Question 96·Hard·Cross-Text Connections

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Text 1
In A Radical Rationalist, historian Gregorio Lane contends that Mary Wollstonecraft’s 1792 treatise A Vindication of the Rights of Woman derives its power almost entirely from Enlightenment logic. According to Lane, Wollstonecraft’s arguments rest on the premise that if men justify political authority through reason, they must extend the same rational consideration to women. Lane claims that the treatise’s tone is "coolly methodical," relying on syllogistic proofs rather than passionate rhetoric, and concludes that its legacy lies in demonstrating how rigorous logic can be wielded in the service of social reform.

Text 2
Philosopher Shirin Okafor disputes the idea that Wollstonecraft’s work is chiefly an exercise in dispassionate reasoning. Okafor notes that Vindication often pivots from deductive arguments to vivid depictions of women’s lived misery, invoking empathy as well as logic. She argues that this fusion of rational critique and moral sentiment not only foreshadows Romantic literature’s emphasis on feeling but also broadens the treatise’s persuasive reach. "Wollstonecraft," Okafor writes, "never asks readers to choose between head and heart; she insists they employ both."

Question
Which statement best describes how Text 2 modifies the perspective on Wollstonecraft’s treatise presented in Text 1?

A question about how two texts relate tests whether you can track how one author responds to another’s view. Read the question to find whose view is being discussed, then put each text’s claim and reason in a few words. Ask where the views part to name the stance, or position. Does one author reject the claim as wrong, accept it only in part, or extend it to a new case? A choice can give the right stance but the wrong reason.

Hints

Hint 1
Read Lane’s comments on the treatise’s power and tone. Put his view in a few words, including what he says gives the work its force.
Hint 2
In Text 2, look for the role of women’s lived misery. What does Okafor say these scenes do for the reader?
Hint 3
Compare the two accounts of persuasive power. How does Okafor’s final sentence relate to Lane’s claim about the treatise’s tone?

Step-by-step

Compare what gives the treatise its power
Step 1
Find Lane’s claim
Lane says the treatise draws its power almost entirely from Enlightenment logic, which gives us the view Text 2 is being asked to modify. What makes the work persuasive in his account? Its coolly methodical tone and logical proofs put reason, rather than passion, at the center.
Step 2
Find what feeling contributes
What do the descriptions of women’s suffering contribute? Okafor says they’re invoking empathy as well as logic: readers feel for women while also following the reasoning. She calls the combination a fusion of rational critique and moral sentiment that broadens the treatise’s persuasive reach, which means feeling helps the work convince more readers. Emotion is part of how the treatise persuades, not a side detail about its style.
Step 3
Name Okafor’s stance
How far does Okafor’s disagreement go? Her closing phrase, employ both, credits the combined use of reason and feeling, so rather than its logical reasoning adds a ranking she never makes. The statement that she accepts Text 1’s view removes her disagreement altogether. She challenges Lane’s emphasis without replacing logic with feeling.
Step 4
Check the reason for the challenge
Test not as part of her argument against Okafor’s claim that the mix broadens the treatise’s persuasive reach. Feeling helps convince readers, so that description gives it too little weight. Recognizing the treatise’s deliberate use of emotional appeal challenges Lane’s account without denying the role of logic. Choice D.

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SAT Reading: Craft and StructureAdvancedCoreText 1 and Text 2: how would one author respond?

Question 96·Hard·Cross-Text Connections

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