With the exception of the slight rustling of dried stalks where the rice had once grown in the spring, the silence was as oppressive as the lump Ju-Lin felt in her throat. She gazed at the parched rice paddies and wondered when she had last seen a raindrop. The severe drought had dried all the crops and spread despair across the land like wildfire. Now, it had suddenly taken on an even more ominous meaning, for Ju-Lin had felt her world come to a crashing halt with her father’s words moments earlier.

Question

“Ju-Lin,” her father had said that evening, “the time I dread has come. There is so little food left that even the crickets have failed to chirp.

Quen Law/YonSheng Xuan. Cricket Media Incorporated

Question
Use the excerpt from “The Invisible Red String” to answer the question.

Which simile uses the setting to emphasize the problem?

(1 point)
Responses

“slight rustling of dried stalks”
“slight rustling of dried stalks”

“spread despair like wildfire”
“spread despair like wildfire”

“world come crashing to a halt”
“world come crashing to a halt”

“even the crickets have failed to chirp”

Answer 1

The simile that uses the setting to emphasize the problem is “spread despair like wildfire.” This comparison connects the pervasive despair to the dry, desolate setting of the rice paddies, illustrating how quickly and broadly the impact of the drought has affected the land and its people.