Q11

[rishisb]

Greetings, Atlas:

Could you please explain why choice E is the correct answer to Q11?

I struggled between A and E, and I do not understand how E is more correct than A. Regarding E: I do not see where the passage says that Lichtenstein's art work comments on societal values. The closest thing to such a suggestion was in lines 43-44, where the author tells us that Lichtenstein's work wasn't cynical about consumer culture, but instead manifested a "naiveté" that responded to the over sophistication of other artists.

A follow-up question: Is it obvious to you that those lines say that Lichtenstein’s work commented on society’s values?

Now, because I did not read those lines 43-44 in a way that suggested that Lichtenstein's artwork provided social commentary and because I did not automatically dismiss answer choice A, I was in a draw between choices A and E: Both, I thought, were equally unsupported by the passage!! So, couldn't decide which one was better. . .

Thank you.

[bbirdwell]

Hi. Tough passage in some ways!

I don't think that those lines (43-44) in particular have a whole lot of power for this question. This is a complex question-type that we'd call a "synthesis" question, meaning you need to take bits of information from multiple parts of the passage, and converge toward a baby-step inference of some kind.

Below is my thought process regarding this question and the answer choices. I would not necessarily go through line by line like this, I'm just doing it here so you can have the lines for reference.

First, I consider the question "What is the spirit of L's work?"

Line 1-2 :"pop art - commonplace objects and commercial-art techniques..."

Line 6-10: "poking fun at pretensions...transcends mere parody" (note that this implies L's work is parody of some sort, yet beyond it in quality)

Line 13: "Highly stylized figures..."

Line 34: Another reference to parody, and how L is even more sophisticated...

Line 38: "What was missing...was a depiction of contemporary life...

Line 41: "[These objects] were reflections of the culture he inhabited..."

Line 45: another reference to consumer culture

So what is the spirit of L's work? Something to do with parody, non-abstract, impersonal (he is NOT an expressionist, using private attitudes and emotions), and culture.

Now to the choices.

(A) L did not use "realistic techniques." He painted like a comic book! And "some objects on a table?" This is too simple. We've no evidence that he painted still-lifes. I think this choice is a trap meant to fool you with Line 41: "table lamps." This is not the spirit of his work!

(B) parody is good. Stick figures? No. L used highly stylized figures.

(C) no. this choice is an amalgam of abstract expressionism and pop art. L's work has nothing to with his inner turmoil.

(D) again, this is abstract -- "vague shapes..."

(E) Ah. The best choice when we look at things from the process of elimination. Commercialism, consumerism ("advertisements"). Commenting on values? Yes! parody, parody, culture, culture...

This question should be treated like a general question. Yes, your answer should ultimately be supported by specific lines, but this kind of big-picture question must make use of multiple parts of the passage. You are better off using your picture of the "Scale" to eliminate here.

Does the passage ever say "values?" No. But what else are parodies for? And poking fun at pretensions? And culture? Consumerism? To make the leap to "values" is a small, and reasonable inference to make.

In short, I think you have more or less the correct approach, but recognition of the skill being tested by the question would help you. Synthesize. When you get down to (A) and (E), choose the one that has fits the spirit of the passage as a whole, the one that has the broadest resonance with the material, rather than looking for one specific line to be the tie-breaker.

Does that help?

[shadowclad17]

This certainly helped me!

I was doing a "controlled drill" of the passage; that is, I was going through it in "slow motion," if you will, attempting to type out the reasoning behind each of my answer selections and refining my understanding of WHY I choose the answers I do. When I use my outlined guide based on the Atlas books to help me through my controlled drills so I get a better understanding of how to select a correct answer (and eliminate a bad one,) I usually get all the answers right. All of them but this one, unfortunately... I chose (B). The December 2003 test is by far the toughest I've seen. If you can make a 180 on that one, you can make a 180 on any test.

Below is my thought process:

(A) I don’t see how a still life and realistic portrayal alone would be in keeping with the spirit of Lichtenstein. We’re looking for innocence and sincerity.
(B) Lichtenstein did employ parody and simple forms, but this seems to lack the "sweetness" the author described.
(C) This sounds more like it’s in keeping with the style and method of Lichtenstein’s work (comic book convention) than it is in keeping with his spirit. "Creator’s inner turmoil" seems a bit strong and dark for Lichtenstein.
(D) Vague shapes and images don’t really depict anything at all, and making a statement about consumer culture isn’t really Lichtenstein’s aim. Neither his style nor his spirit is embodied in this example.
(E) I don’t see anything about how Lichtenstein would aim to comment about society’s values.

