"By the Waters of Babylon," Part 2: Analyzing Theme — Unit test Answers

Poetry that does not follow a specific form and does not have a set rhyme pattern is known as

Read the passage from "By the Waters of Babylon.”My father is a priest; I am the son of a priest. I have been in the Dead Places near us, with my father—at first, I was afraid. When my father went into the house to search for the metal, I stood by the door and my heart felt small and weak. It was a dead man's house, a spirit house. It did not have the smell of man, though there were old bones in a corner. But it is not fitting that a priest's son should show fear. I looked at the bones in the sh

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.

Read the passage from "By the Waters of Babylon.”How shall I tell what I saw? There was no smell of man left, on stone or metal. Nor were there many trees in that wilderness of stone. There are many pigeons, nesting and dropping in the towers—the gods must have loved them, or, perhaps, they used them for sacrifices. There are wild cats that roam the god-roads, green-eyed, unafraid of man. At night they wail like demons but they are not demons. The wild dogs are more dangerous, for they hunt in a pack, but them I did not meet till later. Everywhere there are the carved stones, carved with magical numbers or words.

How does the narrator’s knowledge of his postapocalyptic world in "By the Waters of Babylon” affect his reactions to the different settings?

Read the passage from "Marriage Is a Private Affair” by Chinua Achebe."I shall never see her,” was the reply. From that night the father scarcely spoke to his son. He did not, however, cease hoping that he would realize how serious was the danger he was heading for. Day and night he put him in his prayers.Nnaemeka, for his own part, was very deeply affected by his father’s grief. But he kept hoping that it would pass away. If it had occurred to him that never in the history of his people had a man married a woman who spoke a different tongue, he might have been less optimistic. "It has never been heard,” was the verdict of an old man speaking a few weeks later. In that short sentence he spoke for all of his people. This man had come with others to commiserate with Okeke when news went round about his son’s behaviour. By that time the son had gone back to Lagos."It has never been heard,” said the old man again with a sad shake of his head."What did Our Lord say?” asked another gentleman. "Sons shall rise against their fathers; it is there in the Holy Book.”"It is the beginning of the end,” said another.

Read the passage from "By the Waters of Babylon.”When I was very near, my raft struck and turned over. I can swim in our lakes—I swam to the shore. There was a great spike of rusted metal sticking out into the river—I hauled myself up upon it and sat there, panting. I had saved my bow and two arrows and the knife I found in the Dead Place but that was all. My raft went whirling downstream toward the Bitter Water. I looked after it, and thought if it had trod me under, at least I would be safely dead. Nevertheless, when I had dried my bowstring and re-strung it, I walked forward to the Place of the Gods.

Read the stanza from "Sonnet in Primary Colors” by Rita Dove.Each night she lay down in pain and roseto the celluloid butterflies of her Beloved Dead,Lenin and Marx and Stalin arrayed at the footstead.And rose to her easel, the hundred dogs pantinglike children along the graveled walks of the garden, Diego’slove a skull in the circular windowof the thumbprint searing her immutable brow.

Read the poem "Sonnet in Primary Colors” by Rita Dove.

What are the benefits of analyzing this passage from more than one perspective? Select two options.

What are the characteristics of a theme in literature? Select two options.Theme is added to the conflict to lead to the resolution of the plot.Theme is established through the conflicts and their resolution.Theme is a restatement of the main topic of the story.Theme is always directly connected to descriptions of the story's setting.Theme is conveyed as a message about a topic related to the plot.

three

Read the passage from "Marriage Is a Private Affair” by Chinua Achebe. This passage is a conversation between a father named Okeke and his adult son, Nnaemeka. In the passage, Okeke speaks first."Whose daughter is she, anyway?”"She is Nene Atang.”"What!” All the mildness was gone again. "Did you say Neneataga, what does that mean?”"Nene Atang from Calabar. She is the only girl I can marry.” This was a very rash reply and Nnaemeka expected the storm to burst. But it did not. His father merely walked away into his room. This was most unexpected and perplexed Nnaemeka. His father’s silence was infinitely more menacing than a flood of threatening speech. That night the old man did not eat.When he sent for Nnaemeka a day later he applied all possible ways of dissuasion. But the young man’s heart was hardened, and his father eventually gave him up as lost."I owe it to you, my son, as a duty to show you what is right and what is wrong. Whoever put this idea into your head might as well have cut your throat. It is Satan’s work.” He waved his son away.

Read the passage from "Two Kinds.”She walked over and stood in front of the TV. I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way."No!” I said, and I now felt stronger, as if my true self had finally emerged. So this was what had been inside me all along."No! I won’t!” I screamed.She yanked me by the arm, pulled me off the floor, snapped off the TV. She was frighteningly strong, half pulling, half carrying me toward the piano as I kicked the throw rugs under my feet. She lifted me up and o