<p> A Piece of Steak Assignment 2</p><p>1. Why was Tom King unable to knock out Sandel when he had the chance?</p><p>2. According to Tom King, what would have helped him at the moment “when he had Sandel swaying and tottering on the hair-line balance of defeat?”</p><p>3. Why do you think the story is entitled “A Piece of Steak,” rather than something like “Tom King Loses a Fight”? What is so important about the steak to the meaning of the story?</p><p>4. Neither To Build a Fire nor A Piece of Steak had happy endings. An important theme in each is the strengths and weaknesses of age and youth. How is youth, in A Piece of Steak, like the cold weather in To Build a Fire?</p><p>5. How is Tom King like the man in To Build a Fire?</p><p>6. How is Tom King unlike the man in To Build a Fire?</p><p>7. To whom else in To Build a Fire can Tom King be compared? Why?</p><p>8. Give a common theme that can be applied to both To Build a Fire and A Piece of Steak 9. How are the endings to the two stories similar (especially in regard to Stowsher Bill and the old timer at Sulphur Creek)?</p><p>10. What type of emotion is Jack London trying to achieve in the reader by ending the story the way he does?</p><p>11. Looking at your answer to #10, what do you think Jack London is hoping the reader will do after reading a story about such a man as Tom King? In what ways is he hoping that society will be improved?</p><p>12.Would the story have had more or less of an emotional impact if Tom King had won the fight? Explain.</p><p>13. What two things would you advise Tom King to do about his situation.</p><p>14. List two things that Tom King would do differently in his past if he had had the knowledge that he has now at the end of the story.</p><p>15. Name one lesson that you can apply to your own life from this story.</p>