<p>I was doing so well… until I stumbled across this question… I thought the answer was A, and when taking the test I was debating between A and D.
The correct answer, however, is D. If someone could explain to me how I could choose between the two, and why that is answer is correct, I’d appreciate it. Dangit, I thought I was getting the hang of it.</p>
<p>Grown people know that they do not always know the
why of things, and even if they think they know, they do not
know where and how they got the proof. Hence the irritation
they show when children keep on demanding to know if a
thing is so and how the grown folks got the proof 5 f of it. It is
so troublesome because it is disturbing to the pigeonhole
way of life. It is upsetting because until the elders are pushed
for an answer, they have never looked to see if it was so, nor
how they came by what passes for proof to their acceptances
10 of certain things as true. So, if telling their questioning
young to run off and play does not suffice for an answer, a
good swat on the childs bottom is held to be proof positive
for anything from spelling Constantinople to why the sea
is salt. It was told to the old folks and that had been enough
15 for them, or to put it in Black idiom, nobody didnt tell
em, but they heard. So there must be something wrong
with a child that questions the gods of the pigeonhole.
I was always asking and making myself a crow in a
pigeons nest. It was hard on my family and surroundings,
20 and they in turn were hard on me. I did not know then, as
I know now, that people are prone to build a statue of the
kind of person that it pleases them to be. And few people
want to be forced to ask themselves, What if there is no
me like my statue? The thing to do is to grab the broom
25 of anger and drive off the beast of fear.
I was full of curiosity like many other children, and like
them I was as unconscious of the sanctity of statuary as a
flock of pigeons around a palace. I got few answers from
other people, but I kept on asking, because I couldnt do
30 anything else with my feelings.
Naturally, I felt like other children in that death,
destruction, and other agonies were never meant to touch
me. Things like that happened to other people, and no
wonder. They were not like me and mine. Naturally, the
35 world and the firmaments careened to one side a little so as
not to inconvenience me. In fact, the universe went further
than thatit was happy to break a few rules just to show
me preferences.
For instance, for a long time I gloated over the happy
40 secret that when I played outdoors in the moonlight the
moon followed me, whichever way I ran. The moon was
so happy when I came out to play that it ran shining and
shouting after me like a pretty puppy dog. The other children
didnt count.
45 But, I was rudely shaken out of this when I confided
my happy secret to Carrie Roberts, my chum. It was cruel.
She not only scorned my claim, she said that the moon was
paying me no mind at all. The moon, my own happy privateplaying
moon, was out in its play yard to race and play
50 with her.
We disputed the matter with hot jealousy, and nothing
would do but we must run a race to prove which one the
moon was loving. First, we both ran a race side by side, but
that proved nothing because we both contended that the
55 moon was going that way on account of us. I just knew that
the moon was there to be with me, but Carrie kept on saying
that it was herself that the moon preferred. So then it came
to me that we ought to run in opposite directions so that
Carrie could come to her senses and realize the moon was
60 mine. So we both stood with our backs to our gate, counted
three, and tore out in opposite directions.
Look! Look, Carrie! I cried exultantly. You see the
moon is following me!
Ah, youse a tale-teller! You know its chasing me.
65 So Carrie and I parted company, mad as we could be
with each other. When the other children found out what
the quarrel was about, they laughed it off. They told me the
moon always followed them. The unfaithfulness of the
moon hurt me deeply. My moon followed Carrie Roberts.
70 My moon followed Matilda Clark and Julia Mosley, and
Oscar and Teedy Miller. But after a while, I ceased to ache
over the moons many loves. I found comfort in the fact
that though I was not the moons exclusive friend, I was
still among those who showed the moon which way to go.
75 That was my earliest conscious hint that the world didnt
tilt under my footfalls, nor careen over one-sided just to
make me glad.
But no matter whether my probings made me happier or
sadder, I kept on probing to know.</p>
<li>The statement in lines 75-77 (That was . . . glad)
suggests that the narrator
(A) had yet to learn to determine her own definition
of truth
(B) now understood that her actions would have a vast
impact on her surroundings
(C) realized that her responsibilities were greater than
she had initially believed
(D) had revised her perception of her place in the world
(E) would probably not accept a more balanced view
of her role in her family</li>
</ol>