Question

Use the passage from Jacob Riis's "How the Other Half Lives" to answer the question.

"Let him take into a tenement block a handful of flowers from the fields and watch the brightened faces, the sudden abandonment of play and fight that go ever hand in hand where there is no elbow-room, the wild entreaty for “posies,” the eager love with which the little messengers of peace are shielded, once possessed; then let him change his mind. I have seen an armful of daisies keep the peace of a block better than a policeman and his club, seen instincts awaken under their gentle appeal, whose very existence the soil in which they grew made seem a mockery."

Which of the following statements best summarizes the passage?

A. Flowers allowed policemen in the slums to keep the peace between gangs.

B. Flowers caused fights and violence between different groups in the slums.

C. Young boys in the slums appreciated beauty in spite of their harsh lives and rough appearances.

D. Young boys in the slums collected flowers and sold them to make money to support their families.

Answer 1

The following statement best summarizes the passage: "young boys in the slums appreciated beauty in spite of their harsh lives and rough appearances" (C).

This text describes the instinctive attitudes humans have towards flowers ("wild entreaty," "the eager love") and how it gives flowers the power to instigate peace into troubled neighborhoods: "I have seen an armful of daisies keep the peace of a block."

The flowers' impact on young boys is expressed by phrases such as "the brightened faces" and "the sudden abandonment of play and fight."

The following are allusions to their harsh lives:

• "where there is no elbow-room," referring to their tight, crammed living conditions and perhaps the absence of prospects for the future;
• "whose very existence the soil in which they grew may seem a mockery," meaning that the slums represent such poor living areas that it is surprising flowers would thrive there.