The Man In The Black Suit

Page numbers refer to this edition of the story.

Reading Check

1. World War I (Page 45)

2. He was stung by a bee. (Page 47)

3. To go fishing (Page 49)

4. The Devil (Page 54)

5. He says Gary’s mother is dead, but this does not turn out to be true. (Pages 55, 65)

6. Gary gives the man a fish to eat and then runs away from him. (Pages 58-59)

Short Answer

1. The narrator is 90 years old and losing his memory. He wants to record the encounter before he forgets it or before he dies. (Page 46)

2. Gary catches a 19-inch brook trout and a footlong rainbow trout. He gives the larger fish to the Devil to prevent the Devil from eating him. The smaller fish is missing from his creel when he returns to the stream with his father, and he infers the Devil ate it too. (Various pages)

3. Even though he knows that bees die after they sting a person, he imagines that this is the bee that killed his brother. (Page 52)

4. The Devil tortures Gary with horrific and heartbreaking images of his mother’s death that also bring back memories of Dan’s death. (Pages 55-57)

5. Gary believes that he escaped by pure luck.