I guess I over-thought letter (E). I selected (B) because I thought that parody was part of what Lichtenstein did and "stick figures," while not his style, may nonetheless be in keeping with his "spirit." As for commenting on society's values, I rejected (E) because I thought his work was more a commentary on the values of certain genres of art specifically than on the values of society in general. But when I look at the review given here, (E) does make more sense.

When I read this question, I saw 5 bad answers. I suppose the aim of the test taker should be to choose the lesser of the 5 evils instead of looking for the ideal answer.

[bbirdwell]

Thanks for posting, shadowclad!

A few thoughts on your choice by choice commentary:

(A) sure. still lifes? no way.

(B) i don't think we know that L used simple forms. Though pop artists used "simple black lines," Lichtenstein's forms were "stylized" and "cartoonish," with an "impulse toward realism." That's enough to eliminate stick figures.

(C) "Creator's inner turmoil" is used here because this is what the abstract expressionists did, and they are exactly what Lichtenstein is not. This contradistinction is explicitly written out in the second paragraph.

(D) True, about "vague shapes" especially.

(E) Hopefully now you do! Parody is all about commenting on values, and his work is here referred to as "parody."

I think you're right about the "ideal choice," as well. Stick to eliminating answers for justifiable reasons. Sometimes, from those that remain, we must choose the one that's the "least bad."

[perng.yan]

I am wondering how I would solve this problem, since (C) seems very enticing to me, being that Lichtenstein's work was a rebellion of fading emotional power..

thanks!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Good question and answer choice (C) is definitely tempting if you don't have your task well defined. This is a good question to practice reading all of the answer choices.

At first answer choice (A) might also be tempting. Roy Lichtenstein also used realistic techniques to represent everyday, simple objects. But the author claims that Roy Lichtenstein was great for two reasons.

Answer choice (A) has one of the two reasons - stylistic technique

Answer choice (C) has the other of the two reason - seriousness of theme

But only answer choice (E) has both!

Does that clear this one up?

[perng.yan]

ah.. thanks!

[interestedintacos]

I chose b after initially choosing e. Why? First I see no conflict between stick figures and highly stylized figures-I know of comics that include highly stylized stick figures. Even nightmare before christmas is a famous example of stylized stick figures. I eliminated e because the author says that lichtensteins work exuded deliberate naivete towards consumer culture, ie not taking a stand on values in contrast to the other works that took a stand-jaded cynicism towards it

[fruityfatty]

I chose B and eliminated E for exactly the reasons stated by interestedintacos. E makes no sense to me given lines 44-45, that L's work "exuded not a jaded cynicism about consumer culture, but a kind of deliberate naivete." So why would a painting that comments on society's values by portraying products as they appear in advertisements fit with this?? B made sense to me because it is the least loaded of the answers, and because I understood "stylized" to mean simply depicting something in a somewhat non-realistic way, and know of lots of cartoons that have stick figures.

I hope someone can please explain this! Thanks so much.

[interestedintacos]

I don't think I originally read the passage well enough. Having read it a second time, I can see why the stick figure choice would be so unattractive--the whole idea is that his work goes beyond mere parody. So aside from whether stick figures can be highly stylized, I just think it wouldn't make much sense for the answer to just be a simple parody. This intuitive sense based on reading is the key in questions like this, not overly rigorous analysis that's best left for the logical reasoning section.

I even chose the correct answer originally, but only switched to the incorrect one after going into more detail and analyzing it too much. A lot of application questions have slight weaknesses, but the idea isn't to be so rigorous that you reject good answers. The test makers are trying to make it so someone who read the passage well will be led to the correct answer--not so the best analyst who might not have even read the passage will analyze it to death in order to bring out every weakness.

With that said I think partly because we were talking about deliberate naivete, it still counts as sort of taking a stand. It wasn't that he was just naive and took no stand. It was that he specifically and deliberately chose to relate to the culture from a naive stand as opposed to cynicism.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Great discussion, and I love this passage because it's one that rewards process. And I want to respond to something interestedintacos said.

This intuitive sense based on reading is the key in questions like this, not overly rigorous analysis that's best left for the logical reasoning section.

I'd be careful, and avoid that "intuitive sense." Reading comprehension is about careful line references.

Take a look at (lines 43-48). It does say that Lichtenstein's work had a "deliberate naivete" but it then says that this was "intended as a response to the excess of sophistication he observed." This would clearly be a "comment on society's values."

Answer choice (E) is spot on. Think about what Lichtenstein is doing. He is painting scenes from a comic book to rebel against the later abstract expressionists.

