In Marigolds, which passage from the text best supports the author's theme that people need to find small pleasures to give them hop when life becomes too difficult to endure?

Question options:

a)

"Innocence involves an unseeing acceptance of things at face value, an ignorance of the area below the surface."

b)

"The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility."

c)

"The years have taken me worlds away from that time and that place ... "

d)

"For one does not have to be ignorant and poor to find that his life is as barren as the dusty yards of our town. And I too have planted marigolds."

I had C but it was wrong

"The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility."

Answer: The right answer is the B) "The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility."

Explanation: Just to elaborate a little bit on the answer, it can be added that options A and C should be easily discarded, since they are not supporting the theme. Those lines are talking about the passage of time (option C) and innocence (option A). Likewise, the passage in option D revolves around the character's acknowledgement of the emptiness of his life. Option B is, therefore, the one that supports the theme the best, since it is stating that despite being surrounded by ugliness and sterility, which certainly made her life very difficult to endure, the woman dared to create beauty, which surely gave her hope.