Question

Who does 'she' refer to ?

• A. apathy
• B. depression
• C. tranquility
• D. obsession

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Step 1: Analyzing the Narrative Context:
The extract begins with Dr. Solomon Margolin quietly observing a woman, noting that she has had her own share of troubles.

Step 2: Cross-referencing Character Profiles in the Story:
The text describes this woman's brothers, including her brother Hans, the Nazi, and notes that her husband earned enough to pay for a maid. This matches Gretl, Solomon Margolin's German wife.

Step 3: Confirming the Identity:
Therefore, the pronoun “she” refers to Gretl Margolin.

Answer 2

Step 1: Identifying her Family Background:
Gretl grew up in Germany during a period of intense conflict, and her family members were directly caught up in the war.

Step 2: Analyzing the Specific Nature of her Suffering:
She endured quiet, painful emotional distress over the fates of her two brothers, particularly Hans, who had been a Nazi. This left her carrying a heavy weight of shame, grief, and conflict over her family's actions and the horrors of the war.

Step 3: Understanding 'In Silence':
As the German wife of a Jewish doctor who lost his family in the Holocaust, she could not easily express her grief or talk about her brothers. She chose to bear this emotional pain quietly, leading to her suffering in silence.

Answer 3

Step 1: Identifying Physical Factors in the Passage:
The narrator mentions two key factors affecting her physical state: “She had gone through a prolonged change of life.” This refers to the physiological changes of menopause, which can cause hot flashes and sweating.

Step 2: Identifying Behavioral Factors in the Passage:
Additionally, she insisted on doing all the heavy housework herself, including the laundry and scrubbing the oven daily, without any assistance.

Step 3: Concluding the Cause:
Therefore, her flushed, sweaty face was the result of intense physical labor combined with the natural physical symptoms of menopause.

Answer 4

Step 1: Identifying the Financial Context:
Dr. Solomon Margolin was a successful doctor who earned a comfortable income, meaning they had no financial need to avoid hiring help.

Step 2: Analyzing Gretl's Motives:
Gretl's refusal to hire a maid was not about saving money. Instead, her insistence on doing all the heavy labor herself shows an inner, psychological need to stay occupied.

Step 3: Drawing the Inference:
This behavior suggests she used constant, exhausting physical work as a coping mechanism. It was a way to keep her mind busy, escape her painful memories, and perhaps deal with feelings of guilt or self-punishment related to her past.

Answer 5

Step 1: Identifying Her Compulsive Actions:
The passage describes her domestic routines as having “become a mania with her.”

Step 2: Examining the Specific Tasks:
She demonstrates this through several constant, extreme actions:
• Insisting on doing all the housework, including heavy laundry, by herself despite their comfortable income.
• Scouring the oven completely clean every single day.
• Constantly polishing the windows of their high-rise apartment on the sixteenth floor.

Step 3: Identifying the Reckless Nature of Her Work:
Crucially, she polished these high sixteenth-floor windows “without using a safety belt,” showing a reckless disregard for her own safety. This danger highlight's the compulsive, self-destructive nature of her manic cleaning.

Answer 6

Step 1: Defining the Context of 'Mania':
In the passage, Gretl's “mania” refers to her compulsive, dangerous, and repetitive cleaning habits that she could not stop.

Step 2: Evaluating the Options:

• Apathy refers to a lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern (the opposite of manic activity).
• Depression refers to feelings of severe despondency, sadness, and low energy.
• Tranquility refers to the quality or state of being calm and peaceful.
• Obsession refers to an inability to stop thinking about or doing something, leading to compulsive, repetitive behaviors.

Step 3: Confirming the Matching Synonym:
Therefore, “obsession” is the correct and precise synonym for mania in this context.