T he next passages are based on philosophy and literature.You don’t have to be an expert in either sub- ject to answer the questions correctly. All the information you need is in the passage. Look for the main idea, words in context, and the topic sentence to help you understand the basic information. Then use your ability to make inferences based on the facts in the passage. Using all the available information in the pas- sage will help you identify ideas not explicitly stated in the text. SECTION Philosophy and Literature 9 85 The answers to this section begin on page 149. The fictional world of Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison’s novel Sula—the African-American section of Medallion, Ohio, a community called the Bottom—is a place where people and natural things are apt to go awry, to break from their pre- scribed boundaries, a place where bizarre and unnatural happenings and strange reversals of the ordinary are commonplace. The very naming of the setting of Sula is a turning upside-down of the expected; the Bottom is located high in the hills. The novel is filled with images of mutilation, both psychological and physical. A great part of the lives of the characters, therefore, is taken up with making sense of the world, setting boundaries, and devising methods to control what is essentially uncontrollable. One of the major devices used by the people of the Bottom is the seemingly univer- sal one of creating a _______________; in this case, the title character Sula—upon which to pro- ject both the evil they perceive outside themselves and the evil in their own hearts. 349. Which of the following words would best fit into the blank in the final sentence of the passage? a. scapegoat b. hero c. leader d. victim 350. Based on the description of the setting of the novel Sula, which of the following adjectives would most likely describe the behavior of many of its residents? a. furtive b. suspicious c. unkempt d. eccentric Don’t forget to look for the author’s attitude in the material you read. Is it positive, negative, or neutral? Ask yourself, how might the author have spoken if he or she had felt differently? The English language premiere of Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot took place in London in August 1955. Godot is an avant-garde play with only five characters (not including Mr. Godot, who never arrives) and a minimal set- ting: one rock and one bare tree. The play has two acts; the second act repeats what little action occurs in the first with few changes: The tree, for instance, acquires one leaf. In a statement that was to become famous, the critic, Vivian Mercer, has described Godot as “a play in which nothing hap- pens twice.” Opening night, critics and playgoers greeted the play with bafflement and derision. The line, “Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes. It’s awful,” was met by a loud rejoin- der of “Hear! Hear!” from an audience member. ____________________________________. However, Harold Hobson’s review in The Sunday Times managed to recognize the play for what history has proven it to be, a revolutionary moment in theater. – PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE– 86 351. Which sentence, if inserted in the blank space on the previous page, would make the best sense in the context of the passage? a. The director, Peter Hall, had to beg the theater management not to close the play immediately but to wait for the Sunday reviews. b. Despite the audience reaction, the cast and director believed in the play. c. It looked as if Waiting for Godot was begin- ning a long run as the most controversial play of London’s 1955 season. d. Waiting for Godot was in danger of closing the first week of its run and of becoming nothing more than a footnote in the annals of the English stage. 352. Judging from the information provided in the paragraph, which of the following statements is accurate? a. The 1955 production of Waiting for Godot was the play’s first performance. b. Waiting for Godot was written by Peter Hall. c. The sets and characters in Waiting for Godot were typical of London stage productions in the 1950s. d. Waiting for Godot was not first performed in English. 353. Which of the following provides the best defi- nition of the term avant-garde as the author intends it in the passage? a. innovative b. unintelligible c. foreign d. high-brow 354. Which of the following best describes the atti- tude of the author of the passage toward the play Waiting for Godot? a. It was a curiosity in theater history. b. It is the most important play of the twentieth century. c. It is too repetitious. d. It represents a turning point in stage history. – PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE– 87 In his famous study of myth, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell writes about the archetypal hero who has ventured outside the boundaries of the village and, after many trials and adventures, has returned with the b o on that will save or enlighten his fellows. Like Carl Jung, Campbell believes that the story of the hero is part of the collective unconscious of all humankind. He likens the returning hero to the sacred or tabooed personage described by James Frazier in The Golden