Based on the passage, Ellison's critics would most likely have responded favorably to Invisible Man if it had

Shiyi on May 5, 2019

Why is A correct?

Why is A correct? Why is C incorrect?

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Ravi on May 7, 2019

@Shiyi-Zhang,

Happy to help. Let's take a look at (A) and (C).

The question says, "Based on the passage, Ellison’s critics would most
likely have responded favorably to Invisible Man if it had..."

(C) says, "contained a tribute to the political contributions of
African American predecessors"

In the passage, the critics never complained that Ellison didn't write
tributes to the political contributions of African American
predecessors (people like W.E.B. DuBois) at the beginning of the novel
"Invisible Man." Therefore, we don't have a good reason to think that
this would have made the critics respond more favorably, so we can get
rid of (C).

(A) says, "created a positive effect on the social conditions of the time"

In looking at the critics' complaints about the novel (in lines 9-16),
we see that "his allegiance to the concerns of the individual
prevented him from directing his art more toward the political action
that critics believed was demanded by his era's social and political
state of affairs, and that his indulging in European fictional modes
lessened his contribution to the development of a distinctly African
American novelistic style."

From this, we know that if Ellison had attempted to spark political
action in his novel or if he worked more to help contribute to the
creation of a distinctly African American literary form, it is likely
that the critics would have had more favorable opinions of his novel.
In looking at (A), it's basically saying the critics would have
responded favorably if "Invisible Man" had had a positive effect on
the social conditions of the time. Based on lines 9-16, we have strong
support for this, as the critics probably would not complain that
Ellison did not attempt to ignite political action, making them
probably have more favorable reviews of the novel. Thus, (A) is the
correct answer.

Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any more questions!