(Exam Paper) All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) Question Paper Held on 2011

Duration : 90 Minutes

Max. Marks : 150 Marks

SECTION 1 – ENGLISH AND READING COMPREHENSION

Read the passage and answer the questions following it. The questions are to be answered on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage. For some of the questions, more than one of the choices could conceivably answer the question. However, you are to choose the best answer; that is, the response that most accurately and completely answers the questions.

Roger Rosenblatt’s book ‘Black Fiction’, manages to alter the approach taken in many previous studies by making an attempt to apply literary rather than socio-political criteria to its subject. Rosenblatt points out that criticism of Black writing has very often served as a pretext for an expounding on Black history. The recent work of Addison Gayle’s passes a judgment on the value of Black fiction by clear political standards, rating each work according to the ideas of Black identity, which it propounds.

Though fiction results from political circumstances, its author reacts not in ideological ways to those circumstances, and talking about novels and stories primarily as instruments of ideology circumvents much of the fictional enterprise. Affinities and connections are revealed in the works of Black fiction in Rosenblatt’s literary analysis; these affinities and connections have been overlooked and ignored by solely political studies.

The writing of acceptable criticism of Black fiction, however, presumes giving satisfactory answers to quite a few questions. The most important of all, is there a sufficient reason, apart from the racial identity of the authors, for the grouping together of Black authors? Secondly, what is the distinction of Black fiction from other modem fiction with which it is largely contemporaneous? In the work Rosenblatt demonstrates that Black fiction is a distinct body of writing, which has an identifiable, coherent literary tradition. He highlights recurring concerns and designs, which are independent of chronology in Black fiction written over the past eighty years. These concerns and designs are thematic, and they come from the central fact of the predominant white culture, where the Black characters in the novel are situated irrespective of whether they attempt to conform to that culture or they rebel against it.

Rosenblatt’s work does leave certain aesthetic questions open. His thematic analysis allows considerable objectivity; he even clearly states that he does not intend to judge the merit of the various works yet his reluctance seems misplaced, especially since an attempt to appraise might have led to interesting results. For example, certain novels have an appearance of structural diffusion. Is this a defeat, or are the authors working out of, or attempting to forge, a different kind of aesthetic? Apart from this, the style of certain Black novels, like Jean Toomer’s Cane, verges on expressionism or surrealism; does this technique provide a counterpoint to the prevalent theme that portrays the fate against which Black heroes are pitted, a theme usually conveyed by more naturalistic modes of expressions? Irrespective of such omissions, what Rosenblatt talks about in his work makes for an astute and worthwhile study. His book very effectively surveys a variety of novels, highlighting certain fascinating and little- known works like James Weldon Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man. Black Fiction is tightly constructed, arid levelheaded and penetrating criticism is exemplified in its forthright and lucid style.

Answer the following questions indicating your response for each question:

1. The author of the passage raises an objection to criticism of Black fiction like that by Addison ‘Gayle as it

a) Highlights only the purely literary aspects of such work

b) Misconceive the ideological content of such fiction

c) Miscalculate the notions of Black identity presented in such fiction

d) Replaces political for literary criteria in evaluating such fiction.

2. The primary concern of the author in the above passage is

a) Reviewing the validity of a work of criticism

b) Comparing various critical approaches to a subject

c) Talking of the limitations of a particular kind of criticism

d) Recapitulation of the major points in a work of criticism.

3. The author is of the opinion that Black Fiction would have been improved had Rosenblatt

a) Undertaken a more careful evaluation of the ideological and historical aspects of Black Fiction

b) Been more objective in his approach to novels and stories by Black authors

c) Attempted a more detailed exploration of the recurring themes in Black Fiction throughout its history

d) Calculated the relative literary merit of the novels he analyzed thematically.

4. Rosenblatt’s discussion of Black Fiction is

a) Pedantic and contentious

b) Critical but admiring

c) Ironic and deprecating

d) Argumentative but unfocused.

5. According to the given passage the author would be LEAST likely to approve of which among the following?

a) Analyzing the influence of political events on the personal ideology of Black writers

b) Attempting a critical study which applies sociopolitical criteria to the autobiographies of Black authors

c) A literary study of Black poetry that appraises the merits of poems according to the political acceptability of their themes

d) Studying the growth of a distinct Black literary tradition within the context of Black history.

6. From the following options, which does the author not make use of while discussing Black Fiction?

a) Rhetorical questions

b) Specific examples

c) Comparison and contrast

d) Definition of terms.

Each of the following sentences contain four parts, marked a, b, c and d. One of these parts is incorrect. Indicate the letter of the incorrect part.

7. The Baby showed a noticeable (a)/ distaste for (b)/ these kinds (c)/ of prepared baby food (d).

8. They cannot go camping right now (a)/ because (b)/ they are taking care of (c)/ a three-weeks-old baby (d).

9. If it (a)/ will rain (b)/ this afternoon, we will have (c)/ to cancel the picnic (d).

10. Are (a)/ you familiar of (b)/ the latest (c)/ scientific developments in the field (d)?

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