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#34963
Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14138)

The correct answer choice is (B)

To answer this Concept Reference question, passage organization is key. The question concerns the
use of metaphor in corridos, suggesting that the second paragraph will serve as a useful reference
point.

Answer choice (A): The Kansas cattle drives (lines 12 and 35) were actual, not figurative, events that
inspired the “Kiansis” corrido. Although storm imagery can be found in that corrido, the cattle drives
themselves are not an example of the use of metaphor.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. In “El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez,” the
hero uses metaphoric language to describe fighting off pursuers: “I have weathered thunderstorms;/
This little mist doesn’t bother me.” Both the “thunderstorm” and the “little mist” are examples of the
use of metaphor in corridos: the former refers to the harder fights that he has weathered, whereas the
latter alludes to his current pursuers.

Answer choice (C): A cypress tree is referenced in the second line of the despedida of “Gregorio
Cortez” (line 45). That line is later described as “varying according to exigencies of rhyme,” which
makes it doubtful that the cypress tree has any figurative meaning.

Answer choice (D): The fight in “El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez” is not, in and of itself, an example
of the use of metaphor (lines 27-32). Rather, it is an actual event that likely inspired the corrido. Just
because the hero alludes to the fight as a thunderstorm does not mean that the fight is an example of
a metaphor. The actual metaphor is that of the thunderstorm.

Answer choice (E): The stampedes caused by thunderstorms in “Kiansis” (lines 34-35) were actual,
not figurative, events. “Kiansis” contains storm imagery similar to “Gregorio Cortez,” but there is no
mention of comparable metaphors in it.

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