator says, "ending is everywhere. It’s right there in the beginning. They don’t tell you about it. It’s hidden away in things"

• Everything has a beginning and ending

• Everything is a mystery

• Everything lives and dies

• Time is irrelevant

How does the boy try to avoid the inevitable passing of time?

• He stands still

• He takes in every moment and observes the world around him

• He avoids rushing into things he anticipates

• He throws away his clocks

Choose the best quotation(s) to sum up the moral of the story.

• "You can’t live unless there’s a way to hold on to things."

• "He can’t go back because he’s already used it up"

• "he can’t go forward because then it all begins to end"

• "He’s nine going on ten, skinny-tall, shoulder blades pushing out like things inside a paper bag"