#6 - Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=11395)

The correct answer choice is (A)

The justification for the correct answer can be found on:

(lines 16-17)

The question stem asks which of the aspects of Mphahlele’s work the author seems to value most highly. This is an Author’s Perspective question which we can prephrase, by noting the author’s appreciation of Mphahlele’s emphasis on social criticisms.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. This is the choice which is consistent with the prephrased answer above; it was Mphahlele’s commitment to social criticism which seems to have made the greatest impression on the author of the passage.

Answer choice (B): While the author does note Mphahlele’s blending of these writing categories, it was the social criticism in a work that was important to Mphahlele, and this was what most impressed the author of the passage.


Answer choice (C): This choice, somewhat related to answer choice (B), might reflect a portion of the discussion from the passage, but, again, this was not the aspect of Mphahlele’s work that the passage writer values most highly.

Answer choice (D): While the author mentions Mphahlele’s use of detail in bringing an autobiographical nature to his writing, this is not the aspect that the passage author values most highly in Mphahlele’s work.

Answer choice (E): Mphahlele was specifically criticized for failing to offer a plan to bring about his vision of the future; this plan, which was apparently lacking in Mphahlele’s work, cannot therefore be the aspect that the passage writer values most highly.

[lsatprep1215]

Hi, I chose D because in line 36-37 the author stated: "and his writings wonderfully articulate his vision of the future". Wonderfully is the strongest positive author attitude word in this passage so that's why I picked D, but now I look back is it because articulate doesn't mean have a plan for bring about the vision of the future thus makes D the incorrect answer?

[KelseyWoods]

Hi lsatprep!

You are correct that being able to articulate a vision for the future is not the same as having a plan for bringing about that vision (and in fact, in line 39 the author states that Mphahlele provides no roadmaps for bringing that future about). So answer choice (D) is definitely not supported by the passage.

When looking at a question such as this, instead of getting hung up on individual words like "wonderfully," think more about big picture items like main point, author's viewpoint, and structure. In each paragraph of this passage, the author asserts that the critics who get caught up on whether Mphahlele's autobiography is too fictional or his novel is too autobiographical are missing the larger point that his prose in in service of social messages (check out lines 16-17, 33-34, 51-58). The author spends the entire passage defending Mphahlele against the critics and using Mpahahlele's commitment to social messages as the main weapon in his defense. So it seems that the author values this aspect of Mphahlele's work most highly.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[queenbee]

Hi
I also selected E because the question asks for an aspect that the author "most values". If the author didnt explicitly state "wonderfully articulate", I would not have selected this option. However, I did pause with the phrase "bringing about" because the critics did complain that he doesnt provide a road map. I guess that was enough to make this answer choice wrong?
Thanks

[Luke Haqq]

Hi queenbee!

Happy to address your question. You write,

However, I did pause with the phrase "bringing about" because the critics did complain that he doesnt provide a road map. I guess that was enough to make this answer choice wrong?

Yes, what you mention is sufficient reason to eliminate answer choice (E). As the administrator's explanation states, "Mphahlele was specifically criticized for failing to offer a plan to bring about his vision of the future; this plan, which was apparently lacking in Mphahlele’s work, cannot therefore be the aspect that the passage writer values most highly." This can be seen in the final sentence of the second paragraph: "Mphahlele is a humanist and an integrationist, and his writings wonderfully articulate his vision of the future; but critics often balk at this vision because Mphahlele provides no road maps for bringing such a future about" (lines 35-40).

On the one hand, the "no road maps" critique is a charge leveled by critics. On the other, the author doesn't do anything to deny it. Rather, the author praises his vision without denying that Mphahlele doesn't provide a roadmap for bringing that vision about; for the author, it's the vision that is especially valuable. In terms of gleaning the author's perspective on Mphahlele from the passage more broadly, the author also defends Mphahlele from criticisms about not making distinctions between autobiography and fiction; here again the author defends and values Mphahlele's writing because of his use of these different styles "in the service of the social message he advances" (line 17), which critics fail to recognize.

So the passage doesn't indicate that Mphahlele has a "plan for bringing about" his visions as noted in (E) and consequently that can't be what the author values most about his writing.