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» NET English Paper 3 December 2013 Q.71
NET English Paper 3 December 2013 Q.71
71. Questions from 71 to 75 are based on the following passage. Read the passage
carefully and select the most appropriate option:
Somewhere, on the edge of consciousness, there is what I call a mythical norm,
which each one of us within our hearts knows “that is not me”. In America, this norm
is usually defined as white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and finacially
secure. It is with this mythical norm that the trappings of power reside within the
society. Those of us who stand outside that power often identify one way in which
we are different, and we assume that to be the primary cause of all oppression,
forgetting other distortions around difference, some of which we ourselves may be
practicing. By and large within the women’s movement today, white women focus
upon their oppression as women and ignore differences of race, sexual preference,
class, and age. There is a pretense to homogeneity of experience covered by the
word sisterhood that does not in fact exist. (Audre Lorde)
Q.A mythical norm is endemic to societies:
1. Where racial myths are prevalent and widely respected and perpetuated through
utterances that establish ‘we’ and ‘they’ groups.
2. Where the superiority of one’s own culture and nation no longer emphasized
openly or straightforwardly.
3. Where ‘difference’ has been a preoccupation in the representation of people who
are racially, ethnically, and in terms of gender and sexual preference different from
an assumed majority.
4. That believes that the norm is part of their right to defend the ways of life enjoyed
by a dominant group, their traditions and customs against outsiders – not because
these outsiders are inferior, but because they belong to other cultures.
