Question

Read the passage and answer the following question(s).

The Blue Star
SCENE 1
December 1939, the kitchen of the Geller household in Warsaw, Poland. Mrs. Geller (Froy Geller in Yiddish) is at the stove cooking. Her 8-year-old son Moshe is cutting potatoes at the table. 5-year-old Chana is also at the table, forming the dough into balls for dumplings.

FROY GELLER: Moshe, remember to cut the potatoes small, so there will be enough for everyone.

MOSHE: We only have two potatoes and four people.

FROY GELLER: So? Cut them smaller. Chana, be careful with the kreplach. Don’t let any dough fall. We may not have flour for another month. At least.

(10-year-old Raisel comes in and takes her coat from a hook on the door.)

RAISEL: I’m going to Kristina’s house to get my lessons, Mama. Don’t worry. I’ll be back before curfew. (She slips the coat on.)

FROY GELLER: You have your armband?

RAISEL: (sighs) I’m only going a block away. Who will see me?

FROY GELLER: No! (She stands by the door to stop Raisel from leaving.) You are ten years old now. They said—

RAISEL: They??? You mean the Germans.

(Her mother looks away.)

RAISEL: You can’t even say their name. But they tell us what we can and can’t do. (She recites in a sing-song voice, as if from something she memorized.) No Jews shall be out of their homes after 8 o’clock at night. No Jews may own or operate a business establishment. Jewish children shall not attend any public school. (Her voice rises in anger). All Jews over the age of 10 must wear a white armband with a blue star of David when in public. (She takes an armband from her coat pocket and waves it angrily. Moshe and Chana stop what they are doing and stare)

FROY GELLER: Hush! You’re frightening the little ones. Wear the armband; it provides protection. (She drops her voice.) You know what will happen if you don’t.

RAISEL: Yes. They’ll take me away. But Papa wore his armband all the time and they still took him, and they won’t tell us where.

FROY GELLER: We have to hope. (Wipes her eyes) In the meantime, Kristina’s mother gathers sewing work from the other Polish women and brings it to me so I can earn a little money and we won’t starve.

(Raisel hugs her mother.)

RAISEL: You work so hard. I wish there was something I could do.

FROY GELLER: Stay safe and keep studying.

RAISEL: The Makowski's are real friends. When I was thrown out of school just for being a Jew, most of the children made fun of me and called me names. Kristina promised to share her lessons with me every night, so I could keep up. How can I become a doctor like Papa if I don’t study?

FROY GELLER: You will. Go and be careful.

(Raisel nods and fits the armband over her coat sleeve.)

MOSHE: I’ve finished cutting the potatoes. They’re so small you could hardly see them with Papa’s microscope.

RAISEL: Always the joker.

(Raisel and her mother smile.)

MOSHE: I’ll walk with you. I don’t need an armband yet.

SCENE 2
(Raisel and her brother stand outside beneath a street light.)

RAISEL: Okay. What’s up? I know you don’t just want to take a walk.

MOSHE: I’m meeting my friend Isaac at the corner. We’re going down to the railroad yard to see if we can filch some coal. Don’t tell Mama. I don’t like stealing, but the coal man charges Jews twice as much as other people now.

RAISEL: I know. Just be careful. Poor Mama. I keep secrets from her, too.

MOSHE: Like what?

RAISEL: (Drops her voice) Kristina’s older brother Josef has a radio.

MOSHE: They won’t let us have radios anymore.

RAISEL: This is a special radio. The Polish radio station just plays German programs. Josef has a short-wave radio hidden in the attic. He can get news from all over. Sweden, France, even England. He says the Germans are winning, but some people are ready to fight. He calls himself a partisan.

MOSHE: Partisan?

RAISEL: Those are the people who want to fight the Nazis in any way they can. Jews are partisans, too.

MOSHE: I want to be a partisan.

RAISEL: So do I, but right now, we have to take care of Mama and Chana. They need us. We have to protect them.

MOSHE: I know. But promise you’ll tell me everything you hear from Josef’s radio.

RAISEL: Promise. And promise you won’t run off to be a partisan any time soon.

MOSHE: Okay. But I will try to fight, and so will you.

RAISEL: Yes. I will.

(The children part ways.)

RAISEL: (calls over her shoulder) Be careful.

MOSHE: Stay safe.


Read this line of dialogue from Scene 1.

FROY GELLER: We have to hope. (Wipes her eyes) In the meantime, Kristina’s mother gathers sewing work from the other Polish women and brings it to me so I can earn a little money and we won’t starve.
How is the underlined participle used in this sentence?

A.
as an adverb

B.
as a noun

C.
as an adjective

D.
as a verb

Answer 1

A. as an adverb

Explanation: The participial phrase (wiping her eyes) describes the manner/condition accompanying what she says, modifying the action of the clause (how she speaks), so it functions adverbially.