“Before you take me up to bed, will you tell me a story?”

“Do you actually need me to take you up to bed?” I asked the boy.

He thought for a moment. Then, with intense seriousness, “Yes, actually I think you do. It’s because of, I’ve finished my homework, and so it’s my bedtime, and I am a bit scared. Not very scared. Just a bit. But it is a very big house, and lots of times the lights don’t work and it’s a sort of dark.”
What is the purpose of paragraphs 1-3?

to show the resolution of the story

to introduce the problem of the story

to critique the main character of the story

to defend the narrator's choices in the story

The purpose of paragraphs 1-3 is to introduce the problem of the story. The boy expresses that he is scared to go to bed because the house is dark and the lights often don't work, prompting the request for a story before bedtime.