Question
Which excerpt from Tom Sawyer allows the reader to infer the time of year?
She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with.
She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato vines and “jimpson” weeds that constituted the garden.
“It’s mighty hard to make him work Saturdays, when all the boys is having holiday, but he hates work more than he hates anything else, and I've got to do some of my duty by him, or I'll be the ruination of the child.”
While Tom was eating his supper, and stealing sugar as opportunity offered, Aunt Polly asked him questions that were full of guile, and very deep—for she wanted to trap him into damaging revealments.
She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with.
She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato vines and “jimpson” weeds that constituted the garden.
“It’s mighty hard to make him work Saturdays, when all the boys is having holiday, but he hates work more than he hates anything else, and I've got to do some of my duty by him, or I'll be the ruination of the child.”
While Tom was eating his supper, and stealing sugar as opportunity offered, Aunt Polly asked him questions that were full of guile, and very deep—for she wanted to trap him into damaging revealments.
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The excerpt that allows the reader to infer the time of year is the one where Aunt Polly is looking out among the "tomato vines and 'jimpson' weeds that constituted the garden." The presence of tomato vines suggests that it is late summer, as tomatoes are typically in season during that time. This imagery provides a strong clue about the season while also setting the scene in a garden that would be thriving during that period.