The word or phrase "imagined the branches were tendrils of a giant sea creature" illustrates the author’s imaginative world as a child, and this contributes to the nostalgic mood of the second paragraph of the passage.
Olfactory remembrance happens when a smell triggers a memory so immediate and vital that it could feel like a person has gone back in time. Neuroscience tells us why this happens. Smells travel through the olfactory bulb in front of the brain, so it’s close to the organ that sends messages to the rest of the body. Additionally, scents have a fast path to places like the nearby amygdala and hippocampus, which are parts of the brain that deal with emotions and memory.
An example: when I was a young girl, I sat on the ground behind the towering lilac bush that grew on the side of our modest ranch house in Illinois. I imagined the branches were tendrils of a giant sea creature, octopuslike and hulking; it would barrel me along from one adventure to another in oily depths of the ocean. Today, when I smell lilacs as an adult, I’m immediately thrust into the past, my childhood home and the lilac bush, where the day stretched before me like a dream that lasts and lasts.
Select the correct answers from the lists to analyze the excerpt.
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The word or phrase
illustrates the author’s imaginative world as a child, and this contributes to the
mood of the second paragraph of the passage.
1 answer
1 answer