The best answer is:
<span>The word peculiar doesn't matter.
We can infer from the passage that the word peculiar means different or strange. Kali said "he looks familiar... not a bit normal", implying that peculiar means not normal. The word is clearly relevant, because it distinguishes the human child from other children. </span>
In looking at the answer choices, a few can be dismissed immediately. From the passage it doesn't seem that the dismissal of the narrator's questions affects her too much. Therefore we can eliminate answers that show a drastic change in the narrator's emotions (the narrator feeling inadequate, lacking control, and fearing she may be doomed). The only answer left is that the narrator is dismissed. In gothic literature women are often seen as helpless, innocent victims.
