What is the main effect of describing key events in the narrative as "accidents" or as happening by chance?
They suggest the events are not entirely negative in their effects on the narrator.
They suggest the events cannot be retold objectively by the narrator.
They suggest the narrator feels a great sense of responsibility for the events.
They suggest the narrator is not fully responsible for the outcome of his story.
I feel like the answer is D here is the passage
And thus for a time I was occupied by exploded systems, mingling, like an unadept, a thousand contradictory theories and floundering desperately in a very slough of multifarious knowledge, guided by an ardent imagination and childish reasoning, till an accident again changed the current of my ideas. When I was about fifteen years old we had retired to our house near Belrive, when we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from behind the mountains of Jura, and the thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various quarters of the heavens. I remained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight. As I stood at the door, on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump. When we visited it the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed.
Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me. All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by some fatality the overthrow of these men disinclined me to pursue my accustomed studies. It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever be known. All that had so long engaged my attention suddenly grew despicable. By one of those caprices of the mind which we are perhaps most subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation, and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge. In this mood of mind I betook myself to the mathematics and the branches of study appertaining to that science as being built upon secure foundations, and so worthy of my consideration.
Yes.
Based on the passage, the main effect of describing key events in the narrative as "accidents" or as happening by chance is that they suggest the narrator is not fully responsible for the outcome of his story. This can be seen in the passage when the narrator describes the thunderstorm and the resulting destruction of the oak tree as an accident or a chance event. This suggests that the narrator believes these events were beyond his control and were not caused by his actions or decisions.
The main effect of describing key events in the narrative as "accidents" or as happening by chance is that they suggest the narrator is not fully responsible for the outcome of his story. In the passage you provided, the narrator describes witnessing a violent thunderstorm and the subsequent destruction of an oak tree by lightning. The narrator explains that this event changed the course of his ideas and led him to give up his previous studies in natural philosophy.
By describing this event as an "accident" and emphasizing the sudden and unexpected nature of the lightning strike, the narrator implies that it was a random occurrence beyond his control. This suggests that the narrator is not fully responsible for the outcome and that external factors, such as chance or fate, play a significant role in shaping his story.
Option D, "They suggest the narrator is not fully responsible for the outcome of his story," aligns with this understanding. The passage shows that the narrator's decision to pursue mathematics instead of natural philosophy was influenced by the unexpected event of the lightning strike, and not solely determined by his own choices or actions.