Page 28 - Point 5 Literature Program Option 1 Teachers Guide (2) (1)

Answer Key to Summative Assessment
(see rubrics on page 87)

The Answer Key offers possible answers to the Summative Assessment questions. Students’ answers
will vary. remember to accept any answer that the student can justify from the text.

Answers might include:
1. George had quit school but could not find a job. He wanted to stay off the streets, so he listened to the ball
game on his radio, tried to study a little, and did some light reading in his room.
2. He went to a park outside his neighborhood and sat on a bench, dreaming of a better life for himself, with a job,
enough money, a home and a family.

3. George’s inner conflict was that he had quit school but he wanted more education in order to prosper in his
adult life. He knew he should read library books but couldn’t seem to get round to doing this.
His outer conflict was that he liked the attention he got from Mr. Cattanzara but was also avoiding him, so as
not to have to admit he wasn’t really reading. George also wanted respect and approval from the neighbors and
couldn’t face going out when he thought Mr. Cattanzara had told everyone George wasn’t reading.(Answers will
vary. Accept all logical responses.)
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4. a. nferring
b. Mr. Cattanzara’s seems to have a boring job, a boring wife and thus a boring life (which he sometimes tries
to escape by getting a bit drunk). His own experience has shown him that one reason for this is his lack of
education. He sees that George has intellectual potential, but that if he doesn’t use it, he will end up with a life
similar to that of Mr. Cattanzara. We can infer that Mr. Cattanzara thinks that this would be a great pity and that
is why he tried so hard to help George, even going so far as intentionally lying to the neighbors that George has
done all his reading in order to send George a strong message.

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c. chose the thinking skill of Inferring because the writer does not tell us what Mr. Cattanzara is thinking or feeling
at any point. We can only judge these things by what he says to George and what we understand he must have
said to the neighbors. Using this skill helped me explain his behavior – why he helped George – even though it
is not stated directly in the text.
5. Malamud understood what it was to be poor and to lose his mother. He might also have understood how hard
it was for George to think he could succeed.

28 A summer’s reAding