Hey Meredith, I got this question wrong because I chose C. I reviewed it and came to the conclusion that "special concern" is an inaccurate description of the passage. The author's thesis is:
"Innovations in language are never completely new. When the words used for familiar things change, or words for new things enter the language, they are usually borrowed or adapted from stock. Assuming new roles, they drag their old meanings along behind them like flickering shadows." (first paragraph).
Then the author goes on to demonstrate how this is true and a unique way in which neologisms are created: deconstructionism.
The author gives examples that show how the new terms that come from deconstructionism further his thesis. The tone in which the author describes the term deconstruction can be misleading, but it is an observation of a new literary approach to words, not special concern.
Therefore, answer choice A is the answer because of the thesis that words are repurposed followed by examples of deconstructionism broken down to show that the words reveal the true nature of the deconstructionists meaning (such as deconstruction NOT being criticism).
I'm not certain this makes sense but I hope it helps.
@Mehran can you help clarify the tension between A & C?
shunheJanuary 10, 2020
Hi @Meredith and @davidamaya,
Thanks for the question, this is definitely a tough passage. This question is a main idea question, so let’s get a bird’s eye overview of the passage first and try to piece together what it’s trying to tell us. The first paragraph talks about how using old words for new things inevitably will remind us of the old meanings. Let’s take “Uber†as an example. The people who made Uber named it that because of the meanings that the word “Uber†is associated with—it can mean excellent, or outstanding (coming from the German word über, like the übermensch in Nietzsche). Thus, you associate the company with excellence. The first paragraph then introduces deconstruction/poststructuralism at the end.
The second paragraph begins to go into the words that deconstructionists use. For example, they use “signifier†and “signified†instead of “word†and “thing,†and the second paragraph analyzes the meanings those words bring with them. The third paragraph does the same analysis, but on the word “deconstruction†itself. It traces the word “deconstruction†to building trades, and argues that the use of this word “deconstruction†to refer to what it is that poststructuralists do has certain overtones because of the roots of the word “deconstruction.†Deconstructing is more machine-like, for example. The passage mentions other words that deconstructionists could have used to refer to their activities, such as “criticism,†and analyzes the implications of choosing the word deconstruction over those other words. In other words, the passage seems to be interested in investigating the terminology of deconstructionists and gleaning insights about deconstructionists themselves based on the words they choose to use. This is what (A) tells us, and so (A) is the correct answer.
(C) is incorrect because the passage doesn’t tell us that deconstructionists themselves are concerned about innovations in language and the relations between old and new meanings of terms. Rather, the author is using the relations between old and new meanings of terms to analyze deconstruction. We aren’t really told in detail what the deconstructionists themselves do other than literary theory. Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any further questions if you have them.
