Reading comp PrepTest 127 · Section 4 · Question 4

Passage

Questions 1-7  .        With his first published works in the 1950s, Amos  . Tutuola became the first Nigerian writer Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Critics' debate on Tutuola (fresh approach to novels vs. inaccurate retelling of local tales) and the author's rebuttal (he doesn't write novels)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Some literary critics' view:
      • Praise Tutuola for writing fresh/inventive novels (second sentence)
    • Other literary critics' view:
      • Criticize Tutuola for retelling local tales with unwelcome liberties (third sentence)
    • Author's view:
      • Critics assume incorrectly that he's a novelist, but they need to get his genre right to analyze him (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "estimate properly Tutola's rightful position" (last sentence); "essential to be clear" (last sentence); "assumed too facilely" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author contrasts Tutuola's folktales genre with the novel (novel is realistic and original; folkltales are drawn from tradition)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Tutuola's genre is folktales, and the best approach to evaluate his works should consider that he works within the African oral tradition (first and last sentences)
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Novels are expected to be real and original, while folktales use traditional stories and frameworks (third sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "not designed to satisfy" (first sentence); "right" (third sentence); "important" (third sentence); "most useful approach" (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Expectations of the teller of folktales within the African oral tradition (inventive changes, improvisation, strong delivery of a familiar story)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Audiences anticipate inventiveness and improvisation — not accuracy — from the teller of folktales within the African oral tradition (second sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "depends on" (second sentence); "the most brilliant tellers" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author on how Tutuola's works within the tradition (repeats, embellishes, modern settings, blends English/Yoruba, uses traditional accents and techniques like a summary)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of the characteristics from folktales and the African oral tradition present in Tutuola's works, according to the author:
      • Repetition for emphasis (first sentence)
      • Embellishes to personalize (first sentence)
      • Blends English with local words and Yoruba grammar (second sentence)
      • Uses traditional accents and techniques that a traditional teller would use (last sentence)
    • Example of one of the traditional accents and techniques in Tutuola's works, according to the author:
      • Omniscient narrator summaries at the end of work (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "clear" (first sentence); "singular ways" (second sentence); "perhaps most revealingly" (last sentence); "clearly discernible" (last sentence)

Main Point: Critics misinterpret Tutuola's works because they incorrectly assume he wrote novels, but the best way to analyze his work is by seeing him as a teller of folktales within the African oral tradition.

Meta-Structure?

Correcting the Record: This passage best fits the Correcting the Record Meta-Structure.* In a Correcting the Record passage, the author will describe at least one common misconception or false belief. The author will then explain why the beliefs are false and occasionally offer an alternative belief. That description fits this passage perfectly. The author brings up two different critical appraisals of Tutuola in the first paragraph — one that says that Tutuola offers a fresh spin on the novel and another that says he's just rehashing Nigerian stories. The author spends the rest of the passage correcting those misconceptions in the fourth paragraph, saying that both sets of critics get it wrong because they all assume he writes novels. Instead, the author argues, his works should be viewed as folktales within the African oral tradition.

In a Correcting the Record passage, the main point is often the author's explanation of why the misconception is false (or just an assertion that the misconceptions are false). Alternatively, if the author provides an alternative belief or approach, the main point is the author's opinion about that belief or approach. The latter description applies to this passage because the author argues that Tutuola's work should be viewed as folktales. The author summarizes their opinion on this alternative approach at the end of the second paragraph, so we use that to help us understand and articulate the passage's main point. We can also frame that sentiment as a response to critics, which we did in our summary of the main point.

*As is the case with many passages that fall under the Critical Meta-Structure umbrella, we could use a few different Meta-Structures from that family to describe this passage. We could certainly call this a Rebutting Critics or Criticizing a Viewpoint passage and come away with a solid understanding of the passage's organization and main point. And if we thought of the two sets of literary critics in the first paragraph as two sides of a debate on Tutuola's merits, the Resolving a Debate Meta-Structure would work just fine for this passage as well.

Last Thoughts?

From our research, Tutuola from Law & Order: SVU is named in honor of Amos Tutuola. The more you know!

Question prompt

According to the passage, Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

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

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Review your notes to recall the relevant critics' views, then find an answer restating their criticism

Answer Anticipation

This question stem asks us to infer a belief those who criticized Tutuola would agree with. Often, one's views are described at length throughout the passage, so reviewing the passage or anticipating what the correct answer will say is not a wise investment of our limited time. In this case, however, we know from our notes that these critics' views were limited to the first paragraph. Therefore, we can use our notes or review the passage to anticipate what the correct answer will likely say.According to our note for the first paragraph, these critics argued that Tutuola's works were simply "inaccurate retelling of local tales." That's probably enough information to evaluate the answer choice. But if we wanted to double-check the passage, we'd see that they "dismissed his work" because they were simple retelling of local stories with "unwelcome" changes (P1, S3). The answer has to say something like that, so let's find it in the answers.

Answer choices

  1. A
    his literary works do Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this say the critics argued that Tutuola's works were simply retelling local tales with unwelcome changes?

    Nope. So, let's cross off (A). In fact, it's the author, not the critics, who says that Tutuola's works are drawn from the African oral tradition. And if the critics agree that Tutuola's works are drawn from this tradition, they might argue that his works are too similar to stories from that tradition.

  2. B
    his mixture of languages Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this say the critics argued that Tutuola's works were simply retelling local tales with unwelcome changes?

    No. So, let's cross off (B). Besides, this answer choice is inaccurate in its details. Tutuola's work combines standard English, Nigerian English, and literal translations of Yoruba (P1, S2), so it's not clear that there is a mixture of languages (at most, maybe a mixture of dialects). Even then, this mixture isn't what's brought up by the critics in the following lines when criticizing his work.

  3. C
    his attempt to fuse Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this say the critics argued that Tutuola's works were simply retelling local tales with unwelcome changes?

    Negative. So, let's cross off (C). In fact, the critics don't bring up the distinction between telling stories/folktales and writing a novel — that's the author.

  4. D
    his writing borrows substantially Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) Does this say the critics argued that Tutuola's works were simply retelling local tales with unwelcome changes?

    Yes. This matches our anticipation perfectly, so let's select (D) and move on. After all, we reviewed that the author says that some critics dismissed Tutuola because his works are "simple retellings" of common stories with "unwelcome liberties taken with the details" (P1, S3).

  5. E
    his unique works are Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this say the critics argued that Tutuola's works were simply retelling local tales with unwelcome changes?

    Nope. Let's cross off (E). Plus, this answer choice messes up the details. The author says the critics, not Tutuola, incorrectly characterize his works as novels.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 2%
  2. B 2%
  3. C 5%
  4. D Credited 87%
  5. E 4%

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