LSAT 158 | Section 1 | Reading Comprehension: Q8

RC Question 8 Explanation

DISCUSSION: The question asks about what society thinks of the picaro. The second paragraph discusses picaro stories: the answer to this question is in the second half of that paragraph.

The line starting with “to such a society” says society views the picaro as dangerous. If you read the previous sentence, you find out why: the picaro’s authenticity stands in contrast to society’s apparent hypocrisy.

(We can infer that by pointing out society’s hypocrisy, the picaro may force society to live more openly. To avoid that, society marginalizes the picaro)

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1. Physical injuries aren’t mentioned in the stimulus. You might have thought “vice” meant murder, but the passage talks about the kind of vices that people decry yet secretly practice. People don’t secretly murder people en mass! The passage means vices people actually routinely do: people drink, gamble, smoke, have affairs, cheat at cards, etc.
2. The passage doesn’t mention political structures either. The picaro does threaten to upset social conventions, but that isn’t the same thing as, say, ending the Spanish monarchy. The personal may be political, but the personal is not a political structure.
3. The picaro is marginalized BECAUSE he reveals others’ hypocrisy, not the other way around. This answer confuses sufficient and necessary: not everyone marginalized by society is dangerous or powerful.
4. CORRECT. Paragraph 2 describes how the picaro does openly what others in society do secretly, and thus forces them to confront their hypocrisy.
5. Paragraph 2 says that the consequence of the picaro’s disruptive freedom is marginalization. Marginalization is a serious consequence!