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Inheritance

12th grade reading

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Inheritance

When my aunt died she left me her piano, which was the one thing in her house I had never wanted. It was an upright of dark, scarred wood, too large for any room it had ever stood in, and it had been out of tune for as long as I could remember. As a child, I had been made to sit at it every Thursday while she counted the beats aloud in a voice like a ruler rapping a desk. I had hated it with the pure, uncomplicated hatred of a nine-year-old. The removal men groaned it up the three flights to my flat and left it in the hall, where it blocked the light from the only window. For a month I edged around it sideways, as one edges around a guest who has outstayed their welcome. I told friends I would sell it. I photographed it twice for the listing and deleted the pictures both times. It was during a power cut in February that I finally lifted the lid. I could not have said why. The flat was cold and dark and silent, and perhaps I simply wanted to hear something. I pressed middle C. It was flat, of course – everything about that piano was slightly flat – but the note hung in the hall far longer than I expected, and something in the slowness of its fading undid me. I played the only piece I still knew, a dull exercise in C major that my aunt had made me repeat a hundred times. My fingers found it before my mind did. Halfway through, I realised I was counting under my breath, in her rhythm, in her voice. I have not had the piano tuned. People ask me why, and I tell them I haven't got round to it, which is true in the way that most convenient answers are true. The other reason is harder to explain. Every flat note is exactly as she left it. I am not ready to correct her yet.

1
Question 1
Read "Inheritance". How does the narrator feel about the piano at the start?
- A. resentful, because of unhappy childhood lessons
- B. indifferent, having never seen it
- C. proud of its value
- D. delighted to finally own it
2
Question 2
Read "Inheritance". In paragraph 2, the narrator edges around the piano "as one edges around a guest who has outstayed their welcome". What does this suggest?
- A. The piano feels like an awkward, unwanted presence that he avoids confronting.
- B. The piano is too heavy to move.
- C. He enjoys having visitors.
- D. The piano belongs to a friend.
3
Question 3
Read "Inheritance". What does deleting the photographs "both times" suggest?
- A. His camera is broken.
- B. He wants to keep the piano as an investment.
- C. He has already found a buyer.
- D. He is more attached to the piano than he admits.
4
Question 4
Read "Inheritance". What is the significance of the power cut in the structure of the story?
- A. It explains why the piano is out of tune.
- B. It creates the quiet, isolated moment in which the narrator finally confronts the piano.
- C. It introduces a new character.
- D. It shows the narrator moving to a new flat.
5
Question 5
Read "Inheritance". What does the narrator's realisation that he is counting "in her voice" reveal?
- A. His aunt's influence has become part of him, despite his earlier resentment.
- B. He has forgotten the piece.
- C. He is imitating her to mock her.
- D. He has hired a teacher.
6
Question 6
Read "Inheritance". What is the best interpretation of "I am not ready to correct her yet"?
- A. He cannot afford a piano tuner.
- B. Tuning the piano would feel like erasing a trace of her, and he is still grieving.
- C. He thinks his aunt played badly.
- D. He plans to become a piano tuner.

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Answer key: Inheritance

1. A. resentful, because of unhappy childhood lessons
- A character's words and actions reveal what they are like and what they want.
- It was 'the one thing…I had never wanted', linked to hated lessons.
- So the answer is: resentful, because of unhappy childhood lessons
2. A. The piano feels like an awkward, unwanted presence that he avoids confronting.
- Writers choose words for their connotations and effects.
- The simile presents the piano as an uncomfortable intruder he tolerates but avoids.
- So the answer is: The piano feels like an awkward, unwanted presence that he avoids confronting.
3. D. He is more attached to the piano than he admits.
- An inference combines clues in the text with what you know.
- He says he will sell it but repeatedly fails to, implying unacknowledged attachment.
- So the answer is: He is more attached to the piano than he admits.
4. B. It creates the quiet, isolated moment in which the narrator finally confronts the piano.
- Text structure is how a writer organises ideas.
- Cold, dark silence prompts him to lift the lid: the turning point.
- So the answer is: It creates the quiet, isolated moment in which the narrator finally confronts the piano.
5. A. His aunt's influence has become part of him, despite his earlier resentment.
- A theme is the message about life that the story explores.
- Her rhythm surfaces unconsciously, showing a deep inheritance beyond the object.
- So the answer is: His aunt's influence has become part of him, despite his earlier resentment.
6. B. Tuning the piano would feel like erasing a trace of her, and he is still grieving.
- A theme is the message about life that the story explores.
- The flat notes preserve her presence; fixing them would mean letting go.
- So the answer is: Tuning the piano would feel like erasing a trace of her, and he is still grieving.