Question

Miss Lottie’s house was the most ramshackle of all our ramshackle homes. The sun and rain had long since faded its rickety frame siding from white to a sullen gray. The boards themselves seemed to remain upright not from being nailed together but rather from leaning together, like a house that a child might have constructed from cards. A brisk wind might have blown it down, and the fact that it was still standing implied a kind of enchantment that was stronger than the elements. There it stood and as far as I know is standing yet—a gray, rotting thing with no porch, no shutters, no steps, set on a cramped lot with no grass, not even any weeds—a monument to decay. What tone is implied by the narrator’s description in the passage above? sympathetic hopeless bitter humorous

Answer 1

Sympathetic is the correct option.

The character, Lizabeth, is an adult and she is remembering Miss Lottie's house. As an adult, Lizabeth can see the house with different eyes and understand why the woman kept the house in such a bad condition. This was because of the Great Depression that hit the U.S during the 1930's. The character's sympathetic tone can be noticed when she said there was a sort of enchantment stronger that the elements that had kept the house throughout the years.

These optionsa re not right:

-hopeless: Lizabeth was a girl during the Great Depression and she was not hopelss. When she became and adult ,she understood why Miss Lottie kept marigolds in her ruined house. The flowers meant " hope".

-bitter. In this excerpt, the tone is sympathetic. Lizabeth was angry when she was a girl.

-humorous: The character does not sound funny. There is nothing funny in her words.