Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Reading Check

1. What is Mrs. Adam’s primary concern with her son’s trip?

2. What does Ronald see at the detour where the road ends?

3. What does Ronald resolve to do the next time he sees the Hitchhiker?

4. Which sound direction does the script note for the lines in which Ronald begins to see the Hitchhiker repeatedly, in many places?

5. Why does Ronald stop in Gallup, New Mexico?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe the man Ronald sees periodically in the first days of his journey. Why does this sight unnerve him?

2. How does Ronald feel after his first verbal interaction with the Hitchhiker? What information does Ronald give the man?

3. Summarize Ronald’s interaction with the Hitchhiker in Oklahoma. What unfortunate accident almost takes place?

4. Describe the scene between the female hitchhiker and Ronald. Why does he pick her up? How does the scene end?

5. Who is Mrs. Whitney? What information does Ronald learn from this woman?

Paired Resources

“The Hitch Hiker”

• Orson Welles’s 1942 episode of “The Hitch Hiker” was read live for radio audiences.