Question 9·Hard·Cross-Text Connections
Text 1 Like the political essays of eighteenth-century philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, the early-twentieth-century speeches and manifestos of anarchist Emma Goldman insist that ignorance nourishes oppression and that education is the surest path to individual autonomy. This similarity indicates that Goldman derived her argument about education directly from Wollstonecraft’s earlier works.
Text 2 Goldman’s calls for schooling certainly echo Wollstonecraft’s in language and urgency, yet by the 1890s radicals on both sides of the Atlantic routinely linked education with emancipation. Owenite communalists, labor pamphleteers, and suffragists alike had already made the theme a fixture of reform discourse. Consequently, any resemblance between Wollstonecraft and Goldman speaks less to a lone channel of influence than to Goldman’s immersion in a widely shared revolutionary vocabulary.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely characterize the underlined claim in Text 1?
For cross-text connection questions asking how one author would characterize a claim in another text, first restate the specific claim in your own words. Then identify whether the second text agrees, disagrees, or qualifies that claim, paying special attention to contrast words like “yet” and summary words like “consequently.” Finally, choose the answer that matches the second author’s stance without adding new mechanisms (e.g., “pure coincidence” or a specific intermediary influence) that the second text doesn’t actually support.
Hints
Clarify what Text 1 is asserting
Put the underlined sentence from Text 1 into your own words: what is it claiming about where Goldman got her ideas on education?
Focus on contrast words in Text 2
In Text 2, look closely at the sentence with "yet" and the one that starts with "Consequently." How do these words signal a qualification or correction of Text 1’s assumption?
Notice how widespread the idea is in Text 2
Text 2 names several groups (Owenite communalists, labor pamphleteers, suffragists). What does that list suggest about how common the education-as-liberation idea was by Goldman’s time?
Match your summary to an option
Summarize Text 2’s attitude in a short phrase like “not just one influence; this idea was already widespread.” Then choose the option that best matches that summary and avoid options that change the type of explanation (e.g., “purely stylistic,” “pure coincidence,” or “only indirect exposure”).
Step-by-step Explanation
Restate the underlined claim in Text 1
The underlined sentence in Text 1 says that because Wollstonecraft and Goldman share a belief that education leads to freedom, Goldman must have derived her argument directly from Wollstonecraft’s works.
In other words, Text 1 claims a single, direct line of influence: Wollstonecraft → Goldman.
Identify Text 2’s main point about that similarity
Text 2 acknowledges the echo but immediately qualifies it:
- It says Goldman’s calls for schooling "certainly echo" Wollstonecraft’s.
- Then it notes that by the 1890s many radicals already linked education with emancipation.
- It lists multiple groups (Owenite communalists, labor pamphleteers, suffragists) to show the idea was already a fixture of reform discourse.
- It concludes that the resemblance points "less to a lone channel of influence" than to Goldman’s participation in a widely shared revolutionary vocabulary.
Infer how Text 2 would evaluate Text 1’s claim
Because Text 2 emphasizes that the education-as-liberation idea was already common across many reform movements, it would see Text 1’s claim as too narrow.
Text 2 would argue that Text 1 over-attributes Goldman’s view to Wollstonecraft alone, overlooking the broader radical discourse in which the idea had become commonplace.
Select the choice that matches Text 2’s criticism
The option that matches Text 2 is the one saying the claim overlooks how widespread the education-as-liberation idea already was and therefore wrongly credits Wollstonecraft alone.
Therefore, the correct answer is:
As overlooking the fact that the education-as-liberation idea had become commonplace among radicals long before Goldman wrote, and thus attributing it solely to Wollstonecraft