📘 What’s Inside This CAT RC Practice Post?
📝 Authentic CAT Reading Comprehension Passage: Practice with a real RC passage from a previous CAT exam.
✅ Detailed Questions with Step-by-Step Solutions: Each question is explained thoroughly for better understanding.
🔍 In-Depth Passage Analysis: Gain insights through line-by-line and paragraph-wise analysis, supplemented with a quick summary table for efficient revision.
📚 Vocabulary Enhancement: Get a separate post explaining all tough words from the passage.
RC Passage
Direction for the questions 1 to 4: The passage below is accompanied by a set of four questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
We cannot travel outside our neighbourhood without passports. We must wear the same plain clothes. We must exchange our houses every ten years. We cannot avoid labour. We all go to bed at the same time . . .
We have religious freedom, but we cannot deny that the soul dies with the body, since ‘but for the fear of punishment, they would have nothing but contempt for the laws and customs of society'. . . . In More’s time, for much of the population, given the plenty and security on offer, such restraints would not have seemed overly unreasonable. For modern readers, however, Utopia appears to rely upon relentless transparency, the repression of variety, and the curtailment of privacy. Utopia provides security: but at what price? In both its external and internal relations, indeed, it seems perilously dystopian.
Such a conclusion might be fortified by examining selectively the tradition which follows More on these points. This often portrays societies where . . . 'it would be almost impossible for man to be depraved, or wicked'. . . . This is achieved both through institutions and mores, which underpin the common life. . . . The passions are regulated and inequalities of wealth and distinction are minimized. Needs, vanity, and emulation are restrained, often by prizing equality and holding riches in contempt. The desire for public power is curbed. Marriage and sexual intercourse are often controlled: in Tommaso Campanella’s. The City of the Sun (1623), the first great literary utopia after More’s, relations are forbidden to men before the age of twenty-one and women before nineteen. Communal child-rearing is normal; for Campanella, this commences at age two. Greater simplicity of life, ‘living according to nature’, is often a result: the desire for simplicity and purity are closely related. People become more alike in appearance, opinion, and outlook than they often have been. Unity, order, and homogeneity thus prevail at the cost of individuality and diversity.
This model, as J. C. Davis demonstrates, dominated early modern utopianism. . . . And utopian homogeneity remains a familiar theme well into the twentieth century.
Given these considerations, it is not unreasonable to take as our starting point here the hypothesis that utopia and dystopia evidently share more in common than is often supposed. Indeed, they might be twins, the progeny of the same parents. Insofar as this proves to be the case, my linkage of both here will be uncomfortably close for some readers. Yet we should not mistake this argument for the assertion that all utopias are, or tend to produce, dystopias. Those who defend this proposition will find that their association here is not nearly close enough. For we have only to acknowledge the existence of thousands of successful intentional communities in which a cooperative ethos predominates and where harmony without coercion is the rule to set aside such an assertion. Here the individual’s submersion in the group is consensual (though this concept is not unproblematic). It results not in enslavement but voluntary submission to group norms.Harmony is achieved without . . . harming others.
RC Line-wise Explanation
Paragraph 1
"We cannot travel outside our neighbourhood without passports. We must wear the same plain clothes. We must exchange our houses every ten years. We cannot avoid labour. We all go to bed at the same time..."
Explanation: In this imagined society, strict uniformity and control govern daily life, limiting personal freedom and enforcing sameness.
"We have religious freedom, but we cannot deny that the soul dies with the body, since ‘but for the fear of punishment, they would have nothing but contempt for the laws and customs of society’..."
Explanation: Although religion is technically free, people must believe that the soul dies with the body, as disbelief in this could lead to lawlessness.
"In More’s time, for much of the population, given the plenty and security on offer, such restraints would not have seemed overly unreasonable."
Explanation: Back in Thomas More's era, many people might have accepted these restrictions in exchange for a safe and abundant life.
"For modern readers, however, Utopia appears to rely upon relentless transparency, the repression of variety, and the curtailment of privacy."
Explanation: Today, such a society seems overly controlling, suppressing personal differences and privacy.
"Utopia provides security: but at what price?"
Explanation: The passage questions whether the security offered is worth the sacrifice of freedom.
"In both its external and internal relations, indeed, it seems perilously dystopian."
Explanation: Overall, this version of Utopia may actually resemble a dystopia due to its harsh limitations.
Paragraph 2
"Such a conclusion might be fortified by examining selectively the tradition which follows More on these points."
Explanation: This idea is supported when we look at later utopian literature influenced by More.
"This often portrays societies where... ‘it would be almost impossible for man to be depraved, or wicked’..."
Explanation: These utopias often aim to eliminate bad behavior entirely.
