51����

Challenge high school English students with this literary analysis worksheet for H. G. Wells’ Gothic short story “The Red Room.” This activity transforms a Halloween-appropriate ghost story into an engaging close reading exercise, helping students analyze figurative language, tone, irony, and theme while deepening their understanding of Gothic conventions and narrative technique. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. Students will practice and demonstrate the following essential ELA skills:

• Making logical inferences about characterization, particularly the narrator’s fears.
• Identifying literary devices including personification, situational irony, and hyperbole.
• Analyzing tone and diction, focusing on the narrator’s incredulous remarks and distorted perceptions.
• Comparing perspectives, especially the contrast between youthful confidence and the wisdom of the elderly residents.
• Evaluating authorial choices, including Wells’ use of imagery, ambiguity, and narrative pacing to create urgency and confusion.
• Interpreting symbolism and allusions, including the reference to The Ingoldsby Legends.
• Examining thematic meaning, such as fear, self-control, and the possibility that hauntings are psychological rather than supernatural.
• Supporting claims with evidence, developing college-prep critical reading and writing skills.