Cecily makes her first appearance onstage in a rose garden, the appropriate romantic setting of sentimental melodramas. cecily should be studying with miss prism, her tutor. she complains vociferously about her german lessons. references to the german language and sensibility as representing respectability recur throughout the play. cecily’s preoccupation with her appearance over substance satirize this connection while giving insight into her youth and self-absorption.

Returning from vietnam, we were indeed given a parade. crowds of screaming people waving signs — not just on one road, one day. no, they were everywhere. every day. on the streets, on the television, on the radio. a hot, angry tangle of shaking fists and ugly words that threatened us like a monster with a hundred heads. our country had chewed us up and spit us out, and now we were being treated as if it were our fault. what is one way the author's use of language contributes to the tone of this passage? a. the use of figurative language creates a feeling of resentment. b. the phrase "hot, angry tangle" is used sarcastically to create irony. c. the word "parade" is used sarcastically to create a lighthearted mood. d. the parallelism draws attention to the confusion of those returning.