Read the following excerpt and answer the questions that follow “My sister Vera and I have had differences, but I have no doubt....

      

Read the following excerpt and answer the questions that follow
“My sister Vera and I have had differences, but I have no doubt that she would have made an excellent mother - much than I ever was. The children love her. So it is with confidence that I leave every aspect of their care in her capable hands with
the assistance of whichever family members she chooses for I appreciate that the nature of her calling may not allow her to
establish her own home. I want her to know that I love my children though my way of expressing it may not have satisfied
her. I expressed it by making sure that they will never lack in the things I believe in. it is true that money cannot buy
happiness or I would have been happy; buy it can buy pretty well everything else. OK, it cannot buy life either - for I am
dying and will die in the slowest most painful way possible, but I am not sorry for the way I have lived; for I found out
however late, that everything, everything has a price. This is the price of living the way I have lived. So be it; I will pay it”

Vera wept afresh when the will was read out. What could make anyone so bitter? They had had good loving parents and all
her brothers and her other sister were happy warm-hearted people with ordinary faults, but not with such bitterness - the
bitterness of gall - and that in someone so beautiful! She had been only thirty- three and until the last six months of her illness
she had still been the loveliest person Vera had ever seen.

Questions
1. Place this excerpt in its immediate context. (4mks)
2. What is Becky?s attitude towards the life she lived according to the excerpt? (3mks)
3. From your knowledge of the text, who are Becky?s children referred to in the excerpt? (2mks)
4. State and illustrate the character trait of:
· Becky (2mks)
· Vera (2mks)
5. Identify and illustrate two stylistic devices used in the excerpt (4mks)
6. State and illustrate two thematic concerns brought out in the excerpt (4mks)
7. From your knowledge of novel, write in note form three things that Becky believed in. (3mks)
8. Rewrite the following sentence according to the instructions given, (l mk)
Vera wept afresh when the will was read out (Add a question tag)

  

Answers


Linus
Answers
EXCERPT
Before
1. Becky has died
The family had decided that Aoro and Wandia adopt the children (Becky?s)
After
· Daniel suffers from leukemia
· Aoro comes home late and Wandia picks up a quarrel with him.
· Vera is called to come and keep Wandia Company.
(Any two before 2mks, two after 2mks)
2. Unashamed /remorseless/unapologetic - though she accepts she will die in the slowest most painful way possible, she says she
is not sorry about how she lived. (1mk) She is ready to face the consequences of her behavior (1mk)
3. Jonny (1 mk)
Alicia (1mk)
(the spelling must be correct)
4. Becky - materialistic (1mk). Even though she knows that money cannot buy happiness, she says that it can buy everything
else. She lives a careless life so as to have material wealth. (1mk)
Vera - 1. Emotional / sentimental. (1mk) She wept afresh when the will was read out.
2. Trustworthy - Becky choses to entrust her children with her (Any one well illustrated trait (2mks)
(No mark for a trait not well illustrated)
5. Rhetorical questions (1 mk) What could make anyone so, better (1 mk)
Parenthesis
Becky?s attitude towards her life is brought out through a parenthesis”.. Buy life either for I am dying and will die in the
slowest”
“ …..Such bitterness - the bitterness of gall - and that in someone so beautiful!” (1mk)
Metaphor
The gall in statement “the bitterness of gall” is used metaphysically to show how Becky was bitter towards the other family
members.
(any two well-illustrated styles)
6. Materialism
Becky loves material things; wealth thus lives a careless/promiscuous life so as to satisfy her greed. She ignores the negative
effect that it has on her children and what other members of her family think” I want her to know that I love my children
though my way of expressing it may not have satisfied her. “(2mks)
Family ties /relationships
Becky and Vera?s differences are ignored when Becky falls sick consequently entrusting the children with her (Vera)
They had good loving parents. The other siblings were warm hearted.
Change
Vera?s calling does not allow her to establish her own home breaking away from the traditional norm that a woman should get
married and establish a home.
Religion
7. - Comfort (link)
- Expensive clothes (1mk)
- Good looking men (1 mk)
8. Vera wept afresh when the will was read out, didn?t she? (1 mk)
(No mark if there is no comma, question mark or the tag starts with a capital letter)

Osanariel answered the question on October 3, 2018 at 11:26


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