CR Question

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1

<p>There are several kinds of stories, but only
one difficult kind-the humorous. The humorous
story is American; the comic story,
Line English; the witty story, French. The humor-
(5) ous story depends for its effect upon the manner
of the telling; the comic story and the
witty story upon the matter. The humorous
story may be spun out to great length, and
may wander around as much as it pleases, and
(10) arrive nowhere in particular; but the comic
and witty stories must be brief and end with a
point. The humorous story bubbles gently
along; the others burst.
Passage 2</p>

<p>Line American humor, neither transfiguringly
(15) lucid and appropriate like the French, nor
sharp and sensible like the Scotch, is simply
the humor of imagination. It consists in piling
towers on towers and mountains on mountains;
of heaping a joke up to the stars and extending
(20) it to the end of the world. With this distinctively
American humor Bret Hark had little or
nothing in common. The wild, sky-breaking
humor of America has its fine qualities, but it
must in the nature of things be deficient in two
(25) qualities, not only supremely important to life
and letters, but also supremely important to
humor---reverence and sympathy. And these
two qualities were knit into the closest texture
of Bret Harte's humor.</p>

<p>The author of Passage 1 would most likely respond to the next-to-last sentence of Passage 2 (lines 22-27) by
(A) denying that American humor is deficient in any significant way
(B) apologizing for the lack of reverence in the American humorous story
(C) noting that Bret Ham was not a particularly sympathetic writer
(D) arguing that little is actually known about the nature of humor
(E) agreeing with the author's assessment of the situation</p>

<p>The correct answer is choice A, strangely enough.
I re-read the passage and I can't note any highly positive/admiring tone from the author of the first passage. So, for him, to deny American humor is deficient in any significant way, is too extreme an answer.
I'm also not comfortable with my choice E.</p>

<p>Would anyone please explain to me why choice A is correct?</p>

2

<p>Let’s rule out B, C, and D.
Why did you choose E?
Find me a SINGLE word in that paragraph that suggests that he thinks that American humor is deficient. :)</p>

<p>So why is the answer A?
The author of passage 1 seems to be more supportive of American humor, and seems to be “marketing” American humor as the best one. So I’d say that he would probably disagree that American humor has deficiencies.</p>

3

<p>This suggests that he is at least critical of American humor:
“The humorous story may be spun out to great length, and may wander around as much as it pleases, and arrive nowhere in particular.”</p>

<p>On the other hand, I don’t see any indication that he is “marketing” American humor (except for the fact that the author is Mark Twain, an American humorist).</p>

4

<p>“The humorous story may be spun out to great length, and may wander around as much as it pleases, and arrive nowhere in particular.”</p>

<p>This is just a neutral description: Humorous story spins out to great length, wanders around as much as it pleases and arrives nowhere in particular <…> Humorous story bubbles gently along. <<— no criticizing in here, just an assessment</p>

5

<p>The author of the first passage says that only the humorous story is difficult, and that it is characteristically American. This indicates to me that he actually admires the humor in American stories. Although he mentions that humorous American stories wander (a viewpoint with which the second author agrees), the first author does not indicate that humorous American stories lack sympathy or reverence, the deficiencies noted by the second author.</p>