"By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famished. The thought of his wife and children urged him on. At last he found a road wh
ich led him in what he knew to be the right direction. It was as wide and straight as a city street, yet it seemed untraveled. No fields bordered it, no dwelling anywhere. Not so much as the barking of a dog suggested human habitation. The black bodies of the trees formed a straight wall on both sides, terminating on the horizon in a point, like a diagram in a lesson in perspective. Overhead, as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great garden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange constellations. He was sure they were arranged in some order which had a secret and malign significance. The wood on either side was full of singular noises, among which--once, twice, and again--he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue." The quotation provides accurate evidence for all of the following statements about Bierce's writing style except
A. Bierce was a master of descriptive language.
B. Bierce's writing lends itself to visualization on the part of the reader.
C. Bierce's writing in this selection demonstrates a dreamlike state that provides the reader with foreshadowing about Farquhar's fate.
D. Bierce's simplistic style of writing allows the reader to easily untangle the complexity of the plot.
Bierce's simplistic style of writing allows the reader to easily untangle the complexity of the plot.
Explanation:
Bierce's style is not simplistic: in this excerpt, we have many adjectives to define one noun. Also, some other rhetorical devices are used, like comparing the trees to black bodies, which could be confusing for some readers. Due to this, some aspects might not be easily untangled by the reader. As shown at the beginning of the paragraph, the speaker describes Farquhar's state of being by using several adjectives in order to reinforce the original idea. In the next sentences, the speaker describes many things and compares them to others that might be closer to a wider public (like "the city street"), making letter A incorrect. The second option is not correct because the description and situation lend the writing itself to visualization on the part of the reader. Letter C is incorrect because according to the description, the ambience, and the state of being of the character (all of these aspects related to darkness), a dreamlike state is understood, using some other elements (the stars and constellations looking unfamiliar and strange) to build foreshadowing about Farquhar's fate.
If the question refers to where a comma should be placed, then the answer is after "Caleb." The sentence should go like this: Trayvon, Julie, and Caleb, who are members of the drama club, are auditioning for the school musical on Wednesday.