Bough. Such an individual must, in many instances of myth, be insulated from the rest of society, “not merely for his own sake but for the sake of others; for since the virtue of holi- ness is, so to say, a powerful explosive which the smallest touch can detonate, it is necessary in the interest of the general safety to keep it within narrow bounds.” There is __________ between the arche- typal hero who has journeyed into the wilderness and the poet who has journeyed into the realm of imagination. Both places are dangerous and full of wonders, and both, at their deepest levels, are journeys that take place in the kingdom of the unconscious mind, a place that, in Campbell’s words, “goes down into unsuspected Aladdin caves. There are not only jewels but dangerous jinn abide . . . ” 355. The phrase that would most accurately fit into the blank in the first sentence of the second paragraph is a. much similarity. b. a wide gulf. c. long-standing conflict. d. an abiding devotion. 356. The title of Campbell’s book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, is meant to convey a. the many villagers whose lives are changed by the story the hero has to tell. b. the fact that the hero journeys into many different imaginary countries. c. the many languages into which the myth of the hero has been translated. d. the universality of the myth of the hero who journeys into the wilderness. 357. Based on the passage, which of the following best describes the story that will likely be told by Campbell’s returning hero and Frazier’s sacred or tabooed personage? a. a radically mind-altering story b. a story that will terrify people to no good end c. a warning of catastrophe to come d. a story based on a dangerous lie 358. Which of the following is the most accurate definition of the underlined word boon as the word is used in the passage? a. gift b. blessing c. charm d. prize 359. Based on the passage, which of the following would best describe the hero’s journey? a. wonderful b. terrifying c. awesome d. whimsical 360. As depicted in the last sentence of the passage, “Aladdin caves” are most likely to be found in a. holy books. b. fairy tales. c. the fantasies of the hero. d. the unconscious mind. – PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE– 88 This is an excerpt from Mark Twain’s short story “Roughing It.” Twain gives an eye-witness account of the operation of The Pony Express, the West’s first mail system. The little flat mail-pockets strapped under the rider’s thighs would each hold about the bulk of a child’s primer. They held many an important business chapter and newspaper letter, but these were written on paper as airy and thin as gold- leaf, nearly, and thus bulk and weight were econ- omized. The stagecoach traveled about a hundred to a hundred and twenty-five miles a day (twenty- four hours), the pony-rider about two hundred and fifty. There were about eighty pony-riders in the saddle all the time, night and day, stretching in a long, scattering procession from Missouri to California, 40 flying eastward, and 40 toward the west, and among them making 400 gallant horses earn a stirring livelihood and see a deal of scenery every single day in the year. We had a consuming desire, from the begin- ning, to see a pony-rider, but somehow or other all that passed us and all that met us managed to streak by in the night, and so we heard only a whiz and a hail, and the swift phantom of the desert was gone before we could get our heads out of the windows. But now we were expecting one along every moment, and would see him in broad day- light. Presently the driver exclaims: “HERE HE COMES!” Every neck is stretched further, and every eye strained wider. Away across the endless dead level of the prairie a black speck appears against the sky, and it is plain that it moves. Well, I should think so! In a second or two it becomes a horse and rider, rising and falling, rising and falling, rising and falling—sweeping toward us nearer and nearer—growing more and more distinct, more and more sharply defined—nearer and still nearer, and the flutter of the hoofs comes faintly to the ear—another instant a whoop and a hur- rah from our upper deck, a wave of the rider’s hand, but no reply, and a man and a horse burst past our excited faces, and go swinging away like a belated fragment of a storm! 361. Based on the tone of the passage, which of the following words best describes the author’s attitude toward The Pony Express rider? a. indifference b. fear c. bewilderment d. excitement 362. The sighting of the pony-rider is told from which viewpoint? a. a person sitting on a porch b. a passenger inside a stagecoach c. a passenger in a hot air balloon d. a person picnicking 363. The reader can infer that the stagecoach in the passage did NOT a. carry mail. b. have windows. c. travel by night. d. travel a different route from that of The Pony Express. 364. Which of the following is not supported by the passage? a. The mail was strapped in a pouch under the rider’s thighs. b. The rider rode great distances to deliver the mail. c. People did not care about The Pony Express rider. d. Usually eighty pony riders were in the sad- dle at any given time. – PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE– 89