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From “Powder”
- Tobias Wolff
Just before Christmas my father took me skiing at Mount Baker. He'd had to fight for the privilege of
my company, because my mother was still angry with him for sneaking me into a nightclub during his last
visit, to see Thelonious Monk.
He wouldn't give up. He promised, hand on heart, to take good care of me and have me home for
dinner on Christmas Eve, and she relented. But as we were checking out of the lodge that morning it began
to snow, and in this snow he observed some rare quality that made it necessary for us to get in one last run.
We got in several last runs. He was indifferent to my fretting. Snow whirled around us in bitter, blinding
squalls, hissing like sand, and still we skied. As the lift bore us to the peak yet again, my father looked at
his watch and said, "Criminy. This'll have to be a fast one."
By now I couldn't see the trail. There was no point in trying. I stuck to him like white on rice and did
what he did and somehow made it to the bottom without sailing off a cliff. We returned our skis and my
father put chains on the Austin-Healey while I swayed from foot to foot, clapping my mittens and wishing I
was home. I could see everything. The green tablecloth, the plates with the holly patterns, the red candles
waiting to be lit.
We passed a diner on our way out. "You want some soup?" my father asked. I shook my head. "Buck
up," he said. "I'll get you there. Right, doctor?"
I was supposed to say "Right, doctor," but I didn't say anything.
A state trooper waved us down outside the resort. A pair of sawhorses was blocking the road. The
trooper came up to our car and bent down to my father's window. His face was bleached by the cold.
Snowflakes clung to his eyebrows and to the fur trim of his jacket and cap.
"Don't tell me," my father said.
The trooper told him. The road was closed. It might get cleared, it might not. Storm took everyone by
surprise. So much, so fast. Hard to get people moving. Christmas Eve. What can you do.
My father said, "Look. We're talking about five, six inches. I've taken this car through worse than that."
The trooper straightened up. His face was out of sight but I could hear him. "The road is closed."
My father sat with both hands on the wheel, rubbing the wood with his thumbs. He looked at the
barricade for a long time. He seemed to be trying to master the idea of it. Then he thanked the trooper, and
with a weird, old-maidy show of caution turned the car around. "Your mother will never forgive me for this,"
he said.
"We should have left before." I said. "Doctor."
He didn't speak to me again until we were in a booth at the diner, waiting for our burgers. "She won't
forgive me," he said. "Do you understand? Never."
"I guess," I said; but no guesswork was required; she wouldn't forgive him.
"I can't let that happen." He bent toward me. "I'll tell you what I want. I want us all to be together again.
Is that what you want?"
"Yes, sir."
He bumped my chin with his knuckles. "That's all I needed to hear."
When we finished eating he went to the pay phone in the back of the diner, then joined me in the
booth again. I figured he'd called my mother, but he didn't give a report. He sipped at his coffee and stared
out the window at the empty road.
"Come on, come on," he said, though not to me. A little while later he said it again. When the trooper's car
went past, lights flashing, he got up and dropped me some money on the check. "Okay. Vamanos."
The wind had died. The snow was falling straight now, less of it now and lighter. We drove away
from the resort, right up to the barricade. "Move it," my father told me. When I looked at him he said, "What
are you waiting for?" I got out and dragged one of the sawhorses aside, then put it back after he drove
through. He pushed the door open for me. "Now you're an accomplice," he said. "We go down together."
He put the car into gear and gave me a look. "Joke, son."
Description of “Maud Martha”
- Gwendolyn Brooks
What she liked was candy buttons, and books, and painted music (deep blue, or delicate silver) and
the west sky, so altering, viewed from the steps of the back porch; and dandelions.
She would have liked a lotus, or China asters or the Japanese Iris, or meadow lilies—yes, she would
have liked meadow lilies, because the very word meadow made her breathe more deeply, and either fling
her arms or want to fling her arms, depending on who was by, rapturously up to whatever was watching in
the sky. But dandelions were what she chiefly saw. Yellow jewels for everyday, studding the patched green
dress of her back yard. She liked their demure prettiness second to their everydayness; for in that latter
quality she thought she saw a picture of herself, and it was comforting to find that what was common could
also be a flower.
And could be cherished! To be cherished was the dearest wish of the heart of Maud Martha Brown,
and sometimes when she was not looking a dandelions (for one would not looking at them all the time,
often there were chairs and tables to dust or tomatoes to slice or beds to make or grocery stores to be gone
to, and in the colder months there were no dandelions at all), it was hard to believe that a thing or ordinary
allurements-if the allurements of any flower could be said to be ordinary-was easy to love as a thing of
heart catching beauty.
Such as her sister Helen! who was only two years past her own age of seven, and was almost her own
height and weight and thickness. But oh, the long lashes, the grace, the little ways with the hand and feet.
Comprehension
DIRECTIONS Answer these questions about
the excerpt from “Powder.”
1. You can tell the story is told from the 1st
person point of view because the narrator
a. is a character in the story
b. knows all the character’s thoughts
c. doesn’t take part in the story’s action
d. is a voice outside the story
2. How would the story be different if it was told
from the 3rd person point of view?
a. The story would give a more objective
picture of the father.
b. The mother would play a bigger role in
the story.
c. The story would have more descriptive
details and dialogue.
d. It would be harder to understand the
son’s feelings.
3. What can you infer about the son’s
motivation for refusing to say “Right, doctor”?
a. He is angry at his father.
b. He is flattered that his father jokes with
him.
c. He is happy to be on a trip with his father.
d. He misses his mother.
4. Why does the father turn around with a
“show of caution”?
a. He wants the trooper to see how
carefully he drives.
b. He wants to see what the trooper is
doing alt all times.
c. He doesn’t want to damage his car.
d. He wants to get around the barricades.
5. The father’s motivation for driving on the
closed road is to
a. prove he’s an excellent driver
b. practice driving in the snow
c. keep his promise to get his son home
d. challenge the trooper’s authority
6. Which pair of adjectives best describes the
father’s character traits?
a. concerned and thoughtful
b. awkward and unsure
c. humorous and rebellous
d. serious and cautious
DIRECTIONS Answer these questions about
“Maud Martha.”
7. How do you know the selection is told from
the 3rd person point of view?
a. Maud Martha is the narrator.
b. Maud Martha is the only character.
c. Maud Martha is referred to as “I.”
d. Maud Martha is referred to as “She.”
8. According to what the narrator reveals about
Maud Martha, which adjectives best describe
her character traits?
a. lazy and conceited
b. sensitive and sincere
c. harsh and uncaring
d. graceful and exotic
9. What can you infer about Maud Martha from
the last two paragraphs?
a. She loves only beautiful things.
b. She works hard for a child.
c. She wastes time on flowers.
d. She feels like a special person.
10. What conclusions can you draw about Maud
Martha’s feelings for Helen?
a. She sees Helen as a dandelion.
b. She feels sorry for Helen.
c. She admires Helen’s beauty.
d. She wishes Helen were prettier.
DIRECTIONS Answer these questions about
both selections
11. How is Maud Martha like the son in
“Powder”?
a. Both show a sense of responsibility.
b. Both act carefree most of the time.
c. Both have sisters they admire.
d. Both disagree with their parent’s actions.
Vocabulary
DIRECTIONS Use the following Greek terms to
help you answer the questions below.
DIRECTIONS Use you knowledge of multiple
meaning words to answer the following questions.
Item
Description
Iris
the Greek goddess of the rainbow
aster
a flower named after the Greek
word for star
Lotus-eaters
characters in the Odyssey who
lost their memories when they ate
lotus plants
Narcissus
a mythological person who fell in
love with is reflection and turned
into a flower
12. Which meaning of the word gear is used in
the sentence below?
The skiers gathered up their gear after the
last ski run.
a. the harness for a horse
b. part of a car’s transmission
c. equipment for a sport
d. a sailor’s personal effects
13. Which meaning of trail is used in the
sentence below from “Powder”?
By now I couldn’t see the trail.
a. a course or path
b. a scent of track of an animal
c. something that hangs loosely
d. a chain of consequence
14. Which meaning of the word arm is used in
the part of a sentence below from “Maud
Martha”?
…and either fling hers arms or want to fling her
arms…
a. an upper limb of the human body
b. a forelimb of an animal
c. something branching out from a large
mass
d. power or authority
15. Which meaning of ways is used in the
sentence below from “Maud Martha”?
But oh, the long lashes, the grace, the little ways
with the hands and feet.
a. roads or paths
b. courses of action
c. specific directions
d. aspects or features
16. Which term is used for both a colorful flower
and the colored part of the eye?
a. iris
b. aster
c. Lotus-eater
d. Narcissus
17. Narcissism is
a. a love of bright colors
b. a love of astronomy
c. an excessive love of food
d. an excessive love for oneself
18. Since the Latin prefix dis- can mean “the
opposite of,” what might disastrous mean?
a. colorless
b. under an unlucky star
c. having an excellent memory
d. hating one’s reflection
Written Response
DIRECTIONS Write 2-3 paragraphs to answer
this question.
19. How are the father and son in “Powder”
different? Are there any ways in which
they are similar? Use story details to
support your ideas.