Self-study
P1
Published in 1952, Invisible Man featured a protagonist whose activities enabled the novel's author, Ralph Ellison, to explore and to blend themes specifically tied to the history and plight of African Americans with themes, also explored by many European writers with whose works Ellison was familiar, about the fractured, evanescent quality of individual identity and character. ███
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.
P2
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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.
P3
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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.
P4
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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 ███████ ██ ██
Question Type
Implied
Purpose of passage
The author focuses on describing Ellison’s response to his critics (P1 and P2) and on identifying a better way to understand Ellison’s work (P3 and P4).
a
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.
b
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.
c
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.
d
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
e
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.