Question

The next morning, Christmas Eve, almost as if he expected it, the police arrive to arrest him and he stood in a dead man’s Y fronts listening to the charge, grateful at last that someone was going to beat him within an inch of his life"?. Yeh'll fergive her, Mary! pleaded the woman in black. The mourner essayed to speak but her voice gave way. She shook her great shoulders frantically, in an agony of grief. Hot tears seemed to scald her quivering face. Finally her voice came and arose like a scream of pain. Oh, yes, I'll fergive her! I'll fergive her!. But I always thought the best part of it was at her canonization the guy who killed her, after doing twenty-seven years in prison, received communion side by side with Maria Goretti’s mother. hat is the significance of the police arriving on Christmas Eve to arrest the person in the given passage?

a) It was an unexpected event
b) The person was relieved to be arrested
c) Christmas Eve held special meaning
d) The person anticipated the arrest

Answer 1

The police arriving on Christmas Eve signifies an emotional and symbolic event, mixing anticipation, relief, and thematic resonance with the holiday's focus on atonement and forgiveness.

Step-by-step explanation:

The significance of the police arriving on Christmas Eve to arrest the person in the given passage appears to hold different layers of meaning. Christmas Eve is traditionally a time of family, forgiveness, and reflection, making the arrest have a particular emotional weight. While the individual anticipated the arrest, there is also a sense of relief that may be tied to the timing, perhaps feeling that the arrest is a form of judgment or penance that fits with the spirit of the holiday. The notion of being grateful for a beating 'within an inch of his life' suggests a desire for punishment as a means of atonement, which resonates with the themes of sin and redemption often reflected upon during the Christmas season.