TASK DEFINITION: You will be given a summary of a story. You need to create a question that can be answered from the story. You can create a question about characters, events, facts and beliefs, etc. Your question should be specific, try not to use pronouns instead of full names. As the stories are sometimes movie plots, they will contain actor names in parentheses. You should not use those names. Only use character names. Try to ask a question about all parts of the plot, not just the beginning.
PROBLEM: The novel begins with an unnamed narrator's arrival in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, from back East and his encounter with an impressively tall and handsome stranger. The stranger proves adept at roping horses, as well as facing down a gambler, Trampas, who calls him a sonofabitch. (At the time, the word was an unacceptable insult in any society, except between joking friends.) The stranger lays a pistol on the table and gently threatens "When you call me that, smile!". Known only as the Virginian, the stranger turns out to be the narrator's escort to Judge Henry's ranch in Sunk Creek, Wyoming. As the two travel the 263 miles to the ranch, the narrator, nicknamed the "tenderfoot" and the Virginian begin to come to know one another as the Tenderfoot slowly begins to understand the nature of life in the West, which is very different from what he expected. This meeting is the beginning of a lifelong friendship and the starting point of the narrator's recounting of key episodes in the life of the Virginian.
The novel revolves around the Virginian and the life he lives. As well as describing the Virginian's conflict with his enemy, Trampas, and his romance with the pretty schoolteacher, Molly Stark Wood, Wister weaves a tale of action, violence, hate, revenge, love, and friendship. In one scene, the Virginian is forced to participate in the hanging of an admitted cattle thief, who had been his close friend. The hanging is represented as a necessary response to the government's corruption and lack of action, but the Virginian feels it to be a horrible duty. He is especially stricken by the bravery with which the thief faces his fate, and the heavy burden that the act places on his heart forms the emotional core of the story.
A fatal shootout resolves the ongoing conflict with Trampas, after five years of hate. After Trampas shoots first in a duel, The Virginian shoots Trampas (in self defense) and leaves to marry his young bride. The Virginian and Molly ride off together to spend a month in the mountains and then journey back East to Vermont to meet her family. They were received a bit stiffly by the immediate Wood family, but warmly by Molly's great-aunt. The new couple return to Wyoming and the Virginian is made a partner of Judge Henry's ranch. The book ends noting that the Virginian became an important man in the territory with a happy family.
In 1908 Owen Wister defends the actual Virginian "Charles D Skirden" who at this point is a police officer in Philadelphia, PA. Charles Skirden is accused of murder of John Bradley, a member of the Shamokin Street Gang in November 1908. Bradley is the son of James Bradley and Letitia Gallagher (Daughter of Squire Patrick Gallagher) He is arrested at the family's behest, but Owen Wister and others come to Skirden's aid. Afterwards Charles Skirden, in 1911 takes charge of a game preserve in Long Island.

SOLUTION: What was the name of the schoolteacher?

PROBLEM: Ann Bishop Mullany lives in Baton Rouge. She is unhappily married to John, a successful lawyer, and has never experienced an orgasm. She is in therapy. Graham Dalton is an old college friend of John. He is now a seeming drifter who, after nine years, returns to live in Baton Rouge. Graham arrives to find Ann, who has no idea that John has invited Graham to stay with them until he finds an apartment. When John arrives home, Graham's demeanor becomes remarkably more guarded, due in large part to John's overt disapproval of Graham's bohemian persona. They also discuss the fact that Graham's college girlfriend, Elizabeth, is also living in Baton Rouge.
John is sleeping with Ann's sister, Cynthia, a free-spirited bartender. He rationalizes it by blaming Ann's frigidity. He frequently leaves his law office mid-day to meet with Cynthia, instructing his secretary to reschedule clients, even when they are already in the lobby waiting to see him. Ann makes an impromptu visit to Graham's apartment, where she notices stacks of camcorder tapes around the television. When pressed, Graham explains that he interviews women about their sexual experiences and fantasies, on videotape. Ann, overcome with shock and confusion, leaves his apartment.
Within a day, Cynthia appears at Graham's apartment and introduces herself. Cynthia presses Graham to explain what "spooked" Ann the preceding day. Graham explains the videotapes, and admits to Cynthia his sexual dysfunction: that he is impotent when in the presence of another person, and that he achieves gratification by watching these videos in private. Graham propositions Cynthia to make a tape, assuring her that no other person is allowed to see the tapes. She believes him, and agrees. Cynthia reports back to Ann, who is horrified. Cynthia also tells John, who also reacts very negatively (though more than a little possessively).
Ann and especially John are both reactionary in their condemnation of Graham, who in one conversation reacts with perhaps the defining line of the film: "I look at you, and John, and Cynthia, and I feel... comparatively healthy". When Ann discovers Cynthia's pearl earring in her bedroom (she knows it belongs to her sister since she had mentioned that she had lost it) while vacuuming, she is furious. She heads over to Graham's apartment with the intention of making a videotape. Graham objects, telling her it is something she would not do in a normal frame of mind. She insists and Graham relents.
Afterward, Ann demands a divorce from John. In the ensuing argument, John gleans that Ann has been to Graham's, and that she made a video. He goes to Graham's house, hits him and locks him out of the house, then watches Ann's tape. In it, Ann says she has never felt any kind of 'satisfaction' from sex. After Graham asks if she ever thinks of having sex with other men, she admits she has thought of Graham. Ann later turns the camera on Graham, who resists but she persists. Graham confesses that he is haunted by Elizabeth, and that his motivation in returning to Baton Rouge is an attempt to achieve some closure. He explains that he was a pathological liar, which destroyed an otherwise rewarding relationship with Elizabeth. He explains that he has since gone to great lengths to keep people at a distance and avoid relationships. Ann starts touching and kissing Graham; Graham turns off the camera; it is implied that the two have sex.
A chastened John joins Graham on the front patio and, with obvious pleasure, confesses to having sex with Elizabeth while she and Graham were a couple. But he also helps Graham see Elizabeth in a more realistic way. "She was no saint. She was good in bed and she could keep a secret. That's all I can say about her." and then leaves. This makes Graham furious and he goes into a rage and destroys all of the tapes, as well as his camera.
In the end, John is summoned to his boss's office, where it s implied that he is about to be fired due to his frequent cancellations of meetings with important clients to the firm to have sexual trysts with Cynthia. In the next scene, Ann and Cynthia reconcile at the bar Cynthia tends before Ann returns home and joins Graham on the front porch, as they appear to be a couple.

