Question

i mumbled that i was sorry and retired meditating upon my crime. i never deliberately learned to read, but somehow i had been wallowing illicitly in the daily papers. in the long hours of church—was it then i learned? i could not remember not being able to read hymns. now that i was compelled to think about it, reading was something that just came to me, as learning to fasten the seat of my union suit without looking around, or achieving two bows from a snarl of shoelaces. i could not remember when the lines above atticuss moving finger separated into words, but i had stared at them all the evenings in my memory, listening to the news of the day, bills to be enacted into laws, the diaries of lorenzo dow—anything atticus happened to be reading when i crawled into his lap every night. until i feared i would lose it, i never loved to read. one does not love breathing.

from harper lee, to kill a mockingbird. copyright 1960 by harper lee

look at the text in bold. what is the most likely reason why the author includes this line?

to emphasize how limited scouts activities will be now that she is forbidden to read at home

to contrast the simplicity of breathing with the complex skill of learning to read

to illustrate how people often take for granted abilities that they exercise frequently and naturally

to suggest that scout feels suffocated and unfairly confined in her restrictive school environment

Explanation:

The bold line draws a comparison between reading and breathing—both are natural, constant actions that people do without conscious appreciation until they face losing them. Scout only valued reading when she feared losing the ability, just as people don't actively "love" breathing because it's an automatic, essential part of life. This matches the idea of taking frequent, natural abilities for granted.

Answer:

to illustrate how people often take for granted abilities that they exercise frequently and naturally