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128 Unit 2 ■ Analyzing Comparisons and Representations

SUGGESTED RESPONSES Snapping Beans Guided Questions
TO GUIDED QUESTIONS (For Fay Whitt)
I snapped beans into the silver bowl
1. The contrast exists through the that sat on the splintering slats
characterization of primary location: the of the porchswing between my grandma and me.
narrator lives away at school in the North, 1
I was home for the weekend,
whereas Grandma lives at home. I was home for the weekend, 1. How do the actions
5 from school, from the North, and description
2. The sun rises. Grandma stops humming and Grandma hummed “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” of the characters
turns her focus to the narrator. suggest a contrast?
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs were used with this sample chapter.
as the sun rose, pushing its pink spikes
3. Grandma’s question distinguishes between through the slant of cornstalks,
the two characters and prompts the narrator through the fly-eyed mesh of the screen.
to respond carefully. The tone becomes more 10 We didn’t speak until the sun overcame
suspenseful in anticipation of the narrator’s the feathered tips of the cornfield
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
response.
2 and Grandma stopped humming. I could feel 2. What changed?
and Grandma stopped humming. I could feel
4. Grandma holds the speaker’s chin to stabilize the soft gray of her stare What action of the
and reassure her, which implies that Grandma against the side of my face Grandma indicates
asked in order to possibly provide comfort. this change?
How’s school a-goin?
3 15 when she asked, How’s school a-goin?
5. Despite wanting to tell Grandma about her I wanted to tell her about my classes, 3. How does this
change create a
experience, the narrator doesn’t because the revelations by book and lecture shift in the tone of
she feels conflicted and overwhelmed with as real as any shout of faith, the poem?
emotion.
potent as a swig of strychnine.
6. The speaker’s response may be well-intended, 4 20 She reached the leather of her hand 4. What does
She reached the leather of her hand
but it is not reflective of her true thoughts. She over the bowl and cupped the action of
over the bowl and cupped
may be seeking to protect her grandmother my quivering chin; the Grandma
my quivering chin;
(and herself) from the difficulties that may reveal about her
arise from a more accurate (and complicated) the slick smooth of her palm held my face intentions?
response. The grandmother chooses to the way she held cherry tomatoes under the spigot,
respect the narrator’s response, which may 25 careful not to drop them,
and I wanted to tell her
show her trust in the narrator (or perhaps, a 5 and I wanted to tell her 5. How does this set
up the contrast
about the nights I cried into the familiar
newly formed rift between them). about the nights I cried into the familiar between the
heartsick panels of the quilt she made me,
heartsick panels of the quilt she made me, speaker’s inner
wishing myself home on the evening star. thoughts and
wishing myself home on the evening star.
30 I wanted to tell her external behavior?
the evening star was a planet,
that my friends wore noserings and wrote poetry
about sex, about alcoholism, about Buddha.
I wanted to tell her
35 how my stomach burned acidic holes
at the thought of speaking in class, 6. How does the
short sentence
speaking in an accent, speaking out of turn, response create
how I was tearing, splitting myself apart a shift? What
with the slow-simmering guilt of being happy is the shift, and
what does it
40 despite it all. reveal about the
6 I said, School’s fine. relationship?
School’s fine.
03_williamlit1e_46174_ch02_116_207.indd 128 22/09/22 9:43 AM
COMPREHENSION CHECK
1. What activity are the two characters doing in the opening of the poem as they talk? [Snapping
beans]
2. The narrator wants to tell her grandmother about her classes and “________ by book and
lecture / as real as any shout of faith.” [revelations]
3. The grandmother holds the narrator’s chin the same way she “held _______ under the spigot.”
[cherry tomatoes]
4. The narrator feels _______ despite the difficult challenges of being homesick, speaking in class,
or revealing her accent. [happy]
5. What happens to prompt Grandma to say the final line of the poem, “It’s funny how things blow
loose like that”? [A hickory leaf skids onto the porch front]

TRM Unit 2: Comprehension Check Digital Comprehension Check

128 Unit 2 Analyzing Comparisons and Representations

03_williamlitte1e_47545_ch02_116_207_3pp.indd 128 08/12/22 5:25 PM