SOLUTION: What happens to Ann and Cynthia at the end of the story?

PROBLEM: In New York Harbor, filmmaker Carl Denham, famous for making wildlife films in remote and exotic locations, charters Captain Englehorn's ship Venture for his new project, but is unable to secure an actress for a female role he has reluctantly added to the script. Due to set sail that night, Denham searches the streets of New York for a suitable woman. He meets penniless Ann Darrow and convinces her to join him for what he proposes as the adventure of a lifetime. The Venture quickly gets underway and, during the voyage, the surly first mate, Jack Driscoll, gradually falls in love with Ann. After weeks of secrecy, Denham finally tells Englehorn and Driscoll that their destination is Skull Island, an uncharted land shown on a map in Denham's possession. Denham also cryptically alludes to some monstrous creature rumoured to dwell on the island, a legendary entity known only as "Kong".
When they find the island and anchor offshore, they see a native village, separated from the rest of the island by an enormous ancient stone wall. A landing party, including the filming crew and Ann, witnesses a group of natives prepare to sacrifice a young maiden as the "bride of Kong". The intruders are spotted and the native chief angrily stops the ceremony. When he sees the blond Ann, he offers to trade six of his tribal women for the "golden woman". They rebuff him and return to the Venture.
That night, a band of natives kidnap Ann from the ship and lead her through a huge wooden gate in the wall. Tied to an altar, she is offered to Kong, who turns out to be an enormous gorilla-like ape. Kong carries her off into the jungle as the Venture crew, alerted to Ann's abduction, arrive. They open the gate and Denham, Driscoll and some volunteers enter the jungle in hopes of rescuing Ann. They soon discover that Kong is far from the only giant prehistoric creature on the island when they are charged by a Stegosaurus, which they manage to kill. After constructing a raft in order to cross a swamp, a Brontosaurus capsizes their supplies, killing several of the men. Fleeing through the jungle, they soon encounter Kong, who tries to stop them from crossing a ravine by shaking them off a fallen tree that bridges it. Only Driscoll and Denham, on opposite sides, survive.
A Tyrannosaurus threatens Ann, but Kong kills it after a colossal battle. Driscoll continues to shadow Kong and Ann while Denham returns to the village for more ammunition. Upon arriving in Kong's lair in a mountain cave, Ann is menaced by a snake-like Elasmosaurus, which Kong wrestles and kills. While Kong is distracted killing a Pteranodon that tried to fly away with Ann, Driscoll reaches her and they climb down a vine dangling from a cliff ledge. When Kong notices and starts pulling them back up, they let go and fall unharmed into the water below. They run through the jungle and back to the village, where Denham, Englehorn and the surviving crewmen are waiting. Kong, following, breaks open the gate and murderously rampages through the village. On shore, Denham, now determined to bring Kong back alive, knocks him unconscious with a gas bomb.
Chained and shackled, Kong is presented to a Broadway theater audience as "Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World". Ann and Jack are brought on stage to join him, followed by an invited group of press photographers. Kong, believing that the ensuing flash photography is an attack, breaks loose as the audience flees in terror. Ann is whisked away to a hotel room on a high floor, but Kong, scaling the building, soon finds her. Carrying her in his hand, he rampages through the city. He wrecks a crowded elevated train and ultimately climbs up the Empire State Building. At its top, he is met by four military Curtiss Helldivers. Kong sets Ann down and battles the planes, managing to down one of them, but he finally succumbs to their gunfire and falls to his death. Ann and Jack are reunited. Denham arrives and pushes through a crowd surrounding Kong's body in the street. When a policeman remarks that the planes got him, Denham tells him, "Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast."

SOLUTION:
What is the name of Captain Englehorn's ship?