OFFICIAL EXPLANATION QUESTION #1


A

This question asks you to make inferences based on the information in the passage. You will need to evaluate each response one by one and weigh its merits. Choices (A) and (B) are similar in that they refer to Cather's motives in becoming an author. The passage does not prove, however, that she wouldn't have become an author at all if she had stayed in Virginia. Choice (B) is not the correct answer. You can also rule out (C); the author tells you explicitly that Cather remembered Virginia. The fact that she was influenced by Nebraska doesn't mean that she devalued her former home. To support the claim in (D), the passage would have to offer summaries of each novel and more information about Cather's relationship to communities of people. You can't draw this inference from the passage. In a literary analysis, an author could possibly support a claim such as the one stated in choice (E). However, based on this passage, (E) is emotional hyperbole. Choice (A) is the most feasible assumption. According to the passage, Cather certainly would not have written the specific novels she did write if she hadn't moved to Nebraska as a child.