Question

excerpt adapted from the locket by kate chopin

one night in autumn a few men were gathered about a fire on a hill. they belonged to a small detachment of confederate forces. their gray uniforms were worn beyond the point of shabbiness. one of the men was heating something in a tin cup over the embers. two were lying at full length a little distance away, while a fourth was trying to decipher a letter, and had drawn close to the light. he had unfastened his collar and a good bit of his flannel shirt front.

“what is that you got around your neck, ned?” asked one of the men.

“ned—or edmond—mechanically fastened another button of his shirt and did not reply. he went on reading his letter.

“is it your sweetheart’s picture?”

“can’t no girl’s picture,” offered the man at the fire. “that’s a charm. hey, french! ain’t i right?” edmond looked up abruptly from his letter.

“what is it?” he asked.

“isn’t that a charm you got round your neck?”

“it must be, nick,” returned edmond with a smile. “i don’t know how i could have gone through two years and a half without it.”

the letter had made edmond homesick and heartsick. he stretched himself on his back and looked up at the blank sky overhead. but he was not thinking of them nor of anything but a certain spring day when a girl’s shy face had flashed up at his from a gate which she had fastened about his own. it was an old, old picture, even then, which she had given him, a picture of her father and mother. it was her most cherished earthly possession. edmond could feel again the touch of the girl’s soft white gown, her slender, dimpled fingers as she circled his neck with a lock of her hair about the locket. the memory of her patting, appeased him, and he was sleepy.

once more a pale, black dress, seen in an embrasure, a narrow belt decided her waistline. edmond held it at the waist. and the scene was very near. somewhere, she had decided, she had discarded the old locket. she would be surprised if she knew that edmond still wore it. she had forgotten it long ago, that locket with her little picture.

select the correct answer from the drop-down menu.
read the excerpt. then choose the correct way to complete the paragraph.
one theme in the excerpt is that people hold on to love despite the passage of time. the author develops this theme by describing how the locket necklace / letter symbolizes the love edmond and octave feel for their parents / the love between edmond and octave, even though there is distance between them / the disgust edmond and octave feel for the tragedy of war / the love between edmond and octave, even though there is distance between them (options presented in a table format with locket necklace/letter and corresponding symbolic meanings).

Explanation:

The theme is about holding on to love despite time/passage. The locket necklace (with the girl's picture, Octave) and Edmond's connection to it shows their love persists despite distance (war, physical separation). The other options: first is about parents (not supported), second about disgust (no), fourth is letter (theme is about locket's symbol of their love, not letter's). So the correct one is the locket necklace symbolizing their love despite distance.

Answer:

locket necklace symbolizes the love between Edmond and Octave, even though there is distance between them