PrepTest 129, Section 4, Question 15
The following passages are adapted from critical essays(486 more words not shown)
Passage A(229 more words not shown)
Passage B(250 more words not shown)
It can be inferred that(18 more words not shown)
- AA meticulous inventory(20 more words not shown)
- BAn account of(17 more words not shown)
- CA description of(23 more words not shown)
- DA chronological summary(21 more words not shown)
- EA detailed narration(21 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We want an example of indirect characterization. Instead of telling us that someone is angry or nervous, show an action or revealing physical detail that lets us understand the feeling. A develops that idea at length, and B describes structures that indirectly express the forces of desire in Cather's fiction.
Working the answers
- A
This has some appeal: the furniture tells us something without stating it outright. But a meticulous inventory doesn't fit the emphasis on selection and simplification very well. It also establishes wealth rather than revealing the character's psychology. Setting can matter to Cather's technique; this example just doesn't capture its central use as well as C does.
- B
The account explains the character's behavior through emotional scars. That's direct psychological explanation, rather than letting the psychology emerge from selected behavior or details.
- CCorrect
The slightly quivering drink gives us one physical detail from which we can infer timidity. The writer understands the feeling but shows its outward sign instead of announcing it. This matches the secret psychologist in A and the indirect presentation described in B.
- D
A chronological summary supplying context doesn't demonstrate this way of revealing a character's inner state.
- E
This illustrates a theme through a sequence of violent events. It doesn't show the distinctive technique we're looking for: selected details that indirectly reveal a character's psychology.
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