PrepTest 129

[lcid:3615] Prep Test 129 LSAT — Reading Comp — S4 Reading comp

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

If the author 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 what we said about the relationship between the two passages, then find the answer that best reflects the overlap in them

Answer Anticipation

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 (Line 29; Lines 56-59) in a way that didn’t necessarily match with other writing at the time.With these broad strokes in mind, let’s head to the answer choices. We’ll focus on those that line up with these views and then dig in to find textual support.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Though Cather preferred to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 18-19; Lines 55-56) The Author of Passage A argues that Cather’s technique was impressionistic, not that only some of her novels could be described as such. The Author of Passage B uses Death Comes for the Archbishop as an example of her overall style which he also characterizes as “impressionistic.” As such, Death isn’t seen as an outlier by either of the passages!

  2. B
    The critics who questioned Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) The Author of Passage B never claims that the Critics focused on Cather’s failed experiments, but rather they misunderstood her central technique. That impressionistic central technique is one that the Author of Passage A also notes in her writing, so this answer is incorrect.

  3. C
    A model of criticism Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) As we’ve noted before, the authors of each passage describe Cather’s writing in largely the same way, focusing on its impressionistic technique. Since novels have expectations that Cather’s impressionistic technique doesn’t achieve, the Author of Passage A would agree with Passage B’s Author’s contention that narrative is a more appropriate lens through which to analyze Cather’s work.

  4. D
    Critics who questioned Cather's Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 43-44; Lines 19-23) Passage B establishes certain characteristics of a realistic novel - including “direct psychological characterization.” The Author of Passage A says that Cather’s work (as influenced by Turgenev) focused on showing what a character does without getting into why they do it, creating a feeling of that character that isn’t specifically named. So the Author of Passage A doesn’t believe Cather’s works engage in the type of direct psychological characterization that Passage B says is characteristic of a realistic novel.

  5. E
    Cather's goal of representing Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) (Lines 18-20; Lines 56-59) Passage A ties Cather’s impressionistic aesthetic to “the thing not named.” Passage B ties Cather’s impressionistic technique to “a preference for the bold, simple, and stylized in character.” These two ideas are connected between the passages by a shared characterization of Cather’s work, so this answer is correct.

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