In her account of unmarried women’s experiences in colonial Philadelphia, Wulf argues that educated young women, particularly Quakers, engaged in resistance to patriarchal marriage by exchanging poetry critical of marriage, copying verse into their commonplace books.Wulf suggests that this critique circulated beyond the daughters of the Quaker elite and middle class, whose commonplace books she mines, proposing that Quaker schools brought it to many poor female students of diverse backgrounds.
Here Wulf probably overstates Quaker schools’ impact.At least three years’ study would be necessary to achieve the literacy competence necessary to grapple with the material she analyzes. In 1765, the year Wulf uses to demonstrate the diversity of Philadelphia’s Quaker schools, 128 students enrolled in these schools.Refining Wulf’s numbers by the information she provides on religious affiliation, gender, and length of study, it appears that only about 17 poor non-Quaker girls were educated in Philadelphia’s Quaker schools for three years or longer.While Wulf is correct that a critique of patriarchal marriage circulated broadly, Quaker schools probably cannot be credited with instilling these ideas in the lower classes.Popular literary satires on marriage had already landed on fertile ground in a multiethnic population that embodied a wide range of marital beliefs and practices.These ethnic- and class-based traditions themselves challenged the legitimacy of patriarchal marriage.
Q15: The primary purpose of the passage is to
A. argue against one aspect of Wulf’s account of how ideas critical of marriage were disseminated among young women in colonial Philadelphia
B. discuss Wulf’s interpretation of the significance for educated young women in colonial Philadelphia of the poetry they copied into their commonplace books
C. counter Wulf’s assertions about the impact of the multiethnic character of colonial Philadelphia’s population on the prevalent views about marriage
D. present data to undermine Wulf’s assessment of the diversity of the student body in Quaker schools in colonial Philadelphia
E. challenge Wulf’s conclusion that a critique of marriage was prevalent among young women of all social classes in colonial Philadelphia
Q16: According to the passage, which of the following was true of attitudes toward marriage in colonial Philadelphia?
A. Exemplars of a critique of marriage could be found in various literary forms, but they did not impact public attitudes except among educated young women.
B. The diversity of the student body in the Quaker schools meant that attitudes toward marriage were more disparate there than elsewhere in Philadelphia society.
C. Although critical attitudes toward marriage were widespread, Quaker schools’ influence in disseminating these attitudes was limited.
D. Criticisms of marriage in colonial Philadelphia were directed at only certain limited aspects of patriarchal marriage.
E. The influence of the wide range of marital beliefs and practices present in Philadelphia’s multiethnic population can be detected in the poetry that educated young women copied in their commonplace books.
Q17: The author of the passage implies which of the following about the poetry mentioned in the first paragraph?
A. Wulf exaggerates the degree to which young women from an elite background regarded the poetry as providing a critique of marriage.
B. The circulation of the poetry was confined to young Quaker women.
C. Young women copied the poetry into their commonplace books because they interpreted it as providing a desirable model of unmarried life.
D. The poetry’s capacity to influence popular attitudes was restricted by the degree of literacy necessary to comprehend it.
E. The poetry celebrated marital beliefs and practices that were in opposition to patriarchal marriage.
Q18:Which of the following, if true, would most seriously undermine the author’s basis for saying that Wulf overstates Quaker schools’ impact (lines 17-18)?
A. The information that Wulf herself provided on religious affiliation and gender of students is in fact accurate.
B. Most poor, non-Quaker students enrolled in Quaker schools had completed one or two years’ formal or informal schooling before enrolling.
C. Not all of the young women whose commonplace books contained copies of poetry critical of marriage were Quakers.
D. The poetry featured in young women’s commonplace books frequently included allusions that were unlikely to be accessible to someone with only three years’ study in school.
E. In 1765 an unusually large proportion of the Quaker schools’ student body consisted of poor girls from non-Quaker backgrounds.作者: myice 时间: 2010-6-30 23:31
