SAT Critical Reading : Analyzing Main Idea, Theme, and Purpose in Literary Fiction Passages
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Critical Reading
All SAT Critical Reading Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #41 : Analyzing Main Idea, Theme, And Purpose In Literary Fiction Passages
Adapted from Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1874)
And how should Dorothea not marry? A girl so handsome and with such prospects? Nothing could hinder it but her love of extremes, and her insistence on regulating life according to notions which might cause a wary man to hesitate before he made her an offer, or even might lead her at last to refuse all offers. A young lady of some birth and fortune, who knelt suddenly down on a brick floor by the side of a sick laborer and prayed fervidly as if she thought herself living in the time of the apostles, who had strange whims of fasting and of sitting up at night to read old theological books! Such a wife might awaken you some fine morning with a new scheme for the application of her income which would interfere with political economy and the keeping of saddle-horses; a man would naturally think twice before he risked himself in such fellowship. Women were expected to have weak opinions, but the great safeguard of society and of domestic life was that opinions were not acted on. Sane people did what their neighbors did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them.
The rural opinion about the new young ladies, even among the cottagers, was generally in favor of Celia, as being so amiable and innocent-looking, while Miss Brooke's large eyes seemed, like her religion, too unusual and striking. Poor Dorothea! Compared with her, the innocent-looking Celia was knowing and worldly-wise; so much subtler is a human mind than the outside tissues which make a sort of blazonry or clock-face for it.
Yet those who approached Dorothea, though prejudiced against her by this alarming hearsay, found that she had a charm unaccountably reconcilable with it. Most men thought her bewitching when she was on horseback. She loved the fresh air and the various aspects of the country, and when her eyes and cheeks glowed with mingled pleasure she looked very little like a devotee. Riding was an indulgence which she allowed herself in spite of conscientious qualms; she always looked forward to renouncing it.
She was open, ardent, and not in the least self-admiring; indeed, it was pretty to see how her imagination adorned her sister Celia with attractions altogether superior to her own, and if any gentleman appeared to come to the Grange from some other motive than that of seeing Mr. Brooke, she concluded that he must be in love with Celia. Sir James Chettam, for example, whom she constantly considered from Celia's point of view, inwardly debating whether it would be good for Celia to accept him. That he should be regarded as a suitor to herself would have seemed to her a ridiculous irrelevance. Dorothea, with all her eagerness to know the truths of life, retained very childlike ideas about marriage.
The purpose of this passage is __________.
to provide a detailed description of Dorothea
to contrast Dorothea with Celia
to discuss why Dorothea loves horseback riding
to detail how Dorothea’s religious tendencies developed
to foreshadow that Dorothea will become very ill
to provide a detailed description of Dorothea
Briefly summarizing each of the passage’s paragraphs may help you get a clearer picture of what it is actually accomplishing, especially as no plot events actually occur in the passage and its complex, archaic language may trip you up.
First paragraph: Dorothea has unusual tendencies that might dissuade suitors.
Second paragraph: The community likes Celia better than Dorothea. “Poor Dorothea!”
Third paragraph: Dorothea likes horseback riding, though, which clashes with the description of her we received in the first paragraph.
Fourth paragraph: Dorothea is “open, ardent, and not in the least self-admiring,” and Sir James Chettam is probably courting her instead of Celia but Dorothea doesn’t realize it.
What do all of these summery sentences have in common? All of them focus on Dorothea. “To provide a detailed description of Dorothea” is thus the correct answer.
As for the other answer choices, while Dorothea and Celia are contrasted in the passage, this only takes place in the second paragraph, so such contrasting can’t accurately be called the “purpose” of the passage. Similarly, while the passage discusses why Dorothea loves horseback riding, this only occurs in the third paragraph, not throughout it. While Dorothea’s religious tendencies are discussed in the first paragraph, we do not learn how they developed, so that can’t be the purpose of the passage either. Nothing in the passage foreshadows that Dorothea will become very ill, so that can’t be the passage’s purpose either.
All SAT Critical Reading Resources
