Question

She always began by teasingly asking me to catch and pluck a chicken, the way she'd had to do growing up.

If the writer were to delete the underlined portion, the paragraph would primarily lose:

1) a sense of the relationship between the narrator and her grandmother as they engaged in their cooking rituals
2) an insight into how the grandmother both loved and kept a distance from her granddaughter
3) a suggestion that sometimes the narrator felt her grandmother picked on her
4) a detail that kept the narrator's reminiscences from seeming too perfect

Answer 1

The passage would lose a sense of the relationship between the narrator and her grandmother's cooking rituals if the underlined portion is removed, diminishing the depth and shared experiences suggested by the act of catching and plucking a chicken.

Step-by-step explanation:

The underlined portion of the text that the student references hints at a playful yet historically rooted interaction between the narrator and her grandmother. Removing this portion would primarily lose a sense of the relationship between the narrator and her grandmother as they engage in their cooking rituals. The suggested task of catching and plucking a chicken evokes imagery of past times, likely depicting a generational gap and the hardships faced by the grandmother, making it a significant detail in terms of relationship depth and narrative richness. Not only does it establish a bond between the two characters through the shared experience of cooking, but it also carries a lighthearted tone, indicating that the asking is done in a teasing manner. This indicates warmth and closeness in the relationship, thus choosing option 1) as the main element that would be lost without the underlined text.