June 2010: Literature

<p>Ivoire: South Sea gods was definitely about the forbidden pleasures of London. There was nothing that suggested that the London museum was barren, it actually said the statues would be at home in it. It was right after the narrator discussed the poor quality/lack of the workers’ entertainment. South Sea gods was a contrast.</p>

<p>@sakuraino: the working class, for sure. (D) “Criminal element” made me LOL, no joke. But the working class is a no-brainer if you have any kind of background in the social consequences of the Industrial Revolution =)</p>

<p>@TomWolfe321: Okay so I read the passage again carefully, and this is what it says: </p>

<p>“No pictures, no unfamiliar animals, no rare plants or flowers, no natural or artificial wonders of the ancient world–all TABOO with that enlightened strictness, that the ugly South Sea gods in the British Museum might have supposed themselves at home again.”</p>

<p>It’s not absolutely clear that the British Museum is a forbidden pleasure. Also, why would Dickens describe the gods as “ugly” if they were, indeed, symbolic of presumably-desirably pleasures?
Anyway… it’s up for debate. I’m definitely not sure on that question at all.</p>

<p>No natural of artificial wonders for the workers. They’re taboo with the enlightened strictness I think means the strictness of social hierarchy. It’s a tough, ambiguous question…like all of them… :(</p>

<p>darn, I changed it to Puritanical middle class (or was it Puritanical working class? in that case, I’m right!), because of the religiousness - set on a Sunday…and the forbidden pleasures…seemed very Puritan, I guess…</p>

<p>Oh, on the Dickens passage, did you say it was a lament for loss of innocence or a criticism of the morals of a society?</p>

<p>@ jr5570: I think my answer choice was something about loss of culture or something like that</p>

<p>@jr5570: I’m fairly certain the answer is criticism of the morals of a society. Most of Dicken’s works champion social reform while criticizing certain aspects of the industrial revolution. Little Dorrit, which the excerpt was taken from, is no exception.</p>

<p>Hmm maybe the culture answer choice wasn’t for that question then… any ideas which passage/question it was from?</p>

<p>@TomWolfe321: Actually, the Industrial Revolution made the social hierarchy a little less strict (AP European History). But that was one of the toughest questions. Maybe THE toughest.</p>

<p>@jr5570: I said it was a criticism of the values of society. (i.e. morality). This is backed up by the following sentence right after the passage ended (it’s from Dickens’ book): </p>

<p>"…and make the best of it–or the worst, according to the probabilities. [END OF LIT EXCERPT] At such a happy time, so propitious to the interests of religion and morality… "</p>

<p>Furthermore, the Industrial Revolution was all about the abandonment of morality and religion, so much more than the loss of culture (although that played a part too).</p>

<p>@Except Me: I agree that Dickens’ work as a whole criticizes aspects of the industrial revolution, but this was one specific paragraph, and much of the language portrayed the working class as a group whose spirits were completely broken, thus leading me to believe that lamenting a loss of innocence was correct. “Morals” didn’t seem to be mentioned anywhere, unless I missed something, but language like “condemned souls” who were going about their business “despondently” was. I could be wrong though.</p>

<p>@jr5570: I don’t think loss of innocence would be correct, simply because it would imply that the working class was innocent to begin with, and was thereafter corrupted. Nowhere does it imply that they were wholly innocent. Overall, while the choice is not undeniably wrong, I believe that “a criticism on the values of society” i.e. morality, would be a better answer.</p>

<p>What about the question: What is the best meaning of the word “steeped” (from the London Passage)</p>

<p>@ Sakuraino: I remember the answer being to be immersed or something along those lines</p>

<p>@sakuraino: I said “immersed”. The other choices were “challenged”; “prepared”; and two others I forgot. None but “immersed” made plausible sense when inserted into the context.</p>

<p>Oh and from the passage about the woman with the brown bag, what was the answer to the question that said: Out of the following choices, which is most similar to the “jumble” of things? I put the Great Soul… but I’m not certain that is the answer.</p>

<p>@Sakuraino: I said immersed</p>

<p>@Ivoire: You could very well be right – I definitely wasn’t comfortable with either answer. By the way, for the South Sea gods question, I put the answer that said something to the effect of “a correlation between south sea taboos and enlightened strictness”</p>

<p>@Sakuraino: What were the other options?</p>

<p>I remember some more questions from Thoreau’s horse/train passage. All of the following describe the train EXCEPT: (I think my answer was the planetary motion one). Which of hte following IF statements does not function like the rest? (I put: "If the snow were… seed) Any ideas if these answers are right?</p>

<p>@sakuraino: The “jumble” of things were the individual experiences and personalities of people, inside the brown bags, which symbolized the bodies. “Great Soul” would not be likely because it implies a single entity, which is not at all like a “jumble” of stuff.
For the train one with the IF statements: all I remember is I got (B). For the EXCEPT question… I can’t remember precisely, sorry. But probably the one about the movement…?</p>

<p>@jr5570: lol, finally got my answer!!! Yes, I put the correlation too! Wow I feel so much more comfortable now! I might actually have a fighting chance of getting that one right now haha ;)</p>