This novel is set in post-WWI Barcelona, Spain. This was a very tumultuous time in Spain’s history as poor workers grew increasingly unhappy with their working conditions. Unions began to emerge to help the poor working man, while ruling class struggled to maintain the power they had enjoyed up to that point. Spain was gearing up for a Civil War just a few years later.

This history is seen throughout the excerpt in the way the main character acts and expresses his opinion. The cultural experience of the narrator helped shape the way he interacts with people and his environment.

Which of the following quotes reveal the setting and cultural experience that influence the narrator’s point of view?

a. “A writer is condemned to remember that moment, because from then on he is doomed and his soul has a price.”

b. “...a skyline stabbed by hundreds of chimneys and factories that wove a perpetual twilight of scarlet and black above Barcelona.”

c. “...Don Basilio Moragas, saw fit to summon me, just before closing time, to the dark cubicle at the far end of the editorial staff room that doubled as his office and cigar den.”

d. “I entered the office, which smelled of sweat and tobacco in that order.”