LSAT 65, Reading Comprehension, Q7, LSATHacks

RC Question 7 Explanation, by LSATHacks

DISCUSSION: The question references lines 50-55. In those lines, the author claims that the Latina authors revolutionized autobiography. 

Revolutionizing autobiography would require two things:

1. The Latinas were the first to use these new techniques.
2. The Latinas’ autobiographies influenced how other authors wrote autobiographies.

If the Latinas weren’t first, or if nobody paid attention to them, then they couldn’t have revolutionized the field of autobiography.

___________

1. This answer is complex and may sound like nonsense. If you don’t understand an answer, focus on it one part at a time. Use the sections you understand to isolate the sections you don’t.
    
   ‘Chronological linear prose’ is traditional autobiography, the opposite of what Latina authors use. This answer says that since the Latina autobiographies came out (around 1985) few authors have been recognized for using that traditional style. This suggests that the Latina authors had an impact and it strengthens the argument. We want to weaken the argument.
2. The author claimed that all autobiography was revolutionized, not just Latina autobiography.
    
   So the number of critically acclaimed Latina autobiographies doesn’t matter. Maybe there simply aren’t that many Latina autobiographies.
    
   What matters is whether there were other, non-Latina autobiographies that adopted the innovative techniques used by these Latinas. That would mean that the Latina autobiographies had influenced autobiography as a whole. This answer doesn’t disprove that possibility.
3. ‘Some’ is a vague word. This answer could mean that 3 out of 1,000 autobiographies use a traditional structure. Who cares?
4. CORRECT. This shows that earlier autobiographies used the same structure that these new Latina autobiographies used. So the Latina autobiographies were not necessarily that innovative in their style.
5. Who cares about books that aren’t autobiographies? The author’s claim was only about autobiographies.

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