"This is achieved both through institutions and mores, which underpin the common life..."
Explanation: They use social norms and institutions to control people’s behavior.
"The passions are regulated and inequalities of wealth and distinction are minimized."
Explanation: Emotions are controlled and wealth differences are kept small.
"Needs, vanity, and emulation are restrained, often by prizing equality and holding riches in contempt."
Explanation: Desires and competition are suppressed by promoting equality and devaluing wealth.
"The desire for public power is curbed."
Explanation: Ambition for authority is discouraged.
"Marriage and sexual intercourse are often controlled: in Tommaso Campanella’s The City of the Sun (1623), the first great literary utopia after More’s, relations are forbidden to men before the age of twenty-one and women before nineteen."
Explanation: In Campanella’s utopia, even intimate relationships are heavily regulated.
"Communal child-rearing is normal; for Campanella, this commences at age two."
Explanation: Children are raised collectively rather than by individual families starting from age two.
"Greater simplicity of life, ‘living according to nature’, is often a result: the desire for simplicity and purity are closely related."
Explanation: These restrictions often lead to a simple, “natural” lifestyle that values purity.
"People become more alike in appearance, opinion, and outlook than they often have been."
Explanation: Citizens start to look and think the same.
"Unity, order, and homogeneity thus prevail at the cost of individuality and diversity."
Explanation: Uniformity and order dominate, sacrificing personal freedom and uniqueness.
Paragraph 3
"This model, as J. C. Davis demonstrates, dominated early modern utopianism... And utopian homogeneity remains a familiar theme well into the twentieth century."
Explanation: J.C. Davis shows that this idea of enforced sameness was common in early and modern utopian literature.
Paragraph 4
"Given these considerations, it is not unreasonable to take as our starting point here the hypothesis that utopia and dystopia evidently share more in common than is often supposed."
Explanation: Considering all this, it's fair to suggest that utopias and dystopias might be more similar than they seem.
"Indeed, they might be twins, the progeny of the same parents."
Explanation: Utopia and dystopia may be closely related, born from the same ideals.
"Insofar as this proves to be the case, my linkage of both here will be uncomfortably close for some readers."
Explanation: This comparison might make some people uneasy.
"Yet we should not mistake this argument for the assertion that all utopias are, or tend to produce, dystopias."
Explanation: However, this is not to say that every utopia becomes a dystopia.
"Those who defend this proposition will find that their association here is not nearly close enough."
Explanation: People who believe all utopias turn dystopian may find this argument not strong enough.
"For we have only to acknowledge the existence of thousands of successful intentional communities in which a cooperative ethos predominates and where harmony without coercion is the rule to set aside such an assertion."
Explanation: Many real-life communities live peacefully and cooperatively without force, proving not all utopias become dystopias.
"Here the individual’s submersion in the group is consensual (though this concept is not unproblematic)."
Explanation: In these communities, people willingly conform to group norms, though the idea of true consent is complex.
"It results not in enslavement but voluntary submission to group norms."
Explanation: People aren’t oppressed but choose to follow shared values.
"Harmony is achieved without... harming others."
Explanation: These communities reach peace and unity without hurting anyone.
RC Paragraph Explanation
Paragraph 1 Summary
Utopia, as imagined by More, promises safety and plenty but demands total conformity, transparency, and loss of privacy. What once seemed reasonable now appears eerily dystopian to modern readers.
Paragraph 2 Summary
Later utopias followed More's model, further promoting control over emotion, wealth, power, and personal life. These societies achieved order and simplicity at the cost of individuality and variety.
Paragraph 3 Summary
Historian J.C. Davis confirms that enforced homogeneity has long been a central feature of utopian literature, continuing well into the 20th century.
Paragraph 4 Summary
While utopia and dystopia share many traits and may stem from similar goals, not all utopias become dystopias. Many real communities show that cooperation and harmony can be achieved without coercion, through voluntary participation.
RC Quick Table Summary
| Paragraph Number | Main Idea |
|---|---|
| Paragraph 1 | Utopia offers security but imposes severe restrictions on personal freedom. |
| Paragraph 2 | Utopias regulate all aspects of life to promote equality and order. |
| Paragraph 3 | Utopian literature often features uniformity and sameness across centuries. |
| Paragraph 4 | Utopia and dystopia are closely linked, but real cooperative communities prove utopia doesn’t always become dystopia. |
RC Questions
Ques 1. Following from the passage, which one of the following may be seen as a characteristic of a utopian society?
Ques 2. All of the following arguments are made in the passage EXCEPT that:
Ques 3. Which sequence of words below best captures the narrative of the passage?
Ques 4. All of the following statements can be inferred from the passage EXCEPT that:
