Question

Read this excerpt from Langston Hughes's story "Thank you, M'am." This exchange takes place after the boy has unsuccessfully tried to steal the woman's purse, and she has grabbed him and brought him back to her home.
"You gonna take me to jail?" asked the boy, bending over the sink.

"Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere," said the woman. "Here I am trying to get home to cook me a bite to eat, and you snatch my pocketbook! Maybe you ain't been to your supper either, late as it be. Have you?"

"There's nobody home at my house," said the boy.

“Then we’ll eat,” said the woman, “I believe you’re hungry—or been hungry—to try to snatch my pockekbook.”

“I wanted a pair of blue suede shoes,” said the boy.

“Well, you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes,” said Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. “You could of asked me.”

Which description best conveys how the boy and the woman interact?


The woman exudes power and control, while the boy remains meek.

The woman feels sympathy for the boy, but he resents her for pitying him.

The woman treats the situation with humor, while the boy is serious.

Answer 1

I just took the test, the correct answer is .. “The woman exudes power and control, while the boy remains meek.”