Question

Lecture

Read the following transcript from a lecture. Then answer the question(s).

(1) If fiction can change the world for the better, can we afford to undervalue it? Some people believe that fiction is a sideshow to the real work of a society. For such people, stories are unimportant, just another form of entertainment. In my view, however, stories are an essential part of society and can play a significant role in its progress. Throughout history, authors from Charles Dickens to Upton Sinclair to Richard Wright have written about social ills, and their stories have led to change. A great deal of progress would not have been possible without the voices of fiction writers.

(2) One novelist who spurred social change in the United States is Harriet Beecher Stowe. Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, both launched Stowe to fame and helped bring the anti-slavery cause into the mainstream. The book was enormously popular: From 1850 to 1900, only the Bible outsold it. Simon Legree, the brutal slave owner who serves as the book’s chief villain, became a familiar object of fear, revulsion, and contempt. Readers today criticize the novel for its stereotypes of enslaved Africans; however, the book forced a public discussion of slavery that helped lead—eventually—to change.

(3) Social protest novels like Stowe’s do more than simply tell a story. They bring issues into the public forum, compelling a society to face its demons. These stories accuse and condemn the bad, but they also celebrate and applaud the good. The public debate that results may be difficult. It may even involve terrible conflict. However, that conflict can lead to change. Fiction is not just a sideshow to the real work of a society. It is an essential part of the public debate that moves a society forward.

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Which of the following characteristics often found in lectures does the passage demonstrate? Choose two that apply.



Responses

A It appeals to the audience’s sense of justice and asserts moral authority.It appeals to the audience’s sense of justice and asserts moral authority.

B It challenges the audience to research the topic and debate the point.It challenges the audience to research the topic and debate the point.

C It summarizes the main ideas in the conclusion.It summarizes the main ideas in the conclusion.

D It focuses on teaching an important process or procedure.It focuses on teaching an important process or procedure.

E It sets the audience thinking through the use of a rhetorical question.

Answer 1

C and E

- C: The third paragraph restates and summarizes the main points (fiction’s role in public debate and social change).
- E: The lecture opens with a rhetorical question to engage and set the audience thinking.