Question

Read the excerpt from "A Quilt of a Country."

Once these disparate parts were held together by a common enemy, by the fault lines of world wars and the electrified fence of communism. With the end of the cold war there was the creeping concern that without a focus for hatred and distrust, a sense of national identity would evaporate, that the left side of the hyphen—African-American, Mexican-American, Irish-American—would overwhelm the right.

What does the use of the term fault lines reveal about how the author views world wars?

She believes that world wars are a small concern.
She believes that world wars are harmful to people.

Answer 1

She believes that world wars are harmful to people.

"Fault lines" suggests fractures, danger, and damage — a negative view of world wars as divisive and harmful.