A Separate Peace Practice Test

The actual words on a page are called the text. This is the literal written material you can read or quote directly, the surface-level content of what’s printed. Subtext refers to meanings that aren’t stated outright but are suggested beneath the words. Context means the surrounding circumstances—the setting, background, or situation—that influence how we interpret the text. Narrative is the story itself—the sequence of events and actions that unfold. So the words themselves are the text, distinct from the implied meaning (subtext), the surrounding circumstances (context), or the told story (narrative).