GRE Literature in English (REA) (58 page)

215.
(D)

This is particularly evident when taken in the context of the previous line, in which Juliet compares herself to a consumer. The last two lines of the passage indicate that Juliet wishes to “enjoy” her new possession.

 

216.
(D)

Within the context of these lines, Faustus simply asks if Mephistopheles is so foolish as to think that Faustus imagines that there will be pain in the afterlife.

 

217.
(E)

Maya Angelou is widely recognized as one of the most important poets of our time. Her career has been marked by particular attention to the condition of being black in America and coping with the historical legacy of slavery and racism. The poem is ambiguous but at the same time is clearly metaphorical, with its other-worldly description of a bird cage high on a hill, that consciously sings of “freedom.” The metaphorical use of language, then, can help us eliminate choice (C). The figure of the bird can represent one who has imprisoned him- or herself from the social world at the same time as he or she longs to connect to the world (A), or it can more explicitly engage the literal imprisonment of men of color in America and the controversies of the high rate of incarceration among black men (B). The most likely answer is (D), an emphasis on the ways that racism and social inequality become restrictions of human development, a kind of cage that constricts real access to freedom but in which the mind can still find ways to articulate a desire for such freedom. While (D) then is most likely, (A) and (B) are not excluded, but (C) is clearly not appropriate given the language of the poem and the social concerns of the poet.

 

218.
(B)

Rand's work is known for its celebration of capitalism and its condemnation of collective forms of social organization. These themes are perhaps best seen in her most famous novels,
The Fountainhead
and the work in question,
Atlas Shrugged
. She is associated with a school of thought—objectivism—that is highly individualistic, and places an extreme emphasis on the drive for self-preservation and advancement as the energizing force of a progressive civilization. The excerpt equates those who put the needs of others before themselves—altruists, collectivists, communists—with murders, while celebrating the egoist who puts him- or herself and his or her own well-being first. The other choices are either the opposite of the theory expounded by Rand (A) or irrelevant to the passage (C), (D). Choice (E) represents a kind of writing that denies human agency in its fatalistic descriptions of the minute traumas of existence, and is inappropriate for Rand's emphasis on the “self-made” person.

 

219.
(A)

The historical clues of the passage should be unmistakable. The speaker has fled Germany after World War II, is in hiding in a remote apartment in a large city, and has been apprehended by Israeli authorities.

 

220.
(C)

The passage never touches on sexual themes, thus eliminating choice (B), and while the description of the squalor in which the speaker lives is vivid, he does not articulate a desire for material goods or a better standard of living (A). While the law is invoked in the reference to his arrest, he does not comment on whether or not this is unjust (D) and (E). By elimination, then we can identify the answer as (C). The return to the state of innocence can be positively identified by paying close attention to the speaker's longing to have his ordeal be over and to be released from the burden of his past—to be told that he, like the children in the game, can simply come out of hiding and go home. The image of children at play makes the scene powerfully evocative of a need to return to a less complicated time, a time before the speaker's involvement in the crimes for which he is being hunted. As a metaphor, Eden always carries connotations of the unfallen state of humanity, before corruption, before pain and guilt: all things from which the speaker seeks escape.

 

221.
(B)

The frequency of one line paragraphs and the absence of complicated diction makes (B) the correct answer choice. Answer (D) is not, strictly speaking, appropriate for prose, but even so the passage is bereft of a lofty or self-important tone. The words tend to be short and expressive, with very little elaborate or figurative language employed, making (A) incorrect. We cannot really judge whether this passage is derivative based on this small excerpt. With no obvious previous work being referenced, the conventionality and simplicity of the language makes (C) also incorrect.

 

222.
(A)

In this passage, we see many allusions to the singularity of the figure it describes: he is like a star and is distanced from the world that has “melted away.” The lack of desire to return to “home” or a “father” helps us both eliminate answer (B) and identify answer (A) as correct. In the line “More firmly himself than ever,” we can see the subject of the passage in the struggle of becoming and finding meaning in disconnection from one's surrounding environment. Choice (C) could only result from a very sloppy reading of the text that fails to recognize the reference to childbirth as figurative. Choices (D) and (E) are both plausible, but can be eliminated. As far as (D) is concerned, there is a lack of any specific mention of an evil that needs to be destroyed, and while the passage certainly invokes the fear of the subject at his new state, this seems to be quickly overcome, as he “impatiently” goes forward into the unknown, rather than returning to the familiar.

 

223.
(B)

The Handmaid's Tale
is a futuristic allegory about the oppression of women and the dangers of fascism. The passage's attention to details that are foreign to present day readers marks it as set out of our time, eliminating choice (E), while the technological apparatuses depicted let us know that the setting could not be that of answers (A), (C), or (D). Answer (B) is suggested not only by the technology of the Compuchek, but also by the attention to the fascistic uniforms and titles of the “Guardians,” and the grim picture of authority and surveillance that is suggested.

 

224.
(C)

Throughout the passage, the critic makes connections between the character discussed (Huck Finn) and the larger context of American civilization, instructing the reader as to what Huck represents in the American psyche.

 

225.
(B)

Although the critic refers to the title character of Hawthorne's short story
Young Goodman Brown,
a careful reading of the passage reveals that the third-person pronouns refer to “Huck,” as in Huckleberry Finn, of Mark Twain's famous novel.

 

226.
(D)

In elucidating the poem's imagery in terms of sexuality and emotions, the critic is seeking to explore the poet's feelings and psychological state of mind.

 

227.
(B)

Allegory involves a narrative in which the characters, objects, actions, and themes represent more than their literal meanings. Allegory requires that these metaphors function in a coordinated fashion to create one or more alternate intentions. This distinguishes it from symbolism.

 

228.
(E)

Taken from Franz Kafka's
Metamorphosis,
this passage describes Gregor Samsa, who turns into a beetle. While there is every indication that the protagonist in this passage is not human, there is nothing to suggest that “he” is a snake.

 

229.
(D)

Although not actually named as such in the passage (taken from
Barbie-Q
, by Sandra Cisneros), the items in the Mattel boxes would naturally be accessories for dolls, quite possibly made for Barbie dolls. Note the setting of the passage: a flea market, instead of a hardware or department store.

 

230.
(E)

Considering the loving attention paid to the description of the items (compared, for example, to the other objects listed but not described), and the repetition of “please” at the end of the passage, the reader may reasonably deduce that the protagonists' feelings about the items border on the fanatical, as opposed to an indifferent (A), a negative [(B) or (C)], or a merely pleased (D) response.

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