A theme that Geoffrey Chaucer develops through these two excerpts is that of treachery, since both King Peter of Spain and King Peter of Cyprus were betrayed and their lives ended tragically. King Peter of Spain was betrayed by a man named Bertrand, who had agreed to protect him in exchange for a great compensation, but who eventually handed him over to his half-brother, Henry, who promised him an even greater reward and who assassinated Peter in his tent in 1369, becoming the new king. This is narrated in the excerpt, where Bertrand is compared not with Oliver of Charlemagne, friend of Charlemagne, but with the knight that betrayed him ("No, Oliver of Charlemagne... such a trap!").
Peter I of Cyprus devoting his short yet intense life to fight Islam, and he led the short yet devastating Alexandrian Crusade, but his life ended abruptly. Betrayed by his wife and by some of his closer knights, he was assassinated in his bed also in 1369. This is also referred in the poem ("That conquered Alexandria... on thy bed!").
To sum up, both excerpts revolve around this theme, which they present very similarly: after emphasizing the deeds of the two historical characters, they finalize by regretting their tragic endings.
True, I believe. A topic sentence is meant to state what you'll be discussing with the essay.
The storm was a direct result of Zeus’s fury at the men.
For two days and nights, Zeus created a storm at sea.
Odysseus and his men feared greatly for their lives.
Answer:
The correct answer would be option b:"The author once felt pride and optimism about the war".
Explanation:
In the excerpt, the author says that "he was proud of the young American pilots sitting at the controls in the cockpit" and that "he was grateful for the opportunity to witness this adventure and report it".
It just says that he was excited to get on a U.S Army helicopter, it does not say nor infer that is was his first flying experience, therefore, option a is incorrect.
It doesn't say and it cannot be inferred that the U.S soldiers are trained in hand to hand combat, so option c is also incorrect.
The author barely mentions the Vietcong guerillas, and he does not seem to have any respect for them since he was excited about war, so option d is also incorrect.