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Suggested Answer:

• The Peruvians did not have sufficient education or sophistication to appreciate his viewpoint.

  This is a rather simplistic viewpoint. Despite their lack of education, the rural Peruvians were certainly sophisticated enough to comprehend Ted's rational arguments. However, they felt there were forces operating that made the logic of his argument irrelevant. There is a more thoughtful explanation.

• The Peruvians had been repressed so long by political and economic forces that they had lost the will to act on their own behalf.

  Although this might seem plausible, Ted himself noticed the will and determination of the people to reconstruct their communities following disasters. Because of inadequate government assistance, most of this reconstruction was done on a self-help basis. There is a less political explanation.

• The Peruvians probably had an inherent distrust of outsiders and were using their religious beliefs as an excuse not to cooperate.

  There is little evidence for this in the story. If the Peruvians could have seen some benefit in the programs, they would probably have been quite willing to accept aid.

• The Peruvians had an intense devotion to religion that pervaded their lives to a degree that Ted was not likely to experience in his culture.

  This is the best response. Although Ted and the Peruvians may have believed in the same God, cultural and historical influences have created divergent interpretations of the nature of the deity. European culture, through the pervasive influence of science, has become distinctly secularized, and this has led to a strong belief in humankind's technological mastery over nature and a greater self-determinism than existed in medieval times. This belief tends to color all aspects of society, so that even Christians such as Ted who claim to accept the will of God still have a fundamental faith in their self-will and less inclination to see God's hand in all that happens in the natural world. The rural Peruvians, on the other hand, have been little affected by these secular, technological influences and have a long, unbroken history or subjugation to the powers of god(s) - initially their Incan gods, and more recently the Catholic, Christian God. Their culture has never really experienced or accepted forces (such as technology) that would seem to reflect the hand of God and so an intense religiousity continues to dominate their beliefs and actions.