The passage provides support for which one of the following statements about the quotations in lines 52-55?

Richmond May 27, 2018

Sorry about that. The choice in question was B, not C.

Mehran May 27, 2018

Hi @Richmond, thanks for your post.

Let's discuss your second question first - the best way to approach these kinds of "line reference" questions is to first go back to the portion of the passage about which you are being asked, and read that section in context. In other words, read from a few lines above the specific section, and through to a few lines below it, to get a good sense of how that section functions in context.

Here, the question asks you for textual support for a statement about the quotation in lines 52-55. In context, we know that "King's opposition to the injustice of legalized segregation in the twentieth century is philosophically akin to the transcendentalists' opposition to the Fugitive Slave Law . . ." (lines 55-58).

Thus, answer choice (C) is textually supported - taken together, the quote (lines 52-55) and the information right after the quote (lines 55-58) does suggest "that King, like the transcendentalists, judged human laws by ethical standards."

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

sweingar July 14, 2018

Circling back- why isn't B also applicable? The first sentence of the last paragraph seems to indicate this

Mehran July 15, 2018

Hi @sweingar, thanks for your post. The trouble with answer choice (B) is "affected by." The point of this passage is to highlight certain similarities between MLK Jr.'s thinking and that of transcendentalists other than Thoreau. It's not to say that transcendentalists caused or otherwise affected/influenced MLK's philosophy to develop as it did.

So you can see how (B) implies causation, which is not supported by the passage as a whole, whereas (C) indicates similar thinking, without any causation (which is more consistent with the text of the passage).

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Alex August 13, 2018

Hi @mehran @naz is it not A b/c the passage doesn't reference what Thoreau's thoughts were in regarding just and unjust laws so there is not comparison to King? Thank you!

MichelleRod August 17, 2018

Thanks for your question @Alex

That is correct. Although we know that Thoreau and Kind differed in philosophy in at least some aspect, we do not know how they compared in their philosophy on just or higher law because Thoreau's views on that specific topic are not discussed