Question

Read the excerpt from "The Storyteller." In a low, confidential voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questionings from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably uninteresting story about a little girl who was good, and made friends with every one on account of her goodness, and was finally saved from a mad bull by a number of rescuers who admired her moral character. "Wouldn’t they have saved her if she hadn’t been good?" demanded the bigger of the small girls. It was exactly the question that the bachelor had wanted to ask. "Well, yes," admitted the aunt lamely, "but I don’t think they would have run quite so fast to her help if they had not liked her so much." ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Which theme does this passage best support?
a) Pride goes before a fall.
b) People should try to be good.
c) It is necessary to question authority.
d) Children should be seen and not heard.

Answer 1

Answer:

c) It is necessary to question authority.

Explanation:

Themes in any story are the morals or lessons that are addressed within the story. It may not be directly stated in the story but can be applied in real life or may come in use in future.

In the story, the narrator of "The Storyteller" is the aunt who is of more authorial stature than the children or the bachelor. In her telling of the story of the good little girl, she seems to assert the importance of elderly respect which the listeners seems to find absurd, if not uninteresting. The question posed by one of the bigger girls, which "was exactly the question that the bachelor had wanted to ask" shows their questioning of the authority of a person, even if that person is elder to them. Thus, the story tends to include the importance of asking questions. Just because someone is in a higher position or authority, that doesn't make the person right. There are no laws or rules that validates the authority of an individual over someone younger or lower.