What is the author's persona?
a fictional narrator with a distinct personality from the historical author
the voice created by authors when seeming to speak for themselves
the attitude the author or narrator has toward the subject matter
the historical author's personality, background, and viewpoints

Read this excerpt from the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne and complete the sentence that follows. she had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest, amid the gloom of which they were now holding a colloquy that was to decide their fate. the author uses the point of view in the excerpt.

Match the definition to the word for a better understanding of the paragraph. 1 money does not buy happiness or security. 2john ringling, one of the five brothers of the ringling brothers circus, started out in 1884 with a trained horse and a performing bear. 3for over forty years, he worked hard at the family enterprise, bought up smaller circuses, and imported new acts. 4in the 1920s, he was rated as one of the world's wealthiest men and owned every sizable circus in the country. 5over 5,000 people were on his payroll, and over 240 railroad cars were in his retinue each time the circus moved. 6at the time of his death, however, he was a nervous, unhappy man; he was also bankrupt and beset by lawsuits. 7his carefully built circus empire passed into alien hands. 8all those years of work had turned to dust. 1. business organization alien 2. group beset 3. without funds to pay debts retinue 4. troubled or harassed enterprise 5. strange; belonging to another person, place, country, or thing bankrupt

Tobias wolff most likely named his short story "mortals" because the story explores the theme of people coming to terms with the idea that one day they too will die. wanting to find out what their loved ones really think of them. achieving immortalit by being "big people" while they are alive. hoping that they will have accomplished something before they die.