Oliver Bacon's Journey from Poverty to Wealth

Question:

This passage is adapted from Virginia Woolf’s “The Duchess and the Jeweler,” first published in 1938. Reproduced with permission of The Society of Authors as the literary representative of the estate of Virginia Woolf. ©1938 Virginia Woolf. Oliver Bacon lived at the top of a house overlooking the Green Park. He had a flat; chairs jutted out at the right angles—chairs covered in hide. Sofas filled the bays of the windows—sofas covered in tapestry. The windows, the three long windows, had the proper allowance of discreet net and figured satin. The mahogany sideboard bulged discreetly with the right brandies, whiskeys, and liqueurs. And from the middle window he looked down upon the glossy roofs of fashionable cars packed in the narrow straits of Piccadilly.

A more central position could not be imagined. And at eight in the morning he would have his breakfast brought in on a tray by a manservant: the manservant would unfold his crimson dressing-gown; he would rip his letters open with his long pointed nails and would extract thick white cards of invitation upon which the engraving stood up roughly from duchesses, countesses, viscountesses, and Honorable Ladies. Then he would wash; then he would eat his toast; then he would read his paper by the bright burning fire of electric coals.

“Behold Oliver,” he would say, addressing himself. “You who began life in a filthy little alley, you who . . . ” and he would look down at his legs, so shapely in their perfect trousers; at his boots; at his spats. They were all shapely, shining; cut from the best cloth by the best scissors in Savile Row. But he dismantled himself often and became again a little boy in a dark alley. He had once thought that the height of his ambition—selling stolen dogs to fashionable women in Whitechapel. And once he had been done. “Oh, Oliver,” his mother had wailed. “Oh, Oliver! When will you have sense, my son?”

Then he had gone behind a counter; had sold cheap watches; then he had taken a wallet to Amsterdam . . . At that memory he would chuckle—the old Oliver remembering the young. Yes, he had done well with the three diamonds; also there was the commission on the emerald. After that he went into the private room behind the shop in Hatton Garden; the room with the scales, the safe, the thick magnifying glasses. And then . . . and then . . .

Young he was then. And he dressed better and better; and had, first a hansom cab; then a car; and first he went up to the dress circle, then down into the stalls. And he had a villa at Richmond, overlooking the river, with trellises of red roses; and Mademoiselle used to pick one every morning and stick it in his buttonhole.

“So,” said Oliver Bacon, rising and stretching his legs. “So . . .”

And he stood beneath the picture of an old lady on the mantelpiece and raised his hands. “I have kept my word,” he said, laying his hands together, palm to palm, as if he were doing homage to her. “I have won my bet.” That was so; he was the richest jeweler in England; but his nose, which was long and flexible, like an elephant’s trunk, seemed to say by its curious quiver at the nostrils (but it seemed as if the whole nose quivered, not only the nostrils) that he was not satisfied yet; still smelt something under the ground a little further off. Imagine a giant hog in a pasture rich with truffles; after unearthing this truffle and that, still it smells a bigger, a blacker truffle under the ground further off. So Oliver snuffed always in the rich earth of Mayfair another truffle, a blacker, a bigger further off.

This passage has been excerpted and adapted from the original, including minor punctuation changes, spelling changes, and other modifications that have not substantially changed content or intent. Paragraph 1 centers on which of the following? Not Answered A) An analysis of Oliver’s character B) A review of Oliver’s recent renovation C) An overview of Oliver’s habits D) A description of Oliver’s flat In Paragraph 2, the author indicates that Oliver is which of the following? Not Answered A) Well-connected B) Hard-working C) Indifferent D) Listless It is clear from the passage that Oliver views his past actions predominantly with Not Answered A) remorse. B) pride. C) uncertainty. D) anxiety. Which lines in the passage best support the answer to the previous question? Not Answered A) Paragraph 1, Sentences 1 and 2 (“Oliver Bacon . . . hide”) B) Paragraph 3, Sentences 4 and 5 (“But he . . . Whitechapel”) C) Paragraph 4, Sentences 2 and 3 (“At that . . . emerald”) D) Paragraph 5, Sentences 1 and 2 (“Young he . . . stalls”) Based on the information in the passage, Oliver’s mother likely Not Answered A) threatened to disown Oliver because of his initial criminal endeavors. B) disapproved of some of his criminal enterprises and lamented his actions. C) feared that Oliver’s various occupations would lead him into mortal danger. D) worried that Oliver’s job would bring danger to the rest of the family. The passage includes which of the following? Not Answered A) A complete description of Oliver’s squalid childhood B) A story within a story about Oliver’s first successful theft C) Oliver’s memories of how he progressed in his exploits D) A digression about the consequences of Oliver’s greed In the passage, Oliver tracks his progress predominantly through Not Answered A) the rotation of his closest companions. B) upgrades in material goods. C) changes in his own visage. D) his attainment of inner peace. In Paragraph 7, Sentence 2, the phrase “doing homage to” most closely means Not Answered A) celebrating the presence of. B) conveying his esteem for. C) paying a tangible offering to. D) offering his respects to. giant hog : Oliver :: truffle : Not Answered A) integrity B) ambition C) riches D) deceit villa : Richmond :: Not Answered A) scissors : Savile Row B) river : Mayfair C) dogs : Whitechapel D) flat : Piccadilly

Oliver Bacon's Journey from Poverty to Wealth

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