Paule Marshalls Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959) was a landmark in the

Question

Paule Marshall’s  Brown Girl, Brownstones  (1959) was a landmark in the depiction of female characters in Black American literature. Marshall avoided the oppressed and tragic heroine in conflict with White society that had been typical of the protest novels of the early twentieth century. Like her immediate predecessors, Zora Neale Hurston and Gwendolyn Brooks, she focused her novel on an ordinary Black woman’s search for identity within the context of a Black community. But Marshall extended the analysis of Black female characters begun by Hurston and Brooks by depicting her heroine’s development in terms of the relationship between her Barbadian American parents, and by exploring how male and female roles were defined by their immigrant culture, which in turn was influenced by the materialism of White America. By placing characters within a wider cultural context, Marshall attacked racial and sexual stereotypes and paved the way for explorations of race, class, and gender in the novels of the 1970’s.    1 
 1. The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) comparing the works of three Black American authors
(B) describing common themes in Black American literature
(C) discussing an important work in Black American literature
(D) providing insights about Black American literature in the early twentieth century
(E) providing historical information about the writing of Black American novels in the second half the twentieth century

2 
 2. According to the passage, Hurston, Brooks, and Marshall are alike in that they

(A) did not examine the effects of White culture on their characters’ lives
(B) were heavily influenced by the protest novels of the early twentieth century
(C) used Black communities as the settings for their novels
(D) wrote primarily about the difficulties their characters encountered in White culture
(E) wrote exclusively about female characters and the experiences of women

3 
 3. The author’s description of the way in which Marshall depicts her heroine’s development is most probably intended to

(A) continue the discussion of similarities in the works of Brooks, Hurston, and Marshall
(B) describe the specific racial and sexual stereotypes that Marshall attacked
(C) contrast the characters in Marshall’s novels with those in later works
(D) show how Marshall extends the portrayal of character initiated by her predecessors
(E) compare themes in Marshall’s early work with themes in her later novels

4 
 4. It can be inferred that the author of the passage would describe Brown Girl, Brownstones as being

(A) completely different from novels written before 1959
(B) highly influenced by novels written in the early twentieth century
(C) similar to the protest novels that preceded it
(D) important in the late 1950’s but dated today
(E) an important influence on novels written in the 1970’s

LipiSinha · Answer

Q1.

A. No. The passage does not compare the works of 3 Black American authors. It is concerned about only one work and discusses how this one novel is different from the protest novels written earlier ad similar to the works of the 2 immediate predecessors.

B. No. The author does not talk about common themes.

C. Yes. The author introduces one novel. He talks about how this novel is different from the protest novels written earlier and similar to the work of the 2 immediate predecessors. He then goes on to talk about how Marshall  "extended the analysis of Black female characters begun by Hurston and Brooks"  and how that  "paved the way for explorations of race, class, and gender in the novels of the 1970’s." 
By taking all of this into account, we can safely say that Marshall's novel is an important work in Black American literature.
 
D. No. The author talks about only one work.

E. No. No such information has been provided in the passage.

Q2.

A. No. The effects of White culture has been examined by Marshall as evident from the line, "But Marshall extended the analysis of Black female characters begun by Hurston and Brooks by depicting her heroine’s development in terms of the relationship between her Barbadian American parents, and by exploring how male and female roles were defined by their immigrant culture, which in turn was influenced by the materialism of White America." However, no information about this has been provided for the works of Hurston and Brooks.

B. No. No evidence about this has been presented. The author only says that the heroine of Marshall, was not the "oppressed and tragic heroine in conflict with White society that had been typical of the protest novels of the early twentieth century."

C. Yes. As mentioned in the line,  "Like her immediate predecessors, Zora Neale Hurston and Gwendolyn Brooks, she focused her novel on an ordinary Black woman’s search for identity within the context of a Black community. "

D. No. No evidence of this is provided in the passsage.

E. No. No such claim has been made in the passage.

Q3.

A. No. The author talks about only one similarity in the works of Marshall, Hurston and Brooks, and he does not continue the discussion of this similarity in the later part of the passage.

B. No. The author only mentions, "By placing characters within a wider cultural context, Marshall attacked racial and sexual stereotypes". However, he does not describe the specific racial and sexual stereotypes that Marshall attacked.

C. No. The author nowhere talks about later works. He just mentions "Marshall attacked racial and sexual stereotypes and paved the way for explorations of race, class, and gender in the novels of the 1970’s."

D. Yes. The author explicitly mentions this in the line,  "But Marshall extended the analysis of Black female characters begun by Hurston and Brooks by depicting her heroine’s development in terms of the relationship between her Barbadian American parents, and by exploring how male and female roles were defined by their immigrant culture, which in turn was influenced by the materialism of White America". 
 
E. No. The author nowhere in the passage compares Marshall's early works with her later works.

Q4.

A. No. This novel was different from the protest novels written before it but also similar to the works of 2 of Marshall's immediate predecessors.

B. No. No such evidence has been presented in the passage.

C. No. "Marshall avoided the oppressed and tragic heroine in conflict with White society that had been typical of the protest novels of the early twentieth century."

D. No. No evidence of this in the passage.

E. Yes.  "By placing characters within a wider cultural context, Marshall attacked racial and sexual stereotypes and paved the way for explorations of race, class, and gender in the novels of the 1970’s."

honey1 · Answer

why in question 2 option D is wrong?? do search for identity is not tad similar to difficulties characters encountered in White culture??
THANK YOU

bM22 · Answer

Hi  honey1 ,

Answer to Question 2 can be inferred from the lines : "Like her immediate predecessors, Zora Neale Hurston and Gwendolyn Brooks,  she focused her novel on an ordinary Black woman’s search for identity within the context of a Black community.  But Marshall extended  the analysis of Black female characters begun by Hurston and Brooks...... ".

D is incorrect because it's not mentioned whether Hurston, Brooks also based their novels on difficulties their characters encountered in White culture, so we can't consider this a common factor between the three authors.

Hope This Helps.
Thanks.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Paule Marshalls Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959) was a landmark in the

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Paule Marshalls Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959) was a landmark in the

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