Author's Style and Layers of Meaning in Cane — Quiz
Question 2 • English Language Arts 11
Read the excerpt from "Fern” in Cane. From the train window I saw her as I crossed her road. Saw her on her porch, head tilted a little forward where the nail was, eyes vaguely focused on the sunset. Saw her face flow into them, the countryside and something that I call God, flowing into them. . . . Nothing ever really happened. Nothing ever came to Fern, not even I. Something I would do for her. Some fine unnamed thing. . . . And friend, you? She is still living, I have reason to know. Her name, against the chance that you might happen down that way, is Fernie May Rosen. What is the effect of the repetition of the word "nothing” on the tone of this excerpt?
Answer
A
It creates a desperate tone.
B
It creates a critical tone.
C
It creates a resigned tone.
D
It creates a defiant tone.
Explanation
The narrator repeats “Nothing” to emphasize that Fern’s life seems to pass without meaningful events or fulfillment: “Nothing ever really happened” and “Nothing ever came to Fern.” This repetition gives the passage a resigned tone, as if the narrator has accepted Fern’s quiet lack of change rather than angrily resisting it or urgently trying to alter it. The correct choice is “It creates a resigned tone.”
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