Literary critic: When a reader feels an emotion that is focused on the events and characters in a work of...
GMAT Two Part Analysis : (TPA) Questions
Literary critic: When a reader feels an emotion that is focused on the events and characters in a work of fiction, the reader is somewhat psychologically detached from that emotion. Lacking the immediacy of emotions about events in the reader's own life, emotions evoked by fiction are enjoyed as pure sensations independent of 1_. Consequently, the reader can find pleasure even in sadness when it is focused on the events and characters in fictional works, because the work's beauty consists partly in its ability to evoke such 2_.
Phase 1: Owning the Dataset
Argument Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
| "When a reader feels an emotion that is focused on the events and characters in a work of fiction, the reader is somewhat psychologically detached from that emotion." |
|
| "Lacking the immediacy of emotions about events in the reader's own life" |
|
| "emotions evoked by fiction are enjoyed as pure sensations independent of 1" |
|
| "the reader can find pleasure even in sadness when it is focused on the events and characters in fictional works" |
|
| "the work's beauty consists partly in its ability to evoke such 2" |
|
Argument Structure
- Main conclusion: Readers can enjoy even negative emotions in fiction because of psychological detachment
- Supporting evidence:
- Fictional emotions lack immediacy of real-life emotions
- This creates psychological detachment
- Example: enjoying sadness in fiction
- Key assumption: Psychological detachment transforms how we experience emotions
- Overall flow: Detachment → emotions as pure sensations → enjoyment of typically negative emotions → artistic beauty
Phase 2: Question Analysis & Prethinking
Understanding What Each Part Asks
- Part 1 (Blank 1): What are fictional emotions enjoyed "independent of"?
- Part 2 (Blank 2): What does fiction's beauty consist in evoking?
These blanks work together to complete the critic's argument about how psychological detachment allows readers to appreciate fiction.
Prethinking for Each Part
For Blank 1:
The passage contrasts fictional emotions with real-life emotions
It emphasizes that fictional emotions lack the "immediacy" of real-life emotions
So fictional emotions are likely enjoyed independent of "real events" or their real-world consequences
For Blank 2:
The passage specifically mentions finding "pleasure even in sadness"
Sadness is normally unpleasant, but becomes enjoyable in fiction
So the beauty likely consists in evoking "typically unpleasant emotions"
Phase 3: Answer Choice Evaluation
Evaluating Each Choice
"beauty"
- For Blank 1: Doesn't make sense - emotions aren't enjoyed independent of beauty
- For Blank 2: Creates circular reasoning - beauty consists in evoking beauty?
- Not a strong fit for either blank
"psychological detachment"
- For Blank 1: Emotions aren't enjoyed independent of detachment - detachment enables the enjoyment
- For Blank 2: The passage already states readers have detachment; it's not what's being evoked
- Not a strong fit for either blank
"typically unpleasant emotions"
- For Blank 1: Doesn't fit grammatically or logically
- For Blank 2: Perfect fit - the passage explicitly mentions enjoying "sadness" in fiction
- Strong fit for Blank 2
"fictional events"
- For Blank 1: Illogical - fictional emotions can't be independent of fictional events
- For Blank 2: Too broad and doesn't connect to the sadness example
- Not a strong fit for either blank
"real events"
- For Blank 1: Perfect fit - fictional emotions are enjoyed separately from real-world concerns
- For Blank 2: Doesn't match - fiction doesn't evoke real events
- Strong fit for Blank 1
The Correct Answers
- For Part 1: "real events" - This completes the thought that fictional emotions are pure sensations enjoyed independently of real-world events and their consequences
- For Part 2: "typically unpleasant emotions" - This directly connects to the example of finding pleasure in sadness, showing how fiction's beauty lies in making negative emotions aesthetically enjoyable
Common Traps to Highlight
- "psychological detachment" for either blank: While central to the argument, it's the mechanism that enables the phenomenon, not what emotions are independent of or what's being evoked
- "fictional events" for Blank 1: Seems logical but actually contradicts the passage - fictional emotions can't be independent of the fictional events that cause them
- "beauty" for Blank 2: Creates meaningless circular reasoning and ignores the specific example about sadness