Read the following passage carefully before choosing your answer:
Dr. Clara Sterling stood before the lecture hall, her voice ringing with the fierce conviction that had made her a leading voice in the ecological preservation movement. "We must let nature be," she declared, gesturing to the slides of sprawling, chaotic wetlands. "The moment human hands attempt to order the wilderness, we strip it of its inherent truth. True beauty lies in the untamed, the random, the unpoliced growth." Her audience applauded, moved by her defense of wild spaces.
Yet, upon returning to her cottage that evening, Clara immediately set to work in her backyard. Armed with heavy shears and a level, she spent two hours trimming the boxwood hedges into identical, sharp-edged cubes. She carefully plucked a stray dandelion that had dared to sprout between the flagstones, smoothing the gravel with a rake until not a single pebble was out of alignment. Looking out over the perfectly symmetrical rows of hybrid tea roses—each pinned to a wooden stake—she let out a long sigh of satisfaction. In this walled sanctuary, the unpredictable chaos of the natural world was thoroughly banned, replaced by a rigid geometry of her own design.
Which of the following best describes the literary function of the inconsistency in Clara's behavior?
- AIt represents a flaw in the author's characterization, as Clara's domestic actions directly undermine the credibility of her professional beliefs.
- It highlights a central conflict between Clara's intellectual dedication to ecological freedom and her personal need for order and control.Answer
- CIt reveals the author's own hypocritical attitude toward ecological conservation during the period in which the passage was written.
- DIt demonstrates Clara's malicious intent to mislead her audience about her true scientific findings regarding wetlands.
- EIt functions as a plot transition that prepares the reader for Clara's eventual decision to leave her academic career.