Question
The Girl Who Drew Cats
by Eugie Foster
This passage tells the story of Ariko, a girl who loves to draw cats. Ariko's disapproving mother takes her to a female leader called an “abbess” who uses riddles to try to help Ariko find her purpose.
As you read, pay attention to who is telling the story.
In a small village in Japan, there was a girl who drew cats. Her name was Ariko, and she lived with her mother and two sisters.
At home, Ariko drew pouncing tabby cats on the paper screens, aloof moon-faced cats on the slatted walls, and spotted bobtail cats on the tatami mats. At school, she drew a parade of cats on the playground fence, and sometimes, instead of a page of sums or an essay, her teachers received drawings of sleek-furred cats. Fortunately, they were lenient, for Ariko was bright and sweet-mannered, and she never talked back. But one week, after she turned in a picture of a heavy-eyed tomcat on Monday, a languid Siamese on Tuesday, a drowsy tortoiseshell on Wednesday, and a yawning black cat on Thursday, her history teacher sent a note home.
“Am I paying your tuition fees so you can draw cats?” Ariko’s mother scolded. “Second sister is the top student in her math class, and eldest sister works in the fields so you can go to school. No more of these distractions.” And she took Ariko’s brushes and ink stone away.
But Ariko still drew cats. She sketched dust cats in the road, charcoal cats on the trees, and soy sauce cats with a chopstick brush. When Mama discovered the capering soy sauce cat on her freshly scrubbed paper screen, she sighed.
“Ariko, what prospects will a girl have who draws cats?” she said.
Ariko lowered her eyes.“I’m sorry, Mama. Maybe I can become an artist?”
When she heard that, Mama scowled and sent Ariko to bed. But she spent the night pondering her daughter’s future. Come daybreak, Mama took Ariko to the local temple and presented her to the abbess, a wizened old woman in somber robes.
“All my daughter does is draw cats,” she said. “There’s no use for art outside the temple, so her place must be here.”
The abbess turned kindly eyes to Ariko. “My name is Gently Floating Cloud,” she said, “but you may call me Lady Cloud. There is a sister here who can instruct you in the ways of ink and brush. But I’m uncertain whether you are suited for temple life. I have some questions I’d like to ask you.”
Lady Cloud clasped her fingers together. “First, can you tell me what it is that you keep after you give it to another?”
Ariko furrowed her brow like Mama did when she was troubled. “Your word,” she said. “You keep your word when you give it.”
Lady Cloud nodded. “And you always must. Next, what is it that has never been but will always become, that’s never seen but is believed in by all?”
Perplexed, Ariko cast about for inspiration. Her eyes lifted to the horizon, where the sun was a blaze of white upon dawn’s indigo-violet tapestry. “Tomorrow,” she exclaimed. “Everyone believes in tomorrow!”
“Indeed we do.” Lady Cloud folded her hands in her sleeves. “My final question is this: What is something so long as it is unknown but becomes nothing once it is known?”
Ariko furrowed her brow and cast all around. But no answer came. How could one know something unknown? As soon as you knew it, it became known. And what did a bunch of riddles have to do with drawing, anyway? “Oh!” she cried, “A riddle is something when it’s unknown.”
Lady Cloud’s face creased in a smile. “Your answers reveal a resourceful and agile mind, appropriate for both an artist and a seeker of enlightenment.”
Just then, a smoke-furred cat padded from the temple gate. Its golden eyes glinted like stars. Ariko watched, enthralled, her hands aching for a brush and ink to paint the creature.
“I want to draw and paint and be the best artist I can,” Ariko said. “If the temple regards such things as worthwhile, my place is surely here.”
___
Adapted from The Girl Who Drew Cats, by Eugie Foster, ©️️ by Cricket Media, Inc. Reproduced with permission.
What point of view is this text written from?
First person from Ariko’s perspective
Third person with an omniscient perspective
Second person from the reader’s perspective
Third person limited with a focus on Ariko’s perspective
by Eugie Foster
This passage tells the story of Ariko, a girl who loves to draw cats. Ariko's disapproving mother takes her to a female leader called an “abbess” who uses riddles to try to help Ariko find her purpose.
