LSAT 149 | Section 2 | Reading Comprehension: Q25

RC Question 25 Explanation

DISCUSSION: The right answer will be directly supported by a line from the passage. The wrong answers are distractions that either aren’t in the passage, or that contradict Gilman’s beliefs.

It’s important to have a rough map of where details may be, and then skim the passage to confirm or disconfirm an answer.

___________

1. I don’t believe industrialization was mentioned in the passage. This answer is a distraction intending to hook you in case you associated the early 20th century with industrialization.
    
   Gilman did mention work, and social progress. But that isn’t the same thing as industrialization. We still have work and social progress now, but in the West we’re well past our industrialization era.
    
   Gilman did value work, but industrialization isn’t work and wasn’t discussed. Work is work.
2. CORRECT. The third sentence of paragraph 3 says that Gilman used her own fiction writing to urge women to change their roles in the workplace. So Gilman thought her own fiction writing was an instrument of social progress.
3. This isn’t mentioned. You are perhaps associating modern social liberals with a love of travel, but this relationship wasn’t mentioned in the passage.
4. Religion isn’t mentioned in the passage. Though as a prominent Darwinist, we wouldn’t necessarily expect Gilman to be a religious traditionalist.
5. The end of the third paragraph says Gilman valued cooperation over male traits such as aggression. This answer is the opposite of her belief.