Reading comp PrepTest 119 · Section 1 · Question 14

Passage

Questions 8-15  .        Joy Kogawa's Obasan is an account of a  . Japanese–Canadian family's experiences during World  . War Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • BG on Obasan; Author’s view
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • BG - Japanese-Canadian family during WWII; daughter’s perspective as family disintegrates
    • Author - Obasan uses form to convey the protagonist’s heroism and symbolism to critique the majority culture (main point)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Form/protagonist’s heroism
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Analogy - 3 stages like anthropological rite of passage
    • List - Stages, and comparison to three-stage book structure

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Symbolism/critique of majority culture (and wrap-up)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Christian symbols to question ethics of majority culture
    • Example - Stone into bread; facts of majority culture’s abuse and bread of durability of her people

Main Point: Joy Kogawa uses form and symbolism in Obasan, the former to convey the heroism of the major character and the latter to critique the majority culture.

Key Lines?

Lines 8-12 - The Author presents his viewpoint and the main topics of the passage (form/heroism; symbols/critique)

Lines 13-15 - The first main topic is fleshed out

Lines 41-44 - The second main topic is introduced

Line 44 - An example of the second main topic is introduced

Lines 53-58 - The Author’s main point is reiterated

Meta-Structure?

Importance of Work - While many Humanities passages focus on a work’s innovative nature, some focus solely on the elements of the work that make it worthwhile or important, even if they’re not innovative. That’s the case here. The Author never refers to Kogawa’s Obasan as innovative, but he does present the important elements of the work that allow it to emphasize its main themes - the major character’s heroism and her critique of the majority culture (Lines 8-10). He connects each of these themes to a different element of her writing - the novel’s form for the former, and the novel’s symbolism for the latter. Paragraph 2 is dedicated to discussing the connection between form and the main character’s heroism, while Paragraph 3 discusses how the novel’s symbols support the critique of the majority culture. Finally, the passage ends with a summary of this view. When a passage falls into this Meta-Structure, the main point is a summary of the Author’s view on what makes the work important or worth studying, reflected in our summary above.

List - Paragraph 2 features two lists. The first establishes the elements of a rite of passage, as defined by anthropologists. The second lists the sections of Obasan to show that they line up with those elements of the rite of passage. This is all in service of supporting the paragraph’s thesis - that Obasan’s form supports the major character’s heroism.

Example - Paragraph 3 features an example of symbolism that Kogawa uses to critique the majority culture, reinforcing the main point of the paragraph (and half of the passage’s overall main point).

Last Thoughts?

The main point is stated at the end of Paragraph 1 and restated at the end of the passage. The main point previews the structure of the rest of the passage. Each paragraph starts with its thesis and then uses a structural element (list; example, respectively) to support that thesis. Thus, the passage is pretty straightforward overall, and we should focus on getting through the questions as quickly as possible to save time for a passage that is more difficult - there’s definitely one in the future of this section!

Question prompt

The passage suggests that Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Review Kogawa’s feelings towards Naomi’s society, then find an answer that reflects that attitude

Answer Anticipation

This question is interesting in that it’s asking us for an attitude of someone other than the Author’s. We could view this as an Author’s Attitude question from that separate viewpoint or a Must be True question, with the Author stating Kogawa’s opinion. Either way, we should consider where in the passage such a viewpoint would show up.Looking at our notes, Paragraph 3 is where the Author discusses Kogawa’s use of symbolism to critique the majority culture, so that’s likely where the answer will show up.Looking at that paragraph, we see a mention of Naomi being shunned in the opening sentence - since the question stem talks about that shunning, this sentence is likely going to hold the correct answer. In it, the Author says that Kogawa used Christian symbols to critique “the professed ethics of the majority culture.” In calling them the “professed” ethics, it’s implied that they’re not the actual ethics being practiced by shunning Naomi. And in using Christian symbols to do so, it’s implied that the majority culture was professing Christian values while not living up to them in their actions at the time. Let’s find an answer reflecting that critique of the majority culture.

Answer choices

  1. A
    It discouraged its citizens Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) This might be an implication that we, the LSAT test taker, makes from reading that the story was about the relocation to work camps and exile during WWII, but the passage never says that the majority culture discouraged citizens from looking into their heritage, so this answer is out of scope.

  2. B
    It endeavored to thwart Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 8-12) This answer conflates the two themes that the Author identifies as being present in Obasan - the major character’s heroism, and the critique of the majority culture. The two aren’t connected in the passage, so this answer can be eliminated.

  3. C
    It violated its own Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) (Lines 39-44) Naomi’s shunning is said to be the action that Kogawa criticizes in the majority culture. This criticism is based on the “professed ethics” of that culture and done through the use of Christian symbols. Putting these pieces together, we can infer that the professed ethics of the majority culture weren’t being lived up to, and since they were critiqued using Christian symbols, those ethics were derived from Christianity. This answer captures that information, so it’s the correct answer.

  4. D
    It prohibited its citizens Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 13-15) Similar to (B), this answer conflates the content of Paragraphs 2 and 3. In Paragraph 2, a rite of passage was used as an analogy for the structure of the book, but Paragraph 3 is where the Author discusses Kogawa’s critique of the majority culture. Since those two things aren’t connected in the passage, this answer is incorrect.

  5. E
    It demanded that loyalty Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) The passage doesn’t discuss demands for loyalty to the government, and the closest it gets to saying that there shouldn't be loyalty to family is when it talks about separating Naomi from her family - not the same thing. This answer is therefore out of scope.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 25%
  2. B 9%
  3. C Credited 57%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 6%

Deeper help

Ask follow-ups on any step

Optional AI tutor mode will let you interrogate assumptions, compare answers, and drill weak patterns without leaving the page.

Human-written explanations stay primary; AI is an add-on when you want it.

Discussion

View all discussions Start a discussion