The Shed Chamber quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which kind of story best describes "The Shed Chamber"?

   • Correct answer: Suspense story
   • Gothic horror
   • Detective story
   • Fairy tale
   • Satire

   A suspense story builds tension around a danger the reader sees coming. Nora watches a man hide in a cedar trunk, then must lock him in, slip past a sick woman, and race for help before he breaks out.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Who is the narrator telling this story to?

   • Her own children, gathered after supper
   • Correct answer: A group of girls, including Lottie and Sue
   • Mrs. Bowles, many years after the night
   • A reporter writing a piece for the Farmer's Friend

   The story is a frame narrative: the narrator, looking back, speaks to "girls," naming Lottie (who has been talking about a similar notice) and Sue. The frame lets her stop to give advice, as in "Girls, don't ever grudge the time you spend in learning to cook nicely."

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3. 3

   Question 3. In which paper did the narrator find the advertisement for the job?

   • The Dashville Herald
   • The Tupham Gazette
   • The Household Weekly
   • Correct answer: The Farmer's Friend

   She answered a notice in the Farmer's Friend: 'Wanted, a capable, steady girl to assist in housework and take care of children.'

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4. 4

   Question 4. Why does Nora send Barbara in with the tray of toast instead of carrying it herself?

   • Correct answer: She thinks the sick woman will eat more readily from her child
   • She is too busy scrubbing the scandalous kitchen floor
   • Mr. Bowles has told her strangers may not enter the sickroom
   • Barbara begs so hard to carry it that Nora gives in

   Nora thought "she'd feel more like taking it from the child than from a stranger, if she hadn't much appetite." It works: Barbara returns crying, "She drank it all, every drop!" Nora's first victory is ordinary work done with care.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Mrs. Bowles says she will feel "as safe with Nora as if I had a regiment in the house." What does this line show?

   • That she secretly suspects a robbery is being planned
   • That her husband's brother is a soldier living nearby
   • Correct answer: How fully she has come to trust Nora in a single week
   • That she doubts Nora but wants to sound polite to the girl

   After only a week, Mrs. Bowles trusts Nora so completely that she refuses to have Mr. Bowles's brother come and sleep in the house. The joke about a regiment also sets up the danger to come, when Nora really is the only guard.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What is the shed chamber?

   • A locked cellar beneath the Bowleses' kitchen
   • A tool shed standing in the yard behind the house
   • The small back room where Mrs. Bowles lies ill
   • Correct answer: A large bare storeroom next to Nora's bedroom

   Through the second door of Nora's room lies "a great bare room, with some large trunks in it, but no other furniture except a high wardrobe." Its low windows are hard to fasten, which is why it matters.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Mrs. Bowles says, "Annie was careless and saucy." What does saucy mean here?

   • Fond of rich food and heavily seasoned dishes
   • Correct answer: Rude and disrespectful toward her employers
   • Shy and slow to speak up for her own wishes
   • Cheerful and eager to please everyone nearby

   Saucy means impudent or disrespectful. Barbara had already said the last girl had been "saucy to Mrs. Bowles."

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8. 8

   Question 8. After finding that the shed chamber windows cannot be fastened securely, Nora says, "If I had only known!" What is the effect of this remark?

   • Correct answer: It foreshadows that the windows will soon matter
   • It shows she regrets ever taking the job at all
   • It reveals that she has already seen the robber hiding
   • It flashes back to a burglary at her own farm

   Because the narrator is telling the story years later, she can hint at what is coming. "If I had only known!" warns the reader that the low windows will let danger in. Her remark about Annie, "I did not like her smile, I could not tell why," works the same way.

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9. 9

   Question 9. In the moonlight, "the trunks looked like great animals crouching along the walls." What does this simile add to the scene?

   • A reminder of the farm animals Nora misses
   • Humor that eases the tension of the moment
   • Correct answer: A sense of hidden danger waiting to spring
   • Proof that the trunks are old and badly battered

   Crouching animals are hiding and ready to leap, just like the man inside the cedar trunk. Richards pairs this with the moonlight on the keyhole, "like a long finger," and later the robber's "white, wolfish teeth."

