Question 54·Hard·Words in Context
Some literary critics maintain that the novel’s apparent endorsement of individualism is ____ the protagonist’s repeated confessions of doubt, which suggest a yearning for communal guidance.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
For Words in Context questions, first ignore the choices and paraphrase the sentence, focusing on the relationship between the ideas around the blank (support, contrast, cause-effect, etc.). Predict a simple phrase that could fill the blank (like “because of,” “contradicted by,” “similar to”), then test each answer by plugging it into the sentence and checking: Does it match your predicted relationship, fit the tone, and make the sentence clear and logical? Eliminate any choice that reverses the logic, weakens the contrast, or creates a strange or unclear meaning in context.
Hints
Clarify what two things are being linked
Identify the two ideas the sentence connects: the novel’s apparent endorsement of individualism, and the protagonist’s repeated confessions of doubt and desire for communal guidance. Think about how those two ideas relate.
Decide the type of relationship
Ask yourself: Do the protagonist’s confessions of doubt make the novel’s individualism seem stronger, weaker, or unrelated? Focus on whether these doubts fit with individualism or conflict with it.
Use prediction before looking at choices
Before you commit to an answer, try to say in your own words what should go in the blank (for example, something like “challenged by” or “goes against”). Then compare your idea with each answer choice and see which one matches that relationship in context.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the basic meaning of the sentence
Paraphrase the sentence in your own words: Some critics say that the novel seems to support individualism, but when you look at how often the main character admits doubt and longs for guidance from others, that appearance does not really hold up.
So, the sentence sets up a contrast between:
- the apparent endorsement of individualism, and
- the protagonist’s repeated confessions of doubt and desire for community.
Identify the logical relationship needed
Ask: Do the protagonist’s doubts support, have no real effect on, or undermine the idea that the novel endorses individualism?
If the protagonist is often doubting and wanting communal guidance, that goes against the idea of strong, confident individualism. So the relationship is one where the second part undercuts or challenges the first part.
Predict a meaning for the blank
Based on that relationship, you can predict a rough meaning for the blank: the sentence should say that the novel’s apparent endorsement of individualism is challenged, undermined, or contradicted by the protagonist’s confessions of doubt.
So you are looking for an option that shows the apparent endorsement does not stand up once you consider those doubts.
Test each choice against your prediction
Now compare each option to your prediction:
- "fortified through" would mean the endorsement is strengthened by the doubts, which is the opposite of what the sentence suggests.
- "incidental to" would mean the endorsement is just a minor side detail compared with the doubts, which does not express that the doubts actively conflict with it.
- "indistinguishable from" would mean the endorsement is the same as the doubts, which makes no sense because endorsing individualism is not the same as doubting and wanting community.
- "belied by" means "shown to be false or misleading by" or "contradicted by", which fits the idea that the protagonist’s confessions of doubt undercut the novel’s apparent endorsement of individualism.
Therefore, the correct answer is "belied by".