Study Questions
1. How does the narrator realize how the doll danced?

2. What does the narrator wish he had done to stop Clifton?

3. How do the youth members respond when the narrator tells them that Clifton is dead?

4. What is the name of the park to which the procession travels?

5. What do the black-bordered signs in the procession say?

6. To what does the narrator compare the coffin, visible in the procession?

7. What had a brother in the Parks Department done, to add to the ceremony?

8. What song does the duet of horn and baritone voice sing when the procession arrives at its destination?

9. What is the first question the narrator asks in his funeral address?

10. Whom does the narrator feel would not approve of the speech?

Answers
1. The narrator realizes that the doll dances by use of a nearly invisible black thread attached to the frilled paper of the doll.

2. The narrator wishes he had hit Clifton, gotten into a fight with him. That way, the narrator reasons, Clifton would not have gotten killed.

3. The youth members respond with tears and a desire to go home when the narrator tells them that Clifton is dead.

4. The name of the park to which the procession travels is the Mount Morris Park.

5. The black-bordered signs in the procession say, “BROTHER TOD CLIFTON / OUR HOPE SHOT DOWN.”

6. The narrator compares the coffin to a heavily loaded ship in a channel.

7. A brother in the Parks Department had opened up one of the towers, and set up sawhorses for the coffin.

8. A duet of horn and baritone voice sings, “There’s Many a Thousand Gone.” It moves the crowd greatly.

9. The first question that the narrator asks in his funeral address is, “What are you waiting for me to tell you?”

10. The narrator feels that Brother Jack would not have approved of the speech.