UPSC Prelims 2012 · CSAT

Question 67: Reading Comprehension

Passage beginning “For fourteen and a half months…” — Passage – 1 · as printed by UPSC

The passage attempts to describe

athe general conditions of the country’s jails.

bthe prisoner’s capacity to notice the minute details of his surroundings.

cthe prisoner’s conscious efforts to overcome the loneliness.

dthe prisoner’s ability to live happily with other creatures.

AnswerUPSC’s answer is (c).

The passage shows a prisoner in a small cell making his surroundings his own: he learns every mark on the walls and floor, treats the grass and stones in the yard as friends, and counts the wasps, hornets and lizards as company, so he is never truly alone. The aim is to show how he fills the emptiness of long confinement, which is option (c). It is not a survey of jails, and his eye for detail is the means rather than the purpose.

Why each option is right or wrong

(a) Wrong. It describes one prisoner's cell, not the condition of jails in general.
(b) Wrong by the key. His noticing of details is the means; the aim is how he copes with isolation.
(c) Right. Befriending the cell, the grass and the insects shows him overcoming loneliness.
(d) Wrong. Living alongside other creatures is one detail, not the point of the passage.

Worth knowing: Options (b) and (c) both fit the passage; the key treats the noticed details as the prisoner's way of overcoming loneliness.

Answer: UPSC’s key. Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.

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Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2012, General Studies Paper II (CSAT), Series A. The paper on upsc.gov.in.