The Family, from Run With the Horsemen
Ferrol Sams
The family was poor. It was "poor but proud." The confused boy grew up thinking one should be proud of being poor. One of the in-laws slipped around occasionally and made liquor. He had plenty of cash, did not read books, and was tolerated but not admired. A cousin had surrendered to the boll weevil, moved out of the county, and bought Coca-Cola stock. He was rich, but there was unspoken disdain for him because he had left the land.
The grandparents told horror stories of having to boil dirt from under the smokehouse to retrieve salt after the Yankees had been on the land. They had learned to eat a weed called poke salad as a means of survival in those days, a custom that they passed on as a springtime ritual of communion to their descendants. Things apparently got a little better for awhile, but then the Great Depression hit the South like aftershock from the earthquake of Reconstruction, and the children knew poverty firsthand. They also, however, knew pride. No one in the county had any money to spend, and there was a security of blood that transcended the possession of material things. When one is convinced that one is to the manor born, the actual physical condition of the manor itself is of negligible importance.
Question
Which question about this passage would provide the MOST information about how the "confused boy" feels about his family?
Responses
A Why does the family continue the springtime ritual of eating poke salad?Why does the family continue the springtime ritual of eating poke salad?
B Why does the family still feel good about itself even if it is living in a state of poverty?Why does the family still feel good about itself even if it is living in a state of poverty?
C Why does the family feel disdain for the cousin who is rich because he bought stock in Coca-Cola?Why does the family feel disdain for the cousin who is rich because he bought stock in Coca-Cola?
D Why did the grandparents need to retrieve salt from underneath the smokehouses after the Yankees had been on the land?Why did the grandparents need to retrieve salt from underneath the smokehouses after the Yankees had been on the land?
