In discussing Mary Shelley's 1818 epistolary novel Frankenstein, literary theorist Gayatri Spivak directs the reader's attention to the character of...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• In discussing Mary Shelley's 1818 epistolary novel Frankenstein,
• literary theorist Gayatri Spivak
  • directs the reader's attention to the character of Margaret Saville.
• As Spivak points out,
• Saville
  • is not the protagonist of Shelley's novel [?]
  • as the recipient of the letters
    • that frame the book's narrative,
  • she's the 'occasion' of it.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

The passage tells us that:

• literary theorist Gayatri Spivak is discussing Frankenstein
• She directs attention to the character Margaret Saville

Now we get to the key point - "As Spivak points out":

• "Saville is not the protagonist of Shelley's ____"

This is where we have the blank.

Let's look at the choices:

• A: novel (no punctuation)
• B: novel, (just a comma)
• C: novel; rather, (semicolon + "rather" + comma)
• D: novel, rather, (comma + "rather" + comma)

To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying!

The sentence continues:

• "as the recipient of the letters that frame the book's narrative, she's the 'occasion' of it."

Now let's really understand what this complete sentence is telling us:

First part:

• "Saville is not the protagonist of Shelley's novel"
  • This tells us what Saville is NOT
  • This is a complete thought - it has a subject (Saville) and verb (is)

Second part:

• "she's the 'occasion' of it"
  • This tells us what Saville IS instead
  • This is also a complete thought - subject (she) and verb (is)
  • The phrase "as the recipient of the letters that frame the book's narrative" describes the context, but doesn't change that we have a complete sentence here

So the complete picture is:

• We have TWO complete thoughts (two sentences)
• They present CONTRASTING ideas: what she is NOT vs. what she IS
• The word "rather" in choices C and D signals this contrast

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have two complete sentences that need to be connected
  • You can't just run two complete sentences together with nothing - that's a run-on
  • You can't connect them with just a comma - that's a comma splice
• The word "rather" is a transitional word showing contrast
  • When you use a transitional word to connect two complete sentences, you need a semicolon before it and a comma after it
  • This is different from words like "but" or "and" which can use just a comma

So we need: semicolon + rather + comma

The correct answer is C.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Connecting Complete Sentences with Transitional Words

When you want to connect two complete sentences using a transitional word (called a conjunctive adverb in grammar terms) like "rather," "however," "therefore," "moreover," or "nevertheless," you need:

Pattern:

• First complete sentence + semicolon + transitional word + comma + second complete sentence

Examples:

• With "rather":
  • The experiment did not confirm the hypothesis; rather, it suggested an entirely different conclusion.
  • [Complete sentence] ; rather, [complete sentence]
• With "however":
  • The team expected rain; however, the day turned out sunny.
  • [Complete sentence] ; however, [complete sentence]
• With "therefore":
  • The data was incomplete; therefore, the researchers extended the study.
  • [Complete sentence] ; therefore, [complete sentence]

Why this differs from coordinating conjunctions:

• With coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet), you use: comma + conjunction
• "The book was long, but it was engaging."
• With transitional words, you use: semicolon + transitional word + comma
• "The book was long; however, it was engaging."

In this question:

• "Saville is not the protagonist of Shelley's novel" = complete sentence
• "she's the 'occasion' of it" = complete sentence
• "rather" = transitional word showing contrast
• Therefore: "novel; rather," is correct