WorksheetsTHE THIRD MAN 9TH GRADE
Total questions: 10
Worksheet time: 5mins
Comprehension
Identify the choice that best answers the question.
1. In “The Seventh Man,” which statement best summarizes what happens in the
weeks following K.’s death?
a. He falls ill and has nightmares.
b. He moves to Nagano.
c. He starts attending a different school.
d. He spends hours studying K.’s artwork.
2. Which excerpt from “The Seventh Man” best explains why the seventh man feels responsible for K.’s death?
a. He might have been so absorbed in whatever it was he had found that my call made no impression on him.
b. I stood there, wondering what to do. Should I go down to the beach?
c. I had always loved and protected K. as if he had been my own little brother.
d. I probably could have run over and dragged him out of the reach of the wave.
3. In “The Seventh Man,” why does the seventh man’s view of the past begin to change?
a. Studying K.’s art, he remembers that K. was gentle and realizes that his last look was not one of hatred.
b. After his father dies, he returns home and realizes that he did not need to move to Nagano.
c. Studying K.’s art, he realizes that K. would not have minded dying in the wave.
d. After his father dies, he realizes that it was the second wave, not the first, that killed K.
4. In “The Seventh Man,” what is the most important discovery that the seventh man makes when he returns to his hometown?
a. He discovers that K. was a gentle and artistic soul.
b. He learns that his father has died of cancer.
c. He sees that the town remains the same as when he was a boy.
d. He realizes that the dark shadow of K.’s death has left him.
5. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.
Part A What does the giant wave most clearly represent to the seventh man?
a. It represents death, which causes hatred among people.
b. It represents art, which can capture the spirit of nature.
c. It represents our fears, which keep us from doing what we should.
d. It represents nature, which is both beautiful and awe-inspiring.
Part A What does the giant wave most clearly represent to the seventh man?
Part B Which passage from the text most clearly supports the answer to Part A?
a. I knew that the wave was coming, and K. didn’t know. As clearly as I knew what I ought to be doing, I found myself running the other way. . . .
What made me do this, I’m sure, was fear.
b. But it was too late. A wave like a huge snake with its head held high, poised to strike, was racing toward the shore. I had never seen anything like it before.
c. In the tip of the [second] wave, as if enclosed in some kind of transparent capsule, floated K.’s body, reclining on its side. But that’s not all. K. was looking straight at me, smiling.
d. Most of [K.’s pictures] were landscapes, pictures of the familiar stretch of ocean and sand beach and pine woods and the town, and all done with that special clarity and coloration I knew so well from K.’s hand.
7. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.
Part A When the seventh man begins to tell his story, he introduces it in this way:
“In my case, it was a wave,” he said. “There is no way for me to tell, of course, what it will be for each of you. But in my case it just happened to take the form of a gigantic wave. It presented itself to me all of a sudden one day without warning. And it was devastating.”
What does this excerpt most clearly imply? To help you choose your answer, consider the events of the story.
a. He believes that in life, every individual must confront fear in some form or another.
b. He believes that his life was changed by a disaster in a way that others cannot understand.
c. He believes that he has succeeded despite not knowing what will happen to others.
d. He believes that in life, everyone will face the risk of a giant wave caused by a storm.
Part A When the seventh man begins to tell his story, he introduces it in this way:
“In my case, it was a wave,” he said. “There is no way for me to tell, of course, what it will be for each of you. But in my case it just happened to take the form of a gigantic wave. It presented itself to me all of a sudden one day without warning. And it was devastating.”
What does this excerpt most clearly imply? To help you choose your answer, consider the events of the story.
Part B Which part of the excerpt most clearly supports the answer to Part A?
a. “There is no way for me to tell . . . what it will be for each of you.”
b. “[I]t just happened to take the form of a gigantic wave.”
c. “It presented itself to me all of a sudden one day without warning.”
d. “And it was devastating.”
The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.
Part A At the end of the story, the narrator says that if we “turn our backs on” fear, “we take the most precious thing inside us and surrender it to something else.” What does he most likely mean by these statements?
a. If we avoid our fear, we will lose our lives to a natural force such as a storm.
b. If we avoid our fear, then we give the fear power over ourselves and lose our freedom.
c. If we do not respect our fear, then we will need to surrender to our enemies.
d. If we do not respect our fear, then others will lose their respect for us.
Part A At the end of the story, the narrator says that if we “turn our backs on” fear, “we take the most precious thing inside us and surrender it to something else.” What does he most likely mean by these statements?
Part B In what way does “The Seventh Man” illustrate the statement in Part A?
a. K. dies because he is too afraid to move out of the way of the wave.
b. If K. had respected his fear, he would have known the wave was bearing down.
c. The seventh man is afraid his brother no longer respects him.
d. Fear of the wave makes the seventh man run away instead of saving his friend.
