How Narrator Affects Text: Fiction/Drama Practice Test

Read the following original drama passage and answer the question.

Stage: A hospital waiting room at 3 a.m. Vending machine hum. A TV plays silently.

ELI: They said it’s routine.

ROSA: They always say that.

ELI: You’re doing it again.

ROSA: Doing what?

ELI: Making the air heavy.

ROSA: I can’t stop thinking about the last time we sat in chairs like these.

ELI: That was years ago.

ROSA: I remember the nurse’s shoes. Yellow clogs. She squeaked down the hall like a toy.

ELI: Rosa—

ROSA: I saw Dad’s hand under the sheet. Just the hand. Like it didn’t belong to him anymore.

ELI: (stands) Don’t.

ROSA: I’m not trying to hurt you.

ELI: Then why do you keep describing it?

ROSA: Because if I describe it, it stays outside me.

(A DOCTOR enters, pauses as if listening, then exits without speaking.)

ELI: Did you see that?

ROSA: I saw him hesitate.

ELI: Maybe he forgot something.

ROSA: Or maybe he’s deciding whether to tell us.

Question: How does Rosa’s perspective, emphasized by I can’t stop thinking, I remember, I saw, and I’m not trying, shape the dramatic tension in the scene?

Read the following original drama passage and answer the question.

Stage: A motel room off a highway. Neon light pulses through blinds. A single suitcase on the bed.

DREW: We’re leaving at sunrise.

LILA: We said that yesterday.

DREW: Yesterday was complicated.

LILA: By what? Your phone? Your silences?

DREW: I’m trying to keep you safe.

LILA: From who?

DREW: From what’s following us.

LILA: (laughs once, sharply) There it is again.

DREW: Don’t mock it.

LILA: I saw the parking lot. It’s empty.

DREW: It won’t be.

LILA: I listened at the door. Only trucks. Only wind.

DREW: They can sound like wind.

LILA: I remember our old apartment. You said the same things. “Don’t open the curtains.” “Don’t answer unknown numbers.”

DREW: Because you didn’t understand.

LILA: I understand you’re scared.

DREW: I’m cautious.

LILA: I’m tired of living inside your caution.

(The neon light pulses; for a moment, DREW’s shadow looks doubled on the wall.)

Question: How does Lila’s perspective, marked by I saw, I listened, I remember, I understand, and I’m tired, shape the audience’s interpretation of Drew’s warnings?