#9 - Must Be True, Subject Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14335)

The correct answer choice is (A)

This question tests your understanding of two key viewpoints: Kate Chopin’s and that of the local
colorists. In approaching each answer choice, you need to adopt Chopin’s perspective in evaluating
the work of the local colorists. As always, it is advantageous to have an understanding of the
structure of the passage: the section most relevant to proving the correct answer choice would be the
third paragraph of the passage, as well as the beginning of the fourth paragraph.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. The local colorists mourned the demise of
the “women’s culture” (lines 23-24), but Chopin did not share this nostalgia (lines 38-39). It would
be reasonable to conclude, then, that Chopin would consider the local colorists’ idealization of
settings and objects formerly associated with “women’s culture” to be misguided.

Answer choice (B): This is a half-right, half-wrong answer choice. The local colorists did observe
their characters dispassionately, but Chopin never saw this as a downside. On the contrary: she
adopted their conventions to “solve a specific narrative problem” (lines 31-32). This answer choice is
incorrect.

Answer choice (C): There is no evidence to corroborate the view that the local colorists inspired
the New Women, let alone that this was their chief contribution to literature. This answer choice is
incorrect.

Answer choice (D): This is another half-right, half-wrong answer choice. The local colorists did
focus on regional life, but Chopin would not agree with the assertion that their focus somehow
prevented them from addressing the new realms opening up to women. This answer choice is
incorrect.

Answer choice (E): This is the Opposite answer. Chopin actually adopted the conventions of the
local colorists in portraying extreme psychological states without sentimentality (lines 32-34).

[lday4]

I kind of see how A is perhaps the best answer out of the choices, but am not seeing how it is a better answer than D. In the passage, I know that it says Chopin didn't share the colorists' nostalgia, but I don't see how that warrants the strong use of the word "misguided" in A. It seems just as likely to infer that their regional focus impeded them for the ambitious model of the New Women (how I interpreted answer D).

Thanks!

[David Boyle]

I kind of see how A is perhaps the best answer out of the choices, but am not seeing how it is a better answer than D. In the passage, I know that it says Chopin didn't share the colorists' nostalgia, but I don't see how that warrants the strong use of the word "misguided" in A. It seems just as likely to infer that their regional focus impeded them for the ambitious model of the New Women (how I interpreted answer D).

Thanks!

Hello lday4,

"Misguided" is a little strong, but there is some truth to it. As for answer D, the local colorists may not have been as modern as the New Women, but they were still able to "address[] the new realms opening up to women" to some extent.

Hope this helps,
David

[lday4]

That makes sense, thank you!

[az305203]

Answer choice (B): This is a half-right, half-wrong answer choice. The local colorists did observe
their characters dispassionately, but Chopin never saw this as a downside. On the contrary: she
adopted their conventions to “solve a specific narrative problem” (lines 31-32). This answer choice is
incorrect.

I got this question wrong, and I can sort of see why A works (though I felt like "misguided" was a little strong and presumptuous to be a conclusion that I could reasonably draw on Chopin's behalf), but I don't entirely understand the explanation about why B is wrong. B says "Their tendency to observe character dispassionately caused their fiction to have little emotional impact". As the explanation says, they did observe their characters dispassionately, but I don't see how "caused their fiction to have little emotional impact" means that Chopin saw this as a downside. I feel as though the passage better supports that it was precisely due to limited emotional impact that Chopin chose to use the style. "Like anthropologists, the local colorists observed culture and character with almost scientific detachment" (lines 20-22)..."[Chopin] used the conventions...to solve a specific narrative problem: how to deal with extreme psychological states" (lines 31-33)..."Chopin could tell rather shocking or even melodramatic tales in an uninflected manner." (lines 36-37). I'm just not entirely sure how those descriptions don't support "caused their fiction to have little emotional impact" as being true

[Brook Miscoski]

az,

The passage says that local colorists observed with detachment, it doesn't say that their work wasn't emotionally significant. In fact, the passage explains in lines 29-37 that Chopin used their style to approach extreme emotions with a good style. The stories were still "shocking" or "melodromatic."

I think you can home in on that if you are discerning Chopin's viewpoint as presented by the author. Chopin thought the style of the colorists was useful, but she didn't like their attitude towards women's culture. That tells you the difference between A and B--she didn't adopt their attitude (supports A), but she did adopt their style (why would she do that if B were correct).

[lsatstudying11]

Hello,

I have a question about answer B. I first picked B because I thought back to the fact that the passage notes that, unlike the local colorists, Chopin focused on topics like loneliness. I can now see that A is the better answer, but I was wondering if the fact that only Chopin focused on issues like loneliness suggests at all that the local colorists' work had little emotional impact, or that their work was less focused on people's feelings? Would that be too much of an unsupported leap? Thanks so much for your help!

[Jeremy Press]

Hi lsatstudying,

In short, yes, that's too much of a leap. It's true that paragraph three talks about some specific emotions that Chopin discussed (and the local colorists avoided): loneliness, isolation, frustration. But the reference in answer choice B is much broader, since emotional impact could include other positive emotions (like joy, euphoria, satisfaction, etc.). And since we don't know how the local colorists dealt with other emotions (or how much of an impact their work had if it did deal with such emotions), there's no evidence to say Chopin believed their work had little emotional impact.

Also keep an eye on the other part of the answer: Chopin actually used the local colorists' technique of "observing character dispassionately" (e.g., "Chopin could tell rather shocking or even melodramatic tales in an uninflected manner"). So Chopin would've believed that such a writing technique could have an emotional impact (hers did). And even if the local colorists failed to have emotional impact (we don't know whether Chopin thinks that about them), Chopin wouldn't attribute that failure to their technique of "observing character dispassionately."

I hope this helps!

[KG!]

Would someone mind further detailing why D is the incorrect answer? What about the phrase, "Chopin did not share the local colorists’ growing nostalgia for the past," meant that she felt they were misguided. Like others have mentioned, the wording here seems too strong. As the text states they were so focused on the memorializing and fantasizing over women's culture that they couldn't/didn't talk about this new world opening up to them. Which is what answer choice D gives. "Their focus on regional life prevented them from addressing the new realms opening up to women."

[Adam Tyson]

Answer D looks like an opposite answer to me, KG. The second paragraph tells us that the local colorists were actually attracted to those new worlds and felt free to move within them. The regional nature of their stories did nothing to prevent them from addressing those new realms such as education, the professions, and politics. They apparently did address them when they "observed culture and character with almost scientific detachment."