The Man In The Black Suit

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Reading Check

1. During which war does the main story take place?

2. How did Gary’s brother die?

3. Why does Gary go into the woods?

4. Who does Gary believe the man in the black suit is?

5. What does the man tell Gary about his mother? Is it true?

6. How does Gary escape from the man?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is the narrator, Gary, writing this story?

2. What fish does Gary catch, and how do they become important in the story?

3. What irrational conclusion does Gary draw about the bee that crawls on his face?

4. Why does the Devil include so many vivid details in his description of Gary’s mother’s death?

5. How does Gary interpret his escape from the Devil? Does it make sense?

6. How has Gary’s interaction with the Devil affected his adult life?

Recommended Next Reads

“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

• In 17th-century Puritan New England, Goodman Brown experiences a crisis of faith. He travels through the woods with a mysterious man and appears to be participating in a religious ceremony in which he and his wife are sworn in to join the other townspeople. Unable to decipher what is real and what is in his imagination, he loses faith and can no longer trust his wife.
• Both this story and “The Man in the Black Suit” deal heavily with the Loss of Faith. They invite the reader to consider whether faith is something that can be achieved only through the confirmation of visual or external stimuli. Brown and Gary both seek truth but can no longer trust themselves to be a fair judge of what is true and what is false.
• Both texts feature a mysterious male character who knows a suspicious amount about the protagonist and bears a striking resemblance to the Devil. Both texts feature nature as a space in which to seek truth. Both texts also invite the reader to consider the connection between masculinity and maturity.
• “Young Goodman Brown” on SuperSummary

“The Bear” by William Faulkner

• In “The Bear,” a young man named Isaac has been enlisted on a hunting trip to pursue Old Ben, a seemingly unbeatable bear. Isaac and his dogs train for the hunt, and the men are ultimately successful; Old Ben dies, but Isaac’s dog Lion dies as well. This incident hangs over Isaac’s life, causing family drama as they fight over inheriting the ancestral plantation.
• Both this story and “The Man in the Black Suit” explore the themes of the Loss of Faith and the role of Coincidence, Accidents, and Fate. Gary and Isaac must reconcile the conflict between predestination and self-determination.
• Both texts tell the coming-of-age story of a young man who experiences a traumatic ordeal that dominates the rest of his life. Both invite the reader to consider how family dynamics are dictated by both the traumatic and the seemingly supernatural.
• “The Bear” on SuperSummary