5

Set 12: Rhetorical Synthesis

Explanation

Answer: D

PASSAGE

A student is writing about postmodern literature. The student wants to explain how postmodern techniques subvert traditional narrative conventions. Notes: - Postmodern texts often break the fourth wall, acknowledging fictiveness. - Unreliable narrators challenge readers' trust in storytelling. - Fragmented, non-linear structures reject chronological order. - Parody and pastiche blur distinctions between high and low culture.

Which choice most effectively uses information from the notes to accomplish the student's goal?

A. Many postmodern novels feature unreliable narrators who cannot be trusted.
B. Postmodern authors often reference and incorporate earlier literary works.
C. Postmodern literature emerged as a distinct movement in the mid-20th century.
D. Postmodern literature subverts conventions by breaking the fourth wall to expose fictiveness, using unreliable narrators to undermine trust, employing fragmented non-linear structures, and blurring high/low culture through parody and pastiche.✓ Correct

Detailed Answer Explanation

This question asks you to effectively combine information to achieve a goal. The goal is HOW techniques SUBVERT conventions. Fourth wall (exposes fiction), unreliable narrators (undermine trust), fragmentation, and parody are subversive techniques. The correct synthesis will use relevant details from the notes in a logical, purposeful way. Focus on what the question asks you to accomplish, then choose the answer that best achieves that goal using the provided information. Effective synthesis requires selecting and combining the most relevant information to achieve a specific purpose. Not all provided notes may be equally useful. Focus on what best accomplishes the stated goal while maintaining logical coherence.

Key Evidence:

• "how postmodern techniques subvert traditional narrative conventions"

• "break the fourth wall"

• "Unreliable narrators challenge"

• "Fragmented, non-linear structures reject"

• "Parody and pastiche blur"

Why others are wrong: B (Not in notes; discusses references, not subversion.), A (Mentions one technique but doesn't explain subversion comprehensively.), C (Not in notes; discusses emergence, not techniques.).

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