The French novelist Colette (1873–1954) has been widely praised for th

Question

The French novelist Colette (1873–1954) has been widely praised for the vividness of her language. But many critics complain that her novels are indifferent to important moral questions. This charge is unfair. Each of her novels is a poetic condensation of a major emotional crisis in the life of an ordinary person of her time. Such emotional crises almost invariably raise important moral questions.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? 
 (A)  Critics who suggest that Colette’s novels are indifferent to great moral questions of her time greatly underestimate her literary achievements.
 (B)  A novel that poetically condenses a major emotional crisis does not have to be indifferent to the important moral questions raised by that crisis.
 (C)  To deserve the level of praise that Colette has received, a novelist’s work must concern itself with important moral questions.
 (D)  The vividness of Colette’s language was not itself the result of poetic condensation.
 (E)  Colette’s purpose in poetically condensing emotional crises in the lives of characters in her novels was to explore some of the important moral questions of her time.

abhishek31 · Answer

Hi, Can anyone explain why option B makes up as the right answer for the question?

robinfish2310 · Answer

Sure abhishek, 
So the passage tells us that the poet's poems raise indifference to the questions posed... The conclusion says that the poems do raise these moral questions... The assumption must be in the lines of the fact that.
If you raise moral questions... You need to be indifferent.. Which is explained by option B... Correct ne if I'm wrong cheers

Posted from my mobile device

KarishmaB · Answer

Colette has been praised for vividness of her language. (irrelevant to conclusion)
Critics complain that her novels are indifferent to important moral questions. 
Each of her novels is a poetic condensation of a major emotional crisis in the life of an ordinary person of her time. 
Such emotional crises almost invariably raise important moral questions.

Conclusion: This charge (her novels are indifferent to important moral questions) is unfair.

We are looking for an assumption - a necessary missing premise.

We are given that

Colette's novels are poetic condensations of emotional crisis.
Emotional crises raise imp moral questions. 
From this we want to say that her novels raise imp moral questions.

We are assuming that poetic condensations do not have to be indifferent to imp moral questions raised by the emotional crisis. That imp moral questions are not lost in poetic condensations. This is our option (B)

Let's try to negate (B): A novel that poetically condenses a major emotional crisis has to be indifferent to the important moral questions raised by that crisis.
Colette's novels do poetically condense major emotional crisis. So then, they must be indifferent to imp moral questions. Then our conclusion cannot hold. Hence (B) is an assumption.

All other options are irrelevant.

thakurarun85 · Answer

How the option B is better then E?

unraveled · Answer

See the passage's last sentence. Isn't it making a jump, which is what you look for first in assumption question, from emotional crises from her times to raising moral questions? Here the highlighted text is conclusion which is backed by reasoning given afterwords in the two sentences.

The French novelist Colette (1873–1954) has been widely praised for the vividness of her language. But many critics complain that her novels are indifferent to important moral questions.  This charge is unfair.  Each of her novels is a poetic condensation of a major emotional crisis in the life of an ordinary person of her time. Such emotional crises almost invariably raise important moral questions.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) Critics who suggest that Colette’s novels are indifferent to great moral questions of her time  greatly underestimate  her literary achievements. - WRONG . No relation between emotional crises and raising moral questions is provided.
(B) A novel that poetically condenses a major emotional crisis  does not have to be indifferent  to the important moral questions raised by that crisis. - CORRECT. Naturally, the condensation in a poem considered the vary aspect for which her critics complained. 
(C) To deserve the  level of praise  that Colette has received, a novelist’s work must concern itself with important moral questions. - WRONG. Point in wrong direction. Goes offtrack because of red text.
(D) The vividness of Colette’s language was not itself the  result of poetic condensation . - WRONG. Like C, this one also lost its way.
(E)  Colette’s purpose  in poetically condensing emotional crises in the lives of characters in her novels was  to explore  some of the important moral questions of her time. - WRONG. Whether it was to explore or it came naturally as pointed by option B, it was not about purpose. The relation between two is nowhere can be seen explained in this one.

HTHs.

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

The French novelist Colette (1873–1954) has been widely praised for th

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

The French novelist Colette (1873–1954) has been widely praised for th

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards