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Questions 13-24 are based on the passages located below
The following two passages consider the role of pride in the lives of several literary characters.Passage 1
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| Excessive pride is a distasteful quality that
alienates people. However, pride that is based on a healthy
sense of self-worth is a very appropriate trait to have
because it can dignify us and help us overcome hardship.
Pride is also an effective defense against people who try
to make others feel inferior, attack others' self-esteem,
or try to make others meek and submissive. Characters in
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and The Bluest Eye by Toni
Morrison illustrate the importance of pride in surmounting
obstacles.
The women of The Joy Luck Club fight effectively
against the oppressive situations under which they labor by
using pride to steel themselves. For example, as a teenager
in rural China, Lindo Jong finds herself trapped in an
arranged marriage to a spoiled boy who has a controlling
mother. On the day of her wedding, Lindo feels anger and
sadness at losing her freedom, and even considers suicide,
but does not let herself wallow in self-pity. Realizing
that she is strong and tenacious, she holds her head high,
promising, "I would always remember my parents' wishes, but
I would never forget myself." Lindo's pride in herself helps
her assert her right to secure her own happiness. Months
into her marriage, she uses her clever resourcefulness to
find a way out of her cheerless existence. Through her pride
in herself, she resists the oppressive situation that others
have put her in.
Claudia MacTeer of The Bluest Eye is another example
of a character whose pride in herself enables her to
transcend negativity. Her guilelessness and naivete as a
child are her best traits, because she unabashedly feels
proud of who she is as a black girl. She has not bought
into the culture of self-loathing and the desire for
whitewashed ideals of beauty that older children and adults
expect her to have. Unlike her older sister Frieda and her
friend Pecola, Claudia does not adore Shirley Temple or
want to look like her. She does not like Maureen Peal, a
light-skinned black girl at her school who is revered as
a favorite by teachers and classmates. Maureen represents
everything that is culturally desired of black girls, but
Claudia feels frustrated that adults and children alike
adore Maureen instead of appreciating the beauty that can
be found in girls with darker skin. Claudia has enough pride
and confidence in herself to counteract the doting affection
that her society seems to have for white baby dolls, Shirley
Temples, and the Maureen Peals of this world.
Pride is a very powerful characteristic—it
ennobles us, boosts our self-esteem, and makes us feel that
our lives are worthy and meaningful. When regarding oneself
highly is appropriate, pride is a positive and desirable
trait. As the examples of Lindo and Claudia demonstrate,
pride can make us strong and help us overcome adverse
circumstances. While pride in excess can lead to an inflated
view of the self, it is vital and necessary for forming a
healthy perspective of one's self-worth.
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| Though pride can sustain people in the face of
adversity, too much pride can blind us to our own faults
and cause us to deny the legitimate claims of others. Jane
Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Kazuo Ishiguro's The
Remains of the Day show that excessive pride can make
people blind to their own failings and produce negative
results.
In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth and Darcy both
must overcome their pride before they can realize their
love. Elizabeth is prejudiced against Darcy because of her
pride; at the party where they first meet, she hears him say
"She is tolerable, but not enough to tempt me," which hurts
her pride. She also sees him reject the party and assumes
he does it because he is mean-spirited; she does not see
that he is introverted by nature and intimidated by large
social gatherings. Because she cannot recognize her own
prejudice, she believes the dishonorable Wickham too easily
when Wickham tells her false stories about Darcy's past.
Darcy also contributes to this barrier in their relationship
because of his undue pride regarding his social standing
and lineage. He articulates this misplaced arrogance in
an outburst to Elizabeth when she rejects his marriage
proposal: "Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority
of your connections? To congratulate myself on the hope of
relations whose condition in life is so decidedly beneath my
own?" For both Elizabeth and Darcy, pride initially prevents
them from seeing the truth and merit of each other's
character.
Stevens of The Remains of the Day never expresses his
love for Miss Kenton because of his excessive professional
pride and desire to be the perfect butler. While he has
several opportunities to reveal his affection, both before
and after her marriage to Benn, he forsakes his emotions
for silence, or what he considers dignity and politeness.
His compliments to her are limited to praising her abilities
as a housekeeper. He also ignores his emotions on the night
of his father's death, which occurs during one of Lord
Darlington's dinner parties. Stevens believes his duty as
a butler is more important than his duty as a son and thus
does not adequately express his love for his father or give
vent to his emotions about his father's passing away. Thus,
Stevens' pride in being the best butler possible balloons to
such an extent that he cannot separate his professional life
from his personal life, and he fails to foster the personal
relationships that he ought to care more about.
Pride can be a positive trait in that it lends dignity
and self-respect to one's bearing. Too much pride, however,
prevents us from seeing ourselves clearly. It hinders the
growth that comes from the capacity to realize and learn
from our mistakes. To prevent or remedy our errors, it is
vitally important to recognize excessive pride.
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Directions
The
passages below are followed by questions based on their content;
questions following a pair of related passages may also be based on the
relationship between the paired passages. Answer the questions on the
basis of what is stated or implied in the passage and in any introductory material that may be provided.
Questions 30-33 are based on the passages below
Passage 1
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The societies that are most free are those that believe
that freedom must be safeguarded for everyone. Such a tenet
involves an unbreakable contract between the government and
the governed in which the constituents of a society retain
certain basic rights and liberties regardless of extenuating
circumstances. Though universal freedom is a noble concept,
it has often proved challenging to achieve in the real
world. It is often tempting for the government to find ways
in which to manipulate the freedoms of its people for its
own advantage. In such cases, people often live in fear of
their government, they lose their sense of security, and
they no longer trust their rulers. The freedom to vote and
the freedom of expression are two rights that must be kept
universal — when they are compromised, the society and
government are also damaged in harmful ways.
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Passage 2
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America is often associated with freedom, as evident in
our politicians' rhetoric and patriotic anthems. Even in the
"land of the free," however, freedom cannot be universal.
Certain freedoms must be earned through a process of proving
oneself worthy of having that freedom. The government has
the right to withhold some freedoms and discriminate based
on age or experience to determine whether one is worthy
of holding a certain freedom. Two freedoms that must be
restricted are the freedom to drive vehicles and the freedom
to consume drugs and alcohol.
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Questions 34 - 39 are based on the passage located below
The
following excerpt summarizes a study regarding groups of Asian-American
women who have recently immigrated to the United States.
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| The focus of my research is women who are spearheading
societal transformation in an urban neighborhood of Seattle,
Washington. The women are first-generation Asian-Americans
who are employed in the restaurant business. Though there
are numerous changes taking place in the immigrant enclaves
where these women live and work, this study concentrates
on the evolution of the women's place in the family and the
impact of this change on their ethnic population.
The category I configuration embodies how Asian-
American women who have been in the United States for less
than three years organize their family lives. This category
serves as a standard against which to measure category II
and category III structures. Families in category I tend to
work as dishwashers or food servers. Everyone in the family
works long hours, including children over the age of 16,
and they rarely take a day off. While education is important
for many Asian communities, most of those families who have
recently arrived in the United States and who inhabit the
lower end of the socioeconomic scale cannot afford to send
their children to college. Because they spend so much time
working, kids from these families do not receive the full
benefits of schooling. These families tend to be sizable,
with as many as five or six offspring, and the father
exercises most of the power in the family and makes most of
the decisions himself.
Families in category II exhibit some new patterns
of organization and manner while nonetheless preserving
elements of category I. These families have been in the
country for between three and ten years. Although many
of them continue to work in the restaurant business, both
the men and women increasingly begin to fill managerial
positions. The father might be in charge of the cooks and
placing orders for foodstuffs and supplies, while the mother
might get a promotion to the position of staff supervisor,
where she is responsible for scheduling work shifts for
other employees and making sure the restaurant is adequately
staffed during peak hours. In addition, families in category
II make an increasing investment in their children's
education. In these groups, the children tend only to work
on the weekends for the purpose of earning supplemental
income for the family. During the week, kids are expected to
concentrate on their homework. Once families enter category
II, they tend to have fewer children, and the additional
resources of the family begin to be invested in making time
for the children to succeed academically in a new language
and culture, even though the kids' first language is usually
not English and even though they have been in the United
States for less than a decade. While it is true that the
financial resources of category II families are increasingly
reapportioned from basic and immediate needs like buying
food and paying rent to investing in the educational success
of the children, these families still preserve a traditional
hierarchy in which the father is clearly in charge of
major decisions and the mother serves in a supportive but
deferential role.
The most striking degree of transformation from
category I, however, can be found in category III families,
who have been in the United States for more than a decade. A
remarkable number of families in this category have learned
so much about the restaurant business and husbanded their
resources so effectively that they are able to open their
own stores. Once they are able to work for themselves,
many significant changes can be observed. First, when they
achieve this level of prosperity, these highly successful
families have even fewer children, averaging under two
kids and often choosing to have only one. Furthermore,
the children in category III families are expected to make
the absolute most of the their educational opportunities.
