A Day's Wait Questions and Answers

A Day's Wait Study Tools

Ask a question Start an essay

A Day's Wait

The title "A Day's Wait" reflects the theme of misunderstanding and the emotional tension experienced over a single day. The story centers on a boy who mistakenly believes he is dying and spends the...

12 educator answers

A Day's Wait

Ernest Hemingway's "A Day's Wait" explores themes of misunderstanding and stoicism. Literary elements include a third-person narrative, simple yet poignant dialogue, and minimalistic description,...

4 educator answers

A Day's Wait

In "A Day's Wait," Schatz is a young boy who misunderstands his fever as fatal, demonstrating his innocence and vulnerability. His father is caring and attentive, trying to comfort Schatz without...

2 educator answers

A Day's Wait

Schatz should learn to trust his father and verify his assumptions. In "A Day's Wait," his misunderstanding about his temperature due to different measurement systems leads him to believe he is...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The protagonist in Ernest Hemingway's short story “A Day's Wait” is the nine-year-old boy Schatz, who experiences both the conflict and the resolution of the story. Schatz is sick with the flu, and...

3 educator answers

A Day's Wait

The plot diagram for "A Day's Wait" is as follows: Exposition: Schatz feels ill, prompting a doctor’s visit. Rising Action: Schatz's illness and peculiar behavior intensify. Climax: Schatz asks when...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

In "A Day's Wait," the father is attentive and caring, but initially unaware of his son's misunderstanding about his fever. He comforts and stays with his son, eventually realizing the boy's fear and...

2 educator answers

A Day's Wait

Schatz is depicted as anxious and brave. He misinterprets his fever as life-threatening due to a misunderstanding of temperature scales, which causes him significant worry. Despite his fear, he tries...

2 educator answers

A Day's Wait

The story "A Day's Wait" takes place in winter. Clues include a flu epidemic, which typically occurs in late fall or winter, and descriptions of the environment such as frozen sleet, bare trees,...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The internal conflict in "A Day's Wait" revolves around a young boy, Schatz, who mistakenly believes he is going to die from a fever due to confusion between Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

In "A Day's Wait," Schatz's illness is influenza, and his response is marked by stoic bravery and a misunderstanding of his condition's severity. Confusing Fahrenheit with Celsius, he believes his...

3 educator answers

A Day's Wait

The last line of Hemingway's "A Day's Wait" highlights the boy's emotional release after realizing he is not dying, as he mistakenly believed due to a misunderstanding about his fever. The phrase...

2 educator answers

A Day's Wait

The boy's worst problem in "A Day's Wait" is not his fever, but his fear of death. He believes his temperature, measured in Fahrenheit, indicates imminent death because he's used to the Celsius...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The narrative perspective in "A Day's Wait" is third-person limited, focusing on the thoughts and feelings of the young boy, Schatz. The technique used includes simple, direct language and dialogue,...

4 educator answers

A Day's Wait

In “A Day's Wait,” the father shows his love for his son by his calm concern over the boy's illness, by his willingness to remain with and read to Schatz, and by his sympathetic explanation when he...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The boy cries easily the next day because he has been emotionally overwhelmed by his belief that he was going to die. This misunderstanding arose from mistaking his temperature of 102 degrees...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The central misunderstanding in "A Day's Wait" is the boy's confusion between Celsius and Fahrenheit temperatures. He believes he is fatally ill because he thinks his temperature of 102 degrees...

2 educator answers

A Day's Wait

The final paragraph reveals the boy's emotional release after learning he is not dying. He had misunderstood his fever as fatal due to a mix-up between Celsius and Fahrenheit. Once his father...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The title "A Day's Wait" is justified as the story unfolds over a single day during which the protagonist, Schatz, mistakenly believes he is dying due to a fever. This misunderstanding is rooted in...

