PrepTest 119

[lcid:3572] Prep Test 119 LSAT — Reading Comp — S1 Reading comp

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

Based on the passage, 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 the Author’s Attitude statements towards Obasan, then find an answer reflecting them

Answer Anticipation

When reading a Humanities passage, we know that the Author’s opinion of the central artist, movement, or work will be important to the questions, so we should be reading to identify statements that show this opinion. In this passage, we identified two statements, largely saying the same thing, that showed his opinion of Obasan.The first is at the end of Paragraph 1. There, the Author expresses appreciation for the “subtle techniques” Kogawa uses to emphasize Naomi’s heroism and to critique the majority culture - form and symbolism. The second is at the end of the passage, reinforcing his appreciation of structure and symbol to convey these two themes.The question asks about an aspect that the Author values “most highly,” and he doesn’t “rank” these two aspects, so we need to find an answer that captures both of them, as he shows equivalent appreciation for both her use of structure and symbol.

Answer choices

  1. A
    her willingness to make Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Line 10) Let’s say that this answer reflects Kogawa’s critique of the majority culture. While the Author appreciates that aspect of her work, it’s her use of symbolism to convey it that he focuses on in the work, and this answer also ignores his admiration for her use of structure to convey Naomi’s heroism. It focuses on the wrong thing (the statement rather than how that statement is conveyed) and is incomplete, so we can rule this answer out.

  2. B
    her imaginative development of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Line 9) Similar to (A), this answer focuses on, at most, one of the elements that the Author praises, and not on the structure she uses to convey it. It’s thus focused on the wrong thing and incomplete, so it’s wrong.

  3. C
    her subtle use of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) (Lines 8-12) This answer focuses on the right elements of the work and encompasses both of those elements. The Author praises Kogawa’s “subtle techniques” that involve using form and symbol to convey core themes of the work. In capturing these techniques and being broad enough to include both, this is the correct answer.

  4. D
    her knowledge of Christian Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 41-44) While this answer does focus on the symbols that Kogawa uses, it fails to also capture her use of form to communicate a separate theme. It’s therefore an incomplete answer.

  5. E
    her objectivity in describing Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 8-12) When discussing his overall opinion of Kogawa’s work, the Author never brings up the objectivity in describing Naomi’s life, so this answer is incorrect.

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