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*Y1 Y2 Pre-assessment (Parcc: Tess, The Rich Boy)

Last updated over 5 years ago
19 questions
Section I: Comparative Essay
Today you will analyze passages from the novel Tess of the
D’Urbervilles and the short story “The Rich Boy.” As you read these
texts, you will gather information and answer questions about the
text structure so you can write a literary essay.

The following passage is from an English author. In England, a dialect
reflects one’s social class; proper diction is a sign of having more wealth and
prestige. Read the passage from the novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Then
answer the questions.

from Tess of the D’Urbervilles

by Thomas Hardy

1 On an evening in the latter part of May a middle-aged man was walking
homeward from Shaston to the village of Marlott, in the adjoining Vale of
Blakemore, or Blackmoor. The pair of legs that carried him were rickety,
and there was a bias in his gait which inclined him somewhat to the left of
a straight line. He occasionally gave a smart nod, as if in confirmation of
some opinion, though he was not thinking of anything in particular. An
empty egg-basket was slung upon his arm, the nap of his hat was ruffled,
a patch being quite worn away at its brim where his thumb came in
taking it off. Presently he was met by an elderly parson astride on a gray
mare, who, as he rode, hummed a wandering tune.
2 “Good night t’ee,” said the man with the basket.
3 “Good night, Sir John,” said the parson.
4 The pedestrian, after another pace or two, halted, and turned round.
5 “Now, sir, begging your pardon; we met last market-day on this road
about this time, and I said ‘Good night,’ and you made reply ‘Good night,
Sir John,’ as now.”
6 “I did,” said the parson.
7 “And once before that—near a month ago.”
8 “I may have.”
English LanguageArts/Literacy
9 “Then what might your meaning be in calling me ‘Sir John’ these different
times, when I be plain Jack Durbeyfield, the haggler?”
10 The parson rode a step or two nearer.
11 “It was only my whim,” he said; and, after a moment’s hesitation: “It was
on account of a discovery I made some little time ago, whilst I was
hunting up pedigrees for the new county history. I am Parson Tringham,
the antiquary, of Stagfoot Lane. Don’t you really know, Durbeyfield, that
you are the lineal representative of the ancient and knightly family of the
d’Urbervilles, who derive their descent from Sir Pagan d’Urberville, that
renowned knight who came from Normandy with William the Conqueror,
as appears by Battle Abbey Roll?”
12 “Never heard it before, sir!”
13 “Well it’s true. Throw up your chin a moment, so that I may catch the
profile of your face better. Yes, that’s the d’Urberville nose and chin—a
little debased. Your ancestor was one of the twelve knights who assisted
the Lord of Estremavilla in Normandy in his conquest of Glamorganshire.
Branches of your family held manors over all this part of England; their
names appear in the Pipe Rolls in the time of King Stephen. In the reign
of King John one of them was rich enough to give a manor to the Knights
Hospitallers; and in Edward the Second’s time your forefather Brian was
summoned to Westminster to attend the great Council there. You
declined a little in Oliver Cromwell’s time, but to no serious extent, and in
Charles the Second’s reign you were made Knights of the Royal Oak for
your loyalty. Aye, there have been generations of Sir Johns among you,
and if knighthood were hereditary, like a baronetcy, as it practically was
in old times, when men were knighted from father to son, you would be
Sir John now.”
14 “Ye don’t say so!”
15 “In short,” concluded the parson, decisively smacking his leg with his
switch, “there’s hardly such another family in England.”
English LanguageArts/Literacy
16 “Daze my eyes, and isn’t there?” said Durbeyfield. “And here have I been
knocking about, year after year, from pillar to post, as if I was no more
than the commonest feller in the parish . . . And how long hev this news
about me been knowed, Pa’son Tringham?”
17 The clergyman explained that, as far as he was aware, it had quite died
out of knowledge, and could hardly be said to be known at all. His own
investigations had begun on a day in the preceding spring when, having
been engaged in tracing the vicissitudes of the d’Urberville family, he had
observed Durbeyfield’s name on his waggon, and had thereupon been led
to make inquiries about his father and grandfather till he had no doubt on
the subject.
18 “At first I resolved not to disturb you with such a useless piece of
information,” said he. “However, our impulses are too strong for our
judgement sometimes. I thought you might perhaps know something of it
all the while.”
19 “Well, I have heard once or twice, ’tis true, that my family had seen
better days afore they came to Blackmoor. But I took no notice o’t,
thinking it to mean that we had once kept two horses where we now keep
only one. I’ve got a wold silver spoon, and a wold graven seal at home,
too; but, Lord, what’s a spoon and seal? . . . And to think that I and these
noble d’Urbervilles were one flesh all the time. ’Twas said that my gr’tgranfer had secrets, and didn’t care to talk of where he came from . . .
And where do we raise our smoke, now, parson, if I may make so bold; I
mean, where do we d’Urbervilles live?”
20 “You don’t live anywhere. You are extinct—as a county family.”
21 “That’s bad.”

