The document provides an introduction and overview of the short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton. It discusses how the story involves a decision with life-or-death consequences. It also gives guidance on analyzing the tone of the story and using paraphrasing as a reading strategy. Key vocabulary words from the story are defined and an example sentence is provided for each.

1. The Lady, or the Tiger?
Short Story by Frank R. Stockton
Introducing the Story
with VIDEO TRAILER
Literary Analysis: Tone
Reading Strategy: Paraphrase
Vocabulary in Context

2. The Lady, or the Tiger?
INTRODUCING THE SHORT STORY
How do you make DECISIONS?
How we make decisions depends on the situation.
A simple coin toss can help you decide who
goes first when playing a video game.
OR ?

3. The Lady, or the Tiger?
INTRODUCING THE SHORT STORY
How do you make DECISIONS?
But you wouldn’t want to flip a
coin when making a more
important choice, such as which
sport to play—or which high school
to attend.
In the story you are about to
read, a decision has life-or-
death consequences.

4. The Lady, or the Tiger?
Click on the title to play the trailer.
The Lady, or the Tiger?

5. The Lady, or the Tiger?
Tone
Writers often express an attitude, or tone, toward the
subject, setting, or characters they’re writing about.
A tone can often be described with one word, such as
angry, proud, or playful.

6. The Lady, or the Tiger?
Tone
Just as knowing a friend’s attitude can help you decide
whether she’s serious or joking, knowing a writer’s tone
can help you grasp his or her message.
To help you determine Frank R. Stockton’s tone, pay
attention to the words and details he uses to describe
• the characters—
Do his descriptions
of them suggest
whether he thinks
they’re smart or
foolish, kind or
cruel?

7. The Lady, or the Tiger?
Tone
• the setting— Does
he admire the
society’s customs?
• the plot events— Does his
language show that he
takes the events seriously,
or not?

8. The Lady, or the Tiger?
Paraphrase
One good way to understand and remember what you
read is to paraphrase it, or restate the writer’s language
in your own words. To paraphrase, follow these steps:
• Reread the passage, looking for the
main ideas. I think that
means . . .
• Define unfamiliar words using context
clues or a dictionary.
• Restate important ideas and details in your
own words. A good paraphrase should be
about as long as the original text.

9. The Lady, or the Tiger?
Paraphrase
As you read, paraphrase difficult sections in your notebook.
Line Numbers Paraphrase
1-4 Long ago, there lived a rough, cruel
king. He had been influenced by
forward-thinking cultures, but he was
still uncivilized.

10. The Lady, or the Tiger?
anguished
aspire
The words on the right help reveal Stockton’s opinion
assert
of his characters. In your Reader/Writer Notebook,
write a sentence for each of the vocabulary words. conventional
devious
Use a dictionary or the definitions on the following
slides to help you. An example has been provided. impartial
progressiveness
subordinate
When Sari picked up her waver
final exam, her anguished
look revealed an unexpected
bad grade.

11. The Lady, or the Tiger?
anguished adj. tormented; distressed
aspire v. to have a great ambition or an ultimate goal;
to desire strongly
assert v. to act forcefully; to take charge
conventional adj. conforming to established practice or
accepted standards; traditional
devious adj. departing from the straight or direct course

12. The Lady, or the Tiger?
impartial adj. not partial or biased; unprejudiced
progressiveness n. the state of advancing towards better
conditions or new policies, ideas, or methods
subordinate adj. secondary; belonging to a lower rank
waver v. to exhibit indecision; to hesitate