Therefore, these kids no longer work in the restaurant
business at all, but devote their time and energy to their
academic responsibilities. While parental expectation
regarding children's scholastic performance is very high
in category III families, and can create a lot of pressure,
both the father and mother provide substantial support for
their children to be able to grow educationally and gain
admission to strong colleges and universities. An even
greater percentage of the family's economic resources go to
saving for college tuition, paying for enrichment courses,
and even hiring tutors as necessary to help their children
progress rapidly. In addition, the women themselves often
choose to pursue educational prospects as well; these
women frequently take courses in business or in English to
enhance the practical skills they already have developed
from years in the restaurant business. Finally, in category
III families the relative influence of the mother and father
becomes much more equitable when compared with families in
category I or II. Women in these families exercise far more
power in establishing family routines, determining household
budgets, and making other domestic decisions than do women
in the other categories. Though these women make up a small
percentage of inhabitants in these immigrant communities,
they inspire the other women in their neighborhood and
spearhead more general and progressive changes in the view
of women throughout the area.
Clearly, a number of factors correlate with the status
of these immigrant women and the roles they fill within
their families. The longer they and their families have
been in the United States, the more economically successful
they tend to be. With increased financial resources, these
women also begin to enjoy significantly greater influence
on the decisions and priorities of the family. Both their
husbands and their community begin to regard these women
more highly, and the women (especially those in category
III) are then able to leverage this enlarged esteem into
even greater success by increasing their social contacts
within the enclave, by obtaining more time to pursue
their own education, and by adding value to their business
efforts that reinforces the cycle and leads to still more
accomplishment. As the effectiveness of these women becomes
more evident, and their substantial contribution becomes
more widely recognized, they, their families and their
communities all start to embrace changes in their role and
function that had been resisted before.
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Questions 40 - 48 are based on the passage located below
The following passage discusses the function of law in public life and the role it plays in safeguarding civic society.
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| A code of law is one of the strongest components of a
civil society. Laws set standards for public behavior and
make people accountable for their actions. Relationships
between members of society are based on trust, and laws
constitute a pillar of trust that facilitates the formation
of relationships. The law is the glue of society that
holds relationships together. It makes business possible
and creates credibility. Two examples of the way law is
beneficial to society are contract laws and the United
States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Contract laws allow business to occur without fear of
dishonesty. Such laws benefit society by obliging people
to trust each other because when a person signs a document
he has made a promise that must be honored. Promises can be
made without the affixing of signatures, but such promises
would only be lip service if there were no mechanism for
ensuring that people follow through on the promise. When one
signs a check, one makes a promise to pay the stated amount
of money; when one receives a bill, one must pay because one
has made a prior agreement to exchange money for a certain
service. The simple act of signing one's name carries many
implications—one is effectively endorsing whatever
is stated on the document, and putting one's credibility on
the (dotted) line. By the same token, verbal promises made
under certain conditions are binding, and under the law,
one can be prosecuted for breaking the promise. When one
testifies in court, one has to swear to tell "the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth." When one lies under
oath, one commits the crime of perjury and can be punished
by the government for it. Personal promises are embedded
in many interactions in society, are vital in order for
business to take place, and are at the core of agreements
of confidentiality. A breach of trust can have drastic
and dangerous consequences; therefore, holding people to
their word is of utmost importance. The pursuit of personal
interest is only natural, and thus there must be a way of
supporting the claims that we make against each other.
The creation of the FDA and the passing of the Pure
Food and Drugs Act in 1906 count among some of the most
important legislative events in American history. The FDA's
chemists, pharmacologists, and other professionals test all
kinds of substances that we ingest or have contact with.
The FDA has a scientific mission to report any possible
dangers that a product could pose to the public. A product
must pass a standard series of tests in order to be deemed
safe for public consumption. The Pure Food and Drugs Act
is the legislation that gives the FDA its regulatory power.
This act was necessitated by the prevalence of adulterated
formulas and drugs with misleading labels. These deceptive
products not only posed a danger to the public, but also
threatened the business and credibility of legitimate drug
vendors. For the sake of public safety, unethical quacks and
charlatans could not be allowed to advertise whatever they
wished on the bottles of "magic formulas" that they peddled.
Standards for what is acceptable in food and drugs had to be
set for the people to be sure that what they were consuming
would not kill them.
