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Reading Comprehension
Read this excerpt from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov:
"That's inevitable in any case," Ivan laughed again. "The old man has told Him He hasn't the right to add anything to what He has said of old. One may say it is the most fundamental feature of Roman Catholicism, in my opinion at least. 'All has been given by Thee to the Pope,'they say, 'and all, therefore, is still in the Pope's hands, and there is no need for Thee to come now at all. Thou must not meddle for the time, at least.'That's how they speak and write to—the Jesuits, at any rate. I have read it myself in the works of their theologians. 'Hast Thou the right to reveal to us one of the mysteries of that world from which Thou hast come?'An old man asks Him, and answers the question for Him. 'No, Thou hast not; that Thou mayest not add to what has been said of old, and mayest not take from men the freedom which Thou didst exalt when Thou wast on earth. Whatsoever Thou revealest anew will encroach on men's freedom of faith; for it will be manifest as a miracle, and the freedom of their faith was dearer to Thee than anything in those days fifteen hundred years ago. Didst Thou not often say then, 'I will make you free?'But now Thou hast seen these'free'men,'the old man adds suddenly, with a pensive smile. 'Yes, we've paid dearly for it,'he goes on, looking sternly at Him, 'but at last we have completed that work in Thy name. For fifteen centuries we have been wrestling with Thy freedom, but now it is ended and over for good. Dost Thou not believe that it's over for good? Thou lookest meekly at me and deignest not even to be wroth with me. But let me tell Thee that now, to day, people are more persuaded than ever that they have perfect freedom, yet they have brought their freedom to us and laid it humbly at our feet. But that has been our doing. Was this what Thou didst? Was this Thy freedom?'" "I don't understand again." Alyosha broke in. "Is he ironical, is he jesting?" "Not a bit of it! He claims it as a merit for himself and his Church that at last they have vanquished freedom and have done so to make men happy. 'For now'(he is speaking of the Inquisition, of course) 'for the first time it has become possible to think of the happiness of men. Man was created a rebel; and how can rebels be happy? Thou wast warned,'he says to Him. 'Thou hast had no lack of admonitions and warnings, but Thou didst not listen to those warnings; Thou didst reject the only way by which men might be made happy. But, fortunately, departing Thou didst hand on the work to us. Thou hast promised, Thou hast established by Thy word, Thou hast given to us the right to bind and to unbind, and now, of course, Thou canst not think of taking it away. Why, then, hast Thou come to hinder us?'" "And what's the meaning of'no lack of admonitions and warnings'?" askedAlyosha.
"Why, that's the chief part of what the old man must say.
"'The wise and dread spirit, the spirit of self-destruction and non-existence,'the old man goes on, great spirit talked with Thee in the wilderness, and we are told in the books that he'tempted'Thee. Is that so? And could anything truer be said than what he revealed to Thee in three questions and what Thou didst reject, andwhat in the books is called'the temptation'? And yet if there has ever been on earth a real stupendous miracle, it took place on that day, on the day of the three temptations. The statement of those three questions was itself the miracle. If it were possible to imagine simply for the sake of argument that those three questions of the dread spirit had perished utterly from the books, and that we had to restore them and to invent them anew, and to do so had gathered together all the wise men of the earth—rulers, chief priests, learned men, philosophers, poets —and had set them the task to invent three questions, such as would not only fit the occasion, but express in three words, three human phrases, the whole future history of the world and of humanity—dost Thou believe that all the wisdom of the earth united could have invented anything in depth and force equal to the three questions which were actually put to Thee then by the wise and mighty spirit in the wilderness? From those questions alone, from the miracle of their statement, we can see that we have here to do not with the fleeting human intelligence, but with the absolute and eternal. For in those three questions the whole subsequent history of mankind is, as it were, brought together into one whole, and foretold, and in them are united all the unsolved historical contradictions of human nature. At the time it could not be so clear, since the future was unknown; but now that fifteen hundred years have passed, we see that everything in those three questions was so justly divined and foretold, and has been so truly fulfilled, that nothing can be added to them or taken from them."
