Molly

Study Questions for Rendezvous by David Ransom

1) Write a short summary of the short story Rendezvous.
The story is divided by two narrators ( Kim and Payton). In Paytons parts you
learn that he has done something worthy of going to a priest for and something
that would cause a priest to tell him to tell the police. You also learn that he
doesn't have the judgment.
A) he let some stoned guy give him a tattoo
B) he is drinking while driving
In Kim’s parts of the story you find that she is a young girl who has run away
from home and is hitchhiking. She wants her parent s to be afraid for her, but
she doesn't realize just how much trouble
2) What genre is the text?
Suspense
Horror
Mystery
3) How does the author build suspense?
The use go music, speed of the car, the rain, the drums vs saxophone, the bit about
3/5 times visiting the funeral homes, the priest telling him to go to the police.
You may want to consider:
Choice of words
General language use
Sentence structure
Structure of the text as a whole
Content:
4) Why has Payton been visiting a priest and going to funerals? (lines 10-26, p. 52)
You can assume it is because he is looking for some sympathy for his crimes. Murder,
presumably of young girls he picks up on the side of the road as hitchhikers.
5) What happens at the end? (give arguments for your claims)
In the end Kim gets in the car, even though she wasn't able to see what the driver looks like. Payton
will drive away with her and when she leaves the car it will be as a corpse being ditched on the side
of the interstate. He has killed 5 others, the drums come up when he sees her and he almost put her
in a case file of sorts. He labels it Hitchhiker, Young Girl.
Content (continued):
6) Make a thorough character sketch of Payton and Kim.
Payton is a alcoholic ( at least two beers consumed in the story as he drives) , has poor judgment
( tattoo form a stoned guy, drinking while driving), Dangerous ( all other reasons, plus the fact that
he has done something to cause a priest to tell him to go to the police).
Content (continued further ;-))
7) What could be the symbolic meaning of the drums?
They could symbolize his heart beat, drive for “blood”, the retreat of his rational
side.
8) What is the symbolism behind the Saxophone?
The saxophone appears when Payton thinks about his crimes and the past, but
disappears when he sees Kim. For this reason I think the saxophone symbolizes his consciousness
9) And of the tattoo?
Past choices and how they effect I'm even now.
9) What are the themes of the text?
poor life choices, hitchhiking, what running away can lead to, drinking, murder.
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