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Sinking and Swaddled
by Beth Gilstrap
The kitchen still held a butcher-block table with a family of plates. Ona piled them one on top of the other and pulled them to her chest, sick with grief, sick with longing at the sight of the dust-free circles left behind. After rinsing each dish in the creek, she dried them with her shirtsleeve and put them back in place. At dusk, fingertips numb, Ona tore sheets of bark from the tree, building herself a papery cradle on the uneven floorboards where she could sleep for years.
"Sinking and Swaddled" from Deadheading and Other Stories © Beth Gilstrap. Published by Red Hen Press, 2021.
Question
Use the passage to answer the question.
Based on the imagery in this passage, what conclusion can be drawn about Ona?
(1 point)
Responses
She has lost the will to live.
She has lost the will to live.
She is afraid of what the future holds.
She is afraid of what the future holds.
She feels alone and exhausted.
She feels alone and exhausted.
She feels comforted and protected.
by Beth Gilstrap
The kitchen still held a butcher-block table with a family of plates. Ona piled them one on top of the other and pulled them to her chest, sick with grief, sick with longing at the sight of the dust-free circles left behind. After rinsing each dish in the creek, she dried them with her shirtsleeve and put them back in place. At dusk, fingertips numb, Ona tore sheets of bark from the tree, building herself a papery cradle on the uneven floorboards where she could sleep for years.
"Sinking and Swaddled" from Deadheading and Other Stories © Beth Gilstrap. Published by Red Hen Press, 2021.
Question
Use the passage to answer the question.
Based on the imagery in this passage, what conclusion can be drawn about Ona?
(1 point)
Responses
She has lost the will to live.
She has lost the will to live.
She is afraid of what the future holds.
She is afraid of what the future holds.
She feels alone and exhausted.
She feels alone and exhausted.
She feels comforted and protected.
Answers
There are no human answers yet.
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
She feels alone and exhausted.
The language—“sick with grief, sick with longing,” “fingertips numb,” and her solitary, makeshift cradle—conveys loneliness and physical/emotional fatigue.
The language—“sick with grief, sick with longing,” “fingertips numb,” and her solitary, makeshift cradle—conveys loneliness and physical/emotional fatigue.
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