(A) doesn't have an element that relates to Lichtenstein's rebellious characteristic.
(B) includes a relationship that shouldn't be there. If this were similar to Lichtenstein's work then we would have expected his work to parody the later abstract expressionists, by depicting the later abstract expressionists. Instead, Lichtenstein was depicting what the later abstract expressionists failed to depict - contemporary life.
(C) is NOT similar. Lichtenstein wasn't depicting his own inner turmoil.
(D) contains the comment part. But Lichtenstein's work possessed an "impulse towards realism." (Line 36).

What do you guys think - does that make sense?

[interestedintacos]

Having went back and looked at the beginning of this thread I noticed what Bbirdwell said:

This question should be treated like a general question. Yes, your answer should ultimately be supported by specific lines, but this kind of big-picture question must make use of multiple parts of the passage.

That's the point I was making about the intuition--I mean reading the whole passage well and using that understanding for the question.

In my own experience I've needed to rely on first and foremost a good, structural reading of the text free of distortions, and then checking the text for support for every answer. The reason I point to the first thing as the most important is because I became so into the "careful line references" that I wasn't even paying attention when I read anymore. The section is written so someone who doesn't comprehend the passage will not be able to cleverly read a question, find a citation and get the point. Even some ID questions will have tricks so you can't just fish out the text.

So I think I agree that "careful line references" are very important, and you should always look for textual support for every answer, but in my opinion the foundation is reading the passage well from the beginning. With that foundation you can avert getting trapped by tricky distortions that will be very attractive to someone just looking for a piece of text without an understanding for how that piece of text fits into the larger passage.

I never use intuition alone to answer a question, because the test makers also have tricks for that, of course. The one other problem I have noticed is that if you use intuition as a sort of guide BUT you didn't read the passage well (for instance, you fell for a distortion), then you're in trouble. Of course you can still come through and recognize your initial mistake by using the correct answer choices you've found to get a better understanding and by re-reading.

My definition of intuition is not just blind intuition--it's basically the understanding you have after reading the passage and accurately taking in its contents (not the details necessarily but the structure and gist, how the pieces fit together).

All of this is of course aside from the fact that questions like MP, Organization, Purpose, etc., depend on reading and comprehending the text and can't be solved by careful line references. Also function questions, even if limited to specific references, will often contain incorrect answers based on too limited of a perspective--these are best answered by a person who read and understood the passage well.

[hippo3717]

I think this question is "simpler" than what it appears to be.
I would like anyone's opinions after my explanations for each answer choice:

I think this question is all about line 2-4, which gives the definition of pop art that Roy helped to develop.
Definition says that pp art is about incorporating common place objects and commercial art techniques into paintings.
Let's jump into the answers:

A) I think, as above post has indicated, is to trick you: line 41 says that Roy used tables in his paintings, but can one object represent his whole artistic style? I think not...

B) Line 9 - 10 says a transcended mere parody... and also, nowhere passage talked about stick figures... Yes... line 11 and 12 talks about "stylized figures," but you can't assume that they are stick figures...

C) Line 27 - 30 talks about the association between Roy and emotions. It says that Roy rebelled against "fading emotional power of A. expressionism;" simply put, Roy indeed was an advocate of expressing emotions in paintings (Q 12 is actually about this concept). An attractive answer because half of C talks about emotions (inner turmoil). But then the other half of C talks about use of bold lines and primary colors. Yes pop artists did use them but that does not mean Roy did...

D) Line 44 talks about how Roy wasn't in favor of consumer culture; after all, it says that Roy showed a jaded cynicism toward it. But, vague shapes? Vague images? They were not mentioned at all in the passage.

E) this choice directly refers to line 2 -4. Read just carefully.

[hernandayoleary]

I am sorry but the answers given are missing major parts of the passage.
Ie. line 36 says Lich. work had an impulse towards realism.

There is nothing in the passage to actually support E, in fact the passage suggest E is wrong, line 43-46 says it was naive to consumer culture, he didn't critique society values. E is inconsistent with the passage.

[jm.kahn]

Hi. Tough passage in some ways!

I don't think that those lines (43-44) in particular have a whole lot of power for this question. This is a complex question-type that we'd call a "synthesis" question, meaning you need to take bits of information from multiple parts of the passage, and converge toward a baby-step inference of some kind.

Below is my thought process regarding this question and the answer choices. I would not necessarily go through line by line like this, I'm just doing it here so you can have the lines for reference.

First, I consider the question "What is the spirit of L's work?"

