"cynical" vs "ridiculous"

[Ilovepsycho]

The past few years have seen a steady increase in the number of people playing music in the streets. The past few years have also seen a steady increase in the number of malignant diseases. Are the two facts related? One wonders. But even if they are not--and, as I have pointed out, one cannot be sure -- music in the streets has definitely taken its toll. For it is at the very least disorienting. When one is walking down Fifth Avenue, one does not expect to hear a string quartet playing a Strauss waltz. What one expects to hear while walking down Fifth Avenue is traffic. When one does indeed hear a string quartet playing a Strauss waltz while one is walking down Fifth Avenue, one is apt to become confused and imagine that one is not walking down Fifth Avenue at all but rather that one has somehow wound up in Old Vienna. Should one imagine that one is in Old Vienna one is likely to become quite upset when one realizes that in Old Vienna there is no sale at Charles Jourdan (a New York store). And that is why when I walk down Fifth Avenue I want to hear traffic.

Q. The tone of the above passage is _________.
a. cynical
b. detached
c. ridiculous
d. serious

I went with 'c. ridiculous,' but OA says 'a. cynical' is right. However, I didn't accept that answer. What is your opinion? I want to hear you.

[Mister Micawber]

Cynical. The question is about the author's tone of writing, not the situation in the narrative.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Cerberus™]

I must say that I do not get the point of this article, or whatever it is, at all. Someone care to enlighten me?

[Fan Of Arabian Horses]

Hi Cerberus,

as I get the point here the essay is written by someone who liked to explain how traffic sound comforts him/her better than any kind of music while walking along the 5th Avenue. Obviously RAP isn´t the writers cup of tea and violin music would mostly remind him/her of a stroll along a main street in Vienna and s/he would wonder how that specific shop comes there.

At least that´s how I got it.

[Yuppie]

Hi,

You say the answer to the question is cynical, what does that mean and can somebody tell me if a narrative is a paragraph?

Regards

[Cerberus™]

Yes, that is what I read, too; but what was the intention of the author to write this? What is the goal of this text? The only remotely sensible interpretation I can think of is that he finds classical street musicians corny and not fitting in the atmosphere that is New York; but even this interpretation seems strained. It isn't even a real point, if you ask me.

[Iraqi]

I would also go with "synical".

[Mister Micawber]

Hello Cerberus,

It sounded like a New Yorker article to me, so I googled a bit of it and found that it's an excerpt from a Fran Lebowitz piece. She's actually quite good at this sort of cynical look out of NY eyes.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Cerberus™]

Thank you. I found the article. From it, it becomes clear that she truly dislikes any and all music she didn't ask for. Even though I agree with her in most respects, I find it hard to find any other message in this paragraph than that street musicians are to share in her dislike. Oh well.