Question

peyton farquhar was a well to do planter, of an old and highly respected alabama family. being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician, he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the southern cause. circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with that gallant army which had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of corinth, and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction. that opportunity, he felt, would come, as it comes to all in wartime. meanwhile he did what he could. no service was too humble for him to perform in the aid of the south, no adventure too perilous for him to undertake if consistent with the character of a civilian who was at heart a soldier, and who in good faith and without too much qualification assented to at least a part of the frankly villainous dictum that all is fair in love and war.
use the paragraph to answer the question.
why is this paragraph an example of a flashback?
(1 point)
it brings the reader to the past to provide background information about the main character.
it tells that the main character is a slave owner to establish a central theme.
it adds additional information through the use of a linear chronology.
it brings the reader to the future to solve a mystery explained earlier in the story.

Explanation:

A flashback is a literary device that interrupts the present - day narrative to show events from the past. In this paragraph, it provides background information about Peyton Farquhar (his family, his role as a slave owner, his political stance etc.) which is likely information from before the main action of the story (if there is a main action being told in a non - past context). The other options are incorrect:

• The second option about establishing a central theme is not the main function of a flashback here. The paragraph is more about character background.
• A flashback does not use linear chronology (linear chronology would be telling events in the order they happened in the story's timeline, not going back to the past).
• A flashback goes to the past, not the future.

Answer:

It brings the reader to the past to provide background information about the main character.