PrepTest 113 - Section 1 - Passage 3 - Question 20

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Published in 1952, . █████████ ███ ████████ █ ███████████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ███████ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ██████ ████████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █████████ ████ ███████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███████ ████ █████ █████ ███████ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███ ██████████ ███

Intro topic · Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

Novel blended themes tied to African American experience with themes about individual identity, which were explored by European writers.

Other people's perspective · Two related criticisms of Invisible Man

It wasn't political enough, and didn't contribute to a distinct African American style.

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Ellison's response · The two criticisms make unwarranted assumptions

They assume that some historical circumstances require cultural segregation in the arts, that artists can't see world in unique ways, and that readers can only see the world from their own perspectives.

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Perspective · Jazz music is a better model for understanding Invisible Man

Jazz musicians can play music influenced by Europe, but that explore African American themes.

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Additional benefit of jazz model · Individual's relationship to community

Jazz solos involve individualistic playing rooted in broader context of the band. That relationship is like the one between Invisible Man's protagonist and the wider context of community.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Spotlight

20.

The primary purpose of the ███████ ██ ██

make a case ████ █ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████

The author never claims that Ellison is “one of the most important” novelists of the twentieth century. So (A) cannot be the primary purpose.

demonstrate the value ██ █████ ████ ██ ██ ████████████ ███ ███████ █████████████ ███ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ████████ █████

The author doesn’t apply jazz to “novels of a certain literary trend.” The author applies jazz specifically to Ellison’s work.

explain the relevance ██ █ ██████████ ████ ███ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ████

The author doesn’t explain the relevance of Invisible Man to the political and social issues of the time. In fact, the author notes that Invisible Man does not address political and social issues of the time as much as its critics would like.

defend the work ██ █ ███████ ████████ ███████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ ████ █████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██████

This is the best answer. Although the author never explicitly agrees with Ellison’s defense of his work against critics, the author does indicate that jazz may be a model that may be of “more help” in understanding Ellison’s work than those used by the critics. This, combined with the rest of the discussion in P3 and P4 indicate the author implicitly rejects the critics’ view that Ellison should have addressed political and social issues.

86%

distinguish clearly between ███ █████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ████ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ████ ██ █████████ ███████

The author’s primary purpose relates to Ellison’s work. The author doesn’t try to make a more general point about the value of art.

PrepTest 113 - Section 1 - Passage 3 - Question 20

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