Read the given passage and answer the four questions that follow:
I was prepared to dislike Max Kelada before I met him. The war had just ended, and accommodation on the ship was scarce. I was relieved to have a cabin with only one other passenger, but when I learned his name, I was dismayed. His large luggage, covered in numerous labels, suggested he was a man of excess. When we met, he greeted me warmly, claiming to be English, despite his foreign appearance and accent. Prohibition was in force and the ship was dry, but he insisted we share drinks. Mr. Kelada was chatty, boastful, and familiar, using no formality despite our status as strangers. I disliked his intrusive behaviour, especially when he interrupted my game of Patience and insisted on showing me card tricks.
Mr. Kelada soon became the centre of attention. He managed activities, organised events, and knew everyone on board. Though he was the most disliked person on the ship, he was oblivious to it, always assuming others were as happy to see him as he was to see them. At mealtimes, he monopolised conversations, arguing passionately. We called him Mr. Know-All which he took as a compliment. It was an affront to his overweening vanity that you should disagree with him. He would not drop a subject, however unimportant, till he had brought you round to his way of thinking. The possibility that he could be mistaken never occurred to him. The only other person who could match his arrogance was Ramsay, and their acrimonious and interminable debates made the trip even more unbearable.
The narrator's initial attitude towards Mr. Kelada was one of _____.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → prejudice and aversion
The narrator says he was prepared to dislike Max Kelada before he met him, and was dismayed merely on learning his name. A dislike formed before knowing a person is prejudice (an opinion formed without reason or experience), and the dislike itself is aversion (a strong feeling of not liking someone).
Example: She has an aversion to crowded places.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: indifference and detachment — Incorrect. Contradicted: indifference means not caring, and detachment means staying emotionally apart. The narrator was not neutral; he was dismayed and ready to dislike the man.
Option 3: curiosity and admiration — Incorrect. Contradicted: his feeling was dislike; he shows no wish to know Kelada and no admiration for him.
Option 4: abhorrence and disgust — Incorrect. Wrong time: abhorrence is a feeling of hatred and disgust is a strong feeling of dislike for something one finds unpleasant. Both are reactions to what one has seen or experienced of a person. The question asks about the narrator's initial attitude, which he formed before he had even met Mr. Kelada; that is a prejudice, a dislike decided in advance, which is why "prejudice and aversion" is the better answer.
Example: She looked at the rotten food with disgust.