How does the characterization of Cyril contribute to the satire in "The Storyteller."?
Read the excerpt from "The Storyteller."In a low, confidential voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questionings from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably uninteresting story about a little girl who was good, and made friends with every one on account of her goodness, and was finally saved from a mad bull by a number of rescuers who admired her moral character."Wouldn’t they have saved her if she hadn’t been good?” demanded the bigger of the small girls. It was exactly the question that the bachelor had wanted to ask."Well, yes,” admitted the aunt lamely, "but I don’t think they would have run quite so fast to her help if they had not liked her so much.”
What theme is best supported by the story the bachelor tells in "The Storyteller”?
Read the passage from "The Storyteller.”The children moved listlessly towards the aunt’s end of the carriage. Evidently her reputation as a storyteller did not rank high in their estimation.In a low, confidential voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant questionings from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably uninteresting story about a little girl who was good, and made friends with every one on account of her goodness, and was finally saved from a mad bull by a number of rescuers who admired her moral character."Wouldn’t they have saved her if she hadn’t been good?” demanded the bigger of the small girls. It was exactly the question that the bachelor had wanted to ask."Well, yes,” admitted the aunt lamely, "but I don’t think they would have run quite so fast to her help if they had not liked her so much.”"It’s the stupidest story I’ve ever heard,” said the bigger of the small girls, with immense conviction."I didn’t listen after the first bit, it was so stupid,” said Cyril.The smaller girl made no actual comment on the story, but she had long ago recommenced a murmured repetition of her favourite line.
Read the excerpt from "The Storyteller.""She did all that she was told, she was always truthful, she kept her clothes clean, ate milk puddings as though they were jam tarts, learned her lessons perfectly, and was polite in her manners.”"Was she pretty?” asked the bigger of the small girls."Not as pretty as any of you,” said the bachelor, "but she was horribly good.”There was a wave of reaction in favour of the story; the word horrible in connection with goodness was a novelty that commended itself. It seemed to introduce a ring of truth that was absent from the aunt’s tales of infant life.
Which instances of situational irony occur in the passage? Select two options.
Read the excerpt from "The Storyteller.""Why weren't there any flowers?”"Because the pigs had eaten them all,” said the bachelor promptly. "The gardeners had told the Prince that you couldn't have pigs and flowers, so he decided to have pigs and no flowers.”There was a murmur of approval at the excellence of the Prince's decision; so many people would have decided the other way.
What is the definition of situational irony?
Read the excerpt from "The Storyteller."The frown on the bachelor's face was deepening to a scowl. He was a hard, unsympathetic man, the aunt decided in her mind. She was utterly unable to come to any satisfactory decision about the grass in the other field.
What is the best definition of the term "characterization”?
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