Q25

[MattS781]

Hello,

Could someone explain to me why B is right over A? I chose B, but I still don't understand why it's right compared to A.

[denisel0807]

Can someone also explain why E is wrong since the passage directly claims that combativeness had been essential for the development of society?

[ohthatpatrick]

Our first job here is to try to find the answer in the passage, using the keywords provided in the question stem.

KEYWORDS:
"Gilman valued" and "instrument of social progress"

It looks like we have a decent "synonym lock" in line 33.
"She argued that ... a prime source of social evolution"

A source of social evolution = an instrument of social progress? Seems pretty good.

So the rest of that sentence is that Gilman though "human work" was an instrument, and she thought we should be trying to harness our personal talents for societally relevant work.

Another decent line reference is 44-46 (further social evolution by ______ )
and line 53-56 (future progress required _______ )

So the three possible things we've identified:
- human work (line 33)
- collectively working toward a reorg of society (line 46)
- more cooperation and nurturance (line 56)

Scanning the answer choices, none of those seem to show up, although
(E) can be eliminated since it's the opposite of the line 56 line reference. The question stem specified that Gilman would consider this useful iN HER TIME, but combativeness was "AT ONE TIME" necessary, no longer.

We'll have to look up where the other answers may have been mentioned to see if we missed something.
(A) I don't see industrialization anywhere, but maybe that's a code work for "human work"?

(B) Gilman obviously was a fiction writer, and in line 43 we hear, "In ... her fiction ...
she urges women to further social evolution by ________ ".

So she seems to be using her fiction as an instrument to prod social evolution/progress.

(C) International travel? I can't find that anywhere in the passage.

(D) Religious training? I can't find that anywhere in the passage.


If I have to choose between supporting (A) with line 34 vs. supporting (B) with line 43-46, I think that the support for (B) is a more explicit match.

Industrialization is a poor match for human work, especially since most of the examples of human work provided (crafts, arts, sciences) have nothing to do with industrialization (more factories / manufacturing).

Hope this helps.

[CarolineF753]

As a follow up to why (B) may actually be supported by line 34 - I think it is a reasonable assumption that "fiction writing" is often a trade or craft. This would add additional support to line 43-46 for answer choice (B).

[JasminL758]

Sorry I am still confused with B, although I don't like the other answer choices, either. I guess line 43 - 46 is the support for B? But to my understanding, it seems to suggest an instrument of social progress is "collective working toward a reorganization of society", while "her fiction" is just the medium Gilman used to advocate her opinions about the instrument of social progress, NOT the instrument itself. Can someone please explain?