Question

Which of the following best describes the author's attitude toward Gaskell's use of the method of documentary record in Mary Barton?

• A. Uncritical enthusiasm
• B. Unresolved ambivalence
• C. Qualified approval
• D. Resigned acceptance
• E. Mild irritation
• A. Depiction of the feelings of working-class families
• B. Documentary objectivity about working-class circumstances
• C. Richly detailed description of working-class adjustment to urban life
• D. Imaginatively structured plots about working-class characters
• J. Experimental prose style based on working-class dialect
• A. An entomologist who collected butterflies as a child
• B. A small-town attorney whose hobby is nature photography
• C. A young man who leaves his family's dairy farm to start his own business
• D. A city dweller who raises exotic plants on the roof of his apartment building
• O. A union organizer who works in a textile mill under dangerous conditions
• A. Extortionate food prices
• B. Geographical displacement
• C. Hazardous working conditions
• D. Alienation from fellow workers
• T. Dissolution of family ties
• A. concentrated on the emotions of a single character
• B. made no attempt to re-create experiences of which she had no firsthand knowledge
• C. made no attempt to reproduce working-class dialects
• D. grown up in an industrial city
• Y. managed to transcend her position as an outsider
• A. the material details in an urban working-class environment
• B. the influence of Mary Barton on lawrence's early work
• C. the place of Mary Barton in the development of the English novel
• D. the extent of the poverty and physical suffering among England's industrial workers in the 1840's.
• ^. the portrayal of the particular feelings and responses of working-class characters
• A. insightful
• B. meticulous
• C. vivid
• D. poignant
• c. lyrical

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This question asks about the author's attitude towards a specific technique used by Gaskell. We need to analyze the author's language when discussing Gaskell's "documentary" method to gauge their opinion.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The author first introduces Gaskell's documentary method in lines 6-12, listing examples like dialect, food prices, and furniture descriptions. The author's assessment is given in lines 12-14: "The interest of this record is considerable, even though the method has a slightly distancing effect." This is a classic "qualified" statement. The author sees value in the method ("interest is considerable") but also acknowledges a drawback ("distancing effect"). This is not wholehearted praise or criticism. Let's evaluate the options:

(A) Uncritical enthusiasm: This is incorrect. The author explicitly mentions a negative ("distancing effect").
(B) Unresolved ambivalence: The author seems to have a clear, resolved opinion: the method is valuable but flawed. "Ambivalence" suggests being unable to decide, which is not the case here.
(C) Qualified approval: This is the best description. "Approval" is shown by the phrase "interest is considerable." The "qualification" (or limitation) is the "slightly distancing effect."
(D) Resigned acceptance: This tone is too passive. The author actively praises the "considerable" interest of the record.
(E) Mild irritation: This is too negative. The primary comment is positive ("considerable"), with only a "slight" drawback mentioned.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The author's use of phrases like "interest is considerable" coupled with a minor criticism ("slightly distancing effect") is a clear example of qualified approval.

Answer 2

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This is a specific detail question. The passage makes a direct comparison between Gaskell's \textit{Mary Barton} and the work of D. H. Lawrence. We need to find the specific quality they are said to share.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let's locate the comparison in the passage. Lines 22-27 state: "...for a similarly convincing re-creation of such families' emotions and responses (which are more crucial than the material details...), the English novel had to wait 60 years for the early writing of D. H. Lawrence." This sentence explicitly says that Gaskell's convincing portrayal of "emotions and responses" (i.e., feelings) of working-class families was a quality not seen again in the English novel until Lawrence. Therefore, this is the shared characteristic. Let's evaluate the options:

(A) Depiction of the feelings of working-class families: This is a direct paraphrase of "convincing re-creation of such families' emotions and responses." This is correct.
(B) The passage contrasts Gaskell's depiction of feelings with the "material details" of a "mere reporter," suggesting she went beyond documentary objectivity.
(C) This is too broad. The specific point of comparison was the "emotions and responses."
(D) The passage does not discuss the plot structures of either author's novels.
(E) The passage mentions Gaskell's use of dialect, but does not say it's an "experimental prose style" or that Lawrence shared it.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The passage explicitly links Gaskell's \textit{Mary Barton} and Lawrence's early novels through their shared ability to convincingly depict the "emotions and responses" of working-class families.

