Question

25 PTS TO WHO ANSWERS Read the excerpt from a personal essay. What is the purpose of the allusion to the story of Cinderella? As my principal, Mr. Howard, read the names of the scholarship recipients, I held my breath in anticipation. I wanted to hear my name called and the cheers from the audience. However, my name never passed through Mr. Howard's lips. When the last name was read, I felt numb. The hours that I spent writing the scholarship essay felt wasted. I finally had the sinking realization that I would never be Cinderella and that fairy godmothers do not exist. Without that scholarship, accomplishing my dreams would be incredibly difficult.

A. to emphasize how different the narrator's life is from a fairy tale

B. to show how the narrator admires the story of Cinderella

C. to highlight how the narrator enjoys reading fairy tales

D. to describe how similar the narrator is to Cinderella

Answer 1

The purpose of the allusion to the story of Cinderella is to emphasize how different the narrator's life is from a fairy tale. The correct answer is A.

Step-by-step explanation:

What the speaker is trying to do here, by comparing his/her life with Cinderella, is to make a difference between real life, where everything can happen, even bad things, and fairy tales, where everything works out just fine in the end. His/her life, the real life has obstacles, and the speaker feels disappointed for not winning the scholarship, that scholarship would've helped a lot in accomplishing his/her dreams. He/she will probably still be able to do it, but he/she just feels disappointed and thinks won't have the chance, but with hard work, he/she will. The idea of the allusion to the story of Cinderella is to emphasize the differences between real life, and fairy tales, where everything is magical and happen even without working on it, just with the help from a fairy everything turns out the way we desire. In real life, this doesn't always happen, and if it does happen it happens with our help and hard work. We just don't have to give up.