Answer:
"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.
1. Which theme is NOT present in this passage?
A) Family should always be loyal to each other, regardless of the situation.
B) A family needs to communicate freely about its concerns among its members.
C) When it comes to matters of family, money does not trump one's loyalty to blood.
D) One's pride does not need to be dependent on the amount of money or land one owns.
Explanation:
