Reading comp PrepTest 135 · Section 3 · Question 3

Passage

Questions 1-7  .        In the 1980s there was a proliferation of poetry  . collections, short stories, and novels published Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • 1980s trends in U.S. Latina writings (proliferation of poetry/short stories/novels, and three notable autobiographies)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of two 1980s trends in writings by Latina women in the U.S., according to the author:
      • 1980s: Lots of poetry, short stories, and novels (first sentence)
      • End of 1980s: Autobiography (3 examples) (last sentence)
    • List of notable autobiographies of Latina women in the U.S., according to the author:
      • Loving in the War Years: Lo Que Nunca Pasó Por Sus Labios by Cherríe Moraga; Getting Home Alive, by Aurora Levins Morales and Rosario Morales; and Borderlands/La Frontera, by Gloria Anzaldúa (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "proliferation" (first sentence); "notable" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • How the three autobiographies innovate (combine English and Spanish, mix genres to explore ethnicity, gender, and language)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • The three notable autobiographies innovate by mixing English and Spanish and by combining multiple genres (essays, poems, short stories, etc.) to explore the relationship between ethnicity, gender, and language (first through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "innovative at many levels" (first sentence); "confront" (second sentence); "manifests itself" (last sentence); "without, for the most part, giving preference" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Specific innovations in each autobiography (all use multiple genres and voices to express complex identities)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of specific innovations in each autobiography, according to the author:
      • Borderlands/La Frontera: personal and community history by mixing narrative and poetry (first sentence)
      • Loving in the War Years: Mixes genres; not chronological (political development) (second sentence)
      • Getting Home Alive: Even more innovative, mixes mom and daughter viewpoints (fourth through sixth sentences)
    • Author's view:
      • All autobiographies mix genres and voices to express the formation of their author's complex identity (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "departs even further from conventions" (fourth sentence); "may seem fragmentary and confusing, it is in fact a fully intentional and carefully designed experiment with literary structure" (sixth sentence); "employ multigeneric and multivocal forms to express the complexities inherent in the formation of their identities" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's conclusion (writers revolutionized autobiography to make it fit their voices and experiences)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • These autobiographies by Latina women in the U.S. revolutionized the genre to make a better vehicle to express their voices and experiences (first and last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "revolutionized" (first sentence); "redrawing the boundaries" (first sentence); "more amenable to teh expression of their own experience" (first sentence); "shown a strong determination" (last sentence)

Main Point: By mixing forms and genres, breaking with traditional timelines, and mixing multiple voices, the autobiographies published by Latina women at the end of the 1980s innovated within the genre and allowed the authors to fully capture their identities and experiences.

Meta-Structure?

Innovative Subject: This passage uses one of the most common major Meta-Structures for humanities passages — Innovative [Subject]. These humanities passages describe what is groundbreaking and unique about an artist, movement, or group of artists. The word "[Subject]" is just a placeholder for the artist, movement, or group of artists. This passage discusses three authors and their innovations in the autobiography genre. So, we can think of this as an Innovative Autobiographies or Innovative Autobiographers passage (or an Innovative Autobiografía passage, if you want to mix English and Spanish like these writers).

In Innovative [Subject] passages, the main point is generally the author's opinion on the innovation. The author really goes overboard with their praise for these autobiographies — especially in the fourth paragraph, where the author summarizes their opinion. We can use that paragraph as the main point whenever a question requires us to consider that main point. Alternatively, we can summarize the author's opinions for them. We elected to use the latter approach, including some of the specific innovations the author outlined in the third paragraph.

Last Thoughts?

Paragraph 3 is really long and detailed, so we should be sure to head back to check details as necessary when answering questions about the specific innovations in each autobiography.

Question prompt

The author's discussion of Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Review the Getting Home Alive reference in passage, consult notes, and choose an answer choice based on your understanding of that reference in the passage's overall argument

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us why the author inserted the discussion of Getting Home Alive into the passage. This is a little different than the typical Role of Detail question, where we can focus on the paragraph in which the detail appears. Since the discussion of Getting Home Alive extends throughout the entire passage, we should think about how this detail relates to the author's main point.From our initial reading of the passage and the main point, we know that Getting Home Alive is an example of a late '80s autobiography written by Latina women living in the U.S. that innovated within the genre. So, that's the baseline we're working with here. So, the correct answer could simply say that it's an example of one of the innovative late '80s autobiographies written by Latina women in the U.S.It wouldn't hurt to make a slightly more precise anticipation, however. To make that anticipation, we can look at our notes and some individual paragraphs. While Getting Home Alive was first mentioned in Paragraph 1, where it's established as an example, it's not really discussed at length. Paragraph 2 doesn't discuss specific autobiographies. So, instead, we should turn to Paragraph 3, where the author brought up specific innovations in each work.The discussion of Getting Home Alive starts with the fourth sentence, where the author notes that it "departs even further from the conventions" of typical autobiography by bringing together the voices of a mother and daughter (P3, S4). The different narratives and poems are "woven together," with the two autobiographers sometimes "commenting on a piece by the other" (P3, S5). This discussion occurs in, again, a paragraph meant to highlight the innovations of these autobiographies. So, a more precise anticipation is that the discussion of Getting Home Alive is intended to provide an example of a late '80s autobiography written by Latina women that innovatively combines different genres and voices.

Answer choices

  1. A
    distinguish one type of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this say the discussion of Getting Home Alive is intended to provide an example of a late '80s autobiography written by Latina women that innovatively combines different genres and voices?

    Nope. This answer might be tempting, as the passage does note that GHA "departs even further from the conventions of typical autobiography" (P3, S4). However, it's important to remember that the author brings up all three examples for (mostly) the same reason — to show how they innovate. So, while Getting Home Alive may have departed further from conventions, this is still a similarity, as all three autobiographies depart from traditional autobiographical conventions. This paragraph highlights the innovations of each work, which is more about how they're similar than different. And the paragraph ends by lumping all of the autobiographies together in their purpose ("these autobiographies") (P3, S7). As such, the author doesn't mean to "distinguish" Getting Home Alive from the other works but to show how they're similar in their innovations.

  2. B
    explain how certain Latina Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this say the discussion of Getting Home Alive is intended to provide an example of a late '80s autobiography written by Latina women that innovatively combines different genres and voices?

    No, so we can cross (B) off. Besides, the passage mentions narratives and poems, not journal entries (P3, S5). And the passage had already established that journal entries were included in these autobiographies (P2, S3), so it wouldn't need to "explain" it here.

  3. C
    demonstrate that the use Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this say the discussion of Getting Home Alive is intended to provide an example of a late '80s autobiography written by Latina women that innovatively combines different genres and voices?

    Nope. This answer doesn't align with the passage's main point, that these three works were innovative. If using multiple voices was a common feature of autobiographies, then that wouldn't be something new! Moreover, there's no indication that the Morales' joint authorship was then adopted by other Latina writers.

  4. D
    show why readers have Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this say the discussion of Getting Home Alive is intended to provide an example of a late '80s autobiography written by Latina women that innovatively combines different genres and voices?

    Again, no. Plus, while the author notes that the ordering of Getting Home Alive may seem fragmentary and confusing (P3, S6), there's no indication that it's actually fragmentary and confusing to readers.

  5. E
    illustrate the extent of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) Does this say the discussion of Getting Home Alive is intended to provide an example of a late '80s autobiography written by Latina women that innovatively combines different genres and voices?

    Yes! Experimenting with "form and structure" definitely counts as combining "different genres and voices," as we anticipated. Moreover, the word "illustrate" is great since we know Getting Home Alive is an example of a broader trend. So, this answer matches our anticipation and thus captures the reason why the author discussed Getting Home Alive. We can select it and move on.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 9%
  2. B 1%
  3. C 5%
  4. D 1%
  5. E Credited 84%

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