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Craft and StructureVery hardTwo texts on a novel's structure

Craft and Structure practice question

Text 1 The novel's fragmented structure, with its chapters out of order, mirrors the memory loss of its narrator; form and subject are one. Text 2 The author's letters show that she wrote the chapters in sequence and reordered them only at her publisher's urging, months before printing, to make the book seem "more modern".

Based on the texts, how does Text 2 bear on the reading offered in Text 1?

  1. A. It complicates the reading by showing that the structure was a late change made for commercial reasons, though it does not rule out the effect Text 1 describes.Correct
  2. B. It confirms that the author designed the structure to mirror memory loss.
  3. C. It proves that the novel has no narrator.
  4. D. It shows that the chapters are in chronological order.

Answer: A. It complicates the reading by showing that the structure was a late change made for commercial reasons, though it does not rule out the effect Text 1 describes.

A commercial origin, but the effect could still hold.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. It confirms that the author designed the structure to mirror memory loss.
The letters point to the publisher's urging, not the narrator.
C. It proves that the novel has no narrator.
Nothing about the narrator.
D. It shows that the chapters are in chronological order.
They were reordered.

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