#7 - Main Point

[Chandler H]

Function Question, Specific Reference
(See the complete passage discussion here: forum.powerscore.com/viewtopic.php?f=894&t=38299)

The correct answer choice is (B).

The first paragraph introduces Countee Cullen, and explains some of the poetic forms he preferred to use, along with some of the allusions and imagery he incorporated into his work.

The second paragraph gives the viewpoints of "literary critics," telling us that some praised Cullen's skill in writing European-style verse, while others found that style unsuited to political or racial themes. However, Cullen rejected this dichotomy between aesthetic and political aims.

The third paragraph tells us that explicit references to racial matters decline in Cullen's later work, not because he felt any less passionately, but because he was concerned with broader religious questions. The passage ends by telling us that Cullen never abandoned his commitment to the importance of racial issues.

The Main Point of this passage can be found by analyzing how the three paragraphs work together: Cullen used European poetic forms. Although some said that those forms clashed with his concern for racial issues, and although Cullen later turned to religious imagery, he never abandoned his commitment to the importance of racial issues. Answer choice (B) mirrors this explanation.

[ikim10]

I'm having trouble seeing why (B) is better than (A). Could someone clarify why (B) is stronger?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi ikim,

The main problem with Answer A are the words "in his later work, he became less concerned with racial matters." This is actually the opposite of what the passage states.

The first half of the sentence in lines 42-45 "Explicit references to racial matters do in fact decline in Cullen's later work" may be what tempted you in Answer A, but the rest of the sentence clarifies "but not because he felt any less passionately about these matters." So while there were fewer explicit references to racial matters in his later works, it was not because Cullen had become less concerned with racial matters.

Lines 54-55 reinforce this idea: "Cullen never abandoned his commitment to the importance of racial issues." This statement is actually critical to the main point of the passage and is best captured in Answer B.

(Just as a side note, being aware that this is an example of a diversity passage and understanding why diversity passages are included on the LSAT, it is highly unlikely that the LSAT would include a passage whose main point is that an African American poet became less concerned with racial matters in his later works.)