ATLAS ELA Grade 9

Practice session

Read the passage. "Mara locked the shop door at dusk and stood a moment on the empty sidewalk. The brass key felt heavier than it should. Across the street, the new chain café still glowed with customers; her own window display looked dim by comparison. She thought of her grandmother, who had opened this bookstore with nothing but a cardboard box of novels and a stubborn belief that people would come. Mara squared her shoulders, flipped the sign to 'See you tomorrow,' and walked home without looking back at the café's neon light." Which statement best expresses a theme of the passage?

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