Question

the boy wheeled blindly and fled in terror stumbling through the swamp, hearing strange sounds and feeling stealthy creeping hands and arms and whispering finally beneath the shadows of a mighty oak he sank exhausted. there he lay a while trembling and at last drifted into dreamless sleep. 10 it was morning when he awoke and threw a startled glance upward to the twisted branches of the oak that bent above, sifting down sunshine on his brown face and through the dark and laughed in the bold courage of day and stretched himself. then suddenly he bethought him again of that vision of the night – the waving arms and flying limbs of the girl, and her great black eyes looking into the night and calling him. he could hear her now and hear that wondrous music. where was the girl – the soul that had called him? she must have been real, for she had to live and dance and sing; he must again look into the mystery of her great eyes. he sat up in sudden determination, and – gazed straight into the very eyes of his dreaming. she sat not four feet from him, leaning against the great tree, her eyes languorously abstracted, now alert and quizzical with mischief. a little mocking smile came and sat upon her lips. question 6 the sudden shift in time between paragraphs 9-10 emphasizes – a. the boy’s desire to find the girl from the night before. b. the excitement the boy feels about being in the swamp. c. the change in the boy’s emotions since the night before. d. the boy’s eagerness to leave the swamp as soon as possible.

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze the paragraphs 9 - 10 (the pink - boxed part and the following). Paragraph 9 is about the boy waking up in the morning, and paragraph 10 is about his thoughts of the girl from the night. The shift in time (from night's vision to morning's awakening and then his thoughts) and his emotions: at night he had a vision of the girl, and in the morning, he is determined to find the mystery of her eyes, showing a change in his emotions (from the fear/loneliness of the night to determination in the morning).

• Option A: The boy's desire to find the girl is part of his emotional change, but the shift in time (night to morning) and the change in his emotional state (from the night's experience to morning's determination) is the main emphasis. So A is not the best.
• Option B: The boy's feeling about the swamp is not the focus of the time shift between these paragraphs. The swamp is part of his night - time escape, but the key is his emotions and the time shift related to the girl. So B is incorrect.
• Option C: The time shifts from the night (his vision) to the morning (his awakening and thoughts). His emotions change from the fear/loneliness of the night to a sudden determination to understand the girl's mystery. This option captures the shift in time and the change in his emotions.
• Option D: The boy's eagerness to leave the swamp is not the emphasis of the time shift between these paragraphs. The focus is on his emotions related to the girl and the time transition. So D is incorrect.

Answer:

C. the change in the boy’s emotions since the night before.