The core idea of Takano-Chavez’s book is that the styles of art and architecture in these four civilizations offer broader keys to their character or personality. This seems, at once, obvious and impossible to establish. It’s obvious in the sense that any art and architecture reflect the personalities of their makers, who in turn are—again, obviously—part of one civilization or another. The hard-to-prove part, though Takano-Chavez makes a spirited if uneven effort to prove it, is that specific details of those styles can be matched to specific ideological or temperamental traits of the Aztec, Olmec, and so forth. For instance, she suggests that the rounded, enormous heads of Olmec sculptures reflect a more peaceful, contemplative cast of mind than that of later Aztec figures, with their angular features and more developed bodies. I find this speculation unconvincing: surely, the difference in styles has as much to do with available materials and techniques as with any “head-versus-body” dichotomy.

Question

The core idea of Takano-Chavez’s book is that the styles of art and architecture in these four civilizations offer broader keys to their character or personality. This seems, at once, obvious and impossible to establish. It’s obvious in the sense that any art and architecture reflect the personalities of their makers, who in turn are—again, obviously—part of one civilization or another. The hard-to-prove part, though Takano-Chavez makes a spirited if uneven effort to prove it, is that specific details of those styles can be matched to specific ideological or temperamental traits of the Aztec, Olmec, and so forth. For instance, she suggests that the rounded, enormous heads of Olmec sculptures reflect a more peaceful, contemplative cast of mind than that of later Aztec figures, with their angular features and more developed bodies. I find this speculation unconvincing: surely, the difference in styles has as much to do with available materials and techniques as with any “head-versus-body” dichotomy.
Question
Use the passage to answer the question.

Which quotation from the passage is the book reviewer’s thesis statement?

(1 point)
Responses

“This seems, at once, obvious and impossible to establish.”
“This seems, at once, obvious and impossible to establish.”

“For instance, she suggests that the rounded, enormous heads of Olmec sculptures reflect a more peaceful, contemplative cast of mind than that of later Aztec figures, with their angular features and more developed bodies.”
“For instance, she suggests that the rounded, enormous heads of Olmec sculptures reflect a more peaceful, contemplative cast of mind than that of later Aztec figures, with their angular features and more developed bodies.”

“The core idea of Takano-Chavez’s book is that the styles of art and architecture in these four civilizations offer broader keys to their character or personality.”
“The core idea of Takano-Chavez’s book is that the styles of art and architecture in these four civilizations offer broader keys to their character or personality.”

“I find this speculation unconvincing: surely, the difference in styles has as much to do with available materials and techniques as with any ‘head-versus-body’ dichotomy.”

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The book reviewer’s thesis statement is:

“The core idea of Takano-Chavez’s book is that the styles of art and architecture in these four civilizations offer broader keys to their character or personality.”