Read the passage. Paraphrased from “The Rockpile” From their view, Roy and John could see the Harlem River. During summers, boys swam and played in it. One time, a boy had drowned there. His mother knocked on people’s doors looking for him all day. Later that evening, people throughout the neighborhood could hear the mother hysterically crying, as her husband carried the boy’s drowned body back to their apartment. That incident put great fear into Elizabeth. What does the boy’s drowning symbolize for Elizabeth?
A. the dangers of the world outside her home
B. her good fortune to have three children
C. her mixed feelings about her husband
D. the unequal treatment of her sons
