Vocabulary Terms you should be familiar with as you read. 1. collaborate8. proposition 2. commend9. ransom 3. comply10. surreptitiously 4. diatribe 5. impudent 6. palatable 7. pervade

Ransom of Red Chief 1. Bas-relief—slightly raised; a kind of sculpture carved so that figures stand out only slightly from the flat surface. 2. Brake—a thick grouping of trees or undergrowth. 3. Court plaster—adhesive cloth for covering superficial cuts or scratches on the skin, used in the 18 th century.

Ransom of Red Chief 4. Crabbed hand—handwriting that is difficult to read. 5. Bedlam—an insane asylum 6. Calliope—an instrument fitted with steam whistles, played by a keyboard.

Ransom of Red Chief Vocabulary 7. Apparition—a sudden or unusual sight; Bill meant an “aberration,” a moving away from the normal to the atypical. 8. Undeleterious—harmless 9. Philoprogenitiveness—love for one’s own children. 10. Radius—range or area.

Ransom of Red Chief 11. Magic lantern views—an early slide projector used to show an enlarged image of a picture, popular in the 19 th century. 12. Dassent—dare not 13. King Herod—ruler of Judea from 39 B.C. to 4 B.C. At one point, he ordered the execution of all boys in Bethlehem younger than 2 years old.

Vocabulary 1. apparition - a ghostly figure 2. deleterious - having a harmful effect 3. philoprogenitive - producing many children or offspring, the loving and caring of children 4. lackadaisical - lacking spirit or interest 5. diatribe - thunderous, verbal attack 6. christen - to name and dedicate as in a ceremony 7. emit - to give out or send 8. reconnoiter - to survey, to get the lay of the land

Ransom of Red Chief 9. Decry—to minimize or make light of. 10.Depredation—robbery or plundering. 11. Cauterized—burned a wound in order to stop bleeding or to promote healing.

Extra Vocabulary 9. contiguous - neighboring, sharing a boundary 10. somnolent - drowsy, sleepy 11. sylvan - abounding in trees; a wooded area 12. peremptory - firmly determined, dictatorial 13. decry - to condemn openly 14. collaborate - to work together, to cooperate 15. proclivities - a natural disposition 16. calliope - a musical instrument with steam whistles and played with keys like an organ

Making Inferences 9/29 An inference takes information from the selection added to your opinion or what you know to come up with a judgment or inference. Selection Information + what you know ___________________ Judgment or inference

Essay Questions “ Ransom of Red Chief ” Choose one only. Why do you think Ebenezer Dorset didn’t want to pay the ransom for his son? Give reasons with examples from the story to support your answer. In your view, who got the best of the kidnapping situation—Red Chief, Ebenezer Dorset, or Sam? Give details from the story to support your answer.

Study Guide for Ransom of Red Chief Study vocabulary How do the neighbors, the father, and the kidnappers feel about the return of Red Chief?

Irony A contrast or contradiction between what is stated and what is meant or between what is expected and what actually happens. Situational irony: a contradiction between what happens and what is expected to happen. Verbal irony: when a word or phrase is used to suggest the opposite of its usual meaning.

Verbal and Situational Irony Make two columns on your paper. Head one verbal irony Head one situational irony Write a definition for each and come up with 4 examples of each. You will turn this in after completion of the selection.