ShmoopTube

00:03

What's Shmoop got to do with it?

00:08

This is your last chance to press pause and review the following passage. Aw, look who's getting sentimental!

00:24

What tone shift is indicated by line 38?

00:28

And here are the potential answers:

00:36

It's always nice when they give us a single line number. We can zero in a particular portion

00:40

of the passage and not really worry about anything else.

00:44

And we love not having to worry.

00:46

Okay, actually, since we're looking for a tone shift, we may need to know what comes

00:51

just before it, so we can determine what the tone is shifting to.

00:57

Let's look at lines 35 through 38:

00:59

"That's the chance, of course," he said slowly. "How much or how little I'm taking this stand

01:03

because of propaganda I've heard, I don't know; naturally I think that it's my most

01:08

innermost conviction—it seems a path spread before me just now."

01:13

Amory's heart sank.

01:14

So, the question is really asking, why did Amory's heart sink? Did it hit an iceberg?

01:20

Okay, let's check out the answer choices:

01:22

Did he go from extreme hostility to mild anger? So, did he just get less angry?

01:28

Generally when one's heart "sinks," we're not talking about anger.

01:31

Your heart feels almost like it's in your throat when you get worked up, so we can scratch

01:36

A, and B as well, while we're at it.

01:39

There is certainly no levity, or lightheartedness, apparent here, so we can nix C as well.

01:44

For option D, the despair part is definitely possible, but it's not preceded by a hint

01:49

of hopefulness. D can't be right either.

01:52

The correct answer is E, criticism to reflection.

01:55

The lines leading up to line 38 feature a healthy dose of criticism, while Amory's "sinking

02:01

heart" leads to reflection on his lack of conviction.

02:05

Maybe he needs to get one of those inflatable heart rafts...

Full Transcript