Which of the following best describes the author’s exigence in the passage?

A: The tension between the author’s worldview and the worldview developed by Alice Walker in The Color Purple (paragraph 1, sentence 1)
B: The pressure on the author to “get involved in some of the big ideas of our time” (paragraph 3, sentence 1)
C: Growing indifference toward “the problems that plague our nation and our society” (paragraph 3, sentence 2)
D: The fact that the audience “clapped more for Ferris” than they did at the mention of President Bush (paragraph 6, sentence 1)
E: The question of how to lead a meaningful life “in a transitional period” (paragraph 9, sentence 1)