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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: every food and drink and joy they had. Thus they began. Soon, finding
that the Americans did not cut their throats, burn their houses, rape
their daughters, or bayonet their babies, but were quiet, civil,
disciplined, and apparently harmless, they changed. Their fawning faded
away, they scowled and muttered. One day the Burgomaster at a certain
place replied to some ordinary requisitions with an arrogant refusal. It
was quite out of the question, he said, to comply with any such
ridiculous demands. Then the Americans ceased to seem harmless. Certain
steps were taken by the commanding officer, some leading citizens were
collected and enlightened through the only channel whereby light
penetrates a German skull. Thus, by a very slight taste of the methods
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