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Generation Date: 10/16/2007
Generated By: Albert Deep
Symbolism
The Snow Man
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
adapted from "The Snow Man" by Wallace Stevens
1. Why does the poet use the title “The Snow Man” for this poem?
A. Snow is always used as a way to convey coldness and death.
B. Snowmen only are visible in winter just as someone who is trying to be
avoided only comes out in winter.
C. Snowmen are cold physically just as someone who is sad is cold emotionally.
D. The poem is about snow, so he has to name it after something in the snow.
In the beginning, we were happy. And we were always excessive. So in the beginning we were
happy to excess.
We were Mom and Dad and I--three palindromes!--and we lived eight hundred feet in the air
above San Francisco; an apartment at the top of a building at the top of a hill: full of light, full of
voices, full of windows, full of water and bridges and hills.
Mom was the center. Mom was irresistible. Whatever she was saying or wearing or smelling of
was captivating--all our senses were attuned to her. As soon as I was old enough to walk, I admired
and wanted to be like her, so much that they had me seeing a shrink by the time I was three. The
shrink said I needed to spend more time with my dad. But how? Mom was irresistible.
One Sunday, on a shrink-mandated father-and-son outing, Dad took me across the bay on the
ferry, re-creating the commute he made as a boy, before the Golden Gate Bridge was completed,
from Catholic school in San Francisco to his home in Marin. Dad always said, he wasn't a man until
he made it to the other side. Now, it was my turn. On the way, Dad misplaced his wallet. To make
matters worse, halfway there it started to rain, and we didn't have any umbrellas, so when we arrived
we stood in a doorway near the water.
Dad hadn't shaved since Friday morning before work, and he looked rough. Even I could see it.
Our matching jumpsuits were sad without Mom. We looked out at the water.
A man with a box and an umbrella strode past, glanced at us, stopped fifty feet on, turned,
walked back, and handed the box to Dad.
"I can't give you anything else," he said. "But take this."
Dad said, "Thank you," and took the box. Dad opened the box.
"He gave us donuts!" I shouted.
Dad looked at me and started chuckling. "That guy thinks we don't have any money."
"We don't," I said, reminding him about the wallet.
He took a donut, laughed again, and blew powdered sugar out of his mouth. "What do you
mean," he said, "we're millionaires!"
I ate a glazed, and then a chocolate with sprinkles. Dad ate all the rest, steadily, devouring them
with great relish and no preference for jelly over old fashioned over chocolate or bear claw--only
pleasure, and great amusement.
adapted from Oh The Glory Of It All by Sean Wilsey
2. What act or object from the story is symbolic of the narrator becoming a man?
A. the narrator's father losing his wallet during the outing
B. the narrator enjoying donuts with his father
C. the narrator being closer to his mother than his father
D. the narrator and his father crossing the Golden Gate Bridge
3. What object or act symbolizes the family being happy and on top of the world?
A. the narrator's relationship with his mother
B. the narrator's dad losing his wallet
C. the location of their apartment
D. the father and son outing
Despite her name, Momma Rose's favorite flowers were African and French marigolds, and they
were the first seeds to go into the ground. But Momma Rose didn't simply open the paper packets
and dump them onto the soil, nor did she pour them into her palm and laboriously pick them out one
by one. She had a seed sower: a little plastic gadget that evenly and quickly dispensed seeds, and
she considered it one of the most ingenious inventions of her time. After filling the sower, she leaned
over and began placing the seeds an inch apart, until half the tilled space was filled, humming
Vivaldi's "Spring" while she worked.
http://www.chickflicksezine.com/archives/issue2/workman_mommarose.html
4. What does Momma Rose’s name symbolize?
A. her favorite flowers
B. her love of the seed sower
C. her connection with nature
D. her dislike of Spring
Alexander was reluctant to go to his father's summer home in Valencia. It was junior year, and all
his friends would be planning out the onset of their senior year. Alexander hadn't even seen his
father Gene in four years since his job moved him to Alaska, away from Alexander and his mother.
The distance proved to be too wide for Alexander's mom and his father as they ended up divorcing.
The last time he saw his father, Alexander had a baby face. "He probably won't even recognize me,"
Alexander thought to himself as he scratched at the shaggy beard that hung from his chin and neck
like a fur scarf. The last time he had heard from Gene, Gene had sent Alexander a picture of himself
holding a large salmon. In the picture, Gene had a beard as thick as a storm cloud, but he was
wearing shorts.
