The Fifth Step Questions

After Reading The Fifth Step, student selected one question to answer from a list of questions.  The questions were designed to encourage them to connected with the Tool Box from On Writing, their own experiences and personal reactions to the story.   

Here are the list of questions they could chose from: 

Personal Response and Connection Category: 

1) What emotions does the story leave you with; fear, sadness, mistrust, empathy? why?

Theme and Ideas Category: 

2) The story plays with the idea of confession and redemption.  Do you thin the stranger was ever truly interested in recover or was he manipulating Harold?

Character and Perspective Category: 

3) The stranger frames his confession within AA's recovery steps, how does this affect the way Harold, and the reader perceive him at first?

Style and Impact Category: 

4) How does the setting of Central Park contribute to the tension and unease of the story?
5) King is known for his ability to take ordinary encounters and turn them sinister.  How does he achieve this through, pacing, dialogue and character details?
6) The ending is abrupt, why do you think King chose to end it this way instead of offering more closure?

Critical Thinking Category: 

7) What do you think the "fifth step" represents beyond AA, could it symbolize a deeper need for people to unburden themselves even at the risk of others?  
8) Do you think Harold was unlucky or does the story serve as a cautionary tale about trust and human vulnerability?
9) If you were Harold, what would you have done differently and why? 


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