As you read, pay attention to who is telling the story.
In a small village in Japan, there was a girl who drew cats. Her name was Ariko, and she lived with her mother and two sisters.
At home, Ariko drew pouncing tabby cats on the paper screens, aloof moon-faced cats on the slatted walls, and spotted bobtail cats on the tatami mats. At school, she drew a parade of cats on the playground fence, and sometimes, instead of a page of sums or an essay, her teachers received drawings of sleek-furred cats. Fortunately, they were lenient, for Ariko was bright and sweet-mannered, and she never talked back. But one week, after she turned in a picture of a heavy-eyed tomcat on Monday, a languid Siamese on Tuesday, a drowsy tortoiseshell on Wednesday, and a yawning black cat on Thursday, her history teacher sent a note home.
“Am I paying your tuition fees so you can draw cats?” Ariko’s mother scolded. “Second sister is the top student in her math class, and eldest sister works in the fields so you can go to school. No more of these distractions.” And she took Ariko’s brushes and ink stone away.
But Ariko still drew cats. She sketched dust cats in the road, charcoal cats on the trees, and soy sauce cats with a chopstick brush. When Mama discovered the capering soy sauce cat on her freshly scrubbed paper screen, she sighed.
“Ariko, what prospects will a girl have who draws cats?” she said.
Ariko lowered her eyes.“I’m sorry, Mama. Maybe I can become an artist?”
When she heard that, Mama scowled and sent Ariko to bed. But she spent the night pondering her daughter’s future. Come daybreak, Mama took Ariko to the local temple and presented her to the abbess, a wizened old woman in somber robes.
“All my daughter does is draw cats,” she said. “There’s no use for art outside the temple, so her place must be here.”
The abbess turned kindly eyes to Ariko. “My name is Gently Floating Cloud,” she said, “but you may call me Lady Cloud. There is a sister here who can instruct you in the ways of ink and brush. But I’m uncertain whether you are suited for temple life. I have some questions I’d like to ask you.”
Lady Cloud clasped her fingers together. “First, can you tell me what it is that you keep after you give it to another?”
Ariko furrowed her brow like Mama did when she was troubled. “Your word,” she said. “You keep your word when you give it.”
Lady Cloud nodded. “And you always must. Next, what is it that has never been but will always become, that’s never seen but is believed in by all?”
Perplexed, Ariko cast about for inspiration. Her eyes lifted to the horizon, where the sun was a blaze of white upon dawn’s indigo-violet tapestry. “Tomorrow,” she exclaimed. “Everyone believes in tomorrow!”
“Indeed we do.” Lady Cloud folded her hands in her sleeves. “My final question is this: What is something so long as it is unknown but becomes nothing once it is known?”
Ariko furrowed her brow and cast all around. But no answer came. How could one know something unknown? As soon as you knew it, it became known. And what did a bunch of riddles have to do with drawing, anyway? “Oh!” she cried, “A riddle is something when it’s unknown.”
Lady Cloud’s face creased in a smile. “Your answers reveal a resourceful and agile mind, appropriate for both an artist and a seeker of enlightenment.”
Just then, a smoke-furred cat padded from the temple gate. Its golden eyes glinted like stars. Ariko watched, enthralled, her hands aching for a brush and ink to paint the creature.
“I want to draw and paint and be the best artist I can,” Ariko said. “If the temple regards such things as worthwhile, my place is surely here.”
___
Adapted from The Girl Who Drew Cats, by Eugie Foster, ©️️ by Cricket Media, Inc. Reproduced with permission.
What point of view is this text written from?
First person from Ariko’s perspective
Third person with an omniscient perspective
Second person from the reader’s perspective
Third person limited with a focus on Ariko’s perspective
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The text is written from **third person limited with a focus on Ariko’s perspective**. This means that the narrator presents the story from an outside viewpoint but primarily shares Ariko's thoughts, feelings, and experiences, allowing the reader to gain insight into her character while not delving into the thoughts of other characters directly.