Q18

[miaohualiu2014]

Could anyone please explain why A is the correct answer? When I saw "contrasting ideas" I immediately crossed it out, because in the first paragraph, it only mentioned that the Native American peoples did not share the same assumptions with the Europeans. It does not necessarily mean "contrasting ideas". Thanks!

[ohthatpatrick]

There is a general formula for when RC question stems end with
"in order to"
"primarily to"
"serves to"

They're asking "WHY did the author say it this way / bring up this detail?"

The formula?

The correct answer is usually just reinforcing the previous sentence
(or whatever Bigger Claim "bookends" the line reference they're pointing us to).

When we look at line 12-13, we want to consider "What bigger claim was the author making right before or after this?"

The author was saying that focusing on European-assisted "bicultural composite authorship" autobiographies, scholars are failing to address the cultural constructs of the NA peoples, who had different assumptions about self, life, and writing, as they relate to autobiography.

So how does "self, life, and writing" serve to underscore the author's larger, local point?

Seems like the author was saying, "You can imagine how different a purely NA autobiography would be, compared to a biculturally assisted one, since NA had different concepts of self, life, and writing, the three main ingredients of an autobiography."

(A) This is definitely true. It's a little underwhelming, but I'd keep it. It doesn't connect well to the broader local context, but it seems accurate.

(B) It was a contrast between NA and Europe, not early NA and modern NA.

(C) Huh? It's not about "introducing words into language". Two different cultures had their own words / their own concepts for these things.

(D) This is about highlighting a distinction, not positing a similarity.

(E) This line is specifically talking about how NA's had a unique sense of self, life, and writing. This line about the NA is definitely not telling the story of how Euro-autobiography arose.

It looks like
the correct answer is (A)

An assumption is an unstated idea, in the context of describing arguments.

Different assumptions are therefore different ideas.

[miaohualiu2014]

Thanks a lot. Your explanation made answer choice A a lot clear to me.

[HarleenS307]

Hi, for answer choice B - couldn't it be implied by the use of "prior to contact with non indigenous cultures..." that the author could be comparing pre and post contact Native Americans, in that their ideas of "self, life and writing" had changed?