Question

2 Anna was fifteen and earthbound, her days unfolding in the stifling sameness of her neighborhood that was beginning to weigh her down. She let out a sigh and lamented the dull, pedestrian rhythm of her life: the only time she experienced travel or adventure was watching it on TV; her days were spent slouching on the curb to watch the little kids play another game of jacks; her evenings were spent walking to the corner store or perhaps sitting in the garage, listening to music from one of her three 45s.

3 She longed for the distance of the moon.

4 On the television, the men looked like paper dolls, their spaceship like a toy, and the surface of the moon was deep with powdery dust. Her father said they could all stay up late to watch history being made. “It’s something to see,” he said solemnly.

5 Across the neighborhood, in identical windows, the dim blue glow of televisions was as uniform as the yards, the gray-black driveways, the white houses that lined the dark streets.

6 On the television, men bounced along on the surface of the moon. “They’re going to collect rocks and bring them back to Earth,” her brother David said. “Moon rocks.”

7 Anna pictured the moon rocks as shy and cold gray jewels making the long odyssey back to Earth in metal chests.

8 Outside the window, the neighborhood started to go to sleep. Identical lights went out in identical houses. The shadowy play of television lights on picture windows winked out and went black. Traffic hummed on the overpass that towered above their little street and a slight breeze whispered hush, hush. The thin moon turned golden and slid behind a purple cloud.

How does the description of the setting in paragraphs 2, 5, and 8 from the story “Moon Landing” affect Anna?
A
It exposes the disapproval she feels for her neighbors.
B
It explains her intense desire to escape.
C
It shows why she first became interested in rocks.
D
It reveals why she enjoys the pre-dawn hours.

Answer 1

B

The repeated images of sameness and stifling routine (identical houses, TVs, lights going out) highlight Anna's boredom and make clear why she longs to escape to the moon.