Question

peyton farquhar was a well to do planter, of an old and highly respected alabama family. being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician, he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the southern cause. circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with that gallant army which had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of corinth, and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction. that opportunity, he felt, would come, as it comes to all in wartime. meanwhile he did what he could. no service was too humble for him to perform in the aid of the south, no adventure too perilous for him to undertake if consistent with the character of a civilian who was at heart a soldier, and who in good faith and without too much qualification assented to at least a part of the frankly villainous dictum that all is fair in love and war. use the paragraph to answer the question. why is this paragraph an example of a flashback? (1 point) it tells that the main character is a slave owner to establish a central theme. it brings the reader to the future to solve a mystery explained earlier in the story. it brings the reader to the past to provide background information about the main character. it adds additional information through the use of a linear chronology.

Explanation:

A flashback in literature is a scene that takes the reader back in time. In this case, the paragraph provides background information about Peyton Farquhar (his family, his role as a slave - owner, his political leanings etc.), which is information from his past. The first option is about establishing a central theme (not about time - shift). The second option is about the future (opposite of a flashback). The fourth option mentions linear chronology (a flashback disrupts linear chronology, but the key aspect of a flashback is the move to the past for background, not just disruption of chronology).

Answer:

It brings the reader to the past to provide background information about the main character.