Post Test: Page Turners and Plot Twists

Read the excerpt from "The Last Class" by Alphonse Daudet:

(1) I was very late for school that morning, and I was afraid of being scolded, especially as Monsieur Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles, and I did not know the first thing about them. For a moment I thought of staying away from school and wandering about the fields. It was such a warm, lovely day. I could hear the blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood, and in the Rippert field, behind the sawmill, the Prussians going through their drill. All that was much more tempting to me than the rules concerning participles; but I had the strength to resist, and I ran as fast as I could to school. As I passed the Mayor's office, I saw that there were people gathered about the little board on which notices were posted. For two years all our bad news had come from that board—battles lost, conscriptions, orders from headquarters; and I thought without stopping:

(2) "What can it be now?"

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Read the excerpt from paragraphs 15 and 16:

(15) My last class in French!

(16) And I barely knew how to write! So I should never learn! I must stop short where I was! How angry I was with myself because of the time I had wasted, the lessons I had missed, running about after nests, or sliding on the Saar! My books, which only a moment before I thought so tiresome, so heavy to carry—my grammar, my sacred history—seemed to me now like old friends, from whom I should be terribly grieved to part.

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Question:

How does the use of personification in the underlined words affect the meaning of the passage?

A. It emphasizes that not being able to learn French will have a major impact on Frantz.

B. It suggests that Frantz always secretly loved reading but did not want his teacher to know.

C. It demonstrates Frantz's realization that books are more important than anything else.

D. It shows that learning history and mastering grammar are important life skills for Frantz.