Literary Analysis of Key Passages

1. Read the following sentence from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald:

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us."

What does the word orgastic most likely mean as used in the sentence?

• A. Peaceful and calm

• B. Distant and imaginary

• C. Intensely exciting and filled with emotion

• D. Cold and uninviting

2. Read the following sentence from Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck:

"A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green."

What does the word Soledad contribute to the meaning of the sentence?

• A. It introduces a character in the story

• B. It suggests a theme of isolation

• C. It refers to the color of the river

• D. It implies danger in the setting

3. Read the excerpt from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston:

“She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree, soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees.”

What does the phrase alto chant of the visiting bees suggest about the tone of the passage?

• A. It is frightening and tense

• B. It is musical and harmonious

• C. It is chaotic and wild

• D. It is dull and repetitive

4. From The Crucible by Arthur Miller:

“Abigail brings the other girls into the court, and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel.”

What is the meaning of the phrase part like the sea for Israel?

• A. The people dislike Abigail

• B. Abigail is treated with reverence and fear

• C. The crowd follows Abigail’s orders

• D. Abigail avoids public places

5. From The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain:

“It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things…”

What does the word betwixt mean in this context?

• A. Behind

• B. Across

• C. Between

• D. Beneath

6. Read the line from Emily Dickinson’s poem:

“Hope is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—”

What does the metaphor thing with feathers suggest about hope?

• A. Hope is weak and easily lost

• B. Hope is powerful and violent

• C. Hope is light and uplifting

• D. Hope is silent and still

7. From The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne:

“It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself.”

What does the word spell most likely mean in this context?

• A. A period of time

• B. A magical influence

• C. A moment of silence

• D. A written phrase

8. From Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…”

What does Emerson mean by calling consistency a hobgoblin?

• A. Consistency is a helpful habit

• B. Consistency is magical and admirable

• C. Consistency is a frightening limitation

• D. Consistency is a popular belief

9. From To Build a Fire by Jack London:

“It did not know this. It merely obeyed the mysterious prompting that arose from the deep crypts of its being.”

What does the word crypts most likely mean as used here?

• A. Burial chambers

• B. Secrets or hidden depths

• C. Cold places

• D. Caverns or caves

10. From Song of Myself by Walt Whitman:

“I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”

What does the word yawp suggest about the speaker’s tone?

• A. Soft and poetic

• B. Confused and unsure

• C. Bold and unrestrained

• D. Quiet and reflective