Question

In this section, you’ll analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the text. You’ll also select language that expresses ideas precisely and concisely, recognizing and eliminating wordiness and redundancy.

Your friend finished reading “The Veldt,” and you’re discussing the actions of the main characters.

How do Peter and Wendy influence each other’s decisions throughout the story?
Question 7 options:

Peter and Wendy both want to have access to their technology and act as partners in removing their parents.


Peter attempts to change Wendy's actions because he doesn't want any harm to affect their parents.


Peter acts alone in his attempt to remove their parents while Wendy watches helplessly.


Peter and Wendy don't influence each other because they don't frequently interact.

Answer 1

Correct answer:
Peter and Wendy both want to have access to their technology and act as partners in removing their parents.

Explanation (concise):
- Both children are emotionally dependent on the nursery and resist any attempt by their parents to limit it. That shared desire bonds them and motivates their behavior.
- Peter is the more aggressive instigator (taunting his parents, saying hurtful things, and gleefully describing violent scenes in the nursery), but Wendy echoes and supports him rather than opposing him. They reinforce each other’s hostility toward George and Lydia.
- Their cooperation shows up in how they use the nursery together and how neither protests when the nursery’s veldt imagery becomes deadly. They act like accomplices rather than one acting alone or being uninvolved.

Why the other choices are wrong:
- Peter does not try to protect the parents from harm (option 2)—he encourages and mocks them.
- Wendy is not merely helpless (option 3); she participates.
- They do influence each other and interact frequently (option 4) — their bond drives the conflict.