3 educator answers

A Day's Wait

Schatz is a young boy who demonstrates bravery and stoicism when he mistakenly believes he is dying due to a misunderstanding about temperature scales. His quiet suffering and determination not to...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

Schatz was prescribed three types of medicine: one to reduce fever, a laxative, and another to treat an acid condition that promotes the flu. He was instructed to take these capsules at specific...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The climax of "A Day's Wait" occurs when Schatz, the young boy, asks his father, "About how long will it be before I die?" This moment reveals Schatz's misunderstanding of his fever's severity,...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

In "A Day's Wait," the boy incorrectly assumes he will die because he confuses Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature scales. He hears his temperature is 102 degrees Fahrenheit and believes it's fatal,...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The boy's actions in "A Day's Wait" are brave. Despite his mistaken belief that he is going to die due to a fever, he tries to remain calm and protect others by not allowing them into his room,...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

Schatz's father expresses pleasure in hunting due to the unexpected proximity of a covey of quail to the house, allowing him the opportunity to hunt close to home. He also appreciates that many birds...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

"A Day's Wait" is a slice of life story because it captures a simple, realistic moment in the life of a young boy who misunderstands his illness. The narrative focuses on the boy's internal...

5 educator answers

A Day's Wait

Schatz in "A Day's Wait" doesn't share his fears with his father or doctor because he believes he's dying, based on a misunderstanding of temperature scales. His silence stems from his sadness and...

2 educator answers

A Day's Wait

Schatz realizes that he is not going to die towards the end of the story, when his father realizes the misunderstanding that has taken place and explains that there are two different systems for...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The nameless characters and the quail hunt are means that are used to create tension in Ernest Hemingway’s “A Day’s Wait.”

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The boy in "A Day's Wait" mistakenly believes he will die from his fever because he confuses Fahrenheit with Celsius. At school in France, he learned that a temperature over 44 degrees Celsius is...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The atmosphere in "A Day's Wait" by Ernest Hemingway is somber and tense, characterized by a sense of impending doom. The story's negativity is evident as Schatz, the young boy, mistakenly believes...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The mood of "A Day's Wait" is primarily one of anxiety and fear, as the young boy, Schatz, mistakenly believes he is going to die due to a misunderstanding about his fever's severity. The father's...

2 educator answers

A Day's Wait

In "A Day's Wait," the father compares the difference between the Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature scales to the difference between kilometers and miles, emphasizing the confusion that arises from...

2 educator answers

A Day's Wait

Schatz is detached when his father reads to him for the first time. He pays little attention and appears bothered by something. Later, Schatz asks his father when he is going to die. He has mixed up...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The surprise ending in "A Day's Wait" reveals that the boy, Schatz, has misunderstood his fever's severity due to confusion between Fahrenheit and Celsius. This misunderstanding leads him to believe...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The boy's actions in "A Day's Wait" reveal his misunderstanding of his fever's seriousness and his deep concern for his father's well-being. Believing he is dying, he tries to protect his father from...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The boy doesn't pay attention to the story that his father is reading because he's detached from everything that's going on. The boy is ill, but not quite as ill as he thinks he is. In fact, the boy...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The narrator's main concern in "A Day's Wait" is his son Schatz's physical health, ensuring he rests and takes his medicine to recover from a fever. Initially, the narrator is not overly alarmed by...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The father reads a pirate book to Schatz to distract him from his illness and provide comfort. The adventurous and colorful imagery in Pyle's Book of Pirates serves as an escape from the discomfort...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The boy tells his father to leave the sickroom because he mistakenly believes he is going to die due to his high fever. Misunderstanding the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit, Schatz thinks...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

Hemingway's and O. Henry's stories share a detached style leading to unexpected endings, with both focusing on an individual's moral dilemma. While "A Day's Wait" involves existential fear and "After...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

In "A Day's Wait," a full day passes from morning until late afternoon or evening. The story begins with the boy, Schatz, waking his father early with a headache and ends with the father noting that...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

In "A Day's Wait," the boy's fear of death stems from his misunderstanding of the severity of his illness. He believes he is going to die because he mistakenly thinks his temperature, measured in...

2 educator answers

A Day's Wait

The boy's father in "A Day's Wait" doesn't correct his son's mistake sooner because he is unaware of the misunderstanding. The boy mistakenly believes his high temperature, measured in Fahrenheit, is...

2 educator answers

A Day's Wait

Hemingway details the outdoor activities to create a contrast between the father's mundane pursuits and the son's internal turmoil, believing he is dying. This juxtaposition highlights the father's...

1 educator answer

A Day's Wait

The boy in "A Day's Wait" shows he believes something is wrong through his actions and words. He is pale, shivering, and detached, refusing to let others enter his room, fearing they might "get what...

2 educator answers

A Day's Wait

The story begins without specifying a time of day, but the context suggests early morning as the setting. The narrator mentions being "still in bed," implying it is likely morning rather than any...

1 educator answer