The Seventh Man

Question 1

At what time did the seventh man tell his story?

Answer 1

At ten o’clock at the evening.

Question 2

Why the seventh man feels responsible for K’s death?

Answer 2

He could have run over and dragged him out of the reach of the wave.

Question 3

What had happened to the seventh man in the weeks following K’s death?

Answer 3

He fell ill and had nightmares.

Question 4

At the end of the story, the narrator says that if we “turn our backs on” fear, “we take the most precious thing
inside us and surrender it to something else.”

What does he most likely mean by these statements?

Answer 4

If we avoid our fear, then we give the fear power over ourselves and lose our freedom.

Question 5

In what way does the “The Seventh Man” illustrate the statement in the previous question?

Answer 5

Fear of the wave makes the seventh man run away instead of saving his friend.

Question 6

What does the giant wave most clearly represent to the seventh man?

Answer 6

It represents our fears, which hurt us if we turn away from them.

Question 7

What is the most important discovery that the seventh man makes when he returns to his hometown?

Answer 7

He realizes that the dark shadow of K’s death has left him.

Question 8

The seventh man begins to tell his story, he introduces it in this way:

“In my case, it was a wave,” he said. “There is no way for me to tell, of course, what it will be for each of you. But in my
case, it just happened to take the form of a gigantic wave. It presented itself to me all of a sudden one day without warning.
And it was devastating.”

What does the seventh man’s comment most clearly imply? To help you choose your answer, consider the
events of the story.

Answer 8

He believes that in life, every individual must confront fear in some form or another.

Question 9

Why does the seventh man’s view of the past begin to change?

Answer 9

Looking through K’s art, he remembers that K was gentle and realize that his last look was not one of hatred.

Question 10

desperate

Answer 10

involving extreme danger or disaster

Question 11

entranced

Answer 11

in a state of wonder or amazement

Question 12

hallucination

Answer 12

something perceived that has no Reality

Question 13

premonition

Answer 13

feeling that something bad will happen

Question 14

profound

Answer 14

intense; deep

Question 15

meditative

Answer 15

given to extended thought

Question 16

What traumatic event changes the seventh man’s life?

Answer 16

the seventh man’s life is changed when he does not try to rescue his best friend K. from a giant wave. As a result, k. drowns

Question 17

why does the seventh man’s father allow him to go outside during the storm?

Answer 17

the seventh man’s father allows him to go outside during the storm because it was the eye of the storm and everything is calm

Question 18

At the beach, why doesn’t K. respond when his friend calls out to him?

Answer 18

k. doesn’t respond when the seventh man calls out to him was like absorbed in something that interested him, or the seventh man’s voice did not reach him

Question 19

What does the seventh man see inside the second wave?

Answer 19

k. grinning and reaching out to him

Question 20

What does the seventh man do when he returns to his hometown that shows he has finally recovered from his traumatic experience?

Answer 20

he went to the ocean, an act that showed he has finally recovered from his traumatic past experience.