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. Whom does the narrator tell about the ghost first?

2. Why does mother want to throw her second shoe?

3. Where did the guinea pig used to sleep?

4. What question does grandfather ask the Thurber family the following morning?

Short Answer

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

1. Which members of James’s family are present in the home at the beginning of the story? Which are absent?

2. Who does mother think the ghost is? How does she react to the intruder in her house?

3. Describe the arrival of the police. What questions do they ask? How do they behave in the Thurber household?

4. Who does grandfather think has entered his room? Describe how he interacts with the police upon being disturbed.

Recommended Next Reads 

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber

• Thurber’s short story, which was published in his 1945 The Thurber Carnival collection of stories, has been adapted into several films.
• Thurber’s story connects with the themes The Unknown and Meaningless, War’s Effect on the Social Conscience, and Truth Is Subjective.