The event or social custom that helps readers understand the historical context of the story is selling children. This aspect highlights the severity of the family's situation and reflects the practices that were historically prevalent in times of extreme poverty and hardship, particularly in certain cultures.
The Invisible Red String
by Quen Law
With the exception of the slight rustling of dried stalks where the rice had once grown in the spring, the silence was as oppressive as the lump Ju-Lin felt in her throat. She gazed at the parched rice paddies and wondered when she had last seen a raindrop. The severe drought had dried all the crops and spread despair across the land like wildfire. Now, it had suddenly taken on an even more ominous meaning, for Ju-Lin had felt her world come to a crashing halt with her father’s words moments earlier.
“Ju-Lin,” her father had said that evening, “the time I dread has come. There is so little food left that even the crickets have failed to chirp. Our family will surely die from hunger if I do not take this wretched step. I can only beg your forgiveness for needing to sell you, my only daughter, in exchange for food, but alas, there is no hope left!”
Ju-Lin sobbed with her parents, who were miserable at the thought of her being a slave in some wealthy household. She knew she would be the one to go, as she was the oldest and the only girl, for custom dictated that sons remain at home to carry on the family name and honor. She could only pray that she wouldn’t have to leave soon.
Quen Law/YonSheng Xuan. Cricket Media Incorporated
Question
Use the passage and the excerpt from the passage to answer the question.
This story takes place long ago in China. What event or social custom mentioned in the passage helps readers understand the historical context of the story?
(1 point)
Responses
farming rice
farming rice
drought causing hunger
drought causing hunger
a child crying with their parents
a child crying with their parents
selling children
1 answer