Identify the choice that best answers the question.
The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.
Part A
What is the best way to describe the speaker in “Hanging Fire”?
A. hopeful
B. determined
C. lonely and overwhelmed
D. enthusiastic and outspoken
Part B
Which quotation from the poem best supports the answer to Part A?
A. the boy I cannot live without / still sucks his thumb / in secret (lines 3–5)
B. I have to learn how to dance / in time for the next party (lines 12–13)
C. There is nothing I want to do / and too much / that has to be done (lines 19–21)
D. I should have been on the Math Team / my marks were better than his (lines 26–27)
1 answer
Part A: The best way to describe the speaker in “Hanging Fire” is C. lonely and overwhelmed. The speaker expresses feelings of isolation and the pressure of responsibilities that seem burdensome.
Part B: The quotation that best supports this answer is C. There is nothing I want to do / and too much / that has to be done (lines 19–21). This line highlights the speaker's sense of being overwhelmed by the demands of life, contributing to the feeling of loneliness and despair.
