501 Critical Reading Questions

a.
inspire Pauline to become an actress.
b.
inspire Pauline to demand more respect from Cholly.
c.
only make Pauline more unhappy with her life.
d.
encourage Pauline to study history.
e.
create a financial strain on the family.
Questions 243–248 are based on the following passage.
In this excerpt from Sherman Alexie’s novel 
Reservation Blues
, Thomas
struggles with his feelings about his father, Samuel.
Thomas, Chess, and Checkers stayed quiet for a long time. After a
while, Chess and Checkers started to sing a Flathead song of mourn-
ing. 
For a wake, for a wake
. Samuel was still alive, but Thomas sang
along without hesitation. That mourning song was B-7 on every reser-
vation jukebox.
After  the  song,  Thomas  stood  and  walked  away  from  the  table
where his father lay flat as a paper plate. He walked outside and cried.
Not because he needed to be alone; not because he was afraid to cry
in front of women. He just wanted his tears to be individual, not tribal.
Those tribal tears collected and fermented in huge BIA [Bureau of
Indian Affairs] barrels. Then the BIA poured those tears into beer and
Pepsi cans and distributed them back onto the reservation. Thomas
wanted his tears to be selfish and fresh.
“Hello,” he said to the night sky. He wanted to say the first word of
a prayer or a joke. A prayer or a joke often sound alike on the reser-
vation.
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