PT126.S2.P3.Q21

PrepTest 126 - Section 2 - Passage 3 - Question 21

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P1

With their recognition of Maxine Hong Kingston as a major literary figure, some critics have suggested that her works have been produced almost . ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ █ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███████████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███

Critics' perspective · Kingston's work doesn't seem to be based on prior Chinese American influences
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Author's perspective · Critics overlook influence of "talk-story" on Kingston's work
Talk-story is a traditional Chinese form of oral narrative
P2

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History of talk-story · Ancient form of storytelling in China, rarely written, brought to U.S. by Chinese immigrants
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Relevance to Kingston · Her literary work includes written adaptations of talk-story
P3

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Kingston's method · Builds narratives using key elements and themes drawn from memory
Contrast this with written storytelling traditions, in which telling a story right means getting the order of words right; Kingston seems more focused on getting the broader "shape" of the story right, rather than on the specific wording
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Kingston's perspective · on writing down traditionally oral stories
Writing them down doesn't halt the oral tradition; stories can continue to change over time
P4

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Example of Kingston's work · "China Men" book
Book includes many characteristics of talk-story and can be considered a written form of talk-story
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Spotlight
Show answer
21.

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ███████████

a

scholarly appreciation for ███ ████████████ ████████ ██████████████

Strongly supported. The author states that the talk-story tradition is part of an “ancient” and “sophisticated oral culture” that’s “capable of producing masterpieces.”

52%
b

mild disappointment that ██ ███ ███ █████████████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ██████████

The author doesn’t express disappointment about anything. (Maybe we could say he’s disappointed in how critics have misunderstood Kingston’s work, but even that would be a stretch. He just says the critics have overlooked something. There’s no value-laden language there.) The author also doesn’t suggest that the talk-story tradition has failed to distinguish itself.

1%
c

tentative approval of ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███████████

The author doesn’t think the talk-story tradition resists critical evaluations. He just thinks critics are wrong about one particular aspect of one specific writer’s work (Kingston’s).

2%
d

clear respect for ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████████

The author has respect for Kingston’s work, which he argues is a cultural derivation (i.e., a cultural product) of the talk-story tradition. So we can say he has respect for one cultural derivation of the talk-story tradition. But what about the “diversity of its ancient sources”? The author doesn’t suggest that there’s any diversity within those sources. He only identifies one generalized source: storytellers in the Sung dynasty.

40%
e

open admiration for ███ ███ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███████ █████████

The author notes that the talk-story tradition uses song, but he doesn’t express any admiration over that particular fact. Where he expresses admiration, it’s either much more general (he admires its sophistication and its ability to produce masterpieces) or else it’s about how talk-story uses allusion and sound-based wordplay.

5%

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