16Hit1600
Information and IdeasHardQuotation supporting a claim about a character's self-deception

Information and Ideas practice question

A critic argues that the narrator of the novel does not recognise her own loneliness.

Which quotation from the novel would best support the critic's claim?

  1. A. 'I have never minded eating alone; I set two places out of habit, that is all, and clear the second away untouched.'Correct
  2. B. 'I miss them terribly and say so to anyone who will listen.'
  3. C. 'The house was full of guests that summer.'
  4. D. 'I have always preferred my own company and know it.'

Answer: A. 'I have never minded eating alone; I set two places out of habit, that is all, and clear the second away untouched.'

'Never minded' and 'habit', yet a second place set and cleared away: loneliness she doesn't name.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. 'I miss them terribly and say so to anyone who will listen.'
Openly stated loneliness is the opposite of not recognising it.
C. 'The house was full of guests that summer.'
A full house says nothing about self-deception.
D. 'I have always preferred my own company and know it.'
Self-knowledge, not self-deception.

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