1.18 Unit 1: Life Stories Test Review

Read this excerpt from "A Cub Pilot" from Mark Twain's memoir, Life on the Mississippi.

I began to climb the wheel like a squirrel, but I would hardly get the boat started to port before I would see new dangers on that side, and away I would spin to the other, only to find perils accumulating to starboard and be crazy to get to port again. Then came the leadsman's sepulchral cry:

"D-e-e-p four!"

Deep four in a bottomless crossing! The terror of it took my breath away.

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Which line from the excerpt best supports the idea that Twain is afraid?

• " I began to climb the wheel like a squirrel..."

• "...away I would spin to the other..."

• "The terror of it took my breath away."

Which statement best expresses a viewpoint Mark Twain conveys in "A Cub Pilot"?

• Piloting a steamboat is much like writing a novel

• Being a steamboat pilot requires a great deal of knowledge, skill, and confidence.

• The Mississippi River is the most beautiful waterway in the world.

Read the excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant.

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Which central idea is developed and supported by this passage?

• An enslaved person is treated no better than an animal.

• Hypocrisy in religion is used to justify slavery.

• Justice for enslaved people is impossible.

Read the excerpt from Chapter 1 of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

Whether this prophecy is ever fulfilled or not, it is nevertheless plain that a very different-looking class of people are springing up at the south, and are now held in slavery, from those originally brought to this country from Africa; and if their increase do no other good, it will do away the force of the argument, that God cursed Ham, and therefore American slavery is right. If the lineal descendants of Ham are alone to be scripturally enslaved, it is certain that slavery at the south must soon become unscriptural; for thousands are ushered into the world, annually, who, like myself, owe their existence to white fathers, and those fathers most frequently their own masters.

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How does the allusion to Ham affect the meaning of the text?

• It emphasizes Douglass's desire to be free.

• It allows Douglass to discredit using the Bible to justify slavery.

• It highlights the similarities between enslaved people and those who enslave them.

How does Ernesto Galarza make distinctions between his new school and his old school in Barrio Boy?

• He notes their sizes; is new school is big, while is old one was small.

• He describes what they are made of; his new school is glass and steel, while his old one was brick.

• He notes their hours; his new school opens early, while his old one opened late.

Read this excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

Thousands would escape . . . but for the strong cords of affection that bind them to their friends.

What is the meaning of the figurative language in this passage?

• The love and friendship between enslaved people made the decision to escape more difficult.

• Because slaveholders looked out for one another, an enslaved person who escaped was always in danger of being caught and returned to bondage.

• The friends and families of enslaved people often tried to prevent them from escaping.

excerpt from "Solitude" by Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was a writer and philosopher. He was a major figure in the transcendentalist movement.  Transcendentalists feel a deep connection to nature. They believe people connect directly with God and are born with innate goodness.  For two years, Thoreau lived in a small cabin he built in the woods. He felt people should live closer to nature instead of relying on material wealth. "Solitude" is an essay from his book Walden; of, Life in the Woods. 

This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself. As I walk along the stony shore of the pond in my shirt sleeves, though it is cool as well as cloudy and windy, and I see nothing special to attract me, all the elements are unusually congenial to me. The bullfrogs trump to usher in the night, and the note of the whippoorwill is borne on the rippling wind from over the water. Sympathy with the fluttering alder and poplar leaves almost takes away my breath; yet, like the lake, my serenity is rippled but not ruffled. These small waves raised by the evening wind are as remote from storm as the smooth reflecting surface. Though it is now dark, the wind still blows and roars in the wood, the waves still dash, and some creatures lull the rest with their notes. The repose is never complete. The wildest animals do not repose, but seek their prey now; the fox, and skunk, and rabbit, now roam the fields and woods without fear. They are Nature's watchmen, —links which connect the days of animated life. . . .

Some of my pleasantest hours were during the long rain storms in the spring or fall, which confined me to the house for the afternoon as well as the forenoon, soothed by their ceaseless roar and pelting; when an early twilight ushered in a long evening in which many thoughts had time to take root and unfold themselves. . . . Men frequently say to me, "I should think you would feel lonesome down there, and want to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and nights especially." I am tempted to reply to such,—This whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart, think you, dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star, the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments? Why should I feel lonely? Is not our planet in the Milky Way? This which you put seems to me not to be the most important question. What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another.

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Which sentence best expresses the author's viewpoint about nature in "Solitude"?

• Nature is dangerous yet attractive.

• Nature is filled with unknowable mysteries.

• Nature is beautiful, calming, and inspiring.

Read this excerpt from "Solitude" by Henry David Thoreau.

What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another.

How does Thoreau distinguish between being alone and being alienated from others?

• He notes that being physically active is not the same as being fully alive if one is not connecting with others.

• He notes that neither physical distance nor nearness impacts the mental connections people have with one another.

• He differentiates between being alone and suffering from loneliness in the company of others.

excerpt from "Solitude" by Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was a writer and philosopher. He was a major figure in the transcendentalist movement.  Transcendentalists feel a deep connection to nature. They believe people connect directly with God and are born with innate goodness.  For two years, Thoreau lived in a small cabin he built in the woods. He felt people should live closer to nature instead of relying on material wealth. "Solitude" is an essay from his book Walden; of, Life in the Woods. 

This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself. As I walk along the stony shore of the pond in my shirt sleeves, though it is cool as well as cloudy and windy, and I see nothing special to attract me, all the elements are unusually congenial to me. The bullfrogs trump to usher in the night, and the note of the whippoorwill is borne on the rippling wind from over the water. Sympathy with the fluttering alder and poplar leaves almost takes away my breath; yet, like the lake, my serenity is rippled but not ruffled. These small waves raised by the evening wind are as remote from storm as the smooth reflecting surface. Though it is now dark, the wind still blows and roars in the wood, the waves still dash, and some creatures lull the rest with their notes. The repose is never complete. The wildest animals do not repose, but seek their prey now; the fox, and skunk, and rabbit, now roam the fields and woods without fear. They are Nature's watchmen, —links which connect the days of animated life. . . .

Some of my pleasantest hours were during the long rain storms in the spring or fall, which confined me to the house for the afternoon as well as the forenoon, soothed by their ceaseless roar and pelting; when an early twilight ushered in a long evening in which many thoughts had time to take root and unfold themselves. . . . Men frequently say to me, "I should think you would feel lonesome down there, and want to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and nights especially." I am tempted to reply to such,—This whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart, think you, dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star, the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments? Why should I feel lonely? Is not our planet in the Milky Way? This which you put seems to me not to be the most important question. What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another.

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In "Solitude," what can be inferred about the author's feelings toward the natural world?

• Every part of the natural world is equally appealing, but each in its own way.

• He understands the emotions of people but has much to learn about those of animals.

• He is afraid in the company of other people, but he has no fear around animals.

Read the central idea from "A Home Away from Home."

Grandma Rose was an important person in the narrator's life.

How does the author develop this central idea over the course of the memoir?

Select the two correct answers.

• by describing herself as a lost book that had finally been returned to its shelf

• by explaining that she was named Caroline Rose after her Grandma Rose

• by observing that Grandma Rose was the center of her family's universe