Q6

[msslater]

In a "Which one of the following aspects of Mphahlele's work does the author of the passage appear to value most highly" question, how can we determine which of 2 answer choices the author is more likely to value?

I Chose (E), "His plan for bringing about the future he envisions"

noting line 36-37, "...his writings wonderfully articulate his vision of the future.

Help please, as to why A is the correct answer

[noah]

In a "Which one of the following aspects of Mphahlele's work does the author of the passage appear to value most highly" question, how can we determine which of 2 answer choices the author is more likely to value?

I Chose (E).

noting line 36-37, "...his writings wonderfully articulate his vision of the future.

Help please, as to why A is the correct answer

Great question about a tough question!

In this passage, we see the author's point of view in lines 14-20. This is where we find support for (A), as the author has said that critics miss the big point of Mphahlele's work: to get across a social message. We also see the author reference this again in lines 33-34.

For the other answers:

(B) is tempting, but it's not something the author states is the point of Mphahlele's work; the blending is in service of the effort to get out a social message.

(C) is perhaps what Mphahlele has done, but we don't actually see the author saying the categories have been redefined--it's more that Mphahlele moves between them. Furthermore, where do we see the author say this is important (either to the author or to Mphahlele)?

(D) is unsupported. Details?

(E) is tempting. We see some discussion of a vision for the future (lines 36-37). However, we don't hear Mphahlele's plan for bringing anything about--we just hear about Mphahlele's skill at articulating a vision for the future. In fact, we see in the next line that Mphahlele has no road map! Furthermore, we don't see the sort of evidence we see for (A)--the author saying that this is the very important.

[T.J.]

My reason to eliminate (B) is kinda different.

The issue is the wording "blending" which I believe is not accurate for the reason that Mphahlele does not really care about the predefined categories of writing, namely, autobiography and fiction. Rather, he is more into the function - transmission of ideas. In other words, rather than BLENDING the two, he does not really care about the categorizations of which the critics are fond.