Author: Anonymous

Read the following short story “A Detail” by Stephen Crane….

Read the following short story “A Detail” by Stephen Crane. The tiny old lady in the black dress and curious little black bonnet had at first seemed alarmed at the sound made by her feet upon the stone pavements. But later she forgot about it, for she suddenly came into the tempest of the Sixth Avenue shopping district, where from the streams of people and vehicles went up a roar like that from headlong mountain torrents. She seemed then like a chip that catches, recoils, turns and wheels, a reluctant thing in the clutch of the impetuous river. She hesitated, faltered, debated with herself. Frequently she seemed about to address people; then of a sudden she would evidently lose her courage. Meanwhile the torrent jostled her, swung her this and that way. At last, however, she saw two young women gazing in at a shop-window. They were well-dressed girls; they wore gowns with enormous sleeves that made them look like full-rigged ships with all sails set. They seemed to have plenty of time; they leisurely scanned the goods in the window. Other people had made the tiny old woman much afraid because obviously  they were speeding to keep such tremendously important engagements. She went close to the girls and peered in at the same window. She watched them furtively for a time. Then finally she said— “Excuse me!” The girls looked down at this old face with its two large eyes turned towards them. “Excuse me, can you tell me where I can get any work?” For an instant the two girls stared. Then they seemed about to exchange a smile, but, at the last moment, they checked it. The tiny old lady’s eyes were upon them. She was quaintly serious, silently expectant. She made one marvel that in that face the wrinkles showed no trace of experience, knowledge; they were simply little, soft, innocent creases. As for her glance, it had the trustfulness of ignorance and the candour of babyhood. “I want to get something to do, because I need the money,” she continued since, in their astonishment, they had not replied to her first question. “Of course I’m not strong and I couldn’t do very much, but I can sew well; and in a house where there was a good many men folks, I could do all the mending. Do you know any place where they would like me to come?” The young women did then exchange a smile, but it was a subtle tender smile, the edge of personal grief. “Well, no, madame,” hesitatingly said one of them at last; “I don’t think I know any one.” A shade passed over the tiny old lady’s face, a shadow of the wing of disappointment. “Don’t you?” she said, with a little struggle to be brave, in her voice. Then the girl hastily continued—”But if you will give me your address, I may find some one, and if I do, I will surely let you know of it.” The tiny old lady dictated her address, bending over to watch the girl write on a visiting card with a little silver pencil. Then she said— “I thank you very much.” She bowed to them, smiling, and went on down the avenue. As for the two girls, they walked to the curb and watched this aged figure, small and frail, in its black gown and curious black bonnet. At last, the crowd, the innumerable wagons, intermingling and changing with uproar and riot, suddenly engulfed it. Write one to two paragraphs analyzing the tone and word choice in the excerpt. Identify the tone of the story, explain why Crane chose that tone, and analyze how word choice helps him achieve this impact. Be sure to include evidence from the text to support your ideas.

Refer to “The Lottery Ticket” by Chekhov to respond to the f…

Refer to “The Lottery Ticket” by Chekhov to respond to the following question. Reread the following excerpt: He walked about the room and went on thinking. It occurred to him: what if his wife really did go abroad? It is pleasant to travel alone, or in the society of light, careless women who live in the present, and not such as think and talk all the journey about nothing but their children, sigh, and tremble with dismay over every farthing. Ivan Dmitritch imagined his wife in the train with a multitude of parcels, baskets, and bags; she would be sighing over something, complaining that the train made her head ache, that she had spent so much money…. At the stations he would continually be having to run for boiling water, bread and butter. …She wouldn’t have dinner because of its being too dear…. “She would begrudge me every farthing,” he thought, with a glance at his wife. “The lottery ticket is hers, not mine! Besides, what is the use of her going abroad? What does she want there? She would shut herself up in the hotel, and not let me out of her sight…. I know!” And for the first time in his life his mind dwelt on the fact that his wife had grown elderly and plain, and that she was saturated through and through with the smell of cooking, while he was still young, fresh, and healthy, and might well have got married again. “Of course, all that is silly nonsense,” he thought; “but…why should she go abroad? What would she make of it? And yet she would go, of course…. I can fancy…. In reality it is all one to her, whether it is Naples or Klin. She would only be in my way. I should be dependent upon her. I can fancy how, like a regular woman, she will lock the money up as soon as she gets it…. She will look after her relations and grudge me every farthing.” Which of the following best describes the tone of this excerpt?

Read the following excerpt from Little Women by Louisa May A…

Read the following excerpt from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  Laurie lay luxuriously swinging to and fro in his hammock one warm September afternoon, wondering what his neighbors were about, but too lazy to go and find out. He was in one of his moods, for the day had been both unprofitable and unsatisfactory, and he was wishing he could live it over again. The hot weather made him indolent, and he had shirked his studies, tried Mr. Brooke’s patience to the utmost, displeased his grandfather by practicing half the afternoon, frightened the maidservants half out of their wits by mischievously hinting that one of his dogs was going mad, and, after high words with the stableman about some fancied neglect of his horse, he had flung himself into his hammock to fume over the stupidity of the world in general, till the peace of the lovely day quieted him in spite of himself. Staring up into the green gloom of the horse-chestnut trees above him, he dreamed dreams of all sorts, and was just imagining himself tossing on the ocean in a voyage round the world, when the sound of voices brought him ashore in a flash. Peeping through the meshes of the hammock, he saw the Marches coming out, as if bound on some expedition. Which of the following best describes the author’s tone?