#18 - Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[avengingangel]

Ugh—what a horrible question!

Although I regret spending any more time thinking about this question (I am absolutely fine getting a Q wrong as silly as this one on test day), I can't help but point out..

Steve Stein mentioned lines 59-61 as evidence for answer A, "much of Walker's success with this audience derived from her distillation of what was widely acclaimed as the most authentic cakewalk."

1) "widely acclaimed as the most authentic" -- that does not mean it was in fact the most authentic cakewalk (let's be real, it very likely was NOT) just because most people thought so. (That's even a flaw that we're supposed to be able to identify in LR!)
2) The fact that the author made the decision to include "was widely acclaimed as..." also does not indicate that the author "would be likely to agree with" this statement (vs. just saying, "it was the most...")

I'm sure someone will counter by noting that it's not just that one line that supports this answer but that in fact it's throughout the whole passage.... but there really isn't mention about Walker doing any kind of highlighting elements that were already present in the dance... really, the only parts mentioned that were originally part of the dance is in lines 12-14, but the passage nowhere mentions that the version that Walker popularized retained those original elements (it just focuses on her dang "interpretations.")

The only part in the passage that I thought MIGHT support answer choice A was line 54, "Walker won over this audience by refining the cakewalk and emphasizing its fundamental grace." But still, emphasizing grace does not necessarily = highlighting an element (can grace be an "element" ?? or is gliding steps an "element" ?? are they mutually exclusive ??)

[Robert Carroll]

avengingangel,

Line 54 is direct support for answer choice (A). An element of the dance is just any part of it. Any aspect of it at all is an element of the art form. As line 54 says that it had fundamental grace, and that Walker was emphasizing that, you know that Walker was actually just highlighting elements already present.

Robert Carroll

[avengingangel]

Thanks, that's what I was guessing had to be true. Could you please explain how lines 59-60ish support A ?? Addressing the points I made?

[Francis O'Rourke]

Hi Angel,

I want to advise you to stick with just lines 53-54 for evidence of this question since it is the clearest evidence that I see. Robert Carroll's explanation makes sense when you see that the answer choice doesn't say what sorts of elements there are, just that she took elements already present. Whether or not those elements were authentic or original doesn't matter for this answer.

If you're still curious about lines 59-61 and earlier responses, there is a decent argument that she took elements that were somehow original if you look at the wording very carefully. You're right that we shouldn't necessarily assume that it was the most authentic form because someone believed it was, and we should probably be even more skeptical that turn-of-the-century middle- and upper-class European Americans were good judges of authentic African-American culture.

The author however tells us that walker took what white culture saw as authentic and distilled it. She distilled it. So to be technical about what she did, Walker took something some people saw as authentic and she (according to the dictionary I have here) extracted the essence or essential meaning of it or purified it. So there had to be some original elements in there for her to distill it.

[avengingangel]

Great, thanks, Francis. I really appreciated that explanation !!

[cardinal2017]

I also chose (C) over (A) at first but now I make out why it's (A).

Let me elaborate on why.

I think the key clue in why (C) is made to be wrong rolls out in two aspects.

One, 'each' interpretation is tailored to different culture groups' interests.
====>Each means every, or all and so this might be a logical leap from just the few examples presented in the paragraph which might not necessarily be all cases of her interpretations.

Two, and most important, (I think) she choreographed various alternative interpretations of cakewalk so that she popularized the dance.

However, there's a clear evidence in the passage although it seems so tiny after you finished reading and rushing to dispose of questions.

At the beginning of the last paragraph, pay attention to what the author is saying on the necessary condition or kind of the cause which allowed for Walker's remarkable success. The success rested on 'her ability to address within her interpretation of it the varying and sometimes conflicting demands...'

She succeeded in popularizing cakewalk becuase she was able to address the various demands/interests in her interpretation of the dance genre (singular form!!---not various interpretation's' as in (C)).

So I think, from the reference in the passage, you can conclude that she made various versions of cakewalk to cater to different groups---maybe she simply was so capable enough to address those various concerns from different groups in just one interpretation. All in one!

[Francis O'Rourke]

Hi Cardinal, that is exactly how I would interpret the question of the number of interpretations Walker created! She might have made various interpretations, but we only know for certain that there was at least one.

[German.Steel]

This is a disgustingly awful question, and to be honest I still think (C) is the superior answer, but sometimes you have to know the tricks...one of which is, a tricky MSS question will almost never have a correct answer that simply takes language directly from the passage like (C) does (i.e., "popularized...choreographing"). That was a dead giveaway that (C) was probably wrong, although I had to stew over (A) for a long time to convince myself that it was at least on par with (C).

(A) is also appealing because it has the classic "obnoxious paraphrase" of the language from the passage - her "success at popularizing" is paraphrased to "broadened the...appeal."

Overall a poorly-done question with an imprecise correct answer, something I've noticed is far more common in the 50s than in more recent LSATs (thankfully).

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi German Steel,

This is a frequent feature of the test---really attractive, but wrong answers. Answer choice (C) is obviously very tempting!

Answer choice (A), however, is much better supported. I disagree that it's not a great answer--it's the only one that we can adequately support. Walker took a dance form that existed prior to her birth, and broadened the audience from a primarily African American dance to one enjoyed by people of different social classes and races. She highlighted different elements for different groups, as described in detail in the passage. I'm not sold that answer choice (A) is imprecise or otherwise unsupported.

[frk215]

Hey folks! I'm joining in on this debate super late in the game but I still want to argue on behalf of c as so many others have done. I get why c is wrong but I disagree with most of the reasons listed above as to why its wrong.

From my analysis, c is wrong because in "Walker popularized the cakewalk by choreographing various alternative interpretations of it, each tailored to the interests of a different cultural group." the phrasing/placement of the each is clearly referring to interpretations. SO what this is saying is: each interpretation is tailored to the interests of a different cultural group. Which (as described by the lovely powerscore ppl) is too strong and can't be supported.

I think this would be correct IF it were just "which were tailored...." instead of saying each. By leaving it a little ambiguous by not saying each, you allow for the situation in which some interpretations were were tailored to different interests. Where is this backed up? All in paragraph 4:

• she wins over " Middle- class African Americans" by "refining the cakewalk" —> refining = new interpretation

• she wins over "middle- and upper-class European Americans " with "distillation of what was widely acclaimed as the most authentic cakewalk" —> distillation = new interpretation

But why is A right? "Walker broadened the cakewalk's appeal by highlighting elements that were already present in the dance." This too is emphasized in paragraph four, in two points as well!

• "emphasizing its fundamental grace." —> fundamental = definitely already present

• "the grand flourishes of her version" —> arguably this was already present

To sum up, in my opinion the ONLY thing that makes A right and C wrong is because C is disqualified by the use of the word "each" which makes a too strong claim. They are both backed by evidence in the passage. Any arguments?