"my father asked me abruptly, you'd rather write than preach, wouldn't you? " why does this conversation surprise the narrator? a. because his father was senile at this point in his life b. because the narrator had already decided to be a preacher c. because it was the first conversation he had with his father in years d. because it is the only real question his father ever asked him the answer is d!

Read this excerpt from "the all-american slurp." i pulled the strings out of my stalk. z-z-zip, z-z-zip. my brother followed suit. z-z-zip, z-z-zip. to my left, my parents were taking care of their own stalks. z-z-zip, z-z-zip, z-z-zip. suddenly i realized that there was dead silence except for our zipping. looking up, i saw that the eyes of everyone in the room were on our family. mr. and mrs. gleason, their daughter meg, who was my friend, and their neighbors the badels—they were all staring at us as we busily pulled the strings of our celery. what story element does the author develop in this excerpt? a) lot details about the party b) characterization of the lins c) characterization of the gleasons d) setting details about the gleasons’ house