Reading Comprehension

PT125 · S1 · P3 · Q13 Aida Overton Walker

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Aida Overton Walker (1880-1914), one of the most widely acclaimed African American performers of the early twentieth century, was known largely for popularizing a dance form known as the cakewalk through her choreographing, performance, and teaching of the dance.

Topic

Aida Overton Walker and the evolution and popularization of the cakewalk dance

Framework

Highlight Noteworthy

Main Point

Aida Overton Walker’s ability to adapt the cakewalk’s highly layered, parody-rich roots to fit the tastes of diverse audiences allowed her to popularize it and bridge the racial divide in early 20th-century America. ( — start of P4)

P1: Origins and African Roots of the Cakewalk

This paragraph introduces Aida Overton Walker and explains how the cakewalk dance originated within enslaved African American communities, drawing on African dance traditions that featured improvisation and certain movement styles.

P2: Blending and Satire—African Meets European Influence

Here, we learn that the cakewalk picked up elements from European dances but did so in a satirical way—mocking the dances and manners of slave owners. Ironically, these European-influenced features helped the cakewalk become popular among white Americans, and then whites later parodied the cakewalk itself.

P3: Cakewalk’s Multi-layered Evolution and Mass Appeal

The paragraph discusses how the layered, ever-evolving nature of the cakewalk (including all the parody elements) made it especially appealing during a time of major social changes in the U.S. Art that could be “many things to many people” had the best shot at popularity.

13.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

Walker, who was especially well
Wrong Emphasis
The main clause here is "Walker was one of the most widely recognized African American performers of the early 20th century". There's no way that that would be the one sentence the author would say to us, if she were summing up this passage. The main clause doesn't even mention the cakewalk, which is arguably tied with Walker as the central topic of the passage.
4% picked this
In spite of the disparate
Wrong Causal Relationship
"The most authentic" seems like it's Too Strong, but it is used by the passage in the second to last sentence. The problem is that this sentence winds up like the first sentence of our final paragraph (our Most Valuable Sentence), but it doesn't deliver the correct backend idea. She was able to give the dance broad appeal because of "her ability to address within her interpretation of it the varying and sometimes conflicting demands placed on the dance". The tidbit about the "most authentic" cakewalk was a subsidiary point fleshing out that main point. After that main point, we see, for example ... audience demand 1 Meanwhile ... audience demand 2 Finally .... audience demand 3 The main point of the passage is that Walker's interpretation was popular because it could satisfy 1, 2, and 3. This answer is saying it was popular purely because of #2.
13% picked this
Correct
Walker popularized the cakewalk by
Why this is right
This answer is initially very attractive because its main clause sounds a lot like our Most Valuable Sentence, the first sentence of the final paragraph. That sentence says that Walker's success in popularizing something was due to X. This answer is saying that Walker popularized something by doing X. Do the X's match? The last paragraph is saying that her interpretation of the cakewalk addressed the varying and sometimes conflicting demands. Varying and conflicting demands = the complex cultural mix They're certainly not synonyms, but if we get specific about what both of these general expressions are talking about, they're talking about the same thing. As the final paragraph summarizes, ya got: - middle class black people offended by the parodies, who want something graceful and noble. - middle/upper class white people, threatened by cultural change, who want "classic version" - the newly rich, who want a dance that lets them flex their swag. Some of the concerns above related to "satire", some to "cultural preservation".
Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
75% picked this
Whereas other versions of the
Wrong Emphasis Too Strong: primarily parodic
This is a pretty close contender, since almost everything it says is true, other than "primarily". We know that satire and parody are present in many versions of the cakewalk. But it's hard for us to get specific when it comes to "primarily" (i.e. more than 50% of cakewalk versions were parodic?). Mainly, though, this answer is losing because it does a poorer job of stressing what the author thinks is most interesting or most important. Is the author's one-sentence takeaway, the thing he really wanted you to know about Walker / cakewalk, "Walker's cakewalk is noteworthy, because hers not only did the parody that everyone else was doing, but also did cultural preservation"? That's not a good match for the Most Valuable Sentence, the beginning of the last paragraph. That sentence is saying, "Walker's cakewalk was noteworthy because it achieved wide renown by addressing the varying and conflicting demands placed on it". Cultural preservation was one of the demands placed on it (the 2nd of the three audience demands profiled in the final paragraph). But the 1st one was grace and the 3rd one was a way to celebrate success, and this answer doesn't mention either of those. All three of them are of equal importance, so singling out the 2nd one fails to place emphasis on the bigger idea that unites them all.
4% picked this
Because Walker was able to
Too Strong
Too Strong: the first art form Wrong Causal Relationship The passage said that "these modifications enabled the cakewalk to become one of the first cultural forms", not "the first art form". This answer identifies Walker's causal difference-maker as "being able to recognize and preserve the original characteristics", but in the Most Valuable Sentence the author identifies Walker's causal difference-maker as "being able to address the conflicting and varying demands placed on the dance".
4% picked this

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