SAT Critical Reading question

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Hi, I’m preparing for the SAT, and while taking some practice tests, I found a question that I could not understand its explanation.

(the passage for the following question can be found on pg. 9 of this link (or, as the page number goes, on pg. 414):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-SjC2QWxqXRX2NyZEMyTjBEVDA/view )

  1. "Something stubborn in me" (line 14) is used by the author as a reflection of her: (A) dislike of European styles of painting (B) determination not to be identified as a foreigner (C) desire to travel independently in a foreign city (D) compulsion to master a new language and culture (E) pride in her own accomplishments

Well, I got this question right, but I don’t fully comprehend the reasoning behind it. I used the process of elimination, not logical reasoning, when answering this question. Answers (A) through (D) seemed not at all true, and (E) was the most fitting answer to me. An answer explanation from a website was:

"… she’s afraid to find out that her accomplishments are so much of European influences. She wants to feel that she accomplished them on her own, in United States, of her own creation, and so forth. "

By the way, this was virtually the only explanation available on the internet. I tried to look up other answer explanations online for several minutes but I couldn’t. Since this test is from 1997, there isn’t any official answer explanation so far as I have found out. Speaking of which, the old tests used before 2005, contrary to what some may believe, isn’t completely useless. While the math section has entirely changed since 2005, the critical reading section is still valuable, except the analogy vocab questions.

I still do not understand the reasoning behind answer (E). I don’t really get the answer explanation from a website (quoted above). Where in the passage does the author state/infer/suggest that she wanted to feel that her accomplishments are from her own? And where does it say that she was afraid to find that that her accomplishments were of European influences?

Detailed and thorough explanation will be much appreciated :slight_smile:

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P.S. I just found out that the passage is on pg. 8 of the link above, not on pg. 9. Sorry for the confusion :smiley:

3

Lines 18-20 show that the narrator is afraid of challenges to her sense of independence and the things she perceived before as her own accomplishments.