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10. 10

    Question 10. Why does Nora hum a tune and open and shut the lids of other trunks before she locks the cedar trunk?

    • To call the Brett men who were waiting outside
    • To wake the children so they could run and hide
    • To check whether the family silver was still stored there
    • Correct answer: So the hidden man will think she suspects nothing

    She moved among the trunks "as if I were looking for something," so the man would not guess she knew he was there. Then she turned the key, knowing "the lock was a stout one and the wood heavy and hard."

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11. 11

    Question 11. What reason does Nora give Mrs. Bowles for going out after locking the trunk?

    • Correct answer: She would like a short walk in the lovely moonlight
    • She has to fetch medicine from a neighbor's house
    • She promised to see Annie safely home before it got late
    • She heard a noise in the garden and must check it

    Nora asks if she may go out because "The moonlight is so lovely I thought I would like to take a little walk." She hides the danger to keep from frightening an invalid, and later warns George, "Mrs. Bowles does not know."

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12. 12

    Question 12. Why does Nora run past the first house she reaches?

    • The whole house is dark and asleep
    • Its owner is a friend of the robber
    • Correct answer: Only two nervous old ladies live there
    • A dog chases her away from the gate

    Nora knew "there was no man there, only two nervous old ladies," so she ran on to the next house, where she would find George Brett and his father.

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13. 13

    Question 13. How does the story present Nora's courage?

    • She feels no fear at all from the start to the finish
    • Correct answer: She is badly frightened but acts anyway to protect others
    • She is brave only after George arrives to take charge
    • She acts boldly mainly in hopes of winning a reward

    Nora's heart beats so loud she thinks Annie must hear it, and she nearly faints when the robber rises. Yet she locks the trunk, protects the sick woman, and runs for help; when she falters, George urges her on with "Courage, brave girl!"

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14. 14

    Question 14. How does Nora treat Annie after the robber is caught?

    • She testifies against her at the robber's trial
    • She refuses ever to speak to her again
    • Correct answer: She befriends her and keeps her part a secret
    • She reports her to Mrs. Bowles the next day

    Nora remembers that Annie "was so young! She was just my own age and she had no mother." She visits her the next day and many days after; they become fast friends, Annie becomes "a good, steady girl," and almost no one knows she was ever in the shed chamber. The story ends on mercy, not punishment.

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15. 15

    Question 15. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • The narrator went looking for work after her father broke his arm and the potato crop failed.

      Happened

      It was "that summer when father broke his arm and the potato crop failed," and she thought she ought to earn something outside.

    • The narrator's father was eager for her to take the job.

      Didn't happen

      Her father fretted and said "it was all nonsense"; he likes to have his girls at home.

    • The narrator's pastor sent a letter saying what he thought of her.

      Happened

      She answered the notice with a letter from her pastor, and was almost ashamed to send it because he praised her so warmly.

    • Barbara said the shoe factory had taken off all the good help.

      Happened

      Barbara explained that the factory "had taken off all the good help and left only the incapable ones."

    • Mr. Bowles's brother came to sleep in the house while Mr. Bowles was away.

      Didn't happen

      Mr. Bowles offered to ask him, but Mrs. Bowles said, "No, indeed!" She felt safe with Nora.

    • Mrs. Bowles let Annie go upstairs because she thought Annie meant no harm.

      Happened

      Mrs. Bowles said Annie was careless and saucy, "but I think she meant no harm."

    • Nora heard every word Annie and the man whispered.

      Didn't happen

      Watching through the keyhole, she saw them whispering, "but I could not hear a word."

    • Nora guessed the man had climbed the big elm-tree beside the house.

      Happened

      She thought, "He must have climbed up the big elm-tree which grew close against the house."

    • Mr. Bowles had recently drawn money from the bank.

      Happened

      He had drawn money "to pay a life-insurance premium," and there was also a good deal of silver in the house.

    • Nora wrestled the robber to the floor herself.

      Didn't happen

      George Brett sprang at the robber; Nora saw a mist before her eyes, and when she looked again George had the man pinned.

    • Nora told the whole town that Annie had let the robber in.

      Didn't happen

      She kept the secret: no one except "our two selves and two others" knows Annie was ever in the shed chamber.

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