Analyzing Central Idea Development in "By Any Other Name": Mastery Test

Autobiography of Mother Jones by Mary Harris Jones (excerpt)

Mary Harris Jones, popularly known as "Mother Jones," was a tireless crusader for workers' rights in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In this excerpt from her autobiography, Jones describes a time she was imprisoned in Denver, Colorado, for participating in a strike to end the unfair treatment of coal miners.

1. I was taken before the governor that morning. The governor said to me, "I am going to turn you free but you must not go back to the strike zone!"
2. "Governor," I said, "I am going back."
3. "I think you ought to take my advice," he said, "and do what I think you ought to do."
4. "Governor," said I, "if Washington took instructions from such as you, we would be under King George's descendants yet! If Lincoln took instructions from you, Grant would never have gone to Gettysburg. I think I had better not take your orders."
5. I stayed on a week in Denver. Then I got a ticket and sleeper for Trinidad. Across the aisle from me was Reno, Rockefeller's detective. Very early in the morning, soldiers awakened me.
6. "Get up," they said, "and get off at the next stop!"
7. I got up, of course, and with the soldiers I got off at Walsenburg, fifty miles from Trinidad. The engineer and the fireman left their train when they saw the soldiers putting me off.
8. "What are you going to do with that old woman?" they said. "We won't run the train till we know!"

Select the correct answer from the drop-down menu.

How does an author develop a central idea in a personal narrative such as a memoir or an autobiography?

The author may develop a central idea with an important message,
expressing about an experience.

a title
a lesson
an analysis
a question
a reflection