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oasis90 wrote:
Hi
GMATNinja 4. The passage mentions which of the following as an important theme that receives special emphasis in Glatthaar's book?
(A) The attitudes of abolitionist officers in Black units
(B) The struggle of black units to get combat assignments
(C) The consequences of the poor medical care received by Black soldiers
(D) The motives of officers serving in Black units
(E) The discrimination that Black soldiers faced when trying for promotions
can you please explain why choice A is incorrect? I know why B is correct but I can't find enough grounds to eliminate A. After all, there is a whole parg dedicated to it.
Choice (A) is tempting, but take a second look at the last two sentences in paragraph #2. A White officer is quoted, but these sentences are discussing the attitudes of White
soldiers, not abolitionist officers. Then, to demonstrate this "attitudinal change..., Glatthaar seems to exaggerate the prewar racism of the White men who became officers in Black regiments."
Yes, Glatthaar
mentions the attitudes of abolitionist officers in Black units but only to make a broader point about the shift in attitudes. In doing so, Glatthaar "
misrepresents the attitudes of the many abolitionists who became officers in Black regiments." So the point of the 3rd paragraph is not that Glatthaar gives special emphasis to the attitudes of abolitionist officers. Instead, the point is that Glatthaar's description of their attitudes (i.e. 'virtually all of them held powerful racial prejudices') is misleading.
Although Glatthaar certainly mentions the attitudes of these officers, were are not told that Glatthaar gives special emphasis to those attitudes. We are specifically told that Glatthaar appropriately emphasizes "the campaign by Black soldiers and their officers to get the opportunity to fight", so (B) is a much better answer.
Nived wrote:
Can someone explain question 5. It says that Black units' disease mortality rates were especially high because of the nature of these units' usual duty assignments.
According to the passage, Black units served in rear-echelon assignments and worked in labor battalions. So, what exactly was the issue with the nature of "rear-echelon assignments and labor battalions"? I had the impression that the working conditions and hygiene issues were there, but this was not really related to "nature of duty", but more related to the living conditions. Where did I get it wrong.
csaluja wrote:
Hi
GMATNinja,
I was wondering could you please explain why Q5 OA is C? From the passage I was able to infer that Black units' disease mortality rates were high based on the following sentence from the passage "Thus, while their combat death rate was only one-third that of White units, their mortality rate from disease, a major killer in this war, was twice as great". My question is how can we infer the bold part in the following sentence: "Black units' disease mortality rates were especially high
because of the nature of these units' usual duty assignments.. I was confused on this latter part and ended up picking the wrong option because I was not able to infer that their mortality rates were high because of the nature of their duty assignments. Could you please help in regards to this? Would greatly appreciate it!
The author tells us that most Black units were kept serving "in rear-echelon assignments and working in labor battalions.
Thus, while their combat death rate was only one-third that of White units, their mortality rate from disease, a major killer in this war, was twice as great."
The use of the word "Thus" allows us to infer that
because Black units were kept in rear-echelon assignments and NOT given as many opportunities to fight (i.e. in the front), their combat death rate was lower. Furthermore,
because Black units were kept in rear-echelon assignments and working in labor battalions, their mortality rate from disease was twice as great.
Even though we don't know what specifically caused the higher disease rates in those jobs, we can infer that
something about working in rear-echelon assignments and in labor battalions increased mortality rates from disease. In other words, we can infer that being assigned to these duties increased your chances of catching fatal diseases.
We don't know
why that is true, but we can infer that
something about those duties (i.e. something
inherent to those duties... the
nature of those duties) made units assigned to those duties more likely to contract fatal diseases. Thus, the passage
suggests (though it does not
prove) that the disease mortality rates of Black units during the Civil War were especially high because of the
nature of these units' usual duty assignments.
Choice (C) is the best answer.
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