Although The Old Man and the Sea takes place in September of 1950, it exists outside (or just at the edge) of these and other significant events of the period. However, the novella does reflect a universal pattern of socioeconomic change familiar even today among developing nations.
A. Somewhat. The sentence still makes sense without it, and it doesn't matter how skeptical she is since she's still doing research either way, so it can be cut out.
I don't know what vocabulary words you're working with nor do I see any italicized text in any of these four sentences. If you can provide me with more information I should be able to help.
