Reading comp PrepTest 129 · Section 4 · Question 16

Passage

Questions 13-19 The following passages are adapted from critical essays on the American writer Willa Cather (1873–1947). Passage A  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Cather’s influences; Style of one of them
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Cather’s influences - Tolstoy + Turgenev
    • Wilson - Cather followed Turgenev
    • Turgenev - Understand motivations and habits of characters but only show typical actions

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Cather + Turgenev style
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Impressionistic (secret knowledge/”thing not named”)
    • Cather - Inferences are created
    • Both - Selection, simplification - Establish mood

Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Cather vs Critics; Distinction (Novel vs. Narrative)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Cather - Writes narratives, not fiction/novels
    • French theorists - Narratology - Broadened and simplified view of fiction
    • Dominant Western approach - Realistic Novel - Direct psychology, linear time, causality, logical closure
    • Narratology better for Cather’s work

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Views of Critics; Author’s characterization
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Critics (Zabel/Edel) - No structure/substance; inconclusive
    • Author - “Failures” are central features; impressionistic; non-novelistic

Main Points:

Passage A - Turgenev’s focus on indirect and impressionistic writing anticipated Cather’s, and they both wrote in a way that focused on establishing a prevailing mood.

Passage B - Critics misunderstood Cather’s work when attempting to view it as a Western “realistic novel,” when her works are better viewed as impressionistic narratives.

Key Lines?

Passage A:

  • Lines 2-3 - Cather cites her influences
  • Lines 4-8 - Critic brings up similarity between Cather and key influence
  • Lines 18-19 - Author relates influence to Cather
  • Lines 23-27 - Author brings up similarities
  • Lines 27-29 - Author brings up central similarity

Passage B:

  • Lines 31-33 - Cather’s view on her work, which reflects Author’s
  • Lines 39-44 - Comparison of old and new view of fiction
  • Lines 45-47 - Author says which is better for Cather
  • Lines 54-59 - Author states positive view of elements Critics dislike

Meta-Structure? Relationship Between Passages?

The two passages both discuss aspects of Cather’s work, and they both have a fairly positive view of aspects of it. There are differences in what they specifically discuss and the elements of their arguments, but they both generally agree that Cather used impressionistic techniques (Line 18; Line 56) to create a prevailing mood in a way that didn’t necessarily match with other writing at the time.

Author’s Influences (Passage A) - Many Humanities passages focus on the influences for a certain artist or movement. Passage A brings up Tolstoy and Turgenev, and it explores the similarities between the latter’s writing and Cather’s that shows his “impressionistic aesthetic” was a precursor to Cather’s (Lines 18-19).

Similarities (Passage A) - The Author of Passage A brings up many similarities between Cather and Turgenev in his exploration of how the latter influenced the former.

Old Approach/New Approach (Passage B) - Passage B discusses two critical “lenses” that can be used to analyze works of fiction. The “dominant” approach - the “modern Western form” - focused on linear, logical, causal novels that had direct psychological characterization (Lines 42-44). The new approach - “narratology” - broadened and simplified how we viewed fiction, saying that it only needed to tell a story (Lines 36-40). The Author then says that the new approach - narratology - is better for viewing Cather’s work (Lines 45-47). When a passage focuses on an old and a new approach, and the Author sides with one of them, that’s almost always reflected in the main point.

Defending an Artist from Critics (Passage B) - The Author of Passage B brings up critics who weren’t fans of Cather’s work (Lines 48-54) in order to defend her from those critics (Lines 54-62). This Meta-Structure is directly related to the Old Approach/New Approach Meta-Structure, as the Author defends Cather by arguing the Critics use the old approach, while the new approach is better suited to her writing. This Meta-Structure should similarly be reflected in the main point.

Example/Generalization (Passage B) - While not explored in depth at all, Passage B does bring up the example of Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop, so we should be aware that a question will likely ask about it.

Last Thoughts?

Together, these passages characterize and describe Cather’s writings in a variety of ways. Passage A also went into a lot of detail on Turgenev’s writing. Keeping these details straight might be difficult, so let’s be extra careful in any detail questions that are asking about a specific passage!

Question prompt

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

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

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Reiterate the main point of Passage B as we summarized it after reading through that passage, then find the answer that best matches with it

Answer Anticipation

Passage B fell into two common Humanities Meta-Structures that can help us define the main point.First, Passage B discusses two critical “lenses” that can be used to analyze works of fiction. The “dominant” approach - the “modern Western form” - focused on linear, logical, causal novels that had direct psychological characterization (Lines 42-44). The new approach - “narratology” - broadened and simplified how we viewed fiction, saying that it only needed to tell a story (Lines 36-40). The Author then says that the new approach - narratology - is better for viewing Cather’s work (Lines 45-47). When a passage focuses on an old and a new approach, and the Author sides with one of them, that’s almost always reflected in the main point. This is the Old Approach/New Approach Meta-Structure.Second, the Author of Passage B brings up critics who weren’t fans of Cather’s work (Lines 48-54) in order to defend her from those critics (Lines 54-62). This Meta-Structure is directly related to the Old Approach/New Approach Meta-Structure, as the Author defends Cather by arguing the Critics use the old approach, while the new approach is better suited to her writing. This Meta-Structure (Defending an Artist from Critics) should similarly be reflected in the main point, especially since the two overlap so much.Putting these together, we said the main point of Passage B is:Critics misunderstood Cather’s work when attempting to view it as a Western “realistic novel,” when her works are better viewed as impressionistic narratives.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Cather's fiction is best Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) (Lines 45-49) While it doesn’t specifically cite the Critics, this answer does address their approach to Cather’s work as being incorrect in that they analyze it through the lens of a novel. It also highlights what the Author believes to be a better approach - viewing it as a work of narrative. This answer hits the main opinion of the Author and reflects the Meta-Structures we noted in it, so this is the correct answer.

  2. B
    Most commentators on Cather's Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) This is a tempting answer, but it’s focus and scope is a bit off. First, a we noted when analysing Question #14 (E), the passage doesn’t talk about “[m]ost” critics/commentators, but just many/her severest critics. Also, the focus of the passage is on Cather’s writing and how her works fit better into the category of “narrative” than “novel.” This answer makes the main point sound more about the Critics being wrong than about there being a better way to view Cather’s work. While the Author does rebut the critics, he also makes a positive argument about how to view Cather’s work, which this answer fails to reflect.

  3. C
    Cather intentionally avoided the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Line 43) First, this answer fails to discuss the Passage B’s Author’s preferred lens (narrative) for viewing Cather’s work, so it’s too narrow in scope to be the main point. Second, Passage B says that “direct psychological characterization” is a feature of the modern Western form, not that “realistic” psychological characterization is its “central” feature.

  4. D
    Cather's impressionistic narratives served Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Line 34) First, this answer focuses more on the development of narratology than it does on the proper way to approach Cather’s work, so it’s off on the central topic of the passage. Second, Passage B states that Cather’s work “anticipated” narratology, which isn’t the same as saying that it was an impetus for its development. You can anticipate that the sun will rise tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean you were “an impetus” for it!

  5. E
    Cather rejected the narrative Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Line 43) It was the Western novel that focused on “direct psychological characterization,” which would necessarily imply a sketch of their inner lives (since psychology happens inside the mind!). Since Cather worked within a narrative framework, this answer is wrong.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 52%
  2. B 24%
  3. C 8%
  4. D 8%
  5. E 9%

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