Read the passage from "Marriage Is a Private Affair" by Chinua Achebe. "I shall not call in a native doctor.” Nnaemeka’s father was known to be obstinately ahead of his more superstitious neighbours in these matters. "I will not be another Mrs. Ochuba. If my son wants to kill himself let him do it with his own hands. It is not for me to help him.” "But it was her fault,” said Madubogwu. "She ought to have gone to an honest herbalist. She was a clever woman, nevertheless.” "She was a wicked murderess,” said Jonathan who rarely argued with his neighbours because, he often said, they were incapable of reasoning. "The medicine was prepared for her husband, it was his name they called in its preparation and I am sure it would have been perfectly beneficial to him. It was wicked to put it into the herbalist’s food, and say you were only trying it out.” What are the benefits of analyzing this passage from more than one perspective? Choose two correct answers.
Which excerpt from the poem "Girl Powdering Her Neck” by Cathy Song is an example of a simile?
Read the lines from "Girl Powdering Her Neck” by Cathy Song, then look at the artwork by Kitagawa Utamaro. Her hair is black with hints of red, the color of seaweed spread over rocks. Morning begins the ritual wheel of the body, the application of translucent skins. She practices pleasure: the pressure of three fingertips applying powder. Fingerprints of pollen some other hand will trace. The peach-dyed kimono patterned with maple leaves drifting across the silk, falls from right to left in a diagonal, revealing the nape of her neck and the curve of a shoulder like the slope of a hill set deep in snow in a country of huge white solemn birds. Her face appears in the mirror, a reflection in a winter pond, rising to meet itself. Expand Image Which statement best compares the use of imagery and color in the poem and artwork to portray the woman?
Read the passage from Amy Tan's "Rules of the Game." One day, after we left a shop I said under my breath, "I wish you wouldn’t do that, telling everybody I’m your daughter.” My mother stopped walking. Crowds of people with heavy bags pushed past us on the sidewalk, bumping into first one shoulder, then another. "Aiii-ya. So shame be with mother?” She grasped my hand even tighter as she glared at me. I looked down. "It’s not that, it’s just so obvious. It’s just so embarrassing.” "Embarrass you be my daughter?” Her voice was cracking with anger. "That’s not what I meant. That’s not what I said.” "What you say?” I knew it was a mistake to say anything more, but I heard my voice speaking, "Why do you have to use me to show off? If you want to show off, then why don’t you learn to play chess?” My mother’s eyes turned into dangerous black slits. She had no words for me, just sharp silence. I felt the wind rushing around my hot ears. I jerked my hand out of my mother’s tight grasp and spun around, knocking into an old woman. Her bag of groceries spilled to the ground. "Aii-ya! Stupid girl!” my mother and the woman cried. Oranges and tin cans careened down the sidewalk. As my mother stooped to help the old woman pick up the escaping food, I took off. What conflict occurs in the passage?
Read the passage from Amy Tan's "Rules of the Game.” My parents made many concessions to allow me to practice. One time I complained that the bedroom I shared was so noisy that I couldn’t think. Thereafter, my brothers slept in a bed in the living room facing the street. I said I couldn’t finish my rice; my head didn’t work right when my stomach was too full. I left the table with half-finished bowls and nobody complained. But there was one duty I couldn’t avoid. I had to accompany my mother on Saturday market days when I had no tournament to play. My mother would proudly walk with me, visiting many shops, buying very little. "This my daughter Wave-ly Jong,” she said to whoever looked her way. One day after we left a shop I said under my breath, "I wish you wouldn’t do that, telling everybody I’m your daughter.” My mother stopped walking. Crowds of people with heavy bags pushed past us on the sidewalk, bumping into first one shoulder, then another. Which statement best explains the motivation for the narrator’s mother to introduce her daughter to everyone they meet?
Which words complete the sentence correctly? In recent years, engineers have invented a __________ capable of __________ offensive language from live television feeds.
Read the excerpt from Pygmalion and Galatea by Josephine Preston Peabody. Now there once lived in Cyprus a young sculptor, Pygmalion by name, who thought nothing on earth so beautiful as the white marble folk that live without faults and never grow old. Indeed, he said that he would never marry a mortal woman, and people began to think that his daily life among marble creatures was hardening his heart altogether. But it chanced that Pygmalion fell to work upon an ivory statue of a maiden, so lovely that it must have moved to envy every breathing creature that came to look upon it. With a happy heart the sculptor wrought day by day, giving it all the beauty of his dreams, until, when the work was completed, he felt powerless to leave it. He was bound to it by the tie of his highest aspiration, his most perfect ideal, his most patient work. Read the excerpt from Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. MRS. PEARCE: [uneasy] Oh, don’t say that, sir: there’s more ways than one of turning a girl’s head; and nobody can do it better than Mr. Higgins, though he may not always mean it. I do hope, sir, you won’t encourage him to do anything foolish. HIGGINS: [becoming excited as the idea grows on him] What is life but a series of inspired follies? The difficulty is to find them to do. Never lose a chance: it doesn’t come every day. I shall make a duchess of this draggletailed guttersnipe. LIZA: [strongly deprecating this view of her] Ah—ah—ah—ow—ow—oo! HIGGINS: [carried away] Yes: in six months—in three if she has a good ear and a quick tongue—I’ll take her anywhere and pass her off as anything. We’ll start today: now! this moment! How are Higgins’s motivations different from Pygmalion’s motivations?
