Reading comp PrepTest 139 · Section 2 · Question 15

Topic: Humanities

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • Background on Teatro Campesino (1965, associated with Chávez's labor movement/grape boycott)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Comparison, according to the author:
    • 1965, the same year that Chávez gained recognition for organizing a grape boycott to get growers in California to sign union contracts, marked the birth of the Chicano theater movement with Valdez's formation of Teatro Campesino (second through last sentences)
  • Author's attitude: "marks the birth" (third sentence); "generally credited" (last sentence); "reach its apex" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Development of "actos" (sketches based on farm workers' experiences that satirize strikebreakers and inspire social action)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Comparison, according to the author:
    • Like the subjects of his "actos," Valdez was a former farm worker (second sentence)
  • Definition of "actos": skits or sketches that expose problems, satirize the opposition, and inspire social action (fourth and sixth sentences)
  • Author's attitude: "quintessential form" (fifth sentence); "any good political theater" (sixth sentence); "palpable immediacy" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • Author/Broyles-González's criticism of theater historians (Valdez contributed to but didn't invent actos, a collective accomplishment inspired by carpas)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Theater historians's view:
    • Valdez invented actos by himself (first sentence)
  • Author/Broyles-González's view:
    • Actos were a collective accomplishment (last sentence)
    • Valdez contribution was crucial, however, as he brought carpas, European theater, and the collective together (last sentence)
  • Comparisons, according to the author/Broyles-González:
    • Actos were similar to and influenced by carpas, border area satires performed to working-class audiences at the turn of the 20th century (second through fourth sentences)
  • Author's attitude: "rightly criticizes" (first sentence); "as if the striking farm workers' improvisational talent had depended entirely on his vision and expertise for the form it took" (first sentence); "flourished" (third sentence); "no doubt had substantial cultural links to this tradition and likely adapted it to their improvisations" (fourth sentence); "was, in fact, a collective accomplishment" (last sentence); "crucial one" (last sentence); "were neither carpas nor theater in the European tradition of Valdez's academic training, but a distinctive genre" (last sentence)

Main Point: While the Teatro Campesino was a collective effort influenced by earlier shows such as carpas, Valdez was a key figure in bringing that collective together and influencing the form that actos — a key element of the Teatro — took.

Correcting the Record: The Correcting the Record Meta-Structure best fits this passage.* In such a passage, the author typically starts by describing a common misconception or false belief. Often, this false belief is based on a lack of information. Then, the author explains why this past belief is false or misleading, occasionally offering an alternative belief. In this passage, we learn that some theater historians have credited Valdez with inventing actos as a genre. The author endorses Broyles-González's argument that actos and the Teatro Campesino were collective accomplishments that took influence from an earlier genre called carpas. 

In a passage that uses a Correcting the Record Meta-Structure, the main point is often the author's explanation of why the misconception is false. However, if the author provides an alternative belief, the main point will be the author's opinion about that belief. Since this author provides a new belief on Valdez's role in the creation of actos, we made the crux of our anticipated main point.

*As is often the case with passages that use a Meta-Structure from the Critical family of major Meta-Structures, several other Critical Meta-Structures could also describe this passage. We could easily call this a Criticizing a Viewpoint or Rebutting Critics passage, even if the author's tone isn't especially negative toward the corrected view. We could even call this a Resolving a Debate passage since the author's conclusion ultimately finds the middle ground between the views held by the theater historians and Broyles-González. We could even call this an Innovative [Subject] passage since Valdez's actos could be considered an artistic "innovation."

The first two paragraphs include a lot of background information — with many dates, especially. We'll probably get some Minor Detail questions about those paragraphs, so let's be sure that we keep the timeline in mind as we work through the questions.