Q15

[mitrakhanom1]

I picked answer choice E instead of the correct answer C. I wonder how is it that answer choice C is appears to be valued most highly in the passage when paragraph two is the longest and goes into details about anthropologist's studies of rites of passage and then relates them to Obasan. I fail to see how her subtle use of literary techniques, choice C, is most highly valued. Please help! Thanks.

[rinagoldfield]

Hi mitrakhanom1,

Great question! This inference question asks us to identify what the author values most about Kogawa’s work.

(C) is supported. The author is mostly concerned with Kogawa’s use of form and symbolism. She describes Kogawa’s form in P2 and her symbolism in P3. Form and symbolism both fall under the umbrella category of literary technique. The author describes Kogawa’s use of both form and symbolisms as "subtle" (lines 8-12), so we can infer that she thinks her literary technique is subtle.

(A) is narrow. The author admires Kogawa’s cultural critiques, which could be considered political statements (lines 41-44). However, the author seems equally interested the heroism of Kogawa’s protagonist (lines 13-40). There’s no evidence that the author values Kogawa’s critiques more highly than her protagonist’s narrative arc.
(B) is unsupported. The author doesn’t describe Kogawa’s writing as "imaginative."
(D) is unsupported. The author admires the way Kogawa uses Christian motifs (lines 53-58), not that she knows those motifs exist.
(E) is unsupported. The author doesn’t imply that Kogawa is objective. On the contrary, Kogawa interprets Naomi’s life story through the lenses of personal heroism and Japanese-Canadian history (lines 9-10, 34-40, 53-58).