Excerpt from Run with the Horseman Ferrol Sams
The family was poor. It was "poor but proud." The confused boy grew up thinking one should be proud of being poor. One of
the in-laws slipped around occasionally and made liquor. He had plenty of cash, did not read books, and was tolerated but not
admired. A cousin had surrendered to the boll weevil, moved out of the county, and bought Coca-Cola stock. He was rich, but
there was unspoken disdain for him because he had left the land.
The grandparents told horror stories of having to boil dirt from under the smokehouse to retrieve salt after the Yankees had
been on the land. They had learned to eat a weed called poke salad as a means of survival in those days, a custom that they
passed on as a springtime ritual of communion to their descendants. Things apparently got a little better for awhile, but then
the Great Depression hit the South like aftershock from the earthquake of Reconstruction, and the children knew poverty
firsthand. They also, however, knew pride. No one in the county had any money to spend, and there was a security of blood
that transcended the possession of material things. When one is convinced that one is to the manor born, the actual physical
condition of the manor itself is of negligible importance.
Which best expresses the irony present in this passage?
A)
It is ironic that the family is poor, yet still is proud.
B)
It is ironic that one of the in-laws in the family slipped around occasionally
and made liquor.
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C)
It is ironic that one of the boy's relatives had moved out of the county,
bought Coca-Cola stock, and become rich.
D)
It is ironic that they boy's family had learned to eat a weed called poke
salad as a means of survival after the Civil War.