Question

read the excerpt from chapter 7 of night. one day when we had come to a stop, a worker took a piece of bread out of his bag and threw it into a wagon. there was a stampede. dozens of starving men fought desperately over a few crumbs. the worker watched the spectacle with great interest. years later, i witnessed a similar spectacle in aden. our ships passengers amused themselves by throwing coins to the
atives,\ who dove to retrieve them. an elegant parisian lady took great pleasure in this game. when i noticed two children desperately fighting in the water, one trying to strangle the other, i implored the lady: \please, dont throw any more coins!\ \why not?\ said she. \i like to give charity...\ based on the details in this excerpt, what is the authors primary purpose? to show how people everywhere need help to show how his opinion of humankind has changed to show that cruel behavior is not limited to only one situation to show that people may do things without thinking of the consequences

Explanation:

The author presents two similar cruel scenes: one in the past with men fighting over bread crumbs thrown by a worker, and another later with people throwing coins and causing children to fight. This shows that cruel behavior isn't just in one situation (the first one). The other options don't fit as well. It's not mainly about showing people everywhere need help (the focus is on the cruel act), not about his opinion of humankind changing (no indication of a before - after opinion change), and not about people doing things without thinking (the emphasis is on the cruelty of the act, not the thought - process).

Answer:

to show that cruel behavior is not limited to only one situation