Question

Read the following excerpt from Penrod, a novel by Booth Tarkington first published

in 1914. Which of the answers best describes the voice of the narrator?
"Penrod sat morosely upon the back fence and gazed with envy at Duke, his wistful
dog. A bitter soul dominated the various curved and angular surfaces known by a
careless world as the face of Penrod Schofield. Except in solltude, that face was
almost always cryptic and emotionless; for Penrod had come into his twelfth year
wearing an expression carefully trained to be inscrutable. Since the world was sure
to misunderstand everything, mere defensive instinct prompted him to give it as little
as possible to lay hold upon. Nothing is more impenetrable than the face of a boy
who has learned this, and Penrod's was habitually as fathomless as the depth of his
hatred this morning for the literary activities of Mrs. Lora Rewbush-an almost
universally respected fellow citizen, a lady of charitable and poetic inclinations, and
one of his own mother's most intimate friends. Mrs. Lora Rewbush had written
something which she called "The Children's Pageant of the Table Round," and it was
to be performed in public that very afternoon at the Women's Arts and Guild
Hall...And if any flavour of sweetness remained in the nature of Penrod Schofield
after the dismal trials of the school-week just past, that problematic, infinitesimal
remnant was made pungent acid by the imminence of his destiny to form a
prominent feature of the spectacle, and to declaim the loathsome sentiments of a
character named upon the programme the Child Sir Lancelot" (Tarkington, 1914).
OA) Another twelve-year-old, perhaps one of Penrod's friends.
O
B) A knowing adult describing a twelve-year-old.
C) Mrs. Rewbush.
OD) Penrod, himself.

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

B) A knowing adult describing a twelve-year-old.

The narrator is a knowing adult describing Penrod, a twelve-year-old boy. The language used to describe Penrod's thoughts and actions is more sophisticated than what a twelve-year-old would typically use, indicating that the narrator is an adult