AP Success - AP English Language: The Cult of Beauty

The passage below is taken from a work written in the 20th century.

What are the practical results of the modern cult of beauty? The exercises and the massages, the health motors and the skin foods-to what have they led? Are women more beautiful than they were? Do they get something for the enormous expenditure of energy, time, and money demanded of them by the beauty cult? These are questions which it is difficult to answer. For the facts seem to contradict themselves. The campaign for more physical beauty seems to be both a tremendous success and a lamentable failure. It depends how you look at the results.

It is a success insofar as more women retain their youthful appearance to a greater age than in the past. "Old ladies" are already becoming rare. In a few years, we may well believe, they will be extinct. White hair and wrinkles, a bent back and hollow cheeks will come to be regarded as medievally old-fashioned. The crone of the future will be golden, curly, and cherry-lipped, neat-ankled and slender. The Portrait of the Artist's Mother will come to be almost indistinguishable, at future picture shows, from the Portrait of the Artist's Daughter. This desirable consummation will be due in part to skin foods and injections of paraffin wax, facial surgery, mud baths, and paint, in part to improved health, due in its turn to a more rational mode of life. Ugliness is one of the symptoms of disease; beauty, of health. Insofar as the campaign for more beauty is also a campaign for more health, it is admirable and, up to a point, genuinely successful. Beauty that is merely the artificial shadow of these symptoms of health is intrinsically of poorer quality than the genuine article. Still, it is a sufficiently good imitation to be sometimes mistakable for the real thing. The apparatus for mimicking the symptoms of health is now within the reach of every moderately prosperous person; the knowledge of the way in which real health can be achieved is growing, and will in time, no doubt, be universally acted upon. When that happy moment comes, will every woman be beautiful-as beautiful, at any rate, as the natural shape of her features, with or without surgical and chemical aid, permits?

The answer is emphatically: No. For real beauty is as much an affair of the inner as of the outer self. The beauty of a porcelain jar is a matter of shape, of color, of surface texture. The jar may be empty or tenanted by spiders, full of honey or stinking slime-it makes no difference to its beauty or ugliness. But a woman is alive, and her beauty is therefore not skin deep. The surface of the human vessel is affected by the nature of its spiritual contents. I have seen women who, by the standards of a connoisseur of porcelain, were ravishingly lovely. Their shape, their color, their surface texture were perfect. And yet they were not beautiful. For the lovely vase was either empty or filled with some corruption. Spiritual emptiness or ugliness shows through. And conversely, there is an interior light that can transfigure forms that the pure aesthetician would regard as imperfect or downright ugly.

Question 1

Multiple choice

Reading Comprehension: What is the primary concern of the passage?

  • The financial implications of the beauty industry

  • The physical health risks associated with beauty products

  • The societal pressures placed on women to maintain their youth

  • The effectiveness of beauty routines over time

  • The historical evolution of beauty standards

Question 2

Multiple choice

Implication: The phrase "The crone of the future will be golden, curly, and cherry-lipped" (lines 12-13) implies that:

  • Future beauty standards will favor youthful appearances.

  • Older women will no longer be valued in society.

  • Modern beauty practices will lead to uniformity in appearance.

  • The beauty industry will focus on natural aging products.

  • Women will reject traditional beauty standards.

Question 3

Multiple choice

Overall Passage and Author Questions: What can be inferred about the author's view on the modern cult of beauty?

  • It is a necessary evolution in societal standards.

  • It unfairly targets women and exploits their insecurities.

  • It is a positive development that enhances self-esteem.

  • It is a neutral phenomenon that merely reflects changing times.

  • It is a cyclical trend that will soon pass.

Question 4

Multiple choice

Relationships Between Parts of the Text: How does the comparison between "old ladies" and "the crone of the future" (lines 9-14) function in the text?

  • It highlights the extreme changes in beauty expectations.

  • It suggests a growing respect for older women.

  • It shows the unattainable standards set by society.

  • It contrasts past and present beauty practices.

  • It criticizes the reliance on artificial enhancements.

Question 5

Multiple choice

Interpretation of Imagery/Figurative Language: The term "medievally old-fashioned" (line 12) is used to:

  • Demonstrate the outdated nature of past beauty standards.

  • Suggest that modern techniques are superior.

  • Illustrate the dramatic transformation in societal perceptions of age.

  • Condemn the beauty industry's neglect of traditional values.

  • Emphasize the rapid pace of change in beauty trends.

Question 6

Multiple choice

Purpose of Part of the Text: The questions posed in the first four lines primarily serve to:

  • Introduce the topic and engage the reader's curiosity.

  • Provide a framework for the author's argument.

  • Highlight the author's skepticism about beauty practices.

  • Offer a direct critique of the beauty industry.

  • Set a neutral tone for an unbiased exploration.

Question 7

Multiple choice

Rhetorical Strategy: The author's use of rhetorical questions in the opening lines is intended to:

  • Encourage the reader to critically consider the topic.

  • Demonstrate the clear answers to the issues raised.

  • Undermine the credibility of the beauty industry.

  • Show the complexity and contradictions in beauty standards.

  • Establish the author's authority on the subject.

Question 8

Multiple choice

Style and Effect: The phrase "The exercises and the massages, the health motors and the skin foods" (lines 1-2) uses repetition to:

  • Emphasize the variety and extent of beauty practices.

  • Critique the superficial nature of these routines.

  • Highlight the commercialization of beauty.

  • Underline the effort and resources invested in appearance.

  • Illustrate the scientific approach to beauty.

Question 9

Multiple choice

Inference: Based on the passage, what can be inferred about the future perception of beauty?

  • It will continue to evolve toward a more youthful ideal.

  • It will revert to traditional standards that value natural aging.

  • It will become more inclusive and diverse.

  • It will stabilize, with less emphasis on changing trends.

  • It will prioritize health over appearance.

Question 10

Multiple choice

Evaluation of Argument: The author's argument that the pursuit of beauty can be both a success and a failure (lines 6-7) suggests that:

  • The benefits of beauty practices are clear and uncontested.

  • The definition of success in beauty is subjective and varies.

  • The beauty industry has failed to deliver on its promises.

  • Beauty standards are inherently contradictory.

  • Success in beauty is measured solely by physical appearance.

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