Question

from An Indian Teacher Among Indians
II. A Trip Westward
by Zitkala-Sa

At a small station, consisting of a single frame house with a rickety board walk around it, I alighted from the iron horse, just thirty miles from my mother and my brother Dawée. A strong hot wind seemed determined to blow my hat off, and return me to olden days when I roamed bareheaded over the hills. After the puffing engine of my train was gone, I stood on the platform in deep solitude. In the distance I saw the gently rolling land leap up into bare hills. At their bases a broad gray road was winding itself round about them until it came by the station. Among these hills I rode in a light conveyance, with a trusty driver, whose unkempt flaxen hair hung shaggy about his ears and his leather neck of reddish tan. From accident or decay he had lost one of his long front teeth.
Though I call him a paleface, his cheeks were of a brick red. His moist blue eyes, blurred and bloodshot, twitched involuntarily. For a long time he had driven through grass and snow from this solitary station to the Indian village. His weather-stained clothes fitted badly his warped shoulders. He was stooped, and his protruding chin, with its tuft of dry flax, nodded as monotonously as did the head of his faithful beast.
All the morning I looked about me, recognizing old familiar sky lines of rugged bluffs and round-topped hills. By the roadside I caught glimpses of various plants whose sweet roots were delicacies among my people. When I saw the first cone-shaped wigwam, I could not help uttering an exclamation which caused my driver a sudden jump out of his drowsy nodding.
At noon, as we drove through the eastern edge of the reservation, I grew very impatient and restless. Constantly I wondered what my mother would say upon seeing her little daughter grown tall. I had not written her the day of my arrival, thinking I would surprise her. Crossing a ravine thicketed with low shrubs and plum bushes, we approached a large yellow acre of wild sunflowers. Just beyond this nature's garden we drew near to my mother's cottage. Close by the log cabin stood a little canvas-covered wigwam. The driver stopped in front of the open door, and in a long moment my mother appeared at the threshold.
I had expected her to run out to greet me, but she stood still, all the while staring at the weather-beaten man at my side. At length, when her loftiness became unbearable, I called to her, "Mother, why do you stop?"
This seemed to break the evil moment, and she hastened out to hold my head against her cheek.
"My daughter, what madness possessed you to bring home such a fellow?" she asked, pointing at the driver, who was fumbling in his pockets for change while he held the bill I gave him between his jagged teeth.
"Bring him! Why, no, mother, he has brought me! He is a driver!" I exclaimed.
Upon this revelation, my mother threw her arms about me and apologized for her mistaken inference. We laughed away the momentary hurt.
3
What is the best summary of the passage?
A.
The narrator is looking forward to seeing her mother's reaction when she sees her in front of their cottage. When the narrator reaches their cottage, she sees a terrified expression on her mother's face. The narrator assures her mother of her safety and hugs her mother and apologizes to her for not informing her earlier of her coming.
B.
The narrator is looking forward to meeting her mother and the people of the Indian village. As the narrator travels in the conveyance driven by a shabbily-dressed driver, she recollects her young and carefree days. Even the garden near the narrator's mother's cottage reminds the narrator about the days she spent there.
C.
The narrator travels back home to her Indian village in a conveyance driven by a shabby driver. On the way, she enjoys the beauty of the familiar surroundings, and when she reaches her house, she expects her mother to be surprised. But her mother looks at the driver and mistakenly assumes that the narrator has brought home an unpleasant man.
D.
The narrator travels back home and decided to surprise her mother with her arrival. When the narrator's mother spots her daughter come home, she is overjoyed and runs out to greet her daughter. However, her happiness is short-lived when she realizes that her daughter hasn't come alone but has brought a strange-looking man with her.

Answer 1

C

Option C best summarizes the passage: the narrator returns home in a shabby driver's conveyance, enjoys the familiar landscape, expects her mother's surprise, and the mother mistakenly focuses on the driver, assuming the narrator has brought an unpleasant man.