The whole city is a postcard panorama. Like being inside a grade-school civics text. Today, at least, the monument-flanked boulevards flow with people of all races.
Lines 20-21 (“the whole .. text”) suggest which of the following about Delia’s reaction to the city?
C) She sees an idealized version of the city.
E) She is amazed by the sheer size of the city.Why is the correct answer C?
Why is E wrong? I thought she would feel awe at the “postcard panorama” size city.
E is too specific. Even if the “postcard panorama” indicates size (there are also postcard panoramas that are just small, pretty villages–large cities are not the only things that can be postcard panoramas), you cannot argue that the “monument-flanked boulevards” and “people of all races” have to do with the city’s size. Not to mention how the city seems like a “grade-school civics text.”
All those things do suggest (and probably more so in the broader context of the piece) that the narrator views the city in the best possible light.
Comments (6)
What does “being inside a grade-school civics text” mean?
A grade-school civics text is a textbook that explains how government works to children. It’s an idealized version of the messy reality of government.
I now understand how she may view it as “idealized”. Thanks!
The sad thing is that for those who don’t know that the text is an idealized version of the messy reality of government, the question seems somewhat unfair. Is there a way to learn these kinds of facts? I suppose reading the newspaper is one way.
I think maybe you just need to know that a “grade school” is an elementary school.
Also, I thought that in context of the whole paragraph, the main point was that the narrator felt overwhelmed by the sheer size of the city. In context of this paragraph, could you please tell me how she views the city in the best possible light? Thanks!
The whole city is a postcard panorama. Like being inside a grade-school civics text. Today, at least, the monument-flanked boulevards flow with people of all races.The group from Union Baptist Church told her to look for them up front on the left, near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. She has only to hook right, on Constitution Avenue, to see how naive those plans were. There’ll be no rendezvous today. To the west, a crowd gathers, too dense and ecstatic to penetrate.
Seems the crowd is big, not the city.