Question

read the excerpt from \fern\ in cane.
from force of habit, i suppose, i held fern in my arms —that is, without at first noticing it. then my mind came back to her. her eyes, unusually weird and open, held me. held god. he flowed in as ive seen the countryside flow in. seen men. i must have done something —what, i dont know, in the confusion of my emotion.
which statement best describes toomer’s use of punctuation in this excerpt?
○ the em dashes imply that the narrator is flustered during this situation.
○ the em dashes establish an interruption in the narrators thought process.
○ the commas show that the narrator is able to be calm in this moment.
○ the commas suggest that the narrator feels conflicting emotions.

Explanation:

The first em dash adds an afterthought to the narrator's automatic action of holding Fern, and the second pair of em dashes inserts a confused, uncompleted thought about their actions. This structure shows the narrator's thoughts are not flowing smoothly, but are interrupted by fragmented, uncertain reflections. The other options are incorrect: em dashes do not signal fluster specifically, commas here do not indicate calm, and the punctuation does not focus on conflicting emotions.

Answer:

The em dashes establish an interruption in the narrator's thought process.