MAUREEN'S HARP
commonlit answers

Read the following excerpt from life on the mississippi by mark twain. no girl could withstand his charms. he "cut out" every boy in the village. when his boat blew up at last, it diffused a tranquil contentment among us such as we had not known for months. but when he came home the next week, alive, renowned, and appeared in church all battered up and bandaged, a shining hero, stared at and wondered over by everybody, it seemed to us that the partiality of providence for an undeserving reptile had reached a point where it was open to criticism. how does twain's use of understatement serve his purpose? be sure to use specific details from the text to support your answer.

In living to tell the tale, what does the following passage mainly reveal about the narrator (paragraph 2)? “there was not a single door, crack in the wall, a human trace that did not find a supernatural resonance in me.” : a) the narrator associates memories to specific objects that he sees. b) the narrator realizes the buildings around him should be demolished. c) the narrator feels as though he wants to connect to the people of the town. d) the narrator is unsure why he feels frightened while walking with his mother.

Which two lines in this excerpt from leo tolstoy's the death of ivan ilyich together use symbolism to indicate that death is approaching?