***

Read the passage from the short story “The Rich Boy.”

from “The Rich Boy”
by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1. Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different. The only way I can describe young Anson Hunter is to approach him as if he were a foreigner and cling stubbornly to my point of view. If I accept his for a moment I am lost--I have nothing to show but a preposterous movie.
II
2. Anson was the eldest of six children who would some day divide a fortune of fifteen million dollars, and he reached the age of reason--is it seven?--at the beginning of the century when daring young women were already gliding along Fifth Avenue in electric "mobiles." In those days he and his brother had an English governess who spoke the language very clearly and crisply and well, so that the two boys grew to speak as she did--their words and sentences were all crisp and clear and not run together as ours are. They didn't talk exactly like English children but acquired an accent that is peculiar to fashionable people in the city of New York.
3. In the summer the six children were moved from the house on 71st Street to a big estate in northern Connecticut. It was not a fashionable locality--Anson's father wanted to delay as long as possible his children's knowledge of that side of life. He was a man somewhat superior to his class, which composed New York society, and to his period, which was the snobbish and formalized vulgarity of the Gilded Age, and he wanted his sons to learn habits of concentration and have sound constitutions and grow up into right-living and successful men. He and his wife kept an eye on them as well as they were able until the two older boys went away to school, but in huge establishments this is difficult--it was much simpler in the series of small and medium-sized houses in which my own youth was spent--I was never far out of the reach of my mother's voice, of the sense of her presence, her approval or disapproval.
4. Anson's first sense of his superiority came to him when he realized the half-grudging American deference that was paid to him in the Connecticut village. The parents of the boys he played with always inquired after his father and mother, and were vaguely excited when their own children were asked to the Hunters' house. He accepted this as the natural state of things, and a sort of impatience with all groups of which he was not the center--in money, in position, in authority--remained with him for the rest of his life. He disdained to struggle with other boys for precedence--he expected it to be given him freely, and when it wasn't he withdrew into his family. His family was sufficient, for in the East money is still a somewhat feudal thing, a clan-forming thing. In the snobbish West, money separates families to form "sets."
1

Essay

In the passages from Tess of the D’Urbervilles and “The Rich Boy,” the authors make very different choices about how to structure their texts to create meaning. Analyze how the structure of each passage reveals the characters and develops the central ideas of each text. Use details from both passages to help you write your essay.

