#26 - A short story is little more than a novelist’s sketch

[LSAT2018]

I was debating between answers (A) and (B), and was wondering if I misunderstood the stimulus. While I understand why answer (A) is the answer, (B) felt attractive as well. When it says novels and short stories employ the same strategies to depict human lives, I thought that Tony would somewhat agree with this because he says a short story is little more than a novelist’s sketch pad, that essentially they're the same. And Raoul would disagree because he says the short story depicts human lives more faithfully than does the novel because the short story is based on disjointed vignettes.

I try to focus on the conclusions of each speaker for point of agreement questions, but I feel that for questions like this, they are based on the assumptions each speaker makes. Is there a way I can distinguish whether the question will be focused on the conclusion or premise/assumption?

[Brook Miscoski]

LSAT2018,

The answer to point at issue questions is not driven by the assumption that the authors make, but rather by their explicitly stated premises and conclusions.

In this case, Tony explicitly asserts that the novel is the only way to accurately depict human life; while Raoul explicitly asserts that the short story is better at depicting human life.

This is answer choice (A), because they disagree about the best form.

(B) does not work, because they both agree that novels and short stories use different approaches.

[lsatstudying11]

Hello!

I had a question about Tony's view. He states strongly that 'only novels' have what is needed to depict human life. But then the line goes on to say 'by...' In this case, does the 'by ...' indicate that Tony could believe that other forms of writing have what is needed to depict human life, though for those forms, they cannot achieve this specifically by using the method of gradual portrayal, which is a method only achievable by the novel? I don't think this difference super matters for what the correct answer is, but I guess I am wondering how the 'by...' figures into what Tony is really saying. Thank you for your help!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi lsatstudying11!

I would interpret that sentence as Tony saying that only novels allow writers to depict human lives accurately and they do this by portraying characters whose personalities gradually develop through life experience. So, essentially, Tony is saying that being able to portray characters who personalities gradually develop through life experience is necessary for depicting human lives accurately.

You could think about it somewhat like this:

Depict human lives accurately narrative structure that allows them to portray characters whose personalities gradually develop through life experience novels

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[ashpine17]

does R NOT talk about C?? I think T would agree though
is this assessment correct?

[Adam Tyson]

Correct - T would agree with answer C, but we have no idea what R would say about it, so it cannot be the correct answer.

[CJ12345:]

Hi, Powerscore,
Is there any way to know for sure that B is not correct? In other words, is there any evidence indicating that novels and short stories employ different strategies to depict human lives? Tony said a short story is a sketch pad of a novel which could be interpreted that a novel and short story employ the same strategies, right? Raoul said a novel is a linear process of personality development and short stories are disjointed vignettes. Can we interpret those two are also employing the same strategies? When facing this ambiguous situation, how to know if they use the same or different strategies?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi CJ,

The stimulus doesn't use the actual word "strategy," but you can think of "strategy" in this context to just mean how do Tony and Raoul feel about how the short story and the novel depict human lives. Do they depict them the same or differently?

If one of them feels like they depict them the same and the other feels that they depict them differently, then this would be the correct answer. Any thing else, and the answer is wrong. For example, if we cannot tell from the stimulus how one the two people feels about the issue, then it is a wrong answer. Also, if both people agree with or disagree with the answer (meaning that they both agree with each other), then the answer is also wrong.

In Answer B, both Tony and Raoul disagree with the answer.

When Tony states that "only novels have narrative structure that allow writers to depict human lives accurately ..." this means that only novels use this particular strategy and other forms of writing (including short stories) do not. This is enough to know that Tony believes that the novel and short story use different strategies to depict human lives.

When Raoul replies that life is a series of disjointed vignettes (i.e. like a short story) rather than a linear process (i.e. like a novel), and "thus the short story depicts human lives better than the novel," Raoul is also indicating that the short story and novel use different strategies to depict human lives.