Reading comp PrepTest 110 · Section 1 · Question 9

Topic: Humanities

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • Common belief and author's correction (blues and spirituals both aim for spiritual transformation)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Common beliefs/assumptions: The blues refer to a state of sadness and is often received disapproval from church communities (first and second sentences)
  • Author's correction: Understood more fully, the blues arises from the same history as spirituals and both attempt to produce a "spiritual transformation" (third and last sentences)
  • Similarities between the blues and spirituals, according to the author:
    • Both attempt to produce "spiritual transformation"/a religious response (third sentence)
    • Both arise from the same "reservoir of experiences" and African-American cultural aesthetic (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "miss its deeper meaning" (first sentence); "Despite … despite" (second sentence); "understood more fully, actually has much in common with the traditional religious music known as spirituals" (second sentence); "In fact" (fourth sentence); "clear" (fifth sentence); "may well arise" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Author's comparison between blues and spirituals (both transform pain/sorrow into "ecstasy" and come from the same tradition)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Critics' view: African American folk tradition doesn't sharply divide dichotomies like secular/spiritual, good/evil, misery/joy (first sentence)
  • Comparison between blues and spirituals, according to the author:
    • Both express longing or sorrow, and both aim to transform those negative feeling into a transcendent elation or exaltation often called "ecstasy" (third and last sentences)
    • Both arise from traditional African American culture in North America and are linked to traditional West African religion (fourth sentence)
  • Contrasting definition of “ecstasy,” according to author:
    • Ecstasy in the blues/spirituals refers to having an out-of-body, religious experience, rather than remaining centered within one’s self (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "consistent with" (second sentence); "are indicative of neither genre's full scope" (third sentence)

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • How the blues transform sorrow into ecstasy (performer makes negative experience into tragic-comic lyrics)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Example of tragic-comic lyric, according to the author:
    • "If the blues was money, I'd be a millionaire" (second sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "virtuosity and ecstatic mastery" (first sentence); "double-edged irony" (second sentence)

Main Point: The blues, more fully understood, has much in common with spirituals, as both attempt to transform negative experiences into a transcendent feeling called "ecstasy."

Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 (P1, S1) - Common belief

P1, S2-3 - Author's correction

Correcting the Record: This passage most closely follows the Correcting the Record Meta-Structure*. The author describes mistaken beliefs about the blues at the beginning of the passage (P1, S1), before correcting this belief throughout the rest of the passage. The author mentions that many people believe that the blues only reflect the performer's sadness or self-pity before clarifying that the blues — more fully understood — aims to transform that sadness into a transcendent experience called "ecstasy." Rather than wallow in negative feelings, the blues attempts to lift the performer and audience up, much like religious spirituals.

In a Correcting the Record passage in which the author provides an alternative belief, the main point is the author's opinion about that belief. In this passage, the author doesn't summarize their opinion on the alternative belief in any one sentence, so we summarized the main point for the author: "The blues, more fully understood, has much in common with spirituals, as both attempt to transform negative experiences into a transcendent feeling called 'ecstasy.'"

*You may have determined that this passage uses a Criticizing a Viewpoint or Rebutting Critics Meta-Structure. Either Meta-Structure would help you identify this passage's main point and understand its structure. However, we ultimately went with Correcting the Record because we felt the passage placed more emphasis on the correction than the critics. The author, at times, addresses critics directly. However, the author's primary goal is to support their alternative viewpoint on the blues — not to attack the opposing viewpoints.

Comparisons: This passage teems with comparisons, one of our minor Meta-Structures. Every comparison mentions a similarity between the blues and spirituals. We highlighted all of these comparisons in the Passage Summary above. On test day, it may help to highlight some of the comparative terms in the passage ("in common" (P1, S2); "each genre, in its own way" (P1, S3); "shares" (P1, S5); "common reservoir" (P1, S6); "both aim" (P2, S3); "both musical forms may be linked" (P2, S4)). This highlighting can help us locate the relevant text to answer any questions about these comparisons.