Notable as important nineteenth-century novels by women, Mary Shelley

Question

3-1 SECTION A 17-20

Notable as important nineteenth-century novels by women, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights treat women very differently. Shelley produced a “masculine” text in which the fates of subordinate female characters seem entirely dependent on the actions of male heroes or anti-heroes. Bronte produced a more realistic narrative, portraying a world where men battle for the favors of apparently high-spirited, independent women. Nevertheless, these two novels are alike in several crucial ways. Many readers are convinced that the compelling mysteries of each plot conceal elaborate structures of allusion and fierce, though shadowy, moral ambitions that seem to indicate metaphysical intentions, though efforts by critics to articulate these intentions have generated much controversy. Both novelists use a storytelling method that emphasizes ironic disjunctions between different perspectives on the same events as well as ironic tensions that inhere in the relationship between surface drama and concealed authorial intention, a method I call an  evidentiary narrative technique.    1 
 1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) defend a controversial interpretation of two novels
(B) explain the source of widely recognized responses to two novels
(C) delineate broad differences between two novels
(D) compare and contrast two novels
(E) criticize and evaluate two novels

2 
 2. According the passage, Frankenstein differs from Wuthering Heights in its

(A) use of multiple narrators
(B) method of disguising the author’s real purposes
(C) portrayal of men as determiners of the novel’s action
(D) creation of a realistic story
(E) controversial effect on readers

3 
 3. Which of the following narrative strategies best exemplifies the “evidentiary narrative technique” ( Highlighted )?

(A) Telling a story in such a way that the author’s real intentions are discernible only through interpretations of allusions to a world outside that of the story
(B) Telling a story in such a way that the reader is aware as events unfold of the author’s underlying purposes and the ways these purposes conflict with the drama of the plot
(C) Telling a story in a way that both directs attention to the incongruities among the points of view of several characters and hints that the plot has a significance other than that suggested by its mere events
(D) Telling a story as a mystery in which the reader must deduce, from the conflicting evidence presented by several narrators, the moral and philosophical significance of character and event
(E) Telling a story from the author’s point of view in a way that implies both the author’s and the reader’s ironic distance from the dramatic unfolding of events

4 
 4. According to the passage, the plots of Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein are notable for their elements of

(A) drama and secrecy
(B) heroism and tension
(C) realism and ambition
(D) mystery and irony
(E) morality and metaphysics

JohnWidestone · Answer

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) defend a controversial interpretation of two novels
 There is no interpretation made, and neither defended 
(B) explain the source of widely recognized responses to two novels
 There is no explanation of sources in the passage 
(C) delineate broad differences between two novels
 Well this seems correct but the focus does not lie on delineating broad differences, except for how the treat woman differently. Maybe there is a better answer 
(D) compare and contrast two novels
 This is exactly what the author of the passage does.  
(E) criticize and evaluate two novels
 The passage is not a critic, no subject opinions are given

2. According the passage, Frankenstein differs from Wuthering Heights in its

(A) use of multiple narrators
 Not mentioned. Out 
(B) method of disguising the author’s real purposes
 Not mentioned. Out 
(C) portrayal of men as determiners of the novel’s action
 "Shelley... dependent on the actions of male heroes or anti-heroes.." and "Bronte ... portraying a world where men battle for the favors of ... women. Thus C 
(D) creation of a realistic story
 No 
(E) controversial effect on readers
 No

rizzatoandrea · Answer

Q3: Which of the following narrative strategies best exemplifies the “evidentiary narrative technique”? 
 (C) Telling a story in a way that both directs attention to the incongruities among the points of view of several characters and hints that the plot has a significance other than that suggested by its mere events

The intention of the authors is both to emphasize the presence in their writings of obvious discordancies in the points of view of the key characters of the plot, and to signal that something crucial (but not immediate) is invisible to the reader's eyes.

Q4: According to the passage, the plots of Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein are notable for their elements of 
 (D) mystery and irony

This is absolutely perceptible by reading the final part of the text. These two characteristics (mystery and irony) are tangibly mentioned by the writer of this article.

bM22 · Answer

3. Which of the following narrative strategies best exemplifies the “evidentiary narrative technique” (Highlighted)?

(A) Telling a story in such a way that the author’s real intentions are discernible only through interpretations of allusions to a world outside that of the story
(B) Telling a story in such a way that the reader is aware as events unfold of the author’s underlying purposes and the ways these purposes conflict with the drama of the plot
 (C) Telling a story in a way that both directs attention to the incongruities among the points of view of several characters and hints that the plot has a significance other than that suggested by its mere events 
(D) Telling a story as a mystery in which the reader must deduce, from the conflicting evidence presented by several narrators, the moral and philosophical significance of character and event
(E) Telling a story from the author’s point of view in a way that implies both the author’s and the reader’s ironic distance from the dramatic unfolding of events

Explanation: Consider the lines : "Both novelists use a storytelling method that  emphasizes ironic disjunctions between different perspectives on the same events as well as ironic tensions that inhere in the relationship  between surface drama and concealed authorial intention,". This storytelling method emphasizes on inconsistencies between different view points of characters on same events and relationship which the drama and author's intention implying that all that is visible to the reader is not the complete plot.
The above implication is best portrayed by C.

E is incorrect because it gives an example of a story that focusses on author’s and the reader’s ironic distance from the dramatic unfolding of events, which is not what the method is about, as we just inferred above.

Thanks.

ap2201 · Answer

Dear Experts,

Could you pls help with explanation of Q3?

More generally, if you could, how to decipher vocabulary intensive RC sentences (like this one) and corresponding answer choices. 
30 secs in the question, I knew I had no idea what evidentiary narrative technique is, I still ended up giving it whole 2:26 mins, POE-ed to B, and then got it wrong.

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

Which test are you studying for?

If you're studying for the GMAT, then   do not   go down this road. The GMAT will  NEVER  give you problems that hang on the definition of a relatively obscure or 'advanced' word.
The only words whose definitions you will NEED to know for the GMAT are words that any well-educated user of the English language—a group that includes you, if you're studying for the GMAT and considering attending an English-language graduate business school—should know.

If you come across a difficult word anywhere in the GMAT verbal section, then one of the following things will be true:

1/ (MOST COMMONLY) There will be enough context clues—quite often  more  than enough of them!—for you to   figure out what the word means  .
In these cases, you may not be able to figure out all of the granular specifics of this definition. E.g., you may only be able to figure out "  is some type of _____". But... if that's all you can figure out, then it's all you'll  NEED  to figure out.

2/ You won't need to understand the definition of the word at all.
This occasionally happens in scientific RC passages. When such a passage contains a region that's dense with scientific details and jargon, it's very unlikely that you'll need any specific understanding of those words—it'll almost certainly be enough to ascertain  what type  of information you're reading, and  WHY  that information is there (i.e., what function that information serves, relative to the main theme(s) of the passage).

Or...
3/ The word actually isn't very advanced, but, for some reason—maybe terrible luck, maybe not having read enough decently high-level English reading material, possibly both of those—you just haven't learned it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

VerbalBot · Answer

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Notable as important nineteenth-century novels by women, Mary Shelley

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Notable as important nineteenth-century novels by women, Mary Shelley

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