66 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT
Detailed Answer Key
The creature that Victor Frankenstein created was
horrible to all who saw it, including Victor himself.
Huge, misshapen and awkward, the creature was not
even considered human. Indeed, the creature began
to fulfill the only role that humans allowed him to oc-
cupy: the role of a bloodthirsty monster. Yet what
Mary Shelley’s Frankensteinshows us is not so much
how rare and horrible it is to alter the natural order,
but how tragically simple it is to create a monster.
Victor Frankenstein created a monster not by contra-
vening nature, as many would believe, but by judging
the creature by his outward appearance and treating
him like an unworthy freak.
How simple it is to hate others, to consider them
less than human, based on superficial analysis. Ha-
tred is the desperate accomplice of fear. In recent
years, too many of us Americans—denizens of the
land of the free and home of the brave—have become
imprisoned by our hatred and cowed by our fear of
the unknown. Our leaders are too often complicit in
rousing this fear and fueling this hate, and in mistak-
ing a quick trigger finger for bravery in the face of
threat. They become quick to imprison or kill people
who scare us at first, rather than acknowledge that
they are humans with rights. They see the populace
cringing at foreigners because foreigners attacked us
in 2001. They can’t see past their irrational fear to the
enormous need to reach out to disenfranchised and
subjugated cultures and listen to their concerns. If
only Victor Frankenstein had tried to learn what his
creature would need once it was given life.
Our leaders are often the blindest of all because,
to survive, they must not edify but pander. They see
the populace cringing in fear at the prospect of human
cloning because they imagine Frankenstein’s mon-
ster. They can’t see past their irrational fear to the
huge potential medical benefits of stem cell research.
They refuse to see that clones are indistinguishable
from twins, and that twins are not horrible mon-
strosities. We can’t really expect politicians or the
media—who pander to popularity polls and big cor-
porate donations—to see the world for what it truly
is. They judge the world book by its cover, as did the
angry villagers of Ingolstadt.
Our current situation will get better only once a
critical mass of the American population begins to see
that we are creating monsters everywhere by our
irrational fear of the new and the foreign. We value
instant polls of superficial and uninformed opinions
more than careful thought and deep analysis. Perhaps
it’s time to open the book and read it carefully rather
than just glancing at the cover.Section 1Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques-
tion posed in the assignment.In a culture obsessed with superficial appearances, our leaders should be those who can
see beyond the surface. Judging a book by its cover is the job of the plebeian or the con-
sumer, but reading the book—pondering its contents and perhaps seeking to write new
chapters—is the job of a leader.Assignment: How important is it to look beyond superficial appearances?Write an essay in
which you answer this question and discuss your point of view on this issue. Support
your position logically with examples from literature, the arts, history, politics, science
and technology, current events, or your experience or observation.The following essay received 6 points out of a possible 6, meaning that it demonstrates clear and consis-
tent competencein that it- develops an insightful point of view on the topic
- demonstrates exemplary critical thinking
- uses effective examples, reasons, and other evidence to support its thesis
- is consistently focused, coherent, and well organized
- demonstrates skillful and effective use of language and sentence structure
- is largely (but not necessarily completely) free of grammatical and usage errors