Question

passages
of us went out. its not that we didnt spend time together, but it was usually with the
rest of the family, on vacations, camping trips, outings. he was a private man and,
with me at least, somewhat remote. this remoteness was probably unintentional-
he suffered the disadvantage of many immigrant fathers: his boyhood had been so
different from his sons. the things that he had done as an adolescent - kayaking,
spending summers at country houses, going to formal social functions, giving piano
recitals - were not things i did. the books he read as a boy were not my own (i could
not read polish). playing the piano was his sole pastime, so he did not have hobbies
to share - he was not a fisherman, or a golfer, or a do - it - yourselfer - nor did we go to
baseball or hockey games together. i dont mean to sound rueful. despite my
schoolboy athleticism, i was not attracted by the spectacle of sports, so i didnt feel i
was missing anything.
my father and i did share something in addition to the occasional jazz concert. for
some reason he did not introduce me to classical music - except indirectly through
his evening playing - but we did sometimes play at home together. like many
classically trained musicians, he was somewhat baffled by the improvisational nature
of jazz, but he did know how to improvise fugues. i enjoyed accompanying him,
although im not sure if he enjoyed my doing so, or if he played with me merely out of
a sense of parental obligation. it was, in any case, our most effective way of

question 3 of 30
the primary purpose of the highlighted text is to:
a provide reasons why the narrator was envious of his fathers childhood.
b explain why the narrators father might have had difficulty bonding with
the narrator.
c justify why the narrators father was resentful of the life the narrators
family had at st. johns.
d embellish stories that the narrator used to justify his fathers remoteness.

Explanation:

The highlighted text discusses the father's childhood being different from the narrator's (immigrant father's disadvantage), the father's activities (kayaking, etc.) not shared with the narrator, no common hobbies (father played piano only), and no shared sports outings. All these factors contribute to explaining why the father might have difficulty bonding with the narrator. Option A is wrong as there's no indication of envy. Option C has no mention of resentment. Option D is incorrect as it's not about embellishing stories but giving real - life reasons.

Answer:

B. explain why the narrator’s father might have had difficulty bonding with the narrator.