Q17

[LSAT-Chang]

Could someone help me understand why (D) is the correct answer? I wasn't able to eliminate any of the answers because I didn't seem to quite understand the author's purpose of using the word "traditional" -- I read the context and understand that Queen Victoria of England was celebrated in numerous "traditional" jamborees, AS IF her rule were not mainly a matter of recent edict but of age-old custom. So I thought the purpose of such a word might have to do with faking something that is not the case. Now that I look at it, why can't it be something like (C)? Or why not (A)? I feel like all look okay to me, and (D) doesn't seem to "stand out" or anything.

[timmydoeslsat]

Good question on this passage.

Let us look at the line in question more closely.

I would see that the question stem wants me to go to line 37 and read about traditional. I do that, but I remember on my first read of the passage that there was more context to it than that. The reason behind : At a time when many of
the institutions that had helped maintain imperial
societies were beginning to recede in influence, and
when the pressures of administering numerous
overseas territories and large new domestic
constituencies mounted, the ruling elites of Europe
felt the clear need to project their power backward in
time, giving it a legitimacy that only longevity could
impart. Thus in 1876, Queen Victoria of England was
declared empress of India and was celebrated in
numerous "traditional" jamborees, as if her rule were
not mainly a matter of recent edict but of age-old
custom.

Answer choices:

A) Quite the opposite. The passage tells us these things were invented by the Europeans to put on a facade of historical legitimacy.

B) Totally off base. These jamborees were never historically used in their culture. It is a fraud!

C) The Europeans did not create this idea of "traditional" jamborees to show off their dominance or exemplify it. Notice that in the lines that the sentence is found on that contains the word "traditional" begins with the word "thus." We can backtrack and see what they are concluding from! It is this idea that the country was losing its influence, and the Europeans needed to show how their presence is totally legitimate, as it goes way-way-way back. That was their reason for doing these "traditional" jamborees.

That is what answer D gives us.

E) The word traditional was not meant to tell us the make of these jamborees. By using context of this line notation from the question stem, we know this.

[deedubbew]

The following lines made me choose C: . " Images of European authority over other cultures were shaped and reinforced during the nineteenth century, through the manufacture and reinterpretation of rituals, ceremonies, and traditions."

Is it not safe to say that authority and dominance are similar enough?

edit//
Wrong answer choice C points to the group’s reason for the word pointed to by “traditional.” But the stimulus is about why the author chose the word. Not why the Europeans held the “traditional” jamborees, which was to increase power, which was receding by “exemplifying dominance (answer choice)” through time.

[Yu440]

Good question on this passage.

Let us look at the line in question more closely.

I would see that the question stem wants me to go to line 37 and read about traditional. I do that, but I remember on my first read of the passage that there was more context to it than that. The reason behind : At a time when many of
the institutions that had helped maintain imperial
societies were beginning to recede in influence, and
when the pressures of administering numerous
overseas territories and large new domestic
constituencies mounted, the ruling elites of Europe
felt the clear need to project their power backward in
time, giving it a legitimacy that only longevity could
impart. Thus in 1876, Queen Victoria of England was
declared empress of India and was celebrated in
numerous "traditional" jamborees, as if her rule were
not mainly a matter of recent edict but of age-old
custom.

Answer choices:

A) Quite the opposite. The passage tells us these things were invented by the Europeans to put on a facade of historical legitimacy.

B) Totally off base. These jamborees were never historically used in their culture. It is a fraud!

C) The Europeans did not create this idea of "traditional" jamborees to show off their dominance or exemplify it. Notice that in the lines that the sentence is found on that contains the word "traditional" begins with the word "thus." We can backtrack and see what they are concluding from! It is this idea that the country was losing its influence, and the Europeans needed to show how their presence is totally legitimate, as it goes way-way-way back. That was their reason for doing these "traditional" jamborees.

That is what answer D gives us.

E) The word traditional was not meant to tell us the make of these jamborees. By using context of this line notation from the question stem, we know this.

Hi, I answered this question correctly, but I am a little confused by Timmy's reply. So is this paragraph suggesting that these jamborees were invented by the Europeans and were never employed by Indians? My understanding is that these jamborees did exist traditionally, it's just that they were been employed by Europeans illegitimately or with ulterior motives. Thanks!

[ohthatpatrick]

I think it's unclear from the text whether these "traditional" jamborees were invented or co-opted from existing ones.

Line 26-28 allows for the possibility of traditions being "manufactured" or "reinterpreted", and nothing in the rest of that paragraph clarifies which one we're dealing with in regards to Queen Victoria.

It doesn't change the meaning of the correct answer, whether this jamboree for Queen V was a manufactured tradition or a reinterpreted one.