LSAT 146 | Section 4 | Reading Comprehension: Q9

RC Question 9 Explanation

DISCUSSION: Matthew Arnold was mentioned in lines 36-41. He described the aristocracy and middle classes as Barbarians and Philistines, respectively.

Those are rather insulting terms. Arnold clearly didn’t think much of the upper classes.

___________

1. “Barbarian” is not typically considered a respectful term. To check, try calling your professor a barbarian the next time you see them, and note their reaction.
2. Empathy = understanding. “Barbarian” originally referred to a foreign people so backwards and crude it wasn’t even worth understanding them.
3. If you’re indifferent to someone, you wouldn’t bother talking about them. Yet Arnold wrote an essay about the upper classes, and insulted them. Clearly, he cared.
4. Disappointment implies you once had higher hopes. But we have no evidence that Arnold ever though well of the upper classes.
5. CORRECT. This is the best word. Scorn = Arnold despises the upper classes. Which he did; Barbarian and Philistine are major insults.
    
   You may have been told to avoid answers that are “too strong”. Rubbish. Arnold uses strong insults, so a “strong” answer is called for.