Y9-12 Reading Passage 31

Literature 11
Questions 1-10 are based on the following passage.

This passage is adapted from Arthur A. Owens, Metalwork. The character Jerry, an artist in his mid-60s, is based
loosely on abstract sculptor Alexander Calder. Helena is Jerry’s friend and patron.

Para. 1 After a late lunch, as he was making the rounds of his birdhouses, he caught sight of the lean black car that was
bearing Helena and her reporter. Jerry knew that all of this was expected. But the fact that it was really happening was still a
shock to him. Worse, he hadn’t made up his mind, despite weeks of planning, what version of himself he would ultimately be.
As the car drew nearer, he thanked himself for picking the most nondescript outfit he could find: a huge gray sweater and trim
black pants that were wildly open to interpretation. He could be a blacksmith, a sea captain, or simply himself. Anything they
wanted.

Para. 2 The car came to a halt, and Helena angled herself out of the driver’s seat. That was when, as Jerry would think every
time he looked back, it became apparent that all of this had been some sort of catastrophic mistake. Helena was wearing a taut
white dress and a white hat with (so Jerry thought) the most absurd brim he had ever seen, like a two-foot-long tile or a castoff
sheet of painted steel that Jerry had never managed to work into one of his creations. She was eminently present, but where
had that reporter gone to?

Para. 3 “Jerry, it’s a pleasure as always,” began Helena. “And this is –” looking back, gesturing back, finding herself looking
and gesturing at a pocket of thin air. “Well, in any case, this was Gordon K. Kellison from Hudson’s Quarterly, though
apparently he’s disappeared for the moment and –”

Para. 4 “No worries, no worries!” proclaimed a voice, presumably Gordon K. Kellison’s, from somewhere near the back of
the car. The trunk slammed and Gordon K. Kellison (a small man with an outsized name, so Jerry thought) strode forward.
He held a notebook and a motley of pens and pencils in his left hand and a tripod in his right; a sturdy camera dangled from
the strap looped over his neck. The sun caught his round glasses and turned them copper, like the coins (Jerry remembered)
sometimes placed on the eyes of corpses at Irish funerals.

Para. 5 “So where do we set up,” asked Gordon K. Kellison.

Para. 6 “There, near Jerry’s display,” replied Helena, pointing towards a cluster of unfinished sculptures. “We want to get
Jerry at work, see how he puts these together.”

Para. 7 Jerry stood there, vaguely mortified, wondering if he should say something. As Gordon K. Kellison angled the tripod,
shuffled his things, and then went back to the car (for what?), Jerry decided that he needed to.

Para. 8 “Helena,” he began, only to find her looking off, scanning the horizon for more possible photo ops. “Helena,” he said
again, loud enough that she turned. “What is this? All my work takes place in those sheds over there or back at the house.”

Para. 9 “I know, but we need to give a stronger idea.”

Para. 10 “What does that mean?”

Para. 11 “The readers want to see something more dramatic than you doing calculations or reading Keats. They need to see
you in action.”

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Para. 12 Jerry was about to begin with a protest, to explain that calculations and Keats had more to do with his art than
looking like a dumb burly blacksmith. But he knew it wouldn’t do any good. Helena and Hudson’s Quarterly wanted their
dumb burly blacksmith. Why did the easy publicity dupe him into this? Why didn’t he know how ridiculous he would need
to be to buy the feature story that Helena had promised?

Para. 13 “Okay, so before we begin I’d like a quote or two about your art, what inspires it,” declaimed Gordon K. Kellison,
back to fiddling with his camera and not even looking at Jerry as he spoke. “So tell me, where do your ideas come from?”

Para. 14 Jerry looked at him long and hard, then pronouncing, “They come from where they come from.”

Para. 15 “What?”

Para. 16 “They come from where they come from.”

Para. 17 “What does that mean?”

Para. 18 “What it means,” said Jerry. Gordon K. Kellison stared for a beat, the went back to his camera. Helena glared. Jerry
tried to keep himself from smirking.

Para. 19 They wanted a benighted blacksmith for their feature story. Well, they were going to get one.

1. In the first several paragraphs of the passage, Jerry is notable for his sense of ___.
A) practicality
B) indecision
C) obliviousness
D) self-loathing

2. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
A) “After … reporter” in Para. 1
B) “Worse, he … be” in Para. 1
C) “That was … mistake” in Para. 2
D) “Helena … creations” in Para. 2

3. As used in Para. 4, “proclaimed” most nearly means ___.

A) commemorated
B) narrated
C) asserted
D) agreed

4. Throughout the passage, the narrator employs parenthetical phrases in order to ___.
A) signify that the events of the passage are open to multiple interpretations
B) designate Jerry as the source of some of the imagery in the passage
C) pinpoint observations that would be unique to either Helena or Jerry
D) establish a personality separate from that of Jerry, Helena, or Gordon K. Kellison

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5. In the passage, Gordon K. Kellison is compared to ___.
A) a businessman
B) a traveler
C) a detective
D) a dead man

6. As used in line 63, “dramatic” most nearly means ___.

A) aggressive
B) artificial
C) climactic
D) vivid

7. On the basis of the passage, Jerry would most likely agree that Helena ___.
A) is uninterested in presenting Jerry’s activities in an accurate manner
B) values Jerry’s art mainly as a source of income and publicity
C) has given Gordon K. Kellison too much authority in presenting Jerry’s work
D) does not understand the true inspirations for Jerry’s art

8. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
A) “Jerry … something” in Para. 7
B) “Helena … house” in Para. 8
C) “Jerry … blacksmith” in Para. 12
D) “Why didn’t … promised?” in Para. 12

9. What purpose is served by the dialogue between Jerry and Gordon K. Kellison from S. 2, Para. 13 to Para. 19 that concludes
the passage?
A) To show that Jerry is unable to explain his own art in an accessible manner.
B) To emphasize that Jerry is committed to an image that he nonetheless finds ridiculous.
C) To demonstrate how little Gordon K. Kellison understands Jerry’s artistic techniques.
D) To indicate that Jerry’s disagreement with Helena has led to an attempted reconciliation.

10. The passage as whole can best be summarized as an account of a meeting that ___.
A) requires the characters involved to veil their true motives
B) causes an irreparable conflict between two once close characters
C) mostly re-affirms the pessimistic world view of a key character
D) ultimately displeases two characters for different reasons