Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, aboliti

Question

New Project RC Butler 2019  -  Practice 2 RC Passages Everyday   
Passage # 61, Date : 03-MAR-2019
 This post is a part of New Project RC Butler 2019 .  Click here for Details

Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Resistance to Civil Government (also known as Civil Disobedience), an argument for disobedience in an unjust state.

Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience is considered by many to be the most important political document of the 19th century. Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political thoughts and actions of such notable figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Thoreau is even sometimes cited as an anarchist. Though Civil Disobedience seems to call for improving rather than abolishing government — "I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government" — the direction of this improvement points toward anarchism: "That government is best which governs not at all; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have."

In one analysis of Civil Disobedience, Richard Drinnon partly blames Thoreau for the ambiguity, noting that Thoreau's "sly satire, his liking for wide margins for his writing, and his fondness for paradox provided ammunition for widely divergent interpretations of Civil Disobedience.” Regardless of whether Thoreau intended to create this ambiguity, it cannot be denied that this work has influenced the political thoughts of both anarchists and those committed to improving and changing government through civil disobedience.   1 
 To answer this correctly, you must carefully read and analyze the section with the two quotations. While many people will pick (A) on this question, the quote is not being used to contradict this notion. It is used to show that while this portion might indicate he is for improving government, you must read the second quote to make a complete interpretation. The quote is used to show how people could interpret Thoreau’s views in several ways, and thus it is correct to say that it is used to “highlight one interpretation of his essay” – that he was for better government. For (C), the purpose is not to support the quotation that follows, but rather show how people could interpret each portion in different ways. For (D) the quote is not used to show that he was purposefully vague (there is no evidence for that), but rather to show how people might have several interpretations. Lastly, for (E), that quote by itself suggests that he might be for better government, and thus not an anarchist. Also, even when you consider the second part of the quote, the author uses it not to make this suggestion, but rather to highlight how people could make different interpretations 
 Q1. The author uses the bolded quotation in order to:

A. contradict the notion that he is an anarchist.
B. highlight one interpretation of Thoreau's essay.
C. support the quotation that follows.
D. suggest that Thoreau was purposefully vague.
E. suggest that Henry David was an anarchist.

2 
 As you will sometimes see in Reading Comp, this is a pure Critical Reasoning assumption question referencing one conclusion in the passage (that he might be an anarchist). As you do in CR, use the strategies that you have learned to attack that type of question. As is the case with many assumption style questions, many of the answer choices are presented negatively so you should use the assumption-negation technique. If you negate the correct answer in this assumption question, it should directly contradict the idea that he may be an anarchist:
(A) negated says “Other texts of Thoreau directly contradict this view” and this clearly contradicts the conclusion so it is the correct answer. (B) negated says “All of Thoreau’s text support this view” This supports the conclusion so is NOT the correct answer. (C) negated means that there “were not other analyses which support the view.” While this might seem to contradict it, the lack of other pieces of support does not itself weaken the conclusion. (D) negated this means that “Not all of Thoreau’s texts support this view” This is not important as some of the other ones might be about other topics so this is also incorrect. (E) negated this means that “Thoreau was involved in some local politics” While some might think this contradicts the notion that he was an anarchist, you have no idea what the politics were about (maybe the politics of anarchy???). Correct answer is (A). 
 Q2. The view that Thoreau may have indeed been an anarchist depends on which of the following assumptions?

