unit 1: rhetorical situation - reading quiz\ni spent my teens and much of my twenties collecting printed…

unit 1: rhetorical situation - reading quiz\ni spent my teens and much of my twenties collecting printed rejections. early on, my\nmother lost $61.20 - a reading fee charged by a so - called agent to look at one of my\nunpublished stories. no one had told us that agents werent supposed to get any money up\nfront, werent supposed to be paid until they sold your work. then they were to take ten\npercent of whatever the work earned. ignorance is expensive. that $61.20 was more money\nback then than my mother paid for a months rent.\ni badgered friends and acquaintances into reading my work, and they seemed to like it.\nteachers read it and said kindly, unhelpful things. but there were no creative writing classes\nat my high school, and no useful criticism. at college (in california at that time, junior\ncollege was almost free), i took classes taught by an elderly woman who wrote childrens\nstories. she was polite about the science fiction and fantasy that i kept handing in, but she\nfinally asked in exasperation, \cant you write anything normal?\\na schoolwide contest was held. all submissions had to be made anonymously. my short\nstory won first prize. i was an eighteen - year - old freshman, and i won in spite of competition\nfrom older, more experienced people. beautiful. the $15.00 prize was the first money my\nwriting earned me.\nafter college i did office work for a while, then factory and warehouse work. my size and\nstrength were advantages in factories and warehouses. and no one expected me to smile\nand pretend i was having a good time.\ni got up at two or three in the morning and wrote. then i went to work. i hated it, and i have\nno gift for suffering in silence. i muttered and complained and quit jobs and found new ones\nand collected more rejection slips. one day in disgust i threw them all away. why keep such\nuseless, painful things?\nthere seems to be an unwritten rule, hurtful and at odds with the realities of american\nculture. it says you arent supposed to wonder whether as a black person, a black woman,\nyou really might be inferior - not quite bright enough, not quite quick enough, not quite good\nenough to do the things you want to do. though of course you do wonder. youre supposed\nto know youre as good as anyone. and if you dont know, you arent supposed to admit it.\n1 mark for review\nwhich of the following best characterizes the authors purpose in the passage?\na to describe how a potentially harmful tendency helped her to\nsucceed as a writer\nb to explain why beginning writers need to receive more honest\ncriticism\nc to correct the misperception that writing science fiction rarely\nproves lucrative\nd to express appreciation for her mothers support throughout her\nwriting career

unit 1: rhetorical situation - reading quiz\ni spent my teens and much of my twenties collecting printed rejections. early on, my\nmother lost $61.20 - a reading fee charged by a so - called agent to look at one of my\nunpublished stories. no one had told us that agents werent supposed to get any money up\nfront, werent supposed to be paid until they sold your work. then they were to take ten\npercent of whatever the work earned. ignorance is expensive. that $61.20 was more money\nback then than my mother paid for a months rent.\ni badgered friends and acquaintances into reading my work, and they seemed to like it.\nteachers read it and said kindly, unhelpful things. but there were no creative writing classes\nat my high school, and no useful criticism. at college (in california at that time, junior\ncollege was almost free), i took classes taught by an elderly woman who wrote childrens\nstories. she was polite about the science fiction and fantasy that i kept handing in, but she\nfinally asked in exasperation, \cant you write anything normal?\\na schoolwide contest was held. all submissions had to be made anonymously. my short\nstory won first prize. i was an eighteen - year - old freshman, and i won in spite of competition\nfrom older, more experienced people. beautiful. the $15.00 prize was the first money my\nwriting earned me.\nafter college i did office work for a while, then factory and warehouse work. my size and\nstrength were advantages in factories and warehouses. and no one expected me to smile\nand pretend i was having a good time.\ni got up at two or three in the morning and wrote. then i went to work. i hated it, and i have\nno gift for suffering in silence. i muttered and complained and quit jobs and found new ones\nand collected more rejection slips. one day in disgust i threw them all away. why keep such\nuseless, painful things?\nthere seems to be an unwritten rule, hurtful and at odds with the realities of american\nculture. it says you arent supposed to wonder whether as a black person, a black woman,\nyou really might be inferior - not quite bright enough, not quite quick enough, not quite good\nenough to do the things you want to do. though of course you do wonder. youre supposed\nto know youre as good as anyone. and if you dont know, you arent supposed to admit it.\n1 mark for review\nwhich of the following best characterizes the authors purpose in the passage?\na to describe how a potentially harmful tendency helped her to\nsucceed as a writer\nb to explain why beginning writers need to receive more honest\ncriticism\nc to correct the misperception that writing science fiction rarely\nproves lucrative\nd to express appreciation for her mothers support throughout her\nwriting career

Answer

Brief Explanations:

The author talks about her experiences like collecting rejections, getting no useful criticism but still continuing (badgering friends, taking classes, winning a contest, etc.). She also mentions the "unwritten rule" that could be a harmful tendency (the idea of inferiority based on race and gender) but she overcame it (kept writing, won a prize, etc.). Option A fits as it's about a harmful tendency (the unwritten rule, lack of proper criticism at first) helping her succeed (she kept going, won a contest, etc.). Option B: The passage isn't mainly about what beginning writers "need" in terms of criticism. It's more about her personal journey. Option C: The science - fiction part is a small detail. The main purpose isn't to correct a misperception about science - fiction's profitability. Option D: Her mother's support is only mentioned in the context of losing money to an agent, not as a main theme of support throughout her career.

Answer:

A. To describe how a potentially harmful tendency helped her to succeed as a writer