Question

question 17 of 20
read this excerpt from the grapes of wrath.

there is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation.
there is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize.
there is a failure here that topples all our success. the
fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and
the ripe fruit. and children dying of pellagra must die
because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. and
coroners must fill in the certificates—died of malnutrition—
because the food must rot, must be forced to rot.

which best describes how the diction supports the tone of this passage?

a. the author uses irony to show the absurdity of malnourished
children dying when food is plentiful.

b. the author repeats the phrase \there is\ to create parallelism and
reinforce the idea of loss.

c. the words \crime\ and \denunciation\ reveal the author’s outrage
toward the wasting of food.

Explanation:

• Option A: The passage shows food (like oranges) is available but children die of malnutrition (pellagra, malnutrition) because profit can't be made from oranges, so food is left to rot. This is ironic (absurd contrast between plenty of food and children starving), matching the tone of highlighting this injustice.
• Option B: The "There is" repetition creates parallelism, but the passage's tone is more about outrage at absurd waste, not just "loss"—the focus is on the contradiction of food rotting while children starve, so B doesn't capture the tone's core (ironic absurdity).
• Option C: "Crime" and "denunciation" show outrage, but the key tone element is the irony of food waste + child starvation. C focuses on word choice for outrage but misses the ironic contrast that drives the tone (food is abundant yet children die), so A is better.

Answer:

A. The author uses irony to show the absurdity of malnourished children dying when food is plentiful.