Answer:
C) It is necessary to question authority.
Explanation:
The <u>theme</u> of a story refers to the central message or life lesson (not directly stated) that the story conveys or teaches about a topic and that could be applied to other literary works or to our own lives.
In the excerpt, one of the themes may be "It is necessary to question authority", as it is about a storyteller, which it's the aunt and the figure of authority in the room too, that tells a story to younger people. However, the audience finds the story uninteresting and, to a point, lacking common sense. Seeing this, one of the little girls in the audience decided to question what was being said. To which the aunt responded "lamely," which suggests that the aunt wasn't even convinced of what she was telling. Either way, the story teaches us that not because someone is in a position of authority, we must agree or accept what he or she says regardless of what is being said, in other words, it is necessary to question authority.