Question

guided practice
read this passage from “an episode of war.”
but at this instant the men, the spectators, awoke from their stone - like poses and crowded forward sympathetically. the orderly - sergeant took the sword and tenderly placed it in the scabbard. at the time, he leaned nervously backward, and did not allow even his finger to brush the body of the lieutenant. a wound gives strange dignity to him who bears it. well men shy from this new and terrible majesty. it is as if the wounded man’s hand is upon the curtain which hangs before the revelations of all existence - the meaning of ants, potentates, wars, cities, sunshine, snow, a feather dropped from a bird’s wing; and the power of it sheds radiance upon a bloody form, and makes the other men understand sometimes that they are little. his comrades look at him with large eyes thoughtfully. moreover, they fear vaguely that the weight of a finger upon him might send him headlong, precipitate the tragedy, hurl him at once into the dim, grey unknown. and so the orderly -
what is the best interpretation for “...sometimes that they are little”?
a. the most important officers can be brought down by low - ranking soldiers.
b. the wounds can make people understand how powerless humans are.
c. the people who are wounded are sometimes hurt worse than they know.
d. the wounds are sometimes not as dangerous as they appear to be.

Explanation:

The passage states the wounded man's hand holds "revelations of all existence--the meaning of ants, potentates, wars cities..." showing the wound makes him (and others grasp) human smallness/powerlessness. The line "they are little" refers to this shared realization of human powerlessness, matching option B. Other options do not align with the passage's thematic focus on existential understanding from the wound.

Answer:

B. The wounds can make people understand how powerless humans are.