I. getting the phone call: when i finally got the phone call from the producers of the reality tv show "the coolest kid in school" telling me i had been accepted as a part of the show's final cast, you’d think that my mom would’ve been happy about it—even proud. i’d shown more initiative in applying for the show than i’d ever shown in trying to improve my grade point average: i’d made an awesome audition tape, filled out a huge 15 page application (including four and done five different stressful interviews before a panel of producers in order to make the final cut. the phone call informing me that i was on the show was a dream come true for me. but for my mom? no way. she immediately changed her tune from supporting my dream of starring on a reality tv show to doing nothing but questioning it. it’s not so much that she’s opposed to this reality show (focusing on pitting teenagers against one another in a televised popularity contest), it’s all reality shows that she thinks are, in her words, “hate-filled, degrading, and wicked.” she could not be more wrong, though. ii. my mom is over-reacting: let’s just face it. people who hate reality shows are really just old, humorless sourpusses. these are people whose last favorite tv show was something produced 40 years ago in black-and-white. they want tv shows to look like what they want reality to look like and not look like what it actually is. in old tv shows, the good guys always win and morality prevails. but reality is not like that—and thus reality shows aren’t either. what could the author add to support his argument in the last sentence of paragraph 2? a) take out the claim that reality shows are extremely popular. b) take out his description of all he did to get on the reality show c) add an example of an unhappy event occurring on a show, just as it would in real life d) add a sentence describing his father’s reaction to his future reality show experience.

The answer is C) Add an example of an unhappy event occurring on a show. This would explain to his mother that things are not always happy ending but rather difficult sometimes.

Explanation:

in the short story the slip-over sweater by jesse stuart, the main character and narrator shan is friends with grace, an intelligent girl he has known since childhood and with whom he used to be in love.

at the beginning of the story, shan believes he’s no longer in love with grace, but loves jo-anne instead. in order to buy a slip-over sweater and have jo-anne wear it so that the other students would know she loved him too, shan takes a loan at the bank.

while jo-anne is wearing shan’s sweater, his friend grace starts to wear another popular boy’s one, roy’s sweater. because of that, the other students begin to pay attention to grace and compliment her perseverance and effort. they admire her for walking 5 miles to school every day, despite the weather, and still getting the best grades. shan, who knows all of that for a fact, says, as the narrator, ‘and i knew she had the durability and the toughness of a storm-battered mountain oak.’ he compares his friend’s strength – not only physical, but also of character – to an oak tree, whose wood is known for being sturdy.

as the story goes on, shan changes his behavior out of concern for the debt he has to pay at the bank. his new girlfriend jo-anne never asks him what is wrong nor offers any sort of . instead, she breaks up with shan for not being as fun as she thought he was supposed to be. grace, however, not only asks about shan’s problem, but him make the money he needs. shan can’t but notice how different the girls are and what a wonderful person grace is.   even though he used to find jo-anne prettier at the beginning of the story, he now says, ‘grace was as beautiful as our mountain was in april, prettier than a blossom of wild phlox or a mountain daisy.’ his comparing grace to a mountain or something that exists on a mountain (such as a mountain oak or daisy) certainly has important meaning since shan loves the mountain and everything about it and he knows the mountain thoroughly. shan also loves and knows grace as completely as he does the mountain.

that’s a nice boss :