Question

How does the author support the main idea in this paragraph?Turning to the tales of the first edition, a reader might notice that many of the stories such as "The Hand with the Knife,” "How Some Children Played at Slaughtering,” and "The Children of Famine,” have nothing to do with fairies or happy endings. Instead, these are stark narratives about brutal living conditions in the nineteenth century. For instance, "The Children of Famine” begins this way: Once upon a time there was a woman with two daughters, and they had become so poor that they no longer had even a piece of bread to put in their mouths. Their hunger became so great that their mother became unhinged and desperate. Indeed, she said to her children, "I’ve got to kill you so that I can get something to eat.”

Answer 1

You need to read this paragraph and decide how the stories they mention have nothing to do with happy endings..in this text the author gives you an excerpt from one of the writings that shows how the story isn't a happy one. look gor the quote near the last line. does it show happiness?

Answer 2

The author supports the main idea of the paragraph with an example. He / She gives a detailed description of one of the stories : "The Children of Famine”.

The main idea of the paragraph is  focussed on the fact that some  stories from 19th century ,which are being mentioned, are not fairy stories but cruel stories. These reflect the brutal conditions of the time. To support this idea, the author  gives a detailed example of the brutal conditions children lived in during the XIX century through "The Children of Famine” . The example given is far from telling a fairy -story. The story is about a mother who decides to kill her children because they are all starving.