AP Success - AP English Literature: An Idle Fellow

This is a descriptive piece by Kate Chopin.

Source 1

I am tired. At the end of these years I am very tired. I

have been studying in books the languages of the living and

those we call dead. Early in the fresh morning I have

studied in books, and throughout the day when the sun was

shining; and at night when there were stars, I have lighted

my oil-lamp and studied in books. Now my brain is weary and

I want rest.

I shall sit here on the door-step beside my friend Paul. He

is an idle fellow with folded hands. He laughs when I

upbraid him, and bids me, with a motion, hold my peace. He

is listening to a thrush’s song that comes from the blur of

yonder apple-tree. He tells me the thrush is singing a

complaint. She wants her mate that was with her last

blossom-time and builded a nest with her. She will have no

other mate. She will call for him till she hears the notes

of her beloved-one’s song coming swiftly towards her across

forest and field.

Paul is a strange fellow. He gazed idly at a billowy white

cloud that rolls lazily over and over along the edge of the

blue sky.

He turns away from me and the words with which I would

instruct him, to drink deep the scent of the clover-field

and the thick perfume from the rose-hedge.

We rise from the door-step and walk together down the gentle

slope of the hill; past the apple-tree, and the rose-hedge;

and along the border of the field where wheat is growing. We

walk down to the foot of the gentle slope where women and

men and children are living.

Paul is a strange fellow. He looks into the faces of people

who pass us by. He tells me that in their eyes he reads the

story of their souls. He knows men and women and the little

children, and why they look this way and that way. He knows

the reasons that turn them to and fro and cause them to go

and come. I think I shall walk a space through the world

with my friend Paul. He is very wise, he knows the language

of God which I have not learned.

Question 1

Multiple choice

The narrator's exhaustive study is highlighted by his routine of studying:

Multiple choice

The phrase "languages of the living and those we call dead" (line 2) most likely refers to:

Multiple choice

The character Paul is presented as:

Multiple choice

Paul's interpretation of the thrush’s song (lines 12-18) serves to:

Multiple choice

The narrator's decision to walk with Paul (lines 28-32) suggests:

Multiple choice

The repetition of the phrase "Paul is a strange fellow" (lines 9 and 20) most likely indicates:

Multiple choice

The description of the environment (lines 20-26) primarily serves to:

Multiple choice

In the context of the passage, the "oil-lamp" (line 5) symbolizes:

Multiple choice

The phrase "the language of God" (line 41) most likely symbolizes:

Multiple choice

The overall tone of the passage can best be described as:

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