In her poetry collection Thomas and Beulah, Rita Dove interweaves the titular characters' personal stories with broader historical narratives. She...
GMAT Expression of Ideas : (Expression) Questions
In her poetry collection Thomas and Beulah, Rita Dove interweaves the titular characters' personal stories with broader historical narratives. She places Thomas's journey from the American South to the Midwest in the early 1900s within the larger context of the Great Migration. ______ Dove sets events from Beulah's personal life against the backdrop of the US Civil Rights Movement.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Specifically,
Thus,
Regardless,
Similarly,
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'In her poetry collection Thomas and Beulah, Rita Dove interweaves the titular characters' personal stories with broader historical narratives.' |
|
| 'She places Thomas's journey from the American South to the Midwest in the early 1900s within the larger context of the Great Migration.' |
|
| '[MISSING TRANSITION]' |
|
| 'Dove sets events from Beulah's personal life against the backdrop of the US Civil Rights Movement.' |
|
Part B: Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Rita Dove combines individual character stories with major historical events in her poetry collection.
Argument Flow: The passage introduces Dove's general approach of weaving personal and historical narratives together, then provides two parallel examples - Thomas's story set against the Great Migration and Beulah's story set against the Civil Rights Movement.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- Looking at our passage analysis, we have a clear pattern: the opening sentence describes Dove's general approach, then we get a specific example with Thomas, and then we get what appears to be another example with Beulah following the same pattern.
- The missing transition needs to connect these two examples and show their relationship. Both examples demonstrate the same thing - personal stories woven with historical contexts. Thomas gets his personal journey + Great Migration, Beulah gets her personal life + Civil Rights Movement.
- Since both examples illustrate the same approach Dove uses, the transition should signal that the second example follows the same pattern as the first.
Specifically,
Specifically
✗ Incorrect
- This would suggest that Beulah's story is a more detailed explanation of Thomas's story
- But these are two separate characters with different historical contexts - not a detail of the same story
- Doesn't match our pattern of parallel examples
Thus,
Thus
✗ Incorrect
- This signals cause and effect or a logical conclusion
- But Beulah's story isn't a result of Thomas's story - they're separate examples
- Creates wrong logical relationship between independent examples
Regardless,
Regardless
✗ Incorrect
- This suggests contrast or dismissal of what came before
- But Beulah's story doesn't contrast with or dismiss Thomas's story
- Actually contradicts the parallel structure we identified
Similarly,
Similarly
✓ Correct
- This signals that what follows is another example of the same pattern
- Perfectly captures the parallel structure: both Thomas and Beulah have personal stories set against historical backdrops
- Connects the two examples as variations of Dove's consistent approach
- Matches our prethinking about needing a transition that shows continuation of the same method
Answer: D