Function of Metaphor: Fiction/Drama Practice Test

Read the following excerpt from an original drama. Backstage after a concert, SERA (a violinist) speaks to her partner MINA, who has grown tired of Sera’s relentless perfectionism.

MINA: You were brilliant.

SERA: I missed the entrance in the second movement.

MINA: No one noticed.

SERA: I noticed.

MINA: You always do.

SERA: Because it matters.

MINA: To the music—or to the part of you that never rests?

SERA: (defensive) I rest.

MINA: You sleep. That’s not the same.

SERA: If I stop pushing, I’ll slip.

MINA: Or you’ll breathe.

SERA: (low) My ambition is a treadmill with no off switch.

MINA: Then why are you proud of being exhausted?

In context, what is the primary function of the metaphor “My ambition is a treadmill with no off switch”?

Read the following excerpt from an original drama. In a rehearsal room, DEV (a young actor) argues with MS. KLINE (the director) after being told to cut a personal monologue.

DEV: That monologue is the only honest thing I’ve said on this stage.

MS. KLINE: Honest doesn’t always mean useful.

DEV: Useful to who? To your pacing? To your neat little arc?

MS. KLINE: To the story.

DEV: The story is just your way of keeping us quiet.

MS. KLINE: (calm) The audience doesn’t come to watch you bleed in real time.

DEV: Maybe they should.

MS. KLINE: Maybe you should learn control.

DEV: Control is just fear in a tuxedo.

MS. KLINE: And your honesty is—what? Courage?

DEV: (voice shaking) It’s a match in a room full of gas.

MS. KLINE: Then stop striking it.

In context, what is the primary function of the metaphor “It’s a match in a room full of gas”?