Read the excerpt from "Fern” in Cane.We walked down the Pike with people on all the porches gaping at us. "Does it make you mad?” She meant the row of petty gossiping people. She meant the world.

Fern’s question, “Does it make you mad?” first refers to the people gossiping on the porches, then the narrator clarifies that she means “the world.” This expands the small scene into a comparison between those people and the wider world, showing how their behavior represents society. The answer is the comparison of gossiping people to the world.

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