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Generation Date: 10/16/2007
Generated By: Albert Deep
Theme
See It Through
by Edgar Albert Guest
When you’re up against a trouble,
Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders,
Plant your feet and take a brace.
When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See it through!
Black may be the clouds about you
And your future may seem grim,
But don’t let your nerve desert you;
Keep yourself in fighting trim.
If the worst is bound to happen,
Spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will not save you,
See it through!
Even hope may seem but futile,
When with troubles you’re beset,
But remember you are facing
Just what other men have met.
You may fail, but fall still fighting;
Don’t give up, whate’er you do;
Eyes front, head high to the finish.
See it through!
1. How does the line "You may fail, but you may conquer" contribute to the poem's
theme?
A. To be conquered by something is the most painful form of failure that anyone
can endure.
B. To overcome something is so challenging that most people lack the courage.
C. It is easier to quit at something that is defeating you because no one believes
in you.
D. When someone fails at a task, he or she may learn from it, so the failure is not
in vain.
2. Which of the statements below describes a theme from the passage?
A. Whatever obstacles life throws at people, they would be wise to face them and
get through them.
B. Getting through the obstacles of life is an impossible task for people, so they
should be cautious.
C. Failure is tough for most people to handle, and those people who cannot
handle failure will never succeed.
D. The amount of times someone fails is due to the fact that he or she does not
have a support system.
With the end of the semester at hand, Marcus didn't know whether he was going to graduate or
not. His scores hadn't been too high, and quite frankly, his motivation wasn't too high either. Football
was over, and any desire he once had for a passing grade ended with Baytown's winning touchdown
that shut his team out of the state finals. He could probably manage a scholarship to a junior college
somewhere, but even that didn't sound appealing. Just more books to read and more teachers on
my back about understanding theme and pronouns. Who cares? Marcus thought. He certainly didn't
care. He had even stopped doing his homework altogether.
It was on Thursday at 2:47 that a girl named Shelby made her way into his English Lit class. She
wore her pants too tight and too stiff like most of the girls in his school, but her hair was anything but
rigid. It was wild and curly and exploded from her head as if her scalp was too hot and it was trying
to escape. He instantly liked her. She was different. She was dangerous. She looked like she didn't
care either. He liked that in a girl.
His introduction to Shelby was cool, aloof, and indifferent, just as he had practiced in the
bathroom mirror. He wanted to offer a casual hello to make her aware of him, but he was also a
follower of the number one in flirting--don't try too hard.
It didn't take Marcus too long to understand that Shelby wanted guys to try too hard. She was a
straight-A student whose face was hidden half the time behind a dusty book jacket featuring names
of authors he couldn't pronounce without proper training in Russian linguistics. She read books she
wasn't even assigned for class! In English Lit, she talked incessantly about metaphors and motifs
and Middle English, and for some reason, Marcus was interested in what she had to say. When she
spoke, she was passionate, the curls bouncing and her eyes glowing. Passionate. It was how he had
once felt about lines of scrimmage and linebackers. Perhaps that's what the years and years of
practice--of trying--gave him. It wasn't the wins. It was the passion for what he was doing.
Maybe, he thought, I should give homework another chance.
3. Which of the statements below describes a theme from the passage?
A. Passionate people are unhappy people.
B. Effort can lead to passion and caring.
C. Passion won’t bring complete happiness.
D. Practice and trying lead to disappointment.
Just Like Water
By Lauryn Hill
The Proof of God
by Mike Finley
Moving down the streams of my lifetime,
pools of fascination in my sleep
The proof Is in the breath so simple.
Breathe in, breathe out,
Cooling off the fire of my longing,
warming up my cold within His heat
Melting down the walls of inhibition,
evaporating all of my fears
Baptizing me into complete submission,
dissolving my condition with His tears…
It's just like the water…
I ain't felt this way in years…
It's just like the water, the water…
I ain't felt this way in years.
Coursing through my senses He's prevailing,
floating through the space of my design
Drowning me, I find my insides sailing,
drinking in the mainstream of His mind
Filling up the cup of my emotions,
spilling over into all I do
If only I could get lost in His ocean,
surviving on the thought of loving You…
it's just like the water…
I ain't felt this way in years…
http://www.lauryn-hill.com/lyrics.html#water
Then tell where one begins
And the other ends.
