Will medal if

a portrait of the artist as a young man by james joyce (excerpt)

he had not died but he had faded out like a film in the sun. he had been lost or had wandered out of existence for he no longer existed. how strange to think of him passing out of existence in such a way, not by death but by fading out in the sun or by being lost and forgotten somewhere in the universe! it was strange to see his small body appear again for a moment: a little boy in a grey belted suit. his hands were in his side-pockets and his trousers were tucked in at the knees by elastic bands.

mrs. dalloway by virginia woolf (excerpt)
did it matter then, she asked herself, walking towards bond street, did it matter that she must inevitably cease completely; all this must go on without her; did she resent it; or did it not become consoling to believe that death ended absolutely? but that somehow in the streets of london, on the ebb and flow of things, here, there, she survived, peter survived, lived in each other, she being part, she was positive, of the trees at home; of the house there, ugly, rambling all to bits and pieces as it was; part of people she had never met; being laid out like a mist between the people she knew best, who lifted her on their branches as she had seen the trees lift the mist, but it spread ever so far, her life, herself.

select the correct answer.
which theme is common to the two excerpts?

the absence of love

the fragile nature of existence

the question of reality

disillusionment with the world

The fragile nature of existence

Explanation:

Both the excerpts are from the modern period where alienation and isolation of individual self remained the dominant concern for the writers as the world out there was completely disintegrated and pessimistic. Both the excerpts exemplifies the complexities of human life prevailing at that time and the man is split into two parts. This conflict has led them to psychological interrogation of themselves regarding their existence in the world and both the protagonists begin to consider it fragile (relating to the existentialist theory of Samuel Beckett) and futile. Both these modern novels are dealing with the condemnation of contemporary values, disintegration of human self and complexity of human consciousness as Freud explained in his theory.

the: determiner

storm: noun

remains: verb

a: determiner

threat: noun

to: preposition

the: determiner

coastal: adjective

village: noun

in ray bradbury's short story "a sound of thunder", mr. eckels's fearfulness leads to drastic consequences for the rest of the world.

in the story, mr. eckels, who is a hunter, hires a time travel company to travel to the age of dinosaurs. although he is excited for the hunting expedition at the beginning, when they reach there and mr. eckels sees the tyrannosaurus, he feels frightened. as he is afraid of the tyrannosaurus, he steps off the path although he has been warned not to do it. by stepping off the path, the entire course of the future is affected: mr. eckart alters the future by stepping on a butterfly, which causes a new man to be elected president in the future. in that way, it is mr. eckart's fearfulness what triggers 'the butterfly effect' and what leads to drastic consequences for the rest of the world.