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Test: AP English Literature
From Hard Times by Charles Dickens (1854)
There was an air of jaded sullenness in them both, and particularly in the girl; yet, struggling through the dissatisfaction of her face, there was a light with nothing to rest upon, a fire with nothing to burn, a starved imagination keeping life in itself somehow, which brightened its expression. Not with the brightness natural to cheerful youth, but with uncertain, eager, doubtful flashes, which had something painful in them, analogous to the changes on a blind face groping its way.
She was a child now, of fifteen or sixteen, but at no distant day would seem to become a woman all at once. Her father thought so as he looked at her. She was pretty. Would have been self-willed (he thought in his eminently practical way) but for her bringing-up.
"Thomas, though I have the fact before me, I find it difficult to believe that you, with your education and resources, should have brought your sister to a scene like this."
"I brought him, father," said Louisa, quickly. "I asked him to come."
"I am sorry to hear it. I am very sorry indeed to hear it. It makes Thomas no better, and it makes you worse, Louisa."
She looked at her father again, but no tear fell down her cheek.
| 1. | What is meant by the underlined sentence, “Not with the brightness natural to cheerful youth, but with uncertain, eager, doubtful flashes, which had something painful in them, analogous to the changes on a blind face groping its way”? |
Louisa is looking to discover something but without knowing exactly what it is.
Louisa was far more intelligent than her brother, who merely had "book smarts" from his education.
Louisa was a keen intellect, always on the look for new adventures.
Louisa eagerly was searching for something until her father interrupted her fun.
Louisa long ago lost her ability to see or think clearly.
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