Read the excerpt from “the scarlet ibis.”

there is within me (and with sadness i have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and at times i was mean to doodle. one day i took him up to the barn loft and showed him his casket, telling him how we all had believed he would die. it was covered with a film of paris green sprinkled to kill the rats, and screech owls had built a nest inside it.

doodle studied the mahogany box for a long time, then said, “it’s not mine.”

“it is,” i said. “and before i’ll you down from the loft, you’re going to have to touch it.”

what symbol is described in this excerpt, and what does it represent?

a. the owls, which symbolize knowledge and wisdom
b. the nest, which symbolizes home and family
c. the rats, which symbolize cruelty and sadness
d. the casket, which symbolizes the loss of doodle

answer

answer: a: they can affect the author’s perspective and in turn the theme and purpose for the writing.

the author's background and time period greatly affect the text that the author produces. this is because we are all a reflection of our time period and background. depending on where and when we were born, we will find some questions more important than others. for example, if we are a wealthy person born in medieval times, we will most likely be interested in courtly love and stories of knights and honour. however, if we are born in the 20th century in africa, we might instead focus on colonialism and its effects on the newly liberated countries. the theme and the purpose of writing are both affected by these conditions.

explanation:

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)