PrepTest 109, Section 2, Question 11
The autobiographical narrative Incidents in the Life of(463 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(18 more words not shown)
- AMost readers of(28 more words not shown)
- BMany reviewers of(15 more words not shown)
- CMost scholars believe(24 more words not shown)
- DJacobs's narrative was(21 more words not shown)
- EJacobs's goal in(28 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Now we have to help the critics. They think the domestic novel overshadows the slave narrative, so evidence that the familiar form gets in the way of communicating Jacobs's experience would help them.
What we’re looking for
We may agree with the author's defense, but that is not our assignment here. If a choice shows that the domestic form helps Jacobs get her message across, it goes the wrong way.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Readers see simply a domestic novel and become less inclined to treat it as an attempt to provoke thought. That is the interference we were looking for: the familiar form leads readers to miss the larger significance of her experience. Read disinclined carefully—it means less willing, not encouraged. These readers' response supports the critics' concern.
- B
Reviewers calling for abolition suggests that the work did get them thinking about slavery. That weakens the criticism that the domestic form swallowed up that message.
- C
If domestic conventions were necessary to communicate her message effectively, they helped her. This supports her choice of form rather than the critics' objection to it.
- D
We learn about another kind of novel she used as a model. We still do not know whether the domestic conventions interfered with her account of slavery. Another influence is not evidence of the alleged failure.
- E
Those are her goals. Did she achieve them? She could want to make slavery's injustices vivid and still choose an ineffective way to do it. Unlike A, this tells us nothing about whether readers missed her message.
More Application questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Application questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.