Study questions for Rendezvous

Study Questions for Rendezvous by David Ransom ­­­­­­__________

1)      Write a short summary of the short story Rendezvous.
The story is about a girl and a man. The girl has ran away to punish her parents, and she is excited to tell her friends about it. The man is driving on the Interstate while drinking. He is listening to loud music and his mood changes several times, and he is rubbing his cobra-tattoo. Later they meet, and he picks her up.

2)      What genre is the text?
Crime-short story.

3)      How does the author build suspense?
Through the drums/saxophone in the mans’ car. Through all the adjectives, repeatings, short sentences, the cars speed, the unfinished sentences.   

You may want to consider:

Choice of words

General language use

Sentence structure

Structure of the text as a whole

Content:

Why has Payton been visiting a priest and going to funerals? (lines 10-26, p. 52)
Because he killed people. He’s a psychopath.

4)      What happens at the end? (give arguments for your claims)
He kills the girl. His cobra is symbolizing his inner killer. Something went wrong with the tattoo(infection) and perhaps something went wrong with him because the cobra is a symbol of his evilness.

Content (continued):

5)      Make a thorough character sketch of Payton and Kim.
Payton:
- Long dirty hair
- Tattoo
- Infuriating
- Has been to the priest
- He is an alcoholic

-          Dark eyes

-          Kim:

-          15 years old

-          Has tenth grade friends

-          Searching for attention

-          Feeling sorry for herself

-          She is a hitchhiker in the story

-           

Content (continued further ;-))

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

It could be a symbol of his heartrate, or perhaps a mood changer  

7)      And of the tattoo?

The tattoo could be a symbol of his inner killer, and what has happened to him in the past

8)      What are the themes of the text?

Murder, revenge, parenting, growing up, rage,