The Roaring Twenties, Modernism, and Postwar Outlooks — Test
Question 1 • TPS EdX English Language Arts 11
Read the excerpt from “Good Country People.” Mrs. Hopewell liked to tell people...how she had happened to hire the Freemans in the first place and how they were a godsend to her and how she had had them four years. The reason for her keeping them so long was that they were...good country people ...Before the Freemans she had averaged one tenant family a year...Mrs. Hopewell, who had divorced her husband long ago, needed someone to walk over the fields with her; and when Joy had to be impressed for these services, her remarks were usually so ugly and her face so glum... that Mrs. Hopewell would say, “If you can’t come pleasantly, I don’t want you at all,” to which the girl, standing square and rigid-shouldered with her neck thrust slightly forward, would reply, “If you want me, here I am—LIKE I AM.” Based on the excerpt, what inferences can be made about the story’s setting?
Answer
A
It is located on a wide, isolated expanse of farmland.
B
It is in a deserted town in which mysterious events occur.
C
It is located on a farm with many field hands and employees.
D
It is in a small town where everyone is friendly toward one another.
Explanation
The excerpt mentions tenant families, hired workers, and Mrs. Hopewell walking over the fields, so the setting is a farm. The repeated need to hire a new tenant family each year also suggests the property is relatively isolated rather than part of a friendly small town. Choice A, a wide, isolated expanse of farmland, is the best inference; the passage does not describe many employees or mysterious events.
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