Laws are made for the purpose of setting guidelines
for acceptable behavior. Everyone participating in a society
must be held accountable for what they claim. In this way,
laws benefit the public interest by protecting people from
dishonesty. Manipulation of the gullible may be inevitable,
but laws reduce the harm of dishonesty. Contract laws,
perjury laws, and consumer product regulation laws serve
this extremely important purpose, providing a structure in
which mutually beneficial exchanges can take place.
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Directions
The
passages below are followed by questions based on their content;
questions following a pair of related passages may also be based on the
relationship between the paired passages. Answer the questions on the
basis of what is stated or implied in the passage and in any introductory material that may be provided.
Questions 55 - 67 are based on the passage located below
The
following passage is an excerpt from an essay written about the Lewis
and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806. Lewis and Clark were members of the
U. S. Military who were hired by President Thomas Jefferson to explore
the Louisiana Purchase and to seek a waterway to the Pacific on their
travels westward.
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| Notwithstanding the singular successes that the above
factors document, the Lewis and Clark Expedition was not
without its detractions. It inaugurated the decline of
the Native American in the West at the same time that it
secured for the new American nation a sense of promise
and possibility in the future. It is true that as Lewis
and Clark began the process of defining western regional
diversity, they were simultaneously denying and erasing
it for many of the native tribes they encountered along
the way. As scholar James Ronda emphasizes, "the West was
never empty; Lewis and Clark merely erased Native American
place names with titles celebrating themselves." This is
an important critique and should not be discounted. The
pledges of friendship and alliance that Lewis and Clark
made in good faith to the Native Americans they met,
traded with and depended on were later betrayed by the very
government that supported the expedition in the first place.
One such example is to be found in the failure of the U.
S. government to follow through on a smallpox vaccination
program for the Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa tribes in 1836.
Due in part to tough winter weather but also because of
bureaucratic bumbling, this program failed, the subsequent
epidemic decimated 90% of these once proud and flourishing
people, and population centers numbering in the 5000's were
reduced to a tenth of that number. So fatal was this error
that the Mandan Chief Four Bears was moved to condemn the
white man in the most strident terms: "I have never called
a white man a dog, but today I do pronounce them to be a
set of black-hearted dogs, they have deceived me, them that
I always considered as brothers, has turned out to be my
worst enemies." While some credit might be given to the U.
S. for intending to safeguard the native peoples by sharing
its medical knowledge (implicit in a vaccination regime that
was an expression of Enlightenment science), the failure
to carry through and get the job done cannot be explained
away. Sadly, this treacherous error was only one among a
long list of betrayals that the U. S. government perpetrated
against Native Americans all across the continent, from
the Cherokee's Trail of Tears under Andrew Jackson's
administration to the more than 1000-mile pursuit of Chief
Joseph and the Nez Perce by the American cavalry.
Two other important failures must be noted. First,
despite her indispensable aid in translating with the
Shoshone and helping the Corps obtain much-needed horses
to make the trip over the Bitterroots; in saving some
of Lewis's vital documents during a stormy, wet day in
the canoes; and in securing wapato and other essential
roots when food supplies were scarce, Sacajawea was never
compensated for her contribution to the expedition. Every
other member received over 500 dollars and a significant
land grant, but this courageous and capable woman, who made
the entire trip while carrying a newborn baby on her back,
was denied her due. Second, though he was an "equal" member
of the Corps during the trip, performing important functions
like hunting and also serving as "Great Medicine" for some
of the more remote tribes (they had never seen a black man
and due to their curiosity and apprehension deferred to York
as a figure of immense power, which assisted the Corps in
negotiations with the Native Americans), Clark repeatedly
denied York his freedom after the Expedition returned to St.
Louis. This failure was the gravest indignity to York, and
a mean-spirited and inexcusable lapse in judgment for the
otherwise reasonable and considerate Clark.
There is much to be proud of in the character and
achievement of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery. The
men and one woman who made up its ranks expressed many of
the best and defining qualities of the American spirit.
At the same time however, they repeatedly found themselves
during their journey at the complex intersection of various
cultures and interests, and their success cannot be divorced
from the eventual failure of the Native Americans to
secure a full and fair place in the American landscape. A
complete and considered investigation of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition's legacy makes these dichotomous and paradoxical
facets of their adventure inescapable. This certainly is
not a happy fact, but it is a true one. We can admire their
accomplishment, yet see in their mistakes an opportunity for
us to get things right the next time around. In this way,
the journey to a better future must include learning from
the past and applying those lessons as we go forward.
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