I was born in the working-class. Early I discovered enthusiasm, ambition, and ideals; and to satisfy these became the problem of my child-life. My environment was crude and rough and raw. I had no outlook, but an uplook rather. My place in society was at the bottom. Here life offered nothing but sordidness and wretchedness, both of the flesh and the spirit; for here flesh and spirit were alike starved and tormented.
Above me towered the colossal edifice of society, and to my mind, the only way out was up. Into this edifice, I early resolved to climb. … In short, as I accepted the rising of the sun, I accepted that up above me was all that was fine and noble and gracious, all that gave decency and dignity to life, all that made life worth living and that remunerated one for his travail and misery.
Which of the following is one of the main ideas of the passage?
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Correct Answer: A
This passage is all about the desire to attain a higher social position. The author states that he started as a working-class citizen, and that his ambition was "to climb" to a better position for multiple reasons, including comfort and nobility. He does not address the government's influence on matters, nor the role of higher education. He also does not seem to long for days gone by. For these reasons, the best choice is "The desire to increase one's social position."