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What is “literature?” A lot of the time, when I think of literature, I think of old stories that I don’t have any real connection to. Things like, “Moby Dick” or “Pride and Prejudice.” It’s kind of hard to read those stories sometimes because I can’t relate to them at all. There’s a lot of critics and scholars who get really picky about what is and isn’t “literature” in today society. For instance, some genres, like romance novels or science-fiction, aren’t considered “literature” by some people. It’s sort of silly, because I think that if someone writes something and publishes it, then it’s literature, right? And who’s to say what’s good and what’s bad literature too? I’ve tried to read some of the “classics” before, and some of them I just don’t like at all!

One author who has done a really good job of writing genre fiction that a lot of people consider to be “literature” is Stephen King. He writes mostly scary stories and some science fiction, and most authors who write those kinds of things aren’t thought of very highly in the literary world, but he’s won a lot of awards and gotten a lot of good review from critics. He’s also been writing for a really long time! His first novel, Carrie, was published in 1974, and his latest one, Under the Dome, was published just last  year in 2009. That’s 35 years of writing!

So, maybe Stephen King writes “literature.” Maybe not. Either way, our practice question today is about his short story, “Willa.”

The moon was high when he and Willa walked back to the road, holding hands. David didn’t see how that could be–they had stayed for only the first two songs of the next set–but there it was, floating all the way up there in the spangled black. That was troubling, but something else troubled him even more.
“Willa,” he said, “what year is it?”
She thought it over. The wind rippled her dress as it would the dress of any live woman. “I don’t exactly remember,” she said at last. “Isn’t that odd?”
“Considering I can’t remember the last time I ate a meal or drank a glass of water? Not too odd. If you had to guess, what would you say? Quick, without thinking.”
“Nineteen… eight-eight?”
He nodded. He would have said 1987 himself. “There was a girl in the there wearing a T-shirt that said Crowheart Springs High School, Class of ’03. And if she was old enough to be in a roadhouse–”
“Then ’03 must have been at least three years ago.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” He stopped. “It can’t be 2006, Willa, can it? I mean, the twenty-first century?”

According to the above passage, when was this story most likely written?

1. 1987
2. 1988
3. 2003
4. 2006
5. There’s no way to know.

Ok, so since Stephen King’s been writing from 1974 to the present day, we can’t really cross anything out. And besides, the question specifically asks, “according to the passage above.” So I can’t use outside information to answer this question. Like maybe I already knew when it was written before I read this question. That doesn’t count. I gotta read the text.

In the text, it mentions all the dates: 1987, 1988, 2003, and 2006. Also, the things they talk about in the text could have been written in any time period. Like, roadhouses and t-shirts existed in 1987 and also in 2006, right? It’s likely that it was written in 2006 because that’s when the story seems to take place. At least, that’s what I’d imagine from when he says, “It can’t be 2006, Willa, can it?” But even so, it might not be 2006 even in the story! Obviously, the two main characters are really confused. The only thing they’re going off of to guess that it’s 2006 is that the girl with a ’03 t-shirt is at a roadhouse. But she could have graduated early or late. Or she could be in the Roadhouse and underage. Or she could look really young for her age, and she actually graduated 10 years ago! There’s really no way to even know what date it is in the book, and even if we knew that, we couldn’t be sure that the date in the book is the same date that the book was written.

What happens in the text of a story doesn’t really have anything to do with the circumstances or time period of the writer. And a book can even be written over a long time. Willa was actually published in 2006, but Stephen King coulda written it at any time. Maybe he even started it in 1974! There’s just no way to know. I’d go with #5.

Good luck studying for your GED, and keep reading!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit the GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

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