Read the excerpt from Pygmalion and Galatea by Josephine Preston Peabody. He drew near in wonder and delight, and felt, instead of the chill air that was wont to wake him out of his spell, a gentle warmth around her, like the breath of a plant. He touched her hand, and it yielded like the hand of one living! Doubting his senses, yet fearing to reassure himself, Pygmalion kissed the statue. In an instant the maiden’s face bloomed like a waking rose, her hair shone golden as returning sunlight; she lifted her ivory eyelids and smiled at him. The statue herself had awakened, and she stepped down from the pedestal, into the arms of her creator, alive! There was a dream that came true. Read the excerpt from Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. MRS. HIGGINS: The carriage is waiting, Eliza. Are you ready? LIZA: Quite. Is the Professor coming? MRS. HIGGINS: Certainly not. He can’t behave himself in church. He makes remarks out loud all the time on the clergyman’s pronunciation. LIZA: Then I shall not see you again, Professor. Good bye. [She goes to the door]. MRS. HIGGINS: [coming to Higgins] Good-bye, dear. HIGGINS: Good-bye, mother. [He is about to kiss her, when he recollects something]. Oh, by the way, Eliza, order a ham and a Stilton cheese, will you? And buy me a pair of reindeer gloves, number eights, and a tie to match that new suit of mine, at Eale & Binman’s. You can choose the color. [His cheerful, careless, vigorous voice shows that he is incorrigible]. LIZA: [disdainfully] Buy them yourself. [She sweeps out]. How does Eliza’s reaction to Higgins differ from Galatea’s reaction to Pygmalion?
Read the excerpt from Pygmalion and Galatea by Josephine Preston Peabody. But it chanced that Pygmalion fell to work upon an ivory statue of a maiden, so lovely that it must have moved to envy every breathing creature that came to look upon it. With a happy heart the sculptor wrought day by day, giving it all the beauty of his dreams, until, when the work was completed, he felt powerless to leave it. He was bound to it by the tie of his highest aspiration, his most perfect ideal, his most patient work. Read the excerpt from Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. HIGGINS: [with professional exquisiteness of modulation] I walk over everybody! My dear Mrs. Pearce, my dear Pickering, I never had the slightest intention of walking over anyone. All I propose is that we should be kind to this poor girl. We must help her to prepare and fit herself for her new station in life. If I did not express myself clearly it was because I did not wish to hurt her delicacy, or yours. What do the source text by Peabody and the adaptation by Shaw have in common?
Read the excerpt from Pygmalion and Galatea by Josephine Preston Peabody. Now the festival of Venus was at hand, and Pygmalion, like all who loved Beauty, joined the worshippers. In the temple victims were offered, solemn rites were held, and votaries from many lands came to pray the favor of the goddess. At length Pygmalion himself approached the altar and made his prayer. Read the excerpt from Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. THE FLOWER GIRL: Let him mind his own business and leave a poor girl— THE NOTE TAKER: [explosively] Woman: cease this detestable boohooing instantly; or else seek the shelter of some other place of worship. THE FLOWER GIRL: [with feeble defiance] I’ve a right to be here if I like, same as you. THE NOTE TAKER: A woman who utters such depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere—no right to live. Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespear and Milton and The Bible; and don’t sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon. Based on these excerpts, what is one difference between Pygmalion and the note taker?
Read the line from Rita Dove’s poem "Sonnet in Primary Colors,” then study Frida Kahlo’s painting Self-Portrait with Monkey and Parrot . the thumbprint searing her immutable brow. Expand Image How does this line relate to the artwork?
Which excerpts from "Two Kinds” show a connection between conflict and culture? Choose two correct answers.
Read the passage from "The Royal House of Thebes." In the course of their desolate wanderings Oedipus and Antigone came to Colonus, a lovely spot near Athens, where the one-time Erinyes, the Furies, now the Benignant Goddesses, had a place sacred to them and therefore a refuge for suppliants. The blind old man and his daughter felt safe there, and there Oedipus died. Most unhappy in much of his life, he was happy at the end. The oracle which once had spoken terrible words to him comforted him when he was dying. Apollo promised that he, the disgraced, the homeless wanderer, would bring to the place where his grave should be a mysterious blessing from the gods. Theseus, the King of Athens, received him with all honor, and the old man died rejoicing that he was no longer hateful to men, but welcomed as a benefactor to the land that harbored him. Which statement accurately analyzes this passage from a historical perspective?
Read the passage from "The Royal House of Thebes." After Jocasta's death and all the evils that came with it, Oedipus lived on in Thebes while his children were growing up. He had two sons, Polyneices and Eteocles, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene. They were very unfortunate young people, but they were far from being monsters all would shudder to look at, as the oracle had told Oedipus. The two lads were well liked by the Thebans and the two girls were as good daughters as a man could have. Oedipus of course resigned the throne. Polyneices, the elder son, did the same. The Thebans felt that this was wise because of the terrible position of the family, and they accepted Creon, Jocasta's brother, as the regent. For many years they treated Oedipus with kindness, but at last they decided to expel him from the city. What induced them to do this is not known, but Creon urged it and Oedipus' sons consented to it. The only friends Oedipus had were his daughters. Through all his misfortunes they were faithful to him. When he was driven out of the city Antigone went with him to guide him in his blindness and care for him, and Ismene stayed in Thebes to look out for his interests and keep him informed of whatever happened that touched him. How does this passage reflect gender roles in this society?
What are two goals of feminist literary criticism? Choose two correct answers.
What are the characteristics of fixed poetry? Choose three correct answers.
Which statements describe characteristics of a restrictive clause? Choose three correct answers.
Which words contain a suffix? Choose two correct answers.
Which word contains both a prefix and a suffix?
Which sentence includes a restrictive clause?
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