Writing Wizards

Questions for “Death by Scrabble”

Read this story a second time before answering these questions. As is so often the case, aspects of the
story come into sharper focus on a second read.

1. What is the protagonist’s professed conflict? Is there any other way to see this conflict?
2. What is the connection between the words being played and the conflict being explored? How
does this extend even to individual letters he mentions?
3. One word that the protagonist sees on his tray is a mangled version of “mizpah.” What does this
word mean (hint: it’s in the dictionary but is from another language)
4. Explain the POV of this story. (POV is point of view)
5. Pathetic fallacy is a literary term that refers to situations in literature in which the
weather/season/time of day mirrors the emotions of the characters. In a sense it is a
metaphorical comparison between the weather and the emotional state. How is that relevant
here?
6. What is the climax of the story? What is the denouement?
7. Would you argue that the story’s end reflects situational irony, dramatic irony, or neither?