Passage Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness
Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness
by Grace Livingston Hill
With a lurch the train came to a dead stop and Margaret Earle, hastily gathering up her belongings, hurried down the aisle and got out into the night.
It occurred to her, as she swung her heavy suit-case down the rather long step to the ground, and then carefully swung herself after it, that it was strange that neither conductor, brakeman, nor porter had come to help her off the train, when all three had taken the trouble to tell her that hers was the next station; but she could hear voices up ahead. Perhaps something was the matter with the engine that detained them and they had forgotten her for the moment.
The ground was rough where she stood, and there seemed no sign of a platform. Did they not have platforms in this wild Western land, or was the train so long that her car had stopped before reaching it?
She strained her eyes into the darkness, and tried to make out things from the two or three specks of light that danced about like fireflies in the distance. She could dimly see moving figures away up near the engine, and each one evidently carried a lantern. The train was tremendously long. A sudden feeling of isolation took possession of her. Perhaps she ought not to have got out until some one came to help her. Perhaps the train had not pulled into the station yet and she ought to get back on it and wait. Yet if the train started before she found the conductor she might be carried on somewhere and he justly blame her for a fool.
There did not seem to be any building on that side of the track. It was probably on the other, but she was standing too near the cars to see over. She tried to move back to look, but the ground sloped and she slipped and fell in the cinders, bruising her knee and cutting her wrist.
In sudden panic she arose. She would get back into the train, no matter what the consequences. They had no right to put her out here, away off from the station, at night, in a strange country. If the train started before she could find the conductor she would tell him that he must back it up again and let her off. He certainly could not expect her to get out like this.
She lifted the heavy suit-case up the high step that was even farther from the ground than it had been when she came down, because her fall had loosened some of the earth and caused it to slide away from the track. Then, reaching to the rail of the step, she tried to pull herself up, but as she did so the engine gave a long snort and the whole train, as if it were in league against her, lurched forward crazily, shaking off her hold. She slipped to her knees again, the suit-case, toppled from the lower step, descending upon her, and together they slid and rolled down the short bank, while the train . . . ran giddily off into the night.
The horror of being deserted helped the girl to rise in spite of bruises and shock. She lifted imploring hands to the unresponsive cars as they hurried by her—one, two, three, with bright windows, each showing a passenger, comfortable and safe inside, unconscious of her need.
A moment of useless screaming, running, trying to attract some one’s attention, a sickening sense of terror and failure, and the last car slatted itself past with a mocking clatter, as if it enjoyed her discomfort.
Margaret stood dazed, reaching out helpless hands, then dropped them at her sides and gazed after the fast-retreating train, the light on its last car swinging tauntingly, blinking now and then with a leer in its eye, rapidly vanishing from her sight into the depth of the night.
She gasped and looked about her for the station that but a short moment before had been so real to her mind; and, lo! on this side and on that there was none!
The night was wide like a great floor shut in by a low, vast dome of curving blue set with the largest, most wonderful stars she had ever seen. Heavy shadows of purple-green, smoke-like, hovered over earth darker and more intense than the unfathomable blue of the night sky. It seemed like the secret nesting-place of mysteries wherein no human foot might dare intrude. It was incredible that such could be but common sage-brush, sand, and greasewood wrapped about with the beauty of the lonely night.
No building broke the inky outlines of the plain, nor friendly light streamed out to cheer her heart. Not even a tree was in sight, except on the far horizon, where a heavy line of deeper darkness might mean a forest. Nothing, absolutely nothing, in the blue, deep, starry dome above and the bluer darkness of the earth below save one sharp shaft ahead like a black mast throwing out a dark arm across the track.
As soon as she sighted it she picked up her baggage and made her painful way toward it, for her knees and wrist were bruised and her baggage was heavy.
A soft drip, drip greeted her as she drew nearer; something plashing down among the cinders by the track. Then she saw the tall column with its arm outstretched, and looming darker among the sage-brush the outlines of a water-tank. It was so she recognized the engine’s drinking-tank, and knew that she had mistaken a pause to water the engine for a regular stop at a station.
cinders: track bed made from the residue of burnt coal
From A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS by Grace Livingston Hill—Public Domain
Question
How do the details in paragraphs 12–13 about the setting help support the theme of the excerpt?
- AThey show that Margaret is overwhelmed by the darkness that surrounds her.
- BThey suggest that the situation is frustrating but that Margaret is hopeful.
