Casy's approximate age is which of the following options?

Casy's approximate age is which of the following options?

• A. 8
• B. 40
• C. 16
• D. 24

Answer: (B)

The question tests your ability to infer a character’s age from how he’s described and what his life has been like. Jim Casy is presented as a former preacher who has spent many years moving from town to town, talking and thinking deeply about people and life. The narrative gives him a weathered, seasoned feel rather than the brightness or impatience you’d expect in a younger man. That combination of long experience, reflective speech, and a life spent on the road signals middle age, about forty years old. The other options don’t fit that sense of having accumulated years of experience and travel; he’s clearly older than a child or a teenager, but not so old as to seem well into later middle age or old age. So the best choice is around forty.

The question tests your ability to infer a character’s age from how he’s described and what his life has been like. Jim Casy is presented as a former preacher who has spent many years moving from town to town, talking and thinking deeply about people and life. The narrative gives him a weathered, seasoned feel rather than the brightness or impatience you’d expect in a younger man. That combination of long experience, reflective speech, and a life spent on the road signals middle age, about forty years old. The other options don’t fit that sense of having accumulated years of experience and travel; he’s clearly older than a child or a teenager, but not so old as to seem well into later middle age or old age. So the best choice is around forty.