Question

read the excerpt from a genetics of justice by julia alvarez.
passage a:
and so, long after we had left, my parents were still living in the dictatorship inside their own heads. even on american soil, they were afraid of awful consequences if they spoke out or disagreed with authorities. the first amendment right to free speech meant nothing to them. silence about anything political was the rule in our house.
passage b:
my mother, especially, lived in terror of the consequences of living as free citizens. in new york city, before trujillo was killed, dominican exiles gathered around the young revolutionary juan bosch, planning an invasion of the island. every time my father attended
which statement best analyzes how the author develops the central idea across the two passages?
○ alvarez describes how the sim’s threats and activities followed her family even in the united states.
○ option content omitted
○ alvarez shows how her parents’ fears about the dictatorship affected their thoughts and actions even when they lived in the united states.
○ alvarez describes how her parents learned the values of free speech and freedom of association.

Explanation:

Passage A focuses on how the author's parents carried the fear of the Dominican dictatorship into their US life, self-censoring politically. Passage B gives a specific example of the mother's terror related to the dictatorship's consequences even in New York. The correct statement ties the parents' dictatorship-induced fear to their ongoing thoughts and actions in the US, matching the core of both passages. The other options either focus too narrowly on the SIM (not the central cross-passage idea) or misstate the parents' attitude toward free speech (they didn't fear the values, they were trapped by past terror).

Answer:

B. Alvarez shows how her parents' fears about the dictatorship affected their thoughts and actions even when they lived in the United States.