PrepTest 126 - Section 2 - Passage 3 - Question 21

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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

Author's perspective · Critics overlook influence of "talk-story" on Kingston's work

Talk-story is a traditional Chinese form of oral narrative

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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

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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

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

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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

21.

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

Question Type

Author’s attitude

Implied

The author’s attitude toward talk-story is best reflected in P2, where he notes that the talk-story tradition is part of a “sophisticated oral culture” that’s “capable of producing masterpieces.” His attitude is positive and appreciative.

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%

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.

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).

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%

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.

PrepTest 126 - Section 2 - Passage 3 - Question 21

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