#18- Specific Reference, Must Be True, Purpose/Function

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (D).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E):


This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[chian9010]

Dear Powerscore,

I have a difficulty understanding of this question. On the second paragraph, it mentions that "In Athens, the early development of a written law code was viewed as the critical factor in breaking the power monopoly of the old aristocracy" And the next sentence tells us that the law-giver captures the imagination which in other words means that the law-giver breaks the power of aristocracy. Isn't it correct? So why D is the right answer?

[Adam Tyson]

Thanks for the question, chian9010. This is a tough passage, very confusing, and so your difficulty with it is understandable!

The author is trying to tell us that Goody and others like him have been wrong about the role of literacy in ancient Greece. Goody and others mythologized it as being the thing that brought about democracy and shifted the balance of power away from the elite. Instead, he tells us, that even after literacy began to spread, the code of laws was still not conveyed in written form to the masses, but only orally in certain circumstances, and interpretation of that code was still entirely within the control of the elite.

The author mentions that mythologizing of the "law giver" in order to show us a misconception of Goody and others who think like him. It was to point out what they had wrong! There was no law giver - laws were still kept under the control of the elite, not given to the people to read and interpret and debate.

That's what makes answer D the right choice here, because it is about pointing out the error in their thinking. It wasn't the so-called "law giver" that diminished the power of the aristocracy, but is was the acceptance of certain democratic institutions that led Athens to function more like a democracy, as mentioned in the final sentence of the passage.

Once we get that this passage is all about Goody and others being mistaken in their understanding of the role of literacy in ancient Greece, this question should be much easier to understand. Take another look through that lens and see if you agree!