What are some questions you thought of as you read this piece? Did you see right away who the characters were? What about the plot? What is happening in this scene? What is the setting? Did you notice how the author created a story within the story of The Brothers Karamazov using the "old man" and the character referred to exclusively by capitalized pronouns-"Thee", "Thou", and "Him"? Most importantly, what sort of message is the author trying to convey?
Leave those questions in your mind if you thought of them, and consider the following passage, from the fourth chapter of the Biblical Book of Matthew:
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
Jesus answered, "It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "Throw yourself down. For it is written:
'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered him, "It is also written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test." Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if
you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord
your God, and serve him only."
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Do you think this passage from the Bible has any connection to the passage from Dostoyevsky?
If it wasn't immediately obvious, the first passage refers to the second. The "old man" of the first passage—as Ivan describes him in line 1—is the Grand Inquisitor of the Church. He is interrogating Jesus Christ who has come down to earth, and who is also the figure Ivan refers to exclusively by proper pronouns.
Ivan and Alyosha are the two characters outside of the framed story of the Inquisitor and Jesus. A reader can reasonably infer, due to the informal manner in which the two speak with each other, and the fact that Ivan is telling a very long story to Alyosha, that they are very close to each other. In fact, Ivan and Alyosha are two of three of the eponymous Karamazov brothers.
We can infer that Ivan is telling Alyosha about this story to teach him a lesson. Of course, what that lesson is demands that the reader understand the second passage as well.
The second passage is far more straightforward than the first. We can see exactly who the characters are: Jesus and the Devil. The plot, too, is obvious: the Devil tempts Jesus, hoping each time to have Jesus betray his faith, but Jesus walks away from the ordeal, having bested the Devil by recounting the word of God.
But we must infer at this point why the Inquisitor would blame Jesus for refusing the temptation of the Devil. The Inquisitor clearly believes that Jesus should have accepted the temptations because, as we see,the Inquisitor feels strongly against the fact that Jesus allowed people to be "free". Lines 14—17 read: Didst Thou not often say then, "I will make you free?" But now Thou hast seen these "free" men," the old man adds suddenly, with a pensive smile."Yes, we've paid dearly for it," he goes on, looking sternly at Him, "but at last we have completed that work in Thy name.
What is the significance of Ivan recounting this story to Alyosha? Again, we can make a reasonable inference here to draw out the deeper meaning of this story about the Grand Inquisitor. Notice how Ivan and Alyosha interact. Ivan speaks plenty, while Alyosha only interjects to ask for clarification, and even then his interjections are few. Ivan recounts a deeply pessimistic story about the Inquisitor locking up Jesus and berating him, and as we can read, the Inquisitor is unflinching in his criticism of Jesus. The Inquisitor, too, is the one who speaks while Jesus is silent. Do you see any parallels now?
The interaction between Ivan and Alyosha is a parallel to the interaction between the Inquisitor and Jesus. One character speaks in long, polemic monologues, to the other character's relative silence. One tries to impress an opinion on the other, and the other barely resists but shows no signs of accepting it. Therefore, it would be fair to say the Inquisitor is a mirror of Ivan just as Jesus is a mirror of Alyosha. And we gained this information from a very short passage compared to the actual book which is more than hundreds of pages long! It is, as you see, an entirely possible feat to gain enough information from such a short piece of writing with which to write an essay.
And as you've seen, the first step to understanding is breaking down the piece so we know exactly what is going on. Who are the characters here? That is simple—Ivan and Alyosha, the Inquisitor and Jesus. What is the setting? Most likely a church of some sort, at least in the framed story. What is going on? One brother is telling another brother a story, likely to influence his beliefs. With these important questions out of the way, we can construct a summary of the information in the piece.
Ivan tells a story to his brother Alyosha about a time when Jesus descended to Spain only to be captured and berated by the Grand Inquisitor.
So in this short engagement with Dostoyevsky, we've covered several important aspects of reading comprehension: having sufficient background knowledge , asking the right questions , recognizing literary devices , applying the right reading strategies, including forming a mental summary—these aspects of reading comprehension will be the cornerstones of a good analysis of SAT essay pieces. Beyond their limited application to this specific test, and this specific essay portion of this test, the skills of critical thinking and analysis will form cornerstones of not only your academic career, but also your life.