Question

Walker Evans was a photographer. He is best known for the photographs he took while working for the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression. His photos documented the effects of the Dust Bowl on average Americans. Evans’ best photographs do not include images that people often find in many Dust Bowl photographs. There are no dirty, starving children. There are no sad adults who look as though they have lost the will to live. There are no families gathered in filthy, collapsing shacks. Instead, people see something that is often missing from Dust Bowl photographs: dignity.
Evans does not use his art to enforce ideas. He does not use his art to show that the people he takes pictures of are different from the people who see the pictures at museums. He uses his photographs to show the dignity of his subjects to the viewer. He shows his subjects’ run-down shacks for what they are—simple, well-kept homes. He does this to remind the viewer that shacks may look different, but they are similar to the viewer’s home. The families who live in these shacks are similar to the viewer’s own family.
9
What is the best summary of this passage?
A.
Walker Evans worked as a photographer during the Great Depression. He took photographs of the effects of the Dust Bowl on people. His pictures were very popular.
B.
Walker Evans used his camera to document the Dust Bowl. He took pictures of poor people. His photographs have a lot in common with the work of other photographers.
C.
Walker Evans was a photographer who worked for the U.S. government. He used his camera to document the effects that the Dust Bowl had on families across America.
D.
Walker Evans was a photographer who photographed the effects of the Dust Bowl. In his photographs, he focuses on how people kept their dignity during hard times.

Answer 1

D — It best captures that Evans photographed the Dust Bowl and emphasized the dignity of his subjects.