The Mule Bone, a 1930 play written by Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, is perhaps the best-known of the few
examples of ______ in literature. Most writers prefer working alone, and given that working together cost Hurston and Hughes
their friendship, it is not hard to see why.
characterization
interpretation
collaboration
commercialization
Choice C is the best answer because it logically and precisely completes the text’s discussion of The Mule Bone, a play that
Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes wrote together. In this context, “collaboration” means working together with
someone to write a literary work. The text indicates that most writers prefer to work alone and that working together
destroyed the friendship between Hurston and Hughes. This establishes that The Mule Bone is a relatively rare example of
collaboration in literature.
Choice A is incorrect because in this context, “characterization” would mean a literary work’s portrayal of characters’
psychological experiences and motivations, but the text doesn’t discuss characterization in The Mule Bone speciﬁcally or in
collaborative works more generally. Choice B is incorrect because in this context, “interpretation” would mean the
explanation of a literary work’s meaning or signiﬁcance, but the text doesn’t discuss how readers or critics have interpreted
The Mule Bone; instead, the text discusses how the play was written collaboratively and how the writing process affected the
two authors. Choice D is incorrect because in this context, “commercialization” would mean writing a literary work in such a
way as to ensure its commercial appeal, but the text never discusses commercial appeal as a factor in the writing of The
Mule Bone speciﬁcally or the writing of collaborative works more generally.