A. No other texts of Thoreau directly contradict this view.
 B. Not all of Thoreau’s texts support this view
 C. Other analyses of Civil Disobedience support this view.
 D. All of Thoreau’s texts support this view.
 E. Thoreau was not involved in some local politics.
 3 
 For (A), the passage does not suggest that he was an anarchist. It simply discusses that some people have used Thoreau’s language in Civil Disobedience to support that viewpoint. For (B), while two important works of Thoreau are mentioned, only Civil Disobedience is discussed in the passage. (C) is perfect as the passage exists to discuss Civil Disobedience and highlight its importance as a document in the field of political philosophy. For (D), the passage discusses some analysis of Thoreau’s work, but this is not the primary purpose of the passage and the passage does not question that analysis. For (E) the passage is about this one particular document of Thoreau, not Thoreau’s larger role as a political philosopher. The scope is wrong and the focus of the passage is the document, not Thoreau himself. Answer is (C). 
 Q3. The primary purpose of this passage is to:

A. suggest that Henry David Thoreau was an anarchist.
B. discuss two important works of Henry David Thoreau.
C. highlight the importance of a particular essay.
D. question the current analysis of Thoreau’s work.
E. discuss Thoreau’s importance as a political philosopher.

4 
 4. Which of the following statements would the author of the passage most likely agree with?

(A) Civil Disobedience is a more important work than Walden.
(B) Civil Disobedience lends itself to a variety of interpretations.
(C) Civil Disobedience is a text worthy of more attention than it receives.
(D) Thoreau intended for Civil Disobedience to be ambiguous.
(E) Civil Disobedience has influenced more positive political change than negative political change.

anmit123 · Answer

Q1-
The bold portion seeks to highlight what Thoreau meant by civil disobedience, hence B is the answer.

Q2-
Since it is an assumption question, answer will not be in the passage. Let us analyse options-
A-Seems correct (but do not mark for now in case there is a better option later on)
B-it is wrong since it does the opposite of what the question is asking.
C-Irrelevant
D-Seems correct
E-Irrelevant

Cannot decide between A & D, but since have to pick one, I would go with A since D is a bit extreme

Q3-
Again let us analyse options
A & B are definitely wrong, so are D & E
Only C remains.

gmat1393 · Answer

Skyline393

Please post OE for Question 2

Thanks!

Skyline393 · Answer

gmat1393 OE for all questions are in the Spoiler

warrior1991 · Answer

VeritasKarishma

Why the answer for question 1 cannot be C??

From above lines , I inferred two things:-

1.Civil Disobedience seems to call for improving rather than abolishing government
2. the direction of this improvement points toward anarchism

There is a quote after statement 2 "That government is best which governs not at all; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have."

So isn't the bold quotation supporting the quotation that follows??

Please help.

KarishmaB · Answer

The quote in bold is "I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government."

The quote that follows is "That government is best which governs not at all; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have."

These are somewhat different interpretations. The first quote says " I ask not for no govt" but the second says "That govt is best which doesn't govern". Hence the first quote does not support the second quote.

dharam44 · Answer

would someone like to question 2 ?
please explain why c is incorrect while a is correct ?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

Q2. The view that Thoreau may have indeed been an anarchist depends on which of the following assumptions?

Difficulty Level:   700-750

Explanation

As you will sometimes see in Reading Comp, this is a pure Critical Reasoning assumption question referencing one conclusion in the passage (that he might be an anarchist). As you do in CR, use the strategies that you have learned to attack that type of question. As is the case with many assumption style questions, many of the answer choices are presented negatively so you should use the assumption-negation technique. If you negate the correct answer in this assumption question, it should directly contradict the idea that he may be an anarchist:

(A)  negated says  “Other texts of Thoreau directly contradict this view”  and this clearly contradicts the conclusion so it is the correct answer.

(B)  negated says  “All of Thoreau’s text support this view”  This supports the conclusion so is  NOT  the correct answer.

(C)  negated means that there  “were not other analyses which support the view.”  While this might seem to contradict it, the lack of other pieces of support does not itself weaken the conclusion.

(D)  negated this means that  “Not all of Thoreau’s texts support this view”  This is not important as some of the other ones might be about other topics so this is also incorrect.

(E)  negated this means that  “Thoreau was involved in some local politics”  While some might think this contradicts the notion that he was an anarchist, you have no idea what the politics were about (maybe the politics of anarchy???).

Correct answer is (A).

Hope it helps

rajshekharghosh2 · Answer

Hi Can anyone please explain why A is not the answer for question #1.

