Q13

[AyakiK696]

Hi, I got this question right but for some reason I got really tripped up by A versus B... I went with A in the end, but it was more of a whim. I thought that I could justify B by saying that, in analyzing Lichtenstein's work, it seems like the author's also getting at Lichtenstein's motivations, i.e. explaining WHY he created the type of art that he did (to parody consumer culture, etc)? I guess that's a bit of a stretch, since it's more the author analyzing what might have been Lichtenstein's intent... Not sure if I'm just approaching this question completely wrong. It's supposed to be easy so don't quite know why it tripped me up so much haha. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

[ohthatpatrick]

When you're answering Main Point or Purpose questions, refer back to the 1, 2, or 3 sentences you picked as the Most Valuable Sentences of the passage.

And if you're not picking MVS's, then start trying that.

I would have picked
line 5- 10, since it sounds the most like the author's summary of what we should know about L's work.

The rest of the passage seems to have a classic Clarify a Misconception purpose.

11 - That L's images were fine art was hard to see
15 - Standard art history holds _____
19 - (but) The truth is that _____
21 - Pop art painters weren't quarreling with ____ but with _____
31 - If rebellion were all L was doing, his work would only be ____
35 - (but) His work displayed ___, an urge to say _____

First the author had to clarify what L was rebelling against.
Then the author had to clarify that L was NOT simply rebelling.

(A) sounds way too boring to be a correct answer.

It's trying to appeal to students who didn't articulate a Purpose or didn't find specific ideas the author wanted to convey.

It's akin to if they had said
(A) talk about Lichtenstein
or
(B) summarize Lichtenstein's career

Almost all Arts/Humanities passages have one of two purpose:
1. Clarify a Misconception (often related to Defend against Criticism)
or
2. Highlight what Makes an Artist Noteworthy / Unique

"Expressing curiosity" would fit an author who was just probing, asking questions, not knowing the answer.

This author seems to have pretty confident impressions about what Lichtenstein was doing. More importantly, we can find specific lines to match up with (B), such as lines 19 - 30 and lines 31-38.

[AyakiK696]

Never thought about the Most Valuable Sentences technique -- will definitely start doing that! Thank you!