PrepTest 113, Section 1, Question 15

Working the answers

• A
  Correct

  I initially hesitate because the criticism asks for political action, while this answer describes an effect. But a positive change in the social conditions they wanted addressed would serve the purpose they thought his art should pursue. We're asked how they would likely react if the novel achieved that result, not whether it actually did.

• B

  They didn't ask for a historical record. African American history is already among the novel's concerns; their objection is to its political and artistic direction.

• C

  A tribute to earlier political contributions isn't the political contribution they want from Ellison now. Their demand concerns the needs of his own era.

• D

  This is the close alternative because it mentions European style. But the critics want a distinctly African American novelistic style, not a further separation of American literature generally from Europe. D expands a specific cultural aim into a broader project they never demand.

• E

  Audience size and diversity aren't their stated concerns. Attracting more readers from different backgrounds doesn't by itself answer either criticism.