Question

16. Read the following passage from "First Confession" in which the main character has just entered the confessional. It must have been then that I noticed the shelf at about one height with my head. It was really a place for grown-up people to rest their elbows, but in my distracted state I thought it was probably the place you were supposed to kneel. Of course, it was on the high side and not very deep, but I was always good at climbing and managed to get up all right. Staying up was the trouble... "What are you doing up there?" he shouted in an angry voice, and the strain the politeness was putting on my hold of the molding, and the shock of being addressed in such an uncivil tone, were too much for me. I lost my grip, tumbled, hit the door an unmerciful allop before I found myself flat on my back in the middle of the aisle. The people who had been waiting stood with their mouths open. The priest opened the door of the middle box and came out, pushing his biretta back from his forehead; he looked something terrible. Which of the following stylistic elements is used by the writer to create humor in these lines? (1 point) hyperbole incongruity irony sarcasm

Answer 1

The stylistic element used in the passage is incongruity. It is a form of satire or humor. Incongruity is used in an unsuitable time. For example, If a man were in a court room and belched loudly while receiving his sentence, that would be a use of incongruity. Another example would be if at a royal wedding the groom's pants fell down in the middle of the ceremony. 

Answer 2

The excerpt describes how the main character entered the confessional without realizing what has to be done there. He is a child and what he does in this scene is actually childish. This kind of humor is called incongruity which is the description of something inappropriate, something that doesn't fit into the situation. The correct answer is incongruity.