Question

Read the excerpt from “Mary Louise” by Edith van Dyne.

"It's positively cruel!" pouted Jennie Allen, one of a group of girls occupying a garden bench in the ample grounds of Miss Stearne's School for Girls, at Beverly.


"It's worse than that; it's insulting," declared Mable Westervelt, her big dark eyes flashing indignantly.


"Doesn't it seem to reflect on our characters?" timidly asked Dorothy

Knerr.


"Indeed it does!" asserted Sue Finley. "But here comes Mary Louise; let's ask her opinion."


"Phoo! Mary Louise is only a day scholar," said Jennie. "The restriction doesn't apply to her at all."


"I'd like to hear what she says, anyhow," remarked Dorothy. "Mary

Louise has a way of untangling things, you know."


"She's rather too officious to suit me," Mable Westervelt retorted, "and she's younger than any of us. One would think, the way she poses as monitor at this second-rate, run-down boarding school, that Mary Louise Burrows made the world."


"Oh, Mable! I've never known her to pose at all," said Sue. "But, hush; she mustn't overhear us and, besides, if we want her to intercede with Miss Stearne we must not offend her."





Which statement correctly describes the characterization in this excerpt?


a. Mary Louise is characterized in a negative way through Sue Finley's words.

b. Mary Louise is characterized in a positive way through Jennie Allen's words.

c. Mary Louise is characterized in a negative way through Miss Stearne's words.

d. Mary Louise is characterized in a positive way through Dorothy Knerr's words.

Answer 1

The answer is D because when Dorothy says that Mary Louise has a way of untangling this, and that is a complement.

Answer 2

The correct answer is D. Mary Louise is characterized positively through Dorothy Knerr's words.

Step-by-step explanation:

In literature, characterization refers to the way the personality, appearance, and traits of characters are revealed. In the excerpt presented the character Mary Louise is revealed through the words of other girls. In this way, Sue Finley and Dorothy Knerr characterize positively Mary Louise because they both believe they should ask her about the issue they are discussing and therefore they might consider her as smart, this is shown in Dorothy's words "Mary Louise has a way of untangling things, you know". This implies the correct statement about characterization is D.