Question

Read the excerpt below from “At the Hearth” by Laura Esquivel and answer the question that follows.

And so, I was mortified to realize that my daughter wasn’t paying attention. Instead, she was staring blankly at cartoons, forsaking the hypnotic power of fire for that of the television; the memory of the tribe, for commercials. I was so shocked, I couldn’t speak! Thousands of questions robbed me of my sleep. What had happened? Where had I gone wrong? What kind of society had we created? What had we women achieved by leaving the home? Yes, we had won rights that belonged to us and we had earned recognition for our intellectual activity and a better place in the world, but with great sadness I was forced to accept that none of the revolutions we participated in had managed to create a proper system for the creation of the New Man.

 

Esquivel is trying to share the lessons she learned at the hearth with her daughter. Why does the daughter have such a different response to them from Esquivel?

She’s not as well disciplined as Esquivel had been at that age.

She’s growing up in a different social and historical environment.

The daughter doesn’t believe in the god of maiz and rejects the stories.

The daughter is stubborn and is unable to focus on the message.

Answer 1

B. She's growing up in a different social and historical environment.

Answer 2

Esquivel is trying to share the lessons she learned at the hearth with her daughter but the daughter has such a different response to them from Esquivel because she’s growing up in a different social and historical environment.

“At the Hearth” is the first chapter from Laura Esquivel's book “Between Two Fires: Intimate Writings on Life, Love, Food & Flavor”. The stories of Laura Esquivel are surrounded by magical realism and the truths which are beautiful and astonishing at the same time. She tells the simple truths which are so common to be noticed. She makes the readers feel the same as her perception towards life.