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#35177
Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14202)

The correct answer choice is (E)

This question asks for the author’s purpose in discussing Getting Home Alive. The author presents
this work in the third paragraph as an example of a significant departure from the standard
autobiography—written by two women, interweaving their narratives and poems in a complex
experiment intended to parallel the complex formation of their identities.

Answer choice (A): The author’s primary purpose in discussing Getting Home Alive is not to
distinguish it from the other two autobiographies discussed, but rather to show how far the authors
depart from the standard approach to the autobiography.

Answer choice (B): In the second paragraph the author mentions that journal entries and poems are
among the forms found in the three collections discussed, this is not in reference to Getting Home
Alive specifically; it is certainly not the author’s main purpose in discussing that book.

Answer choice (C): This is an Opposite answer, as the use of multiple voices represents a clear
departure from the traditional autobiography, not a common feature.

Answer choice (D): The author points out that the book might seem confusing and fragmentary, but
that this intentionally mimicked the complexities of the authors’ identities. Regardless, the discussion
of the book was not primarily intended to show why readers have difficulty understanding, but rather
to show how much the book departs from the traditional approach to the autobiography.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. As prephrased, this work was presented to
exemplify the extent to which the authors departed from the genre’s traditional approach to form and
structure.
 dbpk
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#39246
Hi!

I was a little thrown off by the word "extent" in answer choice E because how do we know the styles mentioned by the author in Getting Home Alive are the only ones used that depart from the traditional model of autobiographies? How do we know this is the extent of their experimentation?

It seems like it could be the case that the Latina writers used other tools to experiment with form and structure not mentioned by the author.

Thank you !
 Francis O'Rourke
PowerScore Staff
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#39408
Hi db,

It seems like you are conceptualizing the word "extent" a bit too narrowly. The word extent does not necessarily mean maximum possible extent.

If I were to say to you "animals can grow quite large" and follow up with an example of a whale that was measured at 30 meters long, would that example illustrate the extent of certain animals' lengths? There may be other animals that have grown longer or larger, but you would still have an idea how large some animals can grow: 30 meters or possibly longer.

There may be situations where the stimulus or passage discusses "extent" in a more precise or technical way. Since we are focusing on something unquantifiable - formal and structural experimentation in literature - you should not read this usage of extent as technically as you seem to have.

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