<p>Question from Online Test #7:</p>
<p>Passage 1 is by Dorothy Sayers; Passage 2 is adapted from a work by Raymond Chandler. </p>
<p>Passage 1 </p>
<pre><code> The detective story does not and cannot attain the
</code></pre>
<p>loftiest level of literary achievement. Though it deals
with the most desperate effects of rage, jealousy, and
revenge, it rarely touches the heights and depths of<br>
human passion. It presents us with an accomplished
fact, and looks upon death with a dispassionate eye. It
does not show us the inner workings of the murderer’s
mind—it must not, for the identity of the criminal is
hidden until the end of the book. The most successful<br>
writers are those who contrive to keep the story running
from beginning to end upon the same emotional level,
and it is better to err in the direction of too little feeling
than too much. </p>
<p>Passage 2 </p>
<pre><code> I think what was really gnawing at Dorothy Sayers in
</code></pre>
<p>her critique of the detective story was the realization that
her kind of detective story was an arid formula unable to<br>
satisfy its own implications. If the story started to be about<br>
real people, they soon had to do unreal things to conform
to the artificial pattern required by the plot. When they did<br>
unreal things, they ceased to be real themselves. Sayers’<br>
own stories show that she was annoyed by this triteness.
Yet she would not give her characters their heads and let<br>
them make their own mystery. </p>
<p>The Question:</p>
<p>Which of the following characteristics of detective stories presented in Passage 1 would be LEAST likely to be attributed to the “pattern” mentioned in line 19, Passage 2 ?</p>
<p>(A) “cannot attain the loftiest level of literary achievement” (lines 1-2)<br>
(B) “deals with the most desperate effects of rage, jealousy, and revenge” (lines 2-4)<br>
(C) “presents us with an accomplished fact” (lines 5-6)<br>
(D) “looks upon death with a dispassionate eye” (line 6)<br>
(E) “does not show us the inner workings of the murderer’s mind” (lines 7-8)</p>
<p>Can anyone explain in detail why the answer to this question is B? The online explaination isnt detailed enough. What I think is that the author of Passage 2 believes that the formula calls for "unreal" human characteristics. The emotions are human characteristics, something normal and human/"Real" so that is why choice B would be least likely to follow the formula. Can anyone else give me their thoughts on how they reasoned this out (All answer choices)?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>