Question

An accident again changed the current of my ideas. When I was about fifteen years old we had retired to our house near Belrive, when we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from behind the mountains of Jura, and the thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various quarters of the heavens. I remained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight. As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump. When we visited it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed.

What has the author done to prepare the reader in this passage?

She has described something wonderful, preparing the reader for a happy story.
She has described something beautiful, preparing the reader for a flowery tale.
She has described something romantic, preparing the reader for a loving exchange.
She has described something terrible, preparing the reader for a tragic event.

Answer 1

She has described something terrible, preparing the reader for a tragic event.

The author's descriptors in the beginning, "terrible" and "violent" already show a sense of dreadfulness.

Answer 2

To prepare the reader in this passage the author has described something terrible, preparing the reader for a tragic event.

Step-by-step explanation:

In this excerpt from the second chapter of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, a young Victor is impressed about a natural event that show him how something could be destroyed within seconds by something that looked like a beautiful piece of nature, where he got his dreams busted to become true and his hunger for discovery drove him to create the monster. This chapter foresees the tragedy that is about to happen.