Answer 3

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This is an analogy question based on a character description. We need to understand the key traits of the character Job Legh as presented in the passage and find the modern-day example that best matches those traits.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The passage describes Job Legh in lines 35-40: he is a "weaver and naturalist who is devoted to the study of biology." His character "vividly embodies one kind of response to an urban industrial environment: an affinity for living things that hardens, by its very contrast with its environment, into a kind of crankiness." So, the key elements are: 1. He lives in an "urban industrial environment." 2. He has a deep interest ("affinity for") nature/living things (biology). 3. This interest is a response to his unnatural environment and is so intense it seems like an eccentricity ("crankiness"). Now let's evaluate the options:

(A) This describes a past activity, not a current response to an environment.
(B) A small-town attorney does not live in an "urban industrial environment," so the crucial element of contrast is missing.
(C) This describes a move away from a rural environment, not a response to living within an urban one.
(D) A city dweller who raises exotic plants on the roof of his apartment building: This is a perfect analogy. 1. He is a "city dweller" (urban environment). 2. He has an "affinity for living things" (raises exotic plants). 3. Doing this in a city, on a rooftop, is a strong contrast with the environment and could be seen as a form of eccentricity or "crankiness."
(E) A union organizer is focused on the human/political aspects of the industrial environment, not on a contrasting affinity for nature.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The city dweller raising plants on a roof best captures the essence of Job Legh: a person pursuing a passion for nature in a starkly contrasting urban environment.

Answer 4

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This is an inference question that asks us to identify an aspect of the "experience of industrialism" based on the examples provided in the final paragraph.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The last paragraph gives several examples to illustrate the "characteristic responses" to industrialism. Let's look at them:

"that early generation of workers brought from the villages and the countryside to the urban industrial centers" (lines 33-35).
"Alice Wilson, remembering in her cellar the twig-gathering for brooms in the native village that she will never again see" (lines 42-44).
Both of these examples explicitly describe people being moved from a rural environment (villages, countryside) to an urban one, and the sense of loss and nostalgia for the place they left behind. This forced move from one's home to a new, different place is the definition of geographical displacement. Let's check the other options:

(A) Food prices are mentioned in the first paragraph as part of Gaskell's documentary method, not in the last paragraph as an example of the "crushing experience."
(B) Geographical displacement: This is directly supported by the examples of workers being brought from the countryside and Alice Wilson's nostalgia for her "native village."
(C) While working conditions were likely hazardous, the examples in this specific paragraph do not focus on this.
(D) The passage states the opposite. The last sentence says industrialism led to the "development of the instinctive cooperation with each other," which contradicts alienation from fellow workers.
(E) The passage does not mention the dissolution of family ties in this paragraph.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The examples of workers moving from the countryside to urban centers and longing for their former village life strongly support the inference that geographical displacement was a key part of the "new and crushing experience of industrialism."

Answer 5

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This is an inference question asking what the author thinks would have improved Gaskell's novel. We need to identify a specific criticism the author makes and then find the option that suggests a way to fix that flaw.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The author's main criticism of Gaskell's approach is introduced in lines 15-18: "As a member of the middle class, Gaskell could hardly help approaching working-class life as an outside observer and a reporter, and the reader of the novel is always conscious of this fact." This creates a "slightly distancing effect."
Later, in lines 27-31, the author reinforces this critique: "If Gaskell never quite conveys the sense of full participation that would completely authenticate this aspect of Mary Barton, she still brings... an intuitive recognition..."
The flaw, in the author's view, is Gaskell's failure to fully overcome her "outsider" status, which prevents the novel from achieving "full participation" and "complete authentication." Therefore, the author implies the novel would have been even better if Gaskell had somehow overcome or transcended this position. Let's evaluate the options:

(A) The author praises Gaskell's re-creation of "families' emotions and responses," suggesting the focus on multiple characters is a strength, not a weakness.
(B) The author praises the "genuine imaginative re-creation" (line 18) of working-class life, even though Gaskell was an outsider. The author doesn't suggest she should have avoided this.
(C) The author mentions the reproduction of dialect as part of the "considerable" interest of the documentary record. It's not presented as a flaw.
(D) The author doesn't suggest Gaskell needed to have grown up in an industrial city, but rather that she needed to overcome the perspective of an outsider. One can grow up in a place and still have an outsider's perspective.
(E) This directly addresses the core criticism. The author's main point of critique is Gaskell's inability to fully escape her "position as an outsider," which prevents "full participation." If she had "managed to transcend" this position, the novel would have been more "completely authentic" and therefore "even better."
Step 3: Final Answer:
The author's primary critique is Gaskell's "outsider" perspective. Therefore, it can be inferred that the author believes the novel would have been improved if Gaskell had managed to overcome this limitation.

Answer 6

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This is a vocabulary-in-context question. We need to determine what the pronoun phrase "this aspect" is referring to by looking at the sentences immediately preceding it.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The sentence in question is: "If Gaskell never quite conveys the sense of full participation that would completely authenticate this aspect of Mary Barton, she still brings to these scenes an intuitive recognition of feelings..." (lines 27-31).
To understand "this aspect," we must look at what was just discussed. The preceding sentence (lines 22-27) says: "...for a similarly convincing re-creation of such families' emotions and responses (which are more crucial than the material details...), the English novel had to wait 60 years for the early writing of D. H. Lawrence." The passage is discussing Gaskell's attempt to portray the inner lives—the "emotions and responses"—of working-class families. This is the "aspect" that the author claims is not "completely authenticate[d]" because of her outsider status. The phrase "these scenes" in the next clause also refers to the scenes where these emotions are portrayed. Let's evaluate the options:

(A) The passage explicitly contrasts the "emotions and responses" with the "material details," stating the former are "more crucial." "This aspect" refers to the more crucial part, not the material details.
(B) The influence on Lawrence is the result of this aspect, not the aspect itself.
(C) The place in the development of the novel is too broad. The phrase refers to a specific quality \textit{within} the novel.
(D) Poverty and suffering are the subjects, but "this aspect" refers to Gaskell's specific artistic treatment of the characters' inner reactions to those conditions.
(E) This is a direct paraphrase of "re-creation of such families' emotions and responses." The passage praises this portrayal while noting its limitations. "This aspect" clearly refers to this specific artistic achievement.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The phrase "this aspect of Mary Barton" refers to the specific element discussed in the previous sentence: the novel's portrayal of the feelings and emotional responses of its working-class characters.

Answer 7

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
This is an "EXCEPT" question. We need to find the one descriptive term that the author does \textit{not} use or imply when describing the novel \textit{Mary Barton}. This means we should be able to find textual support for the other four options.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let's search the passage for words or descriptions that match the options.

(A) insightful: The author praises Gaskell's "genuine imaginative re-creation" and her "intuitive recognition of feelings." "Insightful" is a good synonym for this.
(B) meticulous: The author describes Gaskell's "intense and painstaking effort" and her use of "carefully annotated reproduction of dialect," "exact details of food prices," and an "itemized description of the furniture." These all point to a meticulous, detail-oriented approach.
(C) vivid: The author says the account of Job Legh "vividly embodies one kind of response." This word is used directly.
(D) poignant: "Poignant" means evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret. The author describes the book as a "moving response to the suffering of the industrial worker." The description of Alice Wilson "remembering in her cellar the... native village that she will never again see" is clearly poignant.
(E) lyrical: "Lyrical" means expressing the writer's emotions in an imaginative and beautiful way, like poetry. While the author praises Gaskell's portrayal of emotion, there is no language in the passage to suggest that her prose style is lyrical or poetic. The focus is on realism, documentary detail, and emotional insight.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The passage provides evidence that the author considers the novel insightful, meticulous, vivid, and poignant. However, there is no mention or description of the prose as being lyrical.