The main purpose of this story is to appeal to the reader’s interest in a subject which has been the theme of
some of the greatest writers, living and dead – but which has never been, and can never be, exhausted,
because it is a subject eternally interesting to all mankind. Here is one more book that depicts the struggle of a
human creature, under those opposing influences of Good and Evil, which we have all felt, which we have all
known. It has been my aim to make the character of “Magdalen,” which personifies this struggle, a pathetic character
even in its perversity and its error; and I have tried hard to attain this result by the least obtrusive and the least
artificial of all means – by a resolute adherence throughout to the truth as it is in Nature. This design was no
easy one to accomplish; and it has been a great encouragement to me (during the publication of my story in its
periodical form) to know, on the authority of many readers, that the object which I had proposed to myself, I
might, in some degree, consider as an object achieved.
Round the central figure in the narrative other characters will be found grouped, in sharp contrast – contrast, for
the most part, in which I have endeavored to make the element of humor mainly predominant. I have sought to
impart this relief to the more serious passages in the book, not only because I believe myself to be justified in
doing so by the laws of Art – but because experience has taught me (what the experience of my readers will
doubtless confirm) that there is no such moral phenomenon as unmixed tragedy to be found in the world
around us. Look where we may, the dark threads and the light cross each other perpetually in the texture of
human life.
What selection best identifies the device utilized as a whole in the opening first paragraph?
F. Scott Fitzgerald was a prominent American writer of the twentieth century. This passage comes from one of
his short stories and tells the story of a young John Unger leaving home for boarding school. John T. Unger
came from a family that had been well known in Hades a small town on the Mississippi River for several
generations. John’s father had held the amateur golf championship through many a heated contest; Mrs. Unger
was known “from hot-box to hot-bed,” as the local phrase went, for her political addresses; and young John T.
Unger, who had just turned sixteen, had danced all the latest dances from New York before he put on long
trousers.
And now, for a certain time, he was to be away from home.
That respect for a New England education which is the bane of all provincial places, which drains them yearly of
their most promising young men, had seized upon his parents.
Nothing would suit them but that he should go to St. Midas’s School near Boston – Hades was too small to hold
their darling and gifted son. Now in Hades – as you know if you ever have been there the names of the more
fashionable preparatory schools and colleges mean very little. The inhabitants have been so long out of the
world that, though they make a show of keeping up-to-date in dress and manners and literature, they depend to
a great extent on hearsay, and a function that in Hades would be considered elaborate would doubtless be
hailed by a Chicago beef-princess as “perhaps a little tacky.”
John T. Unger was on the eve of departure. Mrs. Unger, with maternal fatuity, packed his trunks full of linen
suits and electric fans, and Mr. Unger presented his son with an asbestos pocket-book stuffed with money.
“Remember, you are always welcome here,” he said. “You can be sure, boy, that we’ll keep the home fires
burning.” “I know,” answered John huskily.
“Don’t forget who you are and where you come from,” continued his father proudly, “and you can do nothing to
harm you. You are an Unger – from Hades.”
So the old man and the young shook hands, and John walked away with tears streaming from his eyes. Ten
minutes later he had passed outside the city limits and he stopped to glance back for the last time. Over the
gates the old-fashioned Victorian motto seemed strangely attractive to him. His father had tried time and time
again to have it changed to something with a little more push and verve about it, such as “Hades – Your
Opportunity,” or else a plain “Welcome” sign set over a hearty handshake pricked out in electric lights. The old
motto was a little depressing, Mr. Unger had thought – but now.
So John took his look and then set his face resolutely toward his destination. And, as he turned away, the lights
of Hades against the sky seemed full of a warm and passionate beauty.
The tone of sentence “their darling and gifted son” can best be described as
Square PQRS is on the coordinate plane, and each side of the square is parallel to either the x-axis or y-axis.
Point P has coordinates (−2,−1) and point R has the coordinates (3,4).
Quantity A: 5√2
Quantity B: The distance between points P and R