Reading Comprehension (RC) | Critics maintain that the fiction of Herman Melville (18191891) has

I did not understand the explanations of Q4. given above.

From the passage, wesee:

since they believe that Melville's fiction lacks the continuity that James viewed as essential to a novel: the continuity between what characters feel or think and what they do, and the continuity between characters' fates and their pasts or original

socialclasses

Between the 2 answer choices D and E, I picked E because if you see the lines mentioned above..The author says that Melville's fiction lacks continuity...and, then introduces Pierre's writing style that they liked..which means that whatever they have mentioned before about Melville'sfiction that it lacks continuity, they are trying to reinforce their statement by bringing in Pierre'sexample.

Also, how do we understand the meaning of contention and tough words like this while picking the answer choices?Does not knowing the meaning ofcontention makes any differencehere?

GMATNinja KarishmaB pleasehelp.