501 Critical Reading Questions

Critical Reading Questions

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144.
b. Prometheus’s actions show that he cared for humans more than
he cared for Zeus. He gave man knowledge of the arts and sci-
ences although Zeus wanted men to be kept in ignorance (lines
17–18); he tricked Zeus to give mankind the best meat from an
ox (line 22); and he stole fire from Mt. Olympus to give mortals
the fire that Zeus had denied them (lines 30–31).
145.
a. Zeus had given Prometheus and his brother the task of creating
humans as a reward for their help in defeating the Titans (lines
7–10).
146.
a. Prometheus helped create mortals and then became their bene-
factor and protector (line 15). He is thus most like a parent to
humans.
147.
e. The transgression refers back to the previous paragraph, which
describes how Prometheus disobeyed Zeus and stole fire from
Mount Olympus to give it to man.
148.
b. The inclusion of Hope in the jar suggests that Zeus had some
pity on mankind and that he wanted to send something to help
humans battle the numerous evils he unleashed upon them.
149.
c. The style is neither formal nor informal but an easy-going in
between to make the material easily understood and interesting
to a lay audience. In addition, the passage does not take for
granted that the reader knows basic information about mythol-
ogy. For example, line 9 states that Zeus was the great ruler of
Olympian gods.
150.
d. The members of the PRB were young artists who suddenly
found themselves leading a rebellion that had a dramatic influ-
ence on the art world for generations to come (lines 12–13). The
concluding paragraph repeats this idea, stating that these three
young men had a tremendous influence on an entire generation of
artists (lines 58–59). Because upstart precedes young, we can infer
that these men, like the leaders of other rebellions, were sud-
denly thrown into the spotlight, raised to a high (albeit contro-
versial) position in the art world.
151.
d. The author cites the PRB as an example of a rebellion led by
young activists (line 5) and states that the PRB had a dramatic
influence on the art world because of their disdain for the artistic
conventions of the time (line 12). This suggests that their ideas
about art were revolutionary, creating a significant and lasting
change in the art world. That they were passionate about their
beliefs is clear from the fact that they felt strongly enough to
form an association and lead a rebellion.
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