Central Idea Development · SHSAT English Language Arts

SHSAT English Language Arts Quiz

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ELA: READING COMPREHENSION

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PASSAGE

Excerpt from "Winter Wheat" by Mildred Walker 1 I love Dad's way of talking that makes him seem different from other ranchers. He's lived here twenty-three years, but he still says "back East where I come from." ... but it's what Mom says that I depend on. ... Dad is always talking of going some place, not now, but next year, maybe. Mom seems to think of nothing farther away than today or perhaps yesterday or tomorrow morning. 2 ...All of a sudden, I realized that tomorrow when those beans would be ready to eat I'd be going away. It gave me a funny feeling. 3 "I'll be taking the train tomorrow night," I said aloud, more to hear it myself. 4 "We can drive you into town in the afternoon," Dad said, dropping his paper on the floor. 5 "There's no need to go to town; she can catch the train at Gotham just as well. We haven't nothing to take us into town for," Mom said. 6 "Well, we don't have to decide tonight," Dad said, but I knew he wanted to go into Clark City. It wouldn't be so flat as just seeing me go off on the train from Gotham. My going away was hard on both of them; they were so different—and I was part of them both. It made me uncomfortable to think of leaving them. 7 While I was getting ready for bed... I saw how it would be if I left from town. We'd go in right after dinner and go around to the stores... Then we'd meet... and go to the cafeteria for supper. The train stops ten minutes or so at the station in town and there are other people and excitement and you have time to wave... 8 If I left from Gotham, we'd just drive down in the truck and wait till the train came. It only stops long enough for you to get on and you hardly have time to taste the flavor of going away. 9 I sat on the bed in my pyjamas with my arms around my knees. I couldn't keep from thinking of that time Dad went back East. ... 10 Dad went all the way back to Vermont. ... It was in November and it was already dark when the train came through Gotham. Even now, I could feel how cold and dark it was. I held Mom's hand. Dad was so dressed-up he seemed strange.... 11 "I'll manage," Mom snapped back. ... 14 "Good-by, Anna Petrovna," he said, looking at Mom. I had never heard him call her by two names before. 15 "Good-by," Mom said, standing still, without smiling. 16 Then he was gone and the crossroads were darker than ever...

How do paragraphs 7 and 8 contribute to the central idea about the narrator's feelings about leaving?

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