Contest - Critical Thinking - (The Novelist) - 17-March-2018
Dear critical thinkers,
Finally, I am ready to post my contests. On each day of the week, I will post a different contest. Every Saturday, I will post a contest about testing your critical thinking ability. Your task is to read the passage critically and give the best possible answer. Don't forget to give your reason of why you chose this answer.
So let’s get started.
The passage…
He is a novelist. He writes.
...but recently, he has also started reading the novels of others; however, he only reads the novels the subject matter of which is similar to his own work. His earlier work is characterized by conventional narrative techniques. A novelist uses these techniques to meet the reader’s expectations in a fulfilling way. The events or actions are described in an objective way when using these techniques. For example, a sequence of events is narrated in the order in which they occurred, from beginning to the end; an action is explicitly explained; settings of the story are firmly outlined. In his later work, however, he is more subjective. He is not interested in what his characters do, but how do they behave psychologically and morally as a consequence of their actions. The subject of his novels was not human action but the states of mind of his characters which were produced as a result of their actions. That is the reason that in his later novels, he does not write about actions, but about cases. Therefore, his stories become more and more lengthy. The readers are thus trying to grasp the story by analyzing the characters and their doings.
According to this passage, the novelist’s later novels differ from his earlier novels in which of the following?
In his later work:
- The actions are developed gradually to reach climax
- The actions are explicitly described
- The states of mind of the characters, the psychological and moral complexity have been described in a subtle way
- The sequence of events has been described in detail
The rules…
- Post your answer as a comment below, and also explain briefly why did you choose this answer
- Upvote this post (you can resteem it as well, so more people can join, and for the bigger reward pool, but this is not obligatory).
- You have 6 days to participate.
The prize…
- SBD generated from this post will be equally distributed among those who answered correctly
- 0.5 SBD will be sent to the one who wrote the best explanation of why they chose their answer (Or if I get support from a whale or from those with high SP, then this prize can be increased)
- I will upvote your comment if you have put efforts to answer, but your answer is not correct! Yes, I will appreciate if you make an effort to participate, because the motive here is to uplift genuine users
The answer…
Why I am running these contests?
Read here
Correct Answer: 3 "The states of mind of the characters, the psychological and moral complexity have been described in a subtle way"
My reasoning is: In the later work of the novelist, he was more interested to write about how the characters feel or behave after they act in a certain way, rather than to write about their actions.
I am torn in my answer, but as 3 claims that they are subtle, I will go with 1.
So, part of the reason is, as I said, is that I do not think the third statement is accurate. There is more to why I chose 1. The readers do not get to get a first-hand description to the actions, but they still get to analyse it through the state of minds of the characters. One of the novels I read recently is Call Me By Your Name, and this was a key feature. We get to see the story from Elio's mind, and his constant what ifs and what could happen, all the anxiety that these possibilities bring. The psychological is dominant and not subtle - whereas the actions are somewhat blurred. At the first part, the reader is trying to figure the setting, the happenings, the relationships.
Across time of the lengthy novel, we understand through the characters' feelings and thoughts what is happening - along with the increased empathy towards them. In such way, the actions reach a climax and are developed in a very unusual way. Why? Towards the climax of the novel, we are able to understand what is happening through the characters' thoughts. How is that so? I would say it would be sort of empathy, as well as learning the cognitive patterns. Not only are we seeing the actions unfold in front of our eyes, but we are feeling them - we are living them.
Having said this, I know that this can depend on the novel. There would be novels that describe the states of mind without giving clear indications of the story - even until the end. Especially if there are several characters. In a way, the critical response would be that there is no right answer. What if the states of mind are explained in more than just subtle ways? What if we are not led to the actions and it is just a bad novel?
Great explanations and I upvoted your comment; however, the correct answer is 3.
My answer is number 4.
The sequence of events has been described in detail
Yea, somewhat time-taking to think.
WHY I CHOSE #4 : ;
I guess the inspiration came from, in the normal life setting humans are being judged by their actions, but the truth of the matter is that, there are things either good or bad a person had worked the mind on, before there could be any result. And so, the novelist decided to focus more on this things.
WHY NOT #1,#2,#3 ?
Clearly, not #1, #2, because he shifted his writeup attentio from totally just human Actions to motives.
Not #3,
Because, it says the psychological and mental complexity was dealt with in a subtle way which is not so. That his what he made very obvious in the writeups.
Thanks 😃
Correct answer is 3. Upvoted your comment.
Hello, unfortunatelly my knowledge of English is sufficient only for everyday use, understanding of the text and tasks makes me some troubles. I think that the right answer is not 3.) - because of the word "subtle". In my opinion the states of character's mind was the main part of later novelists works. The right answer is not 1.) - in article it is mentioned as narrative techniques which novelist used in his first period, and also 2.) due to the line 8 of the article (the action is explicitely explained), also described as narrative technique.
So in my opinion is right answer 4.) - the sequence of events has been described in detail. This can also involve psychologic movements of the character.
Correct answer is 3. Upvoted your comment with 10% voting weight
Thanks a lot! Next time I have to read more properly!
Hello, I would try and answer your question :)...
For me I think the most probable answer is no. 4, because as you have written the novelist writtes more about cases (or the effects of the characters action) explaining it in great detail, and in turn turning the novelist' work lengthy.
Correct answer is 3. Upvoted your comment with 10% voting weight.
Correct answer is 3.
In his later work, the novelist was focusing on the psychological and moral aspects of the acts of the characters, and least interested in what they were doing. Thus, he was not narrating about 'what' the characters were doing, but 'how' they were feeling and behaving after doing a certain thing.
I'm a bit lost in google translation, but I think it's right 3. It came out of my introductory passage
Why did u sent 0.001 SBD to me @monajam?
I forgot to write the memo :)
I sent it to tell you about this contest; if you are interested, you are welcome to participate.
Sure i will participate in it👍
Answer 3.
Because the novelist's later work is focusing on internal motives which make the character act in certain ways, yet it is not focusing on the action itself. This way, more introspection into each character's psyche and moral is at the centre. On top of that, it is not about describing the sequence of actions in detail (as suggested in 4.) but about enabling the reader to get a very accurate image of the character. So again, it is not about the action itself which is described in detail but the psyche and moral factor of characters, which make for the novel's length. Same applies to the climax ( as suggested in 1.), as this would also focus on the thorough describtion of actions which built upon each other( as suggested in 2.).
1,2 and 4 are so what interwoven yet all have the action at the centre of attention, all of which is part of his former novels.
3 has the Human psyche and moral at the centre, all of shich is part of his later novels.
Thank you! :)
I think its #3 ,because he focus more on how character behave psychologically and morally as a sequence of their action. He is more subjective and not intersted on what the characters do. And its the reason why his novel become differ from previous works because there's a twist in his story and the readers are tying to grasp the main thought of his works.
From jason21 of kryptonia