SAT OwlQuestion bank / Central Ideas and Details
Many studies of nineteenth-century New England mill towns portray the young women who worked in the textile mills as passive victims of harsh conditions. Historian Ruth Calloway reads the mill workers' own writings differently. In letters and in magazines the workers published themselves, she finds women who complained bitterly about long hours and falling wages but who also described the mills as a route to financial independence from their families. For Calloway, the workers' experience cannot be reduced to either exploitation or opportunity; their writings record both at once.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Calloway contends that working conditions in the mills were better than earlier studies claimed.
Calloway claims that the workers' magazines were written mainly to recruit new workers.
Calloway shows that most mill workers eventually left their jobs to return to their families.
Calloway argues that the mill workers' writings reveal both hardship and a sense of independence, complicating portrayals of the workers as passive victims.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D
Calloway disputes the "passive victims" picture by pointing to writings that include bitter complaints and descriptions of new independence. Her conclusion is that both experiences existed together. Choice D captures this.
Choice A is tempting, but Calloway does not deny the harsh conditions; the workers' complaints about hours and wages are part of her evidence.
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