Video Explanation

Text Explanation

Approach

This question can be tricky because the prose fiction of Dickens is described in a lot of different ways in the passage.  Thus, it's essential to first examine the very specific context given in the question:

"as a result of Dickens’s disinclination to subvert the conventions of his time..."

The word "disinclination" means "unwillingness," "to subvert" means "to destroy," and "conventions" are "accepted standards or traditions."  In other words, the question is asking us to identify the key feature of Dickens's prose that shows that he did NOT go against the standards of his time.  We could thus could paraphrase the above as:

"because Dickens chose to follow the practices for writing novels in his day, his work is characterized by what?"

Important part of the passage

This information to answer this question comes from the 2nd sentence in the passage:

"If Dickens’s prose fiction has “defects”—excesses of melodrama, sentimentality, contrived plots, and manufactured happy endings—these are the defects of his era, which for all his greatness Dickens had not the rebellious spirit to resist; he was at heart a crowd-pleaser, a theatrical entertainer, with no interest in subverting the conventions of the novel..."

Correct answer

In the list of characteristics above between the dashes, we are given a list of "bad" qualities.  However, these bad qualities define the state of novels during the time when Dickens lived: "these are the defects of his era."  This sentence also tells us that Dickens included these qualities in his work because he "had not the rebellious spirit to resist" and "had no interest in subverting the conventions of the novel".  In other words, Dickens chose to follow the conventions of his day, which meant that his work intentionally included (C) "contrived plots," the correct answer.

Trap answers

Answer choices (A) “unique rendering of his subject” and (E) “world so idiosyncratic” are the most frequently selected wrong answers because those traits are indeed characteristics of Dickens's prose, as we learn in the first sentence of the passage.  Furthermore, those are good qualities, so it seems like those are the kinds of traits that should define Dickens’s fiction.  However, the very specific context given in the question rules these out as correct answers. We're looking for traits that show how Dickens followed the standards for writing novels in his day, and—perhaps unfortunately—the standards of his time included some bad qualities, such as contrived plots!

Other wrong answers

Answer choices (B) “ironic counterminings” and (D) “nuanced psychological realism” are both phrases that also appear in the passage.  However, we are told that these are aspects that Dickens did NOT use in his writing.  Instead, George Eliot and Thomas Hardy are the ones who included these in their novels.  Since these phrases do not describe Dickens, these answers are incorrect.

Takeaways

• For questions asking about a specific context, make sure to find support in the passage in regards to that context and not just in general.

• It can be very helpful to first paraphrase a question in your own words to ensure that you’re answering the specific question asked.