CAT 2024 Slot 2 · VARC · Question 4

CAT 2024 Slot 2 previous year question on Para Summary, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.

Para SummaryVerbal AbilityMultiple choiceMedium

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

John Cleese told Fox News Digital that comedians do not have the freedom to be funny in 2022. "There's always been limitations on what they're allowed to say," Cleese said. "I think it's particularly worrying at the moment because you can only create in an atmosphere of freedom, where you're not checking everything you say critically before you move on. What you have to be able to do is to build without knowing where you're going because you've never been there before. That's what creativity is - you have to be allowed to build. And a lot of comedians now are sitting there and when they think of something, they say something like, 'Can I get away with it? I don't think so. So and so got into trouble, and he said that, oh, she said that.' You see what I mean? And that's the death of creativity."

  1. A
    Comedians must not check what they think and say. They must go where no one has gone before.
  2. B
    Freedom and creativity are essential for comedy. Fear about offending people hinders originality.
  3. C
    Creativity and critical thinking cannot work together. Comedians must first be creative, and later be critical.
  4. D
    Comedians are being prevented from saying what they want and that is the death of this art form.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option B

Cleese's argument: creativity needs an atmosphere of freedom; comedians today keep checking whether they can 'get away with it' because others 'got into trouble'; and 'that's the death of creativity'.

Option 2 captures both halves – freedom is essential to creative comedy, and fear of causing offence stifles originality.

Option 1 turns his point into a command and exaggerates it. He says you shouldn't check everything critically 'before you move on', not that comedians must never check anything.

Option 3 claims creativity and critical thinking 'cannot work together'. Cleese is talking about timing and fear, not an absolute incompatibility, and the 'later be critical' part is not in the passage.

Option 4 says comedians are being 'prevented' from speaking. Cleese describes self-censorship from fear, not a ban, and he says it is the death of creativity, not of the art form.

Shortcut: for a quotation-based passage, check whether the speaker describes an outside force or self-censorship. Here it is self-censorship ('Can I get away with it?'), which rules out 'prevented'.

Hence, the answer is option 2.

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