Question

questions 1 through 4 refer to the following.
this poem is from karin gottshall, crocus ©2000 / by fordham university press.
the raspberry room
it was solid hedge, loops of bramble and thorny
as it had to be with its berries thick as bumblebees.
it drew blood just to get there, but i was queen
of that place, at ten. through the branes shook like fists
in the wind, daring anyone to come in. i was trying
so hard to love this world - real rooms too big and full
of worry to comfortably inhabit - but believing i was born
10 to live in that cloistered1 green bower2 (the raspberry patch
in the back acre of my grandparents orchard). i was cross-
stitched and beaded by its fat, dollmakers needles. the effort
of sliding under the heavy, spiked tangle that tore
my clothes and smeared me with juice was rewarded
with space, wholly mine, a kind of room out of
15 the crush of the bushes with a canopy of raspberry
15 dagger - leaves and a syrup of sun and birdsong.
hours would pass in the loud buzz of it, blood
made it mine - the adventure of that red sting singing
down my calves, the place the scratches brought me to:
just space enough for a girl to lie down.
1: secluded; protected
2: a shady place under trees or plants
within the context of the poem, lines 5 - 9 (i was... cloistered) primarily serve to
a illustrate that the speaker has a positive relationship with her
grandparents.
b explain why the speaker was initially reluctant to enter the solid
hedge.
c contrastreal rooms with the room the speaker creates for herself in
the raspberry patch.
d compare the speakers experiences as a child with her experiences as
an adult.

Explanation:

In lines 5 - 9, the speaker describes “real rooms” as “too big and full of worry” while the raspberry patch (the “room” she creates) is a place she is drawn to despite the physical effort (like getting scratched) to enter. This shows a contrast between the two. Option A is incorrect as there's no indication of a positive grandparent - relationship in these lines. Option B is wrong because these lines are more about the contrast rather than the initial reluctance (the reluctance is more implied in the description of the hedge being “solid” and “thorny” but the lines 5 - 9 focus on the contrast). Option D is incorrect as there's no mention of adult experiences.

Answer:

C. contrast "real rooms" with the room the speaker creates for herself in the raspberry patch