Read the excerpt from outcasts united.
"she's a girl," he said. "she doesn't know what she's talking about."
luma ordered him to stand in goal. she took off her shoes as the boy waited beneath the crossbar, rocking back and forth and growing more anxious by the moment. she asked for a ball, which she placed on the grass. then, barefoot, as the team looked on, she blasted a shot directly at the boy, who dove out of the way as the ball rocketed into the net. luma turned toward her team. "anybody else? " she asked.
based on luma’s actions, which statement best describes the theme in this excerpt?
the best answer is a.

A). Gender is not a defining factor in athletic ability.

Explanation:

Theme is demonstrated as the fundamental idea or concern of a literary work that functions to unify all the elements of the plot together and convey an intended lesson or message to the readers.

As per the question, option A displays the statement that best reflects the theme in the given excerpt as it portrays the 'universal idea or message' that is being conveyed and explored throughout the passage. The unifying idea that associates to the readers is that 'gender never can become the defining factor in athletic ability' as reflected by Luma's actions like 'took off her shoes', 'asked for a ball..placed on the grass', 'barefoot..blasted a shot directly..that ball rocketed into net'. Her powerful actions reflect her strength that gives the readers a message and motivates them to not consider gender as a barrier to show their athletic skills. Thus, option A is the correct answer.

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)