Question

Read this sentence from the passage:
For three or four centuries they have remained upon this small promontory, on which they had settled like a flight of seabirds, without mixing with the Marseillaise population, intermarrying, and preserving their original customs and the costume of their mother-country as they have preserved its language.


Why does the author use the term mother-country rather than homeland or native land, which have very similar denotations in this sentence from The Count of Monte Cristo?

Mother-country emphasizes the deep emotional connection the people felt to the place from which they came.

Homeland or native land would have sounded more old-fashioned and less familiar than mother-country.

Homeland or native land would have had weaker, more negative nuances than mother-country.

Mother-country emphasizes that many of the members of this small community are biological relatives, as Mercédès and Fernand are.

Answer 1

Most figues of speech are used to create a feeling or image in the readers head so we can infer that it is the first choice that 'Mother-country emphasizes the deep emotional connection the people felt to the place from which they came.'

It also mentioned how the people preserved its language and customs so it must mean they have a deep emotional connection.

Answer 2

Answer:

Option A. The author uses the term mother-country rather than homeland or native land because mother-country emphasizes the deep emotional connection that people felt to the place from which they came.

Explanation:

Although very similar in their definition, mother-country and homeland are sometimes used to emphasize different things. When Alexandre Dumas used the term mother-country, he was emphasizing the deep emotional connection that the people felt to the place from not only they came from, but also their ancestors. The author also wrote in the same passage that for more than three centuries that community had stayed in the same place, without mixing with other communities or inter-marrying, in an effort to preserve their own heritage and traditional customs.