68 pages 2 hours read

Bernard Pomerance

The Elephant Man

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1979

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During Reading

Reading Questions & Paired Texts

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

SCENES 1-10

Reading Check

1. What must Merrick do “to survive,” according to Ross?

2. What does Treves note about the effect of Merrick’s deformities on his own face?

3. For what does the Man tell the Pinheads that they must prepare an act to celebrate?

4. Which two places did Miss Sandwich work prior to London hospital?

5. What does Gomm inform Treves that they have raised?

6. Why does Merrick want to go to a home for the blind?

7. What is Treves’s “aim” for supporting Merrick?

8. What term does Merrick use to describe the reality of the love story in the play that Merrick and Mrs. Kendal discuss?

Short Answer

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

1. What does Treves’s brief monologue at the end of the first scene imply about his circumstances?

2. What offer does Treves make Ross? How does this interaction reveal more about Merrick’s past?

3. Why does Merrick travel to Belgium? What does he see there, and what does he learn about Ross?

4. What does Miss Sandwich assure Treves that she is able to do? How do her actions compare with her words?

5.