Comparative Reading Answers and Explanations

Of course, both passages have the same topic: the interpretation of art. The scope of the passages is slightly different, though: in Passage A we're primarily concerned with the best approach for assessing art, while Passage B focuses in on the value of artistic interpretation overall.

Passage A: The author's main idea is that there is currently no clear standard for assessing the meaning and value of art. His purpose is simply to identify this problem.

Passage B: The main idea in passage B is that the interpretation isn't a valuable exercise. The author�s purpose is simply to argue that point.

Having assessed topic, scope, purpose and main idea just as we do in regular passages (except that we have two purposes/main ideas), we move on to the one step that differs in reading comparative passages: before moving on to the questions, we need to get a handle on the relationship between the passages.

The best starting point for that is to examine each passage's purpose/main idea. Passage A points out the need for clearer standards in order to make artistic interpretation valid and useful, while Passage B asserts that it is, by nature, neither. But there isn't a direct connection between the two passages—each author writes as though unaware of the other.

Since comparative passages are so short, we won�t need roadmaps. Once we have T/S/P/MI and the relationship between the passages in hand, we can jump into the questions. Remember to look first for those questions that refer to only one passage, and then to follow your usual order of operations with regard to question types.

1. This question refers to both passages, and it's not a global question, so it's not going to be the first one you attack, even though it's printed first. "Assumption" has the same meaning that it does in LR, so we're looking for something both authors treat as true without directly stating. There isn't much point of agreement between the two authors, but predicting may still be a challenge here, so you may have to assess the answer choices.

1. What did each author tell us, or imply, about Freudian interpretation? The author of Passage A doesn't talk about it at all, nor does he make any blanket statement about interpretation that could be extended. Eliminate.
2. Correct! What does Author A think about this? He wants us to find the "correct" approach to determining value, so he obviously thinks there's a right answer to the value question. And Author B? This one is a little trickier, but she tells us that the method of interpretation may be the screen that obscures "the true meaning and value" and may make an "accurate assessment of the worth of a work" impossible—she, too, thinks there is a "true" answer to the value question.
3. Author A wants us to find a clear approach to interpretation, so he must think it's a valuable undertaking—eliminate.
4. Author A seems to believe this, since he presents as a problem the fact that we lack a clear standard for determining the artist's actual intention, but Author B makes no reference to the artist's intention. Eliminate.
5. Author A mentions Plato's perspective, and disagrees with it�but not with this part. His issue with Plato had to do with art being valuable, not being imitative. Author B doesn't talk about Plato or his theory at all. Either is sufficient to eliminate answer choice (E).

2. A specific detail question, but one which requires reference to both passages.

1. This theory should sound familiar, but it's not Author A who advances this theory; it's B. Watch out for answer choices that cover the right perspectives, but attach them to the wrong passage.
2. Again, this is stated directly in Passage B, so it sounds familiar and might be tempting, but we're looking for something that's NOT mentioned in Passage B.
3. Author A does talk about the artist's intention, but this isn't his position—rather, he says we need better ways to determine the artist's actual intention. Eliminate.
4. Correct! Our authors are in agreement that there isn't a clear and consistent standard, so you might have been tempted to gloss over this one. That's a good reminder never to lose sight of exactly what the question has asked us for: we're looking for something Author A presents as a problem and Author B does not. Author B is against interpretation altogether, so she certainly won't see lack of a clear standard for interpretation as problematic.
5. That's Plato's view, but not one shared by either of our authors. Eliminate.

3. An inference question that, again, requires reference to both passages.

1. What do we know about our authors' views of the "best formula"? For Author A, absolutely nothing—he wants consistency, but he doesn't advocate for a particular approach. That alone may be enough to eliminate, but if you're not sure, look at Author B—she doesn't have a view on a "best" approach at all, since she thinks interpretation is a negative.
2. Author A doesn't take a position on the validity of any particular school of thought—or say anything at all about Freud. Eliminate.
3. Plato thought art was without value, or at least of very limited value. However, both of our authors talk about the ways in which the "true value" of a work of art can be assessed, so both clearly reject Plato's idea that it's without value—no disagreement on this point. Eliminate.
4. Only Author A talks about the artist's intentions; he clearly thinks they're significant, based on the last sentence of the passage. However, we get no indication of Author B's view of the significance of artist's intentions, so we have no evidence that they'd disagree. Eliminate.
5. Correct! Author A laments the fact that we haven't yet arrived at the correct approach, so clearly he thinks there is one; Author B, however, thinks we shouldn't be interpreting at all, so she'll hardly believe that there's a "right" way to do it.

