Parajumbles Question 3 - CAT 2020

Question

Relying on narrative structure alone, indigenous significances of nineteenth-century San folktales are hard to determine.

Using their supernatural potency, benign shamans transcend the levels of the San cosmos in order to deal with social conflict and to protect material resources and enjoy a measure of respect that sets them apart from ordinary people.

Selected tales reveal that they deal with a form of spiritual conflict that has social implications and concern conflict between people and living or dead malevolent shamans.

Meaning can be elicited, and the tales contextualized, by probing beneath the narrative of verbatim, original-language records and exploring the connotations of highly significant words and phrases.

Correct Sequence: 1432
Explanation: Sentence 1 presents a fundamental analytical problem: it is incredibly difficult to determine the true meanings of 19th-century San folktales by looking at narrative structure alone. Sentence 4 immediately answers this problem with an investigative methodology ("Meaning can be elicited... by probing beneath the narrative"). Sentence 3 applies this deep-probing methodology, showing what these selected tales actually reveal (spiritual and social conflicts with malevolent shamans). Sentence 2 completes the thought by diving into the specific details of these shamans and their role in the San cosmos.
FundaMakers Tip: Problem-Solution Architecture. Paragraphs often open by identifying a specific roadblock or mystery. Once you identify a sentence that presents a clear problem (Sentence 1: meanings are hard to determine), scan the remaining options for its logical antidote or solution (Sentence 4: meaning can be elicited by...). This creates a highly reliable 1-4 opening pair.