Function of Allusion: Fiction/Drama Practice Test
•8 QuestionsRead the following excerpt from an original drama. Late at night in a family kitchen, grandmother TITA teaches her grandson NOAH how to make tamales while his mother sleeps after a long shift.
NOAH: Why do we have to fold them the same way every time?
TITA: Because your great-aunt will count the seams like rosary beads.
NOAH: That’s not a reason.
TITA: It’s a reason in this house.
NOAH: Mom says traditions are just old people arguing with air.
TITA: Your mother says many things when she’s tired.
NOAH: She says you guilt her.
TITA: I remind her.
NOAH: Of what?
TITA: Of where she comes from.
NOAH: She comes from here.
TITA: And before here. We carry it.
NOAH: Like a backpack?
TITA: Like a curse if you pretend it isn’t heavy. Like Sisyphus if you keep pushing without asking why.
NOAH: So… we stop?
TITA: No. We learn how to push together.
In context, the function of the bolded allusion is to
Read the following excerpt from an original drama. Late at night in a family kitchen, grandmother TITA teaches her grandson NOAH how to make tamales while his mother sleeps after a long shift.
NOAH: Why do we have to fold them the same way every time?
TITA: Because your great-aunt will count the seams like rosary beads.
NOAH: That’s not a reason.
TITA: It’s a reason in this house.
NOAH: Mom says traditions are just old people arguing with air.
TITA: Your mother says many things when she’s tired.
NOAH: She says you guilt her.
TITA: I remind her.
NOAH: Of what?
TITA: Of where she comes from.
NOAH: She comes from here.
TITA: And before here. We carry it.
NOAH: Like a backpack?
TITA: Like a curse if you pretend it isn’t heavy. Like Sisyphus if you keep pushing without asking why.
NOAH: So… we stop?
TITA: No. We learn how to push together.
In context, the function of the bolded allusion is to