Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

Close Reading Organizer - Chapter 10: Whistle

and I’ll Come to You Sample Answers
Directions: Read each summary entry and think about which themes listed in the
Themes Key apply to it, then color in those themes in the Theme Tracker. Next, write a
few sentences of Analysis to explain how the themes you chose apply to each summary
section.

Note: There is not always a de"nitive set of “correct” answers for which themes should appear in the
Theme Tracker. Answers that di&er from the ones we propose below should therefore not automatically
be treated as incorrect, and in fact can serve as great discussion starters.

Themes Key
1 Gothic Horror
2 Storytelling
3 The Past
4 Isolation and Trauma

Summary Theme Tracker Your Analysis

Arthur awakes abruptly in Arthur has been through a

the early hours of the lot this evening—but the
morning to "nd that a sudden rolling in of wind
strong wind has picked up and fog suggest that there
on the marsh—the are more terrible things to
windows throughout the come.
house are rattling, wind
moans and whistles
through the chimneys, and
the marsh is barely visible
for all the fog. Arthur
manages to doze o& again, 1 2 3 4
until he is catapulted back
to wakefulness by the
sound of a crying child
somewhere out on the
marsh. Arthur tells himself
that there is not really a
child stranded in the muck
—it is a ghostly apparition
—but still has trouble
ignoring the cries of the
long-dead ghost.

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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

Arthur gets out of bed As the frights, horrors, and

and goes out into the hall, traumas Arthur is
preparing to go downstairs experiencing continue to
and make himself a strong escalate, his rational mind
drink. As he walks out onto searches incessantly for
the landing, he has the factual reasons for the
impression that someone strange noises, feelings,
has just gone past him on and sights to no avail.
the stairs, though he has Arthur has begun to accept
heard not even a footstep. that the nature of his reality
Arthur wonders if there is has shifted, and will
in fact another human perhaps never be the same.
living in the house as he
tries desperately to come 1 2 3 4
up with a rational
explanation for the strange
things happening to him.
He eventually settles into
the knowledge that there
is no one else living in the
house—whoever was in
the rocker and whoever
just passed by him on the
stairs is not “real.” At this
thought, Arthur begins to
wonder what “real” even
means to him anymore.

Arthur, realizing he needs 1 2 3 4 Arthur is beginning to lose

some light, goes back to his grip on his emotions in
his bedroom and retrieves small ways. Shattering the
the torch. He stumbles torch 4attens him—he is so
over Spider, however, and terri"ed and so worn down
drops it—the glass within by the fear of isolation and
breaks. Arthur feels further traumatization that
frustrated and comes close the smallest inconvenience
to weeping. He begins in the “real” world becomes
banging his "sts on the a life-or-death situation in
4oor until they throb. the world of Eel Marsh
Spider comes over to him House. Arthur worries that
and scratches at his arm; his condition will worsen,
Arthur wraps her in a hug but tries to bolster his mood
and is comforted by her by reassuring himself that
presence. Arthur knows he may yet emerge from
there is a candle on the this harrowing experience
table near the bed in the stronger than ever.
nursery, and struggles to

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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______
muster the courage to go
down the hall, into the
haunted room, and
retrieve it. As he wrestles
with his terror, he realizes
that it will either escalate
until he grows mad, or he
will be able to topple it and
become in even greater
possession of himself than
he has ever been.
Arthur gets to his feet,
goes to the nursery, and
retrieves the candle.
Though there is nothing
terrifying awaiting him in
the nursery, he feels
intense feelings of grief,
sadness, and despair again
—it is though he has, in
entering the room, become
another person, or at least
been 4ooded by another
person’s feelings. As soon
as he steps out of the
room, he feels like himself
again.
Arthur returns to his room
and lights the candle.
According to his watch, it
is barely three o’clock in
the morning, and he
desperately hopes that the
candle will last until the
light of dawn. He begins
reading and falls asleep
eventually, waking up into
a watery dawn at the
sound of Spider’s whines—
she needs to go outside.
Arthur takes Spider out
the front door. As he
stands waiting for her to
"nish relieving herself, he
There is no doubt that
nursery is the epicenter of
the house’s haunting—it is
the only room where Arthur
feels an icy dread and
despair, as if something (or
someone) is reaching into
his very soul and
1 2 3 4
attempting to break him
down. This mirrors the way
that Arthur instantly feels
dread and terror in the
presence of the woman in
black but feels like himself
again once she’s out of
sight.
Despite his fear, Arthur is
able to fall asleep for a little
while. In the morning,
Spider is not on edge—she
is behaving like any other
dog, and this brings Arthur
1 2 3 4 hope that they have both
made it through the night
and will soon be free.
1 2 3 4 As someone—or something
—in the distance calls out
to Spider, it is evident that
it is yet another trick of
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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

decides to put on a coat whatever haunts Eel Marsh

and boots and go for a House. This makes it seem
walk. Just then, he hears suspicious, even malevolent
the sound of someone —as if something is trying
whistling—as if to summon to take Spider away from
a dog. Spider sets o& as if Arthur and isolate them
after a hare, running away both.
from the safety of the yard
and into the wet marsh.
Arthur knows there is no
one out on the marsh
whistling for Spider—it is
yet another nonhuman
apparition.

Arthur watches in horror 1 2 3 4 Arthur’s worst fears are

as Spider is pulled into the con"rmed—the woman in
mud. He takes o& after black, who up to this point
her, risking his own life to seemed only to inspire
save hers. Realizing that if dread and fear in Arthur,
he is not careful, he, too has now made a direct
will be pulled into the attempt on his and his
muck, Arthur lies down so companion’s lives.
as to distribute his weight Shattered by this
across the earth more knowledge, Arthur
evenly, and, with great collapses, and is so deeply
di<culty, wrestles Spider petri"ed and downtrodden
from the quicksand-like that even the sound of the
mud. He eventually heaves pony trap accident looping
Spider onto his chest, and once more does not a&ect
the two of them lie silently, him any longer.
recovering from their
frightening ordeal. As
Arthur regains his
strength, he slowly gets up
and scoops Spider up in his
arms. As he approaches
Eel Marsh House, he looks
up; in one of the upper
windows, he sees the
wasted-faced woman in
black peering down at
him. Exhausted and
terri"ed, Arthur collapses
on the front lawn as the
sound of an approaching
pony trap echoes down the

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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

causeway.