Question

Read the excerpts from the beginning, middle, and end of "A Genetics of Justice” by Julia Alvarez.

Passage A:

Perhaps because I was spared, at ten, from the dictatorship my parents endured most of their lives, I often imagine what it must have been like for them growing up under the absolute rule of Generalísimo Rafael Leonidas Trujillo.

Passage B:

I knew very little about what was actually going on in the Dominican Republic. Whenever la situación on the island came up, my parents spoke in hushed voices.

Passage C:

Then I started to work on my second novel. My mother heard from one of my sisters that I was writing about the dictatorship. . . .

. . . Days later, my mother called me up to tell me she had just finished the novel. "You put me back in those days. It was like I was reliving it all,” she said sobbing. "I don't care what happens to us! I'm so proud of you for writing this book.”

QUESTION:

How does the author develop the central idea across these excerpts?

A. Alvarez shows how, throughout her life, she learned about the dictatorship from her parents' fear of and responses to it.
B. Alvarez wrote about life under the dictatorship, even though doing so ruined her relationship with her mother.
C. Alvarez shows how her lifelong fascination with her parents' life under the dictatorship was the basis for her writing.
D. Alvarez shows how her mother counted on her to someday write a novel about the dictatorship.

Answer 1

The answer is C. Alvarez shows how her lifelong fascination with her parents' life under the dictatorship was the basis for her writing

Step-by-step explanation:

According to the excerpts, Alvarez imagined herself living in the time of the dictatorship her parents witnessed. Even though she knew very little about the situation, she started to work on her novel about the dictatorship and her mother was grateful for it. Her fascination for it led her to write.

Answer 2

C. Alvarez shows how her lifelong fascination with her parents' life under the dictatorship was the basis for her writing.

Step-by-step explanation:

Throughout the text, Alvarez shows how her lifelong fascination with her parents' life under the dictatorship was the basis for her writing. In these lines, Alvarez demonstrates that the dictatorship was always a big part of her family's life. This led her to try to imagine what life was like in those days, and to want to know more about this mysterious and unknown topic that was nevertheless always present. This became the motivation for writing her book.