4. The one and only question in this passage that focused on only one of the passages, so it should have been the first one completed, particularly since it's also an "author's attitude" question that should be easy to answer based on your initial groundwork. It's a question we can predict, at least loosely. What does Author B think about artistic interpretation? She doesn't like it. The Sontag quote about depleting the world "says it all".

1. Author B's outlook is consistent—she doesn't give any indication at any point that she has positive feelings about interpretation. We can eliminate (D) by the same reasoning.
2. Optimistic? The qualifying "cautiously" doesn't help much here—Author B is against interpretation, period.
3. Bingo. unfavorable = against. The answer choice might have given you pause because it's pretty stark, and we're accustomed to steering away from extreme language, but remember the exception: for extreme language to be correct, the language of the passage must be strong enough to support it. The author's statement that everything important about interpretation could be summed up in Sontag's very negative statement certainly warrants "unfavorable".
4. See the explanation for (A) above.
5. While the author is no fan of artistic interpretation, she gives no indication that she takes it lightly. Rather, she describes it as a rather destructive force.

5. The last paragraph of passage A says conflicts arise when different interpretive approaches are applied, and we don't have a clear idea what the artist intended, so it's hard to get a handle on the real meaning and value of the work. What would Author B say about all that? Well, the only thing we really know about Author B is that she thinks this whole interpretation thing is wrong-headed and unhelpful. Thus, we can predict that the part she'll take issue with is the idea that with a little consistency and better information about the artist's intent, we could get a handle on the meaning and value of a work.

1. Author B doesn't take any identifiable position on the importance of the artist's intention—eliminate
2. Correct! Author A is looking for the "right" approach, but Author B doesn't believe there's a "right" way to interpret.
3. Just one interpretive approach, and Author B seems to disdain them all equally�we have no reason to believe she'd like more emphasis on this one. Additionally, literally representation isn't even addressed in the piece of the passage the question stem points us to. Eliminate.
4. True, but would it be a problem for Author B? We have no reason to believe it would. Eliminate.
5. The discussion of content and form in Passage A takes place in the first paragraph, not the last. And the author of Passage B doesn't address the issue at all, so we don't know where she'd stand. Eliminate.

6. Before jumping into the choices, review the relationship between our two passages. Passage A says we have a problem because we don't have clear standards with which to interpret art and thus determine its meaning and value. Passage B says we don't need interpretation; it does more harm than good.

1. is a perfect match: the first document says we need accepted standards in order to do something, the second says we shouldn't be doing the something at all
2. Author A doesn't support any particular school of thought, and Author B doesn't praise the current processes—eliminate this on both counts
3. Passage A does mention three conflicting interpretations, but doesn't really describe them; more importantly, Passage B definitely doesn't advocate for one of the schools mentioned in Passage A. Eliminate.
4. Our passages aren't this disparate; their scopes are much closer, and neither provides detailed historical or technical data. Eliminate.
5. This answer choice involves criticisms of two different genres of fiction; our passages address the same issue from different perspectives, and don't provide a broad criticism of a particular genre or school of thought. Eliminate.

7. Like the previous question, this one deals with the relationship between the passages overall, and like the previous question, it asks us to abstract the concepts in order to find the right answer. However, this question calls our attention more to the structure of the arguments than to the substance, as illustrated by the answer choices.

1. Very specific illustrations? You might have been tempted by this at first glance, since Passage B contains direct quotes, but in fact there is no illustration to support the contentions of Author B. Eliminate.
2. The same conclusion? What would it be? Author A concludes we need clearer standards, while Author B thinks we should leave interpretation alone. Eliminate.
3. It's true that Passage A mentions various approaches, while Passage B does not, which might have made this choice tempting. However, Passage B is not limited in scope when compared with passage A—to the contrary, it includes all interpretation. Eliminate.
4. Correct! Passage A says we need clear rules of interpretation, Passage B says interpretation isn't going to work out, regardless of the rules we apply.
5. Passage B doesn't draw on any examples from Passage A. Eliminate.