Line 1-2 :"pop art - commonplace objects and commercial-art techniques..."

Line 6-10: "poking fun at pretensions...transcends mere parody" (note that this implies L's work is parody of some sort, yet beyond it in quality)

Line 13: "Highly stylized figures..."

Line 34: Another reference to parody, and how L is even more sophisticated...

Line 38: "What was missing...was a depiction of contemporary life...

Line 41: "[These objects] were reflections of the culture he inhabited..."

Line 45: another reference to consumer culture

So what is the spirit of L's work? Something to do with parody, non-abstract, impersonal (he is NOT an expressionist, using private attitudes and emotions), and culture.

Now to the choices.

(A) L did not use "realistic techniques." He painted like a comic book! And "some objects on a table?" This is too simple. We've no evidence that he painted still-lifes. I think this choice is a trap meant to fool you with Line 41: "table lamps." This is not the spirit of his work!

(B) parody is good. Stick figures? No. L used highly stylized figures.

(C) no. this choice is an amalgam of abstract expressionism and pop art. L's work has nothing to with his inner turmoil.

(D) again, this is abstract -- "vague shapes..."

(E) Ah. The best choice when we look at things from the process of elimination. Commercialism, consumerism ("advertisements"). Commenting on values? Yes! parody, parody, culture, culture...

This question should be treated like a general question. Yes, your answer should ultimately be supported by specific lines, but this kind of big-picture question must make use of multiple parts of the passage. You are better off using your picture of the "Scale" to eliminate here.

Does the passage ever say "values?" No. But what else are parodies for? And poking fun at pretensions? And culture? Consumerism? To make the leap to "values" is a small, and reasonable inference to make.

In short, I think you have more or less the correct approach, but recognition of the skill being tested by the question would help you. Synthesize. When you get down to (A) and (E), choose the one that has fits the spirit of the passage as a whole, the one that has the broadest resonance with the material, rather than looking for one specific line to be the tie-breaker.

Does that help?

Good question and answer choice (C) is definitely tempting if you don't have your task well defined. This is a good question to practice reading all of the answer choices.

At first answer choice (A) might also be tempting. Roy Lichtenstein also used realistic techniques to represent everyday, simple objects. But the author claims that Roy Lichtenstein was great for two reasons.

Answer choice (A) has one of the two reasons - stylistic technique

Answer choice (C) has the other of the two reason - seriousness of theme

But only answer choice (E) has both!

Does that clear this one up?

I have bolded the part where bbirdwell says that L didn't use realistic techniques and mattsherman says L did..

Since choice A hinges on this very key issue, can you please explain who is right?
This was a hard choice to eliminate as the author does suggest an "impulse toward realism".

[TaeC572]

I was confused with some of the explanations about (C) saying nothing to do with his inner turmoil, contradiction or seriousness of theme - I thought they were somewhat high-level description. I thought about the answer choice & passage a little bit more and I hope my thought process helps some people with similar confusion I had about (C)

- L. was definitely for emotional paintings (L27-30) and he did express emotions in his paintings (LN 50 - if nostalgia is considered as emotion & LN55 - reconciliation between parody and feeling)

- But the answer choice (C) talks about "HIS" + "INNER TURMOIL." Taking a closer look, there is no reference about inner turmoil in his paintings. Also, even if there is inner turmoils in his painting, it doesn't need to be HIS emotion. He may draw a painting with any emotion just because he wants to, not necessarily because he feels so.

Hope that helps.

[HughM388]

Thanks for posting, shadowclad!

A few thoughts on your choice by choice commentary:

(A) sure. still lifes? no way.

(B) i don't think we know that L used simple forms. Though pop artists used "simple black lines," Lichtenstein's forms were "stylized" and "cartoonish," with an "impulse toward realism." That's enough to eliminate stick figures.

(C) "Creator's inner turmoil" is used here because this is what the abstract expressionists did, and they are exactly what Lichtenstein is not. This contradistinction is explicitly written out in the second paragraph.

(D) True, about "vague shapes" especially.

(E) Hopefully now you do! Parody is all about commenting on values, and his work is here referred to as "parody."

I think you're right about the "ideal choice," as well. Stick to eliminating answers for justifiable reasons. Sometimes, from those that remain, we must choose the one that's the "least bad."

The irony, in case anyone is interested, is that Lichtenstein did indeed paint still lifes (an art form that (A) essentially describes), though they could never be considered examples of realism. But, then, the descriptions in this passage of Lichtenstein's work as realistic are way overcooked, and Adam Gopnik is talking out of his ass, as he often does.