When Alexander's mother June told Alexander he would have to stay with Gene for the summer,
Alexander immediately went back to three years earlier when he last saw Gene—before he had a
driver's license, before he had a job, before he grew his own beard. Alexander tried everything to
stay. Finally, he got so frustrated that he cut off his beard and shaved his head in protest. Suddenly,
Alexander was that little kid he was when Gene left. He couldn't even form a decent argument to
convince his mother that he would be okay by himself for the summer while she went for her
summer internship in New York. "I'd be a bad mother if I left you alone here," she told him.
"You'd be a bad mother if you left at all," he responded in kind. "That's what he did."
A week later, a freshly-shaved Alexander was out of state and in Valencia. As he walked up to
the his father's summer home, he was blinded by the sand being blown in from the wind and tide.
Alexander could almost taste the salt—if he still had his beard, it would have collected in his beard.
The side of Gene's summer home was faded. It had once been a deep crimson red, as if the
house itself had bled out from the roof. The house was owned by Alexander's grandfather—Gene's
father. It was the only thing he left to Gene other than the last name—the same last name Alexander
carried. Alexander had seen older pictures of a beardless Gene and his grandfather fishing and
surfing near the house. The house looked so much more pathetic in person than it did in Alexander's
memories, postcards, and pictures. Despite this, Alexander could see that Gene was renovating the
shack. There were buckets of paint, brushes, and drop cloths stacked by the wall facing the ocean.
Alexander rang the bell, but there was no answer. He decided to let himself in through the screen
door. As he dropped his bags and made his way around the house, Alexander noticed a number of
framed pictures of his grandfather and Gene. In one, they were surfing in front of the house. In
another, they were barbecuing in the backyard. They both wore matching Bermuda shirts as the
flames from the fire outlined the house's red exterior. It was like they were standing in the middle of a
fire, but the look on their faces was even brighter. That's when Alexander's eyes moved to the
window facing the ocean. In the surf, he saw his father coasting and pivoting on his surfboard as if it
were made of string. He looked the same as he did in all the pictures--hairy, happy, haunted.
adapted from "Endless. Summer." by c.safos
5. What is the beard in the story symbolic of?
A. being grown up
B. reconciliation
C. future plans
D. being obnoxious
6. What is a symbol of relationships in the story?
A. Gene surfing
B. Gene wearing shorts
C. Gene's salmon
D. Gene's summer house
David's Haircut
When David steps out of the front door he is blinded by the white, fizzing sunlight and reaches
instinctively for his dad's hand.
It's the first warm day of the year, an unexpected heat that bridges the cusp between spring and
summer. Father and son are on their way to the barbershop, something they have always done
together.
Always, the routine is the same. "It's about time we got that mop of yours cut," David's dad will
say, pointing at him with two fingers. "Perhaps I should do it. Where are those shears, Janet?"
Sometimes, his dad chases him round the living room, pretending to cut off his ears. When he
was young David used to cry, scared that maybe he really would lose his ears. He has long since
grown out of that.
Mr. Samuels' barbershop is in a long room. There is a groove worn in the welcome mat by the
men who wipe their feet.
David loves the barbershop--it's like nowhere else. It smells of smoke and men and hair oil.
Black and white photographs of men with out-of-fashion hairstyles hang above a picture rail. Two
barber's chairs are bolted to the floor. They are heavy, old-fashioned chairs with foot pumps that hiss
and chatter as Mr. Samuels adjusts the height of the seat.
In front of the chairs are sinks with a showerhead and long metal hose attached to the taps.
Behind the sinks are mirrors and on either side of these, shelves overflowing with a mixture of plastic
combs, shaving mugs, scissors, straight razors, hair brushes and, stacked neatly in a pyramid, 10
bright red tubs of Brylcreem.
When it is David's turn for a cut, Mr. Samuels places a wooden board covered with a piece of
oxblood red leather across the arms of the chair, so that the barber doesn't have to stoop to cut the
boy's hair. David scrambles up onto the bench.
"The rate you're shooting up, you won't need this soon, you'll be sat in the chair," the barber says.
"Wow," says David, squirming round to look at his dad, forgetting that he can see him through the
mirror. "Dad, Mr. Samuels said I could be sitting in the chair soon, not just on the board!"
"So I hear," his father replies, not looking up from the paper. "I expect Mr. Samuels will start
charging me more for your hair then."
"At least double the price," said Mr. Samuels, winking at David.
"Wasn't so long ago when I had to lift you onto that board because you couldn't climb up there
yourself," he says.
"They don't stay young for long do they, kids," Mr. Samuels declares. All the men in the shop nod
in agreement. David nods too.
