Keystone Review

What

Keystone Review

When

5/7/2018, 7:00 AM – 8:00 AM

Read the following passage. Then answer questions 1–8.
This excerpt portrays life in the late 19th century as many European immigrants entered North
America.
excerpt from My Antonia
by Willa Cather
I first heard of Antonia on what seemed to me an interminable1 journey across the great midland
plain of North America. I was ten years old then; I had lost both my father and mother within a year,
and my Virginia relatives were sending me out to my grandparents, who lived in Nebraska. I traveled
in the care of a mountain boy, Jake Marpole, one of the “hands” on my father’s old farm under the
Blue Ridge, who was now going West to work for my grandfather. Jake’s experience of the world
was not much wider than mine. He had never been in a railway train until the morning when we set
out together to try our fortunes in a new world.
We went all the way in day-coaches, becoming more sticky and grimy with each stage of the
journey. Jake bought everything the newsboys offered him: candy, oranges, brass collar buttons, a
watch-charm, and for me a “Life of Jesse James,” which I remember as one of the most satisfactory
books I have ever read. Beyond Chicago we were under the protection of a friendly passenger
conductor, who knew all about the country to which we were going and gave us a great deal of
advice in exchange for our confidence. He seemed to us an experienced and worldly man who had
been almost everywhere; in his conversation he threw out lightly the names of distant states and
cities. He wore the rings and pins and badges of different fraternal orders2 to which he belonged.
Even his cuff-buttons were engraved with hieroglyphics, and he was more inscribed than an
Egyptian obelisk3.
Once when he sat down to chat, he told us that in the immigrant car ahead there was a family from
“across the water” whose destination was the same as ours.
“They can’t any of them speak English, except one little girl, and all she can say is ‘We go Black
Hawk, Nebraska.’ She’s not much older than you, twelve or thirteen, maybe, and she’s as bright as a
new dollar. Don’t you want to go ahead and see her, Jimmy? She’s got the pretty brown eyes, too!”
This last remark made me bashful, and I shook my head and settled down to “Jesse James.”
I do not remember crossing the Missouri River, or anything about the long day’s journey through
Nebraska. Probably by that time I had crossed so many rivers that I was dull to them. The only thing
very noticeable about Nebraska was that it was still, all day long, Nebraska.
1 interminable—having no end
2 fraternal orders—social organizations
3obelisk—pillar
Pennsylvania Keystone Literature Item and Scoring Sampler—September 2016 7
LITERATURE MODULE 1
I had been sleeping, curled up in a red plush seat, for a long while when we reached Black Hawk.
Jake roused me and took me by the hand. We stumbled down from the train to a wooden siding,
where men were running about with lanterns. I couldn’t see any town, or even distant lights; we were
surrounded by utter darkness. The engine was panting heavily after its long run. In the red glow from
the fire-box, a group of people stood huddled together on the platform, encumbered by bundles and
boxes. I knew this must be the immigrant family the conductor had told us about.
The woman wore a fringed shawl tied over her head, and she carried a little tin trunk in her arms,
hugging it as if it were a baby. There was an old man, tall and stooped. Two half-grown boys and a
girl stood holding oilcloth bundles, and a little girl clung to her mother’s skirts. Presently a man with
a lantern approached them and began to talk, shouting and exclaiming. I pricked up my ears, for it
was positively the first time I had ever heard a foreign tongue.
Another lantern came along. A bantering voice called out: “Hello, are you Mr. Burden’s folks? If you
are, it’s me you’re looking for. I’m Otto. I’m Mr. Burden’s hired man, and I’m to drive you out. Hello,
Jimmy, ain’t you scared to come so far west?”
I looked up with interest at the new face in the lantern light. He might have stepped out of the pages
of “Jesse James.” He wore a sombrero hat, with a wide leather band and a bright buckle, and the
ends of his moustache were twisted up stiffly, like little horns. He looked lively and ferocious, I
thought, and as if he had a history. He told us we had a long night drive ahead of us, and had better
be on the hike. He led us to a hitching-bar where two farm wagons were tied, and I saw the foreign
family crowding into one of them. The other was for us. Jake got on the front seat with Otto, and I
rode on the straw in the bottom of the wagon-box, covered up with a buffalo hide. The immigrants
rumbled off into the empty darkness, and we followed them.
Pennsylvania Keystone Literature Item and Scoring Sampler—September 2016 8
LITERATURE MODULE 1
MULTIPLE-CHOICE ITEMS
1. Read the sentence from the passage.
“Once when he sat down to chat, he told us that in the immigrant car ahead there was a family
from ‘across the water’ whose destination was the same as ours.”
Which emotion is conveyed through the use of the word chat?
A. friendliness
B. contemplation
C. indifference
D. embarrassment

2. Why does Jimmy not go and talk to the girl with the “brown eyes”?
A. He is embarrassed by the conductor.
B. He wants to read his book.
C. He wants to talk with the conductor.
D. He is waiting to take a nap.

3. Read the sentence from the passage.
“The woman wore a fringed shawl tied over her head, and she carried a little tin trunk in her
arms, hugging it as if it were a baby.”
What idea does the author’s use of simile help to communicate?
A. The woman’s possessions are too heavy for her.
B. The woman is indifferent toward her possessions.
C. The woman’s possessions are precious to her.
D. The woman knows how to care for her possessions.

4. What is the effect of the point of view in the passage?
A. It creates a personal connection to all of the characters.
B. It compares the thoughts and feelings of all the characters.
C. It provides the subjective thoughts and feelings of the main character.
D. It describes the objective thoughts and feelings of only minor characters

5. Which word best describes the conductor?
A. talkative
B. humble
C. arrogant
D. diligent

6. How does the author’s use of fiction as a literary form influence the passage?
A. The use of fiction allows the conflict to be resolved in an improbable fashion.
B. The use of fiction allows the setting to be conveyed as overly harsh and unforgiving.
C. The use of fiction allows for the development of tension between more than one character.
D. The use of fiction allows for the creation of characters who are both sympathetic and
slightly exaggerated.

7. My Antonia was first published in 1918. Which literary trend from the early 1900s is best
reflected in the passage?
A. a focus on the complexities of life
B. a concern about working conditions
C. a concern about how prejudice affects people
D. a focus on people who move to start a new life