Read the prose extract below:
"For thirty years, Mr. Pendelton had audited the ledger books of the Great Northern Rail Company, sitting inside a windowless basement office where the ticking of the brass clock measured out the quiet erasure of his youth. When the board voted to automate the accounting logs and presented him with a silver pocket watch for his long service, Pendelton walked out into the midday sun and realized he had forgotten the smell of rain, having spent his life keeping accounts for a system that calculated everything except human value."
Which of the following best captures the central theme illustrated through Mr. Pendelton's experience in the passage?
- AThe inevitable triumph of technological innovation over obsolete manual labor systems.
- The dehumanizing impact of rigid institutional routine and the erosion of personal identity.Answer
- CThe financial instability and material deprivation faced by aging corporate clerks.
- DThe overt hostility and malice of corporate leadership toward retiring workers.
Answer
The central theme is the dehumanizing impact of rigid institutional routine and the erosion of personal identity.
The passage contrasts the mechanical counting of financial assets with the complete neglect of human experience. The description of thirty years spent in a windowless basement followed by the realization of having forgotten basic sensory pleasures highlights how institutional routine erodes individual identity and human worth.
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Key Concept
Themes and Thematic Interpretation in Prose