Question

The following text is adapted from James Joyce’s 1914 short story collection Dubliners. The main character is a young man living in Dublin.
[Dublin] seemed to him a city of a thousand streets, and in each street a thousand houses, and in each house a thousand people. He saw the same faces in the same places every day, moving with the same hurried steps, engaged in the same trivial concerns, and to whom every conversation was the same as the last, and every thought the counterpart of the next.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text? Choose 1 answer:
A To highlight the bustling and energetic nature of the city's inhabitants
B To argue that the familiarity of life in the city makes it a comfortable place to live
C To emphasize the repetitive and monotonous nature of the city and its residents' lives
D To explain the overwhelming number of residents living in the city

Answer 1

C

The passage stresses repetition and monotony—the same faces, steps, concerns, conversations, and thoughts—so its main purpose is to emphasize the city's repetitive, monotonous character.