Q2, Explained
raveesh1203 wrote:
Need help with Q2 .
According to C. Vann ..Jim crow laws codified traditional practice + effort to erase progress made by black people..
He challenged prevailing dogma when he said this.
So should'nt the prevailing dogma be that jim crows law were passed for uniformity and maintain order ... i.e. option B
Quote:
2. It can be inferred from the passage that the “prevailing dogma” (line 10) held that
To answer this question, let’s take a closer look at the text:
"In the fall of 1954, for example, C. Vann Woodward delivered a lecture series at the University of Virginia which challenged the prevailing dogma concerning the history, continuity, and uniformity of racial segregation in the South.”
"Concerning" means "about." If I mention that I have a belief concerning cat videos, I haven't told you what the content of my belief is. Maybe I love cat videos, or maybe I hate them. Perhaps I have an interesting theory about cat videos and why they’re so popular. Likewise, when the author mentions “the prevailing dogma concerning the history, continuity, and uniformity of racial segregation in the South," we have learned nothing about what the prevailing dogma was. We only know that there was some dominant belief about the history, continuity, and uniformity of racial segregation in the South. Let's keep reading.
"He argued that the Jim Crow laws of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries not only codified traditional practice but also were a determined effort to erase the considerable progress made by Black people during and after Reconstruction in the 1870’s.
Aha! Vann Woodward argued that Jim Crow
not only codified
traditional practice,
but also meant to erase the progress that black people had made. His argument says that Jim Crow wasn't just turning traditions into law (this was the existing belief about the history, continuity, and uniformity of racial segregation). According to Van Woodward, Jim Crow was also undoing progress that black people had had made during Reconstruction (this was the revisionist view that made a big impact on how people interpreted the continuity of Jim Crow as a traditional practice).
To help understand the logical structure here, consider the following example:
- Say that the prevailing dogma about butter is that it is bad for your heart. To keep things simple, let's say that this is the only bad thing about butter according to the prevailing view.
- You then conduct a bunch of research related to butter and conclude that butter also kills brain cells (let's hope not!).
- You then might say, "Butter is NOT ONLY bad for your heart BUT ALSO bad for your brain!"
- The "not only" part was the accepted dogma, while the "but also" was something new. This new discovery challenges the existing view, which is that butter is only bad for your heart.
- Note that you are NOT saying that butter is good for your heart, but you are still challenging the prevailing dogma.
Similarly:
- The prevailing dogma saw Jim Crow as a continuation of traditional, discriminatory practices.
- Vann Woodward argued that Jim Crow was also a reversal of Reconstruction.
Let's make sure we review every answer choice and confirm whether it matches this understanding.
Quote:
(A) Jim Crow laws were passed to give legal status to well-established discriminatory practices in the South
This matches what we’ve read. At the time, people believed that Jim Crow laws had codified (i.e. made into law) traditional practices of discrimination against black people. Vann Woodward challenged this belief in the historical continuity of racial segregation by arguing that Jim Crow laws
also erased the prior progress black people had made during Reconstruction.
Quote:
(B) Jim Crow laws were passed to establish order and uniformity in the discriminatory practices of different southern states
Was the point of Jim Crow to
reduce differences between individual states? No. Vann Woodward challenged a widely held belief in the historical continuity of Jim Crow, not the geographic continuity of Jim Crow. Eliminate (B).
Quote:
(C) Jim Crow laws were passed to erase the social gains that Black people had achieved since Reconstruction
This is what Vann Woodward argued, not the dogma he argued against. Eliminate (C).
Quote:
(D) the continuity of racial segregation in the South was disrupted by passage of Jim Crow laws
Both Vann Woodward and people of his time believed that Jim Crow had codified, not disrupted, traditional practices of racial segregation. Eliminate (D).
Quote:
(E) the Jim Crow laws of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were passed to reverse the effect of earlier Jim Crow laws
There is no mention of "earlier" Jim Crow Laws anywhere in the passage. Eliminate (E).
(A) is the best choice available.
Q4 Choice D, Explained
papasmurf wrote:
I don't understand why the OA for question 4 isn't option D. That particular portion is even referenced in the passage!
Remember that the question asks us to pick the choice that is
not a similarity between Vaan Woodward and Paine suggested in the passage.
Quote:
4. The passage suggests that C. Vann Woodward and Thomas Paine were similar in all of the following ways EXCEPT:
(D) The works of both had a significant effect on events following their publication.
- Vaan Woodward's "The Strange Career of Jim Crow" had a significant effect on the civil rights movement. According to the passage, MLK Jr. himself testified to this effect.
- Paine's "Common Sense" had "a comparable impact" on the American Revolution.
(D) is backed up by the passage, so we eliminate choice (D).
Q5 Choices A and B, Explained
arvind910619 wrote:
5. The attitude of the author of the passage toward the work of C. Vann Woodward is best described as one of
(A) respectful regard
(B) qualified approbation
(C) implied skepticism
(D) pointed criticism
(E) fervent advocacy
I am confused between A and B in question 5.
I understood the reasoning behind eliminating C,D and E but not for eliminating B .
Can you please delineate these to options and how to eliminate B
Approbation is another way of saying "praise."
Qualified has multiple meanings. When used to describe a statement that someone is making, it means “limited” —
not “meeting the necessary qualifications.” For instance:
- “Bob qualified his praise of the film with a critique of a major plot hole.”
- “Maria wasn’t happy with the candidate’s debate performance, so she offered a qualified endorsement that didn’t attract any new voters. On the other hand, Reema’s unqualified praise for the candidate motivated her entire neighborhood to show up and vote.”
The author is praising Vann Woodward’s work, but this praise doesn’t come with significant limitations or doubts. It’s consistently positive, as Vann Woodward’s lectures provide a great example for the author’s point, and the author clearly has a high opinion of the impact these lectures made on the events of their time. That’s why we eliminate (B).
Now let's check on choice (A). "Regard" is another way of saying "attention" or "consideration," and the regard that this author pays to Vann Woodward is surely respectful. This is more in line with the author’s attitude than “qualified approbation,” so we’re sticking with (A).
Q6, Explained
subhadeepb4 wrote:
Can someone explain question 6.
Check out this earlier post.
Thanks for the questions, everybody! I hope that the answers make some sense.
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