PT115.S3.P2.Q9

PrepTest 115 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 9

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P1

Fairy tales address themselves to two communities, each with its own interests and each in periodic conflict with the other: parents and children. ███

Intro to Topic · Fairy tales
Seems like the relationship parents have to fairy tales are different from the one that children have... where is this going?
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Study of Fairy Tales · Only viewed fairy tales through perspective of parent
Okay... so for example, in the "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" the moral of the story is that honesty is important. Don't lie. Or a wolf will eat you.
P2

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Example · Bettelheim's view of "Hansel and Gretel"
According the Bettelheim, the "universally valid tenets of moral instruction for children" is the following: be independent; don't be greedy; materially contribute to your family; be mature.
P3

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"Superficial" v. "Deeper" Reading · Adults drawn to "deeper" reading
Okay, so is the author trying to say that this "deeper" reading is not actually deeper than the "superficial" reading? That's probably why they're both in quotations...
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Critique · Bettelheim's "deeper" reading is flawed
Author is critiquing Bettelheim's reading which casts children in a bad light because that's not actually a deeper reading. In fact, Bettelheim is just cherry picking fairy tales or rewriting them to fit his theory. In a different reading, there are no "tenets of moral instruction" in those fairy tales.
P4

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Critique · Bettelheim suppresses bad parental behavior and puts all blame on children
What a dick. Fortunately, this kind of reading has been discredited.
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Explanation · of Bettelheim and other's flawed interpretation
Society wants to deny that adults are evil; hence posits children as evil; hence views fairy tales as instruments of moral instruction; hence denies that fairy tales can just be unproductive fun.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Show answer
9.

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████

a

While originally written ███ █████████ █████ █████ ████ ███████ █ ██████ ████████████ ███ ██████ ████ █████████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ████████

Actually, the author’s main point is to disagree with psychologists such as Bettelheim about the true meaning of fairy tales.

12%
b

The "superficial" reading ██ █ █████ █████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████ ████████████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ ███████ █████████ ██ █████████████ ████ ██ ███████████

The author’s point is that fairy tales don’t need to be enlightening for children, so the main point is not that the “superficial” interpretation of fairy tales is more enlightening for children than the “deeper” interpretation.

4%
c

Because the content ██ █████ █████ ███ ████████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███████████ █████ ██████████████ █████████████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ███████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ███████████ ██████

The author mentions stories that run counter to prevailing orthodoxies about child-rearing. However, the passage does not indicate that this is historically true of fairy tales in general––the passage only says that these stories exist, not that this was the historical trend. Also, the main point isn’t that psychologists like Bettelheim sometimes reinterpret these stories. Instead, the author’s point is to disagree with these psychologists.

17%
d

The pervasive need ██ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███ █████████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ████ █████ █████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███ █████████

This is the main point of the passage, as summarized in P4. Psychologists like Bettelheim think that fairy tales exist to teach children lessons; our author disagrees with this perspective.

64%
e

Although dismissed as ████████████ ██ █████████████ ████ ██ ███████████ █████ █████ █████ ████████ ███████████ ███████████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ███████

Bettelheim doesn’t dismiss fairy tales as unproductive. Instead, he interprets them in a way to emphasize a moral lesson for children. Also, the author’s main point isn’t that fairy tales help children grow into responsible adults; the author’s main point is the criticism of Bettelheim’s perspectives of fairy tales.

3%

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