CAT Questions | CAT Critical Reasoning Questions

The question is from CAT Critical Reasoning. Critical Reasoning for Verbal Ability for CAT. Critical Reasoning questions that appear in the verbal section of CAT test Reading Ability, Comprehension and Reasoning. Have a look at this question from Critical Reasoning. Solve CAT Questions from Critical Reasoning to get more practice and 2IIMs CAT questions bank provides you with CAT questions that can help you gear for CAT Exam .

Question 20: While society is chipping away at giving girls broader access to life’s possibilities, it isn’t presenting boys with a full continuum of how they can be in the world. To carve out a masculine identity requires whittling away everything that falls outside the norms of boyhood. At the earliest ages, it’s about external signifiers like favorite colors, TV shows, and clothes. But later, the paring knife cuts away intimate friendships, emotional range, and open communication

Which of the following options puts forth the main idea of this paragraph best?

1. Boys are put in a straitjacket in order to conform to the popular, narrow view of masculine identity.
2. It is lopsided to approach gender equality by focusing only on girls’ empowerment.
3. It is a societal loss that boys are not allowed free self-expression.
4. Boys are forced to limit their emotional range in order to carve out a masculine identity.

Explanatory Answer

Method of solving this CAT Question from Critical Reasoning:

This paragraph argues that, as they grow, boys are forced to hew anything that falls outside what is, in popular imagination, associated with the masculine identity. From choice of colors and clothes to personality traits, intimate friendships and open communication, they are forced to adhere to strict norms of what is considered to be masculine.

Option A, which states that boys are "put in a straitjacket", conveys the main idea of the paragraph the best.

Option B talks of girls' empowerment: this is unrelated to the given paragraph.

Option C states that it is a "societal loss" that boys are not allowed to express themselves freely. The paragraph does not touch upon whether or not the narrow view of what is considered to be masculine is a loss to the society.

Option D is a close contender to option A. However, this option only mentions one of the points the author says the 'paring knife cuts away': emotional range. Option A, on the other hand, is more general and sums up the main idea of the paragraph better.

The question is "Which of the following options puts forth the main idea of this paragraph best? "
The option is A

Hence, the answer is A

Choice A is the correct answer.