- CThey reveal that the landscape is beautiful and that Margaret is alone.
- DThey demonstrate that Margaret is easily discouraged and frightened.
Show the answer
Correct answer: C
The question asks how the details about the setting support the theme of the excerpt. In paragraph 12, phrases such as “vast dome of curving blue” and “the beauty of the lonely night” describe the beauty of the place. However, in paragraph 13, the author writes, “no building broke the inky outlines of the plain, nor friendly light streamed out to cheer her heart” to express how alone Margaret really is. These phrases demonstrate that Option C is correct.
Option A is incorrect because positive phrases such as “largest, most wonderful stars” show that Margaret is not overwhelmed by the darkness.
Option B is incorrect because, while Margaret is feeling helpless and alone at the recent realization that there is no station (paragraph 11), the descriptions of the landscape, which focus on the beauty and mysteriousness of the place, do not signify hope but rather how quiet and isolated the location is.
Option D is incorrect because, while Margaret has expressed fear in paragraphs 9–11, the details in paragraphs 12–13 do not show that she is discouraged but rather that she is aware of her situation because she sees no buildings or light.
Question analysis
This theme question asks how the description of the night landscape in paragraphs 12 and 13 of A Voice in the Wilderness supports the excerpt’s theme. Students interpret details of sky, stars and plain and decide what they show about Margaret’s situation after the train leaves. Several choices sound reasonable for a stranded traveler, so students must stick to what the paragraphs actually show.
- Grade level
- Grade 7 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- At grade 7 Linking setting details to a theme is typical grade 7 literary analysis. What raises the load is the language: two paragraphs of dense, old-fashioned description with words like unfathomable and greasewood.
- Estimated difficulty
- Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 3, strategic thinking · mainly analyze
- What makes it hard
- Figurative or literary language moderate
- Hard words minor
- Evidence
- Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 8, 981 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 61 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
These two paragraphs pull in opposite directions, wonder at the starry sky and emptiness on the plain, and the right answer is the one that keeps both. Students who notice only the dark imagery overstate her fear, and those who notice only that her situation is hard may add a hope the text denies when no “friendly light” comes to cheer her. Checking each half of a two-part choice separately is the safest way through.
Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
Paragraph 12 calls the sky “a low, vast dome of curving blue” and the land a “secret nesting-place of mysteries,” beauty and menace mixed, so students must hold both feelings at once. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
Words such as “unfathomable,” “greasewood” and “sage-brush” slow the reading of two descriptive paragraphs where every detail matters to the theme. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Strategy: List the main details in paragraphs 12 and 13, decide what they suggest about Margaret’s situation, then test every part of each choice against that list.
Traps
- Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
- Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
The wrong answers, classified
A Too narrow (King et al., 2004)
Fixes on the inky outlines and heavy shadows and overlooks the “largest, most wonderful stars she had ever seen,” so it reports only the darker half of the description.
B Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Accepts that her situation is hard but adds hope, which paragraph 13 denies when no “friendly light streamed out to cheer her heart.”
D Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Judges her character as easily discouraged, though these paragraphs describe the setting she sees, and in paragraph 14 she sets off at once toward the dark shaft.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks how the setting in paragraphs 12 and 13 supports the theme. The setting is where and when a story happens. You need a choice that fits all the details, not just some.
List the details in paragraph 12
Paragraph 12 describes the sky and the land. It has “the largest, most wonderful stars she had ever seen.” It ends with “the beauty of the lonely night.” These details are beautiful. But notice the word “lonely,” too.
List the details in paragraph 13
Paragraph 13 says: “No building broke the inky outlines of the plain, nor friendly light streamed out to cheer her heart.” It adds, “Not even a tree was in sight.” There are no houses, no lights and no people. She is completely alone.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. There is darkness, but the wonderful stars show she also sees beauty. A leaves that half out.
- B is wrong. No friendly light comes to cheer her, so nothing here shows hope.
- C is right. The land is beautiful, and she is alone in it.
- D is wrong. These paragraphs describe the place, not her character. Right after them, she sets off on her own.
Watch out: A notices only the dark half of the description.
Choose the answer
The setting is lovely and empty at the same time. So the answer is C.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
A is the closest wrong answer, because the paragraphs do mention dark shadows and “inky outlines.” But A leaves out the beauty: the wonderful stars and the blue sky. The phrase “the beauty of the lonely night” holds both halves together, and so does C.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness” as printed (pages 128–129)
