#3 - Must Be True, Purpose

[Administrator]

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

The correct answer choice is (E)

The justification for the correct answer can be found on:

(lines 18-25)

In the passage, the author notes that even when Mphahlele received a favorable review, there was often a negative subtext. In other words, even when they were complimentary, the critics often found a way to slip in some negative criticism. In this context, one critic of The Wanderers stated that if anger, firsthand experiences, compassion, and topicality were the sole requirements for great literature, The Wanderers would be one of the masterpieces of this part of the twentieth century—backhanded praise indeed.

Answer choice (A): It is true that Mphahlele has little interest in establishing such guidelines, but these are not the critic’s words, nor do they reflect the critic’s belief. This is a common LSAT ploy—to take an otherwise accurate assertion from the passage and misattribute it, rendering it incorrect.

Answer choice (B): The negative subtext referred to is a negative comment couched in the form of a positive review, which is quite different from a comment that is “one-sided.”

Answer choice (C): The critic never states what the requirements for fiction are, nor are there any references to the belief that firsthand experiences are in direct contradiction to those requirements.

Answer choice (D): The critic’s comments were presented as hypothetical: “if these factors were the sole requirements for great literature, this would be a masterpiece.” Since the critic never makes the claim that these are the actual, ill-conceived sole requirements, this answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. Since the critic’s comment is framed as a hypothetical (in the conditional tense), the critic’s implication is that anger, firsthand experiences, compassion and topicality must not be the sole requirements for great literature, and Mphahlele’s work should not be characterized as such. The critic’s assertion is that if this were all that was required to be great literature, The Wanderers would be great literature.

[Dancingbambarina]

What would it take for an AC like B to be correct? I understand the subtext is negative, but why is this not sufficient for AC B?

I thought that since the critic mentioned anger, compassion etc., this is in and of itself giving a voice to Mphahlele's perspectives, so I chose correct AC E.

Thank you

[Dana D]

Hey Dancing,

I think it's more helpful to explain why an answer choice is wrong rather than to postulate about what would make it right, especially in cases like this where there are a lot of ways you could potentially make answer choice (B) right. When the answer choices refer to things in the abstract, such as "the comment" here, we want to identify what exactly they are referring to. Here, "the comment" = the critic's statement that "if anger...were the sole requirements, the novel might well be one of the masterpieces...". So with that in mind, the question asks us what the author meant when they said there's negative subtext in this comment?

Remember that all parts of the answer must be accurate for it to be correct. Do we think the author was saying this comment was unfairly one-sided? Probably not, the comment was made by a critic - the author didn't have an issue with critics weighing in on Mphahlele's work - in fact if this comment was purely praise the author would probably have no issue even though it is "one sided".

On to the second part - does the comment give no voice to perspectives Mphahlele might embrace? It seems like (as you pointed out) the comment takes into account Mphahlele's first hand experiences, so that's unlikely. But more accurately, this isn't the point the author is trying to make when they say "negatice subtext". So answer choice (B) cannot be right. The author is saying that even when Mphahlele gets praise, it's shady - here, the critic praises Mphahlele's use of first hand experiences and compassion, but says if that's all that was required, this would be a masterpiece. The critic is, in an underhanded way, saying these factors are great but do not a masterpiece make. That most closely matches answer choice (E), the correct answer.

hope that helps!