Question

Read the excerpt from “Speaking Arabic.”

At a neighborhood fair in Texas, somewhere between the German Oom-pah Sausage Stand and the Mexican Gorditas booth, I overheard a young man say to his friend, “I wish I had a heritage. Sometimes I feel—so lonely for one.” And the tall American trees were dangling their thick branches right down over his head.

Which best explains how Nye’s word choice helps establish her voice in the excerpt?
Nye uses short, forceful words to support her opinion that an American heritage is limited and mechanical.
Nye describes a neighborhood fair to support her opinion that the idea of an American heritage does not exist.
Nye creates a powerful image of trees to support her opinion that living among a variety of cultures is an American heritage.
Nye directly quotes something she heard in order to express her distress over a lack of American heritage.

Answer 1

C

Nye’s image of the “tall American trees…dangling their thick branches” over the fair—situated “between the German Oom-pah Sausage Stand and the Mexican Gorditas booth”—uses vivid, natural imagery to argue that living amid many cultures is itself an American heritage.