Read the following passage carefully:
Miriam laid her charcoal sketch on the ink-stained workbench, the paper still warm from the friction of her sweeping strokes. 'Look at the way the shadow dissolves at the edge of the riverbank,' she murmured, pointing to a soft smudge of grey. 'It isn’t a line at all; it’s an exhale of the day.'
Mr. Sterling did not look up immediately from his copper plate. His burin moved with the precise, rhythmic scrapes of a clockwork mechanism, shaving tiny, silver curls of metal from the plate's surface. When he finally leaned back, wiping his magnifying glass with a corner of his apron, he squinted at her drawing.
'An exhale does not survive the press, Miriam,' he said, his voice flat and unyielding. 'The ink needs a ditch to sit in. If your line does not have a border, the steam and the paper will turn your day into a muddy blotch. Art in this room is not about what you feel; it is about what the copper can hold.'
He leaned forward again, his fingers, stained permanent indigo, instantly finding the groove of his tool. Miriam looked from his stiff, upright spine to her own charcoal-smeared fingers. The soft charcoal was easily wiped away, but Sterling’s plates would last for generations, pressing the same rigid, clean lines onto a thousand sheets of paper long after they were both gone.
Which of the following best describes the primary narrative function of the contrast between Miriam and Mr. Sterling?
- AIt establishes that Miriam and Mr. Sterling use different drawing tools and materials in the print shop.
- BIt details the chronological steps of preparing a sketch before transferring it onto a copper engraving plate.
- It highlights the tension between Miriam's pursuit of artistic spontaneity and Mr. Sterling's insistence on technical durability.Cevap
- DIt demonstrates the author's personal critique of the industrialization of art during the nineteenth century.
- EIt portrays Mr. Sterling as a hostile antagonist determined to discourage Miriam from pursuing her career.