Reviewing comprehension
Dahlia Bartley, Contributor

Are you counting down the days to the examinations? By now, you should have received your examination time-table and should realise that the 20th is not too far away. Between now and then, please use the time sensibly.

Let me give you the answers to the questions posed on last week's poem.

(a) The poem describes the life cycle of sugarcane.

(b The poet appeals to the senses of hearing and seeing in stanzas one and two, respectively.

(c) (i) The poet is describing the wildlike movement of the sugarcane in the wind.

(ii The sugarcane, as it were, has to submit to a greater power. It is taken to the factory/mill.

Today, we will consider a question which was set some time ago at the general proficiency level. The question was designed to test how well candidates were able to interpret a prose passage and to see whether they were able to discern the motives of characters in the passage. These skills are necessary if you are to do well on the CSEC English A paper.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions set on it.

In the following extract, the narrator and her sister have come from New York to visit their grandmother, Da-duh, in the Caribbean.

One morning toward the end of our stay, Da-duh led me into a part of the gully that we had never visited before, an area darker and more thickly overgrown than the rest, almost impenetrable. There in a small clearing amid the dense bush, she stopped before a royal palm, 7 which rose cleanly out of the ground, and 8 drawing the eye up with it, soared above the trees around it into the sky. It appeared to be 10 touching the blue dome of sky, to be flaunting its dark crown of fronds right in the blinding white face of the late morning sun.

Da-duh watched me a long time before she spoke, and then she said very quietly, "All right, now, tell me if you've got anything this tall in that place you're from."

I almost wished, seeing her face, that I could have said no. "Yes," I said. "We've got buildings hundreds of times this tall in New York. There's one called the Empire State Building that's the tallest in the world. I can't describe how tall it is. Wait a minute. What's the name of that hill I went to visit the other day, where they have the police station?"

"You mean Bissex?"

"Yes, Bissex. Well, the Empire State Building is way taller than that."

"You're lying now! She shouted, trembling with rage. Her hand lifted to strike me.

"No, I'm not," I said. "It really is, if you don't believe me I'll send you a picture postcard of it soon as I get back home so you can see for yourself. But it's way taller than Bissex."

34 All the fight went out of her at that. The hand poised to strike me fell limp to her side, and as she stared at me, seeing not me but the building that was taller than the highest hill she knew, the small stubborn light in her eyes began to fail.

Finally, with a vague gesture that even in the midst of her defeat still tried to dismiss me and my world, she turned and started back through 43 the gully, walking slowly, her steps groping and uncertain, as if she were suddenly no longer sure of the way, while I followed triumphantly yet strangely saddened behind.

(From 'To Da-duh, In Memoriam' in Reena and Other Stories, Paule Marshall, The feminist Press, 1983)

(a) What characteristic of the royal palm is suggested by EACH of the following?

(i) "rose cleanly out of the ground" (line 7)?

(ii) "drawing the eye up with it" (line 8)?

(iii) "flaunting its dark crown of fronds" (lines 10-11 )? (3 marks)

Note: An important word in the question is "characteristic". For (i) to (iii), you are therefore required to write about a special quality of the royal palm. You should not explain or paraphrase each phrase.

(i) No root is visible

(ii) The height

(iii) Pride/magnificence of the leaves

(b) Why did Da-duh watch the girl for a long time before she spoke? (2 marks)

Da-duh watched the girl for she wanted to observe her granddaughter's reaction to the royal palm.

(c) What does the writer suggest by the phrase "All the fight went out of her . . ." (line 34)? (2 marks)

Note: The phrase must not be taken literally; in other words the writer is not speaking of a physical fight.

Da-duh is humiliated and has acknowledged defeat.

(d) In lines 43-44, the writer states that Da-duh was "walking slowly, her steps groping and uncertain, as if she were suddenly no longer sure of the way"

Give the real reason why she was walking in that way. (2 marks)

Da-duh was confused/disturbed. She had lost confidence in her world.

(e) Explain why the author is "strangely saddened" (line 46) (2 marks)

Note: You must pay attention to "strangely".
The narrator is strangely saddened for Da-duh is hurt and the narrator feels responsible for having been the one to hurt her feelings.

Of course, you had no difficulty with answering the questions. Let me give you some guidelines to apply as you answer questions of this nature.

• Read the passage more than once to ensure that you understand it fully. Look at the questions after you feel that the passage is clear to you.
• Express yourself as clearly and as accurately as possible.
• Your answer should not be long-winded.
• Use your own words to answer and do not copy sections of the passage unless you are asked to quote. Remember the use of quotation marks when you do quote.
• Always indicate clearly the sub-part of the question to which you are responding.
• Slip a line between answers.
• Answer in complete sentences.

Well, this is all for this week. See you next week.

These students from Winston Jones High School seem to be enjoying their Youthlink magazines. Photo by Michael Lee

Dahlia Bartley teaches at Glenmuir High School.