Question

Read the following passage from "In the Shadow of War."

That afternoon three soldiers came to the village. They scattered the goats and chickens.
They went to the palm-frond bar and ordered a calabash of palm wine. They drank amidst
the flies
Omovo watched them from the window as he waited for his father to go out. They both
listened to the radio. His father had bought the old Grundig cheaply from a family that had
to escape the city when the war broke out. He had covered the radio with a white cloth and
made it look like a household fetish. They listened to the news of bombings and air raids in
the interior of the country. His father combed his hair, parted it carefully, and slapped some
after-shave on his unshaven face. Then he struggled into the shabby coat that he had long
outgrown
Omovo stared out of the window, irritated with his father. At that hour, for the past seven
days, a strange woman with a black veil over her head had been going past the house. She
went up the village paths, crossed the Express road, and disappeared into the forest
Omovo waited for her to appear.
According to the passage, what is the most likely reason Omovo is irritated with his father?
Omovo knows that his father plans to go drinking with the soldiers.
Omovo does not like his father to leave the house without him.
Omovo believes his father is secretly working with the woman in the black veil
Omovo is upset because the radio does not work well when it is covered with cloth

Answer 1

Omovo is most likely irritated with his father because he knows that his father plans to go drinking with the soldiers.

It is not explicitly stated that Omovo's father is going out to drink with the soldiers, but it is implied:

• we are told in this excerpt that some soldiers arrived where the narrator lives and proceeded to drink alcohol at the bar: "they ... ordered a calabash of palm wine" and "drank;"
• the narrator's father apparently gets ready to leave home as soon as the soldiers arrive. Indeed, both informations are contained in a single sentence: "Omovo watched them from the window as he waited for his father to go out."

We can guess that Omovo is irritated by this because he and his father are too poor for this kind of expenses. For example, the father doesn't seem to be able to afford a new coat to replace the "shabby" one he's wearing, which is too small for him.