Part A

What inference can be made about Paul's role in the narrator's experience at Rock Island in "Raccoon Olympics"?

Paul acts as a tour guide, by showing the narrator and her family the island's lighthouse.

Paul acts as an entertainer for the narrator by telling her stories about the island's history.

Paul acts as a security guard, by cautioning the narrator of the dangers on the beach at the tip of the island.

Paul acts as a protector for the narrator, by helping her to see what is appropriate for her.
Question 2
Part B

Which evidence best supports the answer in Part A?

“'So, to test their swimming, we drive the raccoons out into the middle of the lake and put them in the water. If they’re good swimmers, we start training them for the Olympics—....'"

“'You ever heard of the Raccoon Olympics?' Paul asks me. I shake my head. He winks. 'No? Well, some raccoons are very good swimmers. But we want to find the best for our Olympic team....'"

“It will not occur to me until I am an adult to wonder if Paul convinced all the kids he could train wild raccoons to compete in swim meets, or if he just made up a kinder explanation for me.”

"Paul doesn’t really say what the raccoons look like when they swim. But my swimming raccoons wear goggles and have special swim caps fitted over their ringed tails to decrease drag."

Part B - "It will not occur to me until I am an adult to wonder if Paul convinced all the kids he could train wild raccoons to compete in swim meets, or if he just made up a kinder explanation for me.”

Explanation:

Paul King is the park naturalist for the Park where the narrator and her parents are volunteering as docents for a restored lighthouse in the short story, Raccoon Olympics by Anna Chotlos.

In the story, Paul catches a racoon and explains that sometimes the racoon population gets too large for sustainability. When asked what he does with the captured racoons, he says that he trains them to become swimmers in the Racoon Olympics which was a lie as he did not want her to know that they culled them.

This showed that he acted as a protector for the narrator by explaining things in an appropriate way to her.