(The following passage is exported from a 20th-century novelists account of her development as a writer) Who was I anyway? Why should anyone pay attention to what I had to say? Did I have anything to say? I was writing science fiction and fantasy, for gods sake. At the time nearly all professional science fiction writers were white men. As much as I love science fiction and fantasy, what was I doing? (Paragraph 8) The author uses a series of questions in the eighth paragraph primarily to express her? a.) Pride, which stems from the fact that she has “ no gift for suffering in silence”(paragraph 4)
b.) doubts, which support the claim that “there seems to be an unwritten rule, hurtful and at odds with the realities of American culture” (paragraph 10)
c.) self-confidence, which is based on the idea that black women are “supposed to know [they are] as good as anyone” (paragraph six)
d.) shame, which develops because “that sort of talk is embarrassing” (paragraph six)
e.) fear, which is grounded in her knowledge that “positive obsession is dangerous” (paragraph nine)