In which one of the following is the use of cotton fibers or cotton cloth most analogous to Kingston's use of the Eng...
avifJune 25, 2020
B vs. C
Can someone explain why C is wrong? I thought that it was better than B because the Chinese language was used in ways that English wouldn't be appropriate. Also a different language appeared more like a different material that a special kind of weaving process. Please explain. Thanks.
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Thanks for the question! So let’s take a look at the relevant lines in 51-55. In these lines, we’re told that Kingston invests English with various qualities of the Chinese language. So basically, she’s writing in English, but with Chinese characteristics; she’s not actually writing in Chinese. She might use some Chinese literary tactics in her English (like using various puns), but it’s all in English. The question then asks us to find what’s most analogous to this.
So now we’re looking at (B), which talks about two types of cloth. We have a piece of cotton cloth that we make feel like woolen cloth based on a special process of weaving. In other words, we’re still using cotton cloth, but with the characteristics of woolen cloth. And that’s similar to lines 51-55, where cotton cloth takes the role of idiomatic English, and woolen cloth is Chinese, and the special process of weaving is Kingston’s writing.
(C) is wrong for a couple of reasons. We aren’t told anything about English being “inappropriate” here (or writing in actual Chinese). Also, we’re not replacing one language with the other; we’re using characteristics from one language to write in the other. This is why (B) is a closer match.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.
avifJune 26, 2020
Thanks! I understood the passage wrong that she used actual Chinese language.
shunheJune 26, 2020
Yup, that's a pretty common mistake with this one. Glad you understand it now!
