Official SAT II Literature thread

Shirobot
Sun, 09 Oct 2005 11:04:57 +0000

I believe I put self-sacrifice, hammer, but I don’t really remember the question. Wasn’t it something like, what was his offering of the chair, given the facts that he was enjoying it and that his action “gave a good deal of merit to his civility?” Well, he was enjoying something, but in a courteous act, he was willing to give it up, thus being willing to sacrifice his own desire. That’s what I saw in it, anyway. Obviously “self-sacrifice” wasn’t a major idea of the passage, but I believe (I’m not sure) it told us to focus on those facts/lines/whatever. Your answer, juenatics, makes me think I misread the question, though.

As for the cynicism one, I don’t really think the narrator was criticizing Arthur for any lack of sincerity, but rather commending him for his “civility.” Even if this commendation wasn’t extremely positive, it was hardly scornful, and being willing to give up the chair, sincere or not (which, again, I believe he was, but even if he wasn’t), is certainly not an action motivated by self-interest. In fact, I’d say this occurence helped me eliminate cynicism.

You honestly don’t think the narrator’s portrayal of Arthur was amusing, though?

“sitting next to the fire with a degree of enjoyment”
“he sat down again with much satisfaction”

To me, those images are rather amusing.

Furthermore…

“Arthur was… by no means indisposed to talk”

Looking at his dialogue, is this not an amusing understatement?

I also disagree about the theif and knowing something about jewelry. You are obtaining that interpretation from one comment. Overall, I think his attitude toward the rich is more prevalent throughout the piece. I couldn’t find the passage anywhere on the internet, so I’m going off of memory… His criticism of the maid simply seems to emphasize his criticism of the mother, which in turn further establishes his opinion on the rich. The maid is also somewhat of a symbol for the unwise allocation of responsibility by the mother, and (since maids are primarily associated with the rich) the rich as a whole. Also, his comment about how poverty hardened him develops his opinions about the rich by contrast. He never said it, but didn’t the question ask what can be “inferred” from the passage (or something like that)? Inferring is more than just looking for a spot where he says “I sure know a lot about jewelry,” or “man, I hate those rich people.” Maybe I’m reading into it too much, but I think looking at that one comment and saying that the passage implies he knows a lot about jewelry is reading into it too little.

Hmm… The answers seem to vary on this test quite a bit. Some of us will be wrong, others will be right, but most of this variance will even out eventually, and it will certainly help the curve. :D