Digital PSAT Reading and Writing Practice Question 278: Answer and Explanation

Question: 278

The following text is from Kate Chopin's 1899 novel The Awakening.

After Mrs. Pontellier had danced twice with her husband, once with Robert, and once with Monsieur Ratignolle, who was thin and tall and swayed like a reed in the wind when he danced, she went out on the gallery and seated herself on the low windowsill, where she commanded a view of all that went on in the hall and could look out toward the Gulf. There was a soft effulgence in the east. The moon was coming up, and its mystic shimmer was casting a million lights across the distant, restless water.

“Would you like to hear Mademoiselle Reisz play?” asked Robert, coming out on the porch where she was. Of course Edna would like to hear Mademoiselle Reisz play; but she feared it would be useless to entreat her.

Edna's initial response to the possibility of hearing Mademoiselle Reisz play indicates that Edna is

• A. wholly apathetic.
• B. eager, but doubtful that Reisz would oblige.
• C. repulsed by the suggestion.
• D. disinterested, as she is currently occupied by something else.

Correct Answer: B

Explanation:

B. In the second paragraph, the following interaction occurs: “‘Would you like to hear Mademoiselle Reisz play?' asked Robert, coming out on the porch where she was. Of course Edna would like to hear Mademoiselle Reisz play; but she feared it would be useless to entreat her.” Edna, then, is “eager, but doubtful that Reisz would oblige” by playing for her, as Choice B indicates. Choices A and C are too extreme, and Choice D conveys emotional neutrality, which is not supported by the text.