23. Evaluate the following descriptive paragraph. How well does it appeal to the reader's senses? What is the overall effect?
"About 15 miles below Monterey, on the wild coast, the Torres family had their farm, a few
sloping acres above a cliff that dropped to the brown reefs and to the hissing white waters of
the ocean. Behind the farm the stone mountains stood up against the sky. The farm buildings
huddled like the clinging aphids on the mountain skirts, crouched low to the ground as though
the wind might blow them into the sea. The little shack, the rattling, rotting barn were gray-
bitten with sea salt, beaten by the damp wind until they had taken on the color of the granite
hills. Two horses, a red cow and a red calf, half a dozen pigs and a flock of lean, multi-colored
chickens stocked the place. A little corn was raised on the sterile slope, and it grew short and
thick under the wind, and all the cobs formed on the landward sides of the stalks."
John Steinbeck, “Flight"

the metamorphosis is based on an evident father-son problem. this story shows, as a result of the unthinkable transformation of the son in an insect, the deformation and destruction of the individual caused by the authoritarian and hierarchical structures of the family. the narrative begins with the transformation into an insect of enormous proportions of the traveling salesman gregor samsa, a lonely, introverted and submissive, who keeps his family with his work. when he worked, he was appreciated by everyone, but, now that he can not work, he is despised, especially by his father, but this is going to be joined, painfully for the protagonist, first his mother and, finally, his own sister, grete, with whom he had held a special relationship of complicity and affection for many years.

condemned by a deep sense of responsibility, gregor fears the reaction that his frightful aspect will incite in his family. he feels guilty for not being able to continue being useful to the beings he maintained. his own family, however, is ashamed and runs away from him, and even tyrannizes and resists him. the father, of a severe and despotic character, humiliates him and treats him with great cruelty. all his attempts to escape from the confinement to which he is subjected in his own room fail before the hostile rejection of the beings that surround him. prisoner in his lair and unable to continue playing the only function of making money he had, finally chooses, with the consent of his parents and sister, to die of starvation. with this, he is freed from a servile and unhappy existence. the family appreciates gregor while he fulfills the interests. but when he is unable to continue earning money, it becomes a problem, a shame, and family relationships begin to become tense, until coexistence becomes impossible.

gerund phrase: giving more than a person needs.

noun use: predicate noun.

the correct option is c) “logical reasons.”

writers should explain their position by writing logical reasons. in order to build effective arguments, clear evidence and logical ideas should be used to support the writers’ position.

counterclaims are used when the writers do not agree with a claim proposed by another author.

fair rebuttals are used by writers when a counterclaim to their position is being presented.