AP English Literature and Composition Unit 3: Narration and Point of View Practice Exam

1. [Skill: 1A | Topic: 3.1] Read the excerpt. "I have told this story so many times that the words arrive before the memory does. The night I left Mrs. Dalloway’s house, I was certain everyone had watched me spill the wine—certain they had catalogued my clumsiness the way librarians stamp due dates. Of course, I did not look back to see whether anyone had noticed. I walked home with my chin lifted, rehearsing a laugh for the moment someone teased me the next day. No one ever did." Which of the following best describes the narration in the excerpt and its most direct effect on what the reader can know?

2. [Skill: 3A | Topic: 3.1] Read the excerpt. "I have told this story so many times that the words arrive before the memory does. The night I left Mrs. Dalloway’s house, I was certain everyone had watched me spill the wine—certain they had catalogued my clumsiness the way librarians stamp due dates. Of course, I did not look back to see whether anyone had noticed. I walked home with my chin lifted, rehearsing a laugh for the moment someone teased me the next day. No one ever did." Which of the following details most strongly suggests that the narrator may be an unreliable reporter of what others thought at the party?

3. [Skill: 2A | Topic: 3.1] Read the excerpt. "I have told this story so many times that the words arrive before the memory does. The night I left Mrs. Dalloway’s house, I was certain everyone had watched me spill the wine—certain they had catalogued my clumsiness the way librarians stamp due dates. Of course, I did not look back to see whether anyone had noticed. I walked home with my chin lifted, rehearsing a laugh for the moment someone teased me the next day. No one ever did." Which of the following best explains how the narrator’s perspective shapes the reader’s understanding of the central social moment in the excerpt?

4. [Skill: 1A | Topic: 3.1] Read the excerpt. "Mara set the letter on the kitchen table as if it were a plate that might shatter. She told herself she would not open it until after the dishes, after the floor, after anything that could be scrubbed clean. The kettle began to whistle. She heard it as a reprimand. Outside, her brother waved from the driveway, cheerful and impatient. Mara did not notice him; she was counting reasons not to lift the flap." Which of the following best describes the point of view and focalization in the excerpt?

5. [Skill: 3A | Topic: 3.1] Read the excerpt. "Mara set the letter on the kitchen table as if it were a plate that might shatter. She told herself she would not open it until after the dishes, after the floor, after anything that could be scrubbed clean. The kettle began to whistle. She heard it as a reprimand. Outside, her brother waved from the driveway, cheerful and impatient. Mara did not notice him; she was counting reasons not to lift the flap." How does the excerpt’s narrative point of view most directly shape the reader’s understanding of Mara’s brother?

6. [Skill: 1.A | Topic: 3.2] Read the excerpt below. Mara paused on the front step, her key already between her fingers. The house looked unchanged—same dark window, same curtain drawn too tight—as if it had been holding its breath since she left. She told herself she had come only to pick up the last of her books. Nothing more. Yet her stomach tightened. He would be inside, of course. And he would say something careful and reasonable, the sort of sentence that made her sound childish for ever having been angry at all. Which of the following best describes the narration in the final two sentences of the excerpt?

7. [Skill: 1.B | Topic: 3.2] Read the excerpt below. Lena kept her smile fixed as the guests drifted toward the dining room. They had loved the story about her promotion—loved it a little too much, she thought, as if her success were a party favor they could pocket. Across the hall, Mr. Hart watched her accept congratulations with practiced ease. Good, he decided; she had finally learned not to mention the overtime, the nights she slept at her desk. People admired results, not effort. He straightened his tie and stepped forward, already rehearsing the compliment that would sound generous without promising anything. The shift in perspective from Lena to Mr. Hart primarily serves to

8. [Skill: 1.B | Topic: 3.2] Read the excerpt below. At the edge of the platform, Nia watched the train’s headlights swell out of the fog. Her brother was late. Again. The announcement crackled overhead—unhelpful, static-heavy—and the crowd shifted as if a single animal settling its weight. She checked her phone. No messages. Of course there were no messages. He never remembered until the last minute, and then he would arrive grinning, expecting forgiveness the way some people expected weather: reliably, without effort. The narrator’s use of Nia’s perspective in the final three sentences most strongly contributes to

9. **1. [Skill: 2.A | Topic: 3.2]** Read the excerpt below. > Mrs. Lane set the letter on the mantel without opening it. The paper looked too clean for the kitchen, too certain of its own importance. She wiped her hands on her apron, though they were already dry. Surely it could wait until after the stew, after the children, after everything else that demanded her. He would have written something necessary, something urgent—he always did, as if urgency were his private talent. And now she was meant to thank him for it. Which of the following best describes the narrative technique used in the final three sentences and its effect on the reader’s understanding of Mrs. Lane?

10. **1.** [Skill: 1.D | Topic: 3.2] Read the excerpt below. (1) Martha paused at the mailbox, her fingers hovering over the thin envelopes as though she could feel their intentions. (2) The letter from her brother lay on top, his careful handwriting pressed into the paper. (3) He had not written in months—because he had forgotten her, naturally. (4) She tucked the letter into her coat pocket without opening it and walked back toward the house, rehearsing a smile she did not yet believe. Which of the following best describes the narrative technique in sentence (3) and its primary effect in the excerpt?