Or tell me it was you
Who gave instructions to the lungs,
"I have inhaled enough, old friend,
Now it's time to let it go."
The truth is, it happens
And it happens again,
Over and over, every minute
A governor, and it governs us
Without our being aware,
And it is everywhere,
In every cell and every blink
And every balanced process
That there is.
And you can say
That's no old man with a beard
But I say well it's something
And it keeps us going day to day,
A will to order that provides us
Opportunities,
It is given, and there is no moment
When we are free from this
Casual miracle,
This tap on the shoulder
That says here, friend,
See what you can do.
http://www.inkpots.net/HP/005_09.html
4. Both selections share a theme related to —
A. doubt.
B. faith.
C. justice.
D. survival.
Doreen and Leila were sitting in front of the cafeteria steps. Every day, for the last four years of
their high school lives, they both sat on the cafeteria steps by in front of the cafeteria and in front of
the parking lot. The students came and went, but everyday for the last four years at noon, Doreen
and Leila were at the same place—every day except for one week their freshman year.
During that week, their freshman year they didn't know anyone. Doreen walked into the cafeteria
and saw a sea of people, and suddenly, she got seasick. Everywhere she tried to sit, she was met
with crooked glances and stern looks. It was one of the few times she actually went noticed. It was a
territory issue, and people in the cafeteria guarded their lunch tables like castles and acres of land.
Finally, she gave up and took her lunch outside. As she walked out, there sat Leila eating her lunch,
too. After being rejected from lunch table to lunch table, Doreen decided not to even bother sitting
near Leila.
"It's a madhouse in there, huh?" Leila offered.
Doreen was taken aback that someone was actually talking to her. She wasn't even ready for it.
She had a mouth full of lunch and had to wait to respond.
"Um. . . yeah. It's crazy in there," Doreen responded.
"I'm Leila."
"I'm Doreen."
And that's how it started. Now, four years later, the two sat in the same spot where they had first
met and it seemed as if nothing had changed except that Doreen and Leila both walked the halls as
ghosts. People seemed to walk into them sometimes as if they were part of the walls. If not for the
report cards they received, there would be no proof that they attended Pierson High School. Even
that showed they only existed on paper.
However, from their lunch post, they saw everything: the football players who cheated on exams,
the cheerleaders who skipped out on class, the kids drag racing in the parking lot. They had their
eyes on the whole school. That was how they were able to steal the license plates of every car on
campus.
The two had decided that as a senior prank, they would steal the license plates from every car in
the school. Since no one really noticed them one way or the other, they skipped out on their
lunchroom class and sat out on each lunch period pulling off their prank. They had sat outside so
often that they knew everyone's lunch schedule, who was on campus, and what times people would
come and go. They were able to go from car to car while people were in class and take all the
license plates—even the teachers. There were so many, Leila was able to fill up the trunk of her car.
They even took the license plate off of Leila's car so that no one would get suspicious, not that
anyone knew that Leila drove at all.
As school let out, everyone stood around baffled as to what had happened in the parking lot.
Some didn't even notice their plates were missing. As Leila and Doreen drove out of the school, they
were laughing hysterically, even though their laughs were drowned out by the clanging of license
plates in Leila's trunk.
adapted from "Seeing Ghosts" by c.safos
5. Which statement best describes the theme of this passage?
A. Just because someone is overlooked does not mean he or she cannot make an
impression.
B. School is hard on people when they have no extracurricular activity to fall back
on.
C. Timid people should speak up instead of being rude and hurtful.
D. Schools have become a place for cliques instead of education.
6. Which sentence from the story best demonstrates the passage's theme?
A. The students came and went, but everyday for the last four years at noon,
Doreen and Leila were at the same place—every day except for one week their
freshman year.
B. Since no one really noticed them one way or the other, they skipped out on
their lunchroom class and sat out on each lunch period pulling off their prank.
C. Every day for the last four years of their high school lives, they both sat on the
cafeteria steps by the parking lot.
D. It was a territory issue, and people in the cafeteria guarded their lunch tables
like castles and acres of land.
Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like
A messenger came running into the palace. "My lords," he shouted, "the enemy is coming. The
Wild Horsemen are riding across the plain toward the city gates. What shall we do?"
Everyone rushed out to the gate to look. Far away, but coming closer every second, was the dark
mass of horsemen. Dust rose high from their horses' hoofs and their swords and spears twinkled in
the sunlight.
The little fat man stood quietly leaning on his staff. "If you will treat me with courtesy," he said, "I
will save the city. Give me something to eat and something to drink and speak to me politely. That is
the only way to get a dragon to help you."
"Piffle and poffle!" cried the mandarin. "You are not a dragon! Everyone can see that you are only
a dusty old wanderer. We have no time to give you free meals or to talk politely. Get out of the way."
And he ran home to the palace and crawled under the bed where he lay shivering.
In a few minutes, the streets were empty except for Han and the little fat old man.
"Well," said Han, "I don't think we have much time. The enemy will be here soon. I don't know
whether you are a dragon or not, but if you are hungry and thirsty, please do me the honor of coming
into my humble house."
With a low bow he shoed the old man the way into his tiny hut. There, he gave him the bowl of
rice and the cup of wine which were all he had.
The old man ate and drank. Then he stood up. "I don't think much of the people of Wu," he said,
"but for your sake I will save the city."
He went out to the gate. The Wild Horsemen were very close. The little fat man puffed out his
cheeks. He blew a long breath. The sky grew dark and lightning sizzled from the clouds to the earth.
A great wind arose. It caught the Wild Horsemen and blew them far and wide. Those who escaped
turned and galloped madly away through the storm. The sky cleared. The sun shone again.
-Adapted from a story by Jay Williams
The Ant and the Chrysalis
An Ant nimbly running about in the sunshine in search of food came across a Chrysalis that was
very near its time of change. The Chrysalis moved its tail, and thus attracted the attention of the Ant,
who then saw for the first time that it was alive. "Poor, pitiable animal!" cried the Ant disdainfully.
"What a sad fate is yours! While I can run hither and thither, at my pleasure, and, if I wish, ascend
the tallest tree, you lie imprisoned here in your shell, with power only to move a joint or two of your
scaly tail." The Chrysalis heard all this, but did not try to make any reply.
A few days after, when the Ant passed that way again, nothing but the shell remained. Wondering
what had become of its contents, he felt himself suddenly shaded and fanned by the gorgeous wings
of a beautiful Butterfly. "Behold in me," said the Butterfly, "your much-pitied friend! Boast now of your
powers to run and climb as long as you can get me to listen." So saying, the Butterfly rose in the air,
and, borne along and aloft on the summer breeze, was soon lost to the sight of the Ant forever.
http://www.aesopfables.com
7. Two of the themes in the first story are “Your eyes may deceive you” and “It pays to
be kind.” In comparing these two themes, which of the following is true?
A. The two themes are really part of a larger theme having to do with friendship.
B. The two themes work hand-in-hand to convey the message of the story.
C. The two themes are so different that they have no relation to each other.
D. The two themes contradict each other, which only confuses the reader.
8. What theme do these two tales have in common?
A. Being kind to people will always pay off.
B. Things are not always as they appear to be.
C. Don't pity people; you might be wrong about them.
D. It's better to be wise than to be beautiful.
9. Which of the following statements contrasts the themes of these two stories?
A. While both stories deal with looks being deceptive, the first deals with trusting
what someone says, even if it contradicts what your eyes tell you.
B. The themes of both stories have to do with the issue of trust. The only
difference is that one story is about people and the other is about animals.
C. The first story's theme deals with the need to obey one's superior; the second
story is just about the friendship between two animals.
D. The theme of friendship runs throughout both these stories, but only the
theme of the first story is about the value of being kind to people.
The Serpent and the Eagle
An Eagle swooped down upon a Serpent and seized it in his talons with the intention of carrying it
off and devouring it. But the Serpent was too quick for him and had its coils round him in a moment;
and then there ensued a life-and-death struggle between the two. A countryman, who was a witness
of the encounter, came to the assistance of the eagle, and succeeded in freeing him from the
Serpent and enabling him to escape. In revenge, the Serpent spat some of his poison into the man's
drinking-horn. Heated with his exertions, the man was about to slake his thirst with a draught from
the horn, when the Eagle knocked it out of his hand, and spilled its contents upon the ground.
http://www.aesopfables.com
The Ant and the Dove
An Ant went to the bank of a river to quench its thirst, and being carried away by the rush of the
stream, was on the point of drowning. A Dove sitting on a tree overhanging the water plucked a leaf
and let it fall into the stream close to her. The Ant climbed onto it and floated in safety to the bank.
Shortly afterwards a birdcatcher came and stood under the tree, and laid his lime-twigs for the Dove,
which sat in the branches. The Ant, perceiving his design, stung him in the foot. In pain the
birdcatcher threw down the twigs, and the noise made the Dove take wing.
http://www.aesopfables.com
10. Which of the following is a theme these two fables have in common?
A. Your friends may betray you.
B. One good turn deserves another.
C. A stranger can prove to be a friend.
D. Always watch your back.
Scary Movies
by Kim Addonizio
Today the cloud shapes are terrifying,
and I keep expecting some enormous
black-and-white B-movie Cyclops
to appear at the edge of the horizon,
to come striding over the ocean
and drag me from my kitchen
to the deep cave that flickered
into my young brain one Saturday
at the Baronet Theater where I sat helpless
between my older brothers, pumped up
on candy and horror—that cave,
the litter of human bones
gnawed on and flung toward the entrance,
I can smell their stench as clearly
as the bacon fat from breakfast. This
is how it feels to lose it—
not sanity, I mean, but whatever it is
that helps you get up in the morning
and actually leave the house
on those days when it seems like death
in his brown uniform
is cruising his panel truck
of packages through your neighborhood.
I think of a friend’s voice
on her answering machine—
Hi, I’m not here—
the morning of her funeral,
the calls filling up the tape
and the mail still arriving,
and I feel as afraid as I was
after all those vampire movies
when I’d come home and lie awake
all night, rigid in my bed,
unable to get up
even to use the bathroom because the undead
were waiting underneath it;
if I so much as stuck a bare
foot out there in the unprotected air
they’d grab me by the ankle and pull me
under. And my parents said there was
nothing there, when I was older
I would know better, and now
they’re dead, and I’m older,
and I know better.
11. Which of the statements below describes a theme from the passage?
A. Children are innocent and should not be exposed to anything relating to death.
B. Horror movies provide an escape from death, even if they are about death.
C. Some things from childhood can stay with a person into adulthood.
D. Adults always know better than children when it comes to matters of life and
death.
12. Which of the statements below describes a theme from the passage?
A. Death is waiting for everyone.
B. Memories from childhood are easily forgotten.
C. People can sometime be as ghastly as vampires.
D. Horror movies do not reflect what death really is.
Still I Rise
by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
13. Which statement is true about the theme of this poem?
A. It deals with flight.
B. It deals with adversity.
C. It deals with jewelry.
D. It deals with the ocean.
14. Which phrase contributes most to the poem's theme of "overcoming adversity"?
A. "Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave"
B. "Just like moons and like suns"
C. "I rise"
D. "Does my haughtiness offend you?"
The Wolf, the Nanny-Goat, and The Kid
A Nanny-goat went out to fill her empty milk bag and graze newly sprung grass. She fastened the
latch tight, warned her kid saying: "Do not, upon your life, open the door unless you are shown this
sign and told this password: 'Plague on the wolf and his breed!' " As she was saying these words,
the Wolf by chance prowling around, overheard the spoken words and kept them in his memory.
Nanny-Goat, as one can well believe, had not seen the glutton beast. As soon as she departs, he
changes his voice and in a counterfeit tone he asks to be let in, saying: "Plague on the Wolf,"
believing he'd go right in. The canny Kid looks through the crack, "Show me your white paw, else I'll
not open." He shouted at once. (White paw is a thing seldom seen in wolfdom, as everyone knows.)
This Wolf, aghast upon hearing these words, went slinking home the same way he had come.
Where would the Kid be now, had he believed the password, which by chance our Wolf had
overheard? Two guarantees are better than one, even a third one would not be extreme.
http://www.pacificnet.net/~johnr/cgi/aesop1.cgi?jdlf&iv15jdiv23m.jpg
15. Which sentence from the story best demonstrates the passage's theme?
A. Nanny-Goat, as one can well believe, had not seen the glutton beast.
B. This Wolf, aghast upon hearing these words, went slinking home the same way
he had come.
C. Two guarantees are better than one; even a third one would not be extreme.
D. A Nanny-goat went out to fill her empty milk bag and graze newly sprung
grass.
Answers
1. D
2. A
3. B
4. B
5. A
6. B
7. B
8. B
9. A
10. B
11. C
12. A
13. B
14. C
15. C
Explanations
1. Throughout the poem, the speaker talks about seeing a task through. The
speaker attempts to inspire the reader by showing how not giving up on
something because of failure is beneficial. in this case, a lesson learned by failure
can be very beneficial, and in way, can be considered a victory.
2. Throughout the poem, the speaker talks about seeing a task through. The
speaker attempts to inspire the reader by showing how not giving up on
something because of failure is beneficial.
3. Throughout the story, Marcus struggles with a lack of motivation. He simply
doesn't care. After seeing how much Shelby reads and watching how Shelby gets
passionate about the books she reads, Marcus realizes that passion only comes
when one puts effort into whatever one is doing. Passion isn't just born, he
realizes. It comes with a little effort.
4. Both selections share a theme related to faith or a "higher power". In the first
selection, the narrator describes her experiences and feelings related to
spirituality. In the second selection, the narrator argues that the act of breathing
is more than a mechanical process, but a miracle given by a higher power.
5. The theme of a story is the unifying or dominant idea, motif, etc. Theme is
different from main idea in that it gives the passage a larger meaning. It might
be helpful to think of theme as the "moral" or "lesson" you learn from a work of
literature. In this passage, the unifying theme is that just because someone is
overlooked does not mean he or she cannot make an impression. Doreen and
Leila may not be popular, but they found a way to make people remember them.
6. The theme is the largest idea in the story. Which sentence best supports the
largest idea this story presents? This sentence explains that their ability to go
ignored helps them in being able to pull the prank off.
7. If you think about what happens in the story, you will see that the two themes
work well together. Han decides he may as well be kind to the little old man, and
it pays off in that the old man turns out to be a powerful dragon who saves the
city—he wasn’t what he appeared to be.
8. These stories take on a number of issues such as the value of kindness. But the
only theme they both share is that things aren’t always as they appear. In the
first story, the little fat old man turned out to have the power to save the city. In
the second story, the chrysalis, which appeared to be nearly dead, later turned
into a beautiful butterfly, much to the ant’s surprise.
9. The two characters never actually speak to each other in the second story, so the
ant’s mistaken information about the chrysalis comes only from what he sees. In
the first story, however, the old man tries to convince people that he is a
powerful dragon and they should be kind to him. Han decides to trust him, even
thought the old man doesn’t look like a dragon, and it pays off.
10. In both stories, doing a good deed for someone results in another good deed. In
the first story, the countryman freed the eagle from the serpent, and the eagle
turned around and saved the countryman’s life. In the second tale, the dove
saved the ant by dropping a leaf in the river, and the ant stung the birdcatcher in
the foot to save the dove.
11. Throughout the poem, the speaker talks about death, but the speaker also talks
about the difference in her views of death from when she was a child to when
she became an adult. Her fears that something would grab her under her bed
were dismissed by her parents, but since they died too, her feelings about death,
even as child, were still valid. In addition, when she became an adult they did
not change.
12. Throughout the poem, the speaker talks about death. She talks about how much
she feared it. She talks about how it affected her with her friend's death and her
parents' deaths. She even talks about how fictitious deaths, like those in the
movies, affected her. In every instance, her fear of death affects her in some
way.
13. The theme of a story is the unifying or dominant idea, motif, etc. Theme is
different from main idea in that it gives the passage a larger meaning. It might
be helpful to think of theme as the "moral" or "lesson" you learn from a work of
literature.
14. The theme of a story is the unifying or dominant idea, motif, etc. Theme is
different from main idea in that it gives the passage a larger meaning. It might
be helpful to think of theme as the "moral" or "lesson" you learn from a work of
literature. "I rise" suggests that speaker is rising above or overcoming
something. The passage isn't just about slavery and the plight of African
Americans, it serves to teach a lesson.
15. The theme of a story is the unifying or dominant idea, motif, etc. Theme is
different from main idea in that it gives the passage a larger meaning. It might
be helpful to think of theme as the "moral" or "lesson" you learn from a work of
literature. When searching for clues to help you figure out the theme, look for
statements in the passage that don't talk about the plot directly--statements that
reflect the message without moving the plot forward. "Two guarantees are better
than one, even a third one would not be extreme" helps you understand the
greater message of the story but does not add more action to the story.
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