Chapter Questions

Chapter 5

1. How has this chapter been written and structured to build the tension and suspense leading up to Tom Leyton's appearance?

This chapter has been written and structured to build the tension and suspense leading up to Tom Leyton's appearance by an unexpected turn in the storyline and the amount of detail the author includes.

2. What impressions does Joseph gain from his first meeting with Tom Leyton? What does he notice about his appearance, his eyes and his voice?

At Joseph's first meeting with Tom Leyton, he is quite shocked to see that Tom's face is strong, although it invites no communication. It was very different from the wild rumours about that Joseph had heard about from the neighbours.  Perhaps it still is, but it looks as if it has seen too much and does not care to see anymore. Tom has long hair, a full beard fans out in streaks of grey below his mouth but elsewhere shows patches of reddy-brown. 

3. Why do you think Joseph offers to return to the Leytons'? Why do you think he seems to be "drawn towards the shadowy figure of Tom Leyton"?

I think that Joseph offers to return to the Leytons' because he is very curious about Tom and wants to find out more about him.

4. Why does Joseph find his sketches of Tom Leyton unsatisfactory? Why is his memory of his art teacher Mr De Groot significant?

Joseph finds his sketches of Tom Leyton unsatisfactory because he considers them to be shapes without a substance. He knows that there is more to Tom Leyton because he has seen glimpses of Tom's deep emotions through a flash of fear in his eyes. Joseph's memory of his art teacher Mr De Groot is significant because he believed that in order for someone to paint or carve the outside shape of a human being one would need to know what lies beneath them. In other words, to give artwork life a person would need to know what the subject was thinking and feeling.

The Running Man Chapter Questions

1. When Joseph arrives for his second drawing session, what changes have occurred to the silkworm eggs and to Tom Leyton?
The silkworms have hatched into hundreds of active black shapes which are busily eating mulberry leaves as Joseph has a look at them. Joseph is surprised by the fact that the broken shells of the silkworm eggs did hatch even though they looked dead during the last time he visited. Another change Joseph recognizes is Tom Leyton's appearance, because whenever the silkworm eggs hatch Tom goes to have a haircut.

2. Read the description of Tom Leyton's room. (pp.84-5) What does the room suggest about the man who lives there?
According to the description of Tom Leyton's room on page 84 and 85, it suggests that the man who lives there is as normal as anyone in the neighbourhood. The room has bare walls which are a dull tan colour, a floral green carpet that covers the floor, a neatly made bed, double windows, a large closet, two bookcases which contain a few old newspapers, a desk which has several pieces of stationery placed on top of it and a cork notice board which has a few pieces of paper pinned onto it.


3. What do the two drawings that Joseph sees on the notice board - Escher's angels and devils and the illustration of Frankenstein's monster - suggest to you about Tom Leyton? (pp.86-7)

The two drawings that Joseph sees on the notice board suggest special meanings about Tom Leyton. The drawing of Escher's angels and devils implies that the world has both good and bad things.

4. Joseph comments that the image of Frankenstein's monster "just looks like a normal man". What is the effect of Tom Leyton's reply, "Most monsters do"?

When Tom Leyton replies to Joseph that most monsters do look like a normal man, it seems that he is applying that fact to himself. The text suggests that Tom believes that he is an evil person who has seen a lot of bad things happening in the world (especially during the time he was a soldier in the Vietnam War). The effect of Tom's words builds on his character and personality throughout the book.

5. In what ways could the lines of the poem that Tom Leyton recites relate to him? (pp.95-6)

The lines of the poem that Tom Leyton recites relate to his life. They seem to give the idea of how silkworms are imprisoned and how they are not allowed to be set free. They relate to him because like the silkworms, he is kept captive and cannot escape his dark secrets and memories about the terrible Vietnam War that haunts him.

6. How has Joseph's impression of Tom Leyton changed by the end of Part I? What has caused this change?

At the end of Part 1, Joseph's impression of Tom Leyton has changed because he now thinks that underneath the strange and silent man he met, there is a part of Tom Leyton who is very different to that. Joseph knows that the friendly side of Tom exists because of the way he sees him looking after the silkworms, the way Tom reads the silkworm poem with a kind voice and such emotion.

7. Why do you think Part I of the novel is called "All Their Lives in a Box"?

I think Part 1 of the novel is called "All Their Lives in a Box" because it talks about how Joseph and Tom's life is related to the life of a silkworm. Their lives are both "in a box". This is because Joseph is really timid and shy but when he meets Tom Leyton he has to face his fear of overcoming his nervousness and anxiety. Tom has to overcome his fear of his darkest secrets about the Vietnam War. Until these fears have been conquered their lives will be imprisoned and caged like silkworms.

Paragraph Writing Practice

Some readers of The Running Man believe that the story is about how a person's experiences can cause changes in their personalities and/or the way they view others. How does this apply to the character of Joseph?

This applies to Joseph's character because his experiences do change his personality. As he spends more and more time with Tom he learns more about his life and what happened in Vietnam. As Joseph learns about this he starts to spend more and more time with and when Mrs Missop asks him about it and defends Tom. But when Mrs Mossop tells Joseph something about Tom he didn't know, Toms personality changes again. He then gets scared of Tom but in the end everything ends sadly but well.

The Running Man Chapter Questions

       Chapter 4:

Q1- Mrs Mossop reminds Joseph of a bird because of her thin, upright posture and the neat formality of her clothing.

Q2- Joseph changes his mind because Mrs Mossop judges him but she doesn’t even know him and Joseph doesn’t like that so he says he will draw Tom probably thinking that he will get to know him and prove Mrs Mossop wrong.

Q3- The mango tree brings back the memory of him climbing it as a kid and being able to look into his and his neighbour’s yards.

Q4- It makes it seem that the mango tree did it on purpose because in the last sentence that the mango tree was towering him like it was mocking him. This makes it seem that it happened on purpose. 

Running Man Chapter Questions

         Chapter 2:

Q1- They are all curious about him because they have not met him since he never comes outside. Mrs Mossop says things about him to lots of people in the neighbourhood also that isn’t true because she has never met him so she can’t judge him.

Q2- He is quite unsure about what he should do because of what he has heard Mrs Mossop say about him. Mrs Mossop has never met him though, she is just telling people what she has heard from others about him.

Q3- He gets quite sad when people mention his father because he hasn’t seen him in a long time and so he doesn’t have a male role model around.

       Chapter 3:

Q1- I think that Joseph’s childhood nightmare of the Running Man returns because he thinks that Tom Leyton might be him since he has never seen him before.

Q2- He decides to draw Tom Leyton because Mrs Mossop doesn’t think he should because of the things she says she knows about him but she has never met him, so, He starts to wonder why no one has met him and so he says yes to get to know him.

The Running Man Chapter Questions

Chapter 1:
Q1- Joseph is experiencing sadness because he feels that it is his fault that the person who died, died because of him.

Q2- He starts to think of glow worms because when Joseph spends his time with Tom Leyton, Joseph helps Tom look after his glow worms.

Q3- His father's face showed bewilderment, hurt and anger. Tom Leyton's face was silent as a stone and The Running Man's eyes were burning with a desperate fire.

Q4- The simile is that the house is 'perched high on its black timber stumps like some long-legged creature waiting in the shadows'. The effect that this creates is that it makes the house seem mysterious and dark.

The Running Man - Homework

Q1. What are your initial impressions of this man?

My first initial impressions of the running man is that he is a lonely soul looking for something that even he is not sure about yet.

Q2. On what do you base these impressions?

People see him around the town but he never stops and talks to anyone. This makes him seem like a lonely soul. He is also never with another person. I don't think he has found what he is looking for yet because people see him all over the place and he never seems to be in the same spot again. This makes us assume he might not know what he is looking for because he hasn't found it yet. 

Q3. Using at least three sentences, discuss the importance of physical appearance in how we judge others and the assumptions we make about them.

Physical appearance is quite important because most people judge others on there physical appearance. It was just the way some people were brought up. If you see a man, for example, on a street with a scruffy beard, dirty and ripped clothes, would you judge him? Everyone would judge him because he doesn't look like most other people. Lots of people judge others on a daily basis and there is not much we can do to change that because it is just the way some people are brought up.