Identify the Main Point or Issue in the Following Passage

question 95

Essay

Identify the main point or issue in the following passage, and decide whether the rest of the passage offers reasons for the main point (such as, whether the passage contains an argument), whether it illustrates (provides examples for) the main point, whether it explains the point, is irrelevant to the point, and so on.
"Like me, [Alexander Hamilton] usually reads history or philosophy. In private, however (if I may be allowed to traduce his memory and expose him to all the world), Hamilton was a devoted reader of women's novels, as I discovered one day at the New York Society Library when I came upon a note in his hand asking the librarian to reserve for him Edward Mortimer (by a Lady) and The Amours of Count Palviano and Eleanora. I was shocked."
-Gore Vidal, Burr

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Definitions:

Serial Position Effect

is a psychological phenomenon where a person is more likely to remember the first and last items in a series better than those in the middle.

Persuasive Argument

The use of logical reasoning, evidence, and eloquence to convince others to adopt a certain viewpoint or course of action.

Principle

A fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior.

Real Attitude Change

Real attitude change refers to a genuine shift in a person's beliefs, feelings, or positions on a particular issue, resulting from persuasion, new information, or reevaluation of existing information.