Read the passage below and answer the question. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were
like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and talcum. The tone of the excerpt above can best be described as _____. cynical and calculating sad and lonely childlike and magical confused and meandering
Answer: I would contend that the right answer is actually the A) cynical and calculating.
Explanation: Just to elaborate a little on the answer, it can be added that in this passage from Harper Lee's <em>To Kill a Mockingbird</em>, the character of Scout is using a cynical and carefully chosen tone in order to describe how women behaved and looked in the town of Maycomb. Specifically, he is comparing them to "soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and talcum." Those words do not sound sad, lonely, childlike, magical, confused or meandering, but visually powerful, mocking, and disenchanted.
