Read the following passage carefully before choosing your answer:
Of course, my sister Eleanor insisted that the garden's sudden blight was a direct result of my over-watering the soil, but her understanding of horticulture is as shallow as a summer puddle. Anyone with a modicum of botanical training would recognize that the soil was suffering from an excess of atmospheric humidity, a phenomenon entirely beyond human control. If I watered the flower beds twice daily, it was only because the leaves looked thirstily up at me—a silent, desperate plea that Eleanor, with her constant domestic distractions and general lack of empathy, naturally failed to perceive. My actions were guided by pure, unadulterated compassion for the flora, and any objective observer would agree that the garden has flourished under my sole custody. The temporary yellowing of the prize roses, which she so loudly laments, was undoubtedly caused by the cold shadow of her own discontent falling upon them during her tedious afternoon walks. She has always envied my connection to the earth, and this accusation is merely her latest attempt to undermine my quiet triumphs.
In the passage, the narrator’s explanation for the yellowing of the roses primarily serves to do which of the following?
- AReveal the narrator's deep botanical knowledge and dedication to the garden's health.
- Highlight the narrator's tendency to project personal defensiveness and interpersonal bias onto external, natural events.Answer
- CPresent the author’s critique of nineteenth-century gender roles and domestic expectations.
- DSummarize the ongoing conflict between two sisters over gardening techniques.
- EEstablish an allusion to classical mythological symbols of jealousy and decay.