Question

Read the excerpt from The Feminine Mystique. But on an April morning in 1959, I heard a mother of four, having coffee with four other mothers in a suburban development fifteen miles from New York, say in a tone of quiet desperation, “the problem.” And the others knew, without words, that she was not talking about a problem with her husband, or her children, or her home. Suddenly they realized they all shared the same problem, the problem that has no name.

Which best describes the connotation of the word “desperation”?

-negative, because the woman is feeling confused
-negative, because the woman is expressing hopelessness
-positive, because the woman is expressing herself
-positive, because the woman and the mothers are in agreement

Answer 1

The answer is B "negative, because the woman is expressing hopelessness"

Answer 2

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan talks about how empty were the lifes of all most women during the '50s and how it was considered as fulfillment for them according to society to be a wife and a mother.

After taking this in consideration de correct connotation of desperation is negative, because the woman is expressing hopelessness.

It has a negative impact because women were feeling unsatisfied with their lifes at the moment, this absolutely eliminates the last to options as a possible answer and the first option doesn't quite express what the woman was feeling or conveying.