A quotation question tests whether you can find a line that supports a specific claim. Read the claim and put it in a few words, keeping any cause or contrast it includes. What must the line show, and what explanation does the claim reject? Predict the evidence you need, then put each quotation in plain words so you can check every part. A line about the same topic isn't enough unless it shows the link the claim makes.
Hints
- Hint 1
In the opening sentence, find what the creature says caused his destructiveness. Put that claim in a few words.
- Hint 2
Split the claim at rather than. What does each side say about where the creature’s evil came from?
Step-by-step
Match the cause and the contrast
Step 1Split the claim into two parts
The creature says his destructive nature resulted from suffering, so we need a quotation that explains why he became destructive. What does rather than from an innate tendency toward evil add? Innate means present from birth, so he's saying evil wasn't his starting nature. Let's predict a line showing that suffering changed him, rather than a line that only describes his pain.
- Step 2
Put the images in plain words
Which lines actually show his destructive nature resulted from suffering? Knowledge clinging like a lichen means knowledge stays in the mind, with no link to evil. The fallen angel line says he's been unfairly driven from joy, but doesn't show that rejection making him destructive. Being a wretched outcast means being miserable and excluded, and knowledge only helps him see how miserable and excluded he is. These lines don't show pain changing his nature, so they don't support the whole claim.
- Step 3
Find what changed his nature
How does I was benevolent and good describe his earlier nature? Benevolent means kind and willing to do good, so he says he wasn't evil at first. In misery made me a fiend, misery means deep suffering and fiend means an evil being. The verb made shows that suffering caused the change, so the quotation supports both resulted from suffering and the rejection of an innate tendency toward evil. Choice D.