TACHS: Character motivation: read the narration right after the wish
Learn to find why a character first wants something by reading the narration that follows the wish, and to connect that motive to the setting, the final action and the story's resolution.
A character says what they want. Where do you look to find out why?
Short answer
Read the few sentences of narration right after the wish. They usually give a worry, a hope or a fact about the setting, and the motive is what the wish would accomplish in that situation.
Know first: Telling dialogue from narration, How a setting can shape a character's problem
Step 1 of 5
The wish comes first and the reason comes right after
Characters often announce a plan before the story explains it. A sentence or two later, the narration gives the thinking behind it: a worry, a hope, a fact about where they are.
That reason often comes from the setting. A new town, a new school or a deadline can make a character want something they wouldn't want anywhere else.
| Question | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Why does the setting matter? | The problem the setting creates for the character's wish |
| What does a final action suggest? | What the other character sees or reads just before acting |
| How is the ending different from the first plan? | What was kept, what was added, what was dropped |
| What idea fits the resolution? | How the two wishes in the story end up fitting together |
Questions that say initially or at first ask about the early wish, which may change by the end.
Step 2 of 5
Let the narration explain the wish
First day
Priya had saved for the orange sneakers all summer. On the morning of her first day at the new school, she set them by the door1. Nobody there knew her yet.2 If someone noticed the shoes, she thought, maybe that person would ask where she got them, and she would have something to say3.
- The wish: wear the bright sneakers.
- Setting: a new school where she's a stranger.
- The purpose: start a conversation.
Worked example: Why the orange sneakers?
Why does Priya want to wear the orange sneakers on her first day?
- AShe hopes the shoes will start conversations with new classmates.
- BHer old shoes no longer fit.
- CShe wants to match the school's team colors.
- DShe expects rain and needs waterproof shoes.
- 1
Wish
Wear the orange sneakers on the first day.
- 2
Situation
Nobody there knew her yet.
- 3
Purpose
She hopes someone will notice them and ask, so she'll have something to talk about.
- 4
See why the other choices are there
B is a common reason for new shoes, but old shoes are never mentioned. C links orange to a team with no support. D adds weather the excerpt doesn't have.
Answer
She hopes the shoes will start conversations with new classmates.
Wrong: Priya wears the sneakers because they are new and bright.
Right: Priya wears the sneakers because she knows no one and hopes they'll get someone to talk to her.
The first answer describes the shoes. The second uses the setting to explain what the wish is for.
Step 3 of 5
Find the motive and follow it to the end
Read this excerpt
On the first cold morning at the lake cabin, Luis wanted to light the woodstove by himself. His older cousins had always done it, and this was the first year his aunt had let him stay without his parents. He wanted to show her he could be trusted. He packed the logs tightly into the stove, and the fire smoked and went out. His aunt knelt beside him, pulled two logs apart to leave a gap for air, and handed him the matches again.
Check yourself · Question 1
Why does Luis at first want to light the woodstove by himself?
Answer: C
The narration right after the wish explains it: this is his first year at the cabin without his parents, and he wanted to show her he could be trusted.
Trap answer: He wants to learn how to stack logs so a fire gets air.
The ending, not the first wish
- Why it looks right
- Learning about the gap is what actually happens, so it feels like the point of the scene.
- Why it's wrong
- The question says at first. The narration right after the wish gives the reason: his first year without his parents and his wish to be trusted.
- The right answer
- He hopes to show his aunt that he can be trusted.
Check yourself · Question 2
What does the aunt's final action most strongly suggest?
Answer: C
She shows him the gap the fire needs, then hands him the matches again. Giving him a second try answers his wish to be trusted.
Common mistake
I answered with what the character ended up doing.
- Why it's tempting
- The ending is the last thing you read, so it's fresh in your mind.
- Do this instead
- When a question says at first or initially, answer about the early wish. Find the narration right after it.
Step 4 of 5
What to remember
Remember
- The reason for a wish is usually in the narration a sentence or two after it.
- The setting often creates the motive, so ask what the wish would accomplish there.
- Final actions and endings show how the first wish was kept, changed or combined with another.
Step 5 of 5
Practice on a real question
Use what you just learned on this question, then check the explanation.
In your own words
In the practice question, which sentence of narration explains the character's first wish, and how does the setting create that wish?