36 exam-style questions on Culture and identity in literary texts — topic AE2.3 of Time and space in the IB English A: Literature syllabus — with answers and explanations. Samples below; the full set is free with an account.
State the term for the assumptions, values and worldview of a text's original culture that a reader must recognise to interpret how identity is constructed.
Answer: Cultural context
Cultural context is the network of shared values, beliefs and historical circumstances that shapes how a text represents identity; recognising it is central to the 'time and space' focus.
Determine the technique by which a writer uses non-standard spellings in a character's speech, such as 'wuz' for 'was', to signal the character's social identity.
Answer: Eye dialect
Eye dialect uses non-standard spellings, often of words pronounced in the standard way, to mark speech as colloquial or uneducated and so signal social identity; zeugma, anaphora and enjambment have nothing to do with representing speech.
Identify the concept describing a character who lives between two cultures and belongs fully to neither, a frequent site of identity conflict in literature.
Answer: Hybridity
Hybridity, a key idea in postcolonial and diaspora writing, names the mixed cultural identity produced when cultures meet, often dramatised through a character's divided sense of belonging.
Explain which perspective is most useful for analysing how a text represents gendered identity and the distribution of power between men and women.
Answer: Feminist criticism
Feminist criticism examines how texts construct, reinforce or challenge gender roles and power, making it the appropriate lens for questions of gendered identity.
Distinguish the device by which a writer draws on a widely shared cultural story, figure or text to deepen a work's meaning.
Answer: Allusion
An allusion is an indirect reference to another text, myth, person or event; its meaning depends on the reader's cultural knowledge, tying interpretation to context.
Determine which narrative choice most directly shapes whose cultural perspective the reader is invited to share.
Answer: Point of view
Point of view controls the angle of vision through which events and identities are filtered, positioning the reader within or against a particular cultural perspective.
That was 6 of 36 Culture and identity in literary texts questions.
Practise all 36 free36 Culture and identity in literary texts questions — free with an account. Spaced repetition, streaks and full exam simulations included.
Practise them freeThis platform is independently developed and is not endorsed by, affiliated with, or sponsored by the International Baccalaureate Organization. “International Baccalaureate” and “IB” are registered trademarks of the IBO.