Q11

[lhermary]

How is the answer C for this question?

"Had he looked at the work of Frank, Eugene or Henry, Stilgoe's case would have been much stronger" But Stilgoe believed that there was a major "romantic era distrust" for the rail-road. If Stilgoe's case would have been stronger if he used these sources then would that it indicate that their view was more negative towards the railroad then the other writers (who were ambivalent)?

Thanks

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

The three writers in the question stem are discussed in lines 51-53. Immediately after the passage states, "the point is that the sharp contrast between the enthusiastic supporters of the railroad in the 1830s and the minority intellectual dissenters during that period extended into the 1880s and beyond." That's the author's view asked about it in the question stem. So who are the intellectual dissenters? They would be Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Who are the enthusiastic supporters? They would be Frank Norris, Eugene O'Neill, and Henry Adams. Hence, we can infer answer choice (C).

Incorrect Answers

(A) is unsupported. Just because Stilgoe didn't look at their works does not mean they were not wildly popular.
(B) is out of scope. We are not told the medium of their works.
(D) is out of scope. We are not told the medium of their works.
(E) is unsupported. While the latter part about a difference in attitude may be true, we do not learn that they were influenced by Thoreau.