the cold within questions and answers icse/workbook solution extract1

 THE COLD WITHIN

James Patrick Kinney

Extract 1

Six humans trapped by happenstance

In bleak and bitter cold.

Each one possessed a stick of wood

Or so the story’s told

Their dying fire in need of logs,

But the first man held his back.

For of the faces 'round the fire,

He noticed one was black.

The next man looking 'cross the way

Saw one not of his church.

And couldn't bring himself to give

the fire his stick of birch.

1. The figure of speech used here is alliteration. The adjective bleak and bitter signifies the terrible in which the six person posed a miserable situation for them.

     

    2. The people referred to in this extract are of different caste, religion, race and status. They were all trapped in a bitter cold . They needed logs of wood which would act as a fuel to revive the fire 🔥 which was essential for their survival in that situation.

    3. The first one was a lady of white complexity who had a prejudice against the black people and she refused to give her log as it would benefit the black . The second one was a person with a narrow mindset. He only liked the people of his religion and hated the others. So he also refused to give his log as it would help the person of a other religion.

   4. The first one holds back the log of wood because she was of a white complexity and hated the black and she doesn't want the black to get benefitted . 

 

                  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the extract 2