English Literature / Grade 7
Francis Perkins and the Triangle Factory Fire (Solved)
Assessment Practice
Answer these questions before moving on to Analyze the Text.
1. How does the phrase bundles of fabric in paragraph 4 affect the tone of the text?
A. It makes the author’s tone more comical.
B. It makes the author’s tone less formal.
C. It makes the author’s tone more casual.
D. It makes the author’s tone more horrified.
This question has two parts. First answer Part A, then Part B.
2. Part A What are two central ideas of “Frances Perkins and the Triangle Factory
Fire”?
A. No one could have prevented the fire.
B. Cotton dust and scraps are flammable.
C. Poor decisions made the fire much worse.
D. A growing fire cannot be stopped.
E. Factory conditions worsened the situation.
2. Part B How does the author develop the key ideas in Part A?
A. by describing the factory manager’s actions and the lack of clear exits
B. by explaining that cotton is more flammable than paper and that there was a ton of
fabric
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C. by explaining that the firefighters’ hoses weren’t long enough to put out the fire
D. by discussing how Frances Perkins and others felt guilty for not preventing the fire
Analyze the Text
Support your responses with evidence from the text.
Summarize
1. Summarize the central ideas of “Frances Perkins and the Triangle Factory
Fire” and analyze their development over the course of the text.
The tragic fire had a huge impact on many people, including Frances Perkins. It
made Perkins decide to dedicate her life to improving working conditions. The
author first describes the fire in horrifying detail, based on eyewitness accounts.
Then, he discusses the factors that contributed to the tragedy and the resulting
sense of shame that the public felt for allowing it to happen. He closes by describing
how the fire affected Perkins personally and how it shaped her future career.
Cite Details
2. What details indicate that the working conditions in the factory were unsafe?
What suggests that this was partly due to the owners’ distrust of the
workers?
The details “There were two elevators, but they were slow...no sprinkler system...a
fire escape, but it was rickety and blocked” indicate that working conditions were
unsafe. The details “On normal days the workers were searched...doors were
locked” suggest that this was partly due to the owners’ distrust of the workers.
Analyze
3. Reread paragraphs 8–10. What is the author’s tone as he describes the start
of the fire and Samuel Bernstein’s attempts to extinguish it? Cite specific
words and phrases that contribute to that tone.
The author’s tone is angry or frustrated. He describes the factory fabric as
“explosively flammable” and refers to the “exploding fire.” He emphasizes that
Bernstein’s efforts to put out the fire “did little good,” and that his actions had “no
effect.” He calls Bernstein’s decision “fatal.”
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Infer
4. What words and phrases does the author use to describe how the young man
helps one young woman onto the windowsill? What meaning do these words
and phrases contribute to the text?
The author describes the young man lifting the woman “tenderly.” The simile “he
held her out . . . like a ballet dancer, and let her drop” heightens the horror because
what is described as a moment of beauty is in fact a tragedy.
Summarize
5. In two or three sentences, summarize the changes that occurred in the
aftermath of the tragedy.
New Yorkers were saddened by the tragedy and felt guilty. There was a memorial
march and a large meeting of New York’s leading citizens. Perkins, already a
lobbyist for workers’ rights, attended this meeting and felt the burden of guilt and
responsibility.
Compare
6. Use the chart to record details of how the events of the Triangle Factory fire
influenced Frances Perkins’s attitudes and behavior. Note the Contrasts and
Contradictions Perkins experienced.
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Expand Your Vocabulary
PRACTICE AND APPLY
Identify the vocabulary word that is most closely related to the boldfaced word in
each question. Explain your choices.
1. Which vocabulary word goes with unimportant? indifferent
2. Which vocabulary word goes with disastrous? fatal
3. Which vocabulary word goes with distinct? distinguish
4. Which vocabulary word goes with influence? lobby
Write a summary of “Francis Perkins and the Triangle Factory Fire.
David Brooks tells the story of the catastrophic Triangle Factory Fire from the
perspective of Frances Perkins. Perkins was an educator and activist who later
became the United States Secretary of Labor; she was the first woman to hold a
cabinet position in the United States. Brooks describes the horrors of the fire and
the women who had to choose between death by fire and a nine-story fall. He
also tells of the working conditions that led to the fire and the deaths of 123 women
and 23 men. This human-created disaster led many people to change their attitudes
about the labor-reform movement.
