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AP English Literature and Composition 1.9 Passage Drill 5 198 Views


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AP English Literature and Composition 1.9 Passage Drill 5. Which of the following lines best expresses a paradox?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Poppies. If they're good enough for the

00:07

Wicked Witch, they're good enough for Death.

00:17

Which of the following lines BEST expresses

00:20

a paradox? And here are the potential answers...

00:28

a paradox is not where you park your two boats after making your way back to shore.

00:33

Nice try. Rather, a paradox is a statement that seems

00:36

to contradict itself.

00:38

Like, "God can create a rock so heavy he can't lift it"...

00:42

...or, "Candace wanted a real job so she found work as an actress."

00:46

We're given five answer choices... and are told that ONE of them is the BEST example of a paradox.

00:52

So... which is it? Is it B? "Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me."

00:57

Close... but not quite.

00:57

It's not saying that Death can't die... it's more like the author is taunting Death...

01:02

saying, "Oooh, I'd just like to see you try to kill me."

01:04

"Come at me with your mitts up, big fella..." We can actually eliminate C, D and E all at

01:09

once, and for pretty much a unified reason.

01:11

Looking them over, we can see that each line contains multiple modifiers, or nouns... but

01:16

not two contradictory ideas.

01:18

And since we're in such a contradictory mood... we can pass them by.

01:22

Which leaves only A -- "And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die."

01:26

Okay, now he's telling Death he will die...

01:29

But... uh... who's going to make that happen? Does Death have an assistant, or is there

01:33

some sort of... substitute Reaper program?

01:35

Nope... it seems inconceivable that Death itself could die... which is what makes this

01:40

statement a paradox.

01:41

Our answer is A.

01:42

As in, "Alive and loving it."

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