"the heart that feels not is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole and made them happy."

what is the purpose of the figurative language in this excerpt?
to evoke in the audience admiration for those who aid and comfort the needy
to evoke in the audience concern for the safety of children and loved ones
to evoke in the audience shame for placing self-preservation above the good of the community
to evoke in the audience anger at children who disrespect the authority of their parents

the correct answer on edge is

c. to evoke in the audience shame for placing self-preservation above the good of the community

word count 168

serve the people! ,” smoothly translated by julia lovell, offers an initial sample of yan lianke’s writing to an english-speaking audience. a bluntly drawn, mildly erotic fable, it teases mao zedong by poking fun at a true believer who obeys the chairman’s precepts too literally. to a western sensibility, the broad strokes of yan lianke’s humor would seem to pose little risk of inciting rebellion, whether of the flesh or of the body politic. but then, part of the book’s attraction is that it doesn’t have a western sensibility. it lets the reader see — or rather, intuit — what jokes chinese officials don’t consider funny, and how very little it takes for a writer to be branded an incendiary in 21st-century china, more than three decades after the death of mao, a decade after the death of deng xiaoping and seven years since china entered the world trade organization, a move that would seem to signal a willingness (however wary) to mingle with the rest of the world.

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