Question

Read the excerpt from "Fern” in Cane.

One evening I walked up the Pike on purpose, and stopped to say hello. Some of her family were about, but they moved away to make room for me . . . if I knew how to begin. Would you? Mr. and Miss So-and-So, people, the weather, the crops, the new preacher, the frolic, the church benefit, rabbit and possum hunting, the new soft drink they had at old Pap’s store, the schedule of trains, what kind of town Macon was, Negro’s migration north, boll-weevils, syrup, the Bible—to all these things she gave a yassur or nassur, without further comment.

What is the effect of this long list of conversation topics in this excerpt?

It suggests that the narrator feels excited.
It shows that Fern inspires conversation.
It demonstrates the narrator’s obsession with the community.
It emphasizes what the narrator and Fern have in common.

Answer 1

It demonstrates the narrator’s obsession with the community.

The long catalogue of small‑town topics emphasizes how the narrator is preoccupied with local, everyday subjects — the things people in the community talk about — as he tries to figure out how to begin a conversation with Fern.