What is the function of the transition in this sentence?

plans for a transcontinental railroad began years before the civil war, yet officials from around the country could not agree on a location.

to summarize ideas
to give an example
to show an exception
to emphasize

femininity is conveyed through bernice's personality. she doesn't act how the other girls act and everyone thinks she is weird. she learns how to act in a way that was considered femininely appropriate at the time. she becomes so popular but her attempts to be liked end up backfiring when she is pressured into bobbing her hair. the author wrote that bernice cut off her cousin's hair in revenge for tricking her to cut her hair. this was the authors way of trying to change the way feminine is defined and the way women are expected to act.