Question

Read the excerpt from the General Prolgue to the Canterbury Tales. The pardon-seller’s hair was yellow as wax, And sleekly hanging, like a hank of flax. In meagre clusters hung what hair he had; Over his shoulders a few strands were spread, But they lay thin, in rat’s tails, one by one. As for a hood, for comfort he wore none, For it was stowed away in his knapsack. Save for a cap, he rode with head all bare, Hair loose; he thought it was the dernier cri. He had big bulging eyes, just like a hare. He’d sewn a veronica on his cap. His knapsack lay before him, on his lap, Chockful of pardons, all come hot from Rome. His voice was like a goat’s, plaintive and thin. Which statement best describes the narrator’s perception of the pardon-seller in this excerpt? The unfavorable descriptions of the pardon-seller’s physical appearance imply that the narrator thinks poorly of this character. Though the narrator describes the pardon-seller’s appearance in negative terms, he also makes it clear that he really likes this man. The favorable descriptions of the pardon-seller’s physical appearance imply that the narrator thinks highly of this character. Though the narrator describes the pardon-seller’s appearance in positive terms, he also makes it clear that he really dislikes this man.

Answer 1

Answer: A) The unfavorable descriptions of the pardon-seller’s physical appearance imply that the narrator thinks poorly of this character.

Explanation: In the given excerpt from the general prologue to the Canterbury Tales, we can see the description of the physical appearance of a pardon-seller, according to that description, the man had a very unpleasant appearance, because of things like "hair yellow as wax" and "Over his shoulders a few strands were spread, But they lay thin, in rat’s tails, one by one" this characteristics imply that the narrator thinks poorly of this character.

Answer 2

The correct answer is The unfavorable descriptions of the pardon-seller’s physical appearance imply that the narrator thinks poorly of this character, he uses several words that don't talk about a nice person like rat's tails as a description for his hair or the fact of having goat's voice.

The other options talk about positive attributes which are not presented in the prologue reason why they can not be correct.