Question

Read the following paragraph from "Forbidden Fruit."

Many years have passed since. I have long been eating pork like everyone else, though perhaps this does not make me any happier. Still, at that time I realized that no principle justifies treachery, and besides, that treachery is always a hairy caterpillar bred of a small butterfly called envy, no matter how lofty the principles involved.

Which of these words is most closely related to the theme in this paragraph? (1 point)
deception
dejection
embarrassment
regret

Answer 1

Regret.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Russian short story "Forbidden Fruit" by Fazil Iskander tells the story of the young narrator fell upon the "forbidden fruit", which in his case, is eating pork. Though commanded by his religious dictates, the narrator finds himself in conflict with his knowledge of his sister's consumption of pork and the need to stay loyal to his religious belief, the need to gain favor from his parents.

In the given passage from the story, the narrator seems to regret his past action of betraying and revealing his sister's secret of "eating pork at Uncle Shura's house". No matter the treachery, he accepts that nothing can justify it the way he had done. And now that he's also taken to eating "pork like everyone else", it seems to convey no happiness in him, just regret at the insensitive and wrong way of dealing things.