The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Certain codes may, of course, be so widely distributed in a specific language community or culture, and be learned at so early an age, that they appear not to be constructed – the effect of an articulation between sign and referent – but to be ‘naturally’ given. Simple visual signs appear to have achieved a ‘near-universality’ in this sense: though evidence remains that even apparently ‘natural’ visual codes are culture specific. However, this does not mean that no codes have intervened; rather, that the codes have been profoundly naturalized. The operation of naturalized codes reveals not the transparency and ‘naturalness’ of language but the depth, the habituation and the near-universality of the codes in use. They produce apparently ‘natural’ recognitions. This has the (ideological) effect of concealing the practices of coding which are present.

Question

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Lyric poetry is a genre of private meditation rather than public commitment. The impulse in Marxism toward changing a society deemed unacceptable in its basic design would seem to place demands on lyric poetry that such poetry, with its tendency toward the personal, the small scale, and the idiosyncratic, could never answer. There is within Marxism, however, also a strand of thought that would locate in lyric poetry alternative modes of perception and description that call forth a vision of worlds at odds with a repressive reality or that draw attention to the workings of ideology within the hegemonic culture. The poetic imagination may indeed deflect larger social concerns, but it may also be implicitly critical and utopian.

Answer 1

This passage examines codes in language and visual systems. It suggests that codes often seem inherent to a culture because they have become deeply ingrained or "naturalized." This naturalization makes the underlying coding practices invisible, leading people to view them as universal truths, thereby hiding the cultural and ideological work involved. The core idea is the distinction between genuinely natural codes and those that merely appear so through common usage and early learning, which in turn masks the coding process itself.

Option	ExplanationNbsp;
1	This option wrongly claims all codes are natural, but the passage discusses some codes seeming natural due to widespread use.
2	This option mentions ideology and naturalized codes, but the passage mainly stresses how deeply integrated codes appear natural.
3	This option emphasizes early learning but misinterprets the passage's main point about certain codes appearing universal.
4	Correct. This option accurately explains how some codes, due to their widespread nature, seem natural and hide the coding process.

Therefore, Option 4 is the best summary because it captures how linguistic and visual signs, when widely accepted, appear natural while hiding their constructed nature.

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Top Questions on Para Summary

Questions Asked in CAT exam