Question

Read the following excerpt from Katherine Anne Porter's "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall": It had been a hard pull, but not too much for her. When she thought of all the food she had cooked, and all the clothes she had cut and sewed, and all the gardens she had made — well, the children showed it. There they were, made out of her, and they couldn't get away from that. Sometimes she wanted to see John again and point to them and say, Well, I didn't do so badly, did I? Which two themes does this passage most clearly develop? A. Life presents obstacles to be overcome; parents are children's first role models. B. Past experiences shape who we are; the insecure often seek to be validated. C. Adversity builds character; tough times make for tough people. D. Sometimes we doubt our own strength; it's fruitless to live in the past.

Answer 1

The correct answer is B.

One of the themes presented in this excerpt is that the past plays a very important role on the people who we later become. Here, the children's goodness reflects all the work and love her mother put into them: cooking for them, sewing and cutting their clothes.

The sencond theme developed is that insecure people tend to look for validation from others, rather than feel proud for themselves. Here, the mother feels proud about her children, and sometimes wants to brag about them, to show to everyone what a good job she had done raising them.