ShmoopTube

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Here's a shmoopy question for you to wrestle with...

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Katie knew she had done something wrong as soon as she glanced over at Jake's paper during

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the history exam, but no one noticed. Still, she couldn't help her remorse. She

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knew that she would need to confess to her teacher if she ever hoped to get rid of the

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shame she was feeling. What feeling do the words wrong, remorse,

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and shame suggest?

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And here are the potential answers:

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So... what is this question asking?

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Well, it seems to be asking whether this girl is cut out for politics. Aside from the shame

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and remorse, she seems pretty ready.

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But this is a vocab question... and it's really only a question of 2 potential answers

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-- sadness or guilt.

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Elation is this:

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And relief is this:

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Or... at least that's how ya get it.

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And neither elation nor relief have much to do with the words "wrong, remorse or shame".

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So we're at sadness and guilt.

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Well, sadness is kind of a "unitary" word. It's something that is a state of mind that

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doesn't really have a lot of complexity.

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But guilt is a different animal -- it follows from one having a moral base, a sense of what

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is right and wrong in the world. That there is goodness and evil, even.

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In this question, the cheater clearly feels more than just sadness over her act -- she

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feels this complex array of emotions... which are much closer to guilt than sadness.

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So yeah, the answer is D.

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As in "Detention."

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