The Cart

Question

by Cesar Aira

Given all this, you can imagine my surprise when I heard it speak or, to be more precise, when I heard what it said. Its declaration was the last thing I was expecting to hear. Its words went through me like a spear of ice and forced me to reconsider the whole situation, beginning with the sympathy I felt for the cart, then the sympathy I felt for myself, and more generally my sympathy for miracles. I wasn’t surprised by the fact of it speaking; I had been expecting that. Perhaps I felt that our relationship had matured to the point where linguistic signs were appropriate. I knew that the moment had come for it to say something to me (for example that it admired me and loved me and was on my side). I bent down next to it, pretending to tie my shoelaces, so that I could put my ear to the wire mesh on its side, and then I was able to hear its voice, a whisper from the underside of the world, and yet the words were perfectly clear and distinct:

“I am Evil.”

The Cart', by César Aira, translated by Chris Andrews, from THE MUSICAL BRAIN & OTHER STORIES, copyright ©2013 by Cesar Aira. Translation copyright © 2013 by Chris Andrews. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

Question
Use the passage to answer the question.

What detail does the author leave uncertain in the passage?

(1 point)
Responses

Whether or not the narrator is sane.
Whether or not the narrator is sane.

Why the narrator decides to tie their shoelaces.
Why the narrator decides to tie their shoelaces.

How the narrator feels about the cart.
How the narrator feels about the cart.

Whose voice the narrator seems to hear.

Answer 1

The detail that the author leaves uncertain in the passage is Whose voice the narrator seems to hear. While the narrator describes hearing the cart's voice, the implication that it is indeed the cart speaking or if it stems from the narrator's own mind is not clearly established, making the identity of the voice uncertain.