#7 - Concept Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[dreadpr69]

can you please explain why C and not B?

I was stuck between these two and agreed with B slightly more because it seemed like the author would agree that experimental (ie, novel, uncommon) works would not be appreciated by critics because the tools needed to appreciate it may not exist yet.

I liked C because it seemed like that COULD be true (as they were partially in this passage) but felt a bit too strong for me.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi dreadpr69,

First, even though this question asks for what the author would "most likely agree with," you want to treat the question as a Must Be True question in that the correct answer needs to have direct support from the passage and you want to avoid making unwarranted assumptions about what the author believes.

With Answer B, simply put, there is no direct support for this answer in the passage. It is way too broad. We have no idea what the author thinks about "experimental works of fiction" in general and whether they are usually poorly received.

Answer C states "The response of literary critics to a work of art can be determined by certain ideological perspectives and assumptions about the purpose of art," which is directly supported in the passage.

The most direct support for Answer C appears in lines 26-33:

"The negative criticism was partially a result of Hurston’s ideological differences with other members of the Black literary community about the depiction of Black Americans in literature. Black writers of the 1940s believed that the Black artist’s primary responsibility was to create protest fiction that explored the negative effects of racism in the United States."

Here the discussion of Black artist's primary "responsibility" is getting at the idea of "purpose" mentioned in the answer choice and the negative criticism was due to ideological differences in the purpose of art.

Further support appears in lines 41-46:

"Recent acclaim for Their Eyes results from the emergence of feminist literary criticism and the
development of standards of evaluation specific to the work of Black writers; these kinds of criticism changed readers’ expectations of art and enabled them to appreciate Hurston’s novel."

Here the change in readers' "expectations of art" relates to the "assumptions" in the answer choice.