This is the passage:
Questions 7-19 are based on the following passage.
The following passage is from a 1979 essay by a Native American writer.
An understanding of any national literature depends very much on an awareness of the larger cultural context. Without some knowledge of language, of history, of
Line inflection, of the position of the storyteller within the
5 group, without a hint of the social roles played by males
and females in the culture, without a sense of the society’s humor or priorities—without such knowledge, how can we, as reader or listener, penetrate to the core of meaning in an expression of art?
10 The difficulty of gaining access to the literature of a different culture may be illustrated by an exemplary folk- tale (in translation) from the Tanaina (Athabaskan) culture of south-central Alaska. It would typically be told to a general audience within the society, including the full range
15 of ages from young children to grandparents; it would be recounted with gesticulation and exaggeration by a perfor- mance specialist. It would be expected to have different meanings to the various categories of listeners— instructive, entertaining, reinforcing, or all three. Here is a brief version
20 of the story:
“Once upon a time there was a porcupine woman who
decided to do some hunting on the far side of the river. She went to the bank, where she met a beaver.
‘Hello,’ she said to him. ‘I need to do some hunting over 25 there. Will you ride me across on your back?’
‘I’d be glad to,’ replied the beaver. ‘Hop on.’
So the porcupine woman climbed on his back, and he started swimming for the other side. When he had almost made it, the porcupine woman said, ‘Oh my! I’ve forgotten
30 to bring my sack. I’ll need to go back to the other bank and get it.’
‘All right,’ said the beaver, and swam back. He was panting while the porcupine woman went to get her sack. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Let’s go.’ So they started across
35 again. The beaver was swimming much more slowly. When they had practically reached the other side, she said, ‘Oh my! I’ve forgotten to bring my needle. We’ll have to go back and get it.’
This time the beaver didn’t say anything—he didn’t
40 have enough breath! But he turned around and pulled them
back to the shore and nearly passed out while she got her needle.
‘Hurry up, now,’ the porcupine woman said as she climbed back on his back. He could hardly keep his nose
45 above water, but he had almost made it to the far bank again when she said, ‘Oh my! I’ve forgotten my staff. We’ll have to . . . .’
Before she had finished her sentence the beaver had flipped over in the water and dragged himself onto the
50 bank, where he lay half dead. The porcupine woman managed to make the shore too, and climbed up onto a bear path. When she had caught her breath, she turned on the beaver and quilled him to death.”
The Tanaina live in an environment that could euphe- 55 mistically be described as “difficult.” Survival, especially
in the wild, is always precarious. Further, they were, in the precontact period, a nonliterate people. Oral communica- tion was therefore the method of cultural transmission, legal understanding, and meaningful communication. It is
60 also necessary to know that a “staff,” as mentioned in the story, functions as both a walking stick and a weapon, and that in the Tanaina symbol system, porcupines were supposed to be rather ponderous, dull-witted creatures, and beavers were thought to be energetic and industrious but
65 overly spontaneous and erratic.
For the reader armed with these data, the story becomes
more accessible as a lesson in contract law, with several additional minor themes. A culturally attuned listener would notice, for instance, that when the porcupine woman
70 proposed passage to the beaver, he agreed without any stipulations or clarifications of the terms. He gave a basically open-ended agreement—made a contract—and hence the porcupine woman was perfectly within her rights both in demanding that he return three times and in quilling
75 him to death when he reneged.
The story is not, however, without its moral for the por-
cupine women of this world. Her stated aim is to go hunting, and yet she sets out without the three essentials of that endeavor: a sack in which to carry home her game, a
80 needle with which to sew up the intestines, and, most important, an implement with which to hunt and defend herself. True, she had an open-ended contract, but where does she wind up at the conclusion of the story? Sitting, exhausted, quills used up, weaponless, and not only on the
85 wrong side of the river from her home but on a bear path! The hunter is about to become the hunted, and all because of her own improvidence.
If it is difficult to read it, please check out
http://thecollegepanda.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-2014.pdf Section8
The question is-
12.
In relation to the passage, the statements in lines 59-65 serve a function most similar to which of the following items?
(A) A menu in a restaurant
(B) The key or legend to a map
© A department store directory
(D) The outline of a term paper
(E) An illustration of a fairytale
I really am not able to understand what the question is asking. Please explain how you reach the answer. Thanks a lot in advance. 