Read this passage from helen nicolay’s the boys life of abraham lincoln
abraham lincolns forefathers were pioneers- men who left their homes to open up the wilderness and make the way plain for others to follow them. for one hundred and seventy years, ever since the first american lincoln come from england to massachusetts in 1638, they had been moving slowly westward as new settlements were made in the forest . . back in pennsylvanian and new jersey some of the lincolns had been men of wealth and influence. in kentucky, where the future president was born on february 12, 1809, his parents lived deep poverty. their home was a small log cabin of the rudest kind, and nothing seemed more unlikely than that their child, coming into the world in such humble surroundings, was destined to be the greatest man of his time,
which statement best summarizes the passage?
a. abraham lincoln came from a family of pioneers and was born into circumstances that made it seem unlikely that he would become president.
b. abraham lincoln became a great man who navigate the united states through one of its most difficult events: the civil war.
c. abraham lincolns forefathers left their homes to go to ¨open up the wilderness¨ and clear the way for other settlers to follow them.
d. abraham lincolns humble origins are often exaggerated to reinforce the idea that he embodied the american dream.

definition was not one of the four methods

the answer is b, it brings the reader closer to the action.

it would've been a if the word had been determined, not conceited

hope this

-ironwolfx

"character is what you are in the dark." dwight lyman moody, in this very witty quotation of his, states we act and think differently when we are "in the dark", that is, when the spotlight is not on us and everyone can see us and consequently judge us. when reading, we tend to be sympathetic to some characters and their dilemmas. by being so, we are saying to ourselves that we agree with those characters' acts and choices, even if they are morally questionable if we have common sense in mind. dwight lyman moody's quotation applies very well to "crime and punishment", by   19th century russian writer fiodor dostoyevsky. raskolnikov, the main character, a former law student who spends his days reflecting upon life and its misery, draws a fatal conclusion: mankind is divided in two main categories: ordinary and extraordinary people. the first are the ones who lead a run-of-the-mill existence and are full of imperfections; the latter are the ones who are spiritually superior, the ones who always know better, and have the right to judge the ordinary ones, as well as eliminate them if for common good. raskolnikov considers himself as belonging to the extraordinary category and decides to kill an old lady who is a money lender and in whose house he rents a small room. raskolnikov compares himself to napoleon, who had the undeniable right to execute tons of people during the war in order to save his nation. of course what the main character decides to do is a horrendous crime, but as readers we feel it is the right thing for him to do, since the victim is a mean old woman who only thinks about money and keeps humiliating her younger sister. what one experiences is a mixture of sympathy and empathy for the character, even though he decides to commit homicide, which is not at all accepted or tolerated by civilized citizens. however, since readers are "in the dark", they allow themselves to feel in ways they would probably never dare to confess to anyone, no matter how nasty or vicious a character can be. after all, they are just reading and doing no harm. in other words, readers are in the dark and can be who they are without being judged.