In the mirror he sees a little head sticking out of a long nylon cape. Occasionally he steals
glances at the barber as he works. He smells a mixture of stale sweat and aftershave as the barber's
moves around him, combing and snipping, combing and snipping.
David feels like he is in another world, noiseless except for the scuffing of the barber's shoes on
the floor and the snap of his scissors.
Sleepily, his eyes dropping to the front of the cape where his hair falls with the same softness as
snow, and he imagines sitting in the chair just like the men and older boys, the special bench left
leaning against the wall in the corner.
He thinks about the picture book of bible stories his aunt gave him for Christmas, the one of
Samson having his hair cut by Delilah. David wonders if his strength will go like Samson's.
When Mr. Samuels has finished, David hops down from the seat, rubbing the itchy hair from his
face. Looking down he sees his own thick, blonde hair scattered among the browns, greys and
blacks of the men who have sat in the chair before him. For a moment he wants to reach down and
gather up the broken blonde locks, to separate them from the others, but he does not have time.
"I tell you what, lad, let's get some fish and chips to take home, save your mum from cooking
tea," says David's dad and turns up the street.
The youngster is excited and grabs his dad's hand. The thick-skinned fingers close gently around
his and David is surprised to find, warming in his father's palm, a lock of his own hair.
adapted from "David's Haircut" by Ken Elkes
7. What other image from the story is symbolic of David growing into a young man?
A. The picture book of bible stories
B. His hair
C. The men in the shop nodding
D. The smell of chips
8. Consider the following quote from the story:
“It's the first really warm day of the year, an unexpected heat that bridges the cusp
between spring and summer. Father and son are on their way to the barbershop,
something they have always done together.”
What does the “cusp that bridges the gap between spring and summer” represent?
A. David growing from a child into a young man
B. The line of customers waiting for haircuts
C. Life and death
D. Mr. Samuels and the men at the barbershop’s feelings about David
The Cricket War
That summer an army of crickets started a war with my father when they invaded our cellar. Dad
didn't care for bugs much more than Mamma, but he could handle a few spiders and creepy crawlers
living in the basement. Every farm house had them. A part of rustic living, and something you had to
put up with if you wanted the simple life.
He told Mamma: Now that we're living out here, you can't be jerking your head over what's plain
natural, Ellen. But she was a city girl through and through and had no ears when it came to
accepting vermin. She said a cricket was just a noisy cockroach. She said in the city there were
blocks of buildings overrun with cockroaches with no way for people to get rid of them. No way could
she sleep with all that chirping going on; then to prove her point she wouldn't go to bed. She drank
coffee and she paced between the couch and the TV. Next morning, she threatened to pack up and
leave, so Dad went to the hardware store. He squirted poison from a jug in the basement and
around the foundation of the house. When he was finished, he told us that was the end of it.
What he should have said was: This is the beginning. The beginning of our war, the beginning of
our destruction. I often think back to that summer and try to imagine him delivering a speech like
that, because for the next fourteen days Mamma kept finding dead crickets in the clean laundry.
She'd shake out a towel or a sheet and a dead cricket would roll across the linoleum. Sometimes the
cat would corner one and swat it around, then carry it away in his mouth. Dad said swallowing a few
dead crickets wouldn't hurt as long as the cat didn't eat too many. Each time Momma complained he
told her it was only natural that we'd be finding a few dead ones for a while.
adapted from "The Cricket War" by Bob Thurber
9. What do the crickets in the story symbolize?
A. The feeling of change from a city to a rural environment
B. The desire of the narrator to go home
C. The feeling of the narrator’s mother to want to go back to work
D. The feeling of the narrator’s father to want to go back to school
10. What does the war with the crickets symbolize?
A. The conflict between the narrator’s mother and father
B. The conflict between the narrator and his new house
C. The conflict between the father and the narrator
D. The conflict between the mother and the narrator
When the Year Grows Old
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
I CANNOT but remember
When the year grows old—
October—November—
How she disliked the cold!
She used to watch the swallows
Go down across the sky,
And turn from the window
With a little sharp sigh.
And often when the brown leaves
Were brittle on the ground,
And the wind in the chimney
Made a melancholy sound,
She had a look about her
That I wish I could forget—
The look of a scared thing
Sitting in a net!
Oh, beautiful at nightfall
The soft spitting snow!
And beautiful the bare boughs
Rubbing to and fro!
But the roaring of the fire,
And the warmth of fur,
And the boiling of the kettle
Were beautiful to her!
I cannot but remember
When the year grows old—
October—November—
How she disliked the cold!
