Tammy and Sammy were both students in Mr. Morton's reading class. Mr. Morton wasn't too strict about deadlines, and Sammy took advantage of that. He did all of his homework
in his other classes but never bothered to complete Mr. Morton's reading assignments,
figuring that he could complete them later. Tammy, on the other hand, completed each
assignment Mr. Morton assigned the night that he assigned it. She had to stay up a little
later, but she didn't want to get a penalty for turning in her reading work late. Tommy
knew reading was a core subject and that she had to keep "C" average for the entire year
or she would have to go to summer school. When the end of the quarter came, Tammy and
Sammy had both planned on going to the Enchanted Castle amusement park, but Mr.
Morton called Sammy's mother, and she grounded Sammy until he turned in all of his work.
That weekend was horrible for Sammy. He stayed up until 2:00 AM each night and still
couldn't complete all of the assignments. The whole while, Tammy had a great time eating
pizza at Enchanted Castle, watching movies late at night, and enjoying her weekend free of
stress and pressure. At the end of the quarter, Sammy was lucky to squeak by with a "C"
minus in reading while Tammy earned an "A." Sammy still hasn't learned his lesson and
probably won't complete this activity either.
What is the theme of the story?

Something along the lines of- Procrstination leads to failure, or putting something important to the side now can only cause issues in the future.

Explanation:

in the short story the slip-over sweater by jesse stuart, the main character and narrator shan is friends with grace, an intelligent girl he has known since childhood and with whom he used to be in love.

at the beginning of the story, shan believes he’s no longer in love with grace, but loves jo-anne instead. in order to buy a slip-over sweater and have jo-anne wear it so that the other students would know she loved him too, shan takes a loan at the bank.

while jo-anne is wearing shan’s sweater, his friend grace starts to wear another popular boy’s one, roy’s sweater. because of that, the other students begin to pay attention to grace and compliment her perseverance and effort. they admire her for walking 5 miles to school every day, despite the weather, and still getting the best grades. shan, who knows all of that for a fact, says, as the narrator, ‘and i knew she had the durability and the toughness of a storm-battered mountain oak.’ he compares his friend’s strength – not only physical, but also of character – to an oak tree, whose wood is known for being sturdy.

as the story goes on, shan changes his behavior out of concern for the debt he has to pay at the bank. his new girlfriend jo-anne never asks him what is wrong nor offers any sort of . instead, she breaks up with shan for not being as fun as she thought he was supposed to be. grace, however, not only asks about shan’s problem, but him make the money he needs. shan can’t but notice how different the girls are and what a wonderful person grace is.   even though he used to find jo-anne prettier at the beginning of the story, he now says, ‘grace was as beautiful as our mountain was in april, prettier than a blossom of wild phlox or a mountain daisy.’ his comparing grace to a mountain or something that exists on a mountain (such as a mountain oak or daisy) certainly has important meaning since shan loves the mountain and everything about it and he knows the mountain thoroughly. shan also loves and knows grace as completely as he does the mountain.

b. the colonies must seek protection from other nations.