Question

read the excerpt from \how the grimm brothers saved the fairy tale.\
turning to the tales of the first edition, a reader might notice that many of the stories such as \the hand with the knife,\ \how some children played at slaughtering,\ and \the children of famine,\ have nothing to do with fairies or happy endings. instead, these are stark narratives about brutal living conditions in the nineteenth century. for instance, \the children of famine\ begins this way:
once upon a time there was a woman with two daughters, and they had become so poor that they no longer had even a piece of bread to put in their mouths. their hunger became so great that their mother became unhinged and desperate. indeed, she said to her children, ive got to kill you so that i can get something to eat.
how does the author support the main idea in this paragraph?
○ with a claim that the narratives show brutal living conditions
○ with three titles of stories from the brothers grimm
○ with an example that shows why the stories are fit for children
○ with an example that shows a specific brutal living condition

Explanation:

The paragraph's main idea is that some Grimm tales show brutal 19th - century living conditions. The author uses the example of "The Children of Famine" (with its plot of extreme poverty and a mother's desperate thought of killing her children for food) to show a specific brutal living condition. The first option is just a claim, not support. The second option is about listing titles, but the support is the example of a story's content, not just titles. The third option is wrong as the example shows the stories are not fit for children. So the correct choice is the one about an example showing a specific brutal living condition.

Answer:

D. with an example that shows a specific brutal living condition (assuming the options are labeled A - D in order, with D being the last option as described)