Section II: Tess of the D'Urbevilles Reading Questions
from Tess of the D’Urbervilles

by Thomas Hardy

1 On an evening in the latter part of May a middle-aged man was walking
homeward from Shaston to the village of Marlott, in the adjoining Vale of
Blakemore, or Blackmoor. The pair of legs that carried him were rickety,
and there was a bias in his gait which inclined him somewhat to the left of
a straight line. He occasionally gave a smart nod, as if in confirmation of
some opinion, though he was not thinking of anything in particular. An
empty egg-basket was slung upon his arm, the nap of his hat was ruffled,
a patch being quite worn away at its brim where his thumb came in
taking it off. Presently he was met by an elderly parson astride on a gray
mare, who, as he rode, hummed a wandering tune.
2 “Good night t’ee,” said the man with the basket.
3 “Good night, Sir John,” said the parson.
4 The pedestrian, after another pace or two, halted, and turned round.
5 “Now, sir, begging your pardon; we met last market-day on this road
about this time, and I said ‘Good night,’ and you made reply ‘Good night,
Sir John,’ as now.”
6 “I did,” said the parson.
7 “And once before that—near a month ago.”
8 “I may have.”
English LanguageArts/Literacy
9 “Then what might your meaning be in calling me ‘Sir John’ these different
times, when I be plain Jack Durbeyfield, the haggler?”
10 The parson rode a step or two nearer.
11 “It was only my whim,” he said; and, after a moment’s hesitation: “It was
on account of a discovery I made some little time ago, whilst I was
hunting up pedigrees for the new county history. I am Parson Tringham,
the antiquary, of Stagfoot Lane. Don’t you really know, Durbeyfield, that
you are the lineal representative of the ancient and knightly family of the
d’Urbervilles, who derive their descent from Sir Pagan d’Urberville, that
renowned knight who came from Normandy with William the Conqueror,
as appears by Battle Abbey Roll?”
12 “Never heard it before, sir!”
13 “Well it’s true. Throw up your chin a moment, so that I may catch the
profile of your face better. Yes, that’s the d’Urberville nose and chin—a
little debased. Your ancestor was one of the twelve knights who assisted
the Lord of Estremavilla in Normandy in his conquest of Glamorganshire.
Branches of your family held manors over all this part of England; their
names appear in the Pipe Rolls in the time of King Stephen. In the reign
of King John one of them was rich enough to give a manor to the Knights
Hospitallers; and in Edward the Second’s time your forefather Brian was
summoned to Westminster to attend the great Council there. You
declined a little in Oliver Cromwell’s time, but to no serious extent, and in
Charles the Second’s reign you were made Knights of the Royal Oak for
your loyalty. Aye, there have been generations of Sir Johns among you,
and if knighthood were hereditary, like a baronetcy, as it practically was
in old times, when men were knighted from father to son, you would be
Sir John now.”
14 “Ye don’t say so!”
15 “In short,” concluded the parson, decisively smacking his leg with his
switch, “there’s hardly such another family in England.”
English LanguageArts/Literacy
16 “Daze my eyes, and isn’t there?” said Durbeyfield. “And here have I been
knocking about, year after year, from pillar to post, as if I was no more
than the commonest feller in the parish . . . And how long hev this news
about me been knowed, Pa’son Tringham?”
17 The clergyman explained that, as far as he was aware, it had quite died
out of knowledge, and could hardly be said to be known at all. His own
investigations had begun on a day in the preceding spring when, having
been engaged in tracing the vicissitudes of the d’Urberville family, he had
observed Durbeyfield’s name on his waggon, and had thereupon been led
to make inquiries about his father and grandfather till he had no doubt on
the subject.
18 “At first I resolved not to disturb you with such a useless piece of
information,” said he. “However, our impulses are too strong for our
judgement sometimes. I thought you might perhaps know something of it
all the while.”
19 “Well, I have heard once or twice, ’tis true, that my family had seen
better days afore they came to Blackmoor. But I took no notice o’t,
thinking it to mean that we had once kept two horses where we now keep
only one. I’ve got a wold silver spoon, and a wold graven seal at home,
too; but, Lord, what’s a spoon and seal? . . . And to think that I and these
noble d’Urbervilles were one flesh all the time. ’Twas said that my gr’tgranfer had secrets, and didn’t care to talk of where he came from . . .
And where do we raise our smoke, now, parson, if I may make so bold; I
mean, where do we d’Urbervilles live?”
20 “You don’t live anywhere. You are extinct—as a county family.”
21 “That’s bad.”
1

1. Part A
In paragraph 17, what is the meaning of vicissitudes?

1

Part B
Which two sentences from the passage support the answer to Part A?

