In Cold Blood Passage Analysis (38-41)

The concrete details about Nancy and Kenyon Clutter serve primarily to

• emphasize the exhaustive research the author undertook

• draw several important distinctions between the two of them

• provide insight into their personality and characters

• suggest possible reasons that the

  two would become victims of a crime

• shed light on the interests typical

  of the teenagers in

  Holcomb at the time

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

The author most likely places "the gang" an

d "inventions" in quotation marks in order to

• gently show how naïve Nancy and Kenyon were

• indicate that Nancy and Kenyon

  on used these terms ironically

• make clear that he relied on published sources for his account

• show that these were terms that

  Nancy and Kenyon used themselves

• clarify that these were words

  teenagers used in the late 1950s.

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.6

CCSS.RL.8.3

In the paragraph beginning "Equally intoxicating," the author is LEAST objective in his descriptions

of

• Kenyon's reaction to Bob's new interest

• the boys' relative shooting abilities

• the boys' overnight hunting hikes

• the recent change in the boys' relationship

• Bob's words to Kenyon

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

In light of the passage as a whole, Mr. Helm's comment that Mr. Clutter "must be laying in a stack of it" is an example of

• hindsight

• foreshadowing

• irony

• sarcasm

• non-sequitir

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

In context, Nancy's discussion of her one-year-old nephew could best be described as

• sentimental

• poignant

• distasteful

• maudlin

• idealist

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.6

CCSS.RL.8.3

The author's chronological relationship to the events he is describing is most clearly emphasized by

the details about

• Skeeter

• Kenyon

• Bonnie

• Bob

• Mr. Helm

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

The mood created by the last paragraph could best be described as

• tranquil

• suspenseful

• lyrical

• ominous

• anguished

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4