Question 1.

The passage claims mainstream English-language fiction and Indian Ocean novels are unlike each other and set in different worlds.

Option A, if true, strengthens the passage's claim. All other statements, if true, weaken the passage's claim.

If the depiction of Africa in most Indian Ocean novels is driven by an Orientalist imagination of its cultural crudeness, then the Indian Ocen novels would be no different from mainstream English-language fiction. So, option B, if true, weakens the passage's claim.

The passage states that most mainstream English-language novels have historically been set in American and European metropolitan centres. Option C, if true, weakens the passage's claim.

According to the passage, in the Indian Ocean novels, the depiction of Africa is not romanticised. Option D, too, if true, would weaken the passage's claim.