11. Consider the following lines from the sixth stanza: “But the roaring of the fire/And
the warmth of fur.”
What could the fur stand for?
A. a coat
B. rivers
C. trees
D. people
Nick's grandfather preferred using a hammer for opening walnuts. It was just one reason the
seven-year-old was more than a little afraid of him. Nick had never seen him eat one of the nuts; the
old man just sat there and opened them. It didn't help that his grandfather rarely spoke, or refused to
wear socks even on the coldest day in winter. The stooped old man was weird, and smelled of musty
basements.
http://www.literarypotpourri.com/03_Feb/fl_feb_03.html
12. The grandfather's refusal to wear socks most likely symbolizes his -A. musty-smelling home.
B. stubbornness.
C. fear of children.
D. eating habits.
13. The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
adapted from "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
"The Road Not Taken" by Robert FrostWhat do the two roads symbolize in this
poem?
A. The idea of choice
B. Two paths through a forest
C. The concept of sorrow
D. Retracing one's steps
Mi Abuelo
Where my grandfather is, is in the ground
Where you can hear the future
Like the movie Indian with his ear at the tracks.
A pipe leads down to him so that sometimes
He whispers what will happen to a man
In town, or how he will meet the best
Dressed woman tomorrow and how the best
Man at her wedding will chew the ground
Next to her. Mi abuelo is the man
Who speaks through all the mouths in my house.
An echo of me hitting the pipe sometimes
To stop him from saying my hair is a
Sieve is the only other sound. It is a phrase
That among all others is the best,
He says, and my hair is a sieve is sometimes
Repeated for hours out of the ground
When I let him, which is not often.
An abuelo should be much more than a man
Like you! He stops then, and speaks: I am a man
Who has served the ants with the attitude
Of a waiter, who has made each smile as only
An ant who is fat can, and they liked me best,
But there is nothing left. Yet I know he ground
Green coffee beans as a child, and sometimes
He will talk about his wife, and sometimes
About when he was deaf and a man
Cured him by mail and he heard groundhogs
Talking, or about how he walked with a cane
He chewed on when he got hungry.
At best, Mi abuelo is a liar.
I see an old picture of him at nani's with an
Off-white, yellow center mustache, and sometimes
That's all I know for sure. He talks best
About these hills, slowest waves, and where this man
Is going, and I'm convinced his hair is a sieve,
That his fever is cooled now underground.
Mi abuelo is an ordinary man.
I look down the pipe, sometimes, and see a
Ripple-topped stream, in its best suit, in the ground.
adapted from "Mi Abuelo" by Alberto Rios
14. Consider the following lines from the poem: ”Mi abuelo is the man/Who speaks
through all the mouths in my house.”
What could the mouth stand for?
A. Old age
B. Family
C. Secrets
D. Windows
"Ah! Here is a subject," exclaimed the king, when he saw the little prince coming. And the little
prince asked himself: "How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before?"
He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them, all men are subjects. "Approach,
so that I may see you better," said the king, who felt consumingly proud of being at last a king over
somebody.
The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to sit down; but the entire planet was crammed
and obstructed by the king's magnificent ermine robe. So he remained standing upright, and, since
he was tired, he yawned.
"It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king," the monarch said to him. "I forbid
you to do so."
"I can't help it. I can't stop myself," replied the little prince, thoroughly embarrassed.
"I have come on a long journey, and I have had no sleep..."
"Ah, then," the king said. "I order you to yawn. It is years since I have seen anyone yawning.
Yawns, to me, are objects of curiosity. Come, now! Yawn again! It is an order."
"That frightens me... I cannot, any more..." murmured the little prince, now completely abashed.
"Hum! Hum!" replied the king. "Then I... I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to" He
sputtered a little, and seemed vexed. For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his
authority should be respected. He tolerated no disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. But,
because he was a very good man, he made his orders reasonable.
"If I ordered a general," he would say, by way of example, "if I ordered a general to change
himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not obey me, that would not be the fault of the general.
It would be my fault."
"May I sit down?" came now a timid inquiry from the little prince. "I order you to do so," the king
answered him, and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle. But the little prince was
wondering... The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule?
"Sire," he said to him, "I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question"
"I order you to ask me a question," the king hastened to assure him. "Sire, over what do you
rule?" "Over everything," said the king, with magnificent simplicity.
"Over everything?" The king made a gesture, which took in his planet, the other planets, and all
the stars. "Over all that?" asked the little prince. "Over all that," the king answered. For his rule was
not only absolute: it was also universal. "And the stars obey you?" "Certainly they do," the king said.
