Question

Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World.

Eventually, I visited Guyana to find out the fate of our house. As our car passed old sugar estates, and I saw the palm trees bending against the wide sky, the lush cane growing in thick, shiny rows, the villages, which were really parcels of land surrounding the important estates, I realized that sugar had been the entire reason for this country's existence. Every now and then an old boiling house—where the cane is processed into crystals, molasses, and rum—would show itself on the flat landscape, cropping up like a hulking ghost.

How do the details about Guyana reveal the author’s purpose?

They show that the author wants to persuade readers that her family was important.
They show that the author wants to inform readers by describing the old sugar estates.
They show that the author wants to entertain readers with stories about the plantations.
They show that the author wants to inform readers about the fate of the family’s house.

Answer 1

They show that the author wants to inform readers by describing the old sugar estates.

The passage uses sensory details (palm trees, lush cane, boiling houses) to explain the landscape and role of sugar in Guyana, not to argue the family's importance or to tell an entertaining anecdote.