Q15

[skapur777]

I was stuck between A and D here. Here is my answer breakdown:

A- keep as a possible answer
B- no...doesn't fit critique simply enough
C- tempting because of the line about the critique that it did not SPUR political action, but quickly discarded because the critique was creating, not reflecting on past political action
D- this seems to align with a critique, but i was a little put off by the fact that it said "necessary and further separation of American literature from European literary style". I kept this but discarded because it said 'american literature' in the answer choice which broadens the scope of African-American literature and felt like that is why it should be disqualified, not to mention the word "necessary" was not mentioned (though I guess implied?)
E- no...

I kept A but I felt like A wasn't exactly right either (luckily I ended up being correct) because it says that his art did not direct towards political action...just because it had a positive effect does not imply political action that was so desperately needed..or does it?

[noah]

Great to see your thinking on this one! The way I would tackle this is to think for a second of what the critics were saying. This can be found in the first paragraph, and perhaps the second. There were two criticisms: that Ellison didn't focus on political action (demanded by social and political issues) and that he didn't help create a distinctly African-American voice.

Using that:

(A) is worth keeping on the first pass and ends up being the best available answer. Since Ellison's critics said that his book should have addressed political action regarding the social and political state of affairs (lines 9-13), it stands to reason that those critics would have been happy to see his work positively effect those conditions. As the original poster suggests, it's not a huge jump from political action being needed to it being positive, though it is a jump indeed.

(B) is out of scope - historical record?

(C) is tempting, but creating a distinctly African-American voice is a far cry from paying tribute!

(D) has a detail creep from the "African American voice" to "American" literature. The "necessary" is also a bit fishy - I agree with you.

(E) is way out of scope - nobody is suggesting he should make a large and diverse audience.

Nice work!

[vincent.m]

Can someone explain further how A is correct? I don't see much support for it, but this is a very good example of a problem that, from my point of view, requires a person to work from wrong to right.

[noah]

Can someone explain further how A is correct? I don't see much support for it, but this is a very good example of a problem that, from my point of view, requires a person to work from wrong to right.

Vincent, I went ahead and edited my post to give more details. I hope that helps.

[deedubbew]

My problem with A is that it says any positive effect on social conditions at the time. According to the passage, the critics were concerned that Ellison's work was not "directed more" towards the eras political and social affairs. It could be possible that Ellison's works do have a positive effect on social conditions already, albeit to a smaller degree than critics would have liked. Because of this, I was unable to pick answer choice A, though it was tempting at first.