Question

Read the excerpt from "The Flood” by James Baldwin.

They knew at once that he was Mercury, the swift messenger of the Mighty Ones, and they waited to hear what he would say.

"Is there anything that you wish?” he asked. . . .

"We should like, above all things,” said Deucalion, "to see this land full of people once more; for without neighbors and friends, the world is a very lonely place indeed.”

"Go on down the mountain,” said Mercury, "and as you go, cast the bones of your mother over your shoulders behind you.”. . . .

And so they walked on, down the steep slope of Mount Parnassus, and as they walked they picked up the loose stones in their way and cast them over their shoulders; and strange to say, the stones which Deucalion threw sprang up as full-grown men, strong, and handsome, and brave; and the stones which Pyrrha threw sprang up as full-grown women, lovely and fair. When at last they reached the plain they found themselves at the head of a noble company of human beings, all eager to serve them.

So Deucalion became their king.

Read the excerpt from "Deucalion and Pyrrha” by Carla Nappi.

She cupped "not limpid yet” between her palms and took it to the window and blew it out into the air. And each letter broke apart into an infinity of tiny dots, which instantly grew a little less tiny, and sprouted tiny transparent wings, and tiny antennae, and little bitty shiny spotted shells or short sticky bodies or starry oval eyes or pinprick heads or long jointy legs and they filled the sky with clouds of buzzing chirping life until they grew tired and slowly fell to the earth. And in this way she made the insects. And then they made the rest of the world, each time cradling a precious phrase and releasing it from the library window and watching the sea and the sky and the earth grow and change.

What do the excerpts reveal about the adaptations?

Nappi and Baldwin both create stories in which their characters watch the world evolve.
Nappi and Baldwin both focus on how supernatural events influence people’s lives.
Nappi’s characters repopulate only humans, while Baldwin’s characters repopulate all of nature.
Baldwin’s characters speak the new humans into being, while Nappi’s characters use magic.

Answer 1

Correct answers: 1 and 2 are true; 3 and 4 are false.

Why:
- (1) True — both excerpts show characters watching the world/world-forms come into being (Deucalion and Pyrrha watching stones become people; Nappi’s characters watching letters turn into insects and then the rest of the world).
- (2) True — both rely on supernatural/magical events (Mercury’s command and the bone/stone ritual in Baldwin; the letter-blowing magic in Nappi) that shape people’s lives.
- (3) False — it’s the opposite: Baldwin’s scene repopulates humans (stones → people), while Nappi’s passage explicitly creates insects and “the rest of the world.”
- (4) False — Baldwin’s characters enact a ritual (casting stones/bones) rather than speaking humans into being; Nappi’s characters do use a magical act, so only the second half of the statement is accurate.