John Behan got home early that day—no swimming practice, no band, no meetings with teachers. Just down the block from school, he caught an express bus that went right past his home and spent the trip doing his math homework for the following day and listening to the rap music filtering from his seat mate’s headphones. He thought the poor kid was going to be deaf by the time he was twenty—John could hear every word and make out the complex rhythms crisscrossing through the primary beat even though he was a good two feet away.
He still couldn’t believe how fast he could get home or how easy and comfortable it was—what a change from his life a year ago! He’d grown up just outside the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming before his father got a job teaching in New York state. He wasn’t used to reliable public bus services or the big suburban high school he went to now. Out in the country travel had been challenging to arrange, and usually expensive, uncomfortable, or both.
Here in the Tri-Cities area he could count on buses running every half-hour regularly and being mostly on time. Even a long trip was only a transfer or two, and he had a student pass that made travel as good as free; he could go anywhere! He had been to the museum and library more times in the past month than he had in the last ten years in Wyoming.
John wished his old friend, Sammy Raven, were here. He and Sammy had been best friends for as long as he could remember. He thought back to the first bus ride they shared together. John felt like a tiny, startled bird on the bus ride on the first day of kindergarten. Sammy, wearing his fancy blue winter coat even though it was August because it was his favorite article of clothing, cracked jokes the whole way. He even put his arm around John a few times to give him a quick hug. John felt his eyes go misty at the memory. He wished Sammy could experience the city life with him.
He worked on the trig problems he’d been assigned. He was hoping to pass a year ahead of schedule and get into precalculus in his Advanced Placement courses the following year. It wasn’t easy, but he was making headway with it. It was a little like geometry, and a little like algebra equations, only with sine, cosine, and tangent waves. He’d received an A on the last test. He thought he might be able to do it again this time.
That night, John emailed Sammy, just as he did almost every night. “Hey, Sammy. Wish you could join me out here. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen outside a movie theater or TV. So much is easier. Shopping, the trip to school, everything like that. I can get fast food and it’s not a plan to go to town to get it first. But it’s different, too. Sammy, I miss it sometimes—the country life isn’t like here. There are more people here—but I think it’s harder to get to know them. I miss you. Send my love to Grandmother Raven. Come see me if you can.”
How does the narrator’s perspective create irony in the text?
Answer choices for the above question
A. It reveals how many more times John has been to the museum and library in the city than he had in Wyoming.
B. It reveals that John and Sammy are still friends, even though they no longer live in the same state.
C. It reveals the difference between taking a bus in the city and taking a bus near the reservation.
D. It reveals that, despite John’s excitement about city life, he still spends a lot of time thinking about home.