Examining Culture and Prejudice in Literature — Test

Question 6 • Expository Reading and Writing

Which excerpt from Zora Neale Hurston’s “John Redding Goes to Sea” describes the awkward relationship John has with the others in the village?

Answer

Perhaps ten-year-old John was puzzling to the simple folk there in the Florida woods for he was an imaginative child and fond of day-dreams.

Often he was a knight bestride a fiery charger prancing down the white shell road that led to distant lands.

One day his father came upon him scolding the weeds for stopping his sea-going vessels.

"Alf, you ain't gone crazy, is you? John kain't help wantin' tuh stray off, cause he's got a spell. on 'im; but you oughter be shamed to be encouragin' him . . ."

Explanation

Choice A directly describes how the village folk viewed John: he was puzzling to them because of his imagination and daydreaming. That shows the awkward distance between John and the other villagers. Choices B and C describe his fantasies and behavior, while D shows his mother defending him to his father, not the village’s relationship with him.

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