<p>"Filling blanks" wasn't meant to refer to the fable as falsehood. It was referring to his jumbling biographical pieces of his father, which, when completed, was a riddle (enigmatic). </p>
<p>Oh by the way, what did you guys pick for the meaning of "rough" (rough sequence in the passage) in the context?</p>
<p>To threehittolumby: he wants to learn about his father, simple as that. </p>
<p>Edify is usually meant to "enlighten". Read J.D. Salinger's "For Esme with Love and Squalor" and it's on the first page.</p>
<p>^I put "approximate" because all the others were wrong. :)</p>
<p>enigma and edifying! everyone else is wrong because i said so!</p>
<p>puzzlement & fabricating</p>
<p>Rough was approximate.</p>
<p>And he's not learning a lesson, he's learning more about his dad through what's left behind (essays, stories from mom, etc.) He speaks out against filling in the blanks, against fabricating ideas about his dad.</p>
<p>Enigmatic/edifying</p>
<p>hey, highopes, you got it exactly right. He wants to learn more about his dad. He needs to be edified, but he suggests that such fable is not available to him.</p>
<p>And he was not criticizing himself for fabricating. In fact he was not fabricating at all. He said he was making a rough sequence of biographical facts, which is as unintelligible and enigmatic as a riddle.</p>
<p>I was down to "fabricating" and "edifying." </p>
<p>I chose "edifying."</p>
<p>I thought about that question for awhile when I was taking the test, and went with edifying. In retrospect, I wouldn't change it. That's always a good feeling, right? :)</p>
<p>I also limited it down to puzzlement/fabricating and enigmatic/edifying, but I went with the latter for no good reason, really...</p>
<p>puzzlement/fabricating is defnitely correct. No need to write to CB.</p>
<p>I pondered this question for awhile both during the test and now. In retrospect, I stick by my answer of edifying.</p>
<p>Come on, what was he fabricating? He was gathering information about his dad from various sources. He wasn't inventing or creating anything, nor was anything being invented. He was learning about his dad, being enlightened by the little information available, but he began to think of the whole situation as more of an enigma, something hard to decipher.</p>
<p>My final word is.....can anyone provide me with a newspaper article (such as NY Times and other reputable sources) or any literary example of fable representing "fabrication" for "falsehood"? </p>
<p>For story with something to learn, I have many examples.</p>
<p>For falsehood, why, I bet Obama's 2008 victory that there's scarely an example.</p>
<p>I put down puzzlement/fabricating. </p>
<p>The way I looked at it, the author said something along the lines of anyone can compile a story with a bunch of different letters/memories. He felt that by making a story, it distorts the meaning of the original content. In fact he didn't want to misrepresent what little he knew about his father, by trying to linking them together. Therefore I put down, fabricating even though it doesn't DIRECTLY mean fable.</p>
<p>This is just how I approached this question.</p>
<p>i will shave my head if the answer is not enigmatic/edifying</p>
<p>It became enigma but not a fable ( a coherently instructive or meaningful story like that of Jesus.)</p>
<p>i will shave my head if the answer is not enigmatic/edifying
^ LOL. I will eat my socks. That's how confident I am.</p>
<p>It's puzzling. I'll eat my socks while shaving my head if I'm wrong. Atleast, thats what I'll tell you. ;)</p>