Literature

570 UNIT 5 Is Progress Always Good?

READING WORKSHOP 2

The fi ve spots of paint—the man, the woman, the children, Practice the Skills

the ball—remained. The rest was a thin charcoaled layer.

The gentle sprinkler rain fi lled the garden with falling light.

Until this day, how well the house had kept its peace. How

carefully it had inquired, “Who goes there? What’s the

password?” and, getting no answer from lonely foxes and

whining cats, it had shut up its windows and drawn shades

in an old-maidenly preoccupation with self-protection which

bordered on a mechanical paranoia.^2

It quivered^3 at each sound, the house did. If a sparrow

brushed a window, the shade snapped up. The bird, startled,

fl ew off! No, not even a bird must touch the house!

The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big,

small, servicing, attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone

away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly,

uselessly. 3 4

Tw e l v e n o o n.

A dog whined, shivering, on the front porch.

The front door recognized the dog voice and opened. The

dog, once huge and fl eshy, but now gone to bone and covered

with sores, moved in and through the house, tracking mud.

Behind it whirred angry mice, angry at having to pick up

mud, angry at inconvenience.

For not a leaf fragment blew under the door but what the wall

panels fl ipped open and the copper scrap rats fl ashed swiftly

3 English Language Coach

Suffixes Look at the words

senselessly and uselessly. What

does each word mean?

4 Key Literary Element

Concept and Definition The

house is self-sufficient, meaning

it is able to take care of itself

without any outside help. Do the

details of the story expand your

understanding of the concept?

2. Preoccupation is an extreme concern with something. Paranoia is a mental illness in which a
   person is extremely suspicious and afraid of others.


3. To quiver is to shake slightly or tremble.

Vocabulary

inconvenience (in kun VEEN yuns) n. something that causes difficulty,

discomfort, or bother

Garry Black/Masterfile