What is the main idea of the biography?

Jane Addams developed Hull-House by listening to neighbors and letting experience shape wider service and reform. (The passage connects Addams's responsive work at Hull-House to her broader writing and reform, emphasizing listening and adaptation as her method.)

What does Hull-House's growth suggest about Addams and Starr?

They were willing to revise their work in response to needs and participation around them. (They began with a narrower educational idea, listened to neighbors, and supported many additional programs as the house evolved.)

What does “informed” mean in the phrase “informed her writing”?

Shaped or guided through knowledge and experience (Experience at Hull-House contributed knowledge that shaped Addams's later writing and civic efforts, rather than merely announcing them.)

In what year did Addams and Starr open Hull-House?

1889 (The second paragraph begins by stating that Addams and Ellen Gates Starr opened Hull-House in 1889.)

Jane Addams and the Listening House: Level 3 Reading Comprehension Questions

Jane Addams was born in Illinois in 1860 and grew up wondering how a useful life might serve other people. During a visit to London, she saw Toynbee Hall, a settlement house where residents lived in a city neighborhood and organized educational and social work.

In 1889, Addams and Ellen Gates Starr opened Hull-House on Chicago's Near West Side. They first imagined a place for art and literary learning. Rather than holding tightly to that first plan, they listened as neighbors used the house and described local needs. Hull-House grew to include classes, childcare, a library, clubs, arts programs, and meeting spaces. Other residents joined the work and brought knowledge in fields such as health, labor, education, and research.

Addams treated the shared house as a place to learn with a neighborhood, not simply to deliver a fixed service. As Hull-House evolved, experience there informed her writing and her efforts for civic reform and peace. In 1931, she shared the Nobel Peace Prize. Her public honors were large, but her daily method began at a smaller scale: keep a door open, observe what happens, and let relationships reshape the work.

Comprehension questions