Self-study
On the surface, Melville's Billy Budd is a simple story with a simple theme. ████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ █████ ██ █ █████████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████ █ ████████ ███ ██████████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ████████ █████ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ██ █ ██████ ████████
Summary
There is no evidence that the author of a novel intended an allegorical reading of that novel, therefore readers should read that novel as being nonallegorical.
Notable Assumptions
The argument moves from a claim that there isn’t evidence proving a novel as intended to be an allegory to a claim that readers therefore should not view it as being allegorical. In so doing, it assumes that readers should not take a book to be allegorical unless there is specific evidence that was in fact the author’s intention. We’re therefore looking for some principle that satisfies that assumption, and explains why readers can’t just decide the novel is allegorical even without evidence that was the author’s intention.
22.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ █████████
a
Given a choice ███████ ██ ███████████ ███ █ ██████████████ ███████ ██ █ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████
Wrong trigger. This argument isn’t claiming that a reader should always choose a nonallegorical reading in every case, but rather suggesting that in this specific case, because of a lack of evidence for an allegorical intention, they should read this novel as being nonallegorical.
b
The only relevant ████████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ █████ █ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ██████████
Wrong trigger. The argument is not about what genre to place a novel in, and is about a lack of evidence for the author’s intention, not the author’s stated intention.
c
In deciding between █████ ████████ ██ █ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████
Leads to the wrong conclusion. The argument seems to suggest that the allegorical reading is the more favorable reading, but concludes that readers should choose the nonallegorical reading.
d
Without relevant evidence ██ ██ █ ███████ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████████████
This connects the premise to the conclusion. It explains why readers, in this specific case where there is no evidence regarding the author’s intention, should choose to read the novel nonallegorically.
e
The only relevant ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██████████████ ██ █ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████
Leads to the wrong conclusion. The argument is suggesting that readers should step away from the text and look at the evidence regarding the author’s intentions instead.