Study Questions for Rendezvous by David Ransom ­­­­­­__________

1)    Write a short summary of the short story Rendezvous.

The boy Payton is driving on the interstate – way to fast, and with drums playing loud. The adrenaline is pumping in his blood – he is furious. He thought the priest, of all people, would show some sympathy, but he didn’t. Instead he told Payton to go tell the police. Suddenly his anger turns into guilt, as the saxophones starts playing. He doesn’t want to feel guilt. He tells himself he did the right thing – after all he went to the funeral home with flower 3 out of 5 times. Trying to stop the saxophones from ruining his mood, he drives faster. When the saxophones stop, he feels the adrenaline again. The drums are back.

Meanwhile Kim has run away from her parents. She is freezing and lonely, but she refuses to let them win. She wants to teach them, that a 15-year-old girl can take care of herself. That she doesn’t need their advice. But inside she’s longing to be home, where mom cook’s dinner and it is warm. She finds a dinner at the side of the interstate, and goes in there to get some rest. There’s a pay phone in there, and she really wants to call home, but she is resolute. When it gets dark she goes outside again, to get a ride. A car pulls of, and she runs to it, while thinking of the pay phone. As she opens the door, she hears drums. Loud drums.

2)    What genre is the text?

I think it’s a mix of thriller and crime.

3)    How does the author build suspense?

He gives us a lot of hints and suspicions, without giving too much information, so that, in the end, everything makes sense and kind of goes into a bigger puzzle.

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)

He has an obsession with killing people on the interstate. He is mentally unstable, and his mentality swings between his conscious and his obsession. When he swings back to his conscious he feels bad, and goes to the funerals to show respect. He went to the priest to get help, because he thought if anyone would be able to feel sympathy for him, it would be a priest.

5)    What happens at the end? (give arguments for your claims)

Kim gets into the car, expecting a ride, but Payton kills her, as he is in his “obsession mode”.

Afterwards he drives away like nothing happened. A few days later, he shows up with flowers at her funeral – paying his respect.

Content (continued):

6)    Make a thorough character sketch of Payton and Kim.

Kim: She is a 15-year-old girl, who is sick of her parents treating her like a kid. So she runs away from home to show them, she can take care of herself. Instead she gets killed by trusting a stranger.

Characteristics:

-        Resolute

-        Brave

-        Scared

-        Incautious

Payton: He is a mentally ill man, who is obsessed with murdering young women at the interstate. At the same time his conscious sometimes shows and he go to the funerals to show his respect. He also went to a priest to confess.

Characteristics:

-        Switching between “personalities”

-        Mentally ill – psychopath

Content (continued further ;-))

7)    What could be the symbolic meaning of the drums?

Payton’s heartbeat – his obsession pumping inside him.

8)    And of the tattoo?

Payton is mentally ill – not evil. The cobra is a symbol of this. It hurts, witch – to me – symbolizes that it doesn’t fit to him, but at the same time he can never get rid of it. Just like his obsession with murdering.

9)    What are the themes of the text?

-        Growing up

-        Trust

-        Loneliness

-        Obsessions