Question

Read the excerpt from "A Genetics of Justice” by Julia Alvarez. Passage A: In December 1960, four months after our arrival, Time magazine reported the murder of the three Mirabal sisters, who along with their husbands had started the national underground Dominican Republic. My parents confiscated the magazine. To our many questions about what was going on, my mother always had the ready answer, "En boca cerrada no entran moscas.” No flies fly into a closed mouth. Later, I found out that this very saying had been scratched on the lintel of the entrance of the SIM's torture center at La Cuarenta. Passage B: The novel would be a fictional retelling of the story of three Mirabal sisters, contemporaries of my mother, whose murder had been reported in that confiscated Time magazine. This time, my mother warned, I was not just going to anger family members, but I would be directly responsible for their lives. There were still old cronies of the dictator around who would love an excuse to go after my family, after my father, after her. This was one of the hardest challenges I had ever had to face as a writer. If my mother were indeed speaking the truth, could I really put my work above the lives of human beings? But if I shut up, wouldn't I still be fanning the members of the dictatorship with its continuing power of censorship and control over the imagination of many Dominicans? What central idea do these excerpts work together to develop? Alvarez grappled with the issue of writing a novel about a dangerous subject. Alvarez learned about a terrible murder and decided to write a fictional retelling of it. Alvarez decided to publish her novel without regard for her mother’s feelings. Alvarez faced one of the biggest challenges of being a writer: choosing a topic.

Answer 1

The central idea that these excerpts work together to develop is the first option:

Alvarez grappled with the issue of writing a novel about a dangerous subject.

Step-by-step explanation:

Alvarez clearly shows through the excerpts that talking about the Mirabal sisters was a taboo to her family since they feared some sort or retaliation by supporters of the dictatorship in Dominican Republic. When Alvarez became a writer, she decided to write about the sisters. However, she struggled with the decision, since her family was still afraid of the subject and the dangers it might bring to them:

If my mother were indeed speaking the truth, could I really put my work above the lives of human beings? But if I shut up, wouldn't I still be fanning the members of the dictatorship with its continuing power of censorship and control over the imagination of many Dominicans?

As we can see, she is clearly in conflict between doing the right thing for the world by writing about a serious subject, and doing the right thing for her family by not mentioning something that frightens them. Therefore, the best option to answer the question is the first one: Alvarez grappled with the issue of writing a novel about a dangerous subject.