Question

Which phrase in this excerpt from Kurt Vonnegut's "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" is an example of sarcasm?

Answer 1

To ask how much longer the professor will live is to ask how much longer we must wait for the blessings of another world war. He is of short-lived stock: his mother lived to be fifty-three, his father to be forty-nine; and the life-spans of his grandparents on both sides were of the same order. He might be expected live, then, for perhaps fifteen years more, if he can remain hidden from his enemies. When one considers the number and vigor of these enemies, however, fifteen years seems an extraordinary length of time, which might better be revised to fifteen days, hours, or minutes.

The professor knows that he cannot live much longer. I say this because of the message left in my mailbox on Christmas Eve. Unsigned, typewritten on a soiled scrap of paper, the note consisted of ten sentences. The first nine of these, each a bewildering tangle of psychological jargonand references to obscure texts, made no sense to me at first reading. The tenth, unlike the rest, was simply constructed and contained no large words.

Answer 2

Answer choices (pick 1):

the blessings of another world war.

his mother lived to be fifty-three, his father to be forty-nine;

, if he can remain hidden from his enemies

typewritten on a soiled scrap of paper

bewildering tangle of psychological jargon

Answer 3

what do you think it is @maemae16

Answer 4

a

Answer 5

@codyisamazing is that correct

Answer 6

i would go with B.

Answer 7

I agree with a not with b. Saying someone lived to a certain age isn't necessarily sarcastic.

Answer 8

And no one would honestly say that a war was a "blessing".

Answer 9

excuse me i put the wrong choice i would go with C. im so sorry

Answer 10

I say go with whatever you think is the most correct @maemae16, but I don't think that it's c either simply because he probably really was hiding from his enemies and I doubt during any war that anyone would sarcastically talk about hiding from their enemies.

Answer 11

thank you

Answer 12

No problem!