1

2. Part A
In paragraph 1 of the passage from Tess of the D’Urbervilles, the author
creates an impression of Durbeyfield. Select two words that describe this
impression.

1

Part B
What is the overall impact of the impression of Durbeyfield created by the
author?

1

3. Part A
Based on the passage from Tess of the D’Urbervilles, which three words
describe the character of Jack Durbeyfield?

1

Part B
Which two pieces of evidence support the characterization of Jack Durbeyfield identified in Part A?

Section III: "The Rich Boy" Reading Questions
Read the passage from the short story “The Rich Boy.” Then answer the questions.

from “The Rich Boy”
by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1. Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different. The only way I can describe young Anson Hunter is to approach him as if he were a foreigner and cling stubbornly to my point of view. If I accept his for a moment I am lost--I have nothing to show but a preposterous movie.

II
2. Anson was the eldest of six children who would some day divide a fortune of fifteen million dollars, and he reached the age of reason--is it seven?--at the beginning of the century when daring young women were already gliding along Fifth Avenue in electric "mobiles." In those days he and his brother had an English governess who spoke the language very clearly and crisply and well, so that the two boys grew to speak as she did--their words and sentences were all crisp and clear and not run together as ours are. They didn't talk exactly like English children but acquired an accent that is peculiar to fashionable people in the city of New York.

3. In the summer the six children were moved from the house on 71st Street to a big estate in northern Connecticut. It was not a fashionable locality--Anson's father wanted to delay as long as possible his children's knowledge of that side of life. He was a man somewhat superior to his class, which composed New York society, and to his period, which was the snobbish and formalized vulgarity of the Gilded Age, and he wanted his sons to learn habits of concentration and have sound constitutions and grow up into right-living and successful men. He and his wife kept an eye on them as well as they were able until the two older boys went away to school, but in huge establishments this is difficult--it was much simpler in the series of small and medium-sized houses in which my own youth was spent--I was never far out of the reach of my mother's voice, of the sense of her presence, her approval or disapproval.

4. Anson's first sense of his superiority came to him when he realized the half-grudging American deference that was paid to him in the Connecticut village. The parents of the boys he played with always inquired after his father and mother, and were vaguely excited when their own children were asked to the Hunters' house. He accepted this as the natural state of things, and a sort of impatience with all groups of which he was not the center--in money, in position, in authority--remained with him for the rest of his life. He disdained to struggle with other boys for precedence--he expected it to be given him freely, and when it wasn't he withdrew into his family. His family was sufficient, for in the East money is still a somewhat feudal thing, a clan-forming thing. In the snobbish West, money separates families to form "sets."
1

4. Part A
In the passage from “The Rich Boy,” what is the meaning of precedence in paragraph 4?

1

Part B
Which sentence from the passage helps the reader understand the meaning of precedence?

1

5. Part A
In the passage from “The Rich Boy,” what information about the narrator can be gathered from the text?

1

Part B
Which piece of evidence from the passage supports the answer to Part A?

6. Part A
In the excerpt from “The Rich Boy,” three characters are described. Select one sentence that describes each of the following characters—Anson Hunter, Anson’s Father, and The Narrator—into the box labeled with that character’s name.
1

Anson Hunter

1

Anson's Father

1

The Narrator

Part B

Drag one piece of evidence that supports the description of each character into the corresponding box next to that character’s name.
1

Anson Hunter Evidence

1

Anson's Father Evidence

1

The Narrator Evidence

1

7. Part A
Which two sentences state themes suggested in the passage from “The
Rich Boy”?

1

Part B
Select two pieces of evidence from the passage that support the answer to Part A.