1a. How does McDunn answer Johnny's exclamation, "It's impossible!"?
2a. Why does the creature come to the lighthouse?
3a. What does the sea creature do to the foghorn and the lighthouse?
4a. What elements of the story suggest loneliness? In which case, if any, does loneliness give way to a happy ending? When does it lead to despair?
5a. What does McDunn mean by the following passage: "That's life for you. Someone always waiting for someone who never comes home. Always someone loving some thing more than that thing loves them. And after a while you want to destroy whatever that thing is, so it can't hurt you no more."? What does he believe is the reason for the creature's appearance? How does his statement foreshadow the events that follow?
1b. What does McDunn mean by his response?
2b. Why would the creature return every year, only to leave again?
3b. What do you think causes the sea creature to react in this way?
4b. Why might loneliness have led the creature to a desperate action? Why do Johnny and McDunn keep the incident a secret?
5b. What may have caused McDunn to make this statement? What in McDunn's own life might have caused him to reflect on love and destruction in this way? How might events in McDunn's life have led him to sympathize with the creature?
Style. Describe how Bradbury chooses and arranges words in the short story. How do these elements form a particular style? How would you describe Bradbury's style in this selection? What, if anything, makes this style unique?
Mood. Using the list of moods you wrote while reading "The Foghorn," complete a graphic organizer like the one below for each mood. As the example shows, write the mood in the center circle. Then go back and reread the story to find examples of concrete details that help create that particular mood, and write each example in a circle connected to the center circle.
1. Imagine that as a reporter, you also saw the creature in Lonesome Bay. Write a breaking news story about what you witnessed.
2. Since Johnny no longer works at the lighthouse, suppose McDunn needs a new assistant lighthouse keeper. Write a job description for the position.
3. Write a poem about the sea for a book featuring lighthouse photographs.
Researching Underwater Creatures. A number of legendary underwater creatures besides the Loch Ness Monster are reportedly living in lakes, rivers, and seas around the world. Use the Internet to research these creatures. Keep a log with information about each creature. Find information on at least five creatures.
1. CREATURE #1 SOURCE
2. CREATURE #2 SOURCE
3. CREATURE #3 SOURCE
4. CREATURE #4 SOURCE
5. CREATURE #5 SOURCE
Which of the five creatures do you find the most believable? What about that creature makes its existence most believable?
Forming Adverbs. Adverbs often (but not always) end in -ly. Turn the following adjectives into adverbs by adding -ly, and then use each adverb you have created in a sentence.
NOTE: When the words below end in y, the appropriate adverb ending is -ily. Consult a dictionary if you have any question about correct spellings.
1. mysterious + -ly =
2. quiet + -ly =
3. steady + -ly =
4. slow + -ly =
5. wary + -ly =
6. eerie + -ly =
7. faint + -ly =
8. easy + -ly =
9. forbidding + -ly =
10. joyous + -ly =
Correcting Sentence Run-ons. A run-on sentence is made up of two or more sentences that have been run together as if they were one complete thought. Sometimes a run-on will have no punctuation separating the complete thoughts. At other times, it will have a comma where it needs a period.
You can fix a run-on by dividing it into two separate sentences. Mark the end of each idea with a period, question mark, or exclamation point. Capitalize the first word of each new sentence. You can also fix a run-on by using a semicolon. The second part of the sentence is not capitalized. Only use a semicolon to join two sentences if they are closely related.
RUN-ON: The story about the sea monster coming to crash the lighthouse couldn't really happen Ray Bradbury's story is fiction.
TWO SENTENCES: The story about the sea monster coming to crash the lighthouse couldn't really happen. Ray Bradbury's story is fiction. RUN-ON Johnny and McDunn realized the creature was lonely, it was looking for a mate.
SENTENCE WITH SEMICOLON: Johnny and McDunn realized the creature was lonely; it was looking for a mate.
Write the sentences below in the space provided, fixing the run-ons. Decide whether the sentences can be corrected by making two separate sentences or using a semicolon and keeping them as one sentence.
1. The lighthouse was in a lonely place only the beam of the great light itself kept them company.
2. McDunn didn't say much, he was not a talker.
3. Anyone else would have left the lighthouse long ago McDunn thought it suited him.
4. If I went to Loch Ness, I would wait until I saw Nessie myself and I would take his picture I would be famous if I succeeded.
5. There is no proof that the Loch Ness Monster is real, it would be great if it were true, I think it could happen that a dinosaur could have survived those cold waters.
6. McDunn made up a story about why the foghorn was developed he had a lot of ideas and theories.
7. The creature came closer and closer to the lighthouse, it came to answer the call of the foghorn.
8. A lighthouse has many steps that wind up to the top, from the top of a lighthouse you can see a long way.
9. The monster cried out, we plugged our ears, the monster's cry was deafening.
10. Robert Frost was a great American poet, he won four Pulitzer Prizes.
