ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by mud pies,

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the breakfast of champions.

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Well, four-year-old champions, anyway.

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All right, well, check out the following passage.

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Blah, blah, blah... [ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ]

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[ further mumbling ]

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[ more mumbling ]

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All right, here we go.

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The principal analogy the speaker makes in the passage is between

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what and what? And here are the potential answers.

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And let's go.

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An analogy is a comparison between two ideas or things.

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They're usually a little more complicated

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than similes and metaphors,

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which are also in the comparison business.

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In fact, similes and metaphors are often part of

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a larger analogy.

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Here's an example.

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We start with a simple simile: life is like a monkey.

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But then it gets more complicated.

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Sometimes it smiles and gives you hugs.

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But other times it randomly bombards you with poop.

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Boom. Analogy.

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Well, let's take a look at what analogy our speaker is making.

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The key here is that the question is looking for the overarching

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analogy of the entire passage,

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so anything that's too specific can go.

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Choices A and B are both easy to eliminate for this reason.

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Both mention architecture as a main point of comparison.

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While the author does give a shout-out to the Romans

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for their architectural innovation, the passage

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isn't all that concerned with architecture in general.

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Oh. 'Cause this isn't worth your time. [ buzzer ]

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We can get rid of choice D, as well.

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To the disappointment of Sunday school teachers everywhere,

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the author doesn't mention spirituality

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anywhere in the passage.

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And I tried so hard with him... [ buzzer ]

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Option C is the closest so far. The complicated relationship

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between the art and the artist is discussed,

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but there's something bigger going on in this passage.

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It's like she doesn't even see me anymore.

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[ buzzer ] The correct answer is E.

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The author takes us through all this goo-zum-goo

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mud pie talk to set up the analogy that

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nations are not different from children.

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He's not saying that nations act like kids,

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though that's probably true, as well.

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Instead, the author is saying that Western civilization's

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relationship with art

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waxed and waned in the same way a kid's does.

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We were all primitive with it in the caveman days,

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perfected our skills with the Greeks, then had to grow up

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and focus on practical things during the Roman era.

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Personally, we take caveman mudpie over Roman era

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boring job any day.

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[ splat ] [ groan ]

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