Question

read the passage from \cruel tribute.\

years passed by. every spring when the roses began to bloom seven youths and seven maidens were put on board of a black-sailed ship and sent to crete to pay the tribute which king minos required. in every house in athens there was sorrow and dread, and the people lifted up their hands to athena on the hilltop and cried out, \how long, o queen of the air, how long shall this thing be?\

in the meanwhile the little child at troezen on the other side of the sea had grown to be a man. his name, theseus, was in everybodys mouth, for he had done great deeds of daring; and at last he had come to athens to find his father, king aegeus, who had never heard whether he was alive or dead; and when the youth had made himself known, the king had welcomed him to his home and all the people were glad because so noble a

in this excerpt, the sequence of events creates suspense by

starting the story in the middle of things.
describing a setting that causes fear.
slowing down the plot to focus on a new character.
speeding up the plot to move the story forward and build tension.

Explanation:

Analyze the narrative sequence

The passage from "Cruel Tribute" begins by describing a recurring, tragic event: "Years passed by. Every spring... seven youths and seven maidens were put on board of a black-sailed ship and sent to Crete..." This establishes a long-term, repetitive cycle of dread and sorrow in Athens.

Identify the shift in pacing

The second paragraph introduces a sudden shift in time and focus: "In the meanwhile the little child at Troezen on the other side of the sea had grown to be a man." By skipping over many years of Theseus's childhood in a single sentence, the author rapidly accelerates the timeline.

Determine the effect on suspense

Using Plot Structure and Mythological Analysis, we can see that by speeding up the plot to show Theseus growing up and arriving in Athens, the narrative quickly brings the hero to the place of conflict. This rapid progression moves the story forward to build tension and anticipation for his inevitable confrontation with the tribute system.

Evaluate the given options

• Option 1 ("starting the story in the middle of...") is incorrect because the excerpt establishes a chronological sequence of years passing rather than starting in medias res.
• Option 2 ("describing a setting that causes...") is cut off but focuses on setting rather than the sequence of events.
• Option 3 ("slowing down the plot...") is incorrect because skipping Theseus's entire childhood is a fast-forward technique, not a slowdown.
• Option 4 ("speeding up the plot to move the story forward and build tension") accurately describes how skipping years of Theseus growing up accelerates the narrative pace to set up the main conflict.

Answer:

• starting the story in the middle of things.
• describing a setting that causes fear.
• slowing down the plot to focus on one character.
• speeding up the plot to move the story forward and build tension. (Correct answer)