AP English Literature and Composition 1.10 Passage Drill 5

as a whole and come to a decision about the author’s tone.

Is he crabby and obnoxious?

Let’s hope not… as that is NOT one of our 5 answer choices…

Is the author… celebratory and welcoming?

Uh… welcoming? Welcoming WHO, exactly?

We don’t see Death being ushered into this guy’s home with open arms.

Trust us. You never want to leave your armpits exposed and vulnerable.

Is he melancholy and wistful? Both words have something of a passive connotation…

if you’re melancholy, you’re sort of quietly depressed, and if you’re wistful, you’re…

quietly contemplative.

But our author is anything but quiet. He’s pretty passionate when it comes to… dissing Death.

What about “fearfully retreating?”

Again – there’s no “retreat” about this guy. He’s all systems go, full steam ahead…

Angrily insulting?

The best choice we’ve seen so far…

but while he’s certainly insulting, we wouldn’t necessarily call him “angry.”

There’s more of a self-possessed, even-keel approach that the speaker has when… mocking

and deriding the messenger to the hereafter. Confident and taunting?

Here we go. Similar to D, but closer to the mark. We don’t picture the author brandishing

a pitchfork at Death… more like he just… let’s Death know it’s there…

So our answer is E.

Just FYI, we do NOT recommend taunting Death.

One of these days, he just might snap.