Number Eight - Comprehension

Choose the correct statement(s)

This is a first person narrative / a third person narrative / a text written in prose / a fine example of the 'stream of consciousness' technique.

This document is a short story / a film's synopsis / an excerpt from a novel / an autobiography.

It's a thriller / a comedy / a tragedy / a play.

The two main protagonists are: a driver and a hitch-hiker / a driver and an old man / a hitch-hiker and a red-haired man / a serial-killer and a passenger / a killer and his prospective victim.

'Number eight' refers to the number of the road / the number of victims so far / the young hitch-hiker / the next victim.

The car itself plays an important part / the car is just a convenient setting / the variations in its speed give a rhythm to the story / the car is instrumental to the plot.

Most of the action takes place in town / on a desert highway / at a gas-station / in a wheat field.

The landscape is an ocean of wheat fields / a flat plain / a desert / a road along the coast.

The setting ( a desert place) conveys an impression of solitude / fear / anxiety / melancholy.

The topic of conversation while driving is: a serial-killer / the passing of time / the weather / excessive speed.

The kid's attitude toward the killer is fear / admiration / disgust / respect.

The former blames the latter / he praises his comportment / he finds excuses for his crimes / he condones his murders. (to condone a crime = pardonner, fermer les yeux sur)

To justify the crimes, the young man asserts: the killer must have been tired of being told what to do / some people just deserve to die / killing is a form of courage / a gun transforms any ordinary individual into a 'real man' / killing can become a habit.

The only link with the 'outside' world is the radio / the telephone / the road / the news bulletin.

The boy's hair is the same colour as the killer's / the driver's / the hitch-hiker's / the next victim's.

The young boy's game consists in pretending he is the killer / frightening the driver / getting publicity / hiding from the police.

'The kid's eyes got wide ...' in line 56 means he has realised the driver is in fact the serial-killer / he knows he is going to die / he never thought the murderer could have changed his appearance / he needs to wear glasses.

'I get as much publicity as the killer' (p 136/ l 46) is an example of humour / irony / tragic irony / dramatic irony.

The reader understands who the killer is: right from the beginning / in line 55 / somewhere in between.

The end of the story is totally unexpected / the story is open-ended / guessing the end was quite easy / anticipating the outcome ( or dénouement) was no hard task.

Just like in any good thriller, we find ingredients such as: suspense / love / mystery / blood.

The story is moral / immoral / amoral / supernatural.