Reading Comprehension - Literary Text
The Literary Text domain asks you to read stories, poems, and short plays and explain how they work: who the characters are, what they want, what gets in the way, how the problem is resolved, and what the reader is meant to take away. Questions ask for character traits supported by evidence, the effect of the setting, the meaning of figurative language, point of view, and the difference between a plot summary and a theme.
Story elements
- Characters are revealed through what they say, do, and think, and through how others react to them. A trait answer needs proof: generous is only correct if the text shows a generous act.
- Setting is time and place, and it matters when it creates the problem - a storm, a crowded market, a first day at a new school.
- Plot follows conflict, rising action, climax, and resolution. Summaries must be short and in order.
- Theme is the message about life or people (working together solves what one person cannot). It is a sentence, never one word and never a retelling of events.
Point of view and voice
First person uses I and knows only what the narrator experiences. Third person uses he, she, they and may reveal several characters' thoughts. The narrator is not the author.
Figurative language
Simile compares using like or as; metaphor says one thing is another; personification gives human qualities to an object. Ask what the comparison helps you picture or feel.
Worked example
Passage: Malik counted the coins twice. Twelve cents. The bus fare was a dollar. He looked at the clock, then at his little sister tying her shoe. She would be late for her first day. He pulled off his cap, dropped in the coins, and started walking - the school was forty minutes away. Question: Which word best describes Malik? A. selfish B. responsible C. careless D. impatient Reasoning: Selfish and careless are contradicted by his giving up the coins and choosing to walk. Impatient has no evidence. Responsible fits: he notices the time, thinks of his sister, and acts. Notice the reasoning - every choice is checked against a specific action, not against a feeling about Malik.
Traps that cost marks
- Retelling the plot when the question asks for a theme.
- Naming a trait with no evidence from the text.
- Reading figurative language literally.
- Confusing the narrator with the author, or a first-person narrator with the character's real opinions.