"Thoreau is even sometimes cited as an anarchist. Though Civil Disobedience seems to call for improving rather than abolishing government", at first this passage says he is cited as an anarchist, then his works portray another picture of him.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

1. The author organizes the passage by

Difficulty Level:   700

Explanation

To answer this correctly, you must carefully read and analyze the section with the two quotations. While many people will pick  (A)  on this question, the quote is not being used to contradict this notion. It is used to show that while this portion might indicate he is for improving government, you must read the second quote to make a complete interpretation.

The quote is used to show how people could interpret Thoreau’s views in several ways, and thus it is correct to say that it is used to  “highlight one interpretation of his essay”  – that he was for better government.

For (C) , the purpose is not to support the quotation that follows, but rather show how people could interpret each portion in different ways.

For (D)  the quote is not used to show that he was purposefully vague (there is no evidence for that), but rather to show how people might have several interpretations.

Lastly, for (E) , that quote by itself suggests that he might be for better government, and thus not an anarchist. Also, even when you consider the second part of the quote, the author uses it not to make this suggestion, but rather to highlight how people could make different interpretations.

Answer: B

Hope it helps

aniket16c · Answer

Dear  VeritasKarishma   AjiteshArun   egmat 
Can you please clear the following doubts for question 2:

Q2. The view that Thoreau may have indeed been an anarchist depends on which of the following assumptions?

A. No other texts of Thoreau directly contradict this view.
B. Not all of Thoreau’s texts support this view
C. Other analyses of Civil Disobedience support this view.
D. All of Thoreau’s texts support this view.
E. Thoreau was not involved in some local politics.

My analysis:
Conclusion - He is an anarchist

I have a confusion between choice A and C
Negating choice A: 
Choice A: No other texts of Thoreau directly contradict this view.
Negation: No = 0, means the negation of No - some --> Some texts directly contradict this view.
So this does not counter the conclusion completely.

Choice C: Other analyses of Civil Disobedience support this view.
Negation: Other analyzes of Civil Disobedience do not support this view.
Thus the analyzes presented in the passage is the single view that supports the "anarchist" view. Hence, there is a flaw in this view and he is not an "anarchist".
Doesn't this option then counter the conclusion?

KarishmaB · Answer

But negation of (A) DOES contradict the conclusion.
Negated (A): Some texts of Thoreau directly contradict this view.

If Thoreau were to write that he does not support anarchy in some of his texts, we would know that he was not an anarchist. Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience points towards anarchism. Also, some analysis of Civil Disobedience blame Thoreau for ambiguity (there could be an anarchist interpretation of his theory). To conclude that Thoreau was an anarchist, we are assuming that he doesn't directly contradict anarchy. 
Hence (A) is the answer.

As for (C), even if other analyses do not think that he was an anarchist, it doesn't mean he wasn't. They provide no support to "he was an anarchist" doesn't mean they provide support to "he was not an anarchist". Hence (C) is not correct.

VJ25 · Answer

Hi Sajjad,

Can you pls provide OA for Q3. Thanks

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

Q3. The primary purpose of this passage is to:

Difficulty Level:   700

Explanation

For  (A) , the passage does not suggest that he was an anarchist. It simply discusses that some people have used Thoreau’s language in Civil Disobedience to support that viewpoint.

For  (B) , while two important works of Thoreau are mentioned, only Civil Disobedience is discussed in the passage.

(C)  is perfect as the passage exists to discuss Civil Disobedience and highlight its importance as a document in the field of political philosophy.

For  (D) , the passage discusses some analysis of Thoreau’s work, but this is not the primary purpose of the passage and the passage does not question that analysis.

For  (E)  the passage is about this one particular document of Thoreau, not Thoreau’s larger role as a political philosopher. The scope is wrong and the focus of the passage is the document, not Thoreau himself.

Answer is (C).

mahimabhagat108 · Answer

Can someone give the explanation for Question 4?

Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, aboliti

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GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, aboliti

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