Problem
Each member of a research group visited either the Virgin Islands or Hawaii...
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GRE: Reading Comprehension Question #1 |
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Although Dorothy Wordsworth was convinced that her journal entries were not literature, they were seamlessly incorporated by her brother William into some of his most famous poems, altered only by his use of the first-person pronoun, the "I." The important question concerning the relationship between Dorothy and William, however, is not whether William's borrowings constituted exploitation, but rather how the relationship contributed to Dorothy's inability to conceive of herself as a writer.
Traditionally in literature, the authorial self, the "I," is identifiably masculine. The dominated "other" is feminine. In William's poems, the "other" is usually Nature, often personified as Dorothy. While these literary roles helped to sustain the close relationship between the two in real life, they also reinforced Dorothy's acceptance of the norms which defined her as "other." Thus, her access to authorial self-consciousness was blocked not just by the fact of her gender, but also by her accepted role in her brother's life and poetry.
Question:The passage is primarily concerned with answering which of the following questions?
Choices:
This short humanities passage is about Dorothy Wordsworth and her relationship with her brother, William. More specifically it is about how that relationship affected her attitude to her own writing, and her view of herself as a writer.
The first paragraph gives you a big hint as to what the whole passage is about when it says "The important question is." Take note of this. Not surprisingly, the entire second paragraph is spent answering this "important question." The main idea raised in paragraph #1 and discussed in paragraph #2 is "how [Dorothy and William's] relationship contributed to Dorothy's inability to conceive of herself as a writer." Answer choice (E) best summarizes the preceding quote.
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