Analyzing Literature: A Reader's Response Worksheet
This worksheet helps 7th-grade students analyze literary texts and articulate their responses through various writing prompts and exercises.
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Analyzing Literature: A Reader's Response Worksheet
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Read the following passage carefully. Then, answer the questions that follow in complete sentences, providing textual evidence to support your responses.
Excerpt from 'The Secret Garden' by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Mary Lennox was an unhealthy, ill-tempered child, born in India to wealthy British parents who largely ignored her. She was left to the care of servants, who spoiled her and allowed her to do as she pleased. When a cholera epidemic sweeps through India, her parents die, and Mary is sent to live with her uncle, Mr. Craven, at his gloomy estate in Yorkshire, England. She expects to continue her spoiled ways, but discovers that her uncle is often away, and the housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock, is stern and no-nonsense. The vast, mysterious house and its sprawling grounds, including a locked secret garden, begin to awaken something new in Mary.
1. Describe Mary Lennox's character at the beginning of the passage. Use specific details from the text.
2. How does Mary's new environment at her uncle's estate differ from her life in India? What impact do you think these changes might have on her?
3. What is the primary reason Mary is sent to live with her uncle?
Her parents wanted her to experience life in England.
Her parents died in a cholera epidemic.
She was too ill-tempered to stay in India.
Her uncle invited her for a visit.
4. Mary Lennox was born in to wealthy British parents.
5. Her uncle, Mr. Craven, lived at a gloomy estate in , England.
6. The housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock, is described as and no-nonsense.
7. Mary's parents were very involved in her upbringing.
True
False
8. Mary was excited to move to her uncle's estate because she loved new adventures.
True
False
9. Based on the excerpt, what do you predict will be the biggest challenge for Mary in her new life? How might the 'locked secret garden' symbolize her own character development? Write a paragraph exploring these ideas, providing evidence from the text to support your claims.