Going Home ACT Passage

The primary purpose of the first paragraph is to:

• A. describe the narrator's transition from her everyday, working life in the city to the world of her rural childhood.

• B. explain why the narrator becomes so frustrated when she arrives at her mother's house in the countryside.

• C. give the reader enough background about the setting of the story to explain the events of the later parts of the passage.

• D. foreshadow the narrator's feelings of abandonment as described in the last paragraphs of the passage.

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

The narrator considers the weather in Alabama during the summer time to be:

• F. humid and extremely hot.

• G. unbearably hot and miserable.

• H. cool and breezy.

• J. pleasantly familiar.

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CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

It can reasonably be inferred from the second paragraph (lines 15-28) that the narrator's feelings upon seeing her childhood home are feelings of:

• A. surprise at the dilapidated state of the building.

• B. frustration and anger toward her mother.

• C. joy tinged with fatigue caused by her travels.

• D. familiar recognition combined with nervousness.

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

The best description of the point of view from which this passage is told is that of a:

• F. daughter describing her thoughts during an event in her adult life.

• G. daughter reminiscing about her distant childhood in Alabama.

• H. mother remembering her daughter's visit to the family home.

• J. mother who longs to visit her adult daughter but cannot.

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CCSS.RL.1.6

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

As it is used in line 28, the word braced most nearly means:

• A. fastened.

• B. straightened.

• C. prepared.

• D. supported.

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CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

As revealed in the passage, the mother is best described as:

• F. harsh and uncompromising.

• G. uneducated yet wise.

• H. altruistic and warm.

• J. distant but caring.

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CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

The central concern presented in the passage is:

• A. the anger that a daughter feels toward her distant mother and her struggles to overcome this anger.

• B. the conflicting emotions experienced by the narrator upon her homecoming from her life in the city to the rural childhood of her youth.

• C. the narrator's realization that her mother has aged terribly during the four years the narrator spent in college.

• D. an older woman's cautious but willful acceptance of her daughter's foreign lifestyle as the older woman is forced to stay in her hometown.

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CCSS.RI. 9-10.9

CCSS.RI.11-12.9

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

The relationship between the narrator and her mother, as described in the last paragraph (lines 60-71) of the passage, could best be described as:

• F. extremely close, built on frank emotional openness and mutual respect of one another's independent decisions.

• G. based on unspoken thoughts, leading to occasional misunderstandings, but ultimately supportive and caring.

• H. antagonistic, largely due to the mother's unwillingness to support her daughter's independent decision to move away.

• J. a very distant relationship, largely nonexistent outside of rare visits on the part of the daughter.

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CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

The emotional states of the characters are primarily conveyed by the author's use of:

• A. metaphorical descriptions of the setting.

• B. subtle but emotionally charged dialogue.

• C. visual descriptions and narrative reflections.

• D. detailed psychological portraits by an objective narrator.

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CCSS.RL.2.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.4.4

As revealed in the final paragraph, upon seeing her mother at the sink, the narrator, for the first time, realizes which of the following?

• F. She wants desperately for her mother to be more expressive of her emotions.

• G. Her mother has aged to such an extent that the daughter has trouble recognizing her and the house in which she lives.

• H. It is difficult to leave someone and not be able to visit them every year during the holidays.

• J. Her mother has been supportive of the narrator's decision to leave but has not expressed it in a way the narrator expects.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2