Question

Questions 44-55. Read the following passage from Ralph Ellison's Living With Music (1955) carefully before you choose your

answers
The description of the "delicate balance" (line 55) achieved at jazz jam sessions contributes to the unity of the passage in which
of the following ways?
Select one:
O a. As a contrast to the situation in the speaker's neighborhood
O b. As a condemnation of the singer's lack of talent
c. As a parallel to the drunk's attitude toward the world
d. As an indication of the essential similarity between art and life
e. As a satirical comment on the speaker's own shortcomings

Answer 1

A. As a contrast to the situation in the speakers neighborhood.

Step-by-step explanation:

His neighbor resided on top of his apartment. Her notes were evidently wrong, and she shrieked. He acquired a sound system to drown and contradict her "music." He realized he missed the music he heard only after moving to a new apartment.

Ralph Ellison understood music's power. He understood that music may remind us of our history, who we were, and our goals. It is also an escape. It helps drown out life's difficulties, as he did his neighbor's terrible letters. Music not only soothes, but also resurrects and enlivens.