"They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination."
adapted from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery
15. What does the king symbolize in this excerpt?
A. greed
B. laziness
C. power
D. evil
Answers
1. C
2. D
3. C
4. C
5. A
6. D
7. B
8. A
9. A
10. A
11. A
12. B
13. A
14. D
15. C
Explanations
1. The best explanation as to why the poet names the poem snowman is because
snowmen are cold physically just as someone who is sad is cold emotionally. Just
because a poem is about a particular subject doesn’t mean it has to have a title
that relates to the subject. Also, snow isn’t always used to convey cold and
death, sometimes it’s used to convey a color or emotion.
2. If you follow what the narrator says, he says that "Dad always said, he wasn't a
man until he made it to the other side. Now, it was my turn." This is in reference
to the trip the narrator and his father make across the Golden Gate Bridge.
3. Consider the location of the narrator's home. He states, "In the beginning, we
were happy." Then he talks about his apartment sits over the city. It's a visual
that reinforces the saying, "on top of the world."
4. Symbolism is when certain objects or images are used in place or to represent
other ideas. A symbol must be something tangible or visible (something you can
touch or feel), but the idea it symbolizes must be something abstract or universal
(love, hate, worry). For example, a caged bird could be used as a symbol to
mean imprisonment (depending on how the writer uses the symbol). Authors
often use names as symbols.
5. Consider how Alexander is when he has a beard. He has a job, he has a driver's
license, and he has responsibilities. Now, consider how Alexander reacts when he
realized he has to go to Gene's for the summer. He acts impulsively and cuts off
his hair and beard in protest. The narrator even states that after this happens
"Alexander was that little kid he was when Gene left." For Alexander, the beard
represents him being a grown-up.
6. Consider the look of Gene's summer home--it is run down and faded, much like
his relationship with Alexander. Then, consider how the house used to look when
Gene and his father were together. In all the pictures, the house looks rich and
vibrant, and the relationship with Gene and his father seems to be just as warm
as the house's color.
7. Consider the following image form the story: “Looking down he sees his own
thick, blonde hair scattered among the browns, grays and blacks of the men who
have sat in the chair before him. For a moment he wants to reach down and
gather up the broken blonde locks, to separate them from the others, but he
does not have time.”
All of the older men have darker hair, some even gray, and David’s hair is mixed
in with theirs. This image shows that he’s starting to grow into being a man.
8. Think about how the seasons change. During spring, things are growing and are
in bloom from the winter. The same can be said about David. He’s changing from
a boy into a young man.
9. The narrator states that the crickets were part of the adjustment his father
warned about when they moved from the city. The narrator states, “But she was
a city girl through and through…”, meaning that the mother was used to the city,
and the house in the country was a big adjustment for her to make, especially
when the crickets from the country started to invade the home—the one place
she felt the most comfortable in being in the country.
10. In the story, it’s clear that the mother didn’t want to move to the new house in
the country. It’s clear there is tension between the mother and father because of
the move, and instead of trying to work on the problem the mother has with the
crickets, the father goes out of his way to wage a war against the crickets. It
could be said that he does this because it’s easier fighting with the crickets than
it is with his wife.
11. Think of the cold that is present in the poem. The objects in the sixth stanza are
all warm. It makes sense then that the fur could be a coat since a coat keeps one
warm.
12. The grandfather's refusal to wear socks symbolizes his stubbornness. The
passage above describes the grandfather as a strange character who hammers
open walnuts but never eats them, refuses to wear socks in the winter, and
smells like musty basements.
13. Symbols are words or objects that stand for something larger than their literal
meaning. On the surface, this appears to just be a poem about two diverging
roads the narrator has come upon. But if you look deeper, you will see that the
narrator has to think hard about which "road" to take, since he can only take one
and not the other. He ends up choosing "the one less traveled by"--the "choice"
that very few others have made--and that has "made all the difference" in his
life. We often talk about choices symbolically, in terms of roads: "I should never
have gone down that path," really means, "I should never have made that
choice."
14. Consider the qualities of a mouth. They can open and close, eat and talk. It
would make sense that windows do the some of the same functions.
15. In this excerpt from the classic children's story, The Little Prince, the character of
the king is used symbolically. In other words, the king represents something
larger than just himself--he stands for the idea of power. By making the king
look rather ridiculous for "commanding" the prince to do whatever the prince was
already doing, the author is making a statement about power in our society.
Even though we tend to place a high value on power, the author is using the
symbol of the king to say that it's silly and meaningless for one person to have
power over others and order them about, just for the sake of doing so.
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