Which of these excerpts from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice highlights the condescending attitude of upper-class characters?1. Her report was highly favourable.Sir William had been delighted with him. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable, and, to crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party. Nothing could be more delightful! To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love; and very lively hopes of Mr. Bingley's heart were entertained. 

2. Jane was as much gratified by this as her mother could be, though in a quieter way. Elizabeth felt Jane's pleasure. Mary had heard herself mentioned to Miss Bingley as the most accomplished girl in the neighbourhood; and Catherine and Lydia had been fortunate enough never to be without partners, which was all that they had yet learnt to care for at a ball. They returned, therefore, in good spirits to Longbourn, the village where they lived, and of which they were the principal inhabitants. They found Mr. Bennet still up. 

3. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family in the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother's fortune and their own had been acquired by trade.

4. The manner in which they spoke of the Meryton assembly was sufficiently characteristic. Bingley had never met with more pleasant people or prettier girls in his life; everybody had been most kind and attentive to him; there had been no formality, no stiffness; he had soon felt acquainted with all the room; and, as to Miss Bennet, he could not conceive an angel more beautiful. Darcy, on the contrary, had seen a collection of people in whom there was little beauty and no fashion, for none of whom he had felt the smallest interest, and from none received either attention or pleasure. Miss Bennet he acknowledged to be pretty, but she smiled too much.

Which of the following is a good strategy for finding the meaning of an unfamiliar word?

Helen Keller writes, ''our enjoyment of the great works of literature depends more upon the depth of our sympathy than upon our understanding.'' What does she mean by this?A How we feel about literature is more important than our understanding everything about it.

B We can't properly enjoy a work of literature that we don't understand.

C Our understanding of literature depends on how we feel about it.

D We only enjoy literature when we feel sorry for the characters.

If a poem is being recreated as a sculpture, what would most likely be different in the new medium?A. A sculpted character's physical appearance would be exaggerated.
B. The artist's perspective would be more difficult to understand.
C. The mood of the story or scene would become more serious.
D. The audience's understanding of a sculpted character would be based solely on one moment in his or her life.

Which of the following is an idea that many postmodernists believe?A. People, institutions, and entire cultures can only create meaning(s) within the confines of their cultural perspective, these are inherently biased and subjective, and they are often designed to support the interests of dominant members of society.
B. People, institutions, and entire cultures can create meaning(s) independent of their cultural perspective, that these are objective, and that they are used to aid all members of society equally.
C, and D below

Social commentary is a “comment” on what is going on in society. It criticizes aspects of society in order to cause people to think about issues and to work to make changes. How do the four selections in this unit serve as social commentaries?

How does Tolstoy set up Gerasim to be a foil to Praskovya Fedorovna in these two excerpts from The Death of Ivan Ilyich?Gerasim alone did not lie; everything showed that he alone understood the facts of the case and did not consider it necessary to disguise them, but simply felt sorry for his emaciated and enfeebled master. Once when Ivan Ilyich was sending him away he even said straight out: "We shall all of us die, so why should I grudge a little trouble?"—expressing the fact that he did not think his work burdensome, because he was doing it for a dying man and hoped someone would do the same for him when his time came.

. . .

When the examination was over the doctor looked at his watch, and then Praskovya Fedorovna announced to Ivan Ilyich that it was of course as he pleased, but she had sent today for a celebrated specialist who would examine him and have a consultation with Michael Danilovich (their regular doctor).

"Please don't raise any objections. I am doing this for my own sake," she said ironically, letting it be felt that she was doing it all for his sake and only said this to leave him no right to refuse. He remained silent, knitting his brows. He felt that he was surrounded and involved in a mesh of falsity that it was hard to unravel anything.


a)Both Gerasim and Praskovya Fedorovna are honest about their motives, but only Gerasim genuinely cares for Ivan Ilyich.

b)While Gerasim is kind to Ivan Ilyich and offers him all the help he can, Praskovya Fedorovna is cruel to Ivan and torments him.

c)Gerasim attends to Ivan Ilyich’s needs and gives him all his medicines, while Praskovya Fedorovna does not care and neglects his health.

d)Both Gerasim and Praskovya Fedorovna want Ivan to beat his disease and survive, but only Gerasim cares about Ivan Ilyich’s happiness.