Text 1
Like the work of Ralph Ellison before her, Toni Morrison’s novels feature scenes in which characters deliver sermons of such length and verbal dexterity that for a time, the text exchanges the formal parameters of fiction for those of oral literature. Given the many other echoes of Ellison in Morrison’s novels, both in structure and prose style, these scenes suggest Ellison’s direct influence on Morrison.
Text 2
In their destabilizing effect on literary form, the sermons in Morrison’s works recall those in Ellison’s. Yet literature by Black Americans abounds in moments where interpolated speech erodes the division between oral and written forms that literature in English has traditionally observed. Morrison’s use of the sermon is attributable not only to the influence of Ellison but also to a community-wide strategy of resistance to externally imposed literary conventions.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely characterize the underlined claim in Text 1?
Choose 1 answer:
Choose 1 answer:
(Choice A) As failing to consider Ellison’s and Morrison’s equivalent uses of the sermon within the wider cultural context in which they wrote
A
As failing to consider Ellison’s and Morrison’s equivalent uses of the sermon within the wider cultural context in which they wrote
(Choice B) As being indebted to the tradition of resisting literary conventions that privilege written forms, such as novels, over sermons and other oral forms
B
As being indebted to the tradition of resisting literary conventions that privilege written forms, such as novels, over sermons and other oral forms
(Choice C) As disregarding points of structural and stylistic divergence between the works of Ellison and those of Morrison
C
As disregarding points of structural and stylistic divergence between the works of Ellison and those of Morrison
(Choice D) As misunderstanding the function of sermons in novels by Black American writers other than Ellison and Morrison
D
As misunderstanding the function of sermons in novels by Black American writers other than Ellison and Morrison