PrepTest 132

[lcid:3626] Prep Test 132 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 1-7  .        The work of South African writer Ezekiel  . Mphahlele has confounded literary critics, especially  . those Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • An writer confounds critics; Author explains
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Critics - Mphahlele’s autobiography is too fictional; his fiction is too autobiographical
    • Author - Mphahlele doesn’t fit labels - he uses prose to advance social message

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Criticism of Mphahlele’s work; Mphahlele’s response; Author’s response
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Criticism - Even positive has negative subtext
    • Example - The Wanderers - Praised firsthand experiences (and other things), but others dismiss for autobiography
    • Mphahlele - Fictional relationship serves as beginning/end
    • Author - Mphahlele has a strong vision of the future “wonderfully articulated”
    • Critics balk (how do we get there?)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Mphahlele’s views on writing
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Mphahlele - Can’t write just fact or fiction - experiences pervade fiction, and maximizing social message changes facts
    • Mphahlele (Author) - Writing isn’t about classification but about transmitting ideas
    • Quote

Main Point: Those who criticize the works of Mphahlele for not clearly falling into autobiography or fiction don’t recognize that he writes to convey a social message and thus classifying him misses the point, as Mphahlele himself recognizes.

Key Lines?

Lines 1-4 - An opposing point

Lines 12-14 - More of the opposing view

Lines 16-17 - The Author’s view on Mphahlele

Lines 18-19 - More from critics

Lines 30-33 - Mphahlele defends his work

Lines 33-35 - The Author’s defense of Mphahlele’s works

Lines 46-51 - Mphahlele’s thoughts on writing

Lines 51-53 - Mphalele and the Author on writing

Meta-Structure?

Defending an Artist from Critics - One common Humanities Meta-Structure is Defending an Artist from Critics. In this type of passage, the Author highlights criticism of an artist and why that criticism is wrong. It’s important to track the view of the Critics, why the Author thinks they’re wrong, and what the artist thinks, if that’s present in the passage. Putting all of this together led us to the main point as we stated it above.

Last Thoughts?

A lot of this passage dealt with a split between autobiography and fiction. The Critics felt that there was a distinct line between the two, while the Author and Mphahlele believed that it could be broken down in service of conveying a social message. As such, we need to be careful when answering questions that we know from whose viewpoint it’s being asked, and either draw a distinction between fiction and autobiography if the Critics’ view is being asked about, or blur that distinction for questions about the Author’s or Mphahlele’s view.

Question prompt

The author quotes Mphahlele 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 purpose of the paragraph including Lines 55-58, then use that context to define the purpose of the quote in its immediate context

Answer Anticipation

Paragraph 3 was all about exploring Mphahlele’s views on writing, most of which are shared (or at least appreciated) by the Author.The quote starts in Line 55, and it ends the passage, so the context for why the Author uses that quote must show up before it. Leading into the quote is a claim by Mphahlele - that writing has nothing to do with classification, but rather it’s about the transmission of ideas. The quote builds from this, showing what Mphahlele views as an important idea - social criticism of one kind or another.So the quote is to emphasize and specify the type of important ideas that Mphahlele believes is the purpose of writing.

Answer choices

  1. A
    demonstrate Mphahlele's eloquence as Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) While the Author clearly has a positive view of Mphalele’s writing and his thoughts on its purpose, that praise is not around his eloquence. Even if you view this quote as being particularly eloquent (which is a subjective opinion), the Author doesn’t use that language, and so we can’t infer this as an answer.

  2. B
    provide a common goal Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 51-52) The closing line here is about something that Mphalele claims should be a shared goal between all writers, not something that is a common goal between all novelists.

  3. C
    further elaborate the kind Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) (Lines 51-55) Leading into the quote, the Author explores Mphalele’s view that good writing isn’t concerned with classification but rather with transmitting important ideas. The quote highlights what he believes is an important idea, so this is the correct answer.

  4. D
    introduce the three literary Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 55-56) Mphahlele brings up prose, poetry, and drama, but the purpose of the quote isn’t to establish that list. In fact, the Author leads into the quote discussing writing “in all forms,” so this list isn’t even comprehensive towards her goals in quoting Mphahlele!

  5. E
    show that Mphahlele makes Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 55-59) Mphahlele definitely believes that prose, poetry, and drama share at least one thing in common - the goal of communicating social criticism. However, that doesn’t mean he believes they are indistinguishable - in fact, in listing all three, it suggests that he does distinguish between them in some way.

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