ShmoopTube

00:03

Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by melting glaciers--

00:07

--turning the Arctic Ocean into a giant, salty slush. Yum.

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In line 33, the word "draconian" indicates that the author...what?

01:13

The author of Passage 2 makes it clear by the first paragraph that "global warming"

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isn't something he thinks we should worry about. "Outcries of agony"? Whining.

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"Touch people's hearts to get them alarmed"? According to the author, environmentalists

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are using blatant fear tactics.

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Well, maybe not that blatant...

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The context tells us that the author isn't saying anything nice about possible government

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controls when he calls them "draconian."

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After we figured this out, (A) is easy to eliminate. This guy definitely doesn't appreciate

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much of what's going on and will do anything to stop it.

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We can get rid of choice (D) for the same reason as (A). The author isn't on the side

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of the government whatsoever when it comes to environmental controls.

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Choices (B) and (E) both sound like our author at least. He does seem like the kind of guy

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who would resist environmental laws to the bitter end, and would refuse to listen to

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anyone else's point of view.

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However, the author is describing the government's proposed environmental policies, not himself,

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so both (B) and (E) are off the list.

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Choice (C) makes total sense to us. Judging from tone and context, we can guess that "draconian"

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controls are strict controls—and in the opinion of this author, unnecessarily so.

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Choice (C) is the best answer.

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Are we the only ones